Rhasidat Adeleke has been well-known in the running community for years, but she burst into national stardom last summer thanks to her impressive performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

While the prestigious games weren’t a roaring success for the Tallaght girl, it did offer her a platform to showcase her impressive sprinting talents to the world.

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At just 22 years old, the athlete has since become a household name and can pinpoint the exact moment she realised that she had become famous in the country.

IRELAND’S RHASIDAT ADELEKE. PIC: INPHO/MORGAN TREACY

The sprinter had been living in Austin, Texas, in the United States for training after getting a sports scholarship to the college.

Because of this, Rhasidat hadn’t realised how well-known she had become at home in Ireland.

She recalled the moment she was swarmed by fans while she was in Dundrum Shopping Centre. She told the Sunday Times: ‘I was stopped by like 50 people and had a bunch of people around me asking for pictures and autographs and stuff.’

RHASIDAT ADELEKE OF TEAM IRELAND DURING THE WOMEN’S 400M ROUND 1 AT THE STADE DE FRANCE DURING THE 2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES IN PARIS. PIC: SAM BARNES/SPORTSFILE

Rhasidat dubbed the experience as ‘insane’ because she was just doing what she ‘normally would’.

‘But I almost forget that I have some sort of presence now. It honestly is really cool,’ she told the outlet.

‘In comparison, being out here in Austin, Texas, where I can just walk around freely, nobody really knows who I am. So it kind of makes me forget that I do have that presence back home. But yeah, it’s a blessing.’

RHASIDAT ADELEKE OF IRELAND SEEN DURING THE START OF THE WOMEN’S 400M, AT THE SILESIA KAMILA SKOLIMOWSKA MEMORIAL, PART OF THE WANDA DIAMOND LEAGUE. PIC: REX

Rhasidat grew up near Dundrum in Tallaght, south Dublin, where her talent was nurtured by Tallaght Athletics Club.

She trained in the club for years, along with her two siblings, before making the move to attend the University of Texas.

Rhasidat attended St Mark’s National School in Springfield and ran for her primary school in athletics competitions, where she remembers winning the 100-metre sprint every year.

PIC: ATHLETICS IRELAND/X

It was her PE teacher at St Mark’s, Dee Lunny (or Ms Lunny to Rhasidat) who spotted the young girl’s natural talent and encouraged her to sign up for the local athletics club aged 12, telling her: “You need to join a club”.

Rhasidat previously told EVOKE: ‘I was always fast.

When we’d do activities and PE and things you’d regularly do in school, and when we would do like tryouts for the athletic championships, I would usually do really well.

RHASIDAT ADELEKE. PIC: INPHO/BEN BRADY

‘I went to those [championships] and I was competing really well – I used to win at the 100 meters every year. So my PE teacher was like, “You need to join a club”.

‘She gave me the application form and everything that I needed to get registered, and it went pretty smoothly, and I joined the club.’ And the rest is history!