Name: Adam Gemili
Event: 100m
Date of Birth: 6th October 1993, Age 18
Career Highlight: Winning gold in the 100m in the 2012 World Youth Championships
Did you Know?: As well as an athlete, Gemili has been a professional footballer
Young sprinter Adam Gemili is one of the most promising athletes in the world, and 2012 has seen the development of a potential new star. The young man who attends Barking and Dagenham College, first made his breakthrough in athletics on the world stage in 2011. In the Youth World Championships in Tallinn that year he won silver in both the individual 100m and the relay.
2012 though saw his major progression, during which he ran the Olympic qualifying time before blitzing the national trials. Twice he beat his personal best time, running 10.08 in the final to secure his ticket for London 2012. Even better was yet to come though in Barcelona only a couple of weeks ago.
After silver last year, Gemili went one better this time demolishing the rest of the field in Usain Bolt style to win gold in another PB of 10.05 seconds. This was a new championship record, British junior record and the sixth fastest time for a junior of all time.
What is even more amazing is that it wasn’t until this year that he switched full time to athletics. Prior to this Gemili was a budding young footballer, who had started his career in the Chelsea youth ranks, before gradually slipping out of the professional game. A defender by trade, Gemili was on Dagenham and Redbridge’s books and had a loan spell at Thurrock.
In London 2012 Gemili will be performing in front of a rather larger crowd than during his days at Thurrock, but the signs show that he’ll take it all in his stride. There’s no pressure on the youngster’s shoulders, nobody expects a medal. If Gemili can qualify for the final then that will be a phenomenal achievement, but to do that he may well have to run under ten seconds for the first time.
So there you have it, the last of our Olympic Dreams series. Tonight the opening ceremony, and then tomorrow the Olympics truly do get underway, and we’ll find out how our Olympians will fare. Indeed the football has already commenced, with Team GB stuttering to a 1-1 draw against Senegal last night. Some amzing sporting moments lie in store for us, and hopefully the British athletes can do their nation proud on the greatest stage on earth.
