Rachael Darragh
Badminton
BIOGRAPHY
Rachael Darragh represented Ireland in the women’s badminton singles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, becoming the second member of her family to compete in Olympic badminton.
She was drawn in a tough group alongside Olympic champion Carolina Marín of Spain and was eliminated in the group stage. From Raphoe, Co. Donegal, Darragh grew up in one of Ireland’s great badminton families – her grandfather Samuel Magee founded Raphoe Badminton Club, her aunt Chloe Magee competed in women’s singles at three Olympics (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016) and became the first Irish woman to win an Olympic match at Beijing, and her uncles Sam and Josh Magee are European medallists.
Her uncle Dan Magee served as Badminton Ireland’s High Performance Director throughout her career. She attended Royal and Prior School in Raphoe and studied leisure management at TU Dublin. She qualified for Paris ranked 34th in the world – securing her place thanks to a reallocated spot from host nation France – and had made the quarter-finals of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She was coached at the National Sports Campus by Iskander Zulkarnainar in the build-up to the Games.
BADMINTON NEWS
In The News – April 20th 2026
Gymnastics Gymnastics Ireland’s own Emma Slevin competed in the NCAA National Final Four on Saturday 18th April with her team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This is the first time Minnesota has made the Final Four in their history. Ranked No. 13 after the NCAA regular season, the Gophers upset No.4 UCLA and No.9 Arkansas in the [...]
Istanbul 2027 European Games
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In the News – 9 March 2026
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Badminton Ireland Development Project Receives International Support from IOC Olympic Solidarity
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THIRTY-FIVE ATHLETES ACROSS EIGHT SPORTS TO COMPETE AT EYOF SKOPJE
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Team Ireland EYOF Medallists 1991 – 2024
In the 24 years of Team Ireland competing at the European Youth Olympic Festival – Ireland has had significant success. There have been 72 medals won by Irish athletes in that time, and the most successful Games for Team Ireland was in Tibilisi in 2015, with a total of ten medals being spread across athletics [...]