Bridie O'Donnell's recent post did not go down well with many AFL fans. I would go back to the lost baggage section each week when a team mechanic was headed to the airport for one reason or another, but it never showed up. Because Im most curious about this you know being in the media for as long as I have. ODonnell eventually made the switch back to working full time in medicine, but she never really left the world of sport. I bought it on holiday in Antibes in France, and it made me feel very European, mon cheri. in Queensland to help to help them fast track their board quotas in whatever form it they are helping them learn for our from our mistakes and our lessons. [00:00:00] Hello and thank you for downloading this episode of transcending sport here on WiSP Sports. And yet the WNBA all is a really as a league that is struggling and has struggled to get investment. Bridie O'Donnell (@bridie_od) Instagram photos and videos bridie_od Follow 6,376 posts 7,146 followers 670 following Bridie O'Donnell Eagerly anticipating my next nap This Account is Private Already follow bridie_od? Taylor Harris herself was interviewed on the radio sort of saying I know you shouldnt read the comments but Ive read them and these are by some men whove got women in their profile pictures you know wives and probably kids. So I was appointed after a very long process. Bridie ODonnell in full cycling mode in the US in 2012. In November 2017, Dr Bridie O'Donnell was appointed as the inaugural Director of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation (OWSR) which aims to improve gender equality in sport. But I was a very academic kid and so I studied really hard through high school and I was completely mediocre at team sports and I wanted to be a leader like I was so desperately trying to be the best athlete and I just wasnt I didnt have enough speed I didnt have enough agility and all those things that you do when youre playing netball and touch football and some of the sports that have really big in teams here in Queensland. And since Title 9 in the United States were seeing now a third generation of girls and women benefiting from legislation that allows them to receive the same financial support at universities. And since Title 9 in the United States were seeing now a third generation of girls and women benefiting from legislation that allows them to receive the same financial support at universities. Okay. Whats that look like for you now. And like so many of them I took a chance of you know quitting my job as a physician where I was working behaviour change because I just felt that this was a unique opportunity and remarkable way for me to have an influence over the lives and the outcomes of so many girls and women that I didnt have when I was coming through sport and that so many girls and women who are who have a disability or who are from a multicultural background or from a marginalized communities definitely dont have in Australia. How do they respect and talk about women in their privacy of their own home. You know theres this myth that oh lets just train more women lets give them coaching courses lets educate them. She became the first Australian woman to make an attempt on the UCI world our record in 15 years setting a new world record of forty six point eighty eight two kilometres at the Adelaide Superdome in November 2017. Bob Marleys daughter who owns the Jamaican womens team the Thai billionaire who has funded the Thai womens team you know. The medal was awarded to my great grandmother who won an Irish bag piping competition as a teenager and she kept it with her every day. She would say why dont the race organisers just mandate to you know Euro sport that they have to show 30 minutes and they would say well you need to pay us and then say Okay fine. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. She would also not need to, given the low intensity of the session. [00:29:01] I would imagine on your To Do list we do have a huge agenda and we have just a small team but we but theyre terrific. My teammate would eat an apple. So weve invested twenty nine million dollars in female friendly facilities over the last four years which means upgrades to pavilions so that these girls toilets and change rooms better lighting better surfaces on the field so that more teams can play. Now if we come back to Australia and we look at the WB ls a great example we have the fourth season of The Womens Big Bash. So theres something for everyone here at WiSP Sports. But as you saw not only from the extraordinary performances of the US national womens team but the one point one billion viewers and the stadiums that were packed out is that people want to see and witness the best quality sport on offer. You dont get what you want a lot. Bridie graduated as valedictorian from the University of Queensland medical school and won the G R S last prize for the most outstanding intern in 1999. Well I was active as a kid but I wasnt good at anything and we certainly had a bit of a culture of high achievement when it comes to sport and particularly we know this from from the data that girls who are really great at sport get supported and cultivated not only by their parents but by coaches by schools. So youre right were seeing enormous change and you mentioned the M O U the memorandum understanding the Cricket Australia finally succumb to with the male and female cricket players here and look at the impact thats had on our Australian women. And yet the WNBA all is a really as a league that is struggling and has struggled to get investment. And look were winning the mens ashes too. Well its an opportunity to learn about what you doing there at the Office for Women and Sport and Recreation because its the one and only organization of its kind in the in Australia as I understand it. Theyre very good at cultivating people who are highly motivated