UK Athletics Championships - Day Two — Darlly Neita after winning the women's 200m final in UK Athletics Championships in Manchester, England

What happened to Daryll Neita? Everything about the Olympian who alleged 'blackmail' in being forced to leave a coach accused of sexual misconduct

Modified Mar 13, 2024 11:31 GMT

Daryll Neita is all set to compete in the women's 100m, 200m, and 4x100m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. The British sprinter has been embroiled in off-track issues in the recent past.

In March last year, Neita was asked by UK Athletics to leave her coach, Rana Reider, after he was accused of sexual misconduct. She was asked to cease her training contract with him as he was being investigated by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

Reider was accused of sexual misconduct in accordance with the violation that occurred in 2014 when he was 44 years old and had an affair with a young athlete he was training at the 2014 World Junior Championships. The case was resolved after he agreed to one-year probation.

Neita, however, accused UK Athletics of 'blackmailing', stating that she was told to leave Reider's training or lose her membership in the World Class Programme along with a suspension of her lottery funding.

The 26-year-old moved from Florida to Italy in 2021 to join a new training group in the Italian city of Padua to avoid interference from Reider's sexual misconduct controversy.

Daryll Neita at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, her interests, and her future plans

Daryll Neita poses at the Muller UK Athletics Championships in England

Daryll Neita won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 4x100m relay. She was also a part of the 4x100m relay winning team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

In a recent interview with The Sun, she stated that her victory in the 2016 Games was her favorite Olympic memory.

"My favorite Olympic memory is being on the podium in Rio, getting my first Olympic medal in the 4x100m relay. Amazing. Crossing the line was just incredible because I was going into that Olympics not expecting to come home with a medal. So yeah, to be greeted by the British public with a medal in my possession was amazing," she expressed.

While Neita moved to Italy to join her new training group where she is occupied with her training regimen, she said that she enjoys walking her dog when not being an athlete. She further stated that she would love to become an agent after she retires from the sport.

"A lot of my time is taken up, just recovering, being an athlete. So I wouldn't have that much to do that many things. But I would say one of my biggest interests is walking my dog," she said.

"When I retire, I probably want to be an agent of some sort and go into looking after athletes like myself, kind of giving them the experience that I feel like I would have loved as an athlete," she added.

Neita is a two-time Olympic medalist, has won two medals at the World Championships, is a European Champion, and has won a gold medal in Commonwealth Games.