Latest news with #RhasidatAdeleke
RTÉ News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Brendan Gleeson, Rhasidat Adeleke among recipients of Lord Mayor Award
Brendan Gleeson and Rhasidat Adeleke were among several people who received awards from the Lord Mayor of Dublin at a ceremony tonight. The event is held every year to honour citizens of Dublin who have made a real difference. It recognises the achievements of both individuals and groups across all sectors. Some well-known faces and proud Dubliners were among the recipients. Brendan Gleeson, who has won many awards during his career, said as "a Dub" this means a lot. "To get an award from your home city," he said with a smile, adding: "There is a need to get more positive about the place." He commended the positivity of the Lord Mayor Emma Blaine in her role. He said while there is no honours list in Ireland in terms of knighthood, "which is no harm", this is a way of society saying to people "you are not unseen" and recognising "the goodness in people" and work happening in the city. Former Ireland international Johnny Sexton, who also received an award, said it is very special to be honoured in this way. "l think it's a very proud room," he said. He also said his children were delighted to be at the event and getting to sit next to Brendan Gleeson who starred in Harry Potter. Lord Mayor Emma Blaine said the areas of particular interest to her were recognising dementia awareness and women and girls in sport. "I have a couple of recipients tonight that represent those goals and ideals beautifully," she said. Rhasidat Adeleke was one of those given an award in recognition of her achievements in athletics and her role in inspiring a new generation of young female athletes. The 22-year-old's mother accepted her award on her behalf as the Dublin athlete remains focused on training in the US and breaking running records. As well as acknowledging incredible talent, the seven awards presented tonight were focused on recognising the extraordinary work done by people in different ways. Two brothers Allen and Jay Bobinac who are originally from Croatia were honoured for their dedication to helping the homeless in Dublin city. Accepting their award they described the excitement around this event being almost like the Oscars. Úna Crawford O'Brien accepted an award for her and her partner Bryan Murray who were acknowledged for their outstanding contribution to the arts, on stage and on screen, and for raising awareness of dementia. Isobel Henderson was given a posthumous award for her outstanding service and dedication to the Girls' Brigade Ireland. Another important award was given to Team Power of 1 in recognition of their achievement in the World's Toughest Row and for raising awareness and funds for Heart Children Ireland and Children's Heart Centre - CHI Crumlin in memory of Saoirse O'Driscoll.
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Tipperary Olympian Sharlene Mawdsley goes public with GAA star boyfriend
The athlete has kept her love life secret since her debut at the Paris Olympics last year. However, this weekend she revealed her boyfriend as Tipperary hurler Mikey Breen. Taking to social media, the 26-year-old shared a snap of herself and Breen wearing matching GAA jerseys as she supported the full back following their home win over Waterford on Saturday. 'Tippin' on,' she captioned the post which shows the pair beaming down the camera at Semple Stadium. Taking to the comments, fans expressed their delight at the pairing. 'Two of Tipp's finest athletes. Magic,' wrote one person. 'Hon Tipp,' added another. A third shared: 'Premier class through and through, H'on Tipp.' Singer and fellow Tipp woman Una Healy gave her seal of approval, simply commenting the heart eye emoji. Mikey himself responded to the post with: 'Any tag, nah?', poking fun at his girlfriend for not tagging him in the picture. Sharing the snap to his own social media, he commented: 'This fan was following me around all day.' Sharlene has recently returned home from the World Relays in China, where she helped Team Ireland secure a place at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September. Mawdsley finished the race in second place, ahead of Poland. She raced as part of the Irish Women's 4x400m relay team alongside Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke and Rachel McCann. She also secured Ireland's spot in the mixed 4x400m relay team with Rhasidat Adeleke, Cillín Greene, and Conor Kelly.
