African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 39

Rachel Irakoze, Judo expert - Burundi
Rachel is one of few female judo experts on the continent. She also has a strong focus on the promotion
of Gender equality. Furthermore, she says that her planning abilities for projects have improved
significantly, especially in key areas such as time management, leadership and inclusion. She is currently
advocating for a female judo commission inside the national judo federation of Burundi. Additionally,
she organizes workshops on gender issues during the East African Judo Championships. For the future
she plans to arrange judo festivals in her community promoting social inclusion and gender equality. It is
her conviction that courage, determination and a set of well-developed leadership skills can change the
world in a positive way.

Tirunesh Dibaba, Athletics - Ethiopia
Perhaps the scariest thing about the Ethiopian long distance
runner, besides her nickname; “the baby faced destroyer is that
her appetite for victory shows no signs of letting up. The 29year-old holds the 5,000m world record, five World
Championships titles and five Olympic medals (three of them
gold), and she has now turned her attention to running
marathons. She could only come third in the 2014 London
marathon, but that’s not bad for a first-timer.

Perpetua is a female professional footballer, who is the coach of
Clemensnäs IF in the Sweden’s Women's Football Division 2, she
previously played for the Swedish club Sunnanå SK. She is also a
member and the former captain of the Nigerian women's national
football team. She was recently appointed as the assistant coach of the
Super Falcons.