We Honor A Sporting Legend While Talking Honestly About Suicide And Support

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) as of March 2025 More than 720 000 people  will die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds. 

Suicide Prevention, as difficult as it is, must be a conversation we have to continue to have. Let's not stay silent. Have conversations like this. Lean into others. You are loved. People do care.

On the 11th anniversary of my Australian Triathlon Teammate, Jackie Fairweather ( nee Gallagher) 10 November 1967 - 1 November 2014, I feel it is important we continue to celebrate this extraordinary athlete and remind all athletes you are more than your sport, and that help is available if you need it.

If you need support please reach out call or text 988,  worldwide crisis text line 741-741.  To my fellow Australians back home call lifeline - 13 11 14.

Thank you for listening, please like, share. 

Transcript

Welcome And Content Warning

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Hi everyone, welcome to the Plan B podcast. This week's episode, episode nine, does not have a video. For some reason, you know what? It just didn't feel appropriate. Because this weekend, on November 1st, it marks the 11th anniversary of a very special athlete. This athlete, her name is Jackie Fairweather Me Gallagher, was a pioneer of the Australian triathlon scene in the early 90s to the late 1990s. Jackie was an Australian world champion triathlete, a long-distance runner, a coach, and an Australian Institute of Sport High Performance Administrator. I first met this athlete. She was a little bit older than me when I was representing Australia for the first time as a junior on the Australian team. And I was privileged enough to meet Jackie, who was in the senior pro team when I was in the world junior team, in a hotel foyer in Mexico. And that event for me was a bit of a breakthrough event. And, you know, it's important that I share a little bit of these details because it'll give you an insight into the beginning of a friendship and a mentorship for me, which really inspired me in many ways. But before I go on to tell you about this athlete, I would like to just caution and warn our listeners that today's episode does talk about the topic of suicide. And this is a very sensitive and triggering topic that can be upsetting for people. And even listening to it, and while I won't be going into any graphic details, so there's no worry of that, but even sometimes the mention of suicide for many people is extremely upsetting. And one of the other reasons why the camera is off today is because even as 11 years has passed, I find this topic extremely difficult to talk about, but very, very necessary. Because for me, when that day on the 1st of November 2014 occurred, and Australia lost one of its greatest endurance athletes, for me personally, it marked the fifth time that I had lost a fellow athlete to suicide. And I'm gonna just pause for a moment because it's really important to get the language right. We no longer use the terms committed suicide. The correct language that is used is a person has died by suicide or has lost their life to suicide. Because when you lose someone to suicide, they have lost the battle that they have been battling in their mind to overcome a incredibly dark and sad illness that they have been, that has been waged against them, caused by, can be caused by a multitude of factors. And that is something that we're going to talk about today. So this week's episode is really important. It's important for me to continue to celebrate Jackie's life and her contribution to Australian Triton because she was a hero of mine. And it's important to keep talking about the incredibly serious and sad issue of suicide, and even more so important to talk about suicide prevention and what we can do to support each other and to help our teammates so that we can prevent this tragedy from occurring to the people that we care about. So I'll tell you briefly about my encounter, first encounter with someone who went on to be a friend, a teammate, a mentor, and just, you know, an all-round inspiration. This woman was tough, gave a whole new meaning to the word tough. And there were so many qualities about this athlete that I just loved and was inspired by. But I tell you what, she was so incredibly tough on her competitors and even more so on herself. But for those of you who don't know anything about this world champion triathlete, I'm just going to fill you in because I feel it's important that we remember great athletes that we've lost and continue to celebrate their contribution to our sport. So Jackie Louise Gallagher was born on the 10th of November 1967 in Perth. She had two younger brothers. And aside from being an amazing athlete, Jackie was also incredibly smart. She had a bachelor in human movement and also Master of Science in Exercise Physiology and cardiac rehabilitation. So she was just super, super smart. As well as a illustrious career in sport, one of the most notable things that she did in 1996, she she became the world triathlon champion, setting a record time of one hour and 50 minutes in Cleveland, Ohio. And it was also the same year that she won the world duathlon championships. Now, for those of