On Side

Mental Health Awareness Month (October) encourages all of us to think about our mental health and wellbeing. In this episode of On Side, we talk about mental health, the impact and how we can make mental health and wellbeing a priority in sport. We are joined by former ABC sports broadcaster and mental health advocate, Craig Hamilton, and Georgia Ridler, Sport Integrity Australia's consulting Ment...

Former Matilda Michelle Heyman is featured in the latest episode of our podcast On Side. Michelle played for Australia 61 times between 2010-2018, booting 20 goals before a series of injuries forced her to retire from international duties in 2019. When Cortnee Vine’s penalty kick hit the back of the net against France, the whole of Australia roared as one. The recognition and support was a long ti...

The latest episode of our podcast On Side explores the evolution of Paralympic sport in Australia. It also discusses the need to include Paralympic voices in the decision making, along with the role Paralympic sport can play as a vehicle for greater social inclusion and to understanding disability. It features Paralympians: Ella Sabljak, an Australian wheelchair basketball and rugby player, and a...

The latest episode of our podcast On Side looks at the issue of safeguarding participants of sport. It discusses the findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study and what it means for sport, and the work done as a result of Sport Integrity Australia’s review of the Western Australian Institute of Sport’s Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Program. The interview features: Professor Daryl Higgins Di...

Former Olympic sprinter Patrick Johnson has joined Sport Integrity Australia as a Safety and Culture Advisor to ensure our responses are appropriate and informed. In this edition of On Side, Patrick talks about his role in helping to develop an agency and a sporting landscape that is culturally capable, respectful and engaging. “I think there's a shift to understanding sport as a vehicle for healt...

In the latest episode of our podcast On Side, esteemed lawyers Richard Young and Adair Donaldson provide incredible insights into their roles, including on anti-doping and abuse cases.

Guests: Dr Sian Clancy, Alexis Cooper, Kelsa Ferguson, Cassie Fien and Nick Paterson In this episode of On Side we discuss the dangers of supplements and the importance of education in anti-doping to prevent inadvertent doping due to supplements.

On this episode we sit down with the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency Witold Bańka, as well as WADA's Athlete Committee Chair Ben Sanford and 4 x Olympian and Integrity Manager for boxing, judo and taekwondo Bronwen Knox.

In this episode of On Side, our host Tim Gavel talks to some of Sport Integrity Australia’s science and medicine experts - Chief Science Officer Dr Naomi Speers, Science Officer Rima Chakrabarty and Medical Advisor Dr Laura Lallenec.

In this episode of On Side, join Tim Gavel as he chats to three of our Athlete Advisory Group (AAG) members - former Olympic rower Bronwen Downie, Paralympic triathlete Jonathan Goerlach and Blake Gaudry, a dual Olympic trampolinist.

In this episode of On Side, join Tim Gavel as he chats to Ellie and Daniela as they train for the Commonwealth Games which starts on 28 July – one for the last time, the other the first.

Former West Coast Eagles captain Eric Mackenzie has been announced as the latest member of Sport Integrity Australia’s Athlete Advisory Group.

Australian swimmer Brenton Rickard’s world was turned upside down when a retest of a urine sample taken at the 2012 London Olympics returned a “low-level” positive result.

This episode of Clean and Gold celebrates the Paralympic Games – an event that is so often referred to as “more than sport”. Hosted by Tim Gavel and three-time Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas, this edition features Paralympic mentor and former Australian head coach Chris Nunn and Paralympic hopeful, swimmer Ahmed Kelly. Nunn, who works as a consultant with the Oceania Paralympic Committee, sa...

Hosted by Tim Gavel and three-time Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas, this blockbuster edition of our Clean And Gold series features champion sprinter Raelene Boyle, four-time Olympian Bronwen Knox and dual Olympic and Paralympic table tennis player Milly Tapper. Raelene burst on to the scene at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico as a 16-year-old, taking home a silver medal in the 200m sprint. She wen...

Hosted by Tim Gavel and three-time Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas, this Clean And Gold episode features two-time Paralympic gold medallist Chris Bond and Olympic gold medallist Kim Brennan (nee Crow). Bond, who was 19 when he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia which resulted in amputation of both his legs below the knee, says it was the power of sport that helped him adjust to life...

At On Side we are celebrating the impending Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo with a special Clean and Gold series. Hosted by Tim Gavel and three-time Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas, our Clean And Gold series features some of Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic greats about their Olympic journey. Today we speak to two-time Olympic gold medallist Anna Meares and Paralympic gold medallist C...

Players, coaches, commentators, fans ... when you’re a match official, everyone has an opinion about your performance on the field. In the latest episode of On Side we talk to retired Australian football referee Ben Williams, who had a 25-year career in the sport, NRL touch judge Kasey Badger, and Grant Jones, whose path to officialdom was unusual to say the least, about the pressures faced by spo...

There is growing evidence that multiple concussions may increase the risk of experiencing a range of diseases and cognitive impairments later in life. In latest episode of On Side we talk to former Wallabies player Peter FitzSimons, whose personal crusade against concussion started 15 years ago, Alan Pearce, Associate Professor at La Trobe University and Research Manager at Australian Sports Brain...

The dearth of women in leadership and in high performance coaching roles is still a problem in sport. In latest episode of On Side we talk to former Sport Australia CEO Kate Palmer on the gulf in parity that still exists in high performance sport and what needs to be done to help women transition into these roles. Palmer says sports need to take a “proactive approach” to, not just equality, but di...

One in three elite athletes report experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression at some time during or post their sporting career. In the seventh and latest episode of On Side, we examine the prevalence of mental health issues in sport, sports’ duty of care to ensure the wellbeing of athletes and what’s being done to address these issues. We talk to Clinical Psychologist Mary Spillane, and our...

This highlight edition of our podcast On Side features our chat with AIS Chief Medical Officer Dr David Hughes on inclusion in sport following last year’s release of the Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport. Dr Hughes says transgender and gender diversity is not a sport issue, it’s a societal issue. “It’s important that sport at all time reflects societal...

In this highlight edition of our podcast On Side we take a peek at some of the best interviews so far. This includes our chat with 2008 and 2012 Paralympic cycling gold medallist Michael Gallagher. Prior to the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Gallagher tested positive for recombinant erythropoietin (rEPO) at a training camp in Italy. Still under sanction, Gallagher talked about the biggest impact his s...

Cricket icon Belinda Clark has blazed her way into the record books and is just as fearless off the field, paving a way for women in sport. In the sixth and latest episode of On Side Clark, the first player, male or female, to score a double century in a one-dayer, talks about the highlights of an illustrious career – on and off the field – and the rise and rise of women’s sport. “I’d like to thin...

A self-confessed adrenaline addict with the injuries to prove it – Caroline Buchanan is held together by bolts, wires, plates … you name it. For a decade this eight-time World Champion was at the top, but is now in unfamiliar territory - as the underdog. In the fifth and latest episode of On Side, Buchanan candidly talks about building not only her brand but her sport, her triumphs, struggles, THA...