Paris 2024: Podium-seeking Rhasidat Adeleke on cusp of history

In 100 years of Olympic competition, just half a dozen Irish athletes have medalled in athletics.

Indeed remove Pat O'Callaghan’s incredible back-to-back hammer throw success in the 1928 and 1932 Games, and Team Ireland’s track success is whittled down to five medals, though Rob Heffernan would have to wait four years after the event for his.

A fourth-place finisher in the men’s 50km walk at the London Games, the Corkman was upgraded to bronze when Russian doper Sergey Kirdyapkin was stripped of gold.

Historically there has been little room for Irish athletes at the top table, but Rhasidat Adeleke will take her place in the women’s 400m final on Friday night (7pm Irish time) filled more with expectation than hope.

The giddy pre-Olympic predictions have been dampened down somewhat after what was, by her own admission, a semi-final where she failed to match lofty standards.

The Tallaght woman suggested the false start for Lieke Klaver upset her rhythm, with her form and composure under serious attack coming off the home bend.

Salwa Eid Naser, the 2019 world champion who missed the 2022 Worlds and Tokyo Games after she was hit with a two-year ban, looked firmly in control.

Naser, Tokyo 400m silver medallist Marileidy Paulino, and Poland’s reigning European champion Natalia Kaczmarek will start as favourites ahead of Adeleke as they are the only three in Friday’s field who have dipped below 49 seconds.

Yet the Irish sprinter knows ironing out the kinks and delivering on the biggest stage of them all will offer an opportunity to take her place in exalted Irish company.

Having played a wide range of sports during her primary school days at St. Mark’s National School in Tallaght, she was encouraged to join the local athletics club.

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