World Championships: Great Britain star Adam Gemili recalls bizarre exchange with rival

The world of sprinting used to be a dog-eat-dog world with a lot of mind games played among athletes to gain the slightest upper hand.

The new wave of sprinters though, particularly in the British squad, seem far more relaxed and unfazed by outside noise.

That may have something to do with the sheer spotlight social media can put on sport stars potentially outweighing any possible fear factor from a sprinting rival.

But Gemili, who will compete in the men’s 100m and 200m for Britain, isn’t one to get bothered by a show of bravado.

The 25-year-old was a late comer to sprinting, transitioning from a promising young career as a footballer just under 10 years ago.

It was in the 2012 World Junior Championships though where he truly announced himself on the scene as a seriously talented sprinter, finishing first in a championship record time of 10.05.

And while the event provides good memories for Gemili, there was one athlete who tried – and failed – to intimidate the British track star.

“Certain athletes getting hyped and trying to get in my face, beating their chest and shouting at me,” he said.

“I was pretty new to the sport and I had no real idea what anything was but I was pretty confident because I was running pretty fast that year.

“That’s when I learned intimidation tactics don’t really work on me.

“I think a lot of people may be had seen that and thought, ‘oh yeah, maybe Adam’s not as easy to intimidate because he’s pretty easy going’.

“I was sitting with CJ [Chijindu Ujah] in the world juniors and we were just looking each other saying, ‘what is happening?’

“I won’t say the athlete but there was certainly an athlete who came into mine and CJ’s face and started chanting, shouting, beating their chest and really trying to intimidate us.”

Gemili stopped short of naming the athlete in question, but he did add: “He won’t be in Doha.”

source: express.co.uk