PARIS: Rhasidat Adeleke hopes to become the first Irish female to win an Olympic athletics gold in Paris, an achievement that would provide a fitting riposte to racists who have targeted her for online abuse.
Born and raised in Ireland to Nigerian parents, Adeleke, 21, heads to Paris as the European 400 metres silver medallist - one of three medals she won in Rome in June - and an impressive win at the Monaco Diamond League meet.
However, the warm afterglow of her performances at the European Championships - gold in the mixed 4x400m relay and silver in the 4x400 women’s relay - was overshadowed by a wave of racist abuse on social media which questioned her right to represent Ireland.
"Irish athletes have trained all their lives just to see opportunities taken away from them by Africans,” said one post on Twitter. Those close to Adeleke say the abuse affected her deeply. "I think that’s probably the most pain I’ve seen her have,” Edrick Floreal, her coach at Texas University, revealed. "She was really in a dark place when she read those things on the Internet. "She doesn’t cry ever, so when she cries it’s like, ‘Oh my God’, so that bothered her more than I ever thought and I just let her handle it.” The abuse prompted Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris into saluting her as an inspiration to "young girls and boys.”
‘You are Ireland’
"Rhasidat Adeleke is not only a world-class champion, she is a world-class person,” said Harris. "You are class, so please do not let online cowards bring you down. "You are Ireland and Ireland could not be more proud of you.” Adeleke’s mother, Ade, decried the abuse - "she is just a little girl” - while telling her daughter to "look forward to the positivity, not the negativity.”
Indeed there is much to be positive about heading to the Olympics, with her clocking the fourth fastest time of the season thus far of 49.07 seconds in Monaco. Had it not been for her mother, though, Adeleke might not be in the position of dreaming of Olympic gold and bettering the 5,000m silver won by Sonia O’Sullivan at the 2000 Sydney Games, which remains Ireland’s only female Olympic athletics medal.
"Her mom, Ade, was very keen that Rhasidat would get the best and education and homework had to align with sport,” her former school head teacher Aine Mulderrig told Buzz.ie in June. "There was a straightforward bus ride from her home in Tallaght (suburb of Dublin) but Ade picked her up every evening past fourth year because there was a tight schedule.
"She had training, she had her homework and that all had to be done because mom was extremely determined that she was getting her education.” Adeleke showed she had taken as much care of her homework as her training as she won a scholarship to Texas despite taking the exams in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
As ever, she had been accompanied by her mother to have a look at the campus - but unlike a legion of tricky relationships between pushy parents and talented athletes - this one seems unbreakable. "My mam comes to every single meet ever since I was growing up. She put me first all the time,” Adeleke told Irish broadcaster RTE after taking European silver. "She would switch out shifts at work. She would take me everywhere, pay for everything. "To be able to be here, doing what I love, I just feel so grateful to her because I definitely wouldn’t be here without her.” Adeleke, whose sister Latifah is also a promising athlete, feels she owes her mum and there could be no better gift than Olympic gold. — AFP