Adeleke: 'I do think about the Olympics but I don't let it consume me'

OLYMPIC GOALS: KPMG’s newest ambassador and one of Ireland’s leading athletes, Rhasidat Adeleke as she builds towards an exciting summer. 

The next few months are big for Rhasidat Adeleke. Huge. 

Not only is there an Olympic Games and the potential for a medal in Paris, but the 21-year-old is due to finish her degree in business and communication at the University of Texas in May.

That latter fact is a reminder as to just how young this running phenom still is. Though she turned professional this season, Adeleke continues to juggle education and athletic commitments and all while expectations and commitments are building.

The announcement yesterday that she will act as a sporting ambassador for KPMG, following in the footsteps of golfer Leona Maguire and jockey Rachael Blackmore, was just another step in the journey towards the centre of the spotlight.

All this attention can be overwhelming.

“It can be sometimes because a lot of the time I have a lot of things going on with school and track and personal life. It can come at the wrong time, but honestly, it's just part of it and it's more so about how I react.

“I just try not to let things get to me too much and I try to be very action-orientated. So instead of letting things linger over me and be like, ‘Oh my God I'm so stressed…’ Just get to it. What can I do to make this situation better?” 

Adeleke is as impressive off the track as she is on it. There is a clear confidence as she speaks, whether over a Zoom or in a post-race mixed zone, and she doesn’t shy away from the enormity of what the summer will, and can, bring with it.

What would make for a successful Games?

“A medal.” 

Any particular colour?

“Gold, I think.” 

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke. Pic: Morgan Treacy, Inpho

That answer was delivered with a smile and a giggle that served to soften its edges as a declaration of intent, but it couldn’t disguise the belief. Fourth in the World Championship 400m last year, she could be one of Team Ireland’s stars in the French capital.

Adeleke recorded the fourth fastest time over the distance last season, her 49.20 at the NCAA Division I finals in June faster than that of Dutch star Femke Bol, and 0.46 off Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s year’s-best effort in Oregon two months later.

Bol broke her own global record for the 400m Indoors in winning gold at the World Championships in Glasgow last weekend. Her time of 49.17 shaved 0.07 seconds off the mark she had left at the Dutch champs a few weeks earlier.

Adeleke was almost 5,000 miles away at the time having decided against travelling to Scotland for the event and, instead, remaining in Texas where she was in the process of finishing off a large training bloc under coach Edrick Floreal.

The focus is resolutely outdoors. There are no regrets.

“No, not really. Honestly. I actually don’t really watch track and field that much. I definitely was tuned into the Irish, and some of my teammates, looking up the results and videos on Twitter and stuff, but it was really, really entertaining to see everyone doing so well.” 

Her own indoor season was short and ended in some frustration.

Irish indoor records were broken at 60m and at 200m in Albuquerque in late January but another national best of 36.42, in the 300m, at the Millrose Games in New York last month was in fact a poorly executed run that saw her finish second.

Winter training had focused on speed work and mechanics and that race wasn’t a reflection of her efforts. Her instinct was to have another go at a distance that she finds hard to crack. Coach Flo nixed the thought. There would be time yet, he said, for people to see.

The plan is to pitch up next at the Texas Relays at the end of this month and she has committed to the World Relays in the Bahamas in May when the Irish 4x400m women will hope to secure Olympic qualification.

There aren’t any solid plans yet as to when she will start running individual events although the intention for now is very much to compete at the European Championships in Rome in early June. As for distances, that’s still up in the air.

“I know it’s two rounds in Rome so we could really do any of the events. Not having three rounds of the 400 and all that running in the legs could open up to me doing the 4 and I could definitely do the 200. If my one (hundred) is where it could be, I could do the one.” 

All options remain open. Her body took a battering by the end of last season having balanced NCAA and international commitments. She is lightly-raced and fit now after rolling an ankle earlier in the season.

If the next few months remain cloudy as Coach Flo puts the finishing touches to her schedule then the end point is crystal clear. Paris and those Games are ever-present in everyone’s minds as spring calls and things begin to heat up.

“I do think about it sometimes but I don’t let it consume me. 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 like it’s a negative thing.

“It’s a positive thing, going to the Olympics, it’s an opportunity, and very few people get to go to the Olympics. So I see it as a positive thing rather than something scary.” 

*KPMG has announced a two-year partnership with Rhasidat Adeleke which will see the athlete act as its newest sporting ambassador