COMING from a family steeped in Badminton success, it was no surprise that Rachael Darragh became a star in the sport but she has firmly put her own name on the map after competing at the Olympic Games.
With her mother being a Magee from Raphoe, now a huge name in Badminton circles in Ireland, there was clearly a wealth of talent passed down but hard work also had to come with that.
A niece of European medallists Sam and Josh Magee and three time Olympian Chloe, Rachael grew up around the hall in Raphoe Badminton Club, the club founded by her grandfather Samuel Magee, but she made her own choice to follow that route.
“I was thrown into all sports at the start when I was younger but when you see people in your own family doing so well and seeing how far they can go then it’s huge.
“Then just seeing Josh and Sam winning European medals, they’ve been great role models.
“I was in the club from when I was four or five and playing tournaments as a kid but it wasn’t until I was about 16 that I was competing at senior level.
Darragh is studying Management at TUD but took two years out of her course in order to try and qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s something my dad really wanted me to do so I didn’t have all my eggs in one basket so I’m glad I did that.
“But I wanted to see how far I could go and the Olympics was obviously the dream and I’ve achieved that goal which is huge. There are so many goals that you set in your career and you don’t achieve so to have that one ticked off is great.”
And it wasn’t an easy journey to achieve qualification as she was just one of two Irish athletes to qualify in Badminton this year along with Nhat Nguyen.
The Raphoe woman would have been one of the more well-travelled athletes over the past 12 months, with the best ten tournament finishes counting towards qualification, but it’s fair to say she was trying to make sure she secured her place.
“I played around 25 tournaments in the year so it was a lot of travel.
“One week you’re in Abu Dhabi, then Nigeria then Peru then Asia, they’re never really close and it was a tough, tough year.
“If you’re not playing every week then you’re giving someone else the chance to get better points than you so it was worth it in the end.
“I wasn’t actually trying to qualify for Tokyo but when I realised how close I was to making it, I was five or six spots away, I was kind of kicking myself like ‘why did I not try?’
“Then when Tokyo was over I had to jump up about 100 spots in the rankings before I could think about Paris so that in itself was tough, it isn’t just a 12 month cycle for us to qualify, it’s the full three to four years.
“I started really strong, I aimed for 20,000 points because every other Olympic cycle that was guaranteed enough to qualify. But by February time I raised my points to 26,000 and I was still very much on the edge so I was still pushing the whole way, it was a strong year.
“I was getting tired around Christmas time but I had a good start but the last couple of months were very tough.
“I remember when the qualification ended I was sitting in Germany after my last match and I didn’t get out of bed the next day until about 3, I booked a holiday there and then as well!
“And I was on holidays in Albufeira when I got the call from Dan (Magee), it wasn’t official so I was told not to tell anyone but it didn’t take long before people knew.”
It wasn’t to be for Darragh at the Games however as she had a very tough group along with Spain’s Olympic champion Carolina Marin and Swiss player Jenjira Stendelmann.
Stendelmann was first up but the Irish woman stormed into a first set victory by 21-13 and had a chance to win the second set with two match points, but Stendelmann rallied to win 24-22 and eventually won 21-15 in the decider.
Marin had already beaten Stendelmann the previous day and she won well in the final group game by 21-5, 21-5 against the Raphoe woman and was winning her semi-final before injury forced her to withdraw from the tournament.
But Darragh wasn’t downbeat on her performance at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris and recalls the feeling of going over to the Games, as she received the Donegal News Sports Personality of the Month Award for July, in conjunction with Brian McCormick Sports & Leisure.
“We got lucky because we were some of the first athletes from Ireland to go in.
“We were supposed to start on the first day but our schedule got delayed and I wasn’t playing until the third day. So I had to taper then bring the training back up a little bit and taper again.
“But being in the athlete’s village was a surreal experience on its own and being around these superstars that you see on TV all the time and then you have to remember you’re all there for the same reason.”
“The Spanish girl was an Olympic champion from Rio in 2016 and then the Swiss girl was a European Games bronze medallist so I was a complete underdog but when you’re at the Olympics there aren’t very many games where you go in as a favourite.
“I had match points in that first game and looking back now I am really happy that I performed to that level when it mattered most but to have gotten that win would have been huge and probably the biggest of my career so in ways I am really proud but also gutted I didn’t take that chance on the big stage.
“It was very close in the third through 11 but the longer she was on the court the more comfortable she got and I tried to the end but it just didn’t happen on the day.
“I knew (Marin) was there for gold and you’re standing there almost in shock at how good she is but you’re also trying to compete with her and not give them too much respect.
“But it was a great experience and not many people can say they’ve played an Olympic Champion at the Games.”
With her family over supporting and her uncle, Dan Magee, as the Badminton Ireland High Performance Director, she had plenty of backing in France but she returned to Raphoe to a hero’s welcome a few weeks later.
“When I came back to Donegal and seeing these people that I hadn’t seen in years turning up to my homecoming, it was very emotional. The support I got was really good and a lot of people have reached out since.”
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