County Roscommon boxer and world champion, Aoife O’Rourke, was honoured recently at The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year awards after the boxer enjoyed unprecedented success during 2025. O’Rourke received the Sportswoman of the Month award for September after she won a historic gold medal at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool. Before that she had secured victories over Czech Republic’s Monika Langerova, fellow Olympian, Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad and 2023 world champion, China’s Chengyu Wang. It was O’Rourke’s second World medal in 2025 – the 28-year-old claimed silver at the rival IBA Women’s World Championships in Serbia in March. Aoife and her sister, Lisa, a world champion in 2022 in the 70kg division, are now among a select group of sibling world champions.

Source: The Herald January 08, 2026 18:30 UTC