Sunday World
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Tipperary Olympian Sharlene Mawdsley goes public with GAA star boyfriend
The couple posed for a snap together this weekend Olympian Sharlene Mawdsley has gone 'Instagram official' with her GAA star boyfriend. The athlete has kept her love life secret since her debut at the Paris Olympics last year. However, this weekend she revealed her boyfriend as Tipperary hurler Mikey Breen. Read more Irish track stars Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke hang out in Hong Kong Taking to social media, the 26-year-old shared a snap of herself and her beau wearing matching GAA jerseys as she supported the full back following their home win over Waterford on Saturday. 'Tippin' on,' she captioned the post which shows the pair beaming down the camera at Semple Stadium. Taking to the comments, fans expressed their delight at the pairing. 'Two of Tipp's finest athletes. Magic,' wrote one person. 'Hon Tipp,' added another. A third shared: 'Premier class through and through, H'on Tipp.' Singer and fellow Tipp woman Una Healy gave her seal of approval, simply commenting the heart eye emoji. Mikey himself responded to the post with: 'Any tag, nah?', poking fun at his girlfriend for not tagging him in the picture. Sharing the snap to his own social media, he commented: 'This fan was following me around all day.' Sharlene has recently returned home from the World Relays in China, where she helped Team Ireland secure a place at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September. Photo: Instagram News in 90 Seconds - May 19th Mawdsley finished the race in second place, ahead of Poland. She raced as part of the Irish Women's 4x400m relay team alongside Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke and Rachel McCann. She also secured Ireland's spot in the mixed 4x400m relay team with Rhasidat Adeleke, Cillín Greene, and Conor Kelly.
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Rhasidat Adeleke on life in the spotlight: ‘How do people like Beyoncé handle this? This is crazy!'
She's still only 22. It's easy to forget that about Rhasidat Adeleke . Fourth at the Olympics , fourth at the World Championships , silver medal at the Europeans. Relay medals a-go-go, more Irish records than anybody in the sport. And she's still only 22. Sometimes, she forgets herself. Like when she was at home last October and decided one day to go to Dundrum Town Centre with her friends. That's what you do, isn't it? You haven't been home in a while and you've just had the biggest summer of your life. So you go and hang with your girls, you laugh and shop and gossip and let your other world blur out of focus for a bit. Except, when you're Adeleke, your other world doesn't be long surrounding you. Walking around Dundrum that day, she was hit up for selfies and signatures at every turn. In her innocence, she hadn't expected it to happen. It wasn't unpleasant or anything. Just a surprise, somehow. 'I was stopped by like 50 people and had a bunch of people around me asking for pictures and autographs and stuff,' she says. 'It's insane because I just went to Dundrum as I normally would. But I almost forget that I have, I guess, some sort of presence now. It's really cool. It honestly is really cool. READ MORE 'In comparison, being out here in Austin, Texas, where I can just walk around freely, nobody really knows who I am. So it kind of makes me forget that I do have that presence back home. But yeah, it's a blessing.' Well, yes, up to a point. But you're allowed to be 22, as well. You're allowed to have a day with your friends that is yours and theirs and yours and theirs alone. You're allowed to feel a little uncomfortable if that small and infrequent experience gets eroded by the love bombing of the general public. 'Honestly, I have a different viewpoint on that,' she says. 'Okay, it sometimes depends on what mood I'm in. But usually, I don't have a problem with it because I just want to appreciate it. I don't want to ever seem like I'm ungrateful, even though having an opposing view wouldn't necessarily mean that I'm ungrateful. Rhasidat Adeleke in the Diamond League women's 400m at Slaski Stadium in Chorzow, Poland in in August 2024. Photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images 'But if someone wants a picture with me or an autograph, then they appreciate what I do. And I'm like, the least I can do to give back to them for supporting me is to give them an autograph or to take a picture with them because it doesn't cost me anything. 'Sometimes it definitely can be overwhelming. I think the most overwhelmed I felt was at the national championships in Santry last year. That was insane. I was like, 'How do people like Beyoncé handle this? This is crazy!' 