Eugene Amo-Dadzie: ‘Why can’t the world’s fastest accountant be the fastest man ever?’
Self-styled ‘World’s Fastest Accountant’ Eugene Amo-Dadzie on juggling his day job with his bid for sprint glory at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Not too many of the world’s top sprinters need to bother with LinkedIn, but then Eugene Amo-Dadzie is different.
The Londoner, who became the fourth fastest British man in history last year at the ripe old age of 31, juggles his burgeoning track career with a day job as a senior accountant at property developer the Berkeley Group.
Amo-Dadzie enjoys the sobriquet “the world’s fastest accountant”, a tag he coined as a joke but includes on his LinkedIn page and other social media accounts.
“When I first came up with it, my message was simple and cheesy,” he tells City PM
“It was me trying to have a bit of fun, because accountants have this rep of being quite boring. I’m a sprinter but not in a traditional sense of my background, so it was kind of setting myself apart.”
Amo-Dadzie’s job in financial services isn’t the only quirk of his unique story. He only took up athletics five years ago, having let his youthful promise slide while he went to university and embarked on a career.
Badgering from friends prompted him to call in on his local athletics club in Chigwell in 2019. Within four years he was running sub-10 second 100m times and representing Great Britain at the World Championships.
As a child, schoolteachers told his parents he could make it to London 2012 if he gave athletics a go. Twelve years on he is in contention for a belated Olympic debut in Paris this summer.
“I think the moment things switched a little bit was when I ran 10.05 in 2022. I thought, okay, the sub-10 barrier isn’t that far away. So I probably allowed myself to dream a little bit,” he says.
“Very few people can say that they are an Olympian, so I do feel very blessed in that sense. I’m a very much in-the-moment type of person and, God willing, it will lead to Paris ‘24.
“I keep joking with people that if I make that team my corporate career might be over because I’m going to get the Olympic rings tattooed on my forehead.”
In corporate-land, Amo-Dadzie has his sights set on a senior leadership position at a top company and hopes his chartered accountancy qualifications will help him get there.
But his spreadsheet skills are also aiding him on the track, as the number-cruncher leans into data to help him maximise his medal potential.
“One of the metrics that sprinters use is their top-10 average, so I like to put it into graphs so you can see a visual representation of how you’re getting on,” he says.
“The fact that I have that mindset, I do bring that geeky numbers and analytical side into it and my coach gets that. He can be technical with me because he knows I’ll get it.
“There’s so many synergies that you wouldn’t believe. And I feel like I can leverage my analytical mindset for sure on the track.”
Shooting to fame last year has seen Amo-Dadzie labelled a celebrity at work and recognised by teenagers in his local Sainsbury’s.
Crucially, it has also earned him a management agency, Gateway, and sponsors such as Tax Scouts, which have allowed him to cut his office hours and see his coach more often.
“I’m in a situation now where I’m part time and in an Olympic year that can be invaluable,” he says. “It’s time that I can now devote to training and better juggle my life.”
Amo-Dadzie’s late arrival at elite level – “I very much look at myself as a 21-year-old in terms of wear and tear” – means that Paris 2024 might not be his only shot at the Olympics.
He lights up at the idea of competing in LA four years later, and even in his thirties he is only getting quicker, shaving more than 0.1 seconds off his PB in each of the last two seasons.
“I don’t put any limits on it. You want to consolidate and be a consistent sub-10 performer. And then let’s see what happens,” he says.
“I think I’ve got so many things that I can sharpen up. That’s exciting, right? Because I know what my personal best is but I know that, God willing, I’ve got a lot more to give.
“I’m No4 on the British all-time list. I’m No10 on the European all-time list. And look, why can’t the world’s fastest accountant be the fastest man there’s ever been?”