Adam Gemili

Adam Gemili

Gemili in 2013
Personal information
Nationality British
Born (1993-10-06) 6 October 1993[1]
London, England[2]
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)[3]
Weight 78 kg (12 st 4 lb)[3]
Sport
Sport Running
Event(s) Sprints
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 100 m: 9.97 (Birmingham 2015)[4]
[5]200 m: 19.98 (Moscow 2013, Zürich 2014)
Association football career
Playing position Defender
Youth career
2001–2008 Chelsea
2008–2009 Reading
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2010–2012 Dagenham &
Redbridge		 0 (0)
2011 → Thurrock (loan) 12 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Adam Gemili (Persian: آدام جمیلی‎‎; born 6 October 1993) is a British sprinter. He is the 2014 European champion at 200 metres, and 4 x 100 metre relay, a silver medalist in the 100 metres and 4 x 100 metres relay in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and a former World Junior champion at 100 metres and European Under-23 champion at 100 metres and 4 x 100 metre relay.

Gemili won a gold medal over 100 metres at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Barcelona. His winning time of 10.05 seconds established a new championship record, and is the second fastest ever run by a European junior, behind only Christophe Lemaitre (10.04). Having cleared the Olympic qualifying time with his 10.08 seconds in the 100 metres in June 2012, Gemili competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he, after a poor start, came third in the semi-final in a time of 10.06 s, 0.04 s short of qualifying for the final.[6]

He was selected to run the 200 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. Having set a personal best in the first round, in the semi-final Gemili ran a time of 19.98, making him only the second British athlete, after John Regis, the third teenager (after Usain Bolt and Alonso Edward), and the ninth European athlete, to break 20 seconds in the event.[7] 2013 was his first season training for the event.

Gemili won his first senior medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games coming second to Jamaica's Kemar Bailey-Cole in the 100 m final in a time of 10.10 seconds.[8] Two weeks later, Gemili took his first senior title, winning the 200 metres at the 2014 European Athletics Championships, in an equal personal best of 19.98 (−1.6 m/s).

He is a member of Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletic Club, and also a former football player for Dagenham & Redbridge and Thurrock F.C. having spent seven years in the youth academy at Chelsea.[9] Gemili is the only man of Middle Eastern descent to run the 100m in under 10 seconds, and the first Briton to run both the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds, and the 200 metres in less than 20.[10]

Early life

Gemili is of Iranian and Moroccan descent and remarked that "it's a very weird background for a sprinter."[11] At the age of eleven, Gemili attended Dartford Grammar School.[12] He also attended Barking and Dagenham College where he studied for a BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport, and hoped to attend university at some point.[13] After the 2012 Olympics he started studying Sports and Exercise Science with Human Biology at the University of East London,[14] where he wrote his dissertation on the effect of particular warm-up exercises on sprinting performance.[15] He is a member of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers.[13]

Sprinting career

Gemili won a silver medal over 100 metres at the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.[16] He also helped the British squad to a silver medal in the 4×100 metres relay. At the National Junior Athletic League Finals Gemili won the 200 metres in 20.98, which was the fastest time by a European junior in 2011.[17]

Gemili ran an Olympic qualifying time for the 100 metres and won the Sparkassen Gala in Regensburg, Germany, on 2 June 2012,[18] just over three weeks prior to the British track trials for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[12] He beat his previous best time of 10.23 in the heats, running a time of 10.11 and then ran a time of 10.08 in the final. That time was the second fastest 100 metres ever run by a British Junior,[19] behind only Dwain Chambers (10.06 sec). At the time of his victory, James Dasaolu was the only one other British athlete to have met the Olympic qualifying time for the men's 100 metres.[16] Gemili was selected for the British 2012 Olympic 4 × 100 m relay team on 3 July 2012.

On 11 July 2012, Gemili finished first in the 100 metres at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics, winning the gold medal in a time of 10.05 seconds, breaking the championship record originally established by Darrel Brown in 2002.[20] Besides breaking the British national junior record, Gemili's 10.05 ranks sixth all-time among juniors, behind only Brown, Jeffery Demps, Marcus Rowland, D'Angelo Cherry and Christophe Lemaitre.

He ran 10.11 in his first heat in the 100 metres at the London 2012 Olympics, finishing in second just behind Asafa Powell. As he finished in the top 3 of the heat Gemili qualified for the next round but despite finishing third in his semi final in a time of 10.06, he didn't make the final.