you who are uninformed in the world of triathlon and duathlon, duathlon is run bike run. And she became the only person to ever win both world titles in the same year. So that's huge. Not only that, but aside from her eight years as a pro and her multi, you know, ITU world championship medals that she obtained over the years, she was also an incredible roadrunning athlete. And she represented Australia in the Commonwealth Games in the 2002 Manchester Marathon. And you know, if that wasn't enough on what Jackie had achieved, she also got a bronze medal in that event. So when Jackie retired with this incredible CV, uh, she went up to take on the head position of head coach in the newly established Australian Institute of Sport triathlon program. And it was there she met the love of her life, uh Simon Fairweather, who was an Australian archery gold medalist from the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Can you imagine that couple? Okay. Can you imagine the energy of those two? Just phenomenal. So Jackie was just incredible in so many ways, both athletically, both academically. She was a firecracker as a person, you type of person you wouldn't want to cross. Because to say she was direct is an understatement. If she had something on her mind that she wanted to tell you by crikey, she would tell you in a flash. And I had been at the receiving end of that many a times, particularly in the drafting phrases. I remember getting a mouthful of abuse. Maybe not, maybe I shouldn't call it abuse, maybe just a mouthful of, you know, sport, you know, when we shit talk when we're competing. But I remember not pulling my weight in one of the Formula One. Basically, I just couldn't keep up. It was just too hot pace. And being a long distance, because my event ended up being Iron Man, which was even longer than most endurance events. Uh, Jackie gave me a serve basically to say to get my ass in the gear into gear or basically get off the pack. So she was not shy in telling you how she felt about you. But that they were qualities actually that I loved. And to be honest, that's what everybody loved about her. She was amazing in so many ways. And I really hadn't shared much of you know my friendship with her because it was really just as teammates. And when my career ended, I went into politics. And one of the first things that I actually did, and this is before Jackie's passing, was I was very passionate about prevention of youth suicide. Because by this stage, by the time I had retired, this was 2007, I had already lost four friends and four fellow athletes to suicide. I lost my first friend to suicide at age 15. And that in itself was incomprehensible. And really, at my age, I did not know how to process that loss. And all I can say is that thank God for gay, my coach, who was a sports psychologist, who helped me channel my grief and pain and whatever else I was feeling, which I kept hidden to myself. Because at that time in my own family, I had a family member who was also going through a challenging mental illness about the same time that I was emerging as a professional athlete. So interesting that I'm in this profession today because mental health has been a prominent focus in my life for a very long time. And while tragedy has been woven through it, it's also been something that I have not looked upon as a negative, while it has been extremely sad. I have looked at it as something as a learning and something that I need to learn and grow from and try to contribute back into the world, into my sport, into my fellow athletes. And I guess that's why what I'm doing, what I do today, is because I want to take care of athletes. And I want athletes to know that it doesn't matter how you're feeling, it doesn't matter what's going on, is that there are people who will listen. There are coaches, there are professionals who are here for you a hundred percent. And that nothing that you're feeling is too weird, too wrong, or or you have it all and you shouldn't be feeling like this. Because one of the misconceptions about what happens when we have unbalanced or distorted thinking is that we are to blame. That is not the case. When psychological difficulties, difficulties, and disturbances occur in the mind, they're caused by so many contributing factors, some of them different, and they can range from everything from diet to hormones to external factors in the environment. You know, something completely random, but did you know that mold in the ceiling can contribute to psychological disturbances if left untreated and you were sleeping in that environment, which is kind of scary to think about. And so there we are going through life, suddenly feeling a little bit like, hey, why am I feeling like this? You know, I shouldn't be feeling like this. Is something wrong with me? Well, yeah, there could be, but hey, it's not your fault. And that there are experts out there who can help you get through this. And the first step to take is to tell somebody, anybody, anyone, and they can lead you towards the experts that can help you find a solution. You know, when uh Jackie died, I was in the US at the time. And with the time difference, I sadly found out about it on social media, which always left a hole for me about my kind of feeling towards social media and how