Great sporting achievements can often bring by-products that prove to be counter-productive.
Success brings a reflected glow that is never short of willing participants to bask in. While opportunities can be lucrative, they can dim a focus that needs be clear and sharp to make it to the top of a given discipline.
After a year where she underlined her status as a true superstar, unlucky to ‘only’ finish fourth in the 400m hurdles at the Olympics as well as being part of the Ireland team that came in the same spot in the relay, Rhasidat Adeleke’s graph looks like it is only pointing upwards.
It would be easy to get caught up in your own hype and maximise the commercial potential available, but if anything, the Tallaght native is too reluctant to do anything that would diminish her ability to run fast.
“I think I have a really good support system around me,” she says, “so they’re able to give me a lot of advice and guide me towards the right direction when it comes to things like that.
“I think, because my heart is so deep into athletics and wanting to achieve so much, I usually don’t even need somebody to tell me to focus on the main thing, because I already know what my goals are.
“A lot of opportunities come and there’s definitely things that can be removed from athletics but I think, for me, I’m so focused on what I want to achieve in the sport, there are more ‘nos’ than ‘yeses’.
Sport/life balance
“Sometimes, I’ll be like, ‘I don’t want to go to this because I don’t want to miss training’, and Flo [her coach, Edrick Floreal] will be like, ‘No, you need this break so go for these two days to this event that you need to be at and come back, because that’s going to give you an opportunity to get a breather and re-focus again for training’.
“I wasn’t actually going to go on holidays and Flo literally would not let me back to Austin unless I went away for at least three or four days, because he’s strong on, ‘All work, no play’, will have you burnt out a lot earlier than you should be.
“He’s very vocal about being able to do those things that kind of take you away from all the work and you’re able to replenish yourself, spend time with your friends, spend time with your family.
“Whatever that is for you, whatever your outlet is – be connected to that when you need to be, because otherwise it’s just going to feel like too much when it comes to training and being able to focus all the time on one thing.”
Chris O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley and Thomas Barr jump for joy after winning the mixed 4x400m relay final at the European Athletics Championships in Rome last June. \ Sam Barnes Sportsfile
Along with jockey Rachael Blackmore and golfer Leona Maguire, she is an ambassador for KPMG’s Inspire The Future initiative. Has she noticed a trickle-down effect based on her exploits? “Yeah, absolutely, and I think that that ties in really well with the Inspire The Future, the key messaging that comes from the campaign,” she says.
“I think that there has definitely been an increase – I think a lot of girls have been inspired by what we’ve been doing but I think a lot of guys as well have been inspired and a lot of people in general have taken up, if not athletics, then other sports and have been active or more interested in it.
“I think there has definitely been an increase and there have been so many people competing at such a high level – not just in athletics but in different sports – I think the Olympics was really prominent in displaying the variety of things that people could do.”
Texas base
Having graduated with a degree in corporate communications from the University of Texas last May, Rhasidat Adeleke continues to base herself in Austin as she takes the first steps into professionalism.
In terms of how she can improve, and if it doesn’t sound too confusing, she cites strength as a weakness. However, such is her appetite for perfection, that won’t be the case for long.
“I think that my strength issues weren’t just with actually having the stamina to finish a race,” she says, “it was things like posture and tightening in various areas, and strengthening work in my physique and not necessarily the training also.
“It’s a bunch of different things that I’m fixing with my training but also in the weight room and with mobility and prehab, just the little one percentages that you don’t think matter but they do matter a lot. So it’s a lot of those things.
“I’m very self-aware, I know what I’m not good at and I’m really good at taking constructive criticism as well, so if someone is like, ‘Oh, you need to work on this’, then, I’m like, ‘Okay, what do I need to do?’
“So I want to do everything I can to get better at this sport and to reach our full potential, so if anyone is able to help me with that I’m all ears and I’m willing to do the work to get to where I want to be.
“There’s nothing worse than feeling like, ‘Oh, I could have done more and I didn’t’, like if I was aware that I could have done more and didn’t. So when it comes to working on my weaknesses, I’m all for it.”
