Track talent had heart set on running aged just 10

SCOTTISH track star Jemma Reekie was never in doubt about what the future held for her. By the age of 10, she was determined to forge a career as a runner – even if she wasn’t entirely sure how to go about it.

The double European U23 champion opened 2020 by setting no fewer than three new British Records during a sparkling indoor season before the Covid-19 pandemic sent sport into lockdown.

The 22-year-old hopes to use the extra year she has been given to prepare for next summer’s Olympics wisely so she can make an impact in Tokyo – and revealed that being a torchbearer for London 2012 at the age of 14 gave her a taste of what it is like to represent her country on sport’s biggest stage.

“As soon as I started running my mum and dad say that was it and my heart was set on it,” Jemma told Scottish Athletics in a special interview.

“I was something like 10 years of age but I was saying to them, ‘I want to be a runner when I grow up.’

“I had no idea actually how it could work as a job and I had no idea about money or earning a living at that kind of age. I was just saying, ‘I want to be a runner’, whether or not I would get paid. And I was determined about it. That attitude came through in my training.

“London was the first Olympics I can remember. I carried the Olympic torch after my auntie put me forward for it. When I was told I was getting to do it, the letter said: ‘This is your first step towards becoming an Olympian yourself’. And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s so cool.’ It felt as if I was dipping my toe in the water.

“In 2014 I went to Hampden to watch athletics. I went to the Diamond League meeting which was held there a couple of weeks before the Commonwealths. I’d not been to anything like that before and I also competed at Hampden in the Scottish Schools.

“With all of that being so close to home, it just kind of brought it all home [what might be possible].”

Like many of Scotland’s best athletes, school cross country was the initial pathway for