Its just it can be overwhelming but I hope it can be rewarding too and youll youll see absolutely the changes. And if I had had men in the public service say youll never be able to be this boss of this office and run this budget do make this change because youve never done it before then. We want fans to experience those games because that then also leads to TV viewership and that if youve never been to a WNBA game or at Suncorp if Nepal or if I thought w the atmosphere is wonderful and very family friendly nowhere near the same levels of aggression and violence. I dont know if you saw just recently there were some moderate criticism about the scheduling of the nipple World Cup that they played a lot of games in a short space of time which for Lisa Alexander the coach of the diamonds said you know she felt that the time is now to expand that tournament to greater numbers of days which of course takes greater investment to allow the athletes to give their best so that theyre at their best and theyre not actually fatigued by the final game and obviously New Zealand had such an extraordinary performance there to win again. 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. [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. Theyre very good at cultivating people who are highly motivated really passionate and want to make change. Bridie returned to full time work in 2013 as a behavior change physician at Epworth health check in Epworth breast centre with a part time role teaching doctor patient communication at Deakin University Medical School from 2013 to 2016. [00:16:29] Dont rub it in. Im Chris Stafford. And if I had had men in the public service say youll never be able to be this boss of this office and run this budget do make this change because youve never done it before then. So all of those things are challenging. Our guest this week is Dr. Bridie O'Donnell who is head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation in Melbourne Australia and she is here to discuss the issues affecting women and girls from her perspective. Bridie also managed and reached for Rush womens team a national road series cycling team in Australia in 2016. I was going to get your reaction to that the topic of equality in sport as far as women are concerned now we wed look maybe at Australia maybe rightly or wrongly from here as being somewhat advanced you know making more strides shall we say than than they are than they are then there is happening elsewhere in the world and certainly keeping up with it. Im not suggesting that we all need to endure. When I offered an unsolicited opinionone that in any way questioned maladaptive or unhealthy behaviorit was greeted with silence, a dismissive and wagging finger, or eye-rolling. Ive been an athlete than a successful athlete. But the 41-year-old former Mapleton woman this week broke the world hour record, riding 46.882 kilometres in 60 minutes 609 metres further than the existing record. [00:30:53] And what has happened is seven white straight men have put their hand up. Bridie O'Donnell took to cycling late, but a rapid rise to the top ranks of the Australian scene fuelled her ambitions. A friend of mine was doing a triathlon Id never ridden a bike before and Id never done a running race and Id only just swum for you know learning that school. They just often win because theyre the fastest. Bridie ODonnell in full cycling mode in the US in 2012. Bridie what what did your main focus in the big to dos because you know youve got a huge huge agenda. But my goodness it does allow you a context and help you deal with strong personalities and we say that a lot in where Im working now as a sports administrator or working in government. I mean being an elite athlete and representing your country or being the best in the world is such an incredibly privileged little bubble to live in. Bridie We could talk for much longer but Im mindful of your time there is there really so much to cover and Yep things keep coming up that Id like to bring up but I going to let you go and get on with your day because I know your day is starting but maybe we could circle back some time and continue this conversation because I think its I would love Aston and yes I could talk about this stuff. 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. Collingwood's latest addition to the club's embattled board denies she became a Magpies member after being approached to join. But Im curious as to where you see the progress that youre making. 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. And we have seen a huge shift in the way Paralympic sports and pro athletes are being invested in here and of course we saw Dylan all cult winning at Wimbledon and the US Open in the mens wheelchair tennis but still no womens wheelchair tennis categories and that what I would argue is probably through a couple of the Normal barriers around a lack of depth of athletes those athletes havent had anywhere near as much support both financial emotional and logistical support to become wheelchair tennis players. 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. And when it is provided to them in a really classy package if you like it at the best stadium with the greatest amenity and the best TV coverage and free to air they will watch it. 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. 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. And I look back now and even though that was painful and it made me feel disappointed I realised that shaped an enormous amount of my persistence and that I was never in an environment where I was the best athlete ever and it took me until you know when I was 42 and I broke a world record to be the best in the world at something and thats a long time of trying and I do think that some people who peak early theres a sense there of complacency or perhaps perhaps even a lack of strategies on how to win. I really do appreciate it. Yeah theyve just won the Ashes they won the World Cup. 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. There and can use those facilities and feel part of a club. However, there was one heck of a roller coaster ride before she got there. Thats a powerful image of a man who knows her sport. And one of the things that were actually really reassured. 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. She was tall and had the arms of a prima ballerinastrong, but skinny as hell. But it is frustrating when you see the standard of play in the success of play because often the argument is so well medals will will win for funding means as it does in the UK for example with lottery funding they want to see the medals first but it can be a catch 22 as well. And if you say those things about women or you you devalue women and show them no respect. 