Nhat Nguyen
Age: 24
Event: Badminton
Previous Games: Tokyo 2020
Nguyen very firmly fell in to the ‘one to watch’ category when he earned his first Irish senior title at the age of just 15 and then, in 2016, became under-17 European champion. And he hadn’t even turned 20 when he qualified for his first Olympic Games, becoming just the fourth Irish person to achieve the feat in badminton when he made it to Tokyo. He’s had a tough time of it since, though, suffering a complete loss of confidence and form along the way, to the point where qualifying for Paris seemed unlikely. But he dug deep to climb the rankings and earn his second Olympic appearance.
The top 25 women’s sporting moments of the year: 25-16 revealed with Vikki Wall, Lara Gillespie and Ireland Sevens featuring
Mona McSharry enjoying the scenic route after realising her Olympic dream
From missing out on the Olympics to winning an AFLW title, nobody had a year like Vikki Wall
Charlotte Dujardin banned for one year over horse-whipping incident
Rachael Darragh
Age: 26
Event: Badminton
Club: Raphoe Badminton Club
Previous Games: None
Darragh hails from Irish badminton royalty, her mother Naomi one of the Magee family who founded the renowned Raphoe Badminton Club in her home town in Donegal. Her aunt Chloe Magee competed in three Olympic Games and her uncle Dan Magee is the performance director for the Irish team. Darragh had an agonising wait to find out if she had qualified for Paris, describing herself as being in “the pits of despair”, but the good news finally came in May – she had taken the last available spot. She will, then, maintain a fine family tradition in Paris.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
