That’s all from me, good evening!
Chairman of Sports Ireland John Foley announces the winner of Irish Times/Sports Ireland Sportswoman of the Year...
Kellie Harrington!
Well done Kellie! She speaks to Des Cahill:
“Sometimes you have to have the lows to come back to the top, throughout the last year, people think you win the Olympics you live a glorious life, it ain’t that. It’s really tough at the top. You have the target on your back, everybody wants to take your spot. It’s really hard when you climb that mountain to come back down and climb it again. People think I might be mad, but it is who I am and that’s what made me a double Olympic champion!”
Noel O’Reilly will announce the winners of the team award. Which goes to...
Katie-George Dunlevy, Linda Kelly and Eve McCrystal!
Eve McCrystal: It’s been so rewarding working in a team, to finish my career with a silver, we have no velodrome yet, then we’ll go for the gold.
Well done to the three women!
Final one is the November winner Katie Taylor
Our five-time Sportswoman of the Year was involved in yet another fight for the ages with Amanda Serrano, four years after they first met at Madison Square Garden. Nobody ever thought that contest would be topped, but somehow the pair achieved the feat in front of a crowd of over 60,000 in Arlington, Texas. Taylor got the nod from all three judges who each scored it 95-94.
Next up is October’s winner Lara Gillespie.
Another of our sportswomen of the year who has had to battle through illness and injury, Gillespie put it all behind her in a year that culminated in a bronze medal at the Track World Championships. By then she was part of the first Irish team pursuit squad to qualify for the Olympic Games, she won the Giro Mediterraneo Rosa and the Antwerp Port Epic, and was awarded a contract that saw her step up to World Tour level.
Next up is September winners Katie-George Dunlevy & Linda Kelly
September 2024 is a month Dunlevy and Kelly won’t forget in a hurry. In the space of 25 days they won Paralympic gold and silver in Paris and two World Championship golds in Zurich. And, for good measure, Dunlevy also won Paralympic silver with her long-time pilot Eve McCrystal. Considering the number of injuries and illnesses Dunlevy and Kelly suffered through the year, their achievements were remarkable.
Katie-George Dunlevy it was a tough year, smashing her collarbone, wasn’t sure about the Olympics, she says it was great to win the medals and thanks Eve McCrystal as well.
Next up is August winner Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh.
To her immense relief, Ní Mhuircheartaigh will never again be asked how it feels to be one of the greatest footballers of all time never to have won an All-Ireland. That question became obsolete when Kerry ended a drought that stretched back to 1993 by beating Galway in the final. So, she’s now one of the greatest footballers of all time with an All Ireland winner’s medal.
She says it was special to finally win the All-Ireland and it was a dream. She says the feeling of winning hasn’t worn off yet, got their medals there last Friday. Enjoying every second of it.
Next up is July’s winner Kellie Harrington.
Harrington was already a history maker before she took to the ring for her Olympic final in August – when she won her quarter-final she became the first Irish woman to win medals in two Olympic Games. And come that unforgettable night at Roland Garros, in front of a (mainly Irish) crowd of 15,000, she retained her Olympic crown with a 4-1 win over China’s Wenlu Yang.
She talks about the moment of winning the gold, talking about the different experience this time with all the people chanting her name. “I genuinely felt I was floating around the ring”. She said the people there lifted her. She said her mother couldn’t come because she had to get her turkey!
Next up is June’s winner Ciara Mageean.
She was left heartbroken when injury forced her to withdraw from the Olympic Games, but by then Mageean had produced the performance of a lifetime at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, a brilliant finish down the homestretch seeing her win gold in the 1,500m. It was just the third gold medal for Ireland in the 90-year history of the European Championships.
Mageean says we all know the future Adeleke in sport and she will be bringing medals home. She said there was a great sense of relief when she won gold in the Europeans. “Truly a beautiful moment”. She says she is already working towards LA.
Next up is May’s winner Rhasidat Adeleke.
Adeleke’s year began with a spate of record-smashing, and among the highlights thereafter were three medals at the European Championships: gold with the mixed 4x400m and silver with the women’s 4x400m relay teams and silver in the individual 400m. And agonising as they were, those fourth-place individual and relay finishes at the Olympics only served to underline the 22-year-old’s promise.
Her mother Ade accepts the award, she said she was disappointed in Paris after working her whole life for it. She says she is so proud for her and for all her success in life.
Next up is April’s winner Róisín Ní Riain.
Another of our monthly winners who excelled before Paris came around, Ní Riain returned from the European Para Swimming Championships in Portugal in April laden with five medals, among them two golds. And the Limerick teenager completed an outstanding year by winning silver and bronze at the Paralympics, in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley.
Lisa Clancy from Paralympics Ireland accepts the award on her behalf, poor Róisín doing an exam today!
Next up is March winner Rachael Blackmore.
