THE FAST SHOW
Adeleke wants to charge onto the 400M podium by emulating her training partner Alfred
IRELAND’S sprint queen Rhasidat Adeleke wants to establish a purple reign for Ireland at Paris 2024 on the eye-catching new Stade de France track.
And Adeleke, 21, admits her friend and training partner Julien Alfred’s 100m Olympic triumph is inspiring her to follow suit.
The Tallaght star got her debut Olympics off to an impressive winning start on the same track today, burning off her 400m opposition with 100m to go and cantering to the finish line in the sixth and final heat.
“Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend what the Olympics really is because I guess I’ve been building up to this for so long,” she said, after cantering into Wednesday’s semi-finals as the winner in the sixth and last heat.
“And sometimes it’s expected as a given and the way I am, I’m not happy to participate, I want to achieve my goals. My goal wasn’t just to come to the Olympics, my goal was to do something special. And that’s what my goal will remain.
“The track felt really good even when I was doing my pre-meet the last couple of days I felt really good. I was really excited because the track is purple and my favourite colour is purple.
“I was just like, ‘yeah, let’s go out there, it’s something new, my first Olympics’ – so it’s all a new experience and I’m taking it every step of the way.
A big draw for the sell-out crowd at the iconic St Denis venue, the Tallaght star described her 50.09 run as “really calm and relaxed”.
She added: “I was really excited to get out there. I’ve been here for a week so I was kind of itching to run but it felt amazing, felt really calm and I’m really excited for the next round.”
She had the race won with over 100m to go and spent the final 80m easing down, while remaining alert for anyone making a late burst past her. With only the USA’S Alexis Holmes mapped as a serious rival in the heat, it was really just business as usual for Adeleke – who admitted after the race that she would have competed in the 4x400m mixed relay final if Ireland had qualified.
“I just wanted to see where I could relax, shut down,” she recalled. “That’s what my coach told me to do, ‘as soon as you can shut down, shut down’.
“We have two more rounds, so, well hopefully we’ll be looking forward to that.
“The track felt really good. Even when I was doing my pre-meet
I could have cried and I was inspired as she is my training partner and inspires me every day..
the last couple of days, I felt really good. I was really excited because the track is purple and my favourite colour is purple.
“I was just like, ‘yeah, let’s go out there, it’s something new, my first Olympics’ so it’s all a new experience and I’m taking it every step of the way.” Alfred, who trains with Adeleke in Texas, won the first ever medal for St Lucia in the Games last Saturday night.
The Dubliner was watching and was emotional watching her friend make history as she beat Sha’carri Richardson of the USA in the final.
“Oh my god, I literally cried,” said Adeleke. “It was so inspiring because she’s my training partner and I’m inspired by her every day.
“She works so hard, we all work so hard and seeing someone you hold so dear, she’s one of my best friends, and seeing her achieve her goals, we’ve talked about it so much. I knew she could do it.
“I’d have bet anything she would do it and I knew she was going to perform on the day so to see it come to fruition was so, it inspired me to play my own part and do what I know I can do.”
The events of the last week, with Team Ireland winning seven medals, is also driving the European silver medalist to add to that total.
“The Irish champions have been absolutely amazing,” Adeleke said. “From the gold medals to the bronze medals, everyone who’s been literally turning us all up. I’m so excited to hopefully be able to add to that. And, yeah, it’s been an amazing environment seeing so many inspirational athletes from different sports.
“It’s my first time meeting a lot of them, getting to talk to some of them and yeah, I’m really excited to see what the rest of the team can do.”
Certainly her Team Ireland colleague Sharlene Mawdsley, who was watching trackside after her own heat, is excited to see what Adeleke can achieve this week.
“She’s just such a superstar,” said Mawdsley. “I was cheering her on the whole way even though I knew she had it in the bag. To run a 50.0 looking around you, hopefully I can run that some day without looking around me!
“She’s class and it’s really inspiring. To see her in the call room, she is so cool and collected. It’s exactly how I want to be in the future, so she’s amazing to look towards.”