Adam Gemili was born in 1993, of Iranian and Moroccan descent.
A promising young footballer, playing as a defender for Football League Two team Dagenham & Redbridge. He then joined Thurrock on loan at the end of August 2011. He was previously a youth player at Chelsea, from the age of eight for seven years, and then spent a year at Reading.
But it is as a sprinter that Adam has made his name and grabbed the public's attention.
At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona Adam won a gold medal in the 100 metres. His winning time of 10.05 seconds established a new championship record, and is the second fastest ever run by a European junior.
Having cleared the Olympic qualifying time with his 10.08 seconds in the 100 metres in June 2012, Adam Gemili competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics where, after a poor start, he came third in the semi-final in a time of 10.06 seconds, 0.04 s short of qualifying for the final.
He was selected to run the 200 metres at the 2013 Athletics World Championships in Moscow. Having set a personal best in the first round, in the semi-final Adam ran a time of 19.98 seconds, making him only the the second British athlete, after John Regis, the third teenager, and the ninth European athlete, to break 20 seconds in the event. And 2013 was his first season training for the event.
In August 2014 Adam took the Silver medal for the 100m sprint at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and two weeks later, the Gold in the 200m at the European Athletics Championships.
After the 2012 Olympics Adam started studying Sports and Exercise Science with Human Biology at the University of East London. He is a member of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers.