Nicoll Relishes Her Shot At Double Olympic Stardom

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Mar, 2024) Adele Nicoll has travelled a long way from the person who was "sad" and "rather lost" in 2020, to the extent she has a live chance of achieving the rare feat of competing in both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

In that relatively short space of time, the multi-talented 27-year-old has twice been crowned British shot put champion in 2022 and 2023, and in a polar opposite to that discipline competed in the world bobsleigh championships this year.

"I reflect on the progress from 2020 to now, and my life has completely changed," she told AFP from Germany.

"I remember aged nine writing down what I wanted to be by 2020 and putting it in an envelope.

"I opened it when I was sorting through my stuff at home during the Covid lockdown and was very, very sad as the target had been to be a professional athlete.

"I realised I had failed my younger self and it gave me the kick up the bum to go on and fulfil my childhood dream."

She has already been to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing -- as a reserve brakewoman in the British bobsleigh team -- and is targeting the 2026 edition in Italy.

An eighth-place finish at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham showed she remains a competitive force in athletics but Nicoll admits that qualifying for the Paris Olympics this year could be a stretch -- Los Angeles in 2028 is more realistic -- because she has invested so much time into transitioning from a bobsleigh brake woman to a driver.

"The 2026 Winter Games are my main priority, but if I qualify for Paris that will be a bonus," she said, admitting she has had "six months away from the shot."

If she does not make it, it will not be for want of trying as she has followed the advice her parents gave her at an early age -- "always show up and never give up".

"100 percent I have lived up to it," she said. "I look back and realise how pivotal the manner in which parents bring you up is.

"They are the reason why my mindset is as it is and that I always show up regardless of how I feel.

"Perseverance is very hard to beat. If you are not willing to make it through when you are at rock bottom you are never going to deserve to be on top of the world."