things at 400 metres – not to mention Nathan Palmer, a Welsh kid who specialized in the 110 metres hurdles and was posting faster times than Colin Jackson (a three times world champion and world record holder) at the same age. There was an awful lot of young British talent at that camp. Malcolm Hassan, my ‘partner-in-crime’, was in the group too.
Some of the national newspapers sent journalists to cover the trip. They asked me about growing up in Somalia, how I had found life in England to begin with. One reporter asked me who my hero was. ‘Haile Gebrselassie,’ I replied without hesitation. ‘I like the way he runs. I’d like to do the same. It would mean a great deal for me to run for Great Britain.’
My jaw hit the floor when we arrived in Orlando. I’d been amazed at how big everything was when I’d first arrived in Britain. But compared to the US, everything back home looked tiny. Cars, buildings, food portions: they were all double the size in America. Actually, I didn’t know how big the US was until one of the other kids pointed it out to me at the camp. They were like, ‘Can you name all fifty states?’ and I was like, ‘For real, there are
fifty
states?’ I’d figured that the US and the UK were about the same size. It’s safe to say that geography was never one of my favourite subjects at school.
The idea behind UK Athletics (UKA) sending a large group of kids to a warm-weather camp in Orlando was to bring together the best young athletes in the country and allow us to train in the same environment as the likes of the senior USA team. Nowadays training camps for promising athletes are standard, but back then none of us had ever worked in such an environment. I’ve already described how Feltham Arena, where I trained, was badly in need of repairs. Some of the swimmers at the camp told me that back home they had to get up at the crack of dawn and train in 25-metre pools, half the size of the Olympic standard. Similarly, gymnasts talked about practising in knackered old sports halls. For many of us, Florida was the first time we had access to state-of-the-art training facilities. There was a brand-new athletics track where several of the Team USA sprinters trained. There was a state-of-the-art gym with weights rooms and exercise machines, a sports stadium with seating for 9,000 people, an Olympic-standard swimming pool, specialist medical facilities, playing fields, clay tennis courts, baseball fields and football pitches. There was even a cross country course designed to the specifications of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). The list was endless.
The camp had everything we wanted. The weather was beautiful: warm, clear skies, hot in the day but cool and breezy in the evenings. Everything was paid for. We were put up in a luxury hotel and offered as much food as we could eat. Pancakes, just like Grandma did them back in Djibouti, were served for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. There was a big swimming pool where we’d chill out after training. It was just like being on a real holiday.
Each morning we took a bus from the hotel to the training complex. There was this intense focus on athletics at the camp. Everyone took their sport seriously. Everyone trained to a high standard. It was an eye-opening experience. At Hounslow I trained twice a week. In Orlando I trained every day. There was a real professionalism about the camp. We did workshops on nutrition and sports psychology, even on how to deal with the media. I’d never seen anything like it. I got to meet some of the US track stars who were training at the camp at the time, including Gail Devers, the American sprinter and hurdler who had won Olympic gold three times: in the 100 metres in Barcelona, and in the 100 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay at Atlanta in 1996. Gail was famous for having these really long nails, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her hands. Her nails really were as long as they looked on
Some of the national newspapers sent journalists to cover the trip. They asked me about growing up in Somalia, how I had found life in England to begin with. One reporter asked me who my hero was. ‘Haile Gebrselassie,’ I replied without hesitation. ‘I like the way he runs. I’d like to do the same. It would mean a great deal for me to run for Great Britain.’
My jaw hit the floor when we arrived in Orlando. I’d been amazed at how big everything was when I’d first arrived in Britain. But compared to the US, everything back home looked tiny. Cars, buildings, food portions: they were all double the size in America. Actually, I didn’t know how big the US was until one of the other kids pointed it out to me at the camp. They were like, ‘Can you name all fifty states?’ and I was like, ‘For real, there are
fifty
states?’ I’d figured that the US and the UK were about the same size. It’s safe to say that geography was never one of my favourite subjects at school.
The idea behind UK Athletics (UKA) sending a large group of kids to a warm-weather camp in Orlando was to bring together the best young athletes in the country and allow us to train in the same environment as the likes of the senior USA team. Nowadays training camps for promising athletes are standard, but back then none of us had ever worked in such an environment. I’ve already described how Feltham Arena, where I trained, was badly in need of repairs. Some of the swimmers at the camp told me that back home they had to get up at the crack of dawn and train in 25-metre pools, half the size of the Olympic standard. Similarly, gymnasts talked about practising in knackered old sports halls. For many of us, Florida was the first time we had access to state-of-the-art training facilities. There was a brand-new athletics track where several of the Team USA sprinters trained. There was a state-of-the-art gym with weights rooms and exercise machines, a sports stadium with seating for 9,000 people, an Olympic-standard swimming pool, specialist medical facilities, playing fields, clay tennis courts, baseball fields and football pitches. There was even a cross country course designed to the specifications of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). The list was endless.
The camp had everything we wanted. The weather was beautiful: warm, clear skies, hot in the day but cool and breezy in the evenings. Everything was paid for. We were put up in a luxury hotel and offered as much food as we could eat. Pancakes, just like Grandma did them back in Djibouti, were served for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. There was a big swimming pool where we’d chill out after training. It was just like being on a real holiday.
Each morning we took a bus from the hotel to the training complex. There was this intense focus on athletics at the camp. Everyone took their sport seriously. Everyone trained to a high standard. It was an eye-opening experience. At Hounslow I trained twice a week. In Orlando I trained every day. There was a real professionalism about the camp. We did workshops on nutrition and sports psychology, even on how to deal with the media. I’d never seen anything like it. I got to meet some of the US track stars who were training at the camp at the time, including Gail Devers, the American sprinter and hurdler who had won Olympic gold three times: in the 100 metres in Barcelona, and in the 100 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay at Atlanta in 1996. Gail was famous for having these really long nails, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her hands. Her nails really were as long as they looked on
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