IRISH TIMES SPORTSWOMAN OF THE MONTH FOR FEBRUARY: CHLOE MAGEE (BADMINTON):SONYA McGINN would have a fair notion of what her successor as Irish badminton's leading female player is currently enduring. Eight years ago the Dubliner globetrotted in search of the ranking points that would qualify her for the Olympic Games, her journey reaching a successful conclusion in Sydney, where she became the first person to represent Ireland in the sport at Olympic level.
McGinn, then 26, was nearing the peak of a superb career, but Chloe Magee, the 20-year-old from Raphoe, Co Donegal, has plenty of time on her side, London 2012 a more realistic target. But, as things stand, she's just one ranking place away from ensuring qualification for Beijing.
"London was always the one I was going to go for; I really never thought about Beijing, especially because I only started playing full-time last year," she said when we tracked her down in Sweden yesterday, where she moved last year to work with Limerick-born Tom Reidy, who represented the USA at the 1992 Games and is now coach of the top Swedish club BMK Watterstad.
"I just never, ever thought Beijing might even be possible, so I didn't think about it at all, but now I'm so close it's hard to think about anything else," she said. "I'm just one spot out, a few points, so I need two or three good results before May - it'll be very hard, but I'll give it my best."
Next up for Magee, whose brother Sam, her mixed doubles partner, is also based in Sweden, is the Polish International Open later this month, followed by the Finnish International Championships in the first week of April.
After that there are the European Championships in Denmark, where Magee will represent Ireland in the team and individual events.
At the end of January Magee reached the quarter-finals of the Swedish Open in the singles and the semi-finals of the doubles with her partner and international team-mate Huang (Karen) Bing, with whom she is now ranked 40th in the world.
That ranking, however, won't be enough to qualify the pair for the doubles in Beijing, but it is in the singles that Magee's hopes rest.
She insists, though, she's not losing sleep over it all: "I leave that to Tom," she laughs.
"If I made it it would be just fantastic, and I'll do everything I can in the next few weeks to give myself a chance, but we'll see, London is still the more realistic target . . . but," she adds, "Beijing would be amazing."
Whatever the future holds Magee is, beyond doubt, a worthy successor to McGinn, winning a hat-trick of titles at the National Championships in Dublin last month. She retained her singles crown, took the women's doubles title with Bing and partnered Sam to success in the mixed doubles, not dropping a set in any of the three finals.
Magee first played badminton in the church hall in Raphoe, when she was "four or five".
Her sporting journey has taken her to the Swedish town of Jönköping. Next stop? Beijing would be great, but there's always London.
January
Kelly Proper
(Athletics)
The 19-year-old from Waterford, who was named Athletics Ireland's Junior Athlete of the Year for 2007, broke the Irish indoor record for the long jump over three successive meetings in Nenagh, Belfast and Cardiff.
Each sportswoman is eligible for just one monthly award in 2008 but her achievements through the year will be taken into account by the judges when the decision on the overall winner is made.
