Photographer: SILVIA OLSEN
Description: XXX
Emma Grede is a powerhouse. The entrepreneur, whose CV includes co-founder, CEO, founding partner, board chair and mother of four, is a force to be reckoned with – and one of the hardest working business women out there. Warmth, joy, and emphatic sincerity might not sound like the stereotypical traits of a trailblazing CEO, but,
as we sit down with Grede in a paired-back suite in London’s Claridge’s hotel, these
are the qualities she exudes. Here, she tells Sunil Makan how to get what you want,
why the perfect work/life balance is a myth, and what’s hot in London right now…
Description: XXX
Description: XXX
FASHION: TOP, SAINT LAURENT
Description: XXX
[the more] you realise how small [the industry] is. It’s the same people doing deals with the same people they went to school with. It’s really interesting when you get to look at what gives somebody permission to be in business; to go out and raise the finances needed and to see who gets to be successful.
There are
SHARE THIS STORY
EDITOR IN CHIEF: ANDREA THOMPSON
PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILM DIRECTOR: REBECCA MUNROE
WORDS: ALLY HEAD
DESIGN: ANA OSPINA
STYLIST: SOFIA PIZA
HAIR: LUCY MUYANGA
MAKE-UP: (LAVIA): TERESA REYNOLDS FOR EVOLVED ARTISTS USING FENTY BEAUTY AND PAT MCGRATH
MAKE-UP: (DARYLL): LUCY FREEMAN
Sub Editor: Catherine Jarvie
LOCATION: LEE VALLEY ATHLETICS CENTRE
WITH THANKS TO: ADIDAS
LAVIAI NIELSEN
DARYLL NEITA
MARY EARPS
This summer, athletes Daryll Neita and Laviai Nielsen
are on track to make Team GB history. Here, they discuss what it means to be women in sport, their hopes for the Olympics, and the power of self-belief with Ally Head
Photographer and Film Director: REBECCA MUNROE
ith just days to go until Paris 2024 kicks off, it’s fair to say England has Olympic fever. It’s been a dozen years since 2012, when London last hosted the summer Games. This year, our neighbours across the Channel will join London and LA (for Los Angeles 2028) as one of only three cities
to be awarded the honour of hosting the Games three times. That’s why, on a cold but sunny Tuesday in early June, we’re at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton, North London, to photograph athletes Daryll Neita and Laviai Nielsen – both of whom are representing Team GB in Paris this year.
W
LONG READ | 15 Mins
As we get underway, it should be no surprise, really, to see how many fans, young and old, stop both women to congratulate them on their recent selection. After all, both athletes have trained at this very track (the Centre was opened in 2007 by Tessa Jowell – then Minister for the Olympics – in preparation for the London Games) and hold seriously impressive records. It is, nevertheless, heartwarming to see – not least when Nielsen’s manager, former sprinter Jennifer Stoute, comes across our shoot by chance. Stoute is herself an Olympic bronze medallist (she also starred as Rebel in the original line-up of 1990s TV show, Gladiators), and it’s something of a full-circle moment to see these formidable female athletes, past and present, laughing and chatting together.
‘Belief is the beginning of it; you can’t set a goal if you don’t believe you can achieve it’
Laviai Nielsen
Neita is a three-time Olympian with two medals and is the second-fastest female British sprinter of all time (behind teammate Dina Asher-Smith). Nielsen, meanwhile, recently smashed an eye-wateringly fast 49.87-second personal best over 400m. It’s hard to even compute that speed, but know this: both women are fast and look set to make the finals for this year’s 100m, 200m and 400m races respectively.
By the time our shoot takes place, both women know they’ve made Team GB – Neita for the third time, and Nielsen for the first time as an individual, having competed as part of the 400m relay team in Tokyo 2021. (Nielsen is also one of the select few chosen by adidas, Team GB’s kit sponsor, to star in the brand’s official kit reveal photos, joining the likes of national treasure and diver Tom Daley, Paralympian Olivia Breen and gymnast Max Whitlock.) While both are thrilled to have earned their place, they’re refreshingly honest about the realities of the four years of dedication – of hard graft, long training days, and literal blood, sweat and tears – it takes to get to this point.
