Who is Adam Gemili, did he ever beat Usain Bolt and which football team did he once play for?
After deciding that his future lay in Athletics, and not football, Gemili has had a successful career to date, and is hoping for more gold in the European Championships in Berlin
FROM the lower reaches of English football, to the highs of winning World Championship gold for his country, Adam Gemili has had a extraordinary career.
Ahead of this month's European Championships, where he has been selected in the Team GB squad for two events, find out more about the man, and how he once beat the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt.
Who is Adam Gemili?
Born in London in October 1993, Gemili is of Iranian and Moroccan descent, something he himself acknowledges to be "very weird."
Growing up and attending school in Dartford, the keen sportsman attended the University of East London, studying Sports and Exercise Science with Human Biology. His dissertation was focused around the effects that warm-up exercises have on a sprinter's body and performance.
First selected to represent Team GB in the 2011 European Athletics Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, the then 17-year-old competed in two events, the 100m and 4x100m relay, finishing second on both occasions.
The London 2012 Olympic cycle was an unsuccessful one for the aspiring gold medallist. He finished third in the semi-final of the 100m and was the GB relay squad was disqualified from the 4x100m relay.
Undeterred however, he roared back by winning both events in the U23 European Athletics Championships in Finland, the next year.
Gemili made history in the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich when, on the way to two gold medals, he become the first British athlete to run 200m in under 20s.
This achievement was followed by a (legally wind-assisted) sub-10s 100m in the Birmingham Diamond League meeting the following year.
Not only did Gemili become the first British athlete to clock sub 10s and 20s for the two main sprinting events, but also became the 100th male athlete to go under 10s for the 100m
Did he ever beat Usain Bolt and what has he won?
While Usain Bolt was busy winning his three golds in London 2012, Gemili very nearly joined the Jamaican in the 100m final.
Drawn in semi-final 3, Gemili had gold medal contenders Yohan Blake and Tyson Gay alongside him. The 19-year-old Londoner finished an excellent third, but just missed out on securing a final berth.
However, five years later, in the 2017 World Athletics Championships, held in London, Gemili would face Bolt, in the eight-time Olympic medallist's final race.
The 4x100m relay final is best remembered for Bolt pulling up injured while running the anchor leg during the race, but for Gemili and team-mates Chijindu Ujah, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake it was the race golden.
Pipping the American squad by 0.05s on the line, Team GB secured relay gold and won the hearts of many.
Most of Gemili's successes have come in the European or World Athletics Championships, as he is yet to have the luck his talents deserve in the Olympic Games.
He has three golds in junior form over 100m, with a plethora of silver medals to boot over the same distance.
The 4x100m relay is Gemili's strongest event, with the highlight being that gold medal winning run in the London stadium in August 2017, where he ran the second leg.
That was Team GB's second medal of the evening, after the Women's team had claimed silver in their race.
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Which football team did he play for?
Once on the books of 2012 European champions, Chelsea as a youth player, Gemili football career never really took off.
Signing for Dagenham and Redbridge after a brief spell at Reading, the youngster was quickly sent out on loan.
He played 12 games in the Isthmian League for Thurrock in 2011, but decided thereafter that his future lay on the track, and not the pitch.