Irish luger Elsa Desmond may not have had the best run in her event, but there’s one thing she wants to remember: she’s an Olympian.
Desmond’s three times of 1:01.608, 1:03.857, and 1:02.254 put her in 33rd place after three runs in the women’s luge, effectively ending her Olympic run.
Desmond officially only finished ahead of Raluca Stramaturaru and Ekaterina Katnikova; both had a DNF on their record for failing to complete one of their runs.
But despite seeing herself at the bottom of the standings, Desmond didn’t let that get her down.
Who needs a medal when you have a golden reaction š„
Irish luger Elsa Desmond was last after run 3, but her reaction alone deserves a medal pic.twitter.com/2GT9PmLJEP
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 8, 2022
“I finished! It wasn’t a good one, but it was okay. I’m a f*cking Olympian,” an elated Desmond said while exiting the track.
Desmond, who is also a doctor at Southend University Hospital in Essex, England, was the first-ever luge athlete in Ireland’s history.
33rd Place for me in my Olympic Debut. Came in to this competition ranked 35th so to move up 2 spots, get a PB in my first runs and make history as Irelands first Olympic luge athlete, I couldn't be happier. pic.twitter.com/65njpK5z4o
— Elsa āļø (@DrElsaDesmond) February 9, 2022
It’s not hard to understand why Desmond was so happy to make it there. Prior to the Olympics, the luger was running her own fundraiser in order to help offset some of her costs in her quests to become an Olympian.
“Luge is a minority winter sport,” Desmond said in the description. “We receive no funding from Sport Ireland.”
But if there’s any stage to make a splash, Desmond’s performance off the track just might be enough to kickstart a new wave of Irish lugers.