Michelle Marian Telfer (born 8 January 1974) is a retired Western Australian gymnast[2] and practising paediatrician.[3]

Michelle Telfer
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1974-01-08) 8 January 1974 (age 50)
Perth[1]
Sport
SportGymnastics
Medal record
Gymnastics
Representing  Australia
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 1990 Auckland Women's Team
Bronze medal – third place 1990 Auckland Women's Uneven Bars

Gymnastics career

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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.

Medical career

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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.

In 2017, Telfer was instrumental in achieving legal reform for trans and gender diverse adolescents through the federal Family Court in the case known as Re Kelvin.

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.

References

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