FAST TRACK TO GLORY
Adeleke building nicely towards Paris
IN a year such as this, the Olympics can loom over an athlete to such an extent that it could all feel overwhelming. But Rhasidat Adeleke is determined not to be consumed by what might happen in Paris and suggests that she still feels fortunate to even be going to the Games, even with expectations high among the public.
Paris does come into her head every so often, but she has other distractions, too. The upcoming outdoor season and maybe breaking another Irish record or two, just as she had done indoors over the winter. Completing her corporate communications degree in the University of Texas. There’s the World Athletics Relay Championship in the Bahamas in May, when the 4x400m Irish team hope to qualify for Paris, and the European Championships in Rome the following month.
But to those of us looking on from the outside, Adeleke’s season might be defined by what she does on the track in Paris —she admits that she wants a medal at her maiden Olympics.
‘I do think about it sometimes, but I don’t let it consume me,’ the Dubliner said yesterday as a new two-year partnership with KPMG was announced.
‘I make sure I am always working very hard and doing everything I can to promote a good result. At the end of the day I don’t want it to linger over me. It’s an opportunity and very few people get to go to the Olympics so I see it as a positive rather than something scary.’
Still, things are different in Olympic year. Adeleke has made small adjustments to her whole approach. Nothing major, just refining her routine.
‘It is probably a bit more serious now (in an Olympic year). I always took it seriously, but just in the little things, sleeping more, hydrating more, trying to get the little things and improve those, get those one per cents.
‘I drink a bottle of water, go to the gym and drink a bottle of water there, so it is kind of about having a routine and being able to stick to it, essentially.’
Adeleke enjoyed another record-breaking winter and improved her own Irish indoor 60m, 200m and 300m times in the past couple of months. Had she decided to go to Glasgow for last weekend’s world indoors, she would have been among the favourites for a medal but she made a decision with her coach
Edrick Floreal not to target that event — and she says has no regrets about sitting it out.
‘It was up in the air whether I would go or not because I was still in a big training cycle,’ the 21-year-old explained. ‘We just decided it’s best to keep training ahead, get some more work in, instead of taking a couple of weeks off to taper, to get ready for the World (Indoor) Champs.
‘The outdoor season starts so quickly. We have Texas relays, we have some other meets starting up, so we just want to best prepare ourselves for the season, keep getting that hard load in, until you have to taper for those continuous meets that are going to happen this summer.’
So, the Tallaght native didn’t dwell on swerving Glasgow, where Ireland sent a small team of 10 athletes with the 4x400m team (without Adeleke) finishing fifth in the final as Sarah Lavin did in the 60m hurdles finals.
Adeleke revealed that she doesn’t watch much track and field, although she did keep an eye on the Irish athletes. ‘I definitely was tuned into the Irish, to see how my teammates were getting on. I know it was really hard to see some of the Irish, like Sarah (Healy) fall, then Sharlene (Mawdsley) being disqualified, because making the world final is so huge. Then to be disqualified is so unfortunate. But then the relay team did really well too. And Sarah Lavin as well, so I think it was a decent, pretty good championship overall.’ Adeleke is running as a professional for the first time this year after an exhausting season last year when she had to juggle all her NCAA commitments with international meets. Ideally, it should mean that she has a bit more free time, but it hasn’t worked out like that.
‘I think I have less time. I still go to school and everything so that’s all the same as last year. I just have more to do and more responsibility, too. It’s just about allocating that time successfully and being able to make the most of it and being intentional with my time and not spend too much time on things that aren’t benefiting me.’
And she concedes that she does miss the team aspect of running for her university, although she still trains on the same track and with the same coach.
However, she will discover that feeling of being in a team at the World Relay Championships next month and then with Team Ireland in Paris, where she promises to be one of our brightest stars.
“It’s all about sticking to a routine” “I was tuned into events in Glasgow”