JACKET, TOP, SHOES AND SOCKS, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; SHORTS, P.E NATION; RING, NEITA’S OWN
‘I’m just a girl from Lewisham following her dream’
Daryll Neita
“It took a lot,” shares Nielsen. “It’s an awful lot of hard work and a lot of the time, you don’t think you’re going to make it.” One of the most interesting but brutal truths of competing as a sprinter comes in the margins for qualification. Often, you can lose out on a team you’ve been grafting to compete for by a matter of milliseconds. But, as both reflect, that only makes things sweeter when you do get your call-up.
Alongside dedication, sacrifice, and more than a sprinkling of natural talent, both athletes confirm that self-belief plays a huge role in turning an athlete into an Olympic medallist. “I was raised in a very optimistic environment,” reflects Neita. “My mum taught us that anything’s possible and to chase your dreams because there’s no limits.” That belief that she can – and will – achieve greatness is evident. “I’ve always believed that I’m born to do track and field,” she adds. “I believe that I can be the best. I can be the best. I just believe it.”
Nielsen agrees: “Belief is the beginning of it; you can’t set a goal if you don’t believe you can achieve it.” Ten years ago, the athlete set herself a time goal for the 400m, admitting that it keeps her pushing forward. “I set that goal when I was young, and it came from a very deep inner belief that was the beginning of everything,” she says. This, in turn, has fuelled her fire and determination, boosting her resiliency. “I’m not going to give up for anything – an injury, defeat, or simply because I didn’t make it this time.” Her five-ringed Olympic tattoo, etched just below her ribcage, is further indication of her unstoppable determination.
Despite loving running from a young age, Nielsen admits that her interest in the sport “went in stages. I used to play outside all the time and raced the boys at school a lot as a kid,” she laughs. It wasn’t until 2005, when London found out that they’d won the bid for the 2012 Olympics, that the then nine-year-old’s passion kicked up a notch. “Over the summer holidays, our school built a huge athletics track. It was the first time I’d actually seen a running track, and all I wanted to do was run laps with my twin sister.” (Her sister, Lina Nielsen, is also a Team GB Olympic athlete).
That’s when the penny dropped that there was potential for both sisters. “When our friends joined us, they couldn’t keep up.” Nielsen smiles. “We realised we had this endurance that not many of our peers had.” She went on to join an athletics club close to her family home in Leytonstone, East London. In 2012, after volunteering at the London Olympics – during which she carried world champion Jess Ennis Hill’s bag – she began pursuing athletics seriously. “It started with joy, passion and as a hobby, and then turned into a profession.”
Neita, who was born and raised in Ladywell, South East London, knew much earlier in life that she was fast – her talent was first noticed around the age of four. “My uncle took me, my brother and my cousins to the park one day and let us race,” the athlete recalls. “I beat everybody, including my older cousins. When we got home, my uncle said to my Mum: ‘You’ve got an Olympic champion here’,” she laughs.
‘It’s not about how you look; it’s about how you feel – and it’s incredibly liberating to feel strong’
LAVIAI NIELSEN
A few years after that, her first coach, Alan Port, scouted her at a Year Six sports day and the rest is history. “I’ve always felt I was progressing on a really organic journey,” she shares. Which is not to say that following her dream (or, as she’d say, destiny) hasn’t come without its sacrifices, especially in her younger years. Neita recalls reaching a crossroads in her late teens, as her friends started swapping workouts with nights out. “That was when I made the decision that I wanted to take [my athletics career] seriously,” she shares.
