Elsa Desmond makes Irish history in luge at Beijing Olympics

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

BEIJING – Elsa Desmond knows she’s not going to medal at the Beijing Olympics. She wasn't even expecting to be in the top half of the field.

Doesn’t matter.

The first women’s luge Olympian from Ireland feels like she's already prevailed.

LIVE UPDATES: BEIJING OLYMPICS

Desmond won’t be in China for long, with good reason. She competed on Monday in the opening night in the women's luge event, returns to finish the race on Tuesday, then flies out Friday and plans to return to work in Ireland on Saturday — as a doctor, who delayed parts of her internship to chase down a spot in the Olympics.

Elsa Desmond, of Ireland, slides during the luge women's singles run 1 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing.(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

"As the founder of the modern Olympics said, ‘It’s not about who wins, it’s about the fight to get there,’" Desmond said. "And this has been my fight. I’ve given everything to get here. And I think everyone has their own story, everyone has their own journey, everyone makes sacrifices in different ways and has different battles."

Desmond wasn’t far off in her citing of Pierre de Coubertin. His actual quote, at least according to the Olympic library, was "The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well."

Although she won't triumph in Beijing, she’s already obviously prevailed in some fights. She’s been given myriad reasons why this quest was futile: she’s too short, she didn’t start sliding at a young enough age, her medical career is too daunting.

Elsa Desmond, of Ireland, prepares to start for