The road to Rio de Janeiro is paved with challenges because for every Usain Bolt, there are hundreds of under-the-radar athletes who dream of reaching the Olympics.
Great Britain’s Deji Tobais is one of those athletes trying to make his name and achieve his goal of showcasing his talent on the grandest stage.
The 24-year-old sprinter – who runs both the 100m and 200m – is preparing for several qualifying events leading up to the summer, but chose Dubai as his training ground last month in part due to his coach Simon Duberley’s relationship with UAE-based trainer David Maris.
Sport360 caught up with Tobais during his training at Dubai Sports City to talk about his Olympic prospects, his extracurricular activities (or lack of) in the emirate and his current regimen.
When you’re an international athlete, you have to explore every possible avenue while you can.
When I spoke to David in December, he presented me with an opportunity, I couldn’t refuse. The weather is also consistent, which was the most important thing for me, as well as the facilities. When I got here, I was actually amazed at the kind of facilities Dubai has available.
I know the city is quite famous for having a bit of money, but because it’s not the most popular place for athletes to come, I didn’t expect the quality of the facilities and I was quite impressed when I got here.
When I was about 10 or 11, I had kind of a big falling out with my dad because I wanted to be a footballer. There was nothing anyone could tell me to change my mind. I was set on a footballer. My dad said, “Just give me two sessions on the track. If you don’t like it, we’ll go home.”
Deji Tobais.
I went to my local track at Luton and there happened to be a meet on the day I arrived. So it was kind of fate, a fairytale story. It was like a heptathlon and I won six of the seven events and it was enjoyable because I like the feeling of winning. I then spoke to the local coach and from there, the rest is history. I didn’t look back on football.
I’ve even have that as my laptop background. Even if I’m not constantly thinking about Rio Dubai trip can guide him to Rio and the Olympics, I still have constant reminders here, there and everywhere to keep me focused. So far, it’s paying dividends. I’ve had really good winter preparation. I’ve got a lot of belief in myself. I just have to execute when it matters.
Now that I’m a bit older, it’s a lot easier. When I was still in school and university, I’ve got all those distractions and obviously those friends from those different eras from my life doing what teenagers or adolescents do. I think coming through that unscathed and not really doing too much of what they were doing, has helped me as a 24-year-old.
Being out here with David, I’m not really interested in going out. It would be nice to do stuff, but I have to keep focused and think if I go out, I’m going to waste energy leading into my next session and I don’t really want to do that.
Who’s that?
I mean, I’ve missed out on the Olympics before. The drive to become an Olympian has just got bigger for me. In 2012, I bummed out in both semi-finals of the 100 metres and 200m. Two weeks later, I ran the Olympic B-standard.
It was a bit eye-opening for me because I saw if I get things right and I trust my body, that I can do it.
I haven’t really thought too far ahead after the Olympics. I just like to take it a year at a time and a race at the time. Obviously, it depends how the season goes but I’m quite confident in how my season may go.
Rio is the goal, as everyone wants it to be, but at the end of the day, it all depends on how I turn up on the day and how mentally and physically prepared I am.
Definitely. I’m 24-year-old. I’m at the heights of my powers. It’s not a now-or-never situation, because there are plenty of other opportunities, not just Olympics but World Championships to go to next year in London. I’ve just go to keep pushing and believe in myself really.
A typical day for me would depend on the day. So if I’ve got the gym, I try to do that in the morning. I wake up, have my normal breakfast routine, give myself at least an hour and a half to digest my food before I go to the gym and then gym for maybe another hour and a half.
Then I come back home, do my necessary recovery, stretching, all that sort of stuff and just chill. I try not to think too much about the running session.
I like to take a session head-on and then once it’s done, it’s done, whether it’s good or bad.
You’re only as good as your last race or competition, so I just look forward. You’re fastest time in a competition is 10.18 seconds. That’s as close as you can get to the qualifying time of 10.16s without qualifying… I ran 10.18s in 2014, so I know I can do it. It’s just literally executing. The smallest mistake can cost you.
I’ve run a wind-assisted 10.04s so I know my body is able to do the time necessary. It’s just executing on the day of trials.
That was a massive experience for me. Being a part of that team was a big eyeopener because I got to properly feel like I was part of the elite. There were all the fastest guys in the world there. You had Justin Gatlin, you had Usain Bolt within touching distance of me. It boosted my confidence a lot because I didn’t even expect to be on the team. It’s one I look to take into this year.
I’ve got the relay experience under my belt, but I don’t want to just be a relay runner. I want to be an individual runner and the sort of person a team can count on if need be. You didn’t run with that team though.
Part of me would consider that a disappointment. I’ve done the being part of a team and not running thing. It was okay in 2013. It annoyed me, but I understood because I was relatively a minor on that team.
This time around, I would definitely want to run because I wouldn’t be part of the team if I couldn’t do the job. I wouldn’t be happy just being there. I’d want to run.