really passionate and want to make change. So the other another problem them for example is the AFL. The two women who coached in the first season got and McCown one of whom won the premiership cannot get a job here. What theyve also done is looked around and thought Wow we dont have a lawyer or we dont have a community fund raiser or we dont have a person who understands around membership protection. I would make some coffee and then I would eat some sort of cereal with yogurt and berries. "In cycling it's known as this ultimate test of endurance and mental fortitude," she said. So my mediocrity was a big part of shaping my persistence across all those sports and in rowing included I was a role for five years and an. O'donnell is a world champion road cyclist, a . They drop out at all different parts of their lives milestones of their lives for example university or pregnancy or menopause or an aged parts of their lives. Weve seen as we said three seasons of AFL W and yet in this third season 0 teams of the 10 were coached by women which is mind boggling. But, like so many young women I would encounter in my time racing, she would only allow me to be a doctor on her terms. You know you become quite self-absorbed and so focused and you have to be. Womens educations and capabilities are not a problem. I arrived in that sport aged 26, weighing just below 70kg, which put me right in the middle of two body types. And one of the things that were actually really reassured. Its not life and death. So being active playing sport engaged in it in their life. Its where May speaking it you know over 120 events panels conferences et cetera in the last 18 months supports that is driving that message home that leadership can look different. You know these are the difficult things to manage training when its cold and wet and rainy is actually quite simple compared to inter family tensions or a difficult boss or trying to manage team leaders or staff that you you just cannot seem to get on the same level. We have 17 per cent of school aged children are getting the required amount of physical exercise every day of one hour one hour of movement and only 17 percent of kids are getting it. Were making sure we support every organisation and their attacks on. And I think also our sporting nature nation culture is a bit is a bit mythical. A few decades later, my grandfather decided to propose to my grandmother, and he asked his future mother-in-law for the medal. She is quite reserved. [00:27:46] And so I would say that the London Paralympics was probably the best broadcast and profiled Paralympics weve seen and as you know so much investment went into the campaign that amazing ADVERTISEMENT Whether you loved it or not it was memorable in reminding us of the extraordinary abilities of all of those athletes that were going to Paralympics. I was one of 70 who applied and one of 12 who got selected to be part of a testing programme. Where should there be time slots in broadcast opportunities and how can we get the free to air channels to show the nipple World Cup or why. I was allocated a coach in my state, persisted through that year then won the time-trials in the Oceania and National Championships. So Im sorry Im getting to the roundabout part of your question but yeah I was a completely ordinary and active kid grew up in a regional part of Queensland with parents whod sort of taken a bit of a tree change and left a city to work in a very hippy sort of school I suppose it was like a Montessori or an unorganized but very creative supported school. So its one of the biggest cities. Until the next time. Brady thank you so much for taking time to come on the show today. The progress that the organization has made to advance women and girls participation in sport and the challenges that lie ahead. Im Chris Stafford. Equally with Sydney in this country and the population of Victorias about eight and a half million and we have 115 now. [00:34:51] So they have funded a national program around women in leadership and coaching theyve basically selected 16 scholarship holders from all over the country and are cultivating those. It doesnt all have to look the same way but no one is fully prepared for her job. My most useful object is definitely my pillow. And its amazing what it is to be constantly comparing yourselves to world champions because firstly you have to learn to deal disappointment on a regular basis but what it also does is it actually really reframes your way of thinking about well what can what do I need to do to perform. Our guest this week is Dr. Bridie ODonnell, Head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation in Melbourne, Australia to discuss the issues affecting women and girls from her perspective, the progress that the organization has made to advance women and girls participation in sport and the challenges that lie ahead. In the early season Spring Classics, races in northern Europe that were renowned for their cobbled roads and inclement weather, race winners were invariably strong, ferocious Dutch or Belgian women who didnt mind sideways rain or being put in the gutter (pushed to the dangerous and unpredictable soft edges of the roads) by other riders. Your email address will not be published. What were seeing now is those people are being left behind. She also graduated with a Master in Public Administration from the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) in 2021. So people were engaging then theyd know they know they all know who Alex Perry and Alyssa Healy and all these players are now because they saw the footage of them they know those names are recognizable and now every woman and man who is a cricket fan in Australia they can name those players that someone said Can you name five women who play cricket. Im not suggesting that we all need to endure. Youre dealing with very powerful people