Bridie O'Donnell
Bridie O'Donnell (born 29 April 1974) is an Australian civil servant, medical practitioner and former professional road cyclist. She represented her nation at the 2008, 2009 and 2010 UCI Road World Championships. O'Donnell was a medical practitioner and surgical assistant before taking up cycling, and later returned to medicine to work in health assessment. On 22 January 2016 O'Donnell broke the Women's Hour record at the Adelaide Super-Drome. She rode 46.882 kilometres, exceeding the distance set by Molly Shaffer Van Houweling the previous September by 609 metres. Work life. O'Donnell is a medical doctor, graduating from  the University of Queensland's school of medicine in 1998 and is the current head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation for the Victorian State Government. She was employed by Australian TV network Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) as a commentator for the 2020 Tour de France, the first female to do so for SBS. She commentated on the Tour de France again in 2021. In May 2021 she was appointed to the board of the Collingwood Football Club. She replaced Alex Waislitz who joined the Collingwood board in 1998. Her appointment generated controversy, because O'Donnell had been  a Collingwood member for less than two years, contravening Collingwood's constitution, which states "No member shall be qualified for election as a member of the board unless he (or she) shall have been a member of the club for at least 24 months immediately prior to nomination." O'Donnell is also Executive Director of the Victorian Government's Public Events Team and Director of the Gender Equity Project. She was the inaugural Director of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation between 2017-2020 and a physician with Epworth HealthCheck between 2013 and 2017. In November 2021 she was  inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.