Training schedules aside, these days there are other challenges sportspeople have to face. We discuss the abuse that many athletes – in particular, female athletes – face online. But while stories of female footballers being trolled now make headline news, athletes who suffer the same often do so in silence and without support. While Nielsen has found joy in her and her twin sister’s social channels, amassing nearly 500k followers as they document their journey to Paris, they’ve had their fair share of negative comments, too.
Their videos are refreshingly real – showing their hours of training, sure, but also their humanity and vulnerability during what’s arguably one of the most arduous training cycles any athlete could complete. “Sometimes as a sportsperson, it can be quite hard to show up online because you always worry if people will wonder if your focus is in the wrong place,” she admits. “The messages of support we get from fans is unbelievable, and I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the negative comments telling me to quit.” Her bottom line? “Don’t put yourself in one box – be who you want to be.”
‘Learning how to pick myself back up
again has been a journey for me’
Daryll Neita
‘It’s really easy to feel judged
or not good enough’
Daryll Neita
Sadly, Neita has faced the same. “I get comments all the time,” she says. “People see my muscles and say, ‘That’s not very feminine’ or ‘She doesn’t look British’.” But she acknowledges that the comments have only fuelled her fire. “It can be really easy to feel judged or not good enough, but I like the fact that I represent differences,” she asserts. “We can’t be a photocopy of one another, and I think that the more people recognise that, the more they’ll get used to it and become comfortable.”
So, what’s it like to be a female athlete in 2024? Good question. When you consider women competitors weren’t even permitted to run the marathon in the Olympics until 1982, it’s clear things are changing. This year, for example, is the first to see more women on Team GB than men. More women with children are competing at top level than ever before, and more female athletes feature in prime-time TV slots to ensure fans are able to support them, which is also positive news. But more still needs to be done, not least about the persistent blind spot around women in sport and their achievements. During the recent Euros, for example, tweets claiming that under Gareth Southgate’s leadership, England’s men’s team was the first to reach two major international finals went viral – a factual inaccuracy, as England’s women’s team not only reached, but won, the Women’s Euro’s final in 2022 and made it all the way to the final of the Women’s World Cup last year. “I don’t like the fact that people still define it as women’s football, women’s rugby or women’s tennis,” Nielsen reflects when I raise this subject with her. “Andy Murray’s always defending Serena Williams, because she was the first tennis player to do all of the things he often gets credited for.”
As world-class champions, you might assume that Nielsen and Neita have self-confidence by the bucketload. They’re both honest, however, that like many of the rest of us their relationships with their self-confidence and body image haven’t been entirely easy over the years. “I had some body confidence issues when I first started going to the gym,” admits Nielsen. “When I started training, you just didn’t see [muscley women].”
‘Don’t put yourself in one box –
be who you want to be’
Laviai Nielsen
She continues: “I was one of those young girls that grew muscles very randomly. I had a bulge of muscles in my quad and it took a while until my hamstring and glutes caught up,” she laughs. Nielsen was in her late teens then, a period in which, she admits, she worried “about being ‘bulky’ or wearing dresses as I felt like I didn’t look like other women”.
However, Nielsen quickly realised how much stronger and faster she felt on the track if she banked the training. “All of a sudden, I got it,’ she says. “It didn’t matter what I looked like anymore, I just loved what my body could do. It’s not about how you look; it’s about how you feel. And it’s incredibly liberating to feel strong.”
Now, she looks at her muscles and recognises that they can do really amazing things. “I love the way I look now because of what it’s done for me and my career. And when you gain confidence in your body, I think it can cross over into your everyday life.”
Neita agrees: “We can’t be on the start line with no muscles; I need them,” she laughs. That said, she does reflect that perhaps when others aren’t used to seeing something – for example, women with visible abs or a six-pack – it can make them uncomfortable. “People also assume that [those in the public eye] should be perfect all the time, but we’re just human,” she adds. “I like to show that side of me – I’m just a girl from Lewisham following her dream.”
