As a mark of International Women’s Day 2019, some of Ireland’s most influential women in Olympic sport gathered to share ideas and experiences today. Olympic Federation of Ireland President Sarah Keane hosted the lunch to reunite the women who attended the ‘Empowering Women’ Conference in 2017, along with several other leading females involved with and supporting the Olympic Federation of Ireland.
‘Empowering Women’ took place in October 2017 in Croke Park and was supported by the IOC through the Olympic Solidarity Programme. The aim of that conference was to bring together Irish women who were involved in leadership roles across a wide range of sports nationally.
Empowering Women was a conference covering leadership styles, presentation and negotiation skills and the building of self-awareness and self-confidence, which had a profound impact on the women who participated; many of whom went to enjoy career progression with promotions, greater responsibilities or new roles in sport.
Addressing the thirty women present, who were representing a variety of Olympic sports, Olympic Federation of Ireland President Sarah Keane said,
“we want to create a group of people who will support each other, who will challenge each other, who will push each other on, and who will pick each other up when we fall.”
Throughout the afternoon attendees shared their experiences in sport, their learnings and their challenges. Keane highlighted the positive relationships that she has enjoyed in sport,
“when I started in sport one of the things that made a big difference to me was that the people within Irish sport wanted to reach out to me. I also had some very good and supportive board members who helped me along the journey.
“I love what I do, but one of the reasons I do is because of the people I meet day in and day out that I’m completely inspired by, and when I’m on the floor I get picked up by. I want to make sure that everyone feels part of that group, and hopefully all feel part of the same family.”
READ MORE ABOUT THE 2017 EVENT HERE
