Rhasidat Adeleke is one of Ireland’s best talents on the athletics track and the fastest-ever female sprinter in Irish history.
The 22-year-old athlete grew up in Tallaght, south Dublin, where her talent was nurtured by Tallaght Athletics Club. She trained in the club for years, along with her two siblings, before making the move to Austin to attend the University of Texas.
Rhasidat spoke to EVOKE about her life growing in Tallaght, her family background, and her close relationship with her mum, Ade, who she credits for supporting her athletics career.
Growing up in Tallaght
Rhasidat has fond memories of an Irish childhood growing up in Tallaght, which she says will always hold a ‘special place in her heart’.
She recalled the childhood games she’d play with her friends in the neighborhood, where she had the advantage of being faster than all the other kids!
Rhasidat said: ‘It was fun! I just remember all the moments where I spent time with my friends, just having fun. We’d always just be outside playing tip the can, chasing, having water fights.’
‘It was just where everything started. That’s where my athletics club was, that’s where my school was, so it’ll always have a special place in my heart because who knows where I’d be if I didn’t grow up in that area? I just had a great experience there.’
The primary school coach who spotted her talent
Rhasidat attended St Mark’s National School in Springfield and ran for her primary school in athletics competitions, where she remembers winning the 100-metre sprint every year.
It was her PE teacher at St Mark’s, Dee Lunny (or Ms Lunny to Rhasidat) who spotted the young girl’s natural talent and encouraged her to sign up for the local athletics club aged 12, telling her: “You need to join a club”.
Rhasidat told EVOKE: ‘I was always fast. When we’d do activities and PE and things you’d regularly do in school and when we would do like tryouts for the athletic championships, I would usually do really well.
‘I went to those [championships] and I was competing really well – I used to win at the 100 meters every year. So my PE teacher was like, “You need to join a club”.
‘She gave me the application form and everything that I needed to get registered and it went pretty smoothly and I joined the club.’
Ms Lunny was in the audience at the Late Late Show where she told Patrick Kielty about what it was like seeing Rhasidat’s talent at an early age, saying: ‘She was so young, she was nine or 10 and I think we already knew she was going to be a superstar.’
On track at Tallaght Athletics Club
It’s not all pure talent, it’s a lot of hard work too as Rhasidat found out when she first joined Tallaght Athletics Club. At schools’ level was used to being the fastest person in the field but once she started competing at a club level she wasn’t winning races.
Rhasidat said: ‘When I actually joined the athletics club and I was against other athletes and other fast people, I was like, “Oh, I’m not special, like they’re all fast as well”. When I first did my first race in like club division, I wasn’t winning and I wasn’t like at the top and I wasn’t doing that well.
‘I wasn’t used to that because when I was running, playing, chasing and beating boys, like “I’m the best thing to ever exist”… It was very hard to get past that barrier but I just kept going. I was like, “I love this so much. I’m just going to give it the best opportunity and give it my full effort and let’s see how it turns out”.’
Rhasidat’s close relationship with her mum
Rhasidat credits her mum Adewumi Ademola, or Ade, for making the road to success ‘seamless’, saying how her mum used to change her work schedule to make sure she was able to support her daughter’s budding athletics career.
She said: ‘I definitely wouldn’t be where I am without her because she’s just done so much to help me get to where I am today. And she’s just kind of like cleared the path… she made that road to success very seamless for me.’
Rhasidat said: ‘She does so much day in, day out, from morning to night, regardless of what her schedule looks like, she will change her schedule to make sure it suits mine.
‘Not everybody has that access to someone who’s going to do all that. So it’s really made me appreciate it.’
Her speedy siblings
Rhasidat is a middle child, one of three children in her family – with one older sister, Latifah, and one younger brother, Abdullahi.
The love of athletics runs in the family and both of her siblings used to run with Tallaght Athletics Club, where her sister Latifah used to be faster than the future Olympian.
Rhasidat said: ‘My older sister, she used to actually do athletics. She was really good – she was actually faster than me when we were younger. But she just had a lot of other interests that she was kind of into at the time and she kind of pursued those things.’
Meanwhile, her 15-year-old brother Abdullahi is still competing in athletics and could very well follow in his sister’s footsteps as he’s already winning national medals in the sprint disciples.
She said: ‘My brother still does athletics, he’s 15 and he does athletics, he does basketball, he does football, so he’s like really active. He’s just like me, he does all the sports. I’m glad that he’s keeping up the tradition though!’
