Rhasidat Adeleke World Athletics Championships Budapest: Irish sprinter’s

Rhasidat attended the Presentation Community College, Terenure, and today, Principal Áine Mulderrig, told the Sunday World about the track sensation’s school years.

“Rhasidat arrived to Presentation Community College, Terenure, in September 2015, as an enthusiastic new first year student,” Ms Mulderrig said.

“She was also a Leaving Cert student too in 2020, Covid year, which was a challenging time for students.”

The school principal says Rhasidat excelled in a variety of different activities.

“She was a keen learner and we recognised early on that she was a promising athlete on the basketball and volleyball courts as well as on the running track, indeed, also at cross country events.”

Ms Mulderrig said the young runner brought glory to the school and retained a professionalism that defied her age.

“Our community college in Terenure is a school under the auspices of City of Dublin ETB and she excelled annually in sporting activities, run by the Sports and Cultural Council of the City of Dublin ETB, as well in various Athletics Ireland and Leinster championships.

“She certainly brought silverware home to our school! She progressed on to representing Ireland at underage levels and we have all been so proud of her amazing achievements.

“Rhasidat espouses our learning code of being prepared, respectful and responsible and is a superb role model for our students.

“We will all be so behind her on Wednesday night as she lines up in the 400m finals – we are so proud of her!” the school principal added.

Ms Adeleke’s former running colleagues also excitedly wished her well on social media.

“Very best of luck tonight from all your club family, So proud of you Rhasidat, can’t wait to see you again tonight in action,” wrote Tallaght Athletic Club.

“She is phenomenal, amazing athlete,” wrote one club member.

“Congratulations and best of luck in the final!” wrote another.

“Well done Rhasidat!” and “Smash it,” said others.

The sprinter’s former coach, Johnny Fox, spoke previously to ‘the 42.ie’ about how he knew he had a special talent on his hands with Rhasidat.

“She won everything she went in for,” he said.

“She had all the attributes to become a champion and we know from the start that she was going to go places.

“Her distances were 60m and 100m. She’d do 200m, but she wouldn’t be that happy doing it, it was a bit long for her [initially].

“We suggested that she do 400m, but that would have been out of the question at that stage. But we knew from the start that she could make a good 400m or 800m runner. Because she had the speed, she had the legs, she had everything going for her.

“But the main thing…