O'Rourke honoured with Sportswoman Award
Aoife O'Rourke who was honoured at The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year awards. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
County Roscommon boxer and world champion, Aoife O’Rourke, was honoured recently at awards after the boxer enjoyed unprecedented success during 2025.
O’Rourke received the Sportswoman of the Month award for September after she won a historic gold medal at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool.
O’Rourke, from Tarmon and boxes with Castlerea BC, never took a backward step in a highly physical but unanimous victory over Turkey’s Busra Isildar.
Before that she had secured victories over Czech Republic’s Monika Langerova, fellow Olympian, Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad and 2023 world champion, China’s Chengyu Wang.
It was O’Rourke’s second World medal in 2025 – the 28-year-old claimed silver at the rival IBA Women’s World Championships in Serbia in March.
Speaking to World Boxing after her famous win in Liverpool, she said: “It’s incredible, it hasn’t even sunk in yet. The whole buzz and the atmosphere here is just…I’m overwhelmed with excitement, enjoyment, everything. It’s an amazing feeling. Long may it last!
Aoife and her sister, Lisa, a world champion in 2022 in the 70kg division, are now among a select group of sibling world champions.
For Aoife, a double Olympian and four-time European Champion, the ultimate dream would be for both to make it to LA in 2028.
“If that does happen, that the two of us are representing Ireland there, it would be an incredible story. To go to an Olympics with a sibling would be amazing, really, truly special.”
O’Rourke, who shared the award for September with sprinter Orla Comerford, was unable to attend the gala award ceremony in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel. Her award was accepted on her behalf by the IABA’s Anna Moore.
