Our guest this week is Dr Bridie O’Donnell, 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.
Bridie graduated as Valedictorian from the University of Queensland Medical School and won the J R S Lahz Prize for Most Outstanding Intern in 1999. During her residency she was a rower and then an Ironman triathlete, and finished the Ironman Hawaii World Championships in 2006.
In 2007, she began road cycling and in 2008 after winning the National Time Trial title, she raced on the Australian National Team, and then Professional teams in Europe and the United States, representing Australia at three World Championships.
For show notes and related links for this episode click HERE.
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Bridie returned to full time work in 2013 as a behaviour change physician at Epworth HealthCheck and Epworth Breast Service, with a part time role teaching doctor-patient communication at Deakin University Medical School.
From 2013-2016, Bridie also managed and raced for Rush Women’s Team, a National Road Series cycling team in 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.
In November, 2017, Bridie was appointed the inaugural Head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation by the Victorian Government and in May, 2018 she published ‘Life and Death – a cycling memoir’ about her experiences as a professional cyclist in the international peloton.