Weekend Edition: The incredible story of Eugene Amo-Dadzie AKA 'The World's Fastest Accountant'

0:02This is a Global Player original podcast. So as the World Athletic Championships begin in Tokyo this weekend, our guest today is a GB sprinter who ironically is living proof it's never too late to start. Eugene Amo-Dadzie has shot to stardom as the world's fastest accountant, literally balancing spreadsheets with sport until he was 26 years old. Last month, he tied with his hero Linford Christie's 100 metre time, and that made him the joint second fastest British man of all time over 100 metres. He ran 9.87 and that is fifth on Europe's all-time 100 metre list too. It's an amazing story that's led all the way to the start line at this weekend's championships and I promise you, you are going to fall in love with him.

0:43Welcome to the Sports Agents.

0:53The Sports Agents with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman Hello, it's just me today and we're recording this episode at an event here in Canary Wharf for Thursday's episode of The Sports Agents This is the BGC Trading Day which marks the anniversary of 9-11 and every year they gather celebrities from the world of sport and entertainment to do trades on the floor and they donate all the profits made today to a range of charities. And we managed to catch up with a range of people from the worlds of entertainment and sport, of course, and here's a little taste of them. John Terry has joined us. VAR and the refereeing, I think, is appalling at the moment.

1:35I sit at football matches, I watch that Fulham game. It's really annoying. Well, I heard you say you're not enjoying watching football at the moment. I don't enjoy the stoppages, even the talking where the referee comes on the pitch. It's like NFL. I don't think it's a good place to go. I don't think football's going in the direction we want it to go. Michael McIntyre on the Sports Agents. Their words I never thought I'd say. Even the people in this trading floor couldn't understand how the new format of the Champions League works. And then you don't even get the balls. I think the draw's still happening.

2:04Did you see, like, Ibra Zlatan was, like, pushing a button, like on a game show. Going, Zlatan, push the button. Anthony Joshua's here. We miss you. I miss you too. We miss you. When are we going to see you again? Kira Walsh, a lioness, is with me. I went to Barcelona last time, so I probably didn't get to experience much of the celebrations and kind of how the game had changed in England. So being here the second time round is incredible and people know it's here to stay and it's not going anywhere.

2:37Earlier in the week, Mark and I took a closer look at the power vacuum at Spurs after the news that the Premier League's longest-serving chairman, Daniel Levy, had been essentially sacked after 24 years. Gary Flavel, a.k.a. Flav, from the excellent Fighting Cock podcast, helped us assess his legacy in North London.

2:55Eugene Amo-Dadzie:If you remember that Pochettino side, it was made up entirely of players that were unproven at Premier League level and then developed, including Harry Kane, right? So you had Harry Kane, you had Dele Alli, you had Humminson, who came from Germany, Eriksen from Ajax, Patongan, Ado Verreld, Karl Walker, Danny Rose, Dembele in midfield from Fulham, Eric Dier. So none of those players would have necessarily been fancied by Premier League clubs. And we had a blueprint there and an impeccable manager in Pochettino. Now, there was a massive shift when Mourinho came in because that development or that understanding of what Tottenham, we thought Tottenham were, disappeared very quickly and continued to disappear into the Conte era.

3:33Eugene Amo-Dadzie:and this is where it started to fall apart for Daniel Levy in significant terms for the majority of the fan base is that we lost what we thought we were. I get why he did it. I understand bringing Mourinho in was very attractive and I was excited at the time and I didn't blame him. In hindsight, it was the wrong thing. And when you're at that level, you pay for bad decisions and that's what he has done, I think. And if you're listening to this on the News Agents feed, just search for the Sports Agents to listen to those interviews in full. You can catch up with every episode on YouTube, Global Player or wherever you get your podcasts.

4:06Just remember to hit subscribe or follow. Up next, as promised, one of our favourite interviews of late on this podcast. It's the world's fastest accountant. The Sports Agents.

4:19The Sports Agents. With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

4:26I'm delighted to say we get to chat to Eugene Amadadzi on the podcast today. also known as the fastest accountant in the world. And he's out at the holding camp ahead of the World Athletics Championships, which will take place in Tokyo. And it's great to see you. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for having me, guys. Appreciate it. Your story is a great one. And for the last couple of seasons, you've had that moniker of being the fastest accountant in the world. So just explain kind of what was going on in your life in your early 20s when you were clearly fast, but also good with numbers. yeah honestly like this whole athletics journey wasn't even I can't even lie and say it was a dream that I had my whole idea in life was okay cool I'm going to go out there I'm going to get my qualification and then I'm going to join the rat race so to speak and I'm going to just climb the corporate ladder and that was kind of the dream just climb the corporate ladder you know one day become like a CFO of some of some kind and then the idea of being an athlete you know came nowhere in my thinking at all like it was just almost like a passion I had when I was younger and I used to play a lot of football and that was kind of my real dream you know a young boy who wanted to become a footballer but yeah that kind of didn't happen and yeah I guess it was almost good enough for me to be that guy who was sat on his sofa saying that I could have been I could have been if I had tried so I'll watch London at home you know the 2012 Olympics I watched the London World Champs 2017 at home and yeah for years that was me you know just just a numbers guy who would tell people that I could have been an athlete if I really wanted to.

