metres Final in Rio 2016. Gemili, Christophe Lemaitre, and Churandy Martina hit the finish line together. The photo finish revealed Lemaitre to be the bronze medalist, with only six thousandths of a second separating the three runners. In the 2017 World Championships in London, Gemili won the Gold Medal in the 4 X 100m relay running the 2nd leg. Gemili qualified for both the individual 100m and 200m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. He was eliminated in the 100m at the semi-final stage, missing out on qualification for the final via a photo finish. He narrowly missed out on a medal in the 200m final, leading the race coming off the bend but ultimately finishing in fourth place. He ran the first leg of the men's 4 × 100 m relay, winning a silver medal behind the United States in a new European record time of 37.36 seconds. Off track, in November 2019 Gemili led a group of 20 British athletes including Mo Farah, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Laura Muir who threatened to take legal action against the British Olympic Association regarding the interpretation of the International Olympic Committee's Rule 40 contained in guidelines which had been recently issued by the association. Rule 40 restricts use of Olympic-related terms in marketing by non-approved sponsors: the athletes argued that the BOA's interpretation of the rule was too restrictive regarding how they could promote their individual sponsors. In March 2020 the athletes reached an agreement with the BOA which would allow athletes more opportunities to promote their sponsors during and immediately before and after the Games. In July 2020, Gemili was announced as a board member of the track and field athletes' union, the Athletics Association. Football career Formerly a football player, Gemili played as a defender for Football League Two team Dagenham & Redbridge, and joined Thurrock on loan at the end of August 2011, where he made 12 appearances in the Isthmian League until 30 November. He was previously a youth player at Chelsea from the age of eight onwards for seven years, and spent a year at Reading. His time had been split between athletics and football; he said of his potential dual careers in 2012, "I hope this year could be a turning point in helping me decide which sport to focus on, but it does depend on what I run this year." In 2012,