Dina Asher-smith
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW How The Great British Bake Off helped me become world champion and why Mum told me to stop crying in Doha
If you were to build a superhuman, you probably could not design a better version than Dina Asher-smith. History making, national record breaking, the first Briton to win three medals at a World Championships, the first British woman to win a sprint world title and the fastest in history and – according to Lord Coe – one of the most marketable athletes in the world right now.
Never mind marketable, the nation fell in love with the Londoner in Doha. The girl-nextdoor who is equally at home discussing a sparkly eyeshadow as nailing the graciousness of sporting fair play, she put her own celebrations on hold to turn back and pick up two fellow competitors in English Gardner and Anthonique Strachan who collapsed during the 100 and 200metre semi-finals. At every opportunity, she has been sure to celebrate others, share the limelight – name checking Katarina Johnsonthompson, or her relay team-mates.
Most memorable of all was the special moment she shared with her mother, Julie, following her gold medal win, on the steps up to the media gantry.
“How does she even get into these random places?” laughs the 23-year-old, incredulous at her mother’s resourcefulness. “She was really happy, we were both a bit emotional. But then she was telling me not to ruin my cashmere. I was like, ‘cashmere?’ Turned out she meant cat eye, as in make-up, because I was crying. And that’s when I stopped crying, I was like, ‘Oh Mum, it’s cat eye, not cashmere!’ So we started laughing. I don’t think anyone thought that was the conversation we were having. But that’s literally what we were talking about. She was telling me not to cry, and I just rolled my eyes.”
When we speak, Asher-smith is eating her lunch. “I’m sorry,” she says, chewing in-between questions, “it’s one of those days where I’m just running around. I’m doing Jonathan Ross later.”
Since returning home to gold confetti and celebrations at Heathrow on Monday, the end of a long season has been followed by back-to-back appearances and sponsor commitments. “I haven’t really stopped yet,” she says quietly. Unlike last year, when she famously ordered pizza for breakfast following her triple European gold medal win, she has yet really to let her hair down.
“I haven’t done anything crazy or out of the ordinary, I’ve mainly been trying to catch up on sleep.” The wildest it has got is munching her way through some profiteroles and a trip to her favourite Soho restaurant for an avocado chicken burger. In some ways, her achievements are yet to sink in – “Denise [Lewis] and Jess [Ennis-hill] said it would take a few weeks,” she notes. In other ways, hers were results that were planned for, worked for over the course of a season – and further back still – a masterful combination of hard work and planning from her and her long-time coach John Blackie. For while media and public have marvelled at her history-making feats, Ashersmith coolly admits that her results in Doha were not a surprise. “It wasn’t,” she says, simply. “As an athlete you learn to keep your aspirations to yourself, not to share your goals.”
Going into her fourth World Championships, as the favourite in the 200m, the stakes seemed high, the
pressure building. Not for Ashersmith. “This is why I tune out,” she laughs, referring to the month-long media blackout she likes to undertake ahead of a championships.
“I was very, very chilled. This is actually the most chilled I’ve ever been going into a championships. I wasn’t really nervous. I was literally fine.”
That tunnel vision serves her well. “That is the reason why we remove ourselves from the media before the race,” she says. “People project on to you. They’re like, ‘If I was in your situation, I’d be feeling nervous’, and you’re like, ‘Well, I wasn’t’. For us, it’s our jobs. We’ve run how many times on the circuit? How many World Championships? This is our moment. Arguably, this is the time when we’re in control.”
How did it feel to cross the line as a world champion? Asher-smith laughs. “It did feel good, I won’t lie. But I really wanted a PB. So at first when I crossed the line I was happy but I saw 21.89sec on the clock, which is an equal-pb, I was like [sighs] ‘Yeah, I won, but I’ve worked really hard this year and I really wanted a PB’. That’s why my celebration was a little bit muted. But then the clock changed to one-hundredth quicker and I got 21.88 and I was like, ‘Yep, I’m happy now, that will do’.”
