Goule motivated by award snub
Standout Jamaican halfmiler Natoya Goule has admitted to being surprised by her omission from the list of nominees for the RJRGLEANER Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards.
Goule registered her strongest season, with a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast and a new national record of 1:56.15; performances, which not only placed her in the upper tier of the 800m event, but achievements, which she believes warranted at least a nomination for the Sportswoman of the Year award.
While the snub was a bitter pill for her to swallow, Goule asserted that it serves as a much-needed reminder that there is still more work to be done.
DISAPPOINTED
“I am using it as a motivation for the upcoming season, because despite all that I have done over the last season, for me to be overlooked, means that I have to do twice as well to get the recognition,” Goule told STAR Sports.
“To be honest, I was disappointed and shocked because I broke the national record twice within a month and I have done something no other 800m runners has done in a while and I know I performed extremely well this season. I won a bronze medal. The 800m at the Commonwealth Games is like the hardest event, because all the major players in the event were there,” added Goule, who ended the year as the third fastest woman on the planet in the event.
Chairman of the selection committee, Mike Fennell, noted that Goule’s omission did not take away from her achievements, but that the selectors could only select 10 athletes and that the maximum had been met.
The nominee for the Sportswoman of the Year award are: Alia Atkinson (swimming), Aisha Praught-Leer, Shanieka Ricketts, Kimberly Williams, Danniel Thomas-Dodd, Janieve Russell and Shericka Jackson (athletics), Khadija Shaw (football), Stafanie Taylor (cricket) and Shamera Sterling (netball).
“All of the athletes had excellent performances, it just that we have to select 10,”said Fennell. “Sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to differentiate one from the other, but we have to make that choice, but it does not diminish the performance of any of our athletes.”
Goule finished in the top three in all but one of her 14 races in the 800m this past season, winning three, including the Prefontaine Classic on the Diamond League circuit, as well as the National Championships. Her 1:56.15 national record run came in a third-place finish at the Monaco Diamond League meet. Goule also finished second at the Rabat and London Diamond League meets. Her season’s highlights also include a thirdplace finish in the Continental Cup in Ostrava.