Sky Sports spoke to Team GB sprint hopeful Eugene Amo-Dadzie, who is targeting a medal at the Paris Olympics despite balancing athletics prowess with a busy career
Tuesday 9 January 2024 12:43, UK
Sprinters hold the enviable position of competing at an Olympics with arguably the biggest crowd cheering them on in the stadium and, when it comes to the 100m finals, often billions of people watching on via TVs and digital devices.
For that moment, most sprinters spend every four years doing nothing but preparing for that nine-to-10 seconds of pure speed and, hopefully, immortality. They live, eat, breath, sleep and repeat sprinting. They do nothing else.
That is unless you are Eugene Amo-Dadzie. He wants to be the fastest man in the world come the Paris Olympics 100m final in August and take the gold for Team GB. If he does that, it won't be the only thing he does quickly – as he is already the 'world's fastest accountant'.
"I still don't refer to myself as a sprinter, I'm a chartered accountant, the world's fastest accountant! I'm unbelievably proud of my accountancy qualifications. My parents pushed me to go to school, work hard, qualify. I've had those aspirations of climbing the corporate ladder," said Amo-Dadzie.
You may ask yourself why, if Amo-Dadzie has his chartered accountancy qualifications and is climbing the corporate ladder - he is a senior manager at St George PLC - how old is he and how long has he been a sprinter?
The answer is he's 31 and has only been running seriously since he was 26. Before that he played football and rugby and gave athletics "a bit of a go at school". Athletics was not a career path or something he considered.
That is what marks Amo-Dadzie out as different, for 100m sprinters tend to be sprinters from their teenage years. If they are of international standard they will be funded and can most probably make a very good living just being an athlete. But not Eugene.
A mate of his told him he had to give sprinting a serious go, so Amo-Dadzie did - but he also refused to give up a career he's worked hard at.
"It's always a balancing act, but lines of communication are open, I've never felt any pressure to drop one," he said.
So, is Amo-Dadzie any good? Or is this another quirky story? Well, that is up to you to decide...
Five years ago when he first took sprinting seriously, Amo-Dadzie ran 10.90 seconds. Last year, he ran 9.93 seconds. He's a sub-10 second 100m sprinter, which is no mean feat. He reached the 100m semi-finals at the World Championships and is getting quicker.
Steve Fudge, his coach, is one of the most respected figures on the British scene. Fudge doesn't suffer fools, and sees something different in the Rainham native.
"Eugene has a unique gift of learning things very quickly," said Fudge. "He has an ability to process things quicker than any other athlete I've worked with. He glides on the track, only a few in the world can do it. It's like he's on one of those travelators at an airport."
In an Olympic year, the Paris games are seven months away and Amo-Dadzie's priorities won't be compromised. He will continue to work as an accountant, but he knows he can run 9.80 seconds this year. If he does that, then going on times against the best in the world - Noah Lyles et al - he's winning an Olympic medal.
"Yes, I'm making life harder for myself," he added. "There are nine guys ahead of me who don't have this massive other thing in their lives, a career, a nine-to-five. Someone give me a reason why the world's fastest accountant can't make the Olympic final though?"
