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Speaker 1: And Amanda jam Nation.

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Speaker 2: Michael Klym is one of Australia's most celebrated athletes, but

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Speaker 2: his story extends further than the pool. His new biography

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Speaker 2: dives into the story of the man behind the metals.

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Speaker 2: We're thrilled to welcome into the show him Michael.

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Speaker 1: Good morning guys, Thank you for having me pleasure to

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Speaker 1: have you on.

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Speaker 3: I I you know, I didn't even realize that you

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Speaker 3: had your your health struggles going on. I just feel

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Speaker 3: that how you going, Is everything okay?

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Speaker 1: Well, look here, it's been nearly five years since I

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Speaker 1: sort of noticed that there was something seriously wrong and

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Speaker 1: my diagnosis. It's been a bit over four years, so

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Speaker 1: I've sort of I'm getting used to living kind of

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Speaker 1: with the new norm, which is it's a it's a

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Speaker 1: big change because physically there is a lot of things

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Speaker 1: that I can't do anymore. I've got, you know, restricted movement, mobility,

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Speaker 1: a lot of due to CIDP, which is a chronic

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Speaker 1: inflammatory demalinating pollen, europathy, and mouthful in the morning. But

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Speaker 1: it's basically where your extremities have an issue with the

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Speaker 1: nerve signals being sent to those parts of your body

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Speaker 1: and the milin sheet around your nerve gets to phrase

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Speaker 1: a little bit so that that sexually kind of your

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Speaker 1: functionality a sensation muscle wastage. And yeah, so physically I'm

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Speaker 1: not the same, but mentally I'm much better having kind

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Speaker 1: of terms come to terms with it because it's been

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Speaker 1: a big change for everybody, not just myself.

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Speaker 2: Oh my bet and for someone who's been such an athlete,

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Speaker 2: when your body changes, that must be be very hard.

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Speaker 2: So many swimmers post this after their swimming careers have

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Speaker 2: said the mental struggle that they had because it's such

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Speaker 2: a solitary experience. Did you struggle like that too?

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Speaker 1: I struggled in a sense that I wanted to keep swimming,

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Speaker 1: and I mentally I felt that I always I was

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Speaker 1: always super devoted, and I talk about it in the

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Speaker 1: book where I didn't I didn't know where this kind

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Speaker 1: of this drive came from. It was maybe still from

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Speaker 1: from my parents. They sort of really set great sort

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Speaker 1: of examples for us in terms of giving us the

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Speaker 1: best opportunity. So I always had this really strong drive,

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Speaker 1: and for me it was actually the opposite. I was

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Speaker 1: quite resentful with my body failing me while I still

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Speaker 1: wanted to swim and you know, I was fortunate enough

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Speaker 1: to have great support network when I retired, and I

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Speaker 1: had you know, started a business very soon after that,

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Speaker 1: so I had interest and I was already could of

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Speaker 1: changing that identity. But you see that with a lot

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Speaker 1: of athletes, they don't actually develop a new set of

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Speaker 1: skills for lifetifter sport, or they don't have planned for

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Speaker 1: that transition, which is it can be really daunting. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it took me ages to realize how to post a letter.

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Speaker 1: I mean, now we don't really post letters anymore anyway,

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Speaker 1: but it's sort of it was just simple task like that,

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Speaker 1: you know, get returns in and a lot.

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Speaker 2: Of life skills had.

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Speaker 1: You absolutely, I mean that's you know, the living at

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Speaker 1: the Institute of Sport, you know, I guess it's spoon

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Speaker 1: fed life in general, you know. So I think it's

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Speaker 1: something that being a pro athlete, and it's very much

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Speaker 1: it's a different kind of existence where you've got so

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Speaker 1: many people in different fields of life working for you

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Speaker 1: to achieve a really high level of performance. And I think,

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Speaker 1: as we all know, in everyday life, you've got responsibilities family,

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Speaker 1: You've got to you know, you've got to provide. There's

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Speaker 1: all these some variables that athletes aren't always ready.

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Speaker 3: For, and you're living in Bali these days, it has

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Speaker 3: care for you over there.

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Speaker 1: Look, it is great for me because I've been there

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Speaker 1: for twelve years and it does a few little sort

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Speaker 1: of creature comforts that are quite a little bit expensive

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Speaker 1: in Australia. You know, I can sort of afford that

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Speaker 1: over there, so in terms of housekeepers and you know,

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Speaker 1: even sometimes having people cook for us or just being

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Speaker 1: able and made the climate is just working up with

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Speaker 1: my aching joints and legs and it's nice to have,

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Speaker 1: you know, just that warm weather pretty much all year round.

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Speaker 1: But I've been there for twelve years, so I'm very

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Speaker 1: familiar with the island and it's it sort of suits

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Speaker 1: me quite well when I can come back to Australia

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Speaker 1: and still do my lifeblood responsibilities and other sort of

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Speaker 1: obviously opportunities have come along, but yeah, Bali's a and

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Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a really special place. I know

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Speaker 1: it's changing, but I think it has that sort of

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Speaker 1: that ability to really relax you and you fall into

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Speaker 1: Bali time. And for me, you know, I've realized over

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Speaker 1: the last few years that you know, being present with

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Speaker 1: family and even not taking on too much. And you know,

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Speaker 1: that was the main reason why I think I got sick.

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Speaker 1: I was really burning the candle at both ends, you know,

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Speaker 1: doing twenty five return trips every year and running you know,

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Speaker 1: doing appearances, running a business, and then trying to trained

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Speaker 1: really hard, and then trying to parents and etcetera. So

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Speaker 1: it was I think it was a it was a

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Speaker 1: really hard lesson to realize that our health is still

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Speaker 1: pretty pretty fragile, even though we think we might be invincible.

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Speaker 1: And unfortunately I had to I had to learn the

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Speaker 1: hard way. But all good.

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Speaker 3: Well, clemmy, it's great to talk you. It's great to

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Speaker 3: hear that you're doing well. Your biography is fantastic. It's

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Speaker 3: available at all good bookstores right now. Michael Clint, thank

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Speaker 3: you for joining us.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, guys. I'm Dick fan Jones and Amanda so

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Speaker 1: lovely to lovely to chat to you guys this morning.

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Speaker 2: You too, Michael, Thank you.

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Speaker 3: Does that mean we're going to get too bin tang

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Speaker 3: single that's coming our way?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, maybe maybe a little temporary tattoo as well.

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Speaker 3: Jones, you demand to teach out for one mate.

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Speaker 1: Beautiful.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 1: Thanks you guys,