Rhasidat Adeleke lit up the summer with her performances at the Paris Olympic Games and there is plenty more to look forward to from the tallaght athletes in the years to come.
“I’m very hard on myself because I really want to be successful at everything I do,” she said speaking to media as an ambassador for KPMG this week.
“So I can look back at the year and say that I have achieved a lot. But there’s definitely some things, for example, like an Olympic medal that I would love to get. Different times and achievements that I would have loved to get, but I definitely appreciate how well I’ve done this year. My first year as a professional athlete, and I can just carry on all the lessons I’ve learned to next year and apply that to my following season.”
It is always the athletes that are hardest on themselves and looking tom improve that rise to the top but the other element in the winners is confidence and that is something which Adeleke has always had.
“I was very ambitious when I was younger and I felt like I could get to the top.”
But, sometimes, growing up you can often feel like you’re being delusional a little bit or maybe your dreams are too high. So to see it come to fruition is really special.”
“I think when I started seeing more women being successful in sport, I was able to believe that I could also get there.”
“I’m very impatient when it comes to success sometimes. And I just want everything now.
“But if I look at the progress I’ve made, cause my last European championships, I came fifth and this time I came second. So it’s still progress. It’s not exactly what I wanted. I would have loved to win, but I have to be grateful for the progress that I have made in such a short period.
So with more experience, more time with the event and just learning myself as an athlete, I think, before I know it, I’ll be exactly where I need to be. And, you know, everyone has their own timings and paces and progression rates, and this is just mine and it’s not a bad progression rate at all.
So I just need to keep faith in what I’m doing and just trust the process.
Part of the real engagement with the public came from her being part of relay teams this year. The mixed relay team won European Gold and the Women’s 4×400 metre team was one of the track highlights from Paris, in their racing and with their obvious joy in their interviews after.
“I think having my teammates there with me makes it so much more special because I’m not just competing for myself. I’m running for my teammates.
“I’m running for the country all the time. But when they’re physically there with you, it just, it’s just so much more special because I can also celebrate with them afterwards.”
“We can calm each other’s nerves and anxiety down in the call room. And it’s just so nice. Just being there with other people and we’re all, we all have the same goal, we all have the same purpose and we’re just going to give our all on the track.”
“So yeah it’s a very different experience, but I really appreciate the opportunity to even have a relay team that can compete on such a high level because not every country has that type of opportunity. Not every athlete from different countries have that opportunity. So yeah, I really appreciate it.”
Looking to 2025, the focus is very much on the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
“This is the time where I need to focus on envisioning my goals and remember that every single thing that I’m doing at this point is going to play into how the world championships goes.”
“I know my first maybe two weeks, three weeks back, you know, you’re just getting back into shape. Those are usually when it’s harder because you’ve been off, I was off for five weeks and then you’re getting thrown right into it. And then my coach is trying to remind me that you have until September next year, like, this is a building process.
“It’s important to remember that even the small things, the 1 percent is what is going to play into the grand scheme of things in 2025.”
I asked whether she was mindful of Rhys McClenaghan’s view that every routine in practice was treated like a Final so that when the big moments came it was a case of executing rather than building it up too much. her reply was interesting in its difference.
“For athletics, I wouldn’t never run a 400 meters at race pace in training.”
“So it’s not until I actually compete that I run a 400 meters in 49 seconds. I’d never do that in training. So it’s a little different because I actually don’t get that much practice doing, you know, what I would do in a competition at training.
“So it’s more so mental and that’s also why the pressure aspect can feel like it’s maximized at that point, but it’s more so about trusting your training and sticking to a race plan or a strategy.”
“So you can potentially practice a strategy, but you won’t practice it in full. So it’s just trusting it on the day, really.”
Wrapping up I asked about whether she had enjoyed her trip to Dallas for the Katie Taylor World Title fight against Amanda Serrano.
“Yeah, it was a really good event because it was my first time actually at any type of boxing match. And to see Katie Taylor in action in real life was insane because I’ve only, you know, looked up to her for so long and I’m aware of her, of her achievements and everything she’s done from winning in 2012 to just, you know, all the achievements that she’s had, and to actually see her in real life and to see her in action was, was really cool.”
She did then laugh and say that she would stick to the running but also made the point that when she was young she tried all sports.
“Sport has so many benefits aside from, you know, competing and being successful. It has the social aspects, you know, being able to go out after a long day at school or at work and be able to socialise and meet people and enjoy yourself and kind of get your mental break and just kind of like a break from life itself.”
“It’s just physically as well. It provides so much for your health. And I think there’s just so many benefits for, from doing sports aside from being successful.”
“I think when you think of being an athlete, think of the hard work and it’s tiring and you know, it’s so much effort, but there’s also so much that you gain from it. And I think being able to vocalise that and to share that with people on social media or to talk about it, I think it inspires more people to see the other sides and other benefits that there is to doing sports.”
“I was really sporty when I was growing up. I did Camogie, Gaelic Football, Badminton, Football, Basketball, Volleyball. I did so many different sports and I think I just loved doing sports.
SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
Rhasidat is as charming off the track as she is powerful on it.
Being an ambassador for KPMG gives heft to the power of the research launched this week about the importance of sport for women and girls which you can read about in full here. KPMG Ambassadors Inspiring Future Generations
WHAT’S UP NEXT?
Diamond League in the Summer and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September is the planned schedule for next year.
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