Rashidat Adeleke pal reveals 'gross' racist abuse does hurt her

Award-winning producer Darragh Bambrick’s criticism comes on top of a statement by Sport Against Racism Ireland in which they said they were “appalled but unsurprised” at the online abuse suffered by “one of Ireland’s magnificent young athletes”, who recently won three medals at the European Championships.

“I think it’s gross,” storms Darragh, who featured Rhasidat as one of nine sports stars in last night’s RTÉ series on Irish hopefuls for the Olympics, Path to Paris.

“People making horrible comments on their keyboards. Anybody who was to meet this girl, they would realise what a treasure she is, and how Irish she is. She is a regular girl from Tallaght.

“I think these types of people need to be challenged more in society. To allow this stuff to be said, and to upset her, is really appalling. They need to be called out.”

He applauds others who have given Rhasidat, (21), deserved praise.

“It’s very heart warming to see people put up pictures of her saying ‘I’m proud of you’, ‘you’re great’, and ‘we love you and respect you’. It was great to see that,” he stresses.

But he’d like more action taken.

“I think we have to fight it head on,” he insists. “Gone are the days that we kind of ignore it. I think we have to start to call this stuff out and start to challenge it as it’s only going to grow and grow if we don’t.

“There’s people who are born in Ireland who represent Australia. There’s people who are Irish and playing for England. “You are going to get cross-nationality representation and especially in this day and age – it’s a global world. There’s people moving all over the world.”

He confirms Rhasidat can naturally be hurt by the abuse.

“It’s obviously not helpful for her,” he argues. “It’s embarrassing, I think. I don’t think most Irish people are like that, to be honest with you.

“I think a lot of it comes from America as well. There’s a vested interest for whatever reason in right-wing stuff going on in America and it’s come over here now as well and people are falling for it hook, line and sinker.”

Daragh has travelled to Rhasidat’s current base in Austin, Texas, to see her train a few times.

“The first time we went over she wasn’t long in the college,” he recalls.

“We got a sense she was trying to find her feet. She was settled but still trying to figure it out. She was struggling to keep up.​

“We went back a year later and she was running the show. She was leading in every aspect and you could tell it was her team. Both on the track and academically.

“You’re talking about a girl who is very talented and finds herself in sport, but then likewise from what she’s studying she was really giving it a good lash from both sides.

“That kind of says to me that has blossomed over there and has found her feet.”

He singles out her coach Edrick ‘Flo’ Floreal for helping her achieve her dream as well as the sponsorship of PTSB and Team Ireland.

“Flo almost like has a conveyor belt of talent going through there,” he notes. “He has one of the top sprinting programmes in the country.

The first time we properly met was out there in Austin, and she’s a wonderful athlete and a wonderful person.

“This is our fourth time to do this series and I’ve always had a soft spot for athletics. You are always willing these people to succeed.

“But it’s so rare you do get a medal. It’s a great thing when they do, but to get three, we’ve never really had that before.

“For one athlete to get three medals, it’s like our Italia ’90 moment in athletics, which ironically happened in Rome.”

Last night’s Path to Paris is on the RTE Player. Episode two goes out next Thursday