Rhasidat Adeleke
Athletics
BIOGRAPHY
Rhasidat Adeleke represented Ireland in the women’s 400 metres and the women’s 4×400 metres relay at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, becoming the first Irish athlete ever to reach an Olympic sprint final.
She finished 4th in the 400 metres final in a new Irish record of 49.28 seconds – the fastest ever run by an Irish woman – and was part of the relay team that finished 4th in another national record of 3:19.90, missing bronze by just 0.18 seconds.
Born in Tallaght, Dublin, to Yoruba parents who emigrated from Oyo State in Nigeria, Adeleke grew up in Tallaght and was spotted by a teacher at St Mark’s Primary School aged 10. She joined Tallaght Athletic Club and attended Presentation Community College Terenure, where she completed her Leaving Certificate in 2020. From the outset she was a prodigy – she won the European Under-18 200 metres gold in Győr in 2018 aged just 15, and swept the European Under-20 100m and 200m double in Tallinn in 2021.
She took up a scholarship at the University of Texas in 2021, becoming the first Irish athlete to win an NCAA title in 2023. In 2023 she also became the first Irish woman to break the 50-second barrier in the 400 metres. At the 2024 European Championships in Rome she won gold in the mixed 4×400 metres relay and silver in both the individual 400 metres and the women’s relay. She holds seven individual Irish national records from 60 metres indoors to 400 metres.
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