The Board of the Olympic Federation of Ireland today (23 July) announced the appointment of Nancy Chillingworth as Chef de Mission for Beijing 2022 and the renewal of CEO, Peter Sherrard’s, contract to 2024. The Federation has also opened its recruitment process for the role of Chef de Mission at the European Games in 2023 and the Olympic Games in 2024.
Nancy Chillingworth was Team Ireland’s Chef de Mission at this year’s Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne and is the OFI’s pre-Games training camp manager for the Tokyo Olympic Games, overseeing arrangements for athletes and performance staff in Fukuroi and Hamamatsu prior to entering the Olympic Village in Tokyo.
She is employed by the Olympic Federation of Ireland as Performance Manager since 2019 and is also working to drive the Federation’s Winter Sports Strategy. Chillingworth, who has a background in sports psychology, has served as Chair of Hockey Ireland’s High Performance Committee. She came to the OFI having worked as Player Development Manager with Rugby Players Ireland and before that, as Performance Director for Paralympics Ireland during the very successful London and Rio Games cycles.
The OFI Board has also renewed the contract for its CEO, Peter Sherrard, through to December 2024. Sherrard was appointed by the OFI in early 2018 through to 2020. The new contract will allow him to continue to grow the organisation and oversee its development through the Olympic Games of Tokyo in 2021, Beijing 2022 and Paris in 2024.
OFI President, Sarah Keane, welcomed the appointments,
"We are delighted to have secured Peter’s leadership for the coming Olympic Cycle. He has brought a tremendous amount of energy to the role and has succeeded in making hugely positive advances for the Federation in a short space of time. He has been excellent to work with and brings a highly professional approach. As a Board we are very happy to have secured his services through to 2024.
"We also congratulate Nancy Chillingworth on her appointment as Chef de Mission for Beijing 2022. Nancy has already been involved in the planning process for the Games, having completed a site visit to each of the three Olympic venues in China in November 2019. She has also proved herself as part of Tricia Heberle’s Tokyo Games leadership team, and as Chef de Mission for the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne earlier this year. We are delighted to give her this well-deserved opportunity."
Peter Sherrard OFI CEO said,
"I would like to thank Sarah Keane and the Board for making my job so fulfilling. Their strategic oversight and advice has been of major assistance to me in growing the OFI team and has made it much easier for me to deliver significant changes for the organisation over the past three years.
"I congratulate Nancy Chillingworth on her appointment as Chef de Mission for Beijing 2022. She has been a real asset to the Federation in the build up to Tokyo and we are very happy to have secured her expertise for this challenge in 2022.
Speaking on her appointment, Nancy Chillingworth, Team Ireland’s Chef de Mission for Beijing 2022 said, "This appointment is an honour for me and a project that I very much look forward to taking on. While a large part of my focus in the next year will be on preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games, it is ideal from a planning perspective that I can also continue and the develop the work that has started on planning for Beijing 2022."
The OFI also announced that it is opening a recruitment process for the position of Chef de Mission for the European Games in 2023 and the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. With the Tokyo Olympic Games taking place in 2021 under the leadership of Chef de Mission Tricia Heberle, it is important that we start planning early for the next cycle. The successful candidate will report to the Olympic Federation of Ireland’s CEO, Peter Sherrard, and will work closely with the Performance Directors, Coaches, NGBs, the Sport Ireland Institute and the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland.
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