Tokyo 2020: Dina Asher-Smith carrying British track & field hopes on her shoulders – but she is NOT feeling the heat
SHE WILL single-handedly carry the hopes of a British track-and-field gold at these Olympics.
But as Dina Asher-Smith prepares to start her Tokyo campaign, there is little sign of the 25-year-old Londoner feeling the heat.
Crowned Britain’s first female world sprint champion in Doha in 2019, Asher-Smith’s smile belies an ice-cold temperament.
She is a heavy sleeper who loves a lie-in and is a self-styled ‘championship performer’, who rises to the big occasions.
Stages do not come any grander than an Olympics and as the Tokyo Games heads into its centre-piece athletics meeting, all British eyes will be on Asher-Smith.
With Britain’s only other current world athletics champion, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, still suffering the after-effects of a ruptured Achilles, Asher-Smith stands alone as a serious gold medal contender.
During the London Olympics, the ‘Inspire a Generation’ motto often sounded overblown.
But Asher-Smith, a schoolgirl kit-carrier on the night Britain won three athletics golds on Super Saturday, is proof of the effectiveness of that slogan.
There is no chance of a similar British track-and-field gold rush this time around, with Mo Farah the last of the class of 2012 to bow out of contention and British athletics at a low ebb.
But nine years after that Olympic work experience stint in her hometown, Asher-Smith kicks off her 100 metres campaign in the heats in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
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She said: “I volunteered to do kit carrying in London and I was fortunate to be given that Saturday, which obviously I didn’t know was going to end up being Super Saturday.
“I remember being kind of disappointed that I wasn’t going to see Usain Bolt in the men’s 100m final, but when I got there and witnessed probably one of the greatest nights in British athletics history I felt incredibly lucky.
“To describe the atmosphere that night to somebody who wasn’t there is incredibly difficult. The closest word is probably ‘euphoric’.”
While she must compete in silence at these behind-closed-doors games, Asher-Smith has a burning ambition to repeat, or even better, her Doha campaign, which brought a 200m gold as well as silvers in the 100m and the sprint relay.
If she lands gold, it will be a truly historic achievement.
No female British sprinter has ever won an Olympic title and none have landed an individual medal since Dorothy Hyman way back in 1960.
Neither has any British man won individual sprint gold since Linford Christie in 1992, nor any medal since Darren Campbell in Sydney 21 years ago.
Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is favourite to win the 100m but Asher-Smith is first among equals in an open 200m.
American Gabby Thomas ran the second-fastest time ever earlier this year to send shockwaves through the field.
But as Asher-Smith said: “To me it’s immaterial what people run because a championship is a completely different ball game.
“The reason why we all love championships is because you honestly don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The sense of calm about Asher-Smith is helped by the fact that she has only ever had one coach since she started running aged eight — John Blackie of Blackheath and Bromley Harriers.
And he admitted he would have quit years ago had it not been for his star pupil.
Blackie said: “I would have given it up some while ago if not for her but she is an inspiration, not just for athletes but also for us coaches.
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“It was around the age of 14 that things started to look very positive for Dina.
“You still didn’t know she would end up as 200m world champion but you knew she was capable of some really spectacular achievements.
“There is definitely more to come from her.”