4. Marie Josee Ta Lou
Shows how much things have changed, that neither Blessing Okagbare nor Murielle Ahoure is being pitched as the African face in the women’s shorter sprints, but a certain Marie Josee Ta Lou.
This was someone who was lurking in their shadows a few years ago, but now, Ta Lou is the one most African fans will be rooting for in both the women’s 100m and 200m.
Last year, Ta Lou came so close to finishing on the podium in her two finals at the Olympics, placing 4th in both races. In fact she was so close in the 100m that she clocked 10.84s, same time as Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce who won Bronze, but with a quicker reaction time.
With Fraser Pryce out this year, that should automatically upgrade Ta Lou to 3rd in the pecking order, seeing that both Elaine Thompson and Torie Bowie are around, right? Well, logically it looks so.
Although Ta Lou is ranked No.7 in the 100m this year with a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.90s, she no doubt will run faster in London, a venue where she ran the first sub-11s race of her career, racing to identical times of 10.96s within the space of an hour at the London Diamond League last year.
When she clashed with Thompson at the Rabat Diamond League, it took the longer strides of the Jamaican to shake off a blazing Ta Lou who was hanging on her shoulders all the way through.
Same was seen in the 200m when she faced Dafne Schippers in Lausanne, with the latter beating her by 0.06s, having won in 22.10s. In fact Ta Lou’s 22.16s in that race was a new Ivory Coast Record, not far from Mary Onyali’s 21-year old African Record of 22.07s.
Hello depuis #Londres2017!
Besoin de vos prières & soutiens! Tous à #Londres avec nous.#TALOULondres2017 @JUMO_WeMo #CIVSport #Abidjan #Dkr pic.twitter.com/xUi7AouSUq— TA LOU Marie Josée (@majo10s70) August 2, 2017
When she won the African Games double in Congo Brazzaville in 2015, many said she wouldn’t have if Okagbare and Ahoure were present. However, she has gone on to prove that she has evolved into a sprinter of her own.
Ta Lou is well placed at the moment to finish on the podium in London, and it could come in either the 100m or 200m. Hopefully, she won’t be “double 4th” this time around.
