Adam Gemili
Gemili in 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
London,[1] England, UK | 6 October 1993|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Running | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Sprints | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) |
100 m: 10.05 (Barcelona 2012) 200 m: 19.98 (Moscow 2013) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Adam Gemili (born 6 October 1993) is a British sprinter.[1] He is a member of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers, and also a former football player for Dagenham & Redbridge having spent seven years in the youth academy at Chelsea.[2] 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.[3]
Gemili 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.[4] 2013 was his first season training for the event.
Early life
At the age of eleven, Gemili attended Dartford Grammar School.[5] 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.[6] After the 2012 Olympics he started studying Sports and Exercise Science with Human Biology at the University of East London.[7] He is a member of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers.[6] He is of Iranian and Moroccan descent and remarked that "it's a very weird background for a sprinter, but it's working for me".[8]
Sprinting career
Gemili won a silver medal over 100 metres at the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.[9] 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.[10]
Gemili ran an Olympic qualifying time for the 100 metres and won the Sparkassen Gala in Regensburg, Germany, on 2 June 2012,[11] just over three weeks prior to the British track trials for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[5] 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,[12] 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.[9] Gemili was selected for the British 2012 Olympic 4×100m 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.[13] 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 managed to qualify 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 of any Brit in that distance, being bettered only by John Regis. He subsequently qualified for his first major final and finished 5th with a time of 20.08.[14]
Football career
Formerly a football player, Gemili played as a defender for Football League Two team Dagenham & Redbridge,[6] and joined Thurrock on loan at the end of August 2011. He was previously a youth player at Chelsea from the age of eight onwards for seven years, and spent a year at Reading.[6][12] 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."[15] In 2012 Gemili switched full-time to athletics.[16]
References
- Specific
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "From football wannabe to Olympic sprinter - Gemili is Britain's bolt from the blue". Daily Mail. 3 June 2012.
- ↑ "Former Blue lines up for London Olympics". Chelseafc.com. 2013-05-19. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
- ↑ Kelso, Paul (05 August 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Adam Gemili narrowly misses out on 100m finals place". Telegraph.
- ↑ IAAF toplist
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hoad, Alex (9 May 2012). "Kent athletes get selected for Aviva 2012 Trials ahead of Olympic Games". Kent Online. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Richards, Joshua (30 June 2011). "Daggers Academy’s Gemili insists football will always come before. athletics". Bromley Times. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ↑ Aarons, Ed (7 October 2012). "Gemili the fastest learner in the Olympic heartland". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ↑ Dirs, Ben (2012-09-17). Jonnie Peacock and Adam Gemili are going places fast. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2013-04-30.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hart, Simon (2 June 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Dagenham & Redbridge footballer Adam Gemili on 100 metres alert". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ↑ Calnan, Pat (1 August 2011). "Adam wins European silver". News Shopper.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Britain's Adam Gemili, 18, runs 100m Olympic qualifying time". BBC Sport. 2 June 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ↑ "Adam Gemili wins 100m gold at World Junior Championships". Retrieved 2012-07-12.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ Mulkeen, Jon (2 June 2012). "Gemili sets European 100m age-18 best with Olympic A standard". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ↑ "Adam Gemili to run, not fight al-Qaeda". BBC. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- General
- "Adam Gemili". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
External links
- Adam Gemili career stats at Soccerbase
- Adam Gemili profile at IAAF
- Adam Gemili on Twitter