And what a dream. Whether you’re an athletics’ fan or a fair-weather watcher who only tunes in for the Olympics every four years, you’ll likely know that the process can be a roller coaster for those taking part. Especially when it comes to athletics, where the smallest fractions of a second can determine the difference between a win or a loss; a podium spot or fourth place. How do they deal with the heightened emotion? And how do they cope with the highs of qualifying, as well as the lows of missing out?
“I’ve been on both sides of that,” admits Nielsen. “For Tokyo 2020, I didn’t qualify automatically.” (She finished fifth at the trials.) “I waited for a phone call to see if I’d hopefully made it and instead, I got a call to tell me that I hadn’t.” For Neita, the pressure has run parallel to her many successes – she’s now one of the fastest women in the world over 200m. “I’m a recognised name in the women’s sprint, and it comes with its own pressures,” she acknowledges. “Now, when I don’t perform, the harder it becomes. Learning how to pick myself back up again after those lows has been a journey for me.” What exactly has that journey taught her? “You are good enough,” she replies. “You are meant to be there, and there’s always going to be another opportunity, so just keep going and believe in yourself.”
For any little girls at home looking up to them on TV this summer, our Team GB golden girls have some advice. “You won’t know if you don’t try,” says Nielsen. “Find a sport or an activity that you know you’ll enjoy – don’t just do it because someone else is doing it.”
Nielsen’s A-goal for this year is simple – to make it all the way to the Olympic final, a goal that will take a near four-second PB but one that she’s quietly optimistic about. “Only eight girls make it, so it’s a really tough ask,’ she says of the realities of how close it might be on the day. “But I know that the way that I’ve been training and racing this year has been gearing up towards being my best in Paris. I’ve still got a lot to give in the 400.”
Neita, on the other hand, is gunning for gold. “The dream is just to be the champ. Why not?” she chuckles. “Dream big, go for gold.”
As we wrap up our interview, Nielsen is about to head home to cook dinner, while Neita is getting ready to race at the weekend before a Sunday off, which she’ll spend walking her dog and preparing for the week ahead. Paris, at this point, is still weeks away, but it’s firmly in their sights. Come race day, Nielsen will be amping herself up with No Thank You by Little Simz, while Neita will be playing D-Block Europe’s Pink Lemonade on repeat.
The one bit of advice they’d give their younger selves? “Don’t worry so much,” smiles Nielsen. “If you’ve made mistakes, embrace them.” For Neita, it’s three words: “Never stop believing.”
TOP AND SHORTS, VAARA; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
TOP AND SHORTS, ADIDAS; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
TOP, FREE PEOPLE MOVEMENT; TROUSERS, SOCKS AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; RING, NEITA’S OWN
TOP AND SHORTS, ADIDAS; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
UNITARD, ADIDAS; SOCKS AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; RINGS, NEITA’S OWN
NIELSEN: LEOTARD, SHRUG, SKIRT AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
in
WOMEN
SPORT
in
WOMEN
SPORT
Daryll Neita
summer of 2012. This year, our neighbours across the Channel will join the UK and USA as one of only three countries to have had the honour of hosting the games three times. That’s why, on a cold but sunny Tuesday in early June, we’re at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton, North London, to photograph sprinters Daryll Neita and Laviai Nielsen – both of whom are representing Team GB in Paris this year.
As we get underway, it should be no surprise, really, to see how many fans, young and old, stop both sprinters to congratulate them on their recent selection. After all, both athletes have trained at this very track (the Centre was opened in 2007 by Tessa Jowell – then Minister for the Olympics – in preparation for the London Games) and hold seriously impressive records. It is, nevertheless, heartwarming to see – not least when Nielsen’s manager, former sprinter Jennifer Stoute, comes across our shoot by chance. Stoute is herself an Olympic bronze medallist (she also starred as Rebel in the original line-up of 1990s TV show, ), and it’s something of a full-circle moment to see these three formidable women athletes, past and present, laughing and chatting together.
