Abdullahi kickstarted his bid to replicate his sister’s glittering sporting achievements when he and his three team-mates took gold in the Under17s 4 x 100m relay final at the Dublin Athletics Championships.
On Friday evening, Abdullahi kickstarted his bid to replicate his sister’s glittering sporting achievements when he and his three team-mates took gold in the Under17s 4 x 100m relay final at the Dublin Athletics Championships.
Abdullahi (14) is the youngest of three children born to Ade and Prince Adeleke, Nigerian immigrants who settled in the south Dublin suburb after travelling to Ireland to make better lives for themselves.
Abdullahi in action on Friday night
Eldest sister Lati was a noted shot-putter at Tallaght Athletics Club, where Rhasidat (21) spent her formative years developing her sprinting before earning a college scholarship in Texas.
“I watched the races live when Rhasidat was at the finals in Rome over the past few days,” says Abdullahi. “I was with my sister and the guys on the team watching the races. We were all happy in the house, screaming her on.
“I spoke to her on the phone afterwards, asked her how she was and how she felt after winning her race, her gold one.”
Rhasidat Adeleke won three medals
Despite the media attention on his sister’s sporting achievements this week, Abdullahi has had his own distractions besides preparing for the final on Friday – as the same day he finished his Junior Cert.
“Hopefully, I got a few distinctions,” he says, smiling.
But, Rhasidat’s success has also been uppermost in his thoughts in recent days – besides her gold medal in the mixed relay she also won silver in the individual 400m and another silver in the 400m relay.
“Everyone in Tallaght is asking me ‘are you proud of her?’ and stuff like that. Of course I am, we all are,” he says.
“We are all excited now for the Olympics in Paris next month, where we hope she will bring home some medals from there too.
“The last time I saw her was when I went to America for her graduation. That was last month. I had been to America before, to see her run in the World Championships.”
Abdullahi is the youngest on his team.
“I’ve been running since I’ve been 10 years old. I do the 100 and 200 metres” he says.
Abdullahi Adeleke and with his team-mates at Tallaght Athletics Club
“I ran the 100 and 200 (individual) finals last week. I came second in the 100 and second in the 200. I also do a bit of basketball, a bit of football as well.”
He is quite focused in his response when asked what his future in athletics hopes are.
“My hopes are to make the Olympics, make the Europeans and, hopefully, win a championship or a medal,” he exclaims.
Friday’s finals at the Lucan Harriers Club were just one section of the Dublin Athletics Championships, which have to be run over several nights, including at Morton Stadium in Santry.
Blanaid Dwyer, a volunteer with Tallaght AC, recalls the excitement at the track when Rhasidat was competing in Rome.
“Everyone was looking on their phones and watching it. They had the commentary from Rome on the loudspeakers as well,” she says.
Blanaid is a guidance counsellor at Old Bawn Community School in Tallaght, and her daughter Brianna also runs for the club.
“We met Rhasidat a couple of times and her mum is a good friend of ours as well,” she notes.
She points out the level of commitment from the young people taking part.
Abdullahi Adeleke with his relay team
“At the end of the day we are talking about young people who work hard, they try their best,” she says.
“They are decent kids, and the thing with the athletics structure is it keeps them busy, keeps them off the streets and its good for their mental health as well.
“I feel like athletics in Ireland is just starting to be taken seriously. There’s a lot of support for these kids. It’s expensive, they have to pay for their competitions, they have to pay for their travel to competitions and they have to do that from their own pocket.
“It’s no harm that athletics is getting some serious recognition at this point of time.”
Cecil Johnston has been a coach in Tallaght AC for more than 25 years, specialising in mainly middle-distance running.
“Last weekend, I think we had eight who topped the podium and numerous others got silvers and bronze medals, and they will all qualify for the National Championships next month in Tullamore,” he says.
“We had a couple of relay successes in Lucan on Friday and Wednesday, so it’s been quite successful.”
Cecil says that he is thrilled at Rhasidat’s success.
“She comes back to Tallaght as often as she can,” he says. “It’s rare these days as she’s in Texas and her focus is on the Olympics.
Abdullahi Adeleke
“It should be highlighted that there is only one other 21-year-old that has run faster than Rhasidat.
“The last time a 21-year-old ran faster than her was Sanye Richards-Ross of the USA in 2006, who ran 48.70. If you look at the ages of the others, none are younger than 24.
“She is certainly going in the right direction, from being ninth in the world in 2022, and then the European Championships in Germany she was fifth in the 400.
“Then last year fourth in the world final, then to get silver in the European stage was fantastic. I suppose the main target is the Olympics and there’s only two other athletes who’ve run faster than her this year, so I’d put my money on her being on the podium.”
Alanna Wade is another of the coaches at Tallaght AC who focuses on the club’s talented sprinters.
“I’ve been coaching at Tallaght the last six years, and this group (of sprinters) for three years,” she says.
“We coach from about age eight to some who are over 18 and in their early 20s. The most popular age is between 14 and 17. There are about 250 members overall, and we have about 45 in our group, the sprinters.
“I coach the guys who are at competition level and we have different stages, beginners, the ones that are in development”.
Rhasidat was coached at the club by Daniel Kilgallon, who also coaches the men’s 4x100m national team and star sprinter Israel Olatunde, who’s Ireland’s fastest man.
“I was coached by Tony Byrne, who passed away just a few weeks ago,” adds Alanna.
“He coached me from aged 10 and I was in the club for years. Then I moved to the States, I came back. I had kids of my own, I wanted to bring them to Tallaght to run and I was there for two years just bringing my own kids down and they asked me ‘why don’t you come onboard and learn about coaching’ and I’ve been doing that the last six years.
“I used to be out on the track when I was young, doing nationals. I was quite good at the high jump and shot-put, but I was also not bad on the track.”
Alanna opens up more about Rhasidat’s history with the club.
“Rhasidat would have been with Daniel when I joined. She had previously been with Johnny Fox, and then she moved over with Daniel Kilgallon before she headed off to college in the States. She’s gone about three years,” she reflects.
“I’ve met her and I’m pretty good friends with her mother, she’s a lovely woman.
“She is big star of the club and she’s a great representative for not only Tallaght, but women, women of colour, she’s just out representing, so we are very, very proud of her.”
Following Rhasidat’s success in Rome this week, there is obviously more interest in athletics and their club given the success of the Irish athletes in Rome.
“There’s a great interest in the club, there’s a lot of younger kids coming down. They are very excited, very interested in running,” she says.
“We have a track. Some of it is in need of repair. If we got a bit more investment from the Government or some private entity to help improve the track, it would be very much appreciated.
“It would actually bring more competition to the area, which would be good for Tallaght in general,” Alanna adds.