Rachael Darragh's agonising wait ends in Olympic joy

OLYMPIC DREAM: Rachael Darragh finally found out that her ambition had been realised last Friday when her place in the women’s badminton singles in Paris was confirmed. Pic:©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Sixteen years. Sixteen years since Rachael Darragh watched her aunt Chloe Magee compete in the Beijing Olympics from the family home in Raphoe in Donegal and think that maybe she could do the same one day.

The 26-year old finally found out that her ambition had been realised last Friday when her place in the women’s badminton singles in Paris was confirmed. The two weeks leading up to it though? Pure torture.

As with so many Olympic sports, the qualifying criteria can be Byzantine and change with every four-year cycle. So, while Darragh knew where she stood in the rankings, she didn’t know for an age if that would be enough.

“I had experienced every emotion under the sun in those two weeks. I’d had a really good year, ticked off a lot of boxes, and to do everything I’d written down on paper and still to be on the very, very edge… It was a tough wait.” Let’s not undersell this.

She rang her parents at one point “in the pits of despair”, convinced that her bid had fallen short. Athletes across the sporting spectrum had been sharing news of their own qualifications on social media and her phone was inundated with queries.

‘Any news?’ ‘Have you made it?’ The void created by the wait was filled with all manner of thoughts. What if it didn't happen? The next Commonwealth Games, in 2026, would have been the goal but the idea of training in Dublin while everyone else was tapering for Paris flooded her mind.

There was no escaping it. The enormity of it. Raphoe is a tiny pin prick of a place and queries were inevitable if she so much as went out to buy a pint of milk when home. As it happened, she was in Albufeira on holidays and rehabbing a wrist injury when the good news came.

It was Badminton Ireland’s high-performance director Dan Magee, a brother of Chloe’s and an uncle of Darragh’s, who got to deliver the good news. Relief and joy ultimately, a second Olympian in the family, but all that uncertainty takes a toll.

“It does, definitely. The fact we had no real break the whole 12 months trying to qualify, [then] we had two weeks off, I was forced to sit and think about things a little bit. There were nights you’re waking up three or four times.

“It’s all that’s in your head, it’s your goal since you are a kid. You’re on the edge, and the amount of times it’s in your head, ‘what if I don’t qualify. It’s difficult, things people don’t know because they don’t see.” 

So much of what they do and experience happens beyond our radar. Darragh has been around the world, probably multiple times by now, with the constant search for ranking points taking her to all sorts of destinations.

So many blur into one but others have been eye-opening. Mexico was one. Nigeria, with the lack of air con in halls where lights were constantly turning on and off, was another. Major trips just to take another minor step or two towards the goal.

“I wouldn't have ever travelled to Africa and played there, or even thought about it, until the Olympic year and then everyone decides to go there to collect points because you've no option. So that was my first time to see what is going on.” 

Paris will be a whole other world again. Darragh has competed at continental and Commonwealth championships in the past, but nothing compares you for the sheer scale of an Olympic Games and athletes have little time to acclimatise once they land.

The Olympic Federation of Ireland will be holding webinars to prepare them for what’s to come – the Village, the beds, the media, everything – and Darragh can always pick her aunt’s brains too. Chloe Magee made it to three Games.

“I want to go out there and shut out the outside noise. I want to perform well, I'm not just going to get the tee-shirt. I'm going to sit down with my psychologist quite a few times before I get there and just realise that I've been to major games before but I have not been to an Olympics.

“I’m sure it's going to be completely different. I'll soon find out, just to know the outside factors. Obviously my family and stuff will be there, I'll be performing in front of them. That's not really normal for me either so it’s just to have everything set down on paper and know what's going to be going on.” 

One wait is over, another starts now.