'They were telling us that it was the highest turnout they've ever had at nationals. And it was so unreal to break the 100m record at it. That was the last national record I was going for and to do it in front of a home crowd that big – it was a top-three moment in my life.' Adeleke is talking via a video call organised through her partnership with Celsius, the energy drink. Having turned professional in the summer of 2023, she is still picking her way through a world in which she is both a sprinter and a business. [ Rhasidat Adeleke takes second spot in Diamond League 200m with storming finish Opens in new window ] Prize money on the track circuit is decent without being amazing – her second place in the Diamond League a fortnight ago in Shanghai was worth $6,000 (€5,355). Not bad for 22.72 seconds' work, but she won't run in the Diamond League again until the end of June. So by necessity, the life comes with endorsements as an anchor tenant. How does she choose which ones to lend her name to and which to send back? 'Authenticity is number one,' she says. 'I would never work with a brand that I wouldn't personally use or a drink that I wouldn't drink. I just think it just does me a disservice and I want to make sure I'm staying true to myself and my beliefs, my morals and values. 'I think as sports people, we're really now able to understand our brand being beyond sport and being beyond what we do on the track. And almost trying to capitalise off that because we're not going to be athletes forever. So it's really important to be able to find a way to steer into your other interests, even while doing your sports, at least to set you up for when you're done. Team Ireland's Sophie Becker, Rachel McCann, Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke after the Women's 4x400m relay qualifying round two during day two of the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, on May 11th, 2025. Photograph:for World Athletics 'So for me, lifestyle, beauty, fashion – these are things that I'm really fond of. And when it comes to collaborating with different companies, it's more so looking towards partnerships that I actually have an interest in. I think that's more authentic than trying to force something that is just being given to me. It's how you express yourself beyond what people see on the track. 'It's hard for people to really understand who I am and who we as athletes are because they see us at our most competitive forms. When we're displaying peak athleticism, we're not going to be showcasing the large extent of our personalities. So through these opportunities, through branding, through marketing, that's how we can actually show people who we are. 'As an athlete, we definitely have to watch out for what we put in our body. It's all important. And compared to a lot of other energy drinks, Celsius stood out in the ingredients and what the benefits are.' This is her day-to-day, out in the big bad world. She graduated from the University of Texas in May of last year with a degree in Corporate Communications. College was the only American life she'd known and though she kept the same coach and still trains in Austin alongside Julien Alfred and Dina Asher-Smith, adult life is not student life. Even when you're only 22. 'It was definitely interesting,' she says of the transition. 'At first I was like, 'Okay, this is great! I don't have school, I can just train and figure out what I'm going to do for the rest of the day.' Just kind of chill. But I think I'm someone who thrives off structure. So having to create my own structure for the first couple of months was kind of hard. [ Rhasidat Adeleke came for an Olympic medal - the hurt of missing out will fuel her until she gets one Opens in new window ] 'I'm still trying to figure out, trying to see what's going to work for me. At least now we have competitions, which include a lot of travel and then recovery. So that takes a lot of my time now. But trying to figure that out this past autumn when we weren't competing was harder.' To occupy herself, she did a fair bit of reading, a lot of TV binge-watching, got into playing Topgolf of all things. She wanted to start a new pastime, maybe sign up for a class here and there. But a lot of what she was into demanded more of her attention than she was willing to slice off from the thing that matters most. She was thinking in terms of the odd drop-in session, not a full-blown new life departure. Rhasidat Adeleke celebrates finishing second in the women's 4x400m relay final at the European Athletics Championships 2024 in Rome. Photograph:'I really was going to pick up a hobby or take some classes,' she says. 'Like maybe learn Spanish or tailoring or something I would be into. But the way that those classes were structured, it was almost like an overcommitment. They needed you to be in your seat at 9am every day. I was like, 'Okay, that's not gonna work.' 