Games, back in the summer of 2012. This year, our neighbours across the Channel will join the UK and USA as one of only three countries to have had the honour of hosting the games three times. That’s why, on a cold but sunny Tuesday in early June, we’re at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton, North London, to photograph sprinters Daryll Neita and Laviai Nielsen – both of whom are representing Team GB in Paris this year.
As we get underway, it should be no surprise, really, to see how many fans, young and old, stop both sprinters to congratulate them on their recent selection. After all, both athletes have trained at this very track (the Centre was opened in 2007 by Tessa Jowell – then Minister for the Olympics – in preparation for the London Games) and hold seriously impressive records. It is, nevertheless, heartwarming to see – not least when Nielsen’s manager, former sprinter Jennifer Stoute, comes across our shoot by chance. Stoute is herself an Olympic bronze medallist (she also starred as Rebel in the original line-up of 1990s TV show, ), and it’s something of a full-circle moment to see these three formidable women athletes, past and present, laughing and chatting together.
Neita is a three-time Olympian with two medals and is the second-fastest female British sprinter of all time (behind teammate Dina Asher-Smith). Nielsen, meanwhile, recently smashed an eye-wateringly fast 50.67-second personal best over 400m. It’s hard to even compute that speed, but know this: both women are and look set to make the finals for this year's 200m and 400m races respectively.
By the time our shoot takes place, both women know they’ve made Team GB – Neita for the third time, and Nielsen for the first time as an individual, having competed as part of the 400m relay team in Tokyo 2021. (Nielsen is also one of the select few chosen by adidas, Team GB’s kit sponsor, to star in the brand’s official kit release photos, joining the likes of national treasure and diver Tom Daley, Paralympian Olivia Breen and gymnast Max Whitlock.) While both are thrilled to have earned their place, they’re refreshingly honest about the realities of the four years of dedication – of hard graft, long training days, and literal blood, sweat and tears – it takes to get to this point.
‘Belief is the beginning of it; you can't set a goal if you don't believe you can achieve it’
Daryll Neita
‘Belief is the beginning of it; you can't set a goal if you don't believe you can achieve it’
Laviai Nielsen
“It took a lot,” shares Nielsen. “It’s an awful lot of hard work and a lot of the time, you don’t think you’re going to make it.” One of the most interesting but brutal truths of competing as a sprinter comes in the margins for qualification. Often, you can lose out on a team you’ve been grafting to compete for by a matter of milliseconds. But, as both reflect, that only makes things sweeter when you do get your call up.
Alongside dedication, sacrifice, and more than a sprinkling of natural talent, both athletes confirm that self-belief plays a huge role in turning an athlete into an Olympic medallist. “I was raised in a very optimistic environment,” reflects Neita. “My mum taught us that anything’s possible and to chase your dreams because there’s no limits.” That belief that she can – and will – achieve greatness is evident. “I’ve always believed that I’m born to do track and field,” she adds. “I believe that I can be the best. I be the best. I just believe it.”
Nielsen agrees: “Belief is the beginning of it; you can't set a goal if you don't believe you can achieve it.” Ten years ago, the athlete set herself a time goal for the 400m, admitting that it keeps her pushing forward. “I set that goal when I was young, and it came from a very deep inner belief that was the beginning of everything,” she says. This, in turn, has fuelled her fire and determination, boosting her resiliency. “I'm not going to give up for anything – an injury, defeat, or simply because I didn’t make it this time.” Her five-ringed Olympic tattoo, etched just below her ribcage, is further indication of her unstoppable determination.
Despite loving running from a young age, Nielsen admits that her interest in the sport “went in stages. I used to play outside all the time and raced the boys at school a lot as a kid,” she laughs. It wasn’t until 2005, when London found out that they’d won the bid for the 2012 Olympics, that the then nine-year-old’s passion kicked up a notch. “Over the summer holidays, our school built a huge athletics track. It was the first time I'd actually seen a running track, and all I wanted to do was run laps with my twin sister.” (Her sister, Lina Nielsen, is also a Team GB Olympic athlete).
