Rhasidat Adeleke aims to be a role model for people from her community in the future, as a way to give back for the support she received during the Olympics.

She made history during the Games by becoming the first-ever Irish woman to reach an Olympic sprint final and finished just shy of a medal in fourth place.

The 21-year-old from Tallaght also recorded the fastest split (48.92) on Team Ireland’s 4x400m women’s relay team in their Olympic final outing, again falling short of a medal in fourth.

Adeleke told The Hard Shoulder today that she’s now had time to digest her performance at the Olympics.

“I have reflected on it but you just have to move on and go on to the next race,” she said.

“I think that’s a good way to look at it, especially when it comes to a performance that you’re not all the way pleased with, you just have to move on because there are more opportunities to be better.”

Olympic final performance

The sprint star thinks she could have performed better in the individual 400m final.

“My performance wasn’t bad, you know, 49.2 is not a time that someone would be displeased with, but I feel I had so much more to offer,” she said.

“I think I was capable of doing better on the day but it just didn’t happen and there are so many factors why.

“I was really good in my heats and then the semifinal was shocking, which I later found out was because my blood sugar was low.

“I was literally in terrible form, so fatigued, so dizzy and feeling so many things, but as my coach was saying, there aren’t many people who’ve run the 400m in 49 [seconds] at 21 years old.”

Rhasidat Adeleke on the ‘beautiful’ support she receives ❤️ 'It just makes me want to do more!'@TheHardShoulder @kierancuddihy pic.twitter.com/uHVVx1Uwoh

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) August 27, 2024

Adeleke hopes to reduce her PB even further in the coming years.

“There are a lot of things I can improve on strength-wise, in the gym; there’s always more to do and I’m still quite raw in one sense, I’m not perfect,” she said.

“That will also result in me dropping times and becoming a better athlete.

“It makes me excited because if I’m running what I’m running now without making those tweaks, I’ll hopefully be in a better place in the future.”

Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker and Phil Healy following the women's 4x400 relay final at the Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. Image: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

She said the “tremendous support” she received during the Games makes her want to do more for people from her area.

“The more I do, the more people are going to be able to resonate with me as someone from their same city or town,” she said.

“Just being an inspiration, being a role model and just being able to show, ‘If I did it, you can do it too’.

“I hope I’m able to do that over the next couple of years because seeing how many people have been supporting me, it’s so touching, it’s so heartwarming and I really appreciate it.”

Rhasidat Adeleke has a full year to prepare for the next major international athletics event, with the next World Athletics Championships taking place in Tokyo in September 2025.

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Main image: Rhasidat Adeleke of Team Ireland after winning the women's 400m round 1 at the Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile