Daryll Neita knows what Olympic heartbreak feels like. After finishing eighth in the 100m final at Tokyo 2020, she arrived in Paris four years later believing she had a real chance of finally standing on the podium. She came closer than ever, but once again, the medal slipped away. Neita finished fourth in the 100m final in 10.96 seconds, just 0.04 seconds behind bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson. That tiny margin kept her off the podium, but two years on, Neita has opened up about the painful moment and how it has only made her more determined to give herself another shot at an Olympic medal at LA 2028.

Speaking on the October 5 episode of UNTAPPED with Spencer Matthews, Neita looked back at the race that left her just outside the medals. “My third Olympic Games, I make the 100 metre final, but I come fourth,” she said. When Matthews asked how much had separated her from bronze, Neita replied: “0.04, four hundredths of a second, four centimetres.”

The 100m was not her only near miss in Paris. Neita finished fifth in the 200m in 22.23 seconds, just 0.03 behind Brittany Brown, who took bronze in 22.20. With two individual finals ending so close to the podium, the experience left her wanting to understand exactly what was missing. “I really want to be on that podium, especially after Paris 2024 Olympics,” she said.

That question has since become part of her motivation. Rather than focusing only on the places she finished, Neita has been trying to identify the small details that could change the outcome of her next major final. “What is it that I need to do?” she asked, pointing to the uncertainty that makes sprinting so difficult to master.

For Neita, there may not be one obvious answer. A fraction can come from the start, the middle of the race, or the final metres, which means there is always something else to examine. “It could be anything,” she said. That constant search has also changed how she feels about the sport. “I’ve fallen so in love with the process of it, of like, what can I do to get closer?” Neita said.

 Looking back at Paris, she remembered staying in contention in the 100m for much of the race before the decisive moment arrived. “I just knew I was in the race for so long,” she said. “And it’s really in that final moment,” Neita said, talking about the stamina needed to keep pushing and the ability to accelerate through the line when the race is almost over.

Those lessons have already influenced the way she is approaching the next Olympic cycle. Instead of allowing the result in Paris to remain simply a missed opportunity, she has used it to identify areas that can be worked on before the next Games. “Reflecting on that experience, I just really did some groundwork,” she said.

There is still plenty of time before LA 2028, and Neita intends to use that time to keep searching for the margins that could make the difference. “What am I doing to make sure I am leaving no stone unturned? And that’s where I’m at now,” she said. Neita did return from Paris with an Olympic silver medal after helping Great Britain finish second in the women’s 4x100m relay. But the individual medal remains the one she has yet to claim.

Interestingly, Neita’s hunger for an individual Olympic medal did not begin in Paris. It has been building since her first Games, through missed finals and finishes decided by the smallest of margins.

Daryll Neita’s fight through setbacks

Neita made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 at the age of 19. She reached the 100m semi-finals but missed out on the final after finishing fourth in 11.09 seconds. Her first Games still ended with a medal, as she helped Great Britain secure bronze in the 4x100m relay. By Tokyo 2020, Neita had taken another step forward and reached the 100m final for the first time. She finished eighth in 11.12 seconds as Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah won gold in an Olympic record of 10.61. 

Soon after, Neita rebuilt her career and began collecting individual medals in 2022, winning 100m bronze at both the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Her performances over 100m and 200m continued to develop, and she finished fifth in the 200m at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Then came another narrow disappointment before Paris.

At the 2024 European Championships in Rome, Neita finished second in the 200m, losing to Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji by just 0.01 seconds. The result was painful because Neita initially believed she had won the race. Those experiences shaped the athlete who arrived at Paris 2024. She had already competed at two Olympic Games, and repeatedly found herself just short of the biggest individual prizes. In Paris, she came closer than ever to winning a medal.

As she looks toward LA 2028, she is now focused on finding the tiny improvements that could finally move her from the edge of the podium onto it.