A former Olympic sprinter and Chelsea FC fitness trainer is now working at a gym in Hounslow.
Ade Mafe made the 200m final at the 1984 LA Olympics, aged just 17, and went on to work with players at Chelsea for more than a decade.
Having left the football world, he is now a personal trainer at The Gym, in Prince Regent Road, Hounslow, where members pay £16.99 a month.
The 49-year-old, who grew up in Hounslow and attended The Heathland School, where his athletics career blossomed, said he was enjoying being back in the borough.
'Good to be back in Hounslow'
He told getwestlondon he had been looking for a more reliable form of employment after 17 years in the unpredictable environment of professional football, during which he worked under managers including Ruud Gullit, Roberto Di Matteo and Jose Mourinho .
"I wanted something a bit more solid than football so I decided to go back to personal training, which is how I started out after my athletics career ended," he said.
"The whole landscape of the fitness industry has changed a lot over the last 20 years and I had to go back and redo my qualifications because they were all out of date, but everyone's been very welcoming."
Asked whether he was fed up with Chelsea fans quizzing him about his time at the club, he said most gym-goers probably weren't even aware he had worked there as "I don't bleat about my past".
ADE MAFE TIMELINE
1984 Reaches Olympic 200m final, finishing eighth, aged just 17
1990 Wins 200m bronze at Commonwealth Games
1993 Becomes a fitness trainer after a foot injury cuts short his athletics career
1996 Becomes Chelsea FC fitness coach under new manager Ruud Gullit
1997 Chelsea win FA Cup in his first season with the club
2008 Becomes fitness coach at MK Dons under manager Roberto Di Matteo
2012 Teams up with former Chelsea star Gianfranco Zola at Watford
2016 Joins The Gym in Hounslow as a personal trainer
Athletics career cut short by injury
He burst onto the athletics scene in 1984, making that year's 200m Olympic final, in which he finished eighth.
Although never quite touching those heights again, he went on to win gold at the 1989 European Indoor Championships, claim two World Indoor Championships silver medals and finish third in the 200m at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
When a foot injury curtailed his athletics career in 1993, aged just 25, he became a fitness trainer in Kensington .
In 1996, he received a call from Chelsea FC inviting him to become their fitness coach under new manager Ruud Gullit.
FA Cup glory in first season at Chelsea
In his first season, he helped the club win the FA Cup, and it was at the final that he first met his future wife and mother of his two daughters.
He spent the next decade at the club under managers Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri and Jose Mourinho, before spells at Milwall, MK Dons, West Bromwich Albion (under former Chelsea star Di Matteo) and Watford (with Chelsea legend Zola).
He joined Chelsea at a time when few English clubs had fitness coaches, but says his methods became "outdated" as more teams discovered the benefits and he found himself up against university-educated sports scientists.
As well as winning the FA Cup with Chelsea, he ranks Watford's last-minute victory over Leicester in the 2013 Championship play-off semi-final as his best moments in football, but he is typically modest about his impact on the success of either club.
"I like to think I made a difference but it's hard to tell. It's down to the players at the end of the day, and if I was able to help them in any way that's fantastic," he says.
Top advice for fitness enthusiasts
His top piece of advice for fitness enthusiasts is "everything in moderation".
"You get a lot of middle-aged men thinking they can still do what they could aged 25," he says.
"They probably can still do it but they need to build up their fitness gradually over time rather than expecting instant results."
Looking back on his athletics career, he believes his younger self would have benefited from listening to the 49-year-old version.
"If you're a young athlete today I think the support around you is much better than it was then and you can sustain your success for much longer," he says.
"The support network I had around me at that time wasn't the best. I didn't do my first press-up until I was 22 and I didn't know anything about the gym.
"If I'd had the right advice back then maybe I would have had a longer career in athletics and enjoyed more success.
"But maybe it wouldn't have made a difference. Maybe I just matured earlier than other athletes."
