Magee competed for Ireland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China at the age of 19. She became the first ever Irish woman to win a badminton match at the Olympics, beating Estonian Kati Tolmoff by a score of 18–21, 21–18, 21–19 in the first round of the women's singles. She was eliminated after losing her second round match 12–21, 14–21 to world number eleven Jun Jae-youn of South Korea. "I have loads to improve on and I will take away a lot from this," Magee said after the match.