Paralympics
Ireland has produced a weekly Women in Sport Focus since the inaugural edition
in July. Some of the best female Paralympians in the country have featured to
date including Nicole Turner, Ellen Keane, Niamh McCarthy, Greta Streimikyte,
Mary Fitzgerald, Orla Comerford, Richael Timothy, Katie-George Dunlevy, Eve
McCrystal and Kerrie Leonard. This week’s Women in Sport focus switches it’s
emphasis from the arena of competition to sports administration with
Paralympics Ireland CEO, Miriam Malone.
Miriam
joined Paralympics Ireland in 2017 from her previous position as Director of
Business Partnerships in the Football Association of Ireland, where she worked
from 2006.
In 2018,
Miriam played a key role in delivering the Allianz European Para Swimming
Championships at the Sport Ireland Campus in August 2018, also doubling up as
the chair for the Local Organising Committee for the event. After a successful
event in 2018, attention turned to the planning and preparation for the 2020
Paralympic Games.
We sat down
with Miriam to discuss the importance of female role models, both as athletes,
and those working in sports administration. Miriam also talked about how the
landscape has improved for women in sport compared to early on in her career.
The
Paralympics Ireland CEO emphasises the importance of strong female role models
for females starting out in sport, Miriam said: “It is really important
for everyone to have role models within that sphere (sports administration) too
and I think across the board there are many more role models, particularly in
the higher levels of sport than we would have seen a number of years ago.”
As the
support for the Women in Sport movement continues to grow, and with the
successful 20x20 campaign, which helped increase participation, awareness, and
visibility for females in sport. Miriam discussed several actions to help keep
the momentum going.
She said:
“One thing that can be done is that the strong voices of people involved in
sport try and ensure that the female sporting activities remain on the
calendar, that needs to continue. While there has been a spotlight and it has
increased, it is still nowhere near the level that it needs to be at”.
Speaking on
the some of the biggest challenges faced in her career, she said: “At
times it felt like a battle and to try and ensure that you excel in all the
areas that you work in, and in some areas you needed to do even better to be
recognised as equal.”
Discussing
the postponement of Tokyo 2020, Miriam said: “In terms of planning and
administration around the Games, the staff team were great. They all
immediately jumped into a management and shift mode, to be able to adjust plans
and keep communication open with our stakeholders, particularly with our
athletes and our coaching staff to make sure everyone was facilitated to
continue training until we had a clearer picture.”
credit
Paralympics Ireland
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