FOR MANY elite athletes, sport represents their entire identity. But for Gina Akpe-Moses, that was never the case.
An accomplished runner who became the first Irish woman to win a sprint gold medal at the 2017 European junior championships over 100 metres, she is currently undertaking a master’s apprenticeship in London as a clinical associate psychologist.
When asked how she is finding it, Akpe-Moses’s one-word response is telling. “Exhausting,” she says.
Before the emergence of fellow prodigy Rhasidat Adeleke, Akpe-Moses was perceived as the great sprinting hope of Irish athletics.
Yet as Adeleke’s star has brightened, Akpe-Moses’s has faded.
And in the last few weeks, the 26-year-old has made a big decision.
For many years, she has tried to remain at the top of her sport while working 12-hour shifts on psychiatric wards, among other arduous tasks that her day job presented. Eventually, it became too much.
“I’ve been training alongside working in education, but I’ve had to take a step back from athletics, because I wasn’t able to produce anything decent,” she tells The 42. “I just was too tired. It’s very hard to juggle all three, and athletics had to be the one to go.
“It just was a constant cycle of, I’m training well, but when it comes to racing, I have such a busy week, I’m not recovering properly, so it’s ineffective. But knowing the reason why doesn’t make it any less frustrating. So it’s better to take myself out of that situation before I get worse.”
Elaborating on the decision and the reasons behind it, Akpe-Moses adds: “I’m at peace with it. I think there’s not much I can do about it. Going into my course, I did have an idea of what it would be like, so I wasn’t completely thrown off by how intense it was going to be.
“I was a little bit thrown off in terms of, I didn’t know how it would affect me physically. But I’m the type of person who will get on with everything, so I’m usually good at multitasking. I mean, I’m going to do a lot, but I am only human, so my body will tell me whenever I’m just not in that place, and that’s what happened.
“I was a bit upset, but I was fine, life goes on, [and in terms of the] future for athletics, I’m still undecided. So, taking this summer off, I’ll see where I am by winter, if I decide to move forward or not. It’s still a process.”
Gina Akpe-Moses pictured at the 2018 European Athletics Championships. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Ideally, Akpe-Moses says, she would have been able to put work aside and focus purely on athletics.
But for someone who grew up in an academic household and had passions outside of sport, the prospect of sacrificing education in pursuit of this dream felt like a stark compromise.
“In a perfect world, I would have gone through this next Olympic cycle and then retired after that,” she says. “But it’s not feasible to work full time, and then also give track full time as well, because you’re always going to have that little bit you could have given to either of your careers.
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“And even after I qualify, I’ll be a qualified psychologist — I will have a lot on my caseload. So if I wanted to continue after qualification, there’s still a decision of managing my work life with track. And both require a lot of mental and physical elements for me.”
She insists, however, that trying to secure a place at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is not out of the question.
“It’s a work in progress, just thinking about everything, weighing up the pros and the cons and seeing how my life, my adult life, is panning out, the responsibilities I have to adhere to and everything. So it’s not completely shut off, but I have a lot of thinking to do.”
Asked about her reflections on that memorable European success eight years on, Akpe-Moses replies: “I don’t think about it much, because it was quite a while ago.
“The other day, one of the members of my club in Blackrock, Dundalk, sent me a message with a screenshot of me winning at Europeans. And I was like: ‘Oh my goodness, it’s been such a while.’ And, yeah, it was nice to think about, that was such a great time.”
However, the accompanying hype and publicity that followed the victory were not easy to deal with.
“It’s a bit of an oxymoron, because if you’re running well, people are going to see you, and you’re going to be in the public eye. But I prefer people to leave me alone and let me do what I need to do. I’m happy to get my accomplishments and tick off what’s on my list of goals.
“So when everything happened and I was getting lots of attention, it was quite hard for me. Looking back, I had a good support system, so I could manage it. But it did add a lot of pressure, moving forward.
“I became a contracted athlete — I was more of a professional athlete. So the element of it being quite relaxed and me not having that much pressure, it shifted.”
Gina Akpe-Moses became an Irish sports sensation in 2017. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Akpe-Moses was just 18 when she became a household name in the Irish sporting landscape, although she was a familiar face in athletics circles long before then.
With hindsight, she realises not every decision made in the aftermath of this success was the right one.
“That’s the kind of environment I was put into when I had to make decisions that I didn’t have enough experience making, and I put my trust in people who I thought had more experience.
“I feel like not having that autonomy, looking back at it now, knowing that I was overwhelmed and I put my trust in other people, I feel it did me more harm than good.
“If I were a bit older and this happened, I would have made better decisions. I’d look at things through a different lens, and I feel like I’d be more comfortable taking on all that pressure with the people watching me and everything.”
Asked to specify some of the missteps, she responds: “I think just as a whole, I mean in terms of what coach I decided to go to with, even just agencies, all that kind of stuff, things that are quite important.
“But I wasn’t in a place to think about it in that sense, because it was all very new to me. So I just let everyone else be like: ‘Oh yeah, this is good. Just go for this one.’
“If I were to do that now, I would do a lot more research. I’d talk to people. I would question them, how they work, what their philosophies are, and how they would manage me in this situation. And I would want to get the full truth of everything.
