Adam Gemili (centre) reveals he was in a depressive state in 2022.
Adam Gemili has revealed his battle with depression after turning to comfort eating during the worst year of his life.
The 29-year-old sprinter has shed 10kgs after moving to Italy following controversy and poor performances in 2022.
Gemili lost his lottery funding in December 2021 after staying with ex-coach Rana Reider, who was the subject of an investigation by the US Center for Safe Sport following multiple complaints of sexual misconduct, allegations which he denied.
Reider was given one-year probation earlier this year after he “acknowledged a consensual romantic relationship with an adult athlete, which presented a power imbalance”, according to his lawyer.
Gemili remained in America with Reider until after last year’s World Championships – where he failed to reach the 200m semi-final and only ran the heats as Great Britain won bronze in the 4x100m relay.
At the time Gemili hit out at bad press surrounding Reider for his performance – before apologising and taking the blame.
He also failed to make the 200m final at the Commonwealth Games during a year which left him rock bottom.
“I was alone in Florida, I was eating, I wasn’t doing anything and I found escape in food,” he told the PA news agency, ahead of the start of the World Championships in Budapest on Saturday. “It was the worst year of my life.
“I was severely depressed and food was a big escape. It’s been about getting happy again, getting mentally in a better place and becoming professional again. I started the year at 87 kilos, I’m now 77.
“I’m not like the other sprinters. I look at food and I put on weight. I’m not massively ripped, I don’t have a huge six pack. I’ve never needed that to run fast but I don’t need to be carrying an extra 10 kilos.
“I wasn’t professional last year and it’s made a massive difference. Being happy changes everything, your hormones, you start sleeping better.
“If you don’t sleep well you wake up in the middle of the night, you’re hungry, you go and eat and it’s just a bad cycle.
“It happens to a lot of people and a lot of athletes, especially when they’re not successful and then they find escape through food. I didn’t have people around me to say ‘stop that’.
“It was the worst time of my life and you don’t realise the negative effects it can have mentally.
“I was waking up to negative news, three missed calls from my mum and friends are texting saying ‘have you seen this article that’s come out? Your name and your picture is here’.
“Life in Italy is completely different, you’re waking up every day in the sunshine.
“Jeremiah (Azu) and I have two little electric scooters, we ride those to the track every day, it’s five minutes, train, get your treatment, go home and chill. It’s just good vibes.
“I feel incredibly happy. I’m enjoying every day and training whereas, last year, I was probably training once a week and barely getting through that.
“I was in a terrible place and to go from that to where I am now training with the athletes that I’m training with is great.”
Gemili, now on relay funding, is working with coach Marco Airale in Padua, 40 kilometres outside Venice, in a group which includes Darryl Neita, Reece Prescod and Azu.
He labels Italian Airale a “genius” and “super understanding”, having helped him earn his place in Great Britain’s 4x100m relay squad in Hungary.
While there is no individual slot for Gemili, who came an agonising fourth in the 200m at the Rio Olympics and the 2019 World Championships, he knows what he could still achieve.
Yet the 2014 European 200m champion is starting to think about life after the track and is hopeful of joining the World Athletics Athletes’ Commission, which is being voted for during the Championships in Budapest.
“You want to be an individual athlete but my mindset doesn’t change. I’m still locked in,” he says.
“I’ve been in this position before, at London 2017, and we ended up winning relay gold. Nothing changes for me. I’ve done it before and became world champion.
“Where I am in my career, I’m not that 19, 20-year-old anymore. I’m 30 in October and other things start to take priority in your life.
“I’m going for the World Athletes’ Commission, which is something I’ve always been super passionate about.
“I want to start making meaningful changes. I’m there to actually make a difference.
“I was lucky enough to be there at London 2012 and you would have expected our sport to have come on leaps and bounds and it did at the start but then has regressed back. Anyone who says it hasn’t is kidding themselves.
“We need more participation, we need more sponsorship in the sport, we need to attract more fans to our sport and make it accessible for everyone.”
For now Gemili is determined to enjoy Hungary, after admitting in February he nearly quit athletics and returned to football, having been in Chelsea’s academy as a kid.
“If I reflect on the place I was last year, I did want to give up; I basically stopped and I had options,” he said.
“I wasn’t enjoying it. It’s been a lot of hard work from a lot of people, not just myself but friends, family, training partners, coaches and support staff have helped me get my confidence back.
“I’m grateful to see where I’ve come from and if I can do it, anyone can. I was someone who never thought I would ever be in that position.
“Everyone has their own battles and demons they’re fighting and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Just being here at this Championships, I couldn’t have imagine that 12 months ago.”
Double gold: Jamaica sweeps sprint relay finals at World Under-20 Championships
Saturday’s final day of the 2024 World Athletics Under-20 Championships was a productive one for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay as both the female and male quartets claimed gold medals.
The women combined to run a season’s best 43.39 to win gold ahead of Switzerland (44.06) and Canada (44.60).
200m bronze medallist Shanoya Douglas ran the first leg before handing off to Alliah Baker. Baker ran a solid leg before handing off to Briana Campbell who then gave the baton to individual 100m champion Alana Reid who then brought it home.
The men’s race was as exciting as they come with Deandre Daley producing a brilliant anchor leg to secure gold for Jamaica in 39.18 ahead of Great Britain (39.20) and Thailand (39.39).
