Our double cover star shares her hopes of becoming a household name in Irish sport
Rhasidat Adeleke is gearing up for the biggest event of her career to date – the semi-final and hopefully, final 400m race at the Paris Olympics. The current Irish Country Magazine double cover star (alongside Olympic great Sonia O’Sullivan) has the world at her feet and from the almost effortless way she made it through to the semi-finals in her recent heat, it looks like there is no stopping this incredible athlete.
Speaking to Irish Country Magazine before the Paris Olympics kicked off, the record-breaking sprinter said: “I’ve always been extremely competitive. Regardless of what I do, I want to be the best. Even in school, when I beat the girls in the yard, I’d be like, ‘I want to beat the boys now!'”
Since turning professional last year, the 21-year-old has exceeded all expectations, smashing records and most notably winning a gold medal with her 4x400m relay teammates Chris O’Donnell, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley at the European Athletic Championships (EAC).
She will also be hoping to finally beat Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek at the Olympics, after the Polish runner just pipped her to a gold medal in the 400m final at the EAC. However, despite setting a new Irish National Record and being disappointed at the time, Rhasidat has a pragmatic approach to losing races.
“You have to adapt to having short-term memory,” she explained. “Sometimes, things don’t go your way, so you need to figure out how to move past it because you have another event coming up. You can’t let a bad practice or race sit on your mind. You also have to take things how they are, if you can’t control it, you have to let it be. You can only control the controllables.”
Photography: Claire Nash for ICM
Going for gold in Paris
Pragmatism aside, Adeleke wants an Olympic medal and admitted that even as she does her practice sessions, she has the Paris finish line in her mind’s eye. And as well as doing it for herself, she knows that the hopes of the nation are riding on her shoulders but does her best to ‘block out the noise and focus’.
“Competing at this level is a privilege,” she told ICM. “There are people injured who would love to be in my position, and it’s an opportunity to show the work you’ve been putting in.”
Of course, as the young athlete becomes a household name, she is also acutely aware that she has the eyes of thousands of young people watching her and is determined to pass on the self-belief she has nurtured in herself to others who want to follow in her footsteps.
“It’s amazing to see so many women competing so well in different sports across Ireland, because now, they can see it,” she enthused. “They can go, ‘Oh, I want to be like her, she’s where I’m from’ or ‘if she can do it, I can do it.’ That visibility is so important. We’re getting bigger and bigger as a nation, and to be able to provide that inspiration for the younger kids growing up is incredible.”
She looks to previous Olympic medallists like Sonia O’Sullivan for inspiration, saying how much she admires the Cork native for having achieved so much and pushing through the adversity she faced along the way.
“I want to be like her,” she declared. “I want to be an Olympic medallist.”
At this moment in time, we don’t know yet if this dream will be materialised but you can be sure that we’ll be glued to our TV screens over the coming days and cheering Rhasidat every step of the way, along with the rest of our incredible athletes who are all doing Ireland proud.
Click here for the schedule of Team Ireland events taking place for the remainder of the Olympics.
You can read the full interview with Rhasidat Adeleke by Niamh Devereux in the July|August edition of Irish Country Magazine, on sale now.
