36 | Tour de France Femmes | An Australian Preview with Bridie O’Donnell

Folks, in 2019 when we first launched The Forward Line, we sat down in a room at Melbourne Law School and wrote a “dream list” of guests we hoped to one day interview on the podcast.

 

Bridie O'Donnell was the first name on our list & it will be easy for you to see from this conversation, why that was. 

 

Bridie started her career in medicine! She is trained practitioner and worked as an Orthopaedic Surgical Assistant for 8 years before taking up cycling. Bridie then rode competitively from 2006 – 2017, with multiple pro-teams and carved our her speciality in the individual time trial.

 

She has represented Australia 3x at the UCI Road World Championships and in 2016, she broke the Women’s Hour World Record in Adelaide, riding an astonishing 46.882 kilometres

 

Since retiring from cycling, Bridie has excelled in all that she does – whether it is presenting on Radio or TV, working in Medicine or writing a Memoir. She has also held very senior positions in the Victorian State Government, both in the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, and in the Department of Health.

 

But you'll probably know Bridie best for her work on SBS as a Lead in the Tour de France Commentary Team and this was the hat she was wearing when we spoke to her on Friday night

 

Our interview took place at midnight on Bridie’s time, and she had a HUGE day inclusive of 6 hours of commentary and long drives. Despite these demands, Bridie looked fresh as a daisy and was ever-the professional

 

This was such a special interview to have been a part of – Bride speaks so well. Her remarks on professional women’s sport & the need for equal opportunity are insightful, and internally challenged me to think about my own biases and the way I use language.  

 

We talk about the supportive workplace culture at the SBS Commentary Team, surprise run ins with President Emmanuel Macron, the history of women’s the pro-peloton, the course and sportswomanship. 

 

To follow Bridie's TDFF journey, you can find her here on Instagram or here, on Twitter. 

We hope you enjoy the show!