Adam Gemili was the first British man to run the 100m in under 10 seconds and the 200m in under 20 seconds. He competed against Usain Bolt, was crowned world champion in the 4x100m relay in 2017, and also represented Team GB
A Team GB Olympic sprinter is retiring from athletics to coach Chelsea’s stars of the future.
History maker Adam Gemili was the first British man to run the 100m in under 10 seconds and the 200m in under 20 seconds.
He competed against Usain Bolt, was crowned world champion in the 4x100m relay in 2017 and also represented Team GB at the Olympics. But he was also a talented footballer and has landed a new job at Chelsea.
Announcing his retirement, he reflected on his amazing career in athletics. Adam, 32, went from being a budding footballer to competing at the London 2012 Olympics at just 18 years old.
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He told the Mirror: “I lined up alongside some of the all-time greats, including Usain Bolt. I am so thankful for the times I had and all the love from the fans over the years. I look back now and realise how lucky I have been.
“In 2012, I was still with Dagenham and Redbridge in the January and was offered a professional contract. But I had the opportunity to go into athletics and ran 10.08 in the 100m and suddenly topped the UK rankings.
“I came second behind Dwain Chambers at the British Athletics championships and was chosen for the Olympic team. By the July of that year, I was lining up at a home Olympics at 18 years old. It was just crazy.”
He added: “Few people can say they were part of a team that beat Jamaica and Usain Bolt. But the GB 4 x 100m relay team did that, winning gold at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London in front of a home crowd.
“Bolt was injured on his final night ever of competition. It was a historic moment. I have just watched it again, that was a real career highlight for me.”
Adam has just returned from an inter-rail trip with his girlfriend Rachel Cresswell, 33, a Cancer Research worker, and has decided the time is right to hang up his spikes.
“I’ve been around Europe, to Slovenia, Austria, and Denmark,” said Adam, now back in his native Dartford, Kent. “You travel to these places for competition but never get to see them properly, so it was a fantastic and much-needed break.
“I am ready now to go on my own terms. I sat down before the winter season and thought, ‘Could I go another year?’. I am happy with my career. I am ready to move on. Sprinting is brutal, you have to live and breathe it seven days a week.
“It isn’t as important as it was. Once you lose the edge, from when it was your be-all and end-all, that’s no good in elite sport. I don’t want to be a lane filler or there for a jolly.”
Reflecting on his achievements, he told the Mirror: “You step back, take a look and think, ‘I’ve done some cool stuff’. Hopefully, I will tell my kids that I was the first British man to go sub 10 in the 100m and sub 20 in the 200m.
“They will probably say: ‘I don’t care, Dad.’ But I competed in the greatest era of sprinting, with Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin, some of the fastest men in history.
“I won my home event at the World Championships with my family in the stadium. I was hugging the boys and thinking ‘I don’t want to let go’. That race was Bolt’s last at the World Championships. Few people have beaten Usain Bolt in any race. He got injured in that final run for him but I will take that.
“Lining up in that first Olympics at 18 was something special. It was baby-faced Adam, I had no idea, really. I was very fortunate. I have made so many great friends along the way. I had only dabbled in athletics before London 2012.
“People train for years and years to get to the Olympics and I was there in just over six months. I got a sponsorship with Nike and it was like, ‘Wow, this is the most money I have ever seen’.
“Next year I ran sub-20 in the 200m against Bolt. I can look back with pride and think, ‘You know what?’ I competed against the best.'”
Now a qualified athletics coach, Adam teaches Chelsea teens the importance of speed and movement.
“I have travelled all over the world and worked with the best psychologists, dietitians, and coaches,” said Adam, whose mum Sacha, 58, is Iranian, and whose dad Aziz, 60, is Moroccan-born.
“I am a speed specialist for footballers, I am lucky to have competed in two sports at a very high level. I spent my early life going up and down the wing as a full back. The coaches were always shouting, “Get up, get back!”
“I was like, ‘You have to be kidding, man’. Now I can teach kids to make the most of their abilities in athletics and football. I am looking forward to what the future holds.”