The International Paralympic
Committee (IPC) has announced the four outstanding winners of the 2023
International Women’s Day Recognition Awards on 8 March 2023.
Patience Igbiti from Nigeria
(Leadership), Vladyslava Kravchenko from Malta (Emerging Leadership), Malawi
National Paralympic Committee (National Paralympic Committee) and World Para
Ice Hockey (International Federation) have each received the 2023 International
Women’s Day Award.
The Awards, which the IPC has been
running since 2013, recognise women in the Paralympic Movement who inspire and
emulate the Paralympic ideals and serve as positive role models. The winners
were chosen by members of the IPC Governing Board following nominations from
across the Paralympic membership.
Andrew Parsons, IPC President said:
“The IPC has been running its International Women’s Day Awards for over a
decade and every year we are hugely encouraged by the quality of the nominations.
“It is particularly important for the
Paralympic Movement to have strong growth in female representation. In the last
year alone the IPC Senior Executive Team has become 50 percent female and six
of the 14 IPC Governing Board members are women. We are seeing more women in
leadership positions amongst our members, where they are creating new platforms
for female athletes, coaches, and officials to excel.
“A huge well done to the winners for
their well-deserved recognition, and a thank you to all of those who entered
the awards. We are excited that there are so many female advocates from across
the world making the Paralympic Movement more inclusive and opening new
opportunities for women.”
Leadership
This category recognises sustained
and consistent leadership over a period of time, advocacy, overall
contributions, and impact promoting and supporting women in sport. Candidates
considered for this category included coaches, current and former athletes,
administrators, and officials.
Winner - Patience Igbiti, Nigeria
Known throughout the Para
powerlifting community simply as “Coach Pat”, Patience Igbiti has been pushing
for women’s inclusion in the sport in Africa and internationally for over 30
years.
Starting her career as an athlete in
1990, she became Nigeria’s first female champion in Para powerlifting, a
multi-Paralympic medallist and a six-time world record holder. After she
retired from the sport, she become the first female coach in Nigeria’s history,
and one of the first in Para powerlifting.
Under Igbiti's leadership, Nigeria’s
women have dominated Para powerlifting, winning 10 gold medals at her first
Paralympic Games as a coach at London 2012, and 17 out of 60 medals at Rio 2016
and Tokyo 2020. Nigerian women currently hold four of the 10 Paralympic
records, which is more than any other country.
As a coach Igbiti has been a keen
supporter of gender equity and has helped increase female representation in the
sport in several ways. She has been a mentor for women from different countries
and regions, and has been a leading advocate of World Para Powerlifting’s “She
Can Lift” programme. In addition, she has blazed a trail as a technical
official and administrator, while creating opportunities for women in her state
and country by organising training camps and competitions.
Emerging Leadership
This category recognises early-stage
career leadership, advocacy, overall contributions and impact promoting and
supporting women in sport. Candidates considered for this category included
coaches, current and former athletes, administrators, and elected officials.
Winner - Vladyslava Kravchenko, Malta
Vladyslava Kravchenko has been
creating waves in and out of the water over the last decade. In 2015, she was
selected by the European Paralympic Committee for the Youth Ambassadors
programme to raise awareness about the Paralympic Movement in Europe. She
visited schools and spoke about the benefits of Para sport on various platforms
including the European Youth Sport Forum.
The following year, at the Rio 2016 Paralympic
Games, she became the first female swimmer and the first female athlete since
1980 to represent Malta at the Paralympic Games. In 2017, she received the
Queen’s Young Leaders Award from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in recognition
of her work in Para sport in her community.
Kravchenko has become a leading
advocate for persons with disabilities in Malta. She was appointed by the
Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Malta to a Steering
Committee, which set up the first formal legal structure of the National
Paralympic Committee and Athletes’ Council. She co-authored the National Para
Sport Strategy 2019–2029 for Malta’s Ministry of Education and Employment.
