Former Irish Olympian Jessie Barr says she understands Rhasidat Adeleke's decision to prioritise her individual events over the team relay, if Adeleke chooses not to race the mixed 400m, as expected.
Adeleke will reportedly skip tonight's mixed 4x400m relay heats in order to focus on the women’s 400m event.
The Tallaght runner was part of the 4x400m team that qualified for the Olympics, winning bronze at the World Relays in May along with Cillín Greene, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley.
Adeleke also helped Ireland to gold in the mixed relay at the European Championships, although she did reveal later that the event took a toll on her fitness heading into the 400m final, where she claimed silver.
Speaking on the RTÉ Olympics podcast, Barr, who represented Ireland at the 2012 games, says she understands if Adeleke has come to the decision to prioritise the 400m and that her team-mates will be supportive of her.
Sophie Becker, a silver medallist alongside Adeleke in the women's 400m relay in Rome, would most likely take her place.
Barr said: "I would say it wasn't an easy decision to come to because I know Rhasidat really enjoyed running both at the world's relays at the Bahamas and then those European Championships, which we all remember so fondly.
"To make a decision to opt out of a relay that I know she really enjoys won't have come easy. I know her and her coach will have had their reasons for it.
"Athletics is an individual sport at the end of the day and the relays are additional. So I can see why she's probably had to prioritise her individual event.
"I think this is probably something that's been weighing on her mind. It was a comment that she made after the European Championships was her legs felt heavy going into the day of the final.
"So she felt she had more in her legs, but she kind of wondered, did doing the relay rounds help her?
"If that's your last experience at a championships, it will be very hard to look past that and say, 'Oh no, I'll be fine this time around’, even though you didn't feel ready when you did your last championships a month ago.
"Her main rivals won't be lining up in the heats anyway, potentially in the final, but definitely they won't be lining up in the heats.
"If she wants to put herself in the best position, this is obviously what she feels she needs to do.
"I know her team-mates are very supportive of her, they are all understanding. If they were in a similar boat where they were all challenging for that top three position individual events, they would all do the same."
Even without Adeleke, Barr believes that Ireland can progress from their heats.
Ireland go in heat 2 on Sunday evening and while they are up against some talented teams like Italy, the Netherlands and GB, Barr is confident that they can secure their place in the final.
"This Irish team has made finals at every major championship since the Olympics in 2021, and that has been without Rhasidat," she said.
"I think we need to be really clear that this is not a weak team without Rhasidat. She strengthens them, but they're still a very strong team.
"They have an absolute chance of getting into that final. I think qualifying to the final is an absolute possibility and something they're well capable of when they all run their best."
Watch the 2024 Olympic Games with 14 hours of televised action on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player each day. Listen to extensive radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 and 2fm's Game On and follow each moment from Paris on RTÉ.ie, the RTÉ News app and all RTÉ digital platforms. Listen to the daily RTÉ Sport Olympics Podcast.
Follow the RTÉ Sport WhatsApp channel for the best news, interviews, analysis and features, as well as details of our sports coverage across all RTÉ platforms.