“I think letting other people help me, or push for certain decisions or certain things to be done, I thought I was protected, but I wasn’t protected. It was more, I just chose to ignore things because it was too much.”
Gina’s sister Precious is also a talented athlete. Last month, at the National U20 Championships, she won double gold in the 100m (11.64) and 200m (23.66), with the latter achievement seeing her break a record that had stood since 2000.
Gina hopes the 19-year-old can learn from her mistakes.
“She’s very different to me, I tell her to do what makes her happy, and if things get difficult, just to take a step back, if she needs to do that, because I feel like if things are difficult for me, I tend to power through. But sometimes that’s not the
most effective way to handle it when things are getting a bit tough.
“Whatever she decides, if she decides to [go professional], I’ll be the person that she can go to, and I’ll ask all the right questions, and I’ll be the bad cop where it needs to be.”
World high jump silver medalist Sommer Lecky with World silver medal in the 4x100m relay Rhasidat Adeleke Patience Jumbo-Gula, Gina Akpe-Moses, Ciara Neville and Molly Scott in 2018. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
Akpe-Moses and Adeleke’s paths briefly intersected, and the talented duo remain friends to this day.
The pair were part of the Irish 4 × 100 m team that won a silver medal at the 2018 World U20 Championships.
Adeleke was just 15 years old, while Molly Scott, Ciara Neville and Patience Jumbo-Gula also made key contributions to this remarkable achievement.
The Tallaght AC athlete is the only one of the quintet who has since risen to superstar status, suggesting Adeleke, not Akpe-Moses, is the anomaly in this scenario.
“I was fortunate to break through at my age and as a junior,” Akpe-Moses says. “But then I think the difference with myself and Rhasidat — she was put in a good environment that nurtured her talent and propelled her forward where she needed to be.
“And then with Molly and Ciara, they also just had things like university, and they have other aspirations — Molly is a barrister now. So she also had something she wanted to pursue.
“And I think it just shows how difficult it is, even when you break through as a junior, to maintain that and to be nurtured in that sense.
“You do have to take a gamble. And I think athletics is just a sport where there is an element of luck. I feel like this with everything in life, there’s an element of luck to it, and if you’re meant to be somewhere, you’re going to be somewhere.
“And I think for myself, as much as I really enjoyed track, and I was good at it, and everything was going quite well, I’ve always had the mindset of, I don’t fully identify as just an athlete. I always wanted something more. So I think I’ve always been fighting that battle.
“The majority of athletes, and just the track in itself, you do have to risk it all. You have to put your all into it, because if not, you’re not going to know how good you could have been or how it isn’t for you, you’ll never really know the truth.”
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8 years ago, she was Ireland's golden girl. Now, she's taking a break
FOR MANY elite athletes, sport represents their entire identity. But for Gina Akpe-Moses, that was never the case.
An accomplished runner who became the first Irish woman to win a sprint gold medal at the 2017 European junior championships over 100 metres, she is currently undertaking a master’s apprenticeship in London as a clinical associate psychologist.
When asked how she is finding it, Akpe-Moses’s one-word response is telling. “Exhausting,” she says.
Before the emergence of fellow prodigy Rhasidat Adeleke, Akpe-Moses was perceived as the great sprinting hope of Irish athletics.
Yet as Adeleke’s star has brightened, Akpe-Moses’s has faded.
And in the last few weeks, the 26-year-old has made a big decision.
For many years, she has tried to remain at the top of her sport while working 12-hour shifts on psychiatric wards, among other arduous tasks that her day job presented. Eventually, it became too much.
“I’ve been training alongside working in education, but I’ve had to take a step back from athletics, because I wasn’t able to produce anything decent,” she tells The 42. “I just was too tired. It’s very hard to juggle all three, and athletics had to be the one to go.
“It just was a constant cycle of, I’m training well, but when it comes to racing, I have such a busy week, I’m not recovering properly, so it’s ineffective. But knowing the reason why doesn’t make it any less frustrating. So it’s better to take myself out of that situation before I get worse.”
Elaborating on the decision and the reasons behind it, Akpe-Moses adds: “I’m at peace with it. I think there’s not much I can do about it. Going into my course, I did have an idea of what it would be like, so I wasn’t completely thrown off by how intense it was going to be.
“I was a little bit thrown off in terms of, I didn’t know how it would affect me physically. But I’m the type of person who will get on with everything, so I’m usually good at multitasking. I mean, I’m going to do a lot, but I am only human, so my body will tell me whenever I’m just not in that place, and that’s what happened.
“I was a bit upset, but I was fine, life goes on, [and in terms of the] future for athletics, I’m still undecided. So, taking this summer off, I’ll see where I am by winter, if I decide to move forward or not. It’s still a process.”
Ideally, Akpe-Moses says, she would have been able to put work aside and focus purely on athletics.
But for someone who grew up in an academic household and had passions outside of sport, the prospect of sacrificing education in pursuit of this dream felt like a stark compromise.