A certified public accountant who
recently graduated with a master's degree in sport management, politics and
international development from Loughborough University, Kravchenko co-founded a
youth-led NGO, Malta Youth Athletes Network. The organisation brings together
active and former athletes to develop local sport through collaborative
projects and advocacy initiatives.
As part of this work, the
organisation supported the implementation of I’mPOSSIBLE in Malta and reached
more than 900 students in the first year. Kravchenko was the athletes’
representative on the first elected Executive Committee of the Malta Paralympic
Committee and currently holds the position of Treasurer.
National Paralympic Committee
This category recognises the
leadership, impact and effective change initiated by National Paralympic
Committees (NPCs) that promote and support equality and inclusion of women in
sport.
Winner - NPC Malawi
Over the last four years the Malawi
National Paralympic Committee has been exemplary in delivering change and
effectively promoting inclusion. In 2018 NPC Malawi was one of the
beneficiaries of programmes that the IPC and African Paralympic Committee
delivered together about the importance of developing African women in
leadership. NPC Malawi had no female representatives on its Board at the time.
NPC Malawi's guiding principle was
the UN Sustainable Development Goal Number 5 on gender equality, where women
and men have equal opportunities on the Board. There has been a conscious
effort to train women working in their respective fields, ranging from
technical officials, coaches, and administrators.
Another key initiative was promoting
to female athletes, coaches, or officials that if a female athlete had a male
coach and they would prefer female support then this should try and be
delivered.
The culmination of NPC Malawi’s
inclusion drive came at their board elections in 2022 when three women were
elected to the decision-making positions of General Secretary, Treasurer, and
committee member. The board of NPC Malawi now has equal representation of women
and men, signifying the accomplishment of UNSDG Number 5.
International Federation
This category recognises the
leadership, impact and effective change initiated by International Federations
(IFs) that promote and support equality and inclusion of women in sport.
Winner - World Para Ice Hockey
World Para Ice Hockey (WPIH) had a
landmark year in the development of the sport among female athletes, coaches,
and officials. After recognising the gender gap in athlete participation, WPIH
shared with its members the WPIH Women’s Development Pathway in June 2021. The
goal of the pathway is to add a women’s event in Para ice hockey at the
Paralympic Winter Games.
To reach this goal, WPIH has set
milestones for the 2022-2026 cycle. The first milestone was to host recognised
competitions in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and to have the first-ever Women’s World
Championships in 2025.
As part of the newly launched PARA
SPORT programme, WPIH created a new property and partnered with Citi to launch
the inaugural Women’s World Challenge. This took place in Green Bay, USA on
26-28 August 2022. As a direct result, the number of licensed women went from
three in 2021 to 71 in 2022, and 61 of them participated in the tournament.
Three national teams (Canada, Great Britain, USA) and combined team made up of
athletes from eight countries competed in the three-day event. A total of 54
athletes were classified. Outside the field of play, the event had an all-women
officiating crew with one technical delegate, eight on-ice officials, and one
result manager.
World Para Ice Hockey created a
tournament that showcased the sport while also attracting new athletes to the
ice and establishing a long-term pipeline to grow the game.
Previous winners
2022 - Oripa Mubika (Leadership), Yip
Pin Xiu (Emerging Leadership), and Paralympics New Zealand (National Paralympic
Committee/International Federation)
2021 - Kate Caithness (Leadership),
Zahra Nemati (Emerging Leadership), and World Para Powerlifting (NPC/IF)
2020 - Paulina Malinowska-Kowalczyk
(Builder), Maha Bargouthi (Next Generation) and Paralympics Australia (NPC/IF)
2019 – Deepa Malik
2018 – Dr. Hayat Khattab
2017 – Dr. Cheri Blauwet
2016 – Carla Qualtrough
2015 – Chantal Petitclerc
2014 – Rima Batalova
2013 – Sylvana Mestre
About the IPC
The IPC acts as the international
federation for six Para sports: World Para Athletics, World Para Dance Sport,
World Para Ice Hockey, World Para Powerlifting, World Shooting Para Sport and
World Para Swimming. The IPC’s vision is to make for an inclusive world though
Para sport.
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