Much was made of the star contenders who dropped out of the 200m final, leaving the Londoner as clear favourite. Even so, her winning time would have been fast enough to win gold at 13 of the 17 World Championships. But with her best time more than a tenth of a second behind Shelly-ann Fraser-pryce’s best in the 100m this year, and a similar distance behind Shaunae Miller-uibo, of the Bahamas, in the 200m, how fast does she really think she can run next year? Asher-smith is not ruffled by the question.
“I don’t think about times, I just think about how I run the race. You have to learn how to win in a championships, which is the most important thing. Some of the people who have run the most fantastic times in the year, on the Diamond League circuit, they won’t win the championships because championship running and running fast – ironically – are two different skills. But, obviously, I want to be the best athlete I can be and I want to always improve.” That’s the Christine Ohuruogu school of championship running, I say. “Definitely,” she smiles.
“Chrissy O would always beat all the girls even if they had faster PBS than her.”
Asher-smith’s ability to combine a deadly seriousness and focus, with a smiley, happy-go-lucky approach marks her out as an impressive competitor.
Is she the sprinting version of Sasha Fierce, Beyonce’s alter ego? “No, I don’t have an alter ego at all,” she laughs. “I think it’s something natural I’ve always done, it’s helped me get to where I am today. I guess that’s why that switch is there. I don’t see it as opposing personalities, it is all me.”
Although she has never worked with a sports psychologist, she seems to have her own inbuilt intuition around how to handle pressure. Her race day preparations in Doha seem perfectly attuned to preparing for intense pressure – binge-watching
The Great British Bake Off inbetween events. “It’s such a nice show, it’s not one of those cutthroat shows, they’re all just really happy and smiley and friendly. It’s the perfect thing to watch when you’re in quite a stressful environment. The most stressful thing is that somebody’s cake doesn’t rise,” she laughs.
Fittingly, among the various celebrity congratulations following her 200m world title win, it was Mary Berry – the original queen of the Bake Off – whose video message Asher-smith was most excited about. “She’s so sweet and lovely. There’s only a few people I get star-struck with, but I love food so she’s definitely one of them.”
Would Asher-smith ever go on
Bake Off herself? “I’ve been asked before but I’m way too competitive – I decided that I wouldn’t have enough time to practise, so I declined.” She turned down Bake Off? “Well, it was the Sport Relief one and
I was at uni so I would have had to miss a class which I wouldn’t do. But I’d love to go on it one day.” What would she bake? “I’m more of a watcher [of the programme] but I can make good chocolate fondants,” she smiles.
How does Asher-smith feel about being the poster girl for the Tokyo Olympic Games, as she has swiftly been dubbed? Typically, she is keen to share the attention. “Kat [Johnson-thompson] also won, Laura [Muir] is fantastic and there’s the relay squads plus Sophie Mckinna and Sophie Hitchon in the throws so, arguably, there will be a few of us. It’s a privilege to be thought of in that way, among so many other talented and powerful women.”
Has she taken advice from Ennis-hill? “Actually, the one that I’m closest to is Christine Ohuruogu. Through every round I was getting texts and encouragement, which was lovely, because she’s somebody that I think is so inspirational. She said, ‘Welcome to the exclusive club’. And then when Denise and Jess were saying the same, it did make it feel very special. It is surreal that now I’m with those names. Those are people I grew up admiring. I used to play Denise Lewis’s heptathlon game on the BBC Sport website. And I watched Jess compete at London 2012, so to sit on the sofa with them, it’s mind blowing for me.”
Performance-wise, she is already planning for success in 2020. “I was always thinking about what I was going to do next year before the championships ended. That’s just the way I am. It is less than a year to the Olympics, so that’s natural.”
Before she disappears off for a holiday with friends, she takes a moment to reflect on her enduring memory of the season. “Just the realisation that I’m a world champion,” she says, still sounding awed. “I was with my good friends yesterday and I was saying, the craziest thing to me is that I’ve achieved one of my life goals. I haven’t fully achieved what I want to do in track and field, I want to continue to do better and run faster, but I still think that it’s crazy that I’m a world champion and that can never change. That’s really cool.”