Six of Ireland’s greatest female athletes speak about their role models and inspirations

If you can’t see it you can’t be it! That’s a phrase largely attributed to the legendary feminist Gloria Steinem about politics, which has become an equally powerful rallying cry for women’s sport.

For more than 30 years, virtually every Irish female athlete you asked about who inspired them would have replied: Sonia O’Sullivan — regardless of their own sport.

Then came another icon. Katie Taylor’s ceiling-shattering brilliance made her the outstanding Irish athlete, bar none, of her generation and a giant in world boxing. For so many “KT” is now the totemic athlete who inspires them and tonight, her sell-out fight at Croke Park will give her legions of Irish fans a chance to show how much that means in a stadium setting.

But, between Sonia and Katie, there have been many brilliant Irish women whose sporting talent, drive, and resilience have impacted the “next gen”.

As Taylor bids farewell on a historic night in Croke Park, it seemed the perfect time to ask the OG and some of these mnásome athletes: Who inspired you and helped you on your own road to becoming one of the greats?

Katie Taylor, right, and Chantelle Cameron during their undisputed super lightweight championship fight at the 3Arena in Dublin in 2023. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Sonia O’Sullivan

Olympic 500m silver medalist (2000), three-time World Champion, and three-time European champion between 1994-1998.

“The notion of being ‘inspired’ by someone was not really a thing when I was growing up.

“My motivation came from the people who challenged me and made me want to improve. It was really numbers and stats that I aspired to, not people.

“The person who really first inspired me was Pat O’Halloran, my first coach at Ballymore Cobh AC, who got us into running and training and always made it fun and exciting so you wanted to keep doing it.

“When I went to my first [club] All-Irelands at 15 I finished second in the Under-16 800m and 1500m. I never imagined I could do that so immediately thought: ‘If I can be second then how can I finish first?’ I’d heard about this coach in Cobh — Sean Kennedy — who made people work hard so figured he’d help me improve. Sean was the first person who explained training to me and the need to set down goals and make clear plans to achieve them.

Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. Picture: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

“Going to Villanova [University] opened my eyes a lot more and I immediately made a connection with Marcus O’Sullivan, Frank O’Mara, Gerry O’Reilly, and Paul Donovan who were all in the US at the time. I started in Villanova in August 1987 and the previous March they had competed at World Indoors and that was probably the first time I saw Irish people winning medals on the world stage.

“Two golds and a silver — that was a huge deal. They were on the front pages and The Late Late Show. They were the ones who made me believe that if Irish people could win then maybe so could I.

“I didn’t see any gender difference. They were just Irish athletes winning and then quickly became teammates and they were the people who really helped me to become comfortable travelling with the Irish team.”

Kellie Harrington

Two-time Olympic 60kg boxing champion (2021 and 2024), 2018 World Champion, 2022 European Champion, and 2023 European Games Champion.

Kellie Harrington celebrates defeating Imane Khelif of Algeria and guaranteeing a medal – 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

“I’m often asked this question and I think people expect it to be another female but actually it was my older brother Christopher who inspired me in sport.

“I used to watch him go training and have a purpose every day and that was powerful. Watching him made me want to get fit too and that’s how I started in sport.

“Christopher went to Coláiste Íde in Finglas on a football scholarship and I went there after him to study sport and leisure management. He’s 39 now but he left home at 18 to go play soccer and coach in Canada, Iceland, and America, where he now coaches FC Cincinnati.

“Two more of my inspirations came from football as well.

“Olivia O’Toole lived just down the road from me and Wes Houlihan was up the other end.

“I was never going to go down the football route because I have two left feet, but seeing how much they had achieved and how hard they worked, that was so impressive and inspiring to me. Seeing the two of them become stars for Ireland made me think ‘if they can do that then I can too’.

“I was lucky too that my Ma and Da always said ‘Why not try it? Go for it!’ They were never pushy, just really encouraging. They always let me be myself.

“All the people who inspired me reflect what I love about backing your own community.

“It doesn’t even have to be in the same sport or activity but if children see the people around them achieving great things that really inspires them. When you see people from your own area, and people you know, achieving great things, I think that is the most powerful inspiration of all.”

Rena Buckley

Winner of a record 18 All-Ireland senior titles (11 football, seven camogie), the most won by any player in the history of Gaelic games.

Rena Buckley has won the most All-Ireland titles of any player. Picture: ©INPHO/James Crombie

“Around the time of the 20×20 women in sport campaign, when I was reflecting on who my own inspiration was in sport, I realised that I was really lucky because I had very local role models in Irene O’Keeffe from Inniscarra and Juliet Murphy from Donoughmore.

“They played senior camogie and senior football for Cork respectively and I actually knew them. I was playing in the same clubs so I knew their families and where they lived. A lot of my progress in the club, and then with the county, was down to that.

“Ladies football was actually not that well-known when I was younger. Camogie was much more popular and my mother would have taught Irene, so we had a direct link to her and the Cork team who won five All-Irelands in the 1990s.

“I’d have become aware of Juliet towards the end of primary school. She was playing inter-county but was a top basketball player as well. She did a bit of everything and that really jumped out to me.