That’s when the penny dropped that there was potential for both sisters. “When our friends joined us, they couldn’t keep up.” Nielsen smiles. “We realised we had this endurance that not many of our peers had.” She went on to join an athletics club close to her family home in Leytonstone, East London. In 2012, after volunteering at the London Olympics – during which she carried world champion Jess Ennis Hill’s bag – she began pursuing athletics seriously. “It started with joy, passion and as a hobby, and then turned into a profession.”
Neita, who was born and raised in Ladywell, South East London, knew much earlier in life that she was fast – her talent was first noticed around the age of four. “My uncle took me, my brother and my cousins to the park one day and let us race,” the athlete recalls. “I beat everybody, including my older cousins. When we got home, my uncle said to my Mum: ‘You've got an Olympic champion here’,” she laughs.
TOP AND SHORTS, ADIDAS; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
TOP, FREE PEOPLE MOVEMENT; TROUSERS, SOCKS AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; RING, NEITA’S OWN
‘I'm just a girl from Lewisham following
her dream’
Daryll Neita
A few years after that, her first coach, Alan Port, scouted her at a Year Six sports day and the rest is history. “I’ve always felt I was progressing on a really organic journey,” she shares. Which is not to say that following her dream (or, as she’d say, destiny) hasn’t come without its sacrifices, especially in her younger years. Neita recalls reaching a crossroads in her late teens, as her friends started swapping workouts with nights out. “That was when I made the decision that I wanted to take [my athletics career] seriously,” she shares.
Training schedules aside, these days there are other challenges sportspeople have to face. We discuss the abuse that many athletes – in particular, female athletes – face online. But while stories of female footballers being trolled now make headline news, athletes who suffer the same often do so in silence and without support. While Nielsen has found joy in her and her twin sister’s social channels, amassing nearly 500 thousand followers as they document their journey to Paris, they’ve had their fair share of negative comments, too.
Their videos are refreshingly real – showing their hours of training, sure, but also their humanity and vulnerability during what’s arguably one of the most arduous training cycles any athlete could complete. “Sometimes as a sportsperson, it can be quite hard to show up online because you always worry if people will wonder if your focus is in the wrong place,” she admits. “The messages of support we get from fans is unbelievable, and I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the negative comments telling me to quit.” Her bottom line? “Don’t put yourself in one box – be who you want to be.”
TOP AND SHORTS, ADIDAS; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
‘The dream is to be
the champ. Why not? Dream big, go for gold’
Laviai Nielsen
Sadly, Neita has faced the same. “I get comments all the time,” she says. “People see my muscles and say, ‘That's not very feminine’ or ‘She doesn't look British’.” But she acknowledges that the comments have only fuelled her fire. “It can be really easy to feel judged or not good enough, but I like the fact that I represent differences,” she asserts. “We can't be a photocopy of one another, and I think that the more people recognise that, the more they'll get used to it and become comfortable.”
So, what’s it like to be a female athlete in 2024? Good question. When you consider women competitors weren’t even permitted to run the marathon in the Olympics until 1982, it’s clear things are changing. This year, for example, is the first to see more women on Team GB than men. More women with children are competing at top level than ever before, and more female athletes feature in prime-time TV slots to ensure fans are able to support them, which is also positive news. But more still needs to be done, not least about the persistent blind spot around women in sport and their achievements. During the recent Euros, for example, tweets claiming that under Gareth Southgate’s leadership, England’s men’s team was the first to reach two major international finals went viral – a factual inaccuracy, as England’s women’s team not only reached, but won, the Women’s Euro’s final in 2022 and made it all the way to the final of the Women’s World Cup last year. “I don't like the fact that people still define it as women's football, women's rugby or women's tennis,” Nielsen reflects when I raise this subject with her. “Andy Murray’s always defending Serena Williams, because she was the first tennis player to do all of the things he often gets credited for.”
