4 minute read
The IOC's Pacific Heart- Rosie Blake
No Ordinary Woman
YOU KNOW YOU are meeting no ordinary woman when you are face to face with Rosie Blake. After more than four busy decades taking Pacific sports to the world, it was time for this feisty Pacific pioneer to step up to her next level. She switched sport for diplomacy after retirement from the Cook Islands Sports and Olympic umbrella body, and is to retire in 2020 from serving as the Cook Islands Consulate General, based in Auckland New Zealand. Being the first woman to step into a role previously led by senior officials with a background in diplomacy and protocol didn’t faze her in the least. She quickly brought her informal, high-energy gift for public speaking, cultural awareness and community engagement into the post. In recent years she’s also led profile of the office, growing her own social media following and increased engagement by Cook Islanders who number more in Auckland than in any other city of the world, even their own capital. Blake is known across the region and within the global Olympic family for her trademark laugh-out-loud energy and a gift for networking, connecting and supporting those around her to get ahead. Netball, her first love and a code she spent decades developing – at one stage the Cook Islands was in the top three Netball nations in the world-- was the sport that first opened up the global doors and connections to Blake. She took her leadership and sports development skills for Netball to encompass all sports codes where Pacific people could imagine themselves being represented at regional and global events. Career highlights included becoming the first Cook Islands woman to be Chef de Mission, or delegation leader, for her national team to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. That year, she was recognized as the Cook Islands Woman of the Year, also winning the sports category. Her chance to circle back and celebrate Netball resurfaced in 2005, when as Festival Director she led the Cook Islands welcome for more than 1,300 delegates to the World Golden Oldies Festival. Between those events, her ongoing milestones at the national, regional and international level earned her the British Empire Medal (BEM), Civil Division for her services to sport, the Church and the community, in 2003. Millions of visitors from across the world and the Cook Islanders who have thronged to the iconic Punanga Nui Markets owe their enjoyment to her founding role as the market manager from 1993. For more than a decade, she embraced the challenge and today the Punanga Nui is a legacy of her constant public engagement and support during those early teething years.
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RESPECT IS GIVEN WHEN IT IS EARNED. IT SHOULD NEVER BE RECEIVED ANY OTHER WAY.
--ROSIE BLAKE
In 2012, a year before taking up her consular post in New Zealand, Blake was awarded the 2102 Continental Women and Sports trophy for Oceana by the IOC-- one of only six global finalists to receive this award. A dedicated administrator, leader and role model, Rosie has won the respect of many who have been associated with her. Cook Islands Queens representative Tom Marsters captured the Cook Islands everywoman in a public homage: “For years now, she has become the face of the Cook Islands both locally and internationally. In fact you cannot think of Te Punanga Nui (Rarotonga’s landmark street market) without thinking of Rosie. You cannot think of women’s activities without thinking of Rosie." Blake used her leadership at national, regional and international level to ensure action and initiatives to grow spaces and opportunities for more Cook Islanders and Pacific people in sport could happen. She coordinated a national Sports Symposium—the first of its kind – for the country in 2011, and initiated the Cook Islands woman of the month action in 2007.
Recognition from the IOC for Rosie and other global WIS pioneers,
IOC
Putting Oceania on the map - alongside other WIS awards recipients on the global IOC stage
IOC
with former CISNOC colleague Lydia Sijp-Marsters.
CINews
At the regional level she chaired many initiatives for Pacific, youth, and women and was a common face at Pacific Mini Games, Commonwealth Games, and Olympic teams. In recent years she has bounced back from major health challenges, still the consummate diplomat and face of the Cook Islands community in New Zealand. As one of her six children remarked: “Every once in a while, on very rare occasion—we cross paths with a special woman. A woman with strong ambitions, strong character, a strong sense of cultural identity. A woman of faith, strong family values, strong love and passion for her people and her country. A woman who celebrates the pride and love she has for her people and her identity. Mum knows what it is to struggle, to fight for what you want, to stand and be heard, making a stand for women in a world of men and proving that women can be equal to men—or at the very least, be able to excel in what they are passionate about.”-ENDS
