Dec 17,2024
Rhasidat Adeleke had high hopes heading into the Olympic year of 2024, and while she reached the final in Paris and landed a silver medal at the European Championships, she admits that she wanted more.
The Tallaght athlete brought the nation to a standstill during the summer as she made her way through the heats to reach the 400m decider, before finishing fourth, agonisingly close to securing a place on the podium.
Earlier during the summer, Adeleke appeared to be taking her best form into the Paris Games after securing silver at the Europeans in Rome, where she came home just nine hundreds of a second behind gold medallist Natalia Kaczmarek.
It was the Polish athlete who would then deny the Dubliner a place on the Olympic podium as Kaczmarek took bronze, however, on reflection, Adeleke is overall pleased by the progress she made throughout her first year as a professional.
Adeleke is already back in training at her base in Austin, Texas and all roads lead to the 2025 World Championships for the Irish 400m record holder.
That particular event is still nine months away, taking place in Tokyo next September, however, Adeleke says that everything she is doing is focused on a World medal.
Adeleke is set to skip the majority of the indoor season while her full focus is now firmly on the 400m discipline, while stating that the 200m remains a "possibility"; the summer will be dominated by Diamond League events, before the pinnacle of the season in September at the Japan-hosted Worlds.
"I'm training mainly for the 400 now and trying to get all my strength training in, and it’s crucial to build that foundation, so that’s what we are focused on right now," said Adeleke, speaking to the media on Monday.
"This is the time where I need to focus on envisioning my goals and remember that every single thing I do at this point is going to play into how the World Championships goes.
"So it’s important as soon as you are back training, to remember that, but also not to put too much pressure at the same time," she added, addressing the fear of being burnt out by the time Tokyo comes around.
By her own admission, Adeleke expected big things to happen in 2024, and while she would eventually appreciate where her journey has progressed to, she was disappointed not to have made a bigger impact in Paris.
"The vision that I had for myself after 2023 going into 2024, I had such big ambitions, and I would have saw myself with an Olympic medal," said Adeleke. "I’m very impatient when it comes to successful times and I just want everything now.
"At the last European Championships I came fifth and this time I came second, so it is still progress, it is not exactly what I wanted, I would have loved to have won. So I have to be grateful for the progress I have made in such a short period.
"2024 was my second year as a 400m runner, so with more experience and more time at the event and where I am as an athlete I think before I know it I’ll be exactly where I want to be.
"And it is not a bad progression rate at all so I just need to keep faith with what I am doing and just trust the process."
Adeleke also spoke about the pressure involved in the sport, and while she is thankful that she is not affected too much by external factors while preparing for competition, she admitted that it comes in abundance after races where she has not fulfilled her goals.
And she is also thankful that she has appeared to make the transition from college athletics to the professional world quite seamlessly, as opposed to others who find it hard to make the adjustment.
"One of my fears going into 2024, my first year as a professional, was that decline, because a lot of collegiate athletes face struggles because it is so different from being in college," she said.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself already, so external pressure does not inflict more pressure on me, I’m able to block it out.
"When I don’t achieve my goals then I feel more for others because so many people invest, even for going to Paris, people pay for flights and stadium tickets…
"In that moment when I didn’t medal, I obviously wanted it for myself, but I also felt so bad for everyone who gave so much time and had so much hope, so the post-race is where I feel the effect of having the pressure more so."
Adeleke is back in Dublin engaging in some promotional work with sponsors KPMG, but she will miss out on a hometown Christmas with only one day off offered back at camp.
However, she said that she did enjoy five weeks off, where she got to spend a lot of time at home, and also got a chance to see one of her idols up close and personal back in Texas.
A recent KPMG study underscores the societal impact of female athletes: 92% of participants agree that female sports stars have a positive impact on Irish society. And one of those stars has certainly had an impact on Adeleke.
"To see Katie Taylor in real life was insane," said Adeleke, who attended her recent victory over Amanda Serrano in Dallas.
"I’ve looked up to her for so long since 2012, so to see her in real life and in action was really cool."