generally men whove had their power for a long time. But you also then when you come out the other side of that and transition into civilian life as I like to call it you also realize just how unimportant that is as well. Just go to the listen tab on the main menu at the top there and drop down to transcending sport and youll find all previous episodes of this show too. So theyve actually done skill ordered some of them quite formally and others more informally and theyve diversified their boards and they have more young people for example or they have a parent whos really invested in the sport but has never had any opportunity to have a voice in her organisation. After rotating through various Medical and Surgical departments as part of junior residency she moved to Melbourne in 2001. So it actually wasnt until I was in my second year of medical school I went straight into medical school out of high school and I started doing a triathlon. Her years on the road as a cyclist taught ODonnell a lot, including the importance of a good nights sleep. Is that we achieved our board quota deadline on 1 July of this year where sporting organizations that are funded by the Victorian Government acknowledging that for your listeners that Victorias is one of the states of Australia. In 2016, she became the first Australian woman to make an attempt on the UCI World Hour record in 15 years, setting a new world record of 46.882km at the Adelaide Superdrome. They could do it five years ago they would probably struggle and so well I think we need to determine the barriers. The first day she gets it and I am living breathing example of that that I had never worked in government before and all I was was just a washed up athlete doctor. And yet we have over 30000 girls and women registered to play was he rules in this state and hundreds more that are paid teach physical education teachers or former coaches in other jobs that could be highly qualified to do that. According to our Database, She has no children. Dr Bridie O'Donnell (born 29 April 1974) is a road cyclist from Australia. [00:38:38] Its my life you know. So what we know about women in sport in Australia is it has extraordinary links to the importance of just challenging our rigid gender stereotypes. [00:29:50] So these are things like nipple Victoria hockey Victoria swimming Victoria and three years ago before I even started they were instructed that there would be a board quota. And I do find myself thinking that a lot whatever work Im doing I think you know what Ive been in a worse situation than this. [00:36:52] We now had over 100 women last 18 months benefit from our scholarship program where they apply through a competitive process to get to five or ten thousand dollars to seek out an educational opportunity to advance their sporting career or their administration career whatever it is they do in sport and rec but we also know that systems need to change and thats where board quotas support it. Peggy ONeil shes the president of the Richmond Football Club here the first woman to be president of an AFL club which is no mean feat and certainly as an outsider to a non Australian. So its one of the biggest cities. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 29 April. Where did that money go and why are we not seeing as much content as we would like and the WNBA is a great example. Transcending Sport is hosted by Chris Stafford. She was a champion rower and ironman triathlete before swapping to cycling in 2007, when the Australian Sports Commission was looking for sportswomen to compete as cycling time trialists. [00:35:41] So what we know about women as coaches is that their lack of qualifications is not the thing. Dr Bridie ODonnell is a bike race commentator for SBS, medical practitioner and former professional road cyclist. Im sick of people saying thats not our job to do this or were just waiting for a bigger sponsor. But more of them are mind lovingly great and a privilege an absolute privilege to work in an industry to be paid a salary every fortnight to do something that is affecting change for millions of people is a distinct privilege and I just I know its the job of my lifetime. [00:20:59] You mentioned a couple of times there Bridie in the last few minutes about the Fitbit the free to air TV that that makes a big difference in terms of exposure for womens sports. There and can use those facilities and feel part of a club. She is not dating anyone. As a doctor, and being well aware of ideal training methods, nutrition and exercise physiology after spending three years studying for my sports medicine exams, I knew what I was seeing was unsustainable in the short term and unhealthy in the long term. Its all of the things that I experience which is you lose a lot. Theyre powerful for girls growing up. [00:25:11] Yeah. So the other another problem them for example is the AFL. So learning that online is not good enough. By mid-morning, it would be sunny and above 15 degrees, so we would train. I was good but just never great enough to represent my country. Its not actually how well am I getting along with my family my children my wife my husband my parents. Weve had a multibillionaire man invest in the NBL here and he owns the league and a couple of teams but no multibillionaire is common said. The citation noted Dr O'Donnell's extensive work as a physician, professional athlete and gender equality expert, becoming the inaugural Director of the Victorian Government's Office for Women in Sport and Recreation . So sometimes one could argue which should come first and I am definitely no media broadcasting expert but I think that the time is for action. I would grab Gypsy, my rescue greyhound, and some family heirlooms that might be of very little value to others but are of great sentimental value to me. What were seeing now is those people are being left behind. Last week