5:57Eugene Amo-Dadzie:Were you doing athletics as a kid or were you simply just playing football? Yes I played a lot of football and I did do a little bit of track in school so it was a nice excuse to get off lessons early if I'm being honest with you and so I did a little bit. But not maths clearly.

6:14Never anything like serious I never joined an athletics club or anything like that so truly I was a really truly a beginner when I started out at the ripe old age of 27. Truly naturally talented and it was actually while you're playing football that somebody spotted you and said man you're so quick that you should you know perhaps get rid of that ball and go and see how quick you can be in a straight line yeah literally one of my good friends because we play pre-season games i was in a saturday league and we play pre-season games and it was literally right next to this athletics track and as we're going home we literally see like a local track meet going on like nothing international anything like that and we just sort of sat down to watch because i like track and field so whether it's and Olympics or world champs or whatever, you know, I love it.

6:59So as we're sat there, he sort of just, I didn't mean my friends for years, you know, were teasing me like, you know, if we had your talent, what we could have done with it. And I guess for years, I just sort of ignored it. It was just like, you know what? Maybe I believed in my own legend a little bit, that if I wanted to, I could have. And he just asked me that question one more time. He's like, look, you've never done this. You're clearly fast. You've never really seen what this talent could be. Why don't you give it a go? So I remember just finding who became my first coach and saying, look, I want to try this track thing out.

7:27You know, how do I do it? And he was like, okay, cool. Come down on a Tuesday night and we'll see what you got. As a footballer though, so what position did you play? Of course, up front. You know what I mean? They used to just route one over the top. You know what I mean? I'd run in behind.

7:41Eugene Amo-Dadzie:Was that your Saturday team tactics? A hoof it and usually you don't get on the end of it. Round the keeper, tapping. Like, honestly, I'll be real. Like, nobody really could ever keep up with me on a football pitch. So I guess there was a part of me that I was like, yeah. yeah I just I mean but do you know what's do you know what's really interesting Eugene we had well you know when Usain Bolt tried to be a footballer yeah I do remember that we had didn't we Gabby we had Usain Bolt's coach on when he went to Australia to try and be a footballer and he was saying that the majority of the players would beat Usain Bolt over the first 10-15 yards in training and they would then dine out on that because actually for the athlete for the 100 meter sprinter and for him in particular the the speed came after 40 meters yeah 50 50 meters but but yours is right off it is it yeah no my i definitely always my superpower has definitely been like no football has ever beaten me i mean over any distance and we see a lot of these like footballers running these times and then it goes viral and a langer last season there was one wasn't there and i want to see a fancy match a matchup so get your anthony langers get your killing Mbappe's and let's put this debate to rest once and for all yes because as a footballer footballer third sprinter track speed is different like there are some quick footballers and like me like you probably could take a killing Mbappe or a Lange and make them into a you know pretty decent sprinter but no for me yeah I always had that sort of turn of pace so back to you right so you you've got yourself into British squads over the last couple of years and been part of the well-drilled relay.

9:19But this season, you have posted the second quickest time of all time for a British athlete, joint with Linford Christie now, 9.87 you ran just before you went out to the holding camp in Tokyo. Legally wind-assisted. That was just on the nose, wasn't it? And how much you could have. When you got that time, and it wasn't a massive meet, so it's all kind of recorded on people's phones if you haven't seen it. And it's all very, it looks a bit grainy, doesn't it? When you realised the time that you'd run, tell us what was going through your mind. It still hasn't even sunk in now. And it was just one of those truly surreal moments in life where almost like an out-of-body experience, almost like I just took off around the bend.

10:04It might as well have been a 200-metre sprint because I just kept going. And my voice is only just recovering because I was screaming and shouting so much. Burst out into a worship song afterwards, was like, it was just one of those moments where it was just like 9.87. And like you just said there, like tied with Linford, second fastest Brits, fifth fastest European as well. Yeah, it's just, I can't comprehend, like, I can't comprehend it. Like, it's funny because at my, so in the 2021 British Championships, I came second and my friends found Linford on that day and asked him to record a video for me because they knew that Linford was one of the guys, like he's like one of the goats, he's one of it all.

