Amusan owes success to Jamaica’s Lacena Golding-Clarke
Published:Wednesday | July 27, 2022 | 12:13 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
AFTER A staggering 2022 World Championship campaign, which included her first world title and a world record, world champion Tobi Amusan says that she owes her success to the guidance and trust of Olympian Lacena Golding-Clarke.
Amusan’s world record run of 12.12 seconds in the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles and her 12.06 wind-assisted (+2.5) victory in the final on Sunday gave Nigeria their only gold medal at the championships. Jamaica’s Britany Anderson was second in 12.23 while Tokyo Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn was third, also in 12.23.
Amusan has been under the watchful eye of Golding-Clarke since 2016 from her days at the University of Texas, El Paso.
Golding-Clarke had gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and made five appearances at the World Championships.
Amusan says that the foundation that Golding-Clarke laid for her was invaluable.
“She is not just my coach; she is my mother. She is the one that I can run to at the slightest inconvenience. She has kept me grounded from college up till now,” Amusan said in her post-race press conference.
Amusan’s performances are coming off back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the 2019 World Championships and at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
destiny
Amusan, originally a sprinter and a longer jumper who had made the transition to the hurdles as a teenager, believes her destiny could have been different had she taken the decision to move on from Golding-Clarke.
Initially, she felt that the results were not coming as quickly as she would have liked. But after much thought and prayer, she decided that she was going to trust the process.
“Though there was a time I was planning on switching coaches because I wasn’t being patient. I wanted to go really fast and I felt like it wasn’t coming and she was like ‘It’s OK. Everything is going to come together at the time that it needs to’,” Amusan said.
“And I just prayed about it and just felt like OK, I’m going to stay and I’m glad that I took that decision and stayed and this is the positive result.”
Amusan came into the championships with the fourth-fastest time in the world this year, 12.40, but shocked everybody when she ran that in the first heat.
It has been the confidence that Golding-Clarke place in Amusan, she says that has made the difference.
“She kept my nerves down the entire time. She said ‘it’s OK, your mind is just playing with you’. She just told me to keep trusting the process and trust myself and you are the best out there and go get it!” Amusan said.
“I’m just thankful.”