'So after this competition season is over, I need to figure out what's going to work out for me. I know for sure that basing my whole week on track practice isn't going to work. I thought at the start that if every day was, 'prepare for training, go to training, come home and recover', it would make me so much better. But I think I got into a place where I wasn't doing anything other than training. So I need to figure out that balance again for the future.' As we chat, it's Wednesday morning in Texas and the jetlag from China still has her in its grip. She went to bed on Tuesday at 6pm, woke up at one in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. There's a 13-hour time difference to recalibrate. It will take a while to escape its orbit. It was a successful trip, all in all. She went to Shanghai first, where she came second in that 200m race at the Diamond League. Then it was onto Hong Kong to link up with the rest of the Ireland relay squad before they all decamped to Guangzhou for the World Relays. [ Ireland women's 4x400m relay team seal World Championships qualification in Guangzhou Opens in new window ] A year ago, they went to the Bahamas for the same event and won bronze in the mixed relay , breaking new ground and revelling wide-eyed in the novelty of it all. There was a different vibe about it this time around. They went to Guangzhou to attend to business. They got in and got out and got two teams qualified for the World Championships – the women's 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m. Adeleke didn't run in the mixed relay final, neither did Sharlene Mawdsley or Sophie Becker . This wasn't about the podium. At least not the one in Guangzhou. 'The Bahamas was a totally different experience last year,' she says. 'For one, it was an Olympic year, so that Olympic qualification was really necessary, right? That was probably the only opportunity that we were going to have to run as a team together at such a high level . . . The level of competition was way higher. All the other countries brought their A-list athletes. It was an Olympic year so everything was really hyped up the whole year. Rhasidat Adeleke is interviewed after winning the women's 400m dash during the Outdoor Track and Field Championship in June 2023 in Austin, Texas. Photograph: Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images 'But this year it was more about going in, getting a qualification and heading out. We didn't make it into some monumental equation – it was just World Relays. We did everything very strategically. 'For example, last year I ran the women's relay and an hour later I ran the mixed relay. And the next day I came back and ran again! Because we had to do it, we had to make sure we got that Olympic qualification. But this year it was more about just getting the job done and then getting ready for the rest of the season.' Everything about 2025 is different from the way she went about 2024. She skipped the indoor season entirely. Heroics weren't needed to negotiate the World Relays so she didn't try to provide them. Between her coach Edrick Floréal and herself, they have been building her body steadily through the winter and spring, adding layer upon layer to sustain her for longer through the season. 'My coach is very focused on us achieving our targets at the World Championships in September. By the time it came to September last year, I was so burnt out physically and mentally. We had just been go, go, go, go, go. The base that I had was wearing away. So what my coach decided to do was more so keep the base going, keep doing that groundwork and then we'll sharpen up close to the championships. 'I've run three times this season so far and each time I was like, 'Oh my God, I feel very different. I don't feel as sharp. I don't feel as quick. I feel sluggish.' And my coach is trying to remind me: 'Ray, you're not trying to break the world record right now. Focus on the goal.' 'So it's definitely a process. It's very different to how I used to be at this time of year. But I'm trusting him because what he says is, you know, I missed out on a medal in Paris last year and in Budapest in 2023. So it's more just doing something different. It could be a risk but you have to take risks sometimes to achieve your goals.' And so the year lies before her. She will be in Europe for some Diamond League events towards the end of next month and will keep building through the summer towards Tokyo in September. The women's 400m has turned into one of the deepest events on the track – her Irish record of 49.07 will likely have to fall if she's going to take a medal. That's fine. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. Adeleke will work towards it, gradually, methodically, relentlessly. This is the life she wanted. She's 22 and the possibilities are endless. ♦ Rhasidat Adeleke is an ambassador for Celsius Energy Drinks.
