Desmond set to realise her dream
Elsa to compete for Ireland in Luge at Winter Olympics
Cookham’s Elsa Desmond is set to realise her dream of representing Ireland on the Olympic stage this week when she competes in the luge at the Beijing Games.
Desmond will compete against the world’s best on the grandest stage of all, travelling on a sled at speeds of up to 130km/hr.
On Monday she will take her place at the top of the Xiaohaituo Bobsleigh, propel herself forwards using metal spikes in her gloves before letting gravity take over as she attempts to safely negotiate the 16 corners and 1,065m to the finish line.
Desmond has been challenging on the World Cup circuit at tracks across Europe and North
America for several years, and initially intended to compete for Great Britain, however, a coaching change in 2019 didn’t work out for her and she decided to switch allegiances to Ireland.
She is one of only six Irish athletes competing at the Games and will become the country’s first ever female Olympian in the luge when she takes off on her first run at around 7.50pm Beijing time on Monday.
She is not expected to compete for medals this time around, however, just qualifying for the Olympics is an achievement and she hopes that by representing Ireland she will get more smaller nations into luge and help grow the sport.
She usually competes in front of a handful of spectators and admits it will take some time to come to terms with the fact millions will be watching her event on TV. Success for Desmond will be three clean, solid runs and gaining the experience to come
back in four years’ time better able to compete towards the top od the leaderboard.
The 24-year-old recently qualified as a doctor, learning the news in the Swiss ski resort of St Moritz last year.
She attended Highfield School in Maidenhead before going on to study medicine at Kings College London, while training and competing abroad.
In an interview with the Olympic Federation of Ireland Desmond she spoke about how she first saw the sport on TV as a child and wanted to give it a go. She said: “I thought it was so cool and when I found there was no woman from Ireland or GB doing, I thought ‘I could do that!”
She got to try it for the first
time as a 16-year-old, in Innsbruck.
Ireland’s sole luger is part of a group of athletes from smaller nations who train and travel together. The international luge association (FIL) funds their two coaches, they live out of their suitcases and have already raced in Olympic qualifiers in China (Yanqing) and Russia (Sochi) this season.
Her dad, Brendan, grew up in Fulham, but her paternal grandmother is from Ballyjamesduff (Cavan) and her grandfather is from Cork. She added: “Being raised by a dad who is Irish in so many ways, I always wanted to represent Ireland and help get more small nations into luge. Now we are growing the sport.”