“So I was lucky enough to get to know them both which gave me a huge opportunity to learn from them and I grabbed it with both arms.

“The other person who definitely influenced me was Sonia O’Sullivan. I did a lot of athletics as a child and the fact that Sonia was an ordinary person from Cork who was making it big-time on the international stage was such an inspiration. I remember watching her big races in school. She was massive for us because she was so relatable and achieving such huge things on the world stage.”

Ciara Mageean

2024 European 1500m champion, four-time European 1500m medallist, and current holder of four Irish records from 800m to the mile.

European 1500m champion Ciara Mageean. Picture: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

“Hurl in hand, with my sister by my side, we constantly made the short journey to Portaferry GAC with our aunt Edel [Mason] who lead the way with a bag of sliotars for frees, 45s, and sideline cuts. She’d put them all over the bar with her two wee ‘ball girls’ behind the nets.

“There was rarely female sport on TV but I didn’t need to look far to have a role model to show me that girls could play too, that we could train hard, hone our skills, and compete against the best. We followed our aunt Edel around the country as she played for club and county and I wanted to be just like her.

“My sporting journey started in camogie but I found my calling in athletics where I found more amazing female role models, especially a pair of stalwarts who paved the path so the rest of us could chase our dreams.

“I first met Dame Mary Peters in primary school, a silver-haired lady with a beaming smile. I learnt of her journey to Olympic pentathlon gold in Munich [1972], fundraising in Belfast to pay her way. Soon I would train on the track she worked tirelessly to build.

“The other was Maeve Kyle, my sport’s first Irish female Olympian in 1956. When I met her she was coaching young athletes, still as fit as a fiddle with an infectious laugh.

“These two trailblazers forged a place in history, challenging the conventions of their era to step onto the sporting field, competing at the highest level and opening doors

for the women who came after. The way they dedicated their lives, on and off the track, to give back to their sport and provide opportunities for the next generation has been a huge example to me.”

Rachael Blackmore

Winning jockey of the 2021 Grand National, 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and two Champion Hurdles (2021 and 2022).

Rachael Blackmore, aboard Bob Olinger, celebrates after winning the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle on day three of the Cheltenham Racing Festival. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

“Sonia O’Sullivan would have been the first person I looked up to in sport.

“I was probably in sixth class in primary school and the TV would have been rolled in at lunchtime when she won silver in Sydney [Olympics, 2000]. That is my very first memory of watching an Irish sports person achieving such great things.

“When I got into racing, Istabraq was the first horse that really grabbed my attention with Charlie Swan riding him and then I started looking up to other jockeys like Ruby Walsh, Davy Russell, Nina Carberry, and Katie Walsh.

“You naturally look to people who are achieving great things so I looked at their processes and techniques to see what worked for them as I tried to improve.

“Nina and Katie aren’t that much older than me but they were way ahead of me in their careers when I first started and I looked up to both of them.

“I think having people to look up to is massive. Without me even knowing it, Nina and Katie were probably particularly influential.

“Racing is a male-dominated sport so having them as female examples when I stepped into the weigh-room was a big thing. They were both achieving so much at such a high level, riding Irish National winners and Cheltenham winners. They had rides every day there was racing really. I loved watching all sport and athletes at the highest level in any discipline. That strong visibility of sport on TV was a big thing as a child.”

Derval O’Rourke

World Indoor 60m Hurdles champion (2006), two-time European 100m Hurdles silver medallist (2006 and 2010) and double European Indoor 60m Hurdles bronze medallist (2009 and 2013).

Ireland’s Derval O’Rourke clears a hurdle during the final of the Women’s 60m Hurdles at the 2006 Athletics World Indoor Championships in Moscow Saturday, March 11, 2006. Picture: AP Photo/ Misha Japaridze

“Sonia obviously made a big impact because she was an Irish woman out doing it globally, but her events were so far removed from mine that what she achieved seemed out of my reach.

“The person who most influenced me, as a teenage sprinter, was Karen Shinkins from Kildare.

“I was still in school when she ran a phenomenal Irish 400m record of 51:07 seconds in 1999, which is still the fourth-fastest ever by an Irish woman.

“My first senior championship was the European Indoors in Vienna in 2002. I couldn’t believe an Irish girl had a chance of winning a sprint medal and was in the stands waving a homemade sign for her. To see her win European bronze was so impactful and a real breakthrough for Irish women at 400m.

“She was five years older than me but we were put sharing rooms together and became great friends. I was only telling my daughter recently about the first time I roomed with Shinks and how she told me if I didn’t go to sleep she would kill me!

“We had that kind of fun relationship from the start, where she’d give out to me and tell me what I needed to do.

“I really related to the fact that she wasn’t this underage prodigy, that she was someone who became great by working really, really hard and she also inspired me to problem solve for myself.

“She was multi-faceted too, able to combine college with athletics. Around the time of the Sydney Olympics, Irish athletes were starting to go full-time but my parents didn’t believe in that.

“Shinks showed you could be a brilliant athlete and really clever, which was so cool. I still think she didn’t get enough credit for her achievements as an Irish sprinter.”