Sprinter Adam Gemili says he is excited about becoming a full-time athlete after finishing his degree — and is still working on getting a six-pack in time for the Rio Olympics next year.
The European 200m champion has handed in his third-year dissertation at the University of East London, where he has been studying sports and exercise science with human biology.
He said: “I’m a full-time athlete pretty much now, my degree is pretty much coming to a close, it’s an unbelievable uni, I’ve had a great time.”
Gemili, 21, who competed in the 2012 London Olympics and has been highly praised by Usain Bolt, wrote his dissertation on muscles, basing it around testing on sprinters.
The former footballer from Dartford said he was “okay” with having had little time for socialising at university as he balanced study with training in Loughborough.
“I want to be an athlete and I would rather be doing this than anything else,” he said.
“I’m not really going out and I don’t really drink or anything like that. If I want to be one of the world’s best sprinters I can’t really.” He is now looking forward to reliving London 2012 in July when he takes part in the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games at the former Olympic Stadium, which “brings back a lot of memories”.
He said: “I see the stadium every day on my way to uni, you can’t get tired of a view like that. It’s going to be great to compete against world-class athletes and get that feeling of the Olympics... It’s going to be an opportunity to see some world-class performances and compete with the world’s best.”
He added: “It’s the last real chance to live that hysteria and everything in London before the attention switches to Rio.”
Gemili, who played for Dagenham & Redbridge before giving up football in 2012, said that although he misses the team element of the game he does not regret switching to athletics.
He said he and the other Team GB sprinters feed off each others’ progress and get on well — even if some of them call him “no-abs Adam”. His stomach muscles are “getting there” and he hopes to have a six-pack at Rio: “It’s my metabolism, I need to be careful with what I eat. If I wasn’t to do sport I think I would be a little round.”
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He added: “I love Nando’s, I’m allowed that. In my off-season I might allow myself a dessert or garlic bread or some chips but in season I keep it healthy.”
The Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games takes place in the former Olympic Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from 24-26 July. To buy tickets visit britishathletics.org.uk
