Matilda’s star Katrina Gorry was asked how she will “juggle” kids and the Olympics….

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Yes, you read that right (scroll down this newsletter to watch the actual video). Our immediate reaction when watching this press conference: WTF? How are we still asking female athletes questions like this? We’re looking forward to hearing male athletes being asked how they will juggle their parenting responsibilities AND their careers? Note: sarcasm.

This line of questioning is a pattern that indicates that despite all the gains made in women’s sport, there’s a long way to go. Let’s take the issue of pay. A recent survey of 736 elite female footballers across 12 countries found that 73.9% of players surveyed earned under $19,000 a year; 52.8% earned less than $5,000 a year; 27% have a secondary job, and 23% had to take unpaid leave to play. To be crystal clear, we’re not talking about your local under 12s football players here, we’re talking the best women players in the world. Things need to change - when will they?

Finally - we want to chat about a project that was brought to our attention that we absolutely love! Two absolute powerhouses Taylah and Chelsea (who are also Level The Field subscribers!) have created a new website called The Australian Indoor Cricket Collection to help bring together everything you need to know about indoor cricket in one place online.

They told Missing Perspectives: “You have never been able to search the internet and find information about indoor cricket in one place. You have never been able to find the first captains of Australia, or who is in the Hall of Fame, or who has represented each state and territory. The Australian Indoor Cricket Collection has arrived to fix this. The Collection brings together information on every player and official from every state and territory and every national tournament and Australian tour, of every year since 1984, as well state and territory history, statistics, awards and rules.”

How cool is that? We love when young women take the initiative to fix information gaps like this - particularly when history has often overlooked the achievements of female athletes for far too long.

Feel like that’s a great note to end on - so happy Thursday and we hope you have a great weekend!

Cheers,
The Level The Field team

Simran Pascricha: Sha’Carri Richardson - Sprinting towards redemption at Paris Olympics 2024

As the 2024 Paris Olympics approach, all eyes are on Sha'Carri Richardson, the dynamic sprinter set for a remarkable comeback on the world's biggest stage. At 24, Sha'Carri Richardson isn't just aiming for redemption; she's ready to prove that she's better than ever before.

Let’s take it back to the beginning. Richardson's journey started in Dallas, Texas, where she discovered her passion for running at a young age. Raised by her grandmother, after her mother left when she was young, Richardson’s early life was marked by challenges, but her talent on the track quickly became evident. By high school, she was already a standout, winning state championships and setting records. Her breakout moment came at Louisiana State University (LSU) in 2019, where she shattered the 100m National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record with a time of 10.75 seconds, instantly marking her as a rising star in the world of track and field.

From there, Richardson's career has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows. In 2021, she won the U.S. Olympic Trials with a stunning 10.86 seconds in the 100m, securing her spot on Team USA, a week after her biological mother passed away. However, her Olympic dreams were put on hold when she tested positive for marijuana, leading to a suspension that kept her out of the Tokyo Games. Despite the setback, in 2023, she won the 100m at the World Championships in Budapest with a time of 10.65 seconds, the fastest time in the world that year. 

Read the full profile on missingperspectives.com.

Lucy Small: Female swimmers are the backbone of Australia’s Olympic legacy

On June 15, Australia finalised its Paris Olympics swim squad at a meet in Brisbane that saw the 200 metre freestyle world record broken twice - first by Mollie O’Callaghan and then later smashed again by 23-year-old freestyle sensation Ariana Titmus with a blistering time of 1:52.23. The required qualification time was 01:56.49.

For context, Australia sets its Olympic swimming qualification times based on the slowest time in the corresponding final in the previous World Championships. This is usually faster than the global Olympic qualifying time set by World Aquatics, sometimes by a lot. In the 1500m freestyle the qualifying time set by Swimming Australia is almost eight seconds faster than the time set by World Aquatics. For some strokes it’s a matter of milliseconds.

This can mean heartbreak for athletes who make the World Aquatics time but not the Swimming Australia time, ruling them out of Olympic selection. Australia also only takes its top two placed swimmers from the Olympic trials, even if swimmers placed third make the cut off time. In other words, it's make the Olympic final or nothing.

As excitement builds on the road to Paris, we at Missing Perspectives decided to have a deeper dive into Australian Olympic history, and found that close to a quarter of all gold medals Australia has ever won have been brought home by the women’s swimming teams, rendering them the backbone of Australia’s strong Olympic and Paralympic legacy.

Read the full profile on missingperspectives.com.

A lil’ sponsored post from the ACT Government

“I tell people the same thing over and over about Canberra: I moved for the job, but really stayed for the lifestyle. Seriously - bear with me.

Over the months that followed, I fell in love with the city. There was something so special about waking up in the city-where-it-happens (had to include a Hamilton reference, sorry), walking around the stunning Lake Burley Griffin (affectionately known as LBG by locals), and heading up towards the National Triangle to work - a strip containing some of Australia’s most significant buildings. Passing Parliament House each morning was a daily reminder of the importance of the work I was doing in Canberra.”

In a new piece for Missing Perspectives, Phoebe unpacks why she was surprised by how much she loved living in Canberra. Read the full story here.