Goule patiently putting pieces together
Jamaican 800 veteran looks to 'take everything to the next level'
Wheel and come again is an expression used in Jamaican track and field circles that refers to bouncing back from a disappointing performance by re-assessing things, then coming back with a better focus or more positive outlook.
Natoya Goule employed that strategy last summer following a disappointing finish in the women’s 800 meters in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The eight-time Jamaican champion was regarded as a medal contender entering the final, but faded from second place to eighth in the last 200 meters of the race.
This year she is focusing on putting all of the pieces together to meet expectations in major international competitions.
“I learned that I need to be more patient,” she said of her Olympic performance in a telephone interview on March 11. “I pushed it too hard too early and because of that I paid for it at the end in the last 100. I wanted to be aggressive, but I was too aggressive.”
She focused on racing “more under control,” after the Olympics last summer and turned in three strong races in Diamond League meets in Eugene, Oregon, Brussels and Zurich.
Her roll has continued during the indoor season and she will be one of the favorites in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday when she toes the starting line for the final of the women’s 800 at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings time.
“The good thing about Natoya is she can take things in stride and then re-assess,” said Mark Elliott, the director of track and field and cross-country at Clemson University and Goule’s coach since 2011. “She did that after the Olympics and hasn’t looked back since.”
Goule, 30, won the first of three qualifying heats in Belgrade on Saturday morning with a time of 2 minutes 1.65 seconds, and her chances at becoming the second Jamaican to medal in the women’s 800 in the World Indoor Championships increased further when pre-meet favorite and Olympic silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain withdrew from the second heat due to an injury to her right quadriceps.
Not that the outgoing, talkative Goule will take anything for granted.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, she wrote: Trying my best to take everything to the next level and have fun doing it. Humbled to be in the finals tomorrow and feeling pumped to get this done for us.
American Ajee Wilson has not run as fast indoors as Goule this season, but cruised to a win (2:03.42) in the second heat on Saturday and has a big-meet predigree that includes silver medals in the 2016 and ‘18 World Indoor Championships, and bronze medals in the 2017 and ‘19 World Outdoor Championships.
“You can never overlook her,” said Goule, who set a Jamaican indoor record of 1:58.46 last month.
In one way, the 27-year old Wilson is what Goule is aspiring to be. An athlete who performs consistently well in global title meets.
Goule represented Jamaica in the 2013, ‘15, ‘17 and ‘19 World Outdoor Championships, the 2014, ‘16 and ‘18 World Indoor Championships, and the 2016 and the ‘20 Olympic Games – postponed until last summer due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, her best finishes have been sixth-place efforts in the 2014 World Indoor Championships and in the 2019 World Outdoor Championships.
From the outside, it might seem Goule struggles with the pressure that comes with competing in global championship meets, but Elliott says sometimes an athlete just has an off day.
“Any time things do not go well, you want to analyze and re-analyze and give all kinds of reasons why things happened,” he said. “But sometimes it’s simply things just didn’t go well on that day… That’s why sports are good. Hopefully you’re going to get another shot at it another time.”
Goule, who relaxes by watching reruns of American sitcoms such as The Jeffersons and describes herself as an old soul, is trying to perfect the balancing act required during a race – to be aware of her competitors and the pace she is running.
“If you are in a race and you usually go through the 200 in 28 seconds and someone in the race goes through in 26 and you go with them, then you are going to feel it in the last 150 meters of the race,” she said. “You have to be aware of your competitors, but you also have to trust yourself because if you feel you are overdoing it, then you know something is wrong.”
A deeply religious person, Goule knew something was wrong in 2017 when she “fell out of love with track and field” and considered giving up the sport.
Her training was going well, but she was running poorly in races and experienced some depression because of it.
Elliott added, “She felt like she was chasing her tail.”
Goule was eliminated in a qualifying heat in the World Championships in London in August of 2017. She recovered by spending time with an aunt in London after the World Championships, helping her to become more connected with her spiritual side. The re-connection continued when she visited family and friends in Jamaica.
“I think I lost my way a little bit,” Goule said. “Not lost, lost. But I know I was not the person I had been in regards to my spiritual life. Once I found my spiritual life again, things just took off.”
The difference showed on the track in April of 2018 when she ran a then-personal best of 1:58.82 to win the bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
“That was a breakthrough race for me,” she said. “And that was a breakthrough year. I was extremely happy when I won that bronze medal. To me, it was just like I had won the Lotto.”
Goule would lower her personal best two more times in 2018.
Her fifth-place time of 1:57.69 in the Meeting de Paris in June broke the previous Jamaican record of 1:57.88 set by Kenia Sinclair in 2006. Three weeks later she ran 1:56.15 to place third in Hercules meet in Monaco.
Track & Field News awarded Goule the No. 4 spot in its annual world rankings for 2018, and she was ranked fifth in 2019 and third last year, as there were no world rankings in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those rankings were a validation for Goule, who was a highly decorated runner in Jamaica as a teenager before being recruited to the U.S. by Elliott, a fellow Jamaican who was an assistant coach at Louisiana State University.
She attended – and ran for – South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, for two years before transferring to LSU and winning the 800 in the 2013 NCAA indoor and outdoor championships.
She then transferred to Clemson when Elliott was hired there.
After sitting out a year, as required, she won the NCAA indoor title in the 800 in 2015 before finishing sixth in the outdoor meet.
She has been a permanent resident of Clemson for the past seven years and has a pair of degrees from the university. She is also a volunteer track coach there, primarily working with the middle-distance runners.
She is excited that the World Athletics Championships will be held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, from July 15-24. It will be the first time the meet has been held in the U.S. since it began in 1983.
“I think it’s a good thing for the United States and track and field because the more you have these big meets in the U.S.,” she said, “the more track and field will be appreciated the way it’s supposed to be compared to other sports in the U.S.”
Goule hails from a country of 3 million people where track and field is “big, big, big!”
Usain Bolt, the world-record holder in the men’s 100 and 200 meters and the winner of three consecutive Olympic titles in those events from 2008-16, is one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet. But Jamaica’s excellence in track and field dates back to the 1948 Olympic Games in London, where Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley finished 1-2 in the 400 and Wint placed second to American Mal Whitfield in the 800.
Four years later in the Games in Helsinki, McKenley placed second in the 100 to Lindy Remigino of the U.S., George Rhoden and McKenley finished 1-2 in the 400, and Wint was again the silver medalist behind Whitfield in the 800. To top it off, McKenley, Rhoden, Wint and Leslie Laing won the 1,600 relay.
For their part, Jamaican women have won the last four Olympic titles in the 100 and three of the last four in the 200. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Jamaica has won at least one medal in the women’s 100 in every Olympics since 1992, and at least one medal in the women’s 200 in every Olympics since 1980.
“Jamaica is a sprint factory,” said Goule, who has a street named after her in Manchester. “I feel appreciated there, but I do feel I have been overlooked sometimes because I am an 800-meter runner. I do believe Jamaica has more than just sprinters.”
Goule could help change that perception by winning a medal, preferably a gold one, in the World Indoor Championships, where she hopes to use what she learned in Tokyo to her advantage.
“The outcome could have been much better for me in the Olympics,” she said. “But you live and learn. I am using this season to pick up where I left off at the end of last year and be scared less, and just do what I know I can do.”
Great article! I loved the part where she said 'Wheel and come again.."