Teenage sprinter Adam Gemili earns place in TeamGB for London 2012
Published: 18:49, 23 June 2012
Teenage sprinter Adam Gemili was lost for words after earning a place in TeamGB for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The 18-year-old former Dartford Grammar School pupil blazed through the 100m heats at the Aviva 2012 Trials at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium on Friday night.
He was then the fastest qualifier for the final in a time of 10.20secs on Saturday afternoon to earn a place in the final.
Despite coming under immense pressure, Gemili (pictured) finished strongly to take second behind Dwain Chambers.
The top-two finishers were guaranteed a place in TeamGB, so long as they had previously achieved the Olympic A qualifying time of 10.18.
Gemili did just that at a meeting in Germany a month ago, smashing his PB and setting the second fastest time by a European this year of 10.08.
Chambers winning time of 10.25 - just four hundredths of a second ahead of Gemili - on Saturday night was as close as he's come to the A standard and he will now seek to secure the time, and his place in TeamGB at next week's European Championships in Helsinki.
After the race an ecstatic Gemili was draped in a TeamGB Union flag and said: "I can't believe it. I don't know what to say. I've got to thank everyone that supported me.
"I was just trying to go and run and finish in the top two. Now I'm potentially going to the Olympics."
With the World Junior Championships in Barcelona looming two weeks before the Olympic Games, there has been speculation about whether Gemili might opt out of the Olympics, even if he secured a place.
He added: "I've got to talk to my coach about that."
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