Great sporting achievements can often bring by-products that prove to be counter-productive.
Success brings a reflected glow that is never short of willing participants to bask in. While opportunities can be lucrative, they can dim a focus that needs be clear and sharp to make it to the top of a given discipline.
After a year where she underlined her status as a true superstar, unlucky to ‘only’ finish fourth in the 400m hurdles at the Olympics as well as being part of the Ireland team that came in the same spot in the relay, Rhasidat Adeleke’s graph looks like it is only pointing upwards.
It would be easy to get caught up in your own hype and maximise the commercial potential available, but if anything, the Tallaght native is too reluctant to do anything that would diminish her ability to run fast.
“I think I have a really good support system around me,” she says, “so they’re able to give me a lot of advice and guide me towards the right direction when it comes to things like that.
“I think, because my heart is so deep into athletics and wanting to achieve so much, I usually don’t even need somebody to tell me to focus on the main thing, because I already know what my goals are.
“A lot of opportunities come and there’s definitely things that can be removed from athletics but I think, for me, I’m so focused on what I want to achieve in the sport, there are more ‘nos’ than ‘yeses’.
Sport/life balance
“Sometimes, I’ll be like, ‘I don’t want to go to this because I don’t want to miss training’, and Flo [her coach, Edrick Floreal] will be like, ‘No, you need this break so go for these two days to this event that you need to be at and come back, because that’s going to give you an opportunity to get a breather and re-focus again for training’.
“I wasn’t actually going to go on holidays and Flo literally would not let me back to Austin unless I went away for at least three or four days, because he’s strong on, ‘All work, no play’, will have you burnt out a lot earlier than you should be.
“He’s very vocal about being able to do those things that kind of take you away from all the work and you’re able to replenish yourself, spend time with your friends, spend time with your family.
“Whatever that is for you, whatever your outlet is – be connected to that when you need to be, because otherwise it’s just going to feel like too much when it comes to training and being able to focus all the time on one thing.”
Chris O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley and Thomas Barr jump for joy after winning the mixed 4x400m relay final at the European Athletics Championships in Rome last June. \ Sam Barnes Sportsfile
Along with jockey Rachael Blackmore and golfer Leona Maguire, she is an ambassador for KPMG’s Inspire The Future initiative. Has she noticed a trickle-down effect based on her exploits? “Yeah, absolutely, and I think that that ties in really well with the Inspire The Future, the key messaging that comes from the campaign,” she says.
“I think that there has definitely been an increase – I think a lot of girls have been inspired by what we’ve been doing but I think a lot of guys as well have been inspired and a lot of people in general have taken up, if not athletics, then other sports and have been active or more interested in it.
“I think there has definitely been an increase and there have been so many people competing at such a high level – not just in athletics but in different sports – I think the Olympics was really prominent in displaying the variety of things that people could do.”
Texas base
Having graduated with a degree in corporate communications from the University of Texas last May, Rhasidat Adeleke continues to base herself in Austin as she takes the first steps into professionalism.
In terms of how she can improve, and if it doesn’t sound too confusing, she cites strength as a weakness. However, such is her appetite for perfection, that won’t be the case for long.
“I think that my strength issues weren’t just with actually having the stamina to finish a race,” she says, “it was things like posture and tightening in various areas, and strengthening work in my physique and not necessarily the training also.
“It’s a bunch of different things that I’m fixing with my training but also in the weight room and with mobility and prehab, just the little one percentages that you don’t think matter but they do matter a lot. So it’s a lot of those things.
“I’m very self-aware, I know what I’m not good at and I’m really good at taking constructive criticism as well, so if someone is like, ‘Oh, you need to work on this’, then, I’m like, ‘Okay, what do I need to do?’
“So I want to do everything I can to get better at this sport and to reach our full potential, so if anyone is able to help me with that I’m all ears and I’m willing to do the work to get to where I want to be.
“There’s nothing worse than feeling like, ‘Oh, I could have done more and I didn’t’, like if I was aware that I could have done more and didn’t. So when it comes to working on my weaknesses, I’m all for it.”
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