Food For the Poor (FFP) has announced Jamaican middle distance runner Natoya Goule as the latest ambassador for the charity.

Marsha Burrell-Rose, FFP’s marketing & development manager, said the organisation was delighted to welcome the athlete to its ambassador ranks.

“In addition to being a model of consistent excellence on the track, and a model of deportment in representing Jamaica, Natoya has shown a heart towards helping others and an understanding of the importance of giving back when you have been blessed. We are so pleased to confirm this partnership, and look forward to bringing even greater prominence to our diverse community outreach,” she said.

Goule, for her part, said that Food For The Poor was an organisation whose mission and values were in alignment with her own. “I believe in diversity and inclusiveness in meeting the material and spiritual needs of the less fortunate,” she said.

A product of Manchester, where she represented Manchester High School, Goule established herself in athletics from an early age, and amassed numerous medals and records at the secondary level. She went on to attend South Plains College in Texas, representing their track team.

She moved on to Louisiana State University, representing the renowned LSU Tigers track team, but would soon transfer to Clemson (also named the Tigers). In 2014, she was a member of Jamaica’s women’s 4x400m relay team which won the silver medal at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and was most recently a finalist in the 800 metres at the Tokyo Olympics.

Goule has a personal best of 51.52 minutes in the 400 metres and 1.56.15 minutes in the 800m. She joins Jamaican international footballer Leon Bailey and Olympic sprinter Yohan Blake, who had previously been named ambassadors.