At the time, Python had a clear purpose as an easy to learn "glue" language between other, perhaps more performant languages. There was no reason to make Python as fast because that would muddy its purpose by introducing compromises and complexity. For better or worse Python sat pretty well in its niche.

Today there are far more people using it, and everyone has a different perspective on what it is. No longer is it a niche glue language, now it's a backbone of AI technology at major tech firms, so it's understandable they'd like it to be faster on its own.