McGinn's travels to end in Sydney

"Sonya's on her way to Sydney," said the e-mail from Lindsey Bell, media officer of the International Badminton Federation, yesterday morning. Six little words, but they signified the fulfilment of a lifetime's ambition for Sonya McGinn who, in September, will become the first person to represent Ireland in badminton at the Olympic Games.

"My poor parents - mother's in tears, my father's in shock. Me? Aw, I'm chuffed, absolutely chuffed," said McGinn. "I worked all my life for this and now it's happened I can't believe it. I'm numb. The Olympic Games? My God!" She received the good news by phone from Marie Weldrick-O'Connor yesterday morning, after the Badminton Union of Ireland secretary was informed by the sport's international body that the Irish champion had made it on to the list of 32 women to automatically qualify for the singles' event in Sydney.

It is a remarkable achievement by the 26-year-old from Howth, who has battled back from a string of serious injuries throughout her career, including a fractured knee cap, two fractured shins, damaged knee ligaments and endless back problems, to win her place at the Games.

Her route to Sydney was a circuitous and exhausting one, taking her to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Canada, Slovenia, Cuba, Peru and Chile, to name but a few, as she chased the ranking points she needed to qualify for the Olympics. "It was mad stuff, crazy," she said. "For example, I got home from Bulgaria on a Friday night, had an 8.00 a.m. flight to Toronto on the Monday morning, got home Sunday and left for Cuba the next day. A lot of the time I didn't know what planet I was on, never mind what country.

"It was a bit of laugh though, and a big, big experience. Cuba was unforgettable and Peru? Janie. The tournament was being staged in a desert somewhere but I got off at the wrong airport on the way. Me and my coach Mary Dinan never ran so fast to get back on the plane. I looked at her and she looked at me and we thought: `Mad, this is mad'." But she made it to the final of the Peru Open, beating two players ranked well above her on the way, and ultimately accumulated enough ranking points to secure her trip to Sydney. "It was a massive goal that I'd been aiming for years but to be honest I really wanted to do it for my parents."

Just to prove how much faith they had in their daughter, Declan and Pauline McGinn applied, successfully, through friends in Australia, for tickets for the badminton tournament at the Olympics . . . in April of last year. They will, then, be in the Ross Pavilion at Sydney Olympic Park in September to see her take the court.

The realisation of her dream brings to full circle a wonderful family story. Over half a century ago McGinn's grandfather, the late Freddie Moran (rugby international and Irish champion sprinter) was denied a place at the Olympic Games by the outbreak of World War Two. "She's a pair legs on her like a gazelle," he said as he watched his then three-year-old granddaughter running around her kitchen floor. Auld gazelle legs is off to the Olympics - Freddie would be chuffed. What a wonderful story.