Brave Magee goes down fighting as Korean ends fairytale
Shortly before 7pm on Saturday night, Chloe Magee made her Olympic debut.
Half an hour later she became the first Irish player to win a badminton match in the history of the Games by coming from one down to defeat Estonian Kati Tomloff in a three-set thriller 18-21, 21-18, 21-19) that was roundly applauded by the predominantly Chinese audience.
Though her survival in the competition was short-lived, (she lost to South Korean Jaeyoun Jun in the second round yesterday, 21-12; 21-14) the manner of her opening night success was a sense of huge pride for the Irish Olympic team and the 19-year-old from Raphoe in Donegal. The teen tyro lost five consecutive points and was two away from defeat. But she then produced an incredible finish to advance and leave her opponent close to tears.
She said of her comeback: “I think the whole match I was kind of thinking ‘Chloe, if you don’t get your ass in action here, you’re going to lose’. I just thought, ‘You’re at the Olympics, fight for it’, and that’s what I did. I went for everything at the end; if it wasn’t going to go off, it wasn’t my day, but it did.”
She reasoned: “I just didn’t want to come to the Olympics and lose but I won a game which I wasn’t expected to win which was great. This is a good experience. I had never played in something as big as this. 3,000 was probably the biggest crowd I had played in front of so the experience of this would be good for me if I do go to London.”
But she hasn’t become arrogant after her historic achievement.
“I have loads to improve on, I will take away a lot from this is. I am young enough that, if I wanted to, I would have two more Olympics in me. That depends on whether I have the dedication and motivation to keep going so we’ll see.
Coach Jim Laugesen is convinced that Magee’s greatest talent is her will to win and mindset.
“Mentally she is very strong. She likes it when she is up against it, when she is involved in decisive moments.
“And you have to like being under pressure or else there is no point in playing.”
Earlier in the day, Scott Evans, Ireland’s first male Olympic badminton player, was desperately unlucky in his first round clash when losing to Mar Zwiebler of Germany 18-21, 21-18, 21-19.
“I played okay but I’m obviously devastated with the loss,” said the former Irish Examiner National Junior Sports Star. “I came so close. I just had a few chances and I didn’t take them. Today wasn’t my day.”
Team manager and former international Donal O’Halloran believes the duo will learn enormously from their Beijing experiences.
“Scott and Chloe have stared to improve massively and there’s no doubt they can continue to do that. London 2012 has to be the focus for them.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
