BASS COAST women celebrated International Women's Day in style today, hosting an inspiring address by Nicole Livingstone OAM at the Silverwater Resort at San Remo.
Ms Livingstone, who was born and raised in Melbourne, admitted to not spending much time down by the coast, although the experience would have helped her later in life when she interviewed for a job commentating on surf livesaving competition.
"I'd been involved in Royal Lifesaving but I managed to get through the interview with big Darrell Eastlake and got the job."
Nicole says she plans to spend more time down here and was determined to call in at the cheesemaker she saw on the way down.
Nicole's address started with an account of the trail blazing exploits of pioneer Australian swimmers Sarah 'Fanny' Durack and Mina Wylie who campaigned for the right to swim at the Stockholm Olympics, the first Olympics to have women's swimming. The pair were initially refused permission by the NSWLSA but ultimately won the day only to find they had to raise their own money to get there and compete, needing to take a chaperone with them for the privilege.
Durack went on to win Australia's first gold medal in a long line of women's swimming gold medals, and after going off course at the river venue, Wylie, who had earlier beaten Durack, came home strongly to claim silver; a one-two finish by two Australian women at their first attempt at the 100 metres freestyle.
From 1910 until 1918 Durack was the world's greatest female swimmer across all distances from freestyle sprints to the mile marathon but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled due to the war and because of typhoid fever and pneumonia in the week before the Australian team was leaving for the 2020 Olympics in Antwerp she missed her last chance to compete at that level.
At the end of her address Ms Livingstone, who has had three major careers; as an Olympic swimmer, attending three summer Olympics in 1988, 1992, and 1996, as a commentator of sports and also as head of the AFLW women's football competition; she provided some takeaway words of wisdom.. Along the way Nicole has also served on many, mainly sports related boards including on the board of the Australian Olympic Committee.
Nicole Livingstone's takeaways:
- Have pride in what you doan who you represent
- Know your own values and what is important to you
- What are your non-negotiables
- The team around you matters
- It's a two-way street - give and take
- Use the support systems around you
- Positivity is contageous
- Surround yourself with uplifters
- Show a little mongrel - grit and integrity
- How do you unwind, recharge, reset?
