Adam Gemili

Adam Gemili

Gemili in 2013
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1993-10-06) 6 October 1993[1] London,[2] England
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)[1][3]
Weight	58 kg (9 st 2 lb)[1][3]
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	Sprints
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m: 10.04 (Mannheim 2014) [4]200 m: 19.98 (Moscow 2013, Zürich 2014)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  England Commonwealth Games Silver 2014 Glasgow 100 m Silver 2014 Glasgow 4x100 m relay Representing  Great Britain European Championships Gold 2014 Zürich 200 m Gold 2014 Zürich 4 x 100 m relay European Under 23 Championships Gold 2013 Tampere 100 m World Junior Championships Gold 2012 Barcelona 100 m European Junior Championships Silver 2011 Tallinn 100 m Silver 2011 Tallinn 4×100 m relay

Adam Gemili (born 6 October 1993) is a British sprinter.^[2] 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.^[5] 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]

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.^[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 (-1.7).

Early life

At the age of eleven, Gemili attended Dartford Grammar School.^[9] 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.^[10] After the 2012 Olympics he started studying Sports and Exercise Science with Human Biology at the University of East London.^[11] He is a member of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers.^[10] 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".^[12]

Sprinting career

Gemili won a silver medal over 100 metres at the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.^[13] 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.^[14]

Gemili ran an Olympic qualifying time for the 100 metres and won the Sparkassen Gala in Regensburg, Germany, on 2 June 2012,^[15] just over three weeks prior to the British track trials for the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[9] 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,^[16] 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.^[13] 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.^[17] 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.^[18]

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^[19] in a race won by Kemar Bailey-Cole of Jamaica.

Football career

Formerly a football player, Gemili played as a defender for Football League Two team Dagenham & Redbridge,^[10] and joined Thurrock on loan at the end of August 2011, where he made 12 appearances in the Isthmian League until November 30.^[20]

He was previously a youth player at Chelsea from the age of eight onwards for seven years, and spent a year at Reading.^[10][16] 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."^[21]

In 2012 Gemili switched full-time to athletics.^[22]

References

External links

• Adam Gemili career statistics at Soccerbase
• Adam Gemili profile at IAAF
• Adam Gemili on Twitter

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