Blake to receive woman in sport award

For a lifetime of dedication to sports and in particular women in sports Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee general secretary Rosie Blake BEM has been nominated as the woman in sport for the region of Oceania by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At the IOC World Woman in Sports conference in Los Angeles this February Blake will be one of six women honoured with the woman in sport trophy from the IOC in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of womens participation in sport and sports administration.

Blake (68) has spent a lifetime in sports development in the Cook Islands as an athlete, administrator and CISNOC board member.

She is currently the secretary general of the national sports body and is known in the global sports movement as the face of sport for the Cook Islands.

Helen Brownlee, president of Oceania Woman and Sport, said in her congratulatory message to Blake, the award was highly deserved.

From the regional and international perspective Rosie is the face of sport for the Cook Islands, says CISNOC president Sir Geoffrey Henry.

In the sporting circles of the world Rosie is well recognised like no other Cook Islander.

What Rosie has achieved is an award worthy of celebration throughout the sporting community not just as a personal achievement, not just because it is an eloquent statement of her commitment to sport but also because she, almost singlehandedly, will lift the profile of our small nation on the international stage like no one else.

Blake, along with women from around the world working in the field of advancing women in sport, will gather in Los Angeles in February for the conference.