He qualified for the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow for the 200m. In his semi-final, he clocked a time of 19.98, the second fastest time ever by a Briton in that distance, having been bettered only by John Regis. He thus qualified for his first major final and finished 5th with a time of 20.08.[21]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games on 28 July 2014, Gemili finished second in a time of 10.10 seconds in the Men's 100m final[22] in a race won by Kemar Bailey-Cole of Jamaica.

On 31 May 2015, he broke the 10-second barrier in the 100m for the first time in his career, with a run of 9.97 seconds, however the wind speed (+3.7 m/s) was above the legal wind limit.[23] On 7 July 2015, at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham, he ran his first legal sub-10-second race in the 100m, again clocking 9.97 seconds (+2.0 m/s), however he fell as he crossed the line, picking up a hamstring injury which would cause him to miss the 2015 World Championships.[24][25] He is the one hundredth man to break 10 seconds.[26]

Football career

Formerly a football player, Gemili played as a defender for Football League Two team Dagenham & Redbridge,[13] and joined Thurrock on loan at the end of August 2011, where he made 12 appearances in the Isthmian League until November 30.[27]

He was previously a youth player at Chelsea from the age of eight onwards for seven years, and spent a year at Reading.[13][19] His time had been split between athletics and football; he said of his potential dual careers in 2012, "I hope this year could be a turning point in helping me decide which sport to focus on, but it does depend on what I run this year."[28]

In 2012 Gemili switched full-time to athletics.[29]

References

  1. ↑ "Adam Gemili". teamgb.com. British Olympic Association. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "From football wannabe to Olympic sprinter – Gemili is Britain's bolt from the blue". Daily Mail. 3 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Adam Gemili". www.telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/33041325
  5. ↑ http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=208735
  6. ↑ Kelso, Paul (5 August 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Adam Gemili narrowly misses out on 100m finals place". Telegraph.
  7. ↑ IAAF toplist
  8. ↑ "Commonwealth Games 2014: Adam Gemili straight into the 100m groove but Michael Johnson demands more to take the title". Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "Former Blue lines up for London Olympics". Chelseafc.com. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  10. ↑ Gemili breaks ten second barrier, makes history.
  11. ↑ Dirs, Ben (17 September 2012). Jonnie Peacock and Adam Gemili are going places fast. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 30 April 2013.
  12. 1 2 Hoad, Alex (9 May 2012). "Kent athletes get selected for Aviva 2012 Trials ahead of Olympic Games". Kent Online. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Richards, Joshua (30 June 2011). "Daggers Academy's Gemili insists football will always come before. athletics". Bromley Times. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  14. ↑ Aarons, Ed (7 October 2012). "Gemili the fastest learner in the Olympic heartland". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  15. ↑ Ingle, Sean (27 April 2015). "British sprinter Adam Gemili is warming up for a hot medal summer". theguardian.com. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  16. 1 2 Hart, Simon (2 June 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Dagenham & Redbridge footballer Adam Gemili on 100 metres alert". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  17. ↑ Calnan, Pat (1 August 2011). "Adam wins European silver". News Shopper.
  18. ↑ Hunter, Derek (2 June 2012). "Look out Bolt! Gemili sprints into Olympic contention with personal best in Germany". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  19. 1 2 "Britain's Adam Gemili, 18, runs 100m Olympic qualifying time". BBC Sport. 2 June 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  20. ↑ "Adam Gemili wins 100m gold at World Junior Championships". Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  21. ↑ "Lightning does strike twice for Bolt as brilliant Jamaican claims sprint double... and Gemili narrowly misses out on medal". Daily Mail. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  22. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/commonwealth-games/28533169
  23. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/32957750
  24. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/athletics/33041325
  25. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/33953225
  26. ↑ Britain's Gemili becomes 100th man to run under 10 seconds. Xinhua (2015-06-08). Retrieved on 2015-06-08.
  27. ↑ "Adam Gemili". football.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  28. ↑ Mulkeen, Jon (2 June 2012). "Gemili sets European 100m age-18 best with Olympic A standard". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  29. ↑ "Adam Gemili to run, not fight al-Qaeda". BBC. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Emir Bekrić		 Men's European Athletics Rising Star of the Year
2014 		Succeeded by
Konrad Bukowiecki
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