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. While working in Intensive Care and studying for physician exams, Bridie competed first in rowing . Youre dealing with very powerful people generally men whove had their power for a long time. 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. But what were seeing now is many more questions about how Okay okay we get it but how are we going to do it. You know you become quite self-absorbed and so focused and you have to be. "In cycling it's known as this ultimate test of endurance and mental fortitude," she said. [00:25:24] 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. And the other beautiful thing that sport teaches you is just how good you can be at something when you focus on it. I was going to get your reaction to that the topic of equality in sport as far as women are concerned now we wed look maybe at Australia maybe rightly or wrongly from here as being somewhat advanced you know making more strides shall we say than than they are than they are then there is happening elsewhere in the world and certainly keeping up with it. And that I think has been the extraordinary difference for professional womens sporting leagues and teams is that theyve had to grow and blossom and be criticised in the most ridiculous level of scrutiny both on social media from anonymous abusers but also from just you know male commentators saying this is boring I dont like watching this and it wasnt that long ago that I was commentating Road World Cycling Championships and we were hearing commentators from other countries saying this is a boring race nothings happening with therefore womens cycling is boring without any insight into the idea that these women are not only different physiological beasts but its a different race with different team numbers. 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. And the idea around comparison is actually incredibly unhelpful and quite ignorant by a lot of commentators. Okay. Bridie ODonnell shares three special things. 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. There was also no escaping it as a teammate working so closely with her. The Silver Ferns where were sitting and we also saw and Im sure this photograph reached across the world is the photograph of Taylor Harris That was the most glorious examination and image of a woman kicking sheet. The two women who coached in the first season got and McCown one of whom won the premiership cannot get a job here. Bridie O'Donnell was born on 29 April, 1974 in Australia. "A German mother taught the German language, a surgeon parent taught anatomy by cutting up ox's hearts, and we learnt music three times a week from another parent," she said. 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. [00:16:37] But its early days but theres no doubt that what were seeing now is instead of the why we used to there would have been a lot of the why why should we fund womens sport or why women arent as good as men. [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. 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. Then it would have been an even more difficult. [00:05:55] 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. The progress that the organization has made to advance women and girls participation in sport and the challenges that lie ahead. [00:25:11] Yeah. But I did really well and I was ridiculously ambitious and I joined a triathlon squad and then I took a year out of med school like a gap year if you like and I thought to myself yep OK I want to go to the Olympics in Olympic distance triathlon but this was in an era when the Jones Emma Carney Jackie Gallagher Loretta Harrop like the best women triathletes in the world were all in Queensland. So its one of the biggest cities. Portugus; bridie o donnell private life. 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. So all I need to do my job is curiosity persistence support from my employer and my colleagues and a willingness to learn and anyone can do any job when they had those four characteristics. 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. And if youve said to me a year ago that Id be sitting down with other jurisdictions and talking about how important it was that we are going to bid for the Womens World Cup football in 2023 to host that in four years time I would have thought Id. And what has happened is seven white straight men have put their hand up. So seeing those women on the field on the pool deck beside the court looking authoritative I mean some of those great images of Becky Hammon whos been the assistant coach at San Antonio looking up to those extraordinarily tall NBA players knowing that shes been a former WNBA champion herself is really powerful. They would have a budget over a four year cycle and they would then work alongside the Department of Sport and Rec to oversee policy. What would she save in a fire, whats her most useful object? Bridie welcome to the program. To make matters worse, at least in the eyes of management, I showed nowhere near enough shame about my body and its apparently terrible excesses. So what did being a professional. Until the next time. How we overcome this hurdle of you know challenging the networks to make this free to air and satisfying the sponsors and getting the coverage that women need in the media. [00:06:43] But as youve seen globally weve been taken over by Russia China the UK and definitely the US. But there are very many ways and Peggy ONeills who I mentioned before she is an extraordinary example of a person who delivers leadership in her own style. Where do you see Australia right now in terms of equality. When I was a rower, there were two weight categories for elite competition. First, she worked as a medical practitioner. I soon realised the reason for her meandering: the beauty of riding for long, slow hours with no money on her was that she wouldnt be tempted or able to eat. Now we didnt see an increase in broadcasting of womens professional sport on Foxtel over that time and there was definitely some rattling of cans and people saying hang on a second. [00:39:37] And if youd like to find out more about Bridies work and the organization you could find a link in the show notes accompanying this episode at WiSP Sports dot com. 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. Lets say my former sport cycling incredible para cycling bombs as by Australians in the last world championships. 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. The third thing that was really vital for us is access to facilities. 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. And we do look forward to continuing the conversation with you so thanks again and well stay in touch.
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