you know sometimes it's kind of a love-hate relationship. I I I like being connected to the rest of the world in many ways, but I also hate, I hate the the lack of privacy. I lack, I hate how things get put on that just, you know, things like this, that news, and suddenly you see it. And I remember waking up, and it would have been nighttime in Australia, or you know, the different time zones, and I remember seeing the news, or somebody had posted, uh, we'll miss you. And I remember looking at it going, what do you mean? What do you mean we'll miss you? And it's like my my heart just stopped. And so instantly I'm I'm checking news, I'm checking everything. Because while I certainly looked at her as somebody that I looked up to and I admired, and she was a mentor and I went to her for advice, I certainly was not one of her closest friends and was more, you know, of a teammate and an acquaintance. But I did keep in contact, you know, with her on Messenger. And, you know, I'm gonna share something that I I have never shared before a little bit later in this. But I remember seeing this post, and first thing doing was first thing I did was call my mum. And I think it was the middle of the night for mum. And I was just blown away and completely heartbroken that to then discover that it was just starting to trickle through the triathlon community that this tragedy had occurred. Emma Carney, who is one of who was Jackie's huge rival in the 1990s, spoke at Jackie's funeral and she said this about Jackie. She said Jackie was a perfectionist. I think perhaps Jackie never really appreciated or realized all that she achieved. It wasn't just the races she won or the sports she excelled in. Jackie was a pioneer in Australian triathlon coaching and administration. And that is like such a beautiful thing to say, and it was 100% accurate because I really don't think Jackie realized how brilliant she was, not just in her as an athlete, but as a human. And I had an insight to into that in one of our last Facebook Messenger exchanges. And I remember writing to her, and I had said to Jackie that we were talking about, hey, what are you doing? I'm like, yeah, I'm in the States. I've got, you know, at the time I had two five-year-olds, a seven-year-old, and an 11-year-old. So young kids and uh busy. I think we were homeschooling at the time. And for whatever reason, in that exchange, I said to her, hey, Jack, I I know that over the years we haven't been close, but I want you to know how much I admire you as a human, just as a person. I think you're incredible. And her response back to me just really resonated with what Emma said at her funeral because she was quite shocked. And she said, What are you talking about? And I said, What do you mean? She goes, I I don't have a I don't have kids. You know, look at you. You've got these four kids, you're doing this, you're over there with your husband, supporting your husband in the States, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, Jackie, do you need a wake-up call? Like, look at you. You've got multi-degrees, you're a multi-world champion, you're you're married to an Olympic gold medalist who's incredible, like Simon Fairweather, easily one of the nicest people on the planet you could ever, you know, meet. Lovely, just they were the just most beautiful couple. And her exchange was like she was surprised that I had said that to her. And the reason I share this is because that was the last exchange that I had with Jackie was me telling her how much how much I admired her. And I'm just so grateful that I did. And if there's anything to take away from this podcast this week, you know, as as painful as this has been to do, it is please tell people how much they mean to you. Tell people their value, tell people their worth, even if it's your arch rival, even if it's your competitor. I mean, Jackie used to kick my ass in Trithlon. She was ferocious. There were plenty of times where she chewed me out. And but she was a brilliant athlete and incredibly smart. And I admired her. I loved her tenacity. I loved her work ethic. These were qualities in an athlete and a person that I aspired to have and still do to this day. Tell people, tell people what they mean to you. Men die by suicide at roughly twice the rate of women globally. And suicide remains the third leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds worldwide. Now I know these are very morbid statistics, and I'm certainly not gonna let us end on this. And I have some positive news to share with you. And would you believe just at this moment, as I'm in this like sad spot, I have Winston crying at the window of my office where I'm trying to do this podcast. It's like the the timing is ironic, but we'll keep going. One of the tips I want to share with uh my listeners today is that if you are in the situation where you you're an athlete and you feel as though you may have a teammate who you suspect is struggling with something. Aside from telling others, don't feel as though you have to have create a solution. The number one key thing that you can do is just listen. And a simple statement that we can say to those who are struggling in any situation, really, is I'm sorry you're going through with this.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

