Monika Dukarska
Rowing
BIOGRAPHY
Monika Dukarska represented Ireland alongside Aileen Crowley in the women’s coxless pair at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, finishing 11th overall.
Born in Poznań, Poland, Dukarska grew up cycling around the famous rowing lake in her home city but never took up the sport there. Her family moved to Killorglin, Co. Kerry when she was 16 and she began rowing in 2008, going on to become one of Ireland’s most distinctive athletes. She first competed for Ireland in 2013, after receiving her Irish passport in 2012, having been offered the opportunity to row for Poland but choosing Ireland as the country that had invested in her.
She became a two-time World Coastal Rowing champion in the women’s solo, winning in 2009 and 2016 – a discipline involving 6km open-water courses that demands navigation and weather management in stark contrast to Olympic flatwater rowing. She and Crowley qualified for Tokyo at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz. She holds two Masters degrees and was completing a PhD in education at MTU Kerry at the time of the Games.