10:44so they asked Linford if he could record a short video to play to me afterwards and he was kind of just saying like you know Eugene big up yourself you did well you did so you came out there I know all the pressure you held yourself up big up yourself one day it will be your time so it just felt like a crazy full circle moment five years after he left that message I mean I was 27 then I'm 33 now and I've equaled him I've tied him as you know and I look I'll never achieve what he's achieved in the sport but even just to have that little bit of like it's just yeah it's

11:18Eugene Amo-Dadzie:insane is it actually as much that it's tied with him as the time that is exciting i mean you say you're 33 so you might be a little bit young for this but i always think linford christie is one of the sports people that doesn't just transcend sport transcends our culture i.e if you if you were fast in the 90s or somebody tried to have a run a race and be fast, you'd be, oh, who the bloody hell do you think you are? Linford Christie. And I think if somebody reaches that stage, they've transcended our culture. So does it matter as, it's almost as much, I'm guessing for you, that you're level with him as well as the time.

11:57Yeah, no honestly, and that's exactly it. And I think I've been, like, I keep saying it alongside that fact because Linford achieved so much in the sport. So that just I think that's when if you don't even know track and field you know Linford Christie so when you say that it's almost like oh my goodness like so I think that's part of why even now I'm still struggling to compute that you know what's just happened um you know my PB before that wasn't much slower than that it was 993 you know so I've shifted it just over half a and what you've done in just a few years of putting your mind to this sport is there a bit of you that goes oh what what could i have done if i'd yeah that's a good question there's an uncle of mine who literally like berates and lambasts my parents for not pushing me into it it's like oh my goodness what i'm with your uncle yeah look i'm you know what i'm i'm like you know what everything happened the way it was meant to happen like i look at it very much like thank god that I qualified as a child accountant.

13:00So I've always got that. Like when my race is running track, I've always got that as something that I can do until I'm gray and old. And look, who knows? I might've been one of those young stars who mentally wasn't able to handle that kind of success and that kind of, you know what I mean? So I almost look at it as like, you know what? I'm happy it happened this way because I feel like God uses like the most ordinary things and people to do ridiculous things. And it's almost like this guy was doing a nine to five in a swivel chair with his accountants and his spreadsheets. That guy has now gone on to do that.

13:33And I think that's the thing that really captures imagination. I love that. I love that. When I first heard that you were an accountant a few years ago, in my head, cynically, I thought, oh, some agent has kind of manipulated this story. This guy once did a two-month course in accountancy, and they're trying to kind of spin him as this. And then when I started kind of doing it, I thought, no, he really could do my accounts. I mean, you know, you've studied hard.

13:57Eugene Amo-Dadzie:I'll be asking for a discount here, Eugene, in a minute. I'm trying to see what's coming. But I know a lot of athletes, you know, have to hustle to make a living and they have to do jobs and they have to do other things until they get to a stage where they're earning, you know, proper fees from races and stuff. So, you know, you look at what's happened recently. We've done it on the podcast with Grand Slam Track, you know, and athletes actually, very few, earn a proper living and get the recognition for what they do and how hard it is to be an athlete. So tell us a little bit about that transition for you, you know, devoting your body and your life to the sport and how tough that has been.

14:34That's been probably the biggest adjustment because I always have to bring up my wife in this because she married an accountant, you know, just a boring, like square, like, you know, she knew what she was getting with an accountant, you know. And then all of a sudden, like, I went full-time track last April all of a sudden she's thrust into this completely new world where and she's not even the type of wag that she wanted to be you know she wanted you know if you're a footballer's wife maybe it's a bit more glamorous but being an athlete's wife is yeah it's not it's not it's different track field is different you know for one reason or another track field isn't one of those sports that gets the same eyes the same money as other sports so it's been a massive transition for me because my life was built you know i've got two young children as well so you know going off on training camps for four weeks at a time and stuff like that and trusting my business to keep everything going at home yeah that's been a big big big change for in all of this but i almost felt like i'm like being an accountant i choose to say through you know very pragmatic very practical but this was the one thing where i felt like i had to come out of that comfort zone and take that leap because i don't i don't i'm like i don't want to be like a what if person like what could i've done if i tried so you know thankfully you've been in a world class program shout out to the national lottery players and obviously my nike contract as well that's given me an opportunity to step into this full time so i felt like i had to take it but it's been a huge adjustment because yeah i'm just used to like that same same same and yeah being an athlete is is not that how do

16:02Eugene Amo-Dadzie:you view going into this then in into the world championships because the cliche would be to go well you've come to it late and uh you've you you weren't you were never expecting this in your life so just go along for the ride and enjoy it but I think that would belie your talent and determination I would yeah and I think I've I've gone through a transition in my mindset because yeah it sort of started out as hey guys yeah I'm just this accountant and you know I'm just happy to be here but then it's like you go to your first world championships and you're a whisker away from making the final and you finish 10th in the world and then you run you know the time I've just run It's almost like I can't even say that anymore.