And ask them, is there anything I can do? What what can I do to to help to make you feel better? Is there anything that you would like me to do?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

So empower them to to tell you if they want to, or being available, I'm here if you'd like me to talk.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

So be that person who just is there to listen, or I can sit with you if you like at any time.

How To Support A Struggling Teammate

SPEAKER_01 20:43

So they don't even have to talk, but you're there with them. Sometimes if a person doesn't want to share what they're going through, the company can be enough. So on a positive note, I wanted to share that in 2025 youth suicide is in the decline. You wouldn't know it from social media because it's always kind of doom scrolling and doomsday. But that to me is something we need to celebrate, and I want to keep that momentum going. And so I want to keep having conversations like this as tough as they are, and as they as painful as they are to deliver.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

This was a really hard podcast to make.

Reasons For Hope And Healing

Beat The Blues And Reaching Youth

SPEAKER_01 21:35

And you know, it's something that you don't ever get over, but you you you learn to manage to move on from by focusing on the positive impact of the loved ones that you lose in any situation of what they brought to your life and what you learned from them, and all the amazing qualities and the gifts that they gave to the sport, to just from your experience with them. What traits, what character traits could you take away or learn from just from knowing those people? You can take that with you and use that to better yourself, to help others, and to make more of a positive contribution. One of the things that I did when I was in Sydney, when I was still in politics and hadn't returned to school to do sport psychology, I had just, you know, transitioned straight from sport into politics, which I don't know what that was. That was like a brain fart. But, you know, suicide prevention was at the top of my list, is that I did create a concert which ran for a couple of years through the Mosswen Council in Sydney. And as deputy mayor, I ran this concert and it was called Beat the Blues. And Beat the Blues basically was just like a pop concert. It brought in the local pop artists. And these amazing musicians shared their experience of their challenges with mental health with young people aged 14 to 24, which really is our target age bracket of trying to raise awareness to keep conversations going. Okay. And to really help young people through the really challenging, difficult time of where brain development is at its peak, where hormones are at its peak, where change and that period between dependence and independence from our home, our family, going to college, finding a job, starting a new relationship, so much external stress. And today, unfortunately, with social media, that has just been exacerbated. And putting, you know, these poor young people today are under the spotlight. Well, it doesn't all have to be negative. I am hoping that somebody listening out there, not that I want to add any more to my plate, because I will like to say at the end of this podcast, this might be my last one. My plan B podcast was slightly premature. I started it and then I got accepted into a doctoral program for my sports psychology program that I created. And then I was like, oh shit, I just started a podcast and now I'm now I have to go study. So if I disappear and this stops, it's not because I'm having a mental health crisis. Although, who knows, you know, that it could always be on the cards at some point. And there's nothing to be ashamed about if you do have a mental health crisis, by the way. It it's it can happen to anyone at any stage. It's not it, don't look at it as a weakness. You know, being human means that sometimes we fall apart, and that's okay. And hey, that's why we're here to help each other, and that's what being a society and a community should be about. So if if plan B disappears and if I disappear from social media, that's that's why I actually do need to get to work and finish my sports psychology doctorate program. So you might I might reappear in like three years' time. Hopefully, no longer than that. But I wanted to share, in case there's anybody listening out there, I created a concert back in Sydney, back in 2010, 2011, and 2010, 2011, it was run from rain for a couple of years. It's called Beat the Blues. It was extremely successful. It took the message of suicide prevention and it put it on a platform that young people could relate to. So it's creating a concert and weaving in a very important, serious message. I love doing it. I would do it again in a heartbeat somehow. I would find time if there was anybody out there willing to put the funds in. I was just in Tennessee for the weekend. I love Nashville. That looks like the perfect place to hold an annual Beat the Blues concert for young people. No alcohol, nothing, just raising awareness, raising suicide prevention awareness, and weaving an extremely serious message into a on a platform that young people can relate to. Because having talks from mental health professionals attracts mental health professionals. It doesn't attract young people, it attracts parents. But young people don't want to really lit listen to those messages. They want to hear it from their peers, they want to hear it from cool people. Okay. So the Beats and Blues concert achieved that when we did it in Sydney. And I know this for a fact because after that concert, um, I hope I don't choke on my words here because this was also a an extremely powerful, powerful moment that I'm I'm very, very proud of. After I had run that concert, with the support of Moslem Council and my fellow councilman, which was incredible. Thank you guys. I know you're still running around somewhere in Sydney. I was in the supermarket with you guys call it grocery store or whatever, with my kids. They were only babies at the time, and a teenager came up to me and thanked me for creating that and bringing awareness because it was from that concert that it gave her the courage to speak up and tell her parents that she was going through a really hard time. So imagine, imagine how many lives you know we could potentially continue to save if we could create more opportunities to reach these very vulnerable and fragile young people in a very impressionable period. That's my sales speech. I'm hoping people are out there listening.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

But in memory of my incredible friend, Jackie Fairweather me gallagher, it's been 11 years, Jackie, since you passed.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Definitely from the 90s to early 2000s, we loved you, we remember you, and we celebrate your incredible achievements in life, and we continue to think of you fondly.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

And I just want to uh thank everyone for listening. Yeah. And then we're going to have to do that.