"Then I started to think, well, why am I here? If you're just actually going to steal my ideas live on air, what value is that? And that doesn't make for good broadcasting, and neither does speaking over other people or interrupting them. "That's not something single to broadcasting, we see that in boardrooms, and that famous cartoon that Gillian Triggs talks about which is, 'That's a wonderful idea, Gillian, perhaps one of the men would like to have it'. "I think the start is just a sense of being completely disregarded, spoken over, or saying something that you think is insightful and literally 10 seconds later having a male broadcaster repeat exactly what you just said," O'Donnell says. Don't give upĭespite there being plenty of highlights throughout their commentating careers, Arnell, Mitchell and O'Donnell have also experienced the odd lowlight too. The lesson? You have a diverse range of life experiences to draw on that give you a unique way of looking at the world, and that's a good thing - it can help others feel like they belong. "That for me encapsulated why mixed commentary teams can have an impact, because you're speaking to a broader audience, and that is what it's got to be about, isn't it? It's bringing more and more people in." "Last summer in Australia a family stopped me, and a father was there with his young daughter and he just said, 'Thank you for what you do on the ABC because when my daughter hears your voice, she then feels that cricket is for her as well'," she says. That resonates with Mitchell, who says her presence on the airwaves helps people feel included in a space traditionally dominated by men. "The number of times where people said to me, 'Oh, you report on cricket? Do you like cricket?' - as if that was a strange thing, for a woman to like it enough to actually understand it." "It's assumed that you don't know what you're talking about," the UK broadcaster tells ABC RN's Sporty. In the early stages of her career as a commentator, she had to counter a presumption that men know about sport in a way that women don't. In 2018 she joined Channel Seven's cricket commentary team. She was the first woman to call men's cricket ball by ball on ABC Radio in 2014. Rise above assumptionsĪlison Mitchell was the first woman to become a regular commentator on BBC's Test Match Special, from 2007. These three ground-breaking commentators have found their voice in what has traditionally been a man's world - and their experiences offer lessons that can help us in all fields of life. Having to go above and beyond to prove you're capable of doing the job is an unfortunate reality for many people, even in 2020 - and for women the field of sport is no exception. Wilkinson currently resides in Texas with her husband and three children.Entering a profession that's been dominated by the opposite gender for decades can be challenging and unnerving at first. Along the way, she has won 19 US National Titles, was voted by the American public the 2000 US Olympic Spirit Award winner. She went on to won the 2004 World Cup and the 2005 World Championships, becoming the first woman in history to win all three coveted world titles in platform diving. With a broken foot, Wilkinson came from behind to win the 2000 Olympic platform gold medal. In 2000, Wilkinson went on to win the Olympic Trials and making her first Olympic Team. Wilkinson won her first major international gold medal at the 1998 Goodwill Games. She contributes to several networks’ diving coverage including collegiate conference championships, Olympic Trials, Youth Olympic Games and World Series. Wilkinson is currently a motivational speaker, writer and diving color commentator. Olympic gold medalist, Laura Wilkinson serves as a diving analyst for NBC Sports Group during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
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