Irish Times
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
LADbible's leprechaun campaign highlights online threats
A new campaign for LADbible, the digital publisher beloved of millions of youngsters, is leaning heavily into the little folk, asking us all to identify as leprechauns. Half in jest but wholly in earnest, the imaginative campaign is designed to protect us from hate speech online. It arose as a brief given to Folk VML by LADBible last summer. 'LADbible has five million followers online and reach something like 73 per cent Gen Z, so they have a huge community. What they had started to notice on their platform was [increased] instances of hateful comments and hate speech,' explains Waters, who is chief creative officer of Folk VML. Worried by the rise in such comments online, the publisher undertook research to scope out the extent of the problem. READ MORE The results were dispiriting. It found that 91 per cent of online users had witnessed hateful comments online, and almost half, 43 per cent, had personally been the victim of it. 'It was bigger than I thought and I've certainly seen it,' says Waters, pointing to the hail of hateful comments that rained on Irish Olympian superstar Rhasidat Adeleke last year as a case in point. 'She was doing amazing things on the track, and getting hateful comments online and in social media,' he says. 'It's not just celebrities or athletes, it's actually everyone that's getting it. Yet the research showed that of the 51 per cent of people who had been victims of hateful comments, and gone on to report it, 87 per cent felt that nothing had been done about it.' That's because Ireland's hate speech laws simply haven't kept pace. 'They predate the internet and social media, so whatever your views on Ireland's hate laws, they are not fit for purpose for the online space. LADbible wanted to do something that protected their audience and raised awareness about this issue,' explains Waters. 'Our brief was to do something that would start a conversation, and could lead to some change.' Karl Waters: 'Online, because there are less consequences, people feel they can get away with it' It decided the best way to tackle this particularly serious issue was in a lighthearted way, but one guaranteed to get people talking. The idea of a having people identify as a leprechaun arose from Waters's own research into the little-known fact that, since 2009, Irish leprechaun habitats are EU protected – at least in the Cooley Mountains in Co Louth. It was originally a tourism wheeze dreamed up to attract overseas visitors, but no one could have anticipated that the EU mandates would have gone with it, but they did, apparently on the basis that the little folk's existence couldn't be disproved. It's an enjoyable piece of whimsy buried deep in bureaucracy, but Waters and his team seized on it to highlight a serious problem. 'Leprechauns are protected in their habitat but people in Ireland who spend a lot of time online – their habitat – are not protected,' says Waters. 'So the campaign is simple: become a leprechaun and feel that level of protection that you deserve, online.' The campaign, which is communicated almost entirely on LADbible's social media channels, aims to create a community of leprechauns to kick-start change from the ground up. It includes an online petition that you have to be a leprechaun to sign. This has been followed up with an AI app filter which allows signatories to create a leprechaun version of themselves to share online. There are also a number of street activations, including the world's smallest law firm, which people can also go to declare themselves a leprechaun. The entire campaign is designed to make you smile, then make you think. 'Silliness is a great way into seriousness,' says Winterlich. Right now the coarsening of political debate around the world, and in particular the conflation of free speech in the USA with impunity to insult, is exacerbating what was already a prevalent problem on the internet. The next part of the LADbible campaign involves telling real stories of people's experiences with hate speech, giving a voice to young people looking to lead change in relation to the updating of hate speech laws. Currently the best you can do if you are subject to it is request to have the content taken down, which is at the discretion of the platforms. 'There is still no deterrent preventing someone doing that to you under our current legislation,' says Waters. While a mob mentality can encourage, say, crowds at a football match to shout racist comments, typically such action is called out by the wider community, says Winterlich. Online, it's actually easier for people with extreme views to meet and reinforce one another, with anonymity emboldening. 'Since the beginning of the internet there has always been this version of people online. When it's hidden behind a username or an avatar, people feel like they can express themselves in ways, possibly, that they wouldn't do at home,' says Waters. 'When it comes to hate speech, it takes a dark leaning in that they feel there are no real consequences. If people don't know who I am, don't know where I work or live, I can say much more than I would if I was to meet someone face to face. Online, because there are less consequences, people feel they can get away with it.' Right now, as the lines between free speech and hate speech are deliberately blurred by bad actors, legal consequences are perhaps more important than ever. 'Every democracy should have freedom of speech,' says Waters. 'But individuals being attacked relative to their identity, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or race? I don't think anybody can think that's okay.' To hear more from podcast and content series Inside Marketing, click here
