Great Britain’s Adam Gemili has announced his retirement from athletics after 14 years at the top of the sport
In the space of a few months, Adam Gemili went from playing for Dagenham and Redbridge academy to becoming World Junior 100m champion and stepping onto the start line at the London 2012 Olympics.
Gemili had left Chelsea’s academy at 15 after training alongside the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and three years later was racing against Jamaican legends Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake at the Olympics.
Now, as the Londoner announces his retirement from athletics, he will be sharing his wisdom with the current Chelsea youngsters as he joins the Premier League club part-time as a speed coach.
Gemili made his Olympic debut at 18 and raced Jamaican Yohan Blake
“I dabbled a little bit in athletics, but I didn’t really try properly, and I remember just suddenly getting into the sport in training, and I just picked it up so quickly,” Gemili said.
“I was winning races and next thing I know, six months later, it’s a home Olympics and I’m lining up for GB thinking ‘what am I doing here?’
“Honestly, it the most imposter syndrome I’ve ever had, I was thinking ‘how does this happen to me?’
“Six months prior, no one had ever asked for my autograph or asked for a picture with me and now all of a sudden I’m at a home Olympics.
“Everyone sort of knew who I was, I was the young sprinter on the block, it was a really crazy time, not just for myself, for my family as well.
“I’d seen Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake on the TV, then suddenly, I’m in the call room, looking across and Usain’s sitting there.
“I remember thinking to myself ‘lock in, come on, focus’ – I was fangirling.
“I was in the Olympic Village in London walking around and Serena Williams walked in front of me and I was like ‘what’s happening? I was playing at Dagenham five, six months ago’. I didn’t really feel like I belonged.”
Gemili’s major breakthrough into the sport came within three years of leaving the Chelsea academy
Now as Gemili retires with a plentiful collection of medals, including a 4x100m gold from the London World Championships in 2017 and four European golds, he returns to where it all started to help the next generation at Chelsea.
“I’m just a normal guy from Dartford, we didn’t grow up with a lot,” Gemili added. “We just worked hard and I committed to my sport.
“I just hope one or two of them [the academy players] take some inspiration from that and say ‘you know what, it doesn’t matter if I can’t do it in this way, I’ll always find a way to be successful’.
“It doesn’t matter what you do. My story is my own and I hope a lot of these guys can create their own stories.
“I really hope they will go on and become super famous, rich, successful footballers that I can ring up and say ‘oh, I need some tickets for this game’, but the reality is it might not happen.
“But they might then be able to go ‘Adam used to do that and then he became a professional athlete in another sport, maybe I can do that’.
“These kids are so talented, they’re going to be talented no matter what they do – these 12, 13, 14-year-olds, they are just a different breed.
“It’s more brutal to be amongst [academy football] now, social media wasn’t a thing when I was growing up and now everything you do is online.
“Everyone can judge everyone, so the pressure, the performance, you’ve got to be on it.”
Gemili placed fourth at the 2016 Olympics and 2019 World Championships over 200m, and in 2023 in the 4x100m
Through his background in football and athletics, Gemili can provide a unique perspective on improving your speed and emphasises that while all sports are different, the key is to learn was ‘fast’ feels like.
He’ll be setting up his own ‘academy’ to help sprinters, footballers, and young athletes from other sports learn how they can optimise their speed.
“Knowledge is power and if I’m able to teach these kids everything that I know, I can die happy,” he added.
“I hope even just one or two of them can feel some sort of inspiration from my story because football is very tough sport – like, I never planned to become an athlete.
“For a lot of these guys they won’t make it to the top level, they won’t make it to the top of the Premier League.
“But if I can teach them the skills that I got, one or two of them might even come into athletics, you never you never really know.”
Home World Championships ‘inspire a nation’
Gemili won gold at the London 2017 World Athletics championships in the 4x100m alongside Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, CJ Ujah and Daniel Talbot
The bidding process for the 2029 World Athletics Championships is ongoing, but British Athletics’ bid has been hit by reports West Ham are yet to agree to the London Stadium’s use.
Gemili said the impact of a home championships cannot be missed, as he reflected back on his experience competing in the stadium in 2012 and at the 2017 World Championships.
“It gives athletes a great opportunity, but also it inspires a city, inspires a nation,” he said.
“Who knows in 10 or 15 years, that moment might make the future because there would definitely have been people in that 2017 stadium that were inspired by performances there that are now on British teams.
“I really hope they can come to an agreement, because sport should be celebrated and – football, athletics – there’s so much joy and brilliance that it brings to people.
“It brings such community in it, and especially London, it brings such a city together when especially over the last couple of years, it’s felt quite divided.”