Jamaica were on the back foot early after the opening leg from Jace Witter before the second and third legs from Gary Card and Nyrone Wade, respectively, meant that Daley got the baton in fourth and in striking distance of the top three.
Similar to what he did at the 2023 Carifta Games in Nassau, Daley then produced an excellent anchor leg comeback to secure the gold for Jamaica.
Elsewhere, Jamaica’s Shaiquan Dunn threw 59.79m for seventh in the final of the men’s discus. The USA’s Bryce Ruland took gold with a personal best 62.59m ahead of The Netherlands’ Jarno Van Daalen (62.22m) and Finland’s Mico Lampinen (62.20).
The USVI’s Michelle Smith narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 400m hurdles final, finishing fourth in 57.21. France’s Meta Tumba took gold in a national under-20 record 55.59. Poland’s Wiktoria Gadajska ran a national under-20 record 56.87 in second while South Africa’s Hannah Van Niekerk was third in a personal best 56.98.
Alfred, Richardson to renew rivalry from Paris at Zurich Diamond League on Sept 5
St Lucia’s 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred and American silver medallists Sha’Carri Richards are set to renew their rivalry at next week’s Zurich Diamond League, which will mark their first meeting since the Paris Olympic Games.
The September 5 meet to be held at the Weltklasse will be an opportunity for Alfred to solidify her class and status against some of the best in the world, while for Richardson, it will be a shot at redemption where possibly lowering the St Lucian’s colours is concerned.
That cool and wet August 3 night at the Stade de France will be fresh in the minds of both athletes, as Alfred became her country's first Olympic champion when she exploded from the blocks and maintained her speed and composure to hold off a charging Richardson, who had to overcome a slow reaction out of the blocks to make up ground.
Alfred, 23, later added more accolades and history to her name with a silver medal win in the 200m, becoming her island’s Saint Lucia's first-ever double Olympic medallist.
For Richardson, 24, making up ground after a slow start—which is somewhat of a bad habit, as she stumbled at US Olympic Trials and came back to win—underscored her blistering turn of foot.
Though her quality was always on display, many didn’t view her as a title contender until she swept past both Jamaican stalwarts Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson to win last year's World Championships title.
In this rematch between Alfred and Richardson, Great Britain’s European champion Dina Asher-Smith will also be added to the mix to get her shot at both, as she surprisingly missed out on the Paris Olympic final after she placed fifth in her semi-final.
It is indeed set to be an intriguing showdown between four of the world’s best female sprinters, as Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji, who placed sixth in Paris, will also be aiming to make an impression on home soil.
BVI's Adaejah Hodge, Ja's Shanoya Douglas cop gold, bronze in women's 200m at World U-20 Champs
Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) delivered a stunning performance to cop gold in the women’s 200m final at the World Under-20 Championships, while Jamaica’s Shanoya Douglas claimed bronze in Lima, Peru, on Friday.
Hodge, 18, who claimed silver in the same event at the 2022 Championships, upgraded her medal to gold as she topped the field in 22.74s, marking a significant milestone in her budding career.
The Olympian’s victory was the highlight of a successful night for the Caribbean, as 16-year-old Douglas also secured a spot on the podium, finishing third in 23.10s in a thrilling race that once again showcased the region's sprinting prowess. The Caribbean duo was separated by Australia’s Torrie Lewis, who clocked a personal best of 22.88s for second.
From the gun, Hodge, who was determined to improve on her previous silver medal finish, established herself as a solid contender for the top spot. With powerful strides and impeccable form, she maintained her composure around the curve and later exploded in the straight to leave rivals in her wake.
Hodge’s win and Douglas’ bronze brought the curtains down on what was the most successful for the Caribbean since the start of the five-day Championships, as Kerrica Hill earlier copped Jamaica’s second gold medal when she clocked 12.99s to top the women’s 100m hurdles. She won ahead of Croatia’s Mia Wild (13.15s) and Delta Amidzovski (13.24s) of Australia.
Jamaica now has two gold medals and one bronze, while Hodge claimed her country's first medal.
Carlos Brown Jr (21.51s) of the Bahamas finished eighth in the men's 200m final.
Prior to that, Jamaica’s Richard Hall and Cuba’s Yander Herrera missed out on the podium in the men’s final, as both clocked in at 13.46s for fifth and sixth. The event was won by American Ja’Kobe Tharp in a new World Under-20 leading time of 13.05s.
His compatriot Andre Korbmacher (13.14s) was second, with China’s Yuanjiang Chen third in 13.21s, a national Under-20 record.
Meanwhile, Michelle Smith of US Virgin Islands once again established herself as the gold medal favourite, as she was the fastest through to Saturday’s final. Smith clocked a brisk 56.39s to win semi-final two, while Haiti’s Gloria Guerrier (1:00.20) finished eighth and failed to progress.
Jamaica’s Kelly Ann Carr suffered a similar fate in semi-final three as she placed eighth in 1:00.33.
Only one Caribbean athlete will be present in the men’s final and that is Jamaica’s Daniel Wright, who topped semi-final three in 51.11s, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Cheyne West (53.09s) placed seventh in the same race and missed out.
Another Jamaican Trevoy Smith (54.24s), also finished down the track in a brisk semi-final one, which saw the top two qualifiers crossing the line together in a World Under-20 leading time of 49.36s.
The 400m hurdles finals are scheduled for 4:35pm Jamaica time on Saturday.
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