Paton reveals Olympic heartbreak before becoming face of darts coverage

EMMA PATON once dreamed of running in a 400m Olympic final before becoming the face of darts coverage.

Paton, 31, spent 15 years chasing her ambition of representing Great Britain on the track.

Glam Em worked with British Athletics and was even in the front row as Team GB won six gold medals on Super Saturday at London 2012.

But setbacks and the passing of her mentor brought her time in athletics to an end as she turned her attention towards a future in television.

Paton joined Sky later that year as a writer before progressing into presenting and eventually hosting the majority of PDC Major events.

She told She’s Got Game: “I wanted to represent Great Britain and run in a 400m Olympic final.

“And I never got there, which is fine. But I don’t regret the 15 years that I spent trying to get there.

“For me, it was very much one door closes and another opens because I was still training when I started working at Sky.

“Towards the end of my athletics career, I had various injuries. My coach passed away, which had a big impact on me because he was not just my coach.

“He was a real big part of my life. He was like a father figure.

“So, I just felt like while I didn’t achieve the time I wanted to achieve or just what I set out to do, I was okay because I had massive career ambitions as well.

“I was never someone that didn’t want to have a career and thought, well, I'll be training full-time.

“I was always someone that had another avenue. I had dreams presenting-wise and broadcasting-wise.

“I was okay with it, and I have still trained ever since. It’s just the goalposts shift a little bit, don’t they.”

Paton can now see the impact a healthy lifestyle is having on the oche, with players taking a far more professional approach to their preparation.

Luke Humphries underwent a major body transformation, shedding several stone through exercise and clean eating before going on to lift eight Premier event titles.

14-time major winner Luke Littler was not even old enough to legally drink alcohol when he burst onto the scene, reaching the World Championship final aged just 16 in 2024.

She added: “The pathways have changed so much. Historically it was a sport that was played in pubs and clubs.

“Now with this new emergence of dart players who are more on the athletic side.

“Luke Humphries, who is world No2. He has talked a lot about health and fitness and how that has changed his life but also changed him as a dart player.

“Kids coming through now playing in darts academies and darts schools. They are oversubscribed.

“Young people can’t even get into them. There are a lot of mini-Luke Littlers coming through now which we will see down the line.”

Words: Aaron Nijjar

Image: Taylor Lanning