WomenSport International is pleased to recognize and acknowledge
the work of the founding members of WSI: Celia Brackenridge,
Libby Darlison, Barbara Drinkwater, Kari Fasting and Marion Lay.
These women realized the need for an international organization
that could act as an evidence-based advocacy group on the international
stage and could work with international sport bodies to utilize
research to promote the participation of girls and women in sport
and physical activity - and get it done.
It is their foresight that has helped expand women's sport organizations
around the world, and provide an avenue for information sharing
and communication. Their actions have helped WSI see an increase
in opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport and
physical activity around the world.
Celia Brackenridge
After
teacher training and degree study at Cambridge and Leeds Universities,
Celia taught Physical Education in a Hampshire secondary school.
She then moved into higher education for 28 years, first at
Sheffield Hallam University and then at Gloucestershire University.
She ran her own research-based consultancy company for four
years before returning to higher education at Brunel University
in 2005.
She is a former captain of the England and Great Britain
Women’s Lacrosse teams, a world cup coach and a BASES-accredited
interdisciplinary sport science researcher. Her books includes:
Spoilsports: understanding and preventing sexual exploitation
in sport (2001, Routledge) and Sexual Harassment and Abuse
in Sport: International and policy perspectives (2002, Whiting
and Birch).
Libby Darlison
Libby's background is social policy and change consultancy.
She has extensive experience across the government, corporate
and community sectors and a strong interest in organisational
change, management and leadership development, and capacity
building within organisations. She is a director of the Miller
Group – Social Policy Consultants - chairs the Premier's
Council on Active Living, and is a member of several government
Boards and Advisory groups. In addition to her Australian
work, she has managed projects in North America, Asia, Oceania
and Africa, including work for WHO, UNESCO and IOC.
Libby taught sociology and behavioural science at universities
in Australia and Canada. She also served as deputy director
general at the Australian Sports Commission, and has been
a member of the International Olympic Committee Gender Commission.
Libby is a former Chair of the Premier's Council for Women.
She is currently a member of the NSW Tow Truck Authority Board
and the NSW Institute of Sport and is a member of the Ministerial
Public Health Priority Taskforce.
Barbara L. Drinkwater
Barbara
recently retired from the Department of Medicine, Pacific
Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Prior to joining PMC,
she was at the Institute of Environmental Stress, University
of California, Santa Barbara. Her research has revolved around
the response of women to exercise as mediated by environmental
factors and aging. Special areas of interest have been the
female athlete, her physical performance under environmental
stressors such as heat and altitude, the effect of exercise
associated amenorrhea on bone health, and the role of exercise,
calcium, and exercise in preventing osteoporosis.
Barbara is a Fellow and former President of the American
College of Sports Medicine. In 1984 she received the ACSM
Citation Award and in 1996, the ACSM Honor Award. She currently
serves as a member of the IOC Medical Commission Medical and
Scientific Group. Barbara received her B.S. from Douglass
College, the M.S. from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro,
and the Ph.D. from Purdue University. Both Douglass and UNC
have awarded her their Distinguished Alumni Award. Two Universities
have awarded her an honorary Doctorate, DeMontfort University
in the UK. (1999) and the University of Toronto (2001).
Kari Fasting
Kari is
professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Studies
of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, in Oslo, Norway.
She became the first elected chair of this institution and
served as rector from 1989 to 1994. She was also the first
president of the Norwegian Society for Sport Research. She
is past president of the International Sociology of Sport
Association, and one of the founding members of WomenSport
International.
Kari’s main research area is women and sport, and she
has written more than 300 publications. During the last years
her research has focused on sexual harassment and abuse in
sport. She often is an invited speaker at international conferences.
In the 70’s she participated as an athlete on the national
team in track and field. She has also been member of the executive
board of the Norwegian Amateur Track and Field Association
(1976-1980). From 1985 to 1991 she was a member of the Women’s
Committee in the Norwegian Confederation of Sports representing
this organization during the first 6 years of the European
Women and Sports Group (1990-1996).
Marion Lay
Marion is President of 2010 Legacies Now. She was involved
with the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation since 1988 and is
past-Chair of the 2010 Bid. In 2002, she was elected to represent
the City of Vancouver as a member of the Board of Directors
for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic
and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). She is also a past member
of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Marion is a two-time Olympian and a member of the bronze
medal 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay team at the 1968 Olympics
in Mexico City and is also a Commonwealth gold medalist. Marion
is a founding member and past chair of the Canadian Association
for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity
(CAAWS), and former director of proMOTION plus. She is also
a founding member of WomenSport International. Marion holds
a Master’s degree in the sociology of sport from California
State University at Hayward. In 2001, Marion received the
International Olympic Committee Trophy for the Americas for
her work in women in sport.