Meet Bronwen Downie
Our Athlete Advisory Group (AAG) provides invaluable input into our programs, products and initiatives ensuring the athletes’ voice is not only heard; it is used to shape strategic direction and ensure our education courses and resources are fit-for-purpose.
The AAG is empowered to challenge and provide ‘warts and all’ commentary and robust review of Sport Integrity Australia’s (SIA) work, to deliver insights into the pressures and influences that threaten integrity in sport.
The group comprises current and former elite athletes who contribute meaningfully to the fight for clean, fair and safe sport.
In 2023−24, the AAG leveraged the strong foundations fostered through a safe environment for them to share their voices, to build relationships across other athlete bodies and councils to further enable our work to be impactful.
Bronwen Downie is AAG Co-Chair and has an impressive bio – Olympic rower, two-time World Rowing Championship Gold medalist, 11-time Australian champion and former Rowing NSW State board member.
Learn more about Ms Downie and her passion for integrity in sport.
What was your first impression of SIA?
My first conversation with David Sharpe, former SIA CEO and initiator of the AAG, included him saying “We get praised for leading the way on integrity issues, but we want to know what we are NOT doing well; warts and all”.
That was a pretty unique invitation to provide a critical voice to a large government organisation!
To me, this signaled that SIA was genuine in wanting to gain a full perspective on how they manage integrity issues, and committed to making sure policy and initiatives not only look good on paper, but land with the desired impact in the real world of athletes.
What is it about SIA’s mission that you identify with most?
There is such joy and a wealth of known benefits in being able to simply participate in organised sport. Of course, there is also immense pride in representing Australia for athletes that reach that elite level.
Access to sport at all levels, not just at the elite or high-performance level, should be easy and safe for all Australians. As a former athlete being on the AAG means I can, in a small way, take an active role in safeguarding participation in sport across both of those spectrums.
Was integrity something you thought about when you were competing?
When I was competing at an elite level, my awareness of integrity issues was very much focused on the anti-doping space. Filling out whereabouts forms, being tested at training and competition venues, wondering if other nations had the rigorous protocols Australian athletes are protected by etc. The idea of a level playing field is something that I imagine all athletes hope they are stepping into, so that was front of my mind too.
Having experienced both positive and negative culture in elite sport, I was aware of athlete welfare related issues but felt I had little agency to change them. Now that I work in the field of psychological safety, I have language that can talk to the integrity threats related to athlete wellbeing. I am pleased to see structures like the National Integrity Framework (NIF) making it easier for athletes to have more agency in reporting their experiences.
Now, like many parents, I am tuned into child protection and supporting positive sporting experiences for our young players and athletes. As a mum of sporty kids, and of course now having a box seat view of the wider work SIA does, my concept of sport integrity is definitely a broader one! When you are competing as an athlete it’s all about daily performance, and you hope that the sporting ecosystem is being looked after on your behalf.
Why is it important to you to be part of the AAG?
Any opportunities that athletes have to contribute to the decision-making processes that impact them is valuable. SIA has been pro-active in ensuring that happens via the AAG, particularly at a time not only where their influence continues to expand, but the complexities of mitigating against integrity issues in elite sport continue to evolve.
The primary role of the AAG is to help SIA see where there might be gaps or unintended impacts on athletes via SIA supported processes, policies or initiatives.
I am confident that the AAG provides quite a robust sounding board! We have been genuinely welcomed to regularly critique initiatives of SIA, provide input on responses to World Anti-Doping Code review, or comment on development of education materials, for example. That process of transparency, and appetite of SIA to hear AAG perspectives is something that I think is so important. It reflects that SIA not only protects integrity but operates with internal integrity too.
What has been a highlight during your time in the AAG?
Most recently, the SIA Law Enforcement Conference, which brought together agencies collaborating to leverage intelligence, learning and ideas on detecting and minimising the impact of organised crime, the trafficking of Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) and child protection matters in sport, highlighted the wide reach that sport and SIA have.
From my view, the relationship between SIA and these agencies is strengthening. That is thanks, in large part, to the insistence of creating a deliberate forum by David Sharpe, and that can only be positive.
Providing meaningful feedback to SIA and adding an athlete voice to their feedback on the World Anti-Doping Code that resulted in some actual changes to a number of substances and methods being included on the prohibited list was affirming. It helped the AAG see that our athlete voice was an important part of the process. Being involved in the working group on the development of the Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program was a level of active involvement that felt valuable too, and brainstorming ways to make In-Competition drug testing ‘cool’ was one of the more entertaining meetings!
The complex State, National and International legislative and policy frameworks that SIA works in, with and through, is impressive. However, every person who I have interacted with at SIA is incredibly passionate and dedicated to making sport safe, accessible and enjoyable despite being at the nexus of some very complex systems. Getting a view of that is a highlight, and worth appreciating.
What do you do outside of the AAG?
I am a facilitator, executive coach and consultant on team effectiveness. That means I assist teams to explore their interpersonal dynamics for performance improvement or repair, build and coach leadership capability around conversational agility, and support teams to create conditions for sustainable performance. Psychological Safety is my key area of expertise, and helping leaders develop the skill set to support psychological safety is my post-sport field of play!
Where do you see the future of integrity in sport heading?
Outside of anti-doping and reducing the use and impact of PIEDs, the integrity issues that show up in sport, such as child protection or organised crime, are reflections of wider Australian society. Managing these integrity issues both with and through sport offers another avenue to reducing their impact more broadly. That is why the collaborative relationships between SIA, law enforcement agencies, legislation and government policy makers has the potential to be so powerful in shaping not only safe accessible sport, but safer communities in general.
The importance of growing and strengthening intelligence networks is something I think is already being leveraged but will become more critical. Particularly as integrity threats and the groups behind them more frequently transcend national borders. I expect that collaboration and cooperation across national and international agencies will become even more important in the management of integrity in sport both in Australia and globally.
What do athletes approach you about as a member of the AAG?
Athletes who are in the high-performance zone of sport continue to want to know that they are well informed when it comes to their rights and obligations regarding doping control procedures, and the boundary between supplements and PIEDs.
In addition, there is still work to do around ensuring athletes feel secure and supported to report on integrity issues or experiences that have impacted them negatively. The NIF is such an important tool in that regard, and I regularly encourage people to use it as a reporting mechanism for the benefit of improving sport experiences for everyone.
When I speak with parents of young people in sport, they want to know more about what they can do at the grassroots level in their clubs and junior competition spaces to move towards intentions like those in the Play Well strategy. While I see a gap in the space between good policy development and grass roots change, it is heartening being able to talk to initiatives like the SISCIP and point people towards resources developed by SIA and Play by The Rules in that area.