Cheltenham was already a special place for Blackmore, but in March she had yet another day to remember there when she won the Champion Chase on Henry De Bromhead’s Captain Guinness. Having already won the Gold Cup and two Champion Hurdles, that completed the Festival’s Triple Crown for the brilliant Tipperary jockey.
Her mother Eimir collects the award. She says she can barely watch the races and only waits to the end to watch. She speaks of meeting the Duchess of Cornwall. First thing she said to Rachael was “I just met your mother”.
Next up is February winner Mona McSharry.
Even before Mona McSharry became the second Irish swimmer to win an Olympic medal, her name was on our monthly list of winners. On returning from her strong performance at the World Aquatics Championships in February, she became the second woman in history to break the 56-seconds mark in a 100m breaststroke medley relay. Then came that magical moment in Paris when she took bronze in the 100m breaststroke.
She says she went on a road trip for a few months in America after the Olympics, enjoying her break from the pool. She says excited to go back in January to the pool. She says all her family had a great time in Paris. She plans to get ready for the world championships and the collegiate season.
Next up is January winner Lucy Mulhall
It was a memorable year for our Sevens side who made their Olympic debut in Paris where they reached the quarter-finals. But it was back in January that captain Lucy Mulhall led them to their first World Series gold medal when, after seeing off Britain in the semi-finals, they beat Australia in the final with the help of Mulhall’s player-of-the-match display.
Stacey Flood is here to collect the award as Lucy is on her honeymoon. She says she went to America for honeymoon then the Dominican Republic. She says they’ve been to Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vancouver, LA with the Sevens this season.
Dr Una May CEO from Sport Ireland says there is an awful lot to celebrate in an extraordinary years. She says we have more than 100 medals in different championships, 500 medals in other major events. She says the women are leading the way compared to men. She says the athlete is at the heart of everything they do. She says they hope to see the legacy in the future of more women in important sport jobs the past few years.
First up Fionnuala McCormack, the December winner.
It was in December of last year that McCormack became the first Irish woman to qualify for a fifth successive Olympic Games when she ran inside the required mark at the Valencia marathon. Before making history in Paris, McCormack finished just 18 seconds away from a medal at the European Cross Country Championships and ended her year by running the fastest marathon of her career.
She says, she might have to go again next time! “I’m not going to write it off, it’s a long way to go, we’ll see!”
Des Cahill welcomes Noel O’Reilly, the Sports Editor of the Irish Times to the stage. He says there couldn’t be a better date than December 20th for today’s awards as it is the anniversary of the first awards. He mentions the top 3 admired sportspeople in the country are women, according to Teneo survey. These women are “heroes of Irish life”. He says it is thrilling to see all the former winners at the event. “Here’s to another 20 years of magical moments,” he says.
Des Cahill opens the proceedings, reminding us of the previous 20 winners of the awards.
Two Irish sporting legends!
A message from the Sports Editor Noel O’Reilly:
“When we launched the Sportswoman of the Year awards back in 2004, it’s arguable that just two of the people on the list of monthly winners, Sonia O’Sullivan and Cora Staunton, were household names.
Fast forward to 2024 and our list of contenders for the overall award doesn’t just feature names well known to us, it’s sprinkled with some of the biggest stars in Irish sport – among them Kellie Harrington, Rachael Blackmore, Rhasidat Adeleke, Ciara Mageean, Katie-George Dunlevy and Katie Taylor.
That is, of course, a measure of the depth of their achievements, all of them once again treating us to unforgettable moments through the year, but it is also a sign that they are finally receiving the recognition they deserve.
And that was our chief hope back in 2004 when the awards got under way, that they would help shine a light on the largely underreported feats of our sportswomen.
In all, 147 sportswomen have won monthly awards through the years, and at least a dozen more deserved one in 2024, but such was the quality of the list of contenders, our judges were spoilt for choice.
Here’s to another 20 years of such excellence, and many more magical moments. We won’t be short of them, we can be sure.”
February award winner, swimmer Mona McSharry at the awards today:
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year awards from the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.
This is the 20th anniversary of the awards being held. Sonia O’Sullivan and Cora Staunton were among the monthly winners who gathered back in 2024 and there have been 147 to join them down the years. Last year the winner was Ireland and Arsenal soccer player Katie McCabe and this year there is a fine list of nominees after an exceptional year of Irish sport for women.
The monthly winners were as follows:
December 2023 – Fionnuala McCormack
January 2024 – Lucy Mulhall
February 2024 – Mona McSharry
March 2024 – Rachael Blackmore
April 2024 – Róisín Ní Ríaian
May 2024 – Rhasidat Adeleke
June 2024 – Ciara Mageean
July 2024 – Kellie Harrington
August 2024 – Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh
September 2024 – Katie George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly
October 2024 – Lara Gillespie
November 2024 – Katie Taylor
Stay tuned to coverage of the event, photos of the stars and finally the announcement of the winner of Sportswoman of the Year for 2024.
