Silgo-born professional rower Sanita Pušpure represents Ireland having previously competed in the Olympics, she is a former world champion.

Having previously represented Latvia, Pušpure achieved her first medal win in 2003 at the U23 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal during the single sculls event. It was one year in 2004, that she went on to win a gold medal in the World University Championships, held in France as part of the women’s double sculls event. After moving to Ireland and gaining full citizenship, Pušpure soon went on to display her impressive skills as a top rower when she was the winner of the double and quad sculls at the Henley Women’s regatta. Since then Pušpure has gone to achieve a number of medals including two bronze and one gold medals, competing in the single sculls event during European Championships. Now, highly regarded as a two-time world champion, Pušpure took home two gold wins in the single sculls event during 2018 and 2019.

During the 2012 London Olympic Games, Pušpure became the first woman to represent Ireland in the single scull event since 1980, during which she went reach the quarter-finals. Hoping to achieve her Olympics medal win goals, Pušpure successfully qualified once again to represent Ireland in the single sculls for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, following her gold medal win in the single sculls event the 2019 World Championships