Kent sprinter Adam Gemili is being offered all the chicken he can eat from a Hertfordshire farmer to give him an extra boost as he goes for Olympic glory next week.

Defending 100m champion Usain Bolt revealed in 2008 that his love of chicken was behind his Beijing success and now Royston-based poultry farmer Tom Wornham wants to ensure Team GB’s Gemili is on even field when he takes on the Jamaican.

Gemili, just 18-years-old, became the fastest British junior of all time this month (July) when he won gold in the World Junior Championships 100m in 10.05 seconds.

Mr Wornham has teamed up with the Love Chicken campaign website – www.greatbritishchicken.co.uk – which promotes dozens of
recipes using Great British chicken.

He said: “Usain Bolt is the fastest man on the planet and was powered by chicken when he broke the world record in 2008. I’d be happy to supply our great British hope Adam Gemili with all the chicken he can eat if it helps him beat Bolt on the track in London this summer.

“The Love Chicken website is all about providing healthy, tasty recipes to appeal to the whole family and there is clearly no one more famous for his love of chicken than Usain Bolt. But I’d be delighted if Adam took up our offer and created history himself – fuelled by Great British chicken.”

Tom is a keen amateur athlete and earlier this year completed the grueling Marathon des Sables, a six-day 156 mile ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert in Morocco. He said as well as being a low-fat meat, chicken has other nutritional benefits which will have helped Bolt reach the top of his sport.

“The events I take part in are about digging deep to cope with pain over a number of hours and days but I can’t imagine the intense agony Adam Gemili will need to experience if he’s going to win a medal.

“It’s no coincidence chicken is Usain Bolt’s favourite food as it’s an excellent source of protein which we need for the growth and repair of body cells. It’s probably one of the reasons at 6ft 5 he’s among the tallest sprinters of all time.”

When interviewed after winning the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 Bolt gave the credit for his performance to a diet featuring plenty of chicken nuggets.

He said: “I woke around 11am and decided to watch some TV and had some nuggets. Then I slept for a couple of hours more. Then I got some more nuggets and came to the track.”

British chicken will be firmly on the menu after LOCOG committed to staging the most sustainable games in history, using UK Red Tractor-assured food wherever seasonally possible. Red Tractor is a quality mark with standards covering food safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection. The flag in the logo guarantees the origin of the food.

Red Tractor is the benchmark standard for all food procured by LOCOG and is helping to ensure that communities across the UK benefit from the games.