An Post has unveiled a booklet of six stamps celebrating some of Ireland’s leading sportswomen, including solicitor and hockey star Nikki Evans, who has spent a decade as a member of the Irish women’s hockey team.

The corporate lawyer who works with Mason Hayes and Curran LLP is one of a number of Irish sportswomen excelling internationally, and now honoured by the postal service.

Evans is part of the history-making team that won a silver medal at the 2018 Hockey World Cup and qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The athletes being honoured on the Irish Women in Sport stamps are:

• Sonia O’Sullivan, Ireland’s most successful track-and-field female athlete, winning 16 major World, European and Olympic medals,
• Olympic boxing gold medallists Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington,
• Ireland’s women’s hockey team, silver medallists at the 2018 World Cup, who have again qualified for the 2022 finals,
• Paralympic swimmer Ellen Keane who won a gold medal in 2021, and
• Rachael Blackmore – first female top jockey at Cheltenham, and first female Aintree Grand National winner.

Multi-coloured

Designed by Dublin studio, Unthink, the stamps are multi-coloured on metallic silver in a bold design. 

Each athlete’s name appears in large font, behind a powerful sporting moment, captured by photojournalists.

Speaking at the unveiling of the stamps at the GPO yesterday (3 March), Hildegard Naughton (Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications) said that she had the utmost respect for these key role models for young girls across the country.

“They demonstrate how strength, resilience and determination can pay off when you, or your team, set a goal and strive to achieve it.

Success

“We have a lot to be proud of in Ireland when it comes to our female athletes who have led the way for women in sport on the global stage. Long may it last and here’s to boundless success for future generations of Irish women and girls,” the minister added.

Stamp image credits are as follows:

• Sonia O’Sullivan – Patrick Bolger/INPHO,
• Rachael Blackmore – Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images Sport/Via Getty Images,
• Katie Taylor – Gary Carr/INPHO,
• Kellie Harrington – Sam Barnes/Sportsfile,
• Irish women’s hockey – Morgan Treacy/INPHO.

An Post has previously issued stamps marking the achievements of pioneering Irish women, and women in literature, while future stamps will feature more sportswomen.

The An Post stamp booklet and First Day Cover envelope are now available in all post offices and online at anpost.com/womeninsport.