16:42Like I'm amongst the best sprinters in the world this year. I think I'm ranked 10th in the world this year in my time I've just run. So I'm absolutely almost like, you know what? Actually, you're going to have an accountant with other guys on the same leg as me quaking because they're like, oh my goodness, like the accountant's about to whip us. So I'm very much like really confident. Eugene, it's hardly like being overtaken by a fridge in the London Marathon, is it? I mean, you know.

17:10So I'm really, really looking forward to that. Yeah, and really embrace it and enjoy it because some athletes spend their whole lives from the age of 16 devoting themselves to their sport and miss out on world championships because injury comes at unfortunate times. So, you know, you never know, do you, when you're going to get your opportunities. And I think it's, you know, it's absolutely fantastic. Yeah, for me now, it's the biggest thing for me now in all of this is like just consistently, like, and just constantly showing people like, listen, what is possible? You know what I mean? if we dare to step out in these things.

17:40And it's interesting, a little bit like, it's actually funny that when I found out that you were on this podcast, Gabby, I was kind of thinking, you know what, for both of you actually what you've done, but particularly you, Gabby, like you've done something in women's broadcasting, like, you know, being a broadcaster in that space at a time where, you know, women weren't necessarily encouraged to be in that space or had to work a bit harder. And I feel like I'm almost not an imposter in this space, but a little bit like that. I'm trying to show people like, you don't have to do it the way that everybody else does it you know you kind of understand that's very generous uniquely great about you whatever your usp is and mine just happens to be the fact that i'm coming from the corporate background of an accountant and then i've come into this and people are like almost trying to put me in this box and i'm like no world's fastest accountant i'm doing it different i'm doing it like this and i want people to see that and be okay cool reinvention at any age is possible or you don't have to go through the conventional route or you don't have to just be a jack of like one, like, oh, no, you've only got to be this.

18:39No, you can be this and something else, you know. For most of my track career, I've been an accountant at the same time. I've only been full-time track for the last year and a bit. So, yeah, I take a level of inspiration from your story and I feel like mine is similar in that way. So that's kind of... Oh, Eugene, if you were 10 years older, you'd come on my other podcast, The Midpoint.

19:00Eugene Amo-Dadzie:So that's, in 10 years' time, you go on The Midpoint and you'll do Gabby's account. so that's so that's great so if you're just going to deliver a medal now but that'd be great but you are right Eugene without embarrassing Gabby you are you are you are very right about her and the career that she forged in what was a very different industry 25 years ago because it was wasn't it Gabby yeah but I think you know like Eugene says as well it's taking that step isn't it into the unknown and and having a little bit of faith you know that if it does and you know what if it goes wrong so what i've tried it and i talk to when i go and talk to students and kids or whatever like there's no right or wrong way to to maybe there is if you're a doctor or a dentist maybe there are certain things you have to do medically right but i just don't know um but but for a lot of our careers there's no right or wrong way to to follow a to follow a career path just um uh your uncle's probably asked this question eugene but you mentioned your kids are they are they quick or mathematical?

20:00Eugene Amo-Dadzie:You know what? I think my daughter, so she's four, she's starting school this week. I feel like she's got something. I've been watching her and she looks like she's got something. I'm like, we might need to start applying some subtle pressure here because she seems very athletic, very flexible. I'm thinking, I might have a little golden goose here. You know what I mean? So I'm rubbing my hands. Yeah, don't let her wait till she's 28 to join the local track and field club. Eugene, it's been absolutely brilliant to chat to you. And I just can't wait to see what happens for you in Tokyo. Yes, we're going for gold, guys.

20:36We're going for gold. I think that'll be a beautiful way to cap off what's been a great year. I think so. It'll be amazing.

20:41Eugene Amo-Dadzie:Lovely to talk to you. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, Gabby. The Sports Agents.

20:48The Sports Agents. With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman. So the World Athletics Championship starts this weekend. And sadly, for the first time in a long time, I won't be involved because I'm busy with the Women's Rugby World Cup, which has reached the knockout stages. England, of course, are playing Scotland. Very excited to see what happens at the World Athletics Championships. My eyes will be on the 800 metres with Georgia Hunter-Bell and Keeley Hodgkinson going head to head. Get in touch with us throughout the tournament on our socials, on email, thesportsagentsatglobal.com or via the link in the episode description.

21:19And if you're enjoying the episode on the News Agents feed, then just search for the Sports Agents to listen to this week's episodes in full. YouTube, Global Player, or wherever you get your podcasts for that. New episodes drop every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.