Empowering women in coaching: success stories from Paris 2024
Among the coaches breaking barriers at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are 10 inspiring women who participated in the Women in Sport High-Performance Pathway (WISH), an International Olympic Committee (IOC) initiative that aims to address the under-representation of women in elite coaching. These women and others are now thriving as coaches in Paris, inspiring countless young women to follow in their footsteps.
At Paris 2024, female coaches have been making their mark with some brilliant results and Olympic firsts.
For example, Emilie Bydwell made history as the first female coach of any rugby sevens team – men or women – at the Olympic Games, and guided the USA women’s team to bronze, which was the country’s first Olympic medal in the sport.
Gymnastics coach Cecile Landi oversaw American star Simone Biles’ three gold medals in Paris. Female coaches also guided male athletes too, with British diving coach Jane Figuerido coaching Tom Daley and Noah Williams to a silver medal in the men’s synchronised 10m event, and Mel Marshall helping Adam Peaty to silver in the 100m breaststroke.
Addressing the challenge
While Paris 2024 is making history as the first Olympic Games to achieve full gender parity on the field of play, the number of women and men coaching at the Games is much less balanced. At Tokyo 2020, just 13 per cent of coaches were women, and as the Olympic Movement strives to achieve gender equality at all levels in sport, the WISH programme, funded by Olympic Solidarity, is a key part of the IOC’s strategy to address this challenge.
Launched in 2022 following a successful pilot, WISH has provided mentoring and leadership sessions to four cohorts comprising 123 female coaches from 22 sports and 60 countries. The 21-month programme also features a week-long residency at the University of Hertfordshire. Ten of these coaches, representing nine countries and nine sports, are now in coaching roles at Paris 2024. They have highlighted the support from WISH as crucial in helping them feel better equipped to perform their essential roles at the Games.
“I’m a much more confident person”
Irish athletics coach Noelle Morrissey was part of the third WISH cohort, graduating earlier this summer, and is accompanying her athlete, 100m hurdler Sarah Lavin, to her second Olympic Games. She believes that her experience on the WISH programme has helped her feel like she belongs at this level.
“After the first day in WISH with the other women, it was no longer ‘I can’t’. Instead, it was: ‘How can I?’” said Morrissey. “Sometimes I feel [as women] we have to dot the Is, cross the Ts, and do all those things before we put ourselves forward. And [WISH] is kind of saying, take that chance, put yourself forward – you're good enough.”
Morrissey believes that learning a more holistic skillset and networking with coaches from other sports and countries has broadened her horizons, and she believes she’s a more confident and effective coach than she was three years ago.
“I'm a much different person here than I was in Tokyo,” Morrissey said. “I'm a much more confident person than I was. Now, I really want to help other women to become coaches at the highest level that they can. I’ve seen what [WISH] has done for other women; I’ve seen the confidence it has given them, and I think it’s amazing.”
"I really felt ready”
Five-time Olympian Naomi Folkard competed at her final Games at Tokyo 2020, but was at Paris 2024 in a new role as performance coach to the Great Britain archery team. She was part of the second WISH cohort and credits the programme with helping her feel more prepared for her role in Paris.
“We had a lot of international competitions leading up to Paris 2024, which helps, but after WISH I really felt ready,” she explained. “I think the organisational side was really valuable. When these are such long days, how do you get your self-care in? How do you manage to organise yourself so you can talk to your family? Those kind of skills are really important to me, and in being able to be my best self during the Games.”
Folkard said she is noticing a positive shift among coaches in elite sport compared to when she was an athlete.
“I noticed it when I was an athlete: how many more male ex-athletes go into coaching than females,” she said. “And it was one of my considerations when I was younger: do I want to do coaching, or is it a male thing? But now I know: we do need female coaches. And just because I’m female, it doesn’t mean that I don’t know about equipment or about technique or any of those stereotypes, because I really do. I think it’s definitely getting better, and WISH is going to accelerate the change,” Folkard added. “We’ve finally got 50-50 parity with the athletes, so hopefully in three or four Games it’s going to be a bit closer to 50-50 for coaches.”
Outstanding results for female coaches
WISH graduates who have been coaching in Paris include:
- Marwa Amri (Tunisia), wrestling
- Tine Deckers (Belgium), triathlon
- Naomi Folkard (Great Britain), archery
- Elyse Fraser (New Zealand), cycling
- Jessica Medina (USA), wrestling
- Suvi Mikkonen (Finland), taekwondo
- Noelle Morrissey (Ireland), athletics
- Eva Niedzielska (Italy), skateboarding
- Maria Elena Panetti (Italy), modern pentathlon
- Endurance Teye (Nigeria), athletics
About the WISH programme
Backed by USD 1 million in Olympic Solidarity funding, WISH is a bespoke four-year programme designed to equip more than 100 women to coach at elite levels – Olympic and world championship level and in continental teams.
Coaches are nominated by their National Olympic Committee or International Federation based on their results, ability and potential, and participate in a 21-month programme which includes leadership and mentoring sessions, and a residential week at the Institute of Sport at the UK’s University of Hertfordshire.
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