On her first day as a medical student at Sydney University in 1973, Grace Bryant and the few other females sitting in the auditorium were gobsmacked to hear themselves dismissed by their professors as a ‘waste of space.’ 

“It was very . . . antiquated . . .  when I started,” recalled Dr Bryant OAM, a much-loved figure at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS). 

“Some of the professors basically said we females were ‘a waste of space’ because we’d taken the place of a male! But that was the era back then. It was a much different time.” 

Rather than allow an unwelcome dose of old school misogyny spoil her dream of attending university, Dr Bryant thrived. Besides excelling academically, she also received University Blues for water polo and netball – sports in which she represented Australian University teams in.  

After her graduation in 1978 Dr Bryant eventually ventured into the little chartered discipline of sports medicine when, in 1986, she joined Dr Jeni Saunders at Sydney’s first private sports medical centre in Hurstville. 

“The reason I decided to focus on sports medicine was because I came from a family of athletes,” she explained. “My brother Robert [photographed above with Grace and siblings] represented Australia in water polo at the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics. My sister Heather – a very tough competitor – competed in the world championships. While we’re talking about my family, my other sister Valerie made history as the state’s first female motorcycle cop.”

“While I was at med school, and in the first few years after I graduated, there were always people knocking on the door from one of the local teams asking for help. So, I guess looking after athletes was already an interest.  

“I became involved with what was then called the Australian Sports Medicine Federation [now Sports Medicine Australia] and did lots of coverage work for them. I volunteered on the weekend and had a wardrobe full of all these wonderful, different sporting T-shirts for triathlons and so on.” 

Besides gaining a bright and colourful T-shirt collection, Dr Bryant’s treating a casualty ward’s worth of twisted ankles and wrists, broken bones and strained ligaments at local parks of a weekend fuelled her interest in sports medicine at a time when it was far from accepted as a mainstream discipline. 

“The sports medicine field has changed quite dramatically,” she said. “It was initially more of a general practice, special interest group. However, a few of us thought, ‘this could be more of a specialty.’  

“And over the years, sports medicine is now recognised as that – a specialty. And it’s been rewarding to see the public and athletes accept it as such.” 

Dr Bryant’s passion led her on an exciting journey, and an extremely brief snapshot of her extraordinary career notes she:  

  • Attended five Olympic Games and seven Commonwealth Games as a team doctor 
  • Served a host of football teams including the Newtown Jets, Canterbury Bulldogs, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Swans 
  • Is a life member of many sporting bodies, and played significant roles within the national water polo, netball and hockey teams 
  • Been an invaluable member of NSWIS since the Institute’s doors opened in 1996

And the doctor, who welcomes an injured or ill athlete phoning her after hours to allay any fears that may be burdening them, not only treated some of Australia’s most famous athletes, but she brushed shoulders with world figures including the late Queen Elizabeth II who commended her on doing a ‘good job’ during a Commonwealth Games campaign. 

However, few of the sporting heroes she’s treated over the last 47-years could hope to summon the courage Dr Bryant displayed as a medical crewman for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Unit during the 1980s. 

Dr Bryant – whose family folklore suggests her grandfather’s life was saved by John Simpson, aka the Man with the Donkey at Gallipoli in 1915 – remembered a leap from the helicopter onto a precarious cliff ledge to treat a patient as “quite exciting.” 

“A young lad fell from the top of the cliff at Terrigal and was stuck on a ledge two thirds of the way down,” she recalled. “The helicopter pilot – he’d served in Vietnam -simply said, ‘Step on the skids of the chopper and get to the patient.’ So, I did, and I made it to the ledge. The helicopter flew away and I treated the patient. The crew eventually sent down a harness and hooked him back up to the top. It was only at that moment I realised how narrow the ledge was!  

“The patient was medevacked to the hospital and after a while they lifted me up. We were called out to all sorts of things: bushwalkers with sprained or broken ankles, cardiac arrests – you name it. 

“I loved it. I was fit and I learned to abseil; to transfer from the helicopter into jet boats or onto rubber duckies and then I’d get back up to the chopper again. The training was fun and exciting, but the job was deadly serious the focus was always the patient.” 

Due to doctor-patient confidentiality Dr Bryant won’t reveal who she’s treated over the years (though, her contact book would make any sports journalist green with envy). However, she notes the general disposition of athletes has ensured her lifetime behind the stethoscope has been a joy. 

“The people I deal with tend to be very positive,” she said. “Sometimes when you talk to friends from General Practice-land they’re frustrated because they give advice or medications to their patients, but they don’t listen.” 

“Whereas I need to ensure the athletes aren’t doing too much. It’s also special being in the team behind the team along with the physiotherapists, the Dieticians, Psychologists, Physiologists, Sports Scientists and Strength & Conditioning practitioners – that multi-disciplinary group whose priority is to allow the athletes to achieve their best.”

“The truth is when the athlete achieves, we achieve. I find that rewarding.”  

Dr Bryant is proud to have observed NSWIS’s evolution since 1996 when the Institute’s scholarship athletes were referred to her, and other doctors’ practices because NSWIS lacked inhouse facilities. 

“But when the clinic was established and Dr Corey Cunningham got it up and running that all changed,” she said. “I’ve been with the athletes all that time and have enjoyed it.  

“I’ve met so many fantastic people and formed good friendships with them. A number have remained friends even though they’re now retired: Ian Thorpe, Lizzie Ellis, Vicki Wilson, water polo girls. It’s a long, long list.  

“So, it’s been exciting to see NSWIS grow. The performance side of things has evolved too. The people I work alongside are fantastic. The Physios are always smiling, always available. The Nutritionists, the Strength and Conditioning practioners .. . . everyone . . . they’re all experts and thorough professionals.” 

After 47 years in the trenches, Dr Bryant is calling time on her career at NSWIS, and all medical duties, from tomorrow (30 September) when her practitioner’s license expires. She’ll leave the Institute’s Figtree Drive clinic proud of her contribution to Australian sport and for also being a catalyst for the growth of women in sport. 

The final word on Dr Grace’s extraordinary career goes to Australian Olympic icon Ian Thorpe AM, who values his close friendship with her as much as he does her expert medical opinion.

“Dr Grace is the leading sports doctor in the country,” Thorpe told NSWIS Media. “She completely understands [the importance of] athletic performance point of view and life point of view.”

Indeed, if Dr Grace Bryant OAM has proven anything it’s this: She was never going to be a waste of space . . .  

Daniel Lane, NSWIS

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