Dr O'Donnell was inducted into the 2021 Victorian Women's Honour Roll under the 'Change Agent' category. If we were to simplify wed say our three strategic priorities are increasing the number of girls and women participating in sport and aggression. I had some staff by the time we got to April 2018 and so weve been up and running. It was free to air on Channel 10 Channel 10 did an amazing job not only of broadcasting it but as you know the power of social media of retweeting great little clips of some of the really strong athletic performances of women batting and bowling etc. And when Peggy talks people listen. So we all bore the moody behaviour for the good of the team. There was also no escaping it as a teammate working so closely with her. The dilemma for me was obvious: my concern for her health, and my medical knowledge about the long-term effects on her body and her mind, let alone her career, were constantly in my thoughts. So sports shapes you in all of these ways and you you I guess you have this benchmark and you think you know what I have done harder shit than this. It blew my mind. So were not even retaining our high performance coaches from one Commonwealth Games to another. And how about the increase in female coaches. Bridie welcome to the program. Less than 10 per cent of the coaches of all teams at the Commonwealth Games were women and worse than that. So for example there was a rather controversial commitment made by the federal government a few years ago where they said were going to give money to Fox Sports to focus on niche sports. Bridie welcome to the program. Portugus; bridie o donnell private life. Honor womens stories and the right to play, Protect womens integrity in sport and society, Strive to achieve gender equality and fairness in all sporting endeavors, Celebrate the achievements of women athletes in all sports, Annemiek van Vleuten Wins Second UCI World Road Championship. She would say why dont the race organisers just mandate to you know Euro sport that they have to show 30 minutes and they would say well you need to pay us and then say Okay fine. So whilst we do have a reputation of being healthy and bronzed and tanned were in fact you know I think we have the third highest rate of childhood obesity in the world behind the US and Mexico. Bridie O'Donnell has enjoyed two very different careers. What would she save in a fire, whats her most useful object? I think no go do the deal with our channel 7 9 or 10 or ABC or SBS which are our national broadcasters because its not good enough anymore to just say oh thats not our job. At 48 years old, Bridie O'Donnell height not available right now. Once, an Aussie teammate had to be given a break from racing to allow her to gain some weight. [00:04:00] Mel Jones is an international test cricketer here from from Victoria was the face of that campaign but it wasnt until 2017 when the Minister for Sport announced that he would create an Office for Women in Sport that would be dedicated to pursuing the outcomes of these nine recommendations that he would staff them. You know these are the things that shape us for when were sitting in a very difficult meeting with difficult personalities or when we have staff who are feeling unrecognized via a process thats happening whether thats in government or in medical industries and as I said Ive been a doctor for a very long time. Weve had a multibillionaire man invest in the NBL here and he owns the league and a couple of teams but no multibillionaire is common said. She rode 46.882 kilometres, exceeding the distance set by Molly Shaffer Van Houweling the previous September by 609 metres. But the Lottery funding in the UK has boosted all kinds of sports that otherwise would never have had the exposure and certainly reached and mentor and Ill know the position in the Olympics particularly Paralympics. So sometimes one could argue which should come first and I am definitely no media broadcasting expert but I think that the time is for action. During her residency she was a rower and then an iron man triathlete and finished theq Ironman highway world championship in 2006. You know all those generalised resistance statements that a lot of people have which is Im okay with girls playing footy but I dont want to watch women doing it on TV. Six years of med school was helpful but actually following around the senior doctor and thinking Okay heres what being a surgeon involves. Shes very thoughtful and contemplative but shes extremely powerful. No absolutely thats a copout. O'Donnell has competed in three world championships in the discipline, but said the world hour record was her finest achievement to date. I really do appreciate it. And when Peggy talks people listen. Former international cyclist Dr Bridie O'Donnell has replaced wealthy businessman Alex Waislitz, who quit suddenly yesterday. [00:18:56] And interestingly the response by the AFL media was to remove the photo and then the Internet responded even more vociferously people in support of her and of womens sport by saying this is not the solution removing womens images from public spaces is not the way to silence critics. This put many of the Australian womenlike myself, often converts from other sports like running, rowing or triathlonat a distinct disadvantage. Look at the proof of how thats raised the profile of womens soccer in this country because thats now on free to air TV and you can find that on the networks every week during season some of the coaches say oh sorry to interrupt you but I was just thinking about a lot of the coaches will say high performance coaches will say they still want to see people at games and that Lisa Alexander talks about this with netball and the super nimble coaches will say we want you to come. But Im curious as to where you see the progress that youre making. 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