As world-class champions, you might assume that Nielsen and Neita have self-confidence by the bucketload. They’re both honest, however, that like many of the rest of us their relationships with their self-confidence and body image haven’t been entirely easy over the years. “I had some body confidence issues when I first started going to the gym,” admits Nielsen. “When I started training, you just didn’t see [muscley women].”
UNITARD, ADIDAS; SOCKS AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; RINGS, DARYlL’S OWN
‘The dream is to be
the champ. Why not? Dream big, go for gold’
Daryll Neita
She continues: “I was one of those young girls that grew muscles very randomly. I had a bulge of muscles in my quad and it took a while until my hamstring and glutes caught up,” she laughs. She was in her late teens then, a period in which, she admits, she worried “about being ‘bulky’ or wearing dresses as I felt like I didn’t look like other women”.
However, Nielsen quickly realised how much stronger and faster she felt on the track if she banked the training. “All of a sudden, I got it,’ she says. “It didn’t matter what I looked like anymore, I just loved what my body could do. It’s not about how you look; it’s about how you feel. And it’s incredibly liberating to feel strong.”
Now, she looks at her muscles and recognises that they can do really amazing things. “I love the way I look now because of what it’s done for me and my career. And when you gain confidence in your body, I think it can cross over into your everyday life.”
Neita agrees: “We can't be on the start line with no muscles; I need them,” she laughs. That said, she does reflect that perhaps when others aren’t used to seeing something – for example, women with visible abs or a six-pack – it can make them uncomfortable. “People also assume that [those in the public eye] should be perfect all the time, but we're just human,” she adds. “I like to show that side of me – I'm just a girl from Lewisham following her dream.”
NIELSEN: LEOTARD, SHRUG, SKIRT AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
NEITA: JACKET, TOP, SOCKS AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; SHORTS, P.E NATION; RINGS, NEITA’S OWN
And what a dream. Whether you’re an athletics’ fan or a fair-weather watcher who only tunes in for the Olympics every four years, you’ll likely know that the process can be a roller coaster for those taking part. Especially when it comes to athletics, where tenths of a millisecond can determine the difference between a win or a loss; a podium spot or fourth place. How do they deal with the heightened emotion? And how do they cope with the highs of qualifying, as well as the lows of missing out?
“I've been on both sides of that,” admits Nielsen. “For Tokyo 2020, I didn't qualify automatically.” (She finished fifth at the trials.) “I waited for a phone call to see if I'd hopefully made it and instead, I got a call to tell me that I hadn't.” For Neita, the pressure has run parallel to her many successes – she’s now one of the fastest women in the world over 200m. “I'm a recognised name in the women's sprint, and it comes with its own pressures,” she acknowledges. “Now, when I don’t perform, the harder it becomes. Learning how to pick myself back up again after those lows has been a journey for me.” What exactly has that journey taught her? “You are good enough,” she replies. “You are meant to be there, and there's always going to be another opportunity, so just keep going and believe in yourself.”
JACKET, TOP, SHOES AND SOCKS, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; SHORTS, P.E NATION; RING, NEITA’S OWN
NEITA: TOP, FREE PEOPLE MOVEMENT; TROUSERS, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; RINGS, NEITA’S OWN. NIELSEN: (LOOK ONE) TOP AND SHORTS, ADIDAS; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN; (LOOK TWO) LEOTARD, SHRUG AND SKIRT, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
NEITA: TOP, FREE PEOPLE MOVEMENT; TROUSERS, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; RINGS, NEITA’S OWN. NIELSEN: (LOOK ONE) TOP AND SHORTS, ADIDAS; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN; (LOOK TWO) LEOTARD, SHRUG AND SKIRT, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; EARRINGS, NIELSEN’S OWN
NEITA: JACKET, TOP, SOCKS AND SHOES, ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY; SHORTS, P.E NATION; RINGS, NEITA’S OWN
