ATHLETICS Let’s put pedal to the medal
ADELEKE SAYS IRELAND CAN EARN PARIS JOY
RHASIDAT Adeleke says she can deal with the pressure of being an Olympic medal prospect — and is delighted there are others around to share that weight.
Along with 400m sensation Adeleke, world champs Daniel Wiffen (swimming) and Rhys McClenaghan (gymnastics) are among the favourites in their events to make the podium at Paris 2024.
“I’ve met Rhys a couple of times,” said the US-based sprinter. “I haven’t met Daniel before, but they’re both phenomenal athletes and I’m so excited to be hopefully on a team with them in Paris and see what we can all do.
“I think it’s amazing to have that many medal prospects. That might have not been something that was as common (in the past).”
Focus
Given Ireland’s medal famine in track and field, Adeleke knows that she will be a big focus for Team Ireland supporters this summer.
That will be the case in the
European Athletics Championships in Rome in June and at the Olympics just over a month later.
“We have people in various sports and it’s amazing to see that,” she said. “I guess it can alleviate the pressure but I think every sport has its own set of fans if that makes sense.
“So regardless of whether someone will do something in swimming or gymnastics, I would still feel that pressure from track and field fans but that’s just part of the game.
“When people expect things of you it means that they believe you can do good things or believe you can be up there. I probably see it more of a positive thing than a negative thing.”
Adeleke can’t wait to get to other events when her own is done at Paris, but with the final scheduled for August 9 that will leave her with just two days to do so.
The 21-year-old from Tallaght admits that watching really young competitors at the Rio Games was a massive inspiration to her to get there herself one day.
Athletes
“There were some athletes in swimming that were 14 or 15,” she said.
“I was about 13 at the time and I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re at the Olympics and they’re only 14-year-olds, I should be at the Olympics right now’.
“Yeah, it was definitely an aspiration and it did feel realistic. I’m just really happy it’s coming to life right now.”
Adeleke set a world’s best time with her relay teammates Julien Alfred, Lanae-Tava Thomas and Dina Asher-Smith in March.
They ran a time of 1.27.05 in the 4 x 200m event at the Texas Relays, beating the current world record time by 0.4 seconds. It didn’t count as a world record because the four athletes were not all from the same country.
“I love the fun aspect of competing with a team,” she said. “I was really happy to be able to break the world best in the 4x200m because that was something my coach emphasised we could do.
“It gave us a really good indicator of where the legs are, how we feel, going into the season.”
She will compete with her Ireland team-mates in the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas on May 4-5, with a relay spot at the Olympics at stake.
“I think that we can definitely do it so I’m really excited to be able to put on the vest again and be able to show off the best that we can do,” she said.