Lights, camera, action!
Tonight the Her Sport Awards returned to UCD Astra Hall presented by Her Sport founder Niamh Tallon with broadcaster Gráinne McElwain as our amazing MC for the night.
We were joined by some of our outstanding nominees and sports people and people from our Her Sport community, young and old, on an inspiring night full of like-minded people celebrating the phenomenal year of Irish sport, and looking forward to an exciting 2023.
The first award of the night was the WHOOP Young Athlete of the Year that went to Rhasidat Adeleke!
Rhasidat Adeleke is undoubtedly a rising star in Irish sport. At only 20 years old, Adeleke came in the top 8 at her first senior World Championships in 2022, was two time U20 European champion and a silver medallist at the World Championships in 2021, and was European U18 Champion in 2018 at only 15 years of age.
In 2022 the young athlete also broke 5 Irish records;The indoor 60m, 200m and 300m and the outdoor 200m and 400m. In only her 6th race over 400m not only did she break a national record, she only narrowly missed out on a medal coming 5th in her debut Senior European Championships. Adeleke hopes to improve even further on her new 400m event and has her eyes set on The Paris Olympics in 2024. This month, she picked up from where she left off last year, breaking another Irish record and running 22.52 in the 200m and is the current Women's Lead in the world in this race for 2023.
Up next was the Her Sport Athlete of the Year award which went to the amazing Amy Broadhurst! The Dundalk fighter began boxing at the age of 5, coached by her dad and sparring with her brothers.
In 2022 Amy Broadhurst won it all. She was crowned the 2022 IBA World Light-welterweight champion, she won the gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and completed the trifecta when winning Gold at the European Championships with Broadhurst also being named best boxer at the European Championships after her win.
Áine O'Gorman collected the The Three Team of the Year on behalf of the Irish Soccer Team!
In 2022 The Republic of Ireland made history, qualifying for their first ever major tournament, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. After beating Finland 1–0 in the qualifying campaign, Ireland reached a historic milestone as the team qualified to the playoffs for the first time in it's history. This achievement was soon surpassed when Ireland won the play-off final 1–0 over Scotland in Glasgow on 11 October 2022 in Hampden Park, sending them straight through to their first ever World Cup. The team also climbed to 23rd in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings and will be playing their first match in the World Cup on the 20th July 2023 against hosts Australia.
Áine was joined on stage by Lisa Fallon who spoke about the growth of Irish women's soccer and the impact they will have on the future.
We also awarded the Energia Community Award which went to Deirdre McElerney!
Deirdre has been involved for years with Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA with promotion of the LGFA, supporting from Nursery level right up to the Senior teams and also the driving force behind the MothersforOthers group. Deirdre is "always there to help with a smile on her face". A trained Intellectual Disability Nurse, Deirdre was instrumental in setting up the Navan Road ARCH Club, a mixed ability youth club. She worked in the "Terance Cardinal Cooke Health Care Centre", in New York, a residential facility for severely mentally and physically handicapped children, doing physio and occupational therapy programs.
Back in Ireland she worked in John of God’s in Islandbridge, mostly preparing youths for Special Olympics, inventing a game for the Special Olympics while she was a volunteer, also volunteering with the Aurelia Trust and lobbying local councils for many years in the Romanian Orphanages, setting up physio and play therapies. Deirdre has also been instrumental in welcoming and helping Ukrainian nationals into Ashbourne. When war broke out, she used her contacts in the GAA to garner support and send supplies back to Ukraine having local families, pharmacies and businesses involved in no time. She is still the cornerstone of support to the Ukrainian community in Ashbourne, supporting them each week and as recently as early autumn, organised a clothing drive to source winter clothes. She has also set up a Sunday club in the local youth centre where Ukrainian families can meet each week in a safe and warm environment. Deirdre is an amazing woman and well deserving of this year's Her Sport Energia Community Award.
Our final award of the night went to Catherina McKiernan who was this years inductee to the Her Sport Hall of Fame!
Catherina is an Irish Olympian, 4 time World Cross Country silver medallist, European Cross Country champion, Winner of London, Berlin, and Amsterdam marathons, the current Irish marathon record holder, and is regarded as one of the world’s best ever cross country runners.
One year after winning the Berlin marathon — and clocking the fastest-ever debut time in a marathon for a woman — McKiernan became the first Irish person to win the London Marathon. Catherina's domination of marathons didn't stop there. She is the Irish marathon record holder after winning the 1998 Amsterdam Marathon with a time of 2:22:23 which still remains unbeaten to this day.
The night was also filled with amazing panel discussions including World Paralympic Rower and Record holder Katie O'Brien, Irish FIFA Assistant referee Michelle O'Neill and Irish Hockey's Roisin Upton who discussed their journeys and experience in sport under our theme for the night #DoItForHer.
We'd like to thank you - our community - for continuing to support what we do and help us in our mission of using sport as a tool to foster gender equality and empower girls and women. We aim to educate, empower and inspire girls and women to achieve their full potential.
2023 promises to bring more success and also importantly, an increase in the visibility and exposure of female athletes in this country as they dominate in Ireland and on the World Stage. With Olympic qualifiers, world cups and national finals to look forward to, we can not wait to continue to see these athletes and more compete and more break barriers.
The show will air shortly on TG4 with details on this to follow - keep an eye on our socials for more details!
Watch our #DoItForHer campaign here
