Michelle Telfer
{{short description|Australian artistic gymnast}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Michelle Telfer
| birth_name =
| image =
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| nationality = Australian
| sport = Gymnastics
| event =
| club =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|1|8|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Perthhttps://www.rch.org.au/rch/about-us/executive/
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height =
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| medaltemplates =
{{Medal|Sport | Gymnastics}}
{{Medal|Country | {{AUS}}}}
{{Medal|Competition|Commonwealth Games}}
{{Medal|Silver|1990 Auckland| Women's Team}}
{{Medal|Bronze|1990 Auckland| Women's Uneven Bars}}
}}
Michelle Marian Telfer (born 8 January 1974) is a retired Western Australian gymnast[http://www.wais.org.au/SiteTemplate-WAIS/upload/WAIS/0A292AF7164E4CD2B5D312B16267281F.pdf Without Compromise magazine, Spring 2002, Issue 12] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830065039/http://www.wais.org.au/SiteTemplate-WAIS/upload/WAIS/0A292AF7164E4CD2B5D312B16267281F.pdf |date=30 August 2007 }} and practising paediatrician.{{Cite web |last=Tomazin |first=Farrah |date=2020-04-18 |title=Staying on her feet: how Michelle Telfer won gender clinic battle |url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/staying-on-her-feet-how-michelle-telfer-won-gender-clinic-battle-20200416-p54kjf.html |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}
Gymnastics career
Liz Chetkovich first identified Telfer's talent in 1981 at the age of seven. In 1988, at the age of 14, Telfer was chosen to join the WAIS elite squad, training full-time. Telfer went on to represent Australia in the Junior Pacific Alliance Competition in Colorado Springs and the Gymnastics World Championships in West Germany in 1989.
In 1990, Telfer was selected for the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, receiving a bronze medal on bars, which was the first medal achieved by a WAIS gymnast at a Commonwealth Games. In that same year, she won the Junior Sports Star of the Year Award in 1990 and 1991.
Telfer represented Australia at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Telfer retired from gymnastics at the age of 18.
Medical career
After the 1992 Olympic Games, Telfer commenced medical studies at the University of Western Australia and became a paediatrician. She is now an associate professor in Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Prior to running the Gender services, she had not met a trans child until being tasked to taking over care for trans children.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT6vQwZYTp0 |title=Treating Australia’s trans kids made this doctor a 'target' {{!}} Australian Story |date=2021-05-24 |last=ABC News In-depth |access-date=2025-06-29 |via=YouTube}} Her 3rd patient Georgie Stone would go on to be an advocate for transgender rights.{{Cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Laura |date=2018-03-08 |title=Meet Georgie Stone |url=https://www.rchfoundation.org.au/2018/03/meet-georgie-stone/ |access-date=2025-06-29 |website=The Royal Children's Hospital Foundation |language=en-AU}}
In 2017, Telfer alongside others like Georgie Stone & Rebekah Robertson was instrumental in achieving legal reform for trans and gender diverse adolescents through the federal Family Court in the case known as Re Kelvin a ruling that removed the requirement for court approval of Stage 2 treatment of gender affirming hormones where the child, the family and medical staff all agreed. On the day of their victory, Michelle congratulate Georgie and will always remember Georgie that fought first for the freedom to access Gender Affirming care hormones for the child without the requirement from the court.
She is also lead author of the Australian Standards of Care and treatment guidelines for trans and gender diverse children and adolescents.
She was added to Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2022 by medical career.{{Cite web |date= |title=Associate Professor Michelle Telfer |url=https://www.vic.gov.au/associate-professor-michelle-telfer |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=State Government of Victoria |language=en-AU}}
In 2025, it was revealed in a Federal Court judgment that Telfer was the anonymous "Professor L" whose evidence in a high-profile gender dysphoria case was excoriated by the judge for being biased, ideological, and lacking in scientific rigour. The court found her allegiance to the gender-affirming model compromised her objectivity and criticised her for dismissing alternative clinical perspectives.{{cite court
|litigants=Re: Devin
|vol=
|reporter=FedCFamC1F
|opinion=211
|date=3 April 2025
|court=Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1)
|url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sign.cgi/au/cases/cth/FedCFamC1F/2025/211
|access-date=7 June 2025
}}
Personal Life
Filmography
= Film =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Title !Role !Notes ! class="unsortable" |{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |
| 2022
|The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone |Herself |Documentary short |
= Television =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Title !Role !Notes ! class="unsortable" |{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |
| 2016
|Herself |Episode: About A Girl |
References
{{reflist}}
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Category:Australian female artistic gymnasts
Category:Gymnasts at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
Category:Western Australian Institute of Sport alumni
Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia
Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists in gymnastics
Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia
Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in gymnastics
Category:Commonwealth Games gymnasts for Australia
Category:Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
Category:Sportswomen from Western Australia
Category:20th-century Australian sportswomen
{{Australia-artistic-gymnastics-bio-stub}}