Everything changes from here. The acute shift in every decision-making process and the way every race is approached and judged. And that’s just for starters.
There’ll be a change in the approach to training, the daily demands away from it, and the lessons learned in saying “no”. And that’s just some of the changes Coach Flo is telling me he’ll have to make alongside his rising star athlete Rhasidat Adeleke. No turning back now.
It’s Friday lunchtime in Budapest, and for Coach Flo – Edrick Floréal to those who don’t know him as that already – my call to talk about Adeleke, specifically where she goes from here, is politely answered in that slow Texan drawl.
“It sure is still quite new,” he says of requests from Irish news outlets, “and I don’t want to be known for anything else other than helping the athlete. But it can be a little bit overwhelming, I can only imagine what it must to like for Rhasidat.
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“It took her an hour to get from the first round back to the warm-up area, there were so many media requests. She told me she didn’t want to be rude, but I said you’ll have to learn to say ‘no’, when all your competitors are already cooling down.
“Before, if Ireland or anyone else wanted to talk to her, I could say ‘no, she’s at school’, or ‘at training’. Now I can’t do that, she has to do that herself, and that’s going to be a massive change. I can’t get in the middle of that, because that’s their athlete.”
By “their athlete” Coach Flo means Nike, Adeleke last month signing a contract with the global giant in what the Americans term as “going pro”.
She’ll still train under Coach Flo at the University of Texas in Austin, complete her degree in Communications, only her racing from now on, specially towards next year’s Paris Olympics, will be in that Nike outfit.
Things have already moved on from her fourth-place finish in Wednesday’s World Championship 400m final, Adeleke clocking 50.13 seconds, behind gold medal winner Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic (48.76).
“I wasn’t surprised she made the final,” Coach Flo says. “And I think the training indicated she could win a medal, but the race was not really properly executed. And you end up in fourth place, which is probably the worst spot to have in a World Championship.
“She ran 49.8 in the semis, I thought there was a 49.5 in the bag, and I think she went out on that pace. Then there was a bit of a panic at the end, her form just really fell apart at that point. She hasn’t fallen apart that bad since she’s been running 400, I mean it was all over the place. There was some tightness in her back, then one thing led to another. But we just said we’ll move on, collect the pieces, and look at the adjustments we make.”
When we first spoke back in April, down in Austin, he was adamant he’d support whatever decision was made pre-Budapest. Now that she’s made it, he’s a little cautious about predicting immediate benefits, keen instead just to emphasise the changes.
“There’s a number of different factors,” he says of turning pro. “You got sponsors, you got managers, you got photo shoots, all the stuff that you have to do in addition to the training, and doing your very best.
“There’s just more players in the game, and they all want some of your time and your energy and your effort. Unfortunately, anything you give to that takes away from your training and your focus.
“I know she went home [in July] and had to do some stuff with Allianz and with Nike, and that’s the stuff you have to do when you’re a professional, press conferences and what not. And you’re being asked the same question over and over, and the more you’re asked that question, the more pressure you put on yourself, and the more you realise ‘man, the moment is big’.
“Whereas if she was still in college, you wouldn’t even know that’s the case, because I’m kind of sheltering you from all that kind of stuff. But as a professional, the company doesn’t own you, but it owns a part of you, and has that right to have you at different places.”
For Adeleke, who only turns 21 next Tuesday, her 2023 season prior to the World Championships focused on the NCAAs, climaxing with the outdoor win in a national record of 49.20 on June 10th. For Coach Flo, however, the length of that college season had little bearing on Budapest.
“I know US coaches are talking about it a lot, the fatigue, competing too much, but I think that’s complete bogus. Tons of people who turn professional, who only had a few races, then come here and get beat.
“So it’s really not about the number of races, it’s about using the races correctly. And creating a racing programme where some of the races aren’t even races. You can also use the repetition of races as practice, or a 4x400m relay, it’s the same thing. So these competitions are really a sort of training check point.
“She came back to Europe, ran her second fastest 200m, then she had some bumps in the road, some lower back spasms, after the travelling. But that’s not because she was unfit and not ready. We missed out on probably two weeks training, she was getting treatment twice a day, every day, just so she could get it under control.”
Born in Haiti, the now 56-year-old Floréal later represented Canada in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics in the long jump, and knows all about the Olympics being the pinnacle for every athlete. For Adeleke, 11 months out from Paris, the tag of being pro is already fixed around her.
“It’s exciting, sure, but you’re also going into rough water. Every time you line up to compete, the expectation from your sponsor is an awful lot higher. And there’s less camouflage and protection from your coach and your school.
“You can always say ‘she’s still just a college kid’, but sponsors aren’t giving you a whole lot of money so you can take your time. A college kid can open up in 51 seconds, and nobody would give a hoot.
“But if you’re a professional, opening in 51 seconds, some people are making phone calls, like ‘what’s going on?’ So that freedom to sort of slowly climb the ladder, that goes when they turn pro.
“So the training is actually more difficult as a pro, because you can’t use those small college meets for building gradual progression, to the end of the season. Every time you compete as at pro meet, somebody is going to 49, 50 seconds, and you’ve got to be prepared to do that. That freedom is gone, you have to maintain a very high level of fitness to be able perform every weekend.”
But no turning back now, something Coach Flo also knows.
“There is no right and wrong decision, that’s for sure,” he says. “You just make the decision that is best for you, and I’ll adjust to the training, and the environment, to make sure she’s successful.
“She’s probably going to spend more time working with Julien Alfred [her Texan team-mate and 100/200m runner, also gone pro] because I really need her to work on her speed. So the planning in my head is already happening, how to benefit not just Rhasidat, but the group as whole.”
Everything changes from here.