“In a perfect world, I would have gone through this next Olympic cycle and then retired after that,” she says. “But it’s not feasible to work full time, and then also give track full time as well, because you’re always going to have that little bit you could have given to either of your careers.
“And even after I qualify, I’ll be a qualified psychologist — I will have a lot on my caseload. So if I wanted to continue after qualification, there’s still a decision of managing my work life with track. And both require a lot of mental and physical elements for me.”
She insists, however, that trying to secure a place at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is not out of the question.
“It’s a work in progress, just thinking about everything, weighing up the pros and the cons and seeing how my life, my adult life, is panning out, the responsibilities I have to adhere to and everything. So it’s not completely shut off, but I have a lot of thinking to do.”
Asked about her reflections on that memorable European success eight years on, Akpe-Moses replies: “I don’t think about it much, because it was quite a while ago.
“The other day, one of the members of my club in Blackrock, Dundalk, sent me a message with a screenshot of me winning at Europeans. And I was like: ‘Oh my goodness, it’s been such a while.’ And, yeah, it was nice to think about, that was such a great time.”
However, the accompanying hype and publicity that followed the victory were not easy to deal with.
“It’s a bit of an oxymoron, because if you’re running well, people are going to see you, and you’re going to be in the public eye. But I prefer people to leave me alone and let me do what I need to do. I’m happy to get my accomplishments and tick off what’s on my list of goals.
“So when everything happened and I was getting lots of attention, it was quite hard for me. Looking back, I had a good support system, so I could manage it. But it did add a lot of pressure, moving forward.
“I became a contracted athlete — I was more of a professional athlete. So the element of it being quite relaxed and me not having that much pressure, it shifted.”
Akpe-Moses was just 18 when she became a household name in the Irish sporting landscape, although she was a familiar face in athletics circles long before then.
With hindsight, she realises not every decision made in the aftermath of this success was the right one.
“That’s the kind of environment I was put into when I had to make decisions that I didn’t have enough experience making, and I put my trust in people who I thought had more experience.
“I feel like not having that autonomy, looking back at it now, knowing that I was overwhelmed and I put my trust in other people, I feel it did me more harm than good.
“If I were a bit older and this happened, I would have made better decisions. I’d look at things through a different lens, and I feel like I’d be more comfortable taking on all that pressure with the people watching me and everything.”
Asked to specify some of the missteps, she responds: “I think just as a whole, I mean in terms of what coach I decided to go to with, even just agencies, all that kind of stuff, things that are quite important.
“But I wasn’t in a place to think about it in that sense, because it was all very new to me. So I just let everyone else be like: ‘Oh yeah, this is good. Just go for this one.’
“If I were to do that now, I would do a lot more research. I’d talk to people. I would question them, how they work, what their philosophies are, and how they would manage me in this situation. And I would want to get the full truth of everything.
“I think letting other people help me, or push for certain decisions or certain things to be done, I thought I was protected, but I wasn’t protected. It was more, I just chose to ignore things because it was too much.”
Gina’s sister Precious is also a talented athlete. Last month, at the National U20 Championships, she won double gold in the 100m (11.64) and 200m (23.66), with the latter achievement seeing her break a record that had stood since 2000.
Gina hopes the 19-year-old can learn from her mistakes.
“She’s very different to me, I tell her to do what makes her happy, and if things get difficult, just to take a step back, if she needs to do that, because I feel like if things are difficult for me, I tend to power through. But sometimes that’s not the
most effective way to handle it when things are getting a bit tough.
“Whatever she decides, if she decides to [go professional], I’ll be the person that she can go to, and I’ll ask all the right questions, and I’ll be the bad cop where it needs to be.”
Akpe-Moses and Adeleke’s paths briefly intersected, and the talented duo remain friends to this day.
The pair were part of the Irish 4 × 100 m team that won a silver medal at the 2018 World U20 Championships.
Adeleke was just 15 years old, while Molly Scott, Ciara Neville and Patience Jumbo-Gula also made key contributions to this remarkable achievement.
The Tallaght AC athlete is the only one of the quintet who has since risen to superstar status, suggesting Adeleke, not Akpe-Moses, is the anomaly in this scenario.
“I was fortunate to break through at my age and as a junior,” Akpe-Moses says. “But then I think the difference with myself and Rhasidat — she was put in a good environment that nurtured her talent and propelled her forward where she needed to be.
“And then with Molly and Ciara, they also just had things like university, and they have other aspirations — Molly is a barrister now. So she also had something she wanted to pursue.
“And I think it just shows how difficult it is, even when you break through as a junior, to maintain that and to be nurtured in that sense.
“You do have to take a gamble. And I think athletics is just a sport where there is an element of luck. I feel like this with everything in life, there’s an element of luck to it, and if you’re meant to be somewhere, you’re going to be somewhere.
“And I think for myself, as much as I really enjoyed track, and I was good at it, and everything was going quite well, I’ve always had the mindset of, I don’t fully identify as just an athlete. I always wanted something more. So I think I’ve always been fighting that battle.
“The majority of athletes, and just the track in itself, you do have to risk it all. You have to put your all into it, because if not, you’re not going to know how good you could have been or how it isn’t for you, you’ll never really know the truth.”
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