Sprint start: Harry Aikines-Areetey is racing towards your TV screens tomorrow night
Carshalton Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey will be bursting on to your television screens tomorrow night, part of the toughest relay squad he has ever been a member of – the Gladiators in the BBC’s Saturday night retread of the once popular show.
25in thighs: Harry A-A will bring a smile and much more to the TV show
This is the third British incarnation of Gladiators, adapted from an American format and first aired on ITV, fronted by Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu from 1992, and which had a short-lived spell on Sky until 2009.
This time round, it is being fronted by the ubiquitous Bradley Walsh and his son, Barney, and among the band of muscle-flexing, orange-tanned body builders and weightlifters is Aikines-Aryeetey.
The Sutton and District athlete’s track career was plagued with injuries, but the man with a Superman memorabilia collection at his Carshalton home grabbed his chance to live out a childhood dream when the TV producers came calling early in 2023 for the new Gladiators series.
Aikines-Aryeetey is no stranger to big telly occasions: in 2005, aged 17, he appeared on BBC’s biggest sporting night, the Sports Personality of the Year, when he was Young Sports Personality after winning 100 and 200metres gold at the World Youth Championships.
Now 35, the winner of three European and two Commonwealth Games sprint relay gold medals in an international track career that goes back 20 years, Harry A-A has been given the Gladiator tag of “Nitro”.
In the series, pumped-up members of the public compete in physical challenges, races and battles against the pro athlete Gladiators. The Walshes, and the viewers, are sure to delight in the power of “Nitro”, with his 25-inch circumference thighs.
“Becoming a Gladiator is another great achievement! A childhood dream come true!” he said.
“I’ve been blessed with good genetics, obviously,” he said recently.
‘Good genes’: Aikines-Aryeetey as ‘Nitro’
When he did his bit of promo work on BBC Breakfast this week, he said, “Wow! I’m so buzzing. It’s one of those things that growing up… my inner child is literally just thinking ‘Is this real?!’
“Because when you look at those nostalgic views just there, you think gosh I played those games in the estate where I grew up and I’ve got the opportunity to actually bring it to life!”
Aikines-Aryeetey will have to watch out for the new team of referees, too.
The first series had old athletics coach John Anderson – the former mentor to the likes of David Jenkins, Dave Moorcroft and Liz McColgan – barking out the orders and dishing out the discipline. Palace fans might be dismayed to learn that that key role in the new series is taken by former Premier League ref Mark Clattenburg…
And it is he who tomorrow night will have the task of delivering the catchphrase: “Gladiators! Ready!”
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