Admin I Friday, March 07, 2025
LAUSANNE – Professor Elizabeth Pike, a leading expert in sport and gender from the University of Hertfordshire (Great Britain), is the Global Winner of the 2024 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Champions Award.
On the eve of International Women’s Day, the IOC is celebrating Pike, alongside five continental winners who are all breaking barriers in #SportForAllWomenAndGirls.
A Professor in Sport, Health and Exercise, Pike has dedicated her career to creating life-changing opportunities for women in sport and empowering female coaches.
While gender parity was reached for athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, only 13 per cent of coaches were women. As the project director of the Women in Sport High-Performance (WISH) programme, a mentorship and training programme for female coaches supported by Olympic Solidarity, Pike has helped tackle this under-representation.
Some 120 female coaches from 22 sports and 59 countries have graduated from the programme, equipped with the tools needed to take on roles at the highest level of their sport. Ten WISH graduates were in coaching roles at Paris 2024.
“Elizabeth Pike’s dedication to creating opportunities for women in sport, especially through the WISH programme, greatly contributes to strengthening gender equality in sport,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Her work has made a significant impact on the lives of many female coaches, and we celebrate her remarkable achievements today,” Bach added.
Pike emphasised that her work, part of a larger team effort, is aimed at helping others reach their full potential. “I feel very honoured the IOC has recognised the part that I have played in helping to unlock the full potential of really talented individuals,” Pike said.
“What we do is try to work with the women to identify what tools, resources and support they need to succeed at the high-performance level – as a coach, but also as a leader,” Pike added.
Pike is also the co-founder of the Anita White Foundation and Fund, which supports female leaders in sport around the world; a co-developer of the Women’s Sport Leadership Academy with the Females Achieving Brilliance network; and the research lead for the International Working Group (IWG) on Women and Sport.
Pike, who was interested in sport from a young age, was struck by the systemic gender inequality in sports research during her university studies. She embarked on an academic career focusing on the power of sport for social inclusion. Her background has given her excellent insight into the barriers facing women in coaching.
“The WISH programme is very much about not fixing the woman, but fixing the system. So we talk to them about how we can dismantle these obstacles to create this more inclusive and equitable system,” Pike said.
WISH was launched in 2022, following a successful pilot in 2019, to support the Olympic Movement’s drive to achieve gender equality at all levels in sport.
“The coaches from WISH are not only making changes for themselves and their athletes, but they also inspire other women and girls in sport. They do this by starting to work with the cultures and the systems in their countries and their sports to demonstrate the value and the positive impact of gender equality.”
While the WISH programme focuses on elite coaching, female representation at the grassroots level is also crucial.
“For there to be real change for women coaching at all levels, there are multiple stages, and having women coaching at the grassroots level is absolutely key to all of this,” Pike said. “The first thing we need to do is to raise awareness of the issue – to advocate for and showcase successful women coaches locally and globally. Then, we need to challenge those stereotypes and highlight the importance of gender diversity and sports leadership at all levels, including at grassroots. Then we need to instigate the deliberate practice to address the issue, through sustained investments, National and International Federations having gender-equality action plans, and the importance of male allies.”
The power of grassroots sport
Pike has witnessed the power of grassroots sport in her own work with the Anita White Fund. The Fund supports women leaders globally, promoting social inclusion through projects which focus on grassroots sport for women and girls, many of whom are living with disabilities. The projects foster networking and coalition building, often combining sports development with economic advancement opportunities for women.
Such grassroots projects are vital in giving women and girls the opportunities linked to participating in sport.
“We know that girls who play sports develop confidence, can learn to work in teams, tend to stay in school longer and often get better jobs,” Pike said. “We also know engagement in sports has significant physical, mental and social benefits for older women, particularly in those activities that emphasise social interaction, and that in itself can challenge gender and age stereotypes to advance gender equality across all ages.”
Celebrating inspiring changemakers
Known as the IOC Women and Sport Awards from 2000 to 2021, the IOC GEDI Champions Awards celebrate the outstanding work of inspiring changemakers who are committed to promoting the advancement of gender equality, diversity and inclusion in and through sport.
Six GEDI Award winners are announced each year – one at world level and one each for Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
