Jemma Reekie: "This time last year, I was broken"
Jemma Reekie’s honesty is arresting.
“This time last year, I was terrified. I was broken as an athlete,” says the reigning British indoor 800m champion. “I had actually written down on my laptop everything that I was struggling with at that point. One of the [things on the list] was that I was never going be as good as I used to be.”
Making comparisons with a previous version of yourself is something many an athlete can relate to. It’s never the most helpful of exercises but it was a particularly painful experience for Reekie, given just how high her stock had once risen.
The last time she raced over 800m at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena, in February of 2020, the then double European U23 champion announced that she had taken huge strides forward by breaking Jenny Meadows’ indoor British record in a time of 1:57.91. One week later, that performance was followed up by a showing at the Millrose Games in New York that took down Laura Muir’s UK indoor 1500m and mile marks.
Reekie had marked herself out as a real talent, an emerging force, a potential world-beater. Had the Olympics taken place that summer, it isn’t within the realms of fantasy to suggest she could have come home from Tokyo with a medal. As it was, by the time those pandemic-affected Games rolled around, a certain Keely Hodgkinson had stepped into the limelight. Despite her best efforts, and forcing the pace in the closing stages, Reekie had to settle for fourth in the Olympic 800m final in Japan as her British team-mate landed silver.
From that point onwards, the struggle became almost entirely uphill. Reekie was laid low by glandular fever and admits she didn’t give herself the time to recover fully, instead trying to make up for lost time. In the summer of 2022, she failed to make the final of the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games, while fifth place at the European Championships fell some way short of her expectations.
Then came the emergence of reports about strains in the relationship with her long-time coach Andy Young. She and long-time training partner Muir ultimately took the decision to split from their mentor in March of last year. All of the above contributed to that list on Reekie’s laptop.
“I think I was just frazzled mentally and, after having glandular fever, I'd never let myself recover from it,” she says. “I didn't appreciate what it would do to my body. I think everyone responds so differently to things like that.
“I actually had it when I was a child. I'd been bed bound for weeks and months and I was so scared that that was the way it was going to be. I think it did take a lot out of me.
“I know some people that have gone through glandular fever and been back running well in a few months but I just hadn't taken account of myself as an individual.
“I was not wanting to make it an excuse, almost. I was thinking like: ‘Well, if these people have gotten over it and been fine, then why am I not fine? Is it in my head? Is it this? Is it that?’ We all just need to be treated as individuals and give ourselves time.”
Did it ever get to the point, then, that she wanted to give up her athletics career?
“Never. It's so weird because when I look back I was so broken mentally but not one day did I wake up and think I can't do it any more,” adds the 25-year-old. “I've always thought I'm almost born to do this. Never once did I wake up and think I can't do it. There were times that I thought: ‘I'm never going to be as good’. But I was like: ‘This is what I'm meant to be doing. I just trusted myself and I just had this feeling that that's what I'm meant to be doing and that's what I love. I trusted that the love of my sport would come back to me. It was a hard period of time.”
The first step on Reekie’s road to recovery was taken when she moved south from Scotland to work with Brighton-based Jon Bigg and his wife, the former world and Olympic champion hurdler Sally Gunnell.
“I think I needed to make that change and I needed someone to believe in me and have that faith in me,” says Reekie. “[Last year] Jon said: ‘I don't care how you run this summer. I just want you to be back on the start line having fun.’
“He’d watched me fall away from that love of the sport and watched me struggle. As soon as I started training with him, I was like: ‘Wow, this is what I’m meant to be doing’. This time last year I was struggling a lot and I didn't know who to turn to. But luckily British Athletics picked me up and sorted me out and of course Jon and Sally have been amazing as well.”
The recipe seems to be working. Reekie is heading to this weekend World Indoor Championships in Glasgow with a substantial spring in her step and with medals on her mind. Her training focus has switched quite radically. Under Young, the focus had leaned towards 1500m and 5000m but, with the likes of Hodgkinson, Mary Moraa and Athing Mu changing the face of the 800m and rapidly picking up the pace, something had to change.
Now, says Reekie, the attention has been placed on: “Doing a lot more speedwork and a lot more technical work to change my running. I'm still doing longer sessions and still tapping into that 1500m work, but it's much more quality work that I'm doing, which means I'm able to practise running better for longer and really looking at all those little details.”
The first substantial signs of a returning strength arrived at last year’s London Diamond League, where Reekie stormed to victory in a meeting record of 1:57.30 at the Olympic Stadium. Fifth place at the Budapest World Championships followed before a huge confidence-boosting win on the streets of New York in the Fifth Avenue Mile to round off the season.
Given the number of changes she had made, Reekie had not been expecting improvements to come until this year. The 2024 indoor season has seen a continuation of her progress, especially given the manner of her British indoor title win in Birmingham in a championships record of 1:58.24.
Now comes her next assignment in Glasgow, the local girl who grew up running for Kilbarchan heading back to the Emirates Arena where she will receive the unerring support of the home crowd as her campaign gets underway on Friday morning (March 1).
As she casts her mind back to that record-breaking run of 2020, she laughs at the memory.
“It feels like a lifetime ago,” says Reekie. “I don't know how I ran 1:57 off that training I was doing. I think it was just a bit of like: ‘Oh, just run and see what happens’.
“I think you can see how relaxed I was [winning the UK title in Birmingham]. I wasn't pushing down that home straight. My face wasn’t the normal determined push at the end, I was just slowing down there because I was enjoying it again. And when I look at when I ran that 1:57, I was just loving life and I was just having fun and I'm back to doing that. So hopefully we’ll see some more special things.”
Reekie has no qualms about being the centre of attention. It will feel very different to another experience at the Emirates in 2020, when she was suddenly pitched into the spotlight to run the 1500m at the high-profile Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix.
“When I ran that 1:57 I got shot straight into it,” she recalls. “Two weeks later, I was doing the Glasgow Grand Prix and everyone was watching me because I was the athlete that just came out of nowhere. I think that experience has probably served me well for this time because I remember standing at that Glasgow Grand Prix and being absolutely terrified. As soon as they announced my name, the crowd went mad and I'd never been in such big races like that before. I think I'm ready for it [this time] and I think that crowd will actually help me.”
Another motivating factor will be the pursuit of a first major senior medal. The newly relaid track at the Emirates promises to be quick and Reekie admits that, should all go to plan, she will treasure any prizes that come her way – particularly after everything she has been through.
“I've learned to appreciate what I do a bit more and I appreciate the good races now,” she says. “If I win a medal at the worlds and hopefully win it and it would just make up for all those times I've just missed out. I think it would really help me towards the summer because I really want one of those Olympic medals, as well.”
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