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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Female Athlete Project. My name is Chloe Dalton.

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Speaker 1: I'm an Olympic gold medalist in rugby sevens and because

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Speaker 1: I have commitment issues, I've played two other sports at

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Speaker 1: professional level. The last two seasons, I've played for Carlton

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Speaker 1: in the AFLW and prior to that, played for the

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Speaker 1: Sydney Uni Flames in the Women's National Basketball League. I'm

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Speaker 1: currently training full time with the Australian rugby sevens team

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Speaker 1: in preparation for the now Tokyo twenty twenty one Olympics.

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Speaker 1: One of my favorite things to do is to head

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Speaker 1: down to the beach, grab a coffee and the paper,

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Speaker 1: click to the back page and read about sport. I've

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Speaker 1: had enough of only reading stories about men's sport, so

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Speaker 1: I decided to do something about it. One day, female

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Speaker 1: athletes will be recognized by their achievements, not by their gender.

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Speaker 1: Until then, I'm going to chat to and share the

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Speaker 1: stories of epicossy female athletes. This episode is brought to

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Speaker 1: you by Workplace Law. The team at Workplace Law are

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Speaker 1: incredible supporters of Australian female athletes. If you want to

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Speaker 1: find out more about their amazing work, head to workplace

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Speaker 1: law dot com dot au. Ana Mers needs no introduction.

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Speaker 1: She's Australian Sporting Royalty, but for the kids who are

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Speaker 1: too young to have seen her in all her glory.

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Speaker 1: She's a four time Olympian, a six time Olympic medalist

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Speaker 1: and a five time Commonwealth Games gold medalist. During her career,

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Speaker 1: she won eleven World Championships, cementing her spot as the

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Speaker 1: most decorated female track cyclist of all time. As you'll hear,

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Speaker 1: Anna was one of my idols growing up. She personified grit,

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Speaker 1: determination and the Australian fighting spirit. I'm sure Anna has

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Speaker 1: done a thousand interviews in her life, but I was

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Speaker 1: so blown away by her honesty, her incredibly genuine nature,

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Speaker 1: and of course her humility. This chat was so much

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Speaker 1: more than the little kid in me could have ever

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Speaker 1: dreamt of. I hope you enjoy it. Ana Mears, Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Female Athlete Project.

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Speaker 2: AH, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: I'm really really excited to have you on. I was

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Speaker 1: thinking back to the Rio twenty sixteen Olympics and I

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Speaker 1: was at the closing ceremony chatting to boxer Shelley Watts,

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Speaker 1: and I saw you were standing over there. Kind of

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Speaker 1: before we were walking into the stadium. And I've been

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Speaker 1: a very big fan since I was a little Kingdom

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Speaker 1: and watched you compete at the four Olympics, and I

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Speaker 1: was pretty star struck at the fact that you were

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Speaker 1: kind of standing there and Shelley being Shelley, she's very

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Speaker 1: outgoing and she was kind of like, oh, just come

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Speaker 1: say hello, come introduce you. And I came over and

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Speaker 1: I literally was mute. I didn't even I think I

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Speaker 1: probably just said hello, and I kind of ran out

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Speaker 1: of things to say because I was so nervous to

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Speaker 1: actually meet you. So I'm I'm hoping that today I'm

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Speaker 1: a little bit more prepared to ask you a few questions.

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Speaker 2: You're doing very well.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much. But yeah, I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: say thank you so much for coming on and yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a massive honest so I really appreciate your time,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, really looking forward to having a chat.

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Speaker 2: Oh my pleasure.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to start with what that Rio twenty sixteen

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Speaker 1: Olympics was like for you. You had the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: be the flag bear for the Australian team at your

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Speaker 1: fourth Olympics. What was that experience like being able to

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Speaker 1: lead the team out in the opening ceremony.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that was really incredible experience for a number of reasons.

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Speaker 3: I've never filled a position of leadership of that caliber

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Speaker 3: before that moment, and it really just felt to me

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Speaker 3: like it was It gave me the opportunity to really

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Speaker 3: culminate my career with a very special full stop at

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Speaker 3: the end of it. It kind of took off some

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Speaker 3: pressure of performance as well because it was such a

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Speaker 3: significant moment.

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Speaker 2: Funny you mentioned Shelley Watts.

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Speaker 3: When we were marshaling to go into the tunnel and

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Speaker 3: into the stadium. She was front row behind me and

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Speaker 3: the Argentinians were in front, and that was so loud,

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Speaker 3: and I looked at Shelley and Jess Fox was also there,

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Speaker 3: and I said to the girl, so we can't be

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Speaker 3: outdone by the Argentinians. So Shelle's like, yeah, yep, if

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Speaker 3: I'm honest. She got the Oziozziosi chant going. So we

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Speaker 3: were doing our chant and the Argentinians were doing their songs,

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Speaker 3: and you know, the tunnel was dark, and it was long,

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Speaker 3: and this little light at the end of the tunnel,

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Speaker 3: and then the light got bigger and bigger and bigger,

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Speaker 3: and the sound got more and more and more, and

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Speaker 3: then when they announced Australia and you stepped into that light,

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Speaker 3: and you stepped into that roar of one hundred and

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Speaker 3: ten thousand people in the Marcana Stadium, it was just

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Speaker 3: like I got goosebumps thinking about it now. It was

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Speaker 3: such a special memory and what I will never forget.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, very amazing. I recently had the chance to read

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Speaker 1: your book, Our Congratulations. A massive achievement to be able

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Speaker 1: to put all of that down and I'm sure a

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Speaker 1: pretty strange one to be able to share so many

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Speaker 1: big parts of your life. I found it incredible to read.

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Speaker 1: I absolutely loved it. I was in tears and moments

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Speaker 1: and I was smiling, And there were moments that I

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Speaker 1: read that things that I remembered watching you over the years,

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Speaker 1: that like it just came back to me like it

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Speaker 1: was kind of yesterday, Like these moments watching you in

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Speaker 1: your races. And I love kind of reading all the intricacy.

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Speaker 1: So there's a few things that I really love to

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Speaker 1: chat to you about that. And I thought we could

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Speaker 1: go rewind a little bit back to your first Olympics

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and four in Athens. What was the

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Speaker 1: feeling like when you knew you had first qualified for

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Speaker 1: your very first Olympics.

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Speaker 2: It was you know, it was.

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Speaker 3: Awfully surreal and it was really exciting at the same time.

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Speaker 3: You know, when I first got to Athens, I just

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Speaker 3: remember feeling like I literally was living inside a box

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Speaker 3: TV set. Yeah, we didn't have flat TVs back then,

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Speaker 3: so it was like, you know, the box TV. And

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Speaker 3: I really felt like a bit like the kid in

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Speaker 3: the willywom had Chocolate Factory.

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Speaker 2: I got taken out of life and put into that

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Speaker 2: TV box.

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Speaker 3: And all of a sudden I was in the mix

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Speaker 3: of the athlete's village and wearing green and gold of

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Speaker 3: Australia and seeing all these superstars, you know, running into

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Speaker 3: Ian Thorpe. Just it blew my mind. There's just nothing

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Speaker 3: as you would be aware. You can do all this

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Speaker 3: dreaming of what you think it's going to be like,

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Speaker 3: and until you get there, you just it's hard to grasp.

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Speaker 3: And my first games, you know, obviously I had huge success.

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Speaker 3: I want a gold and a bronze medal and I

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Speaker 3: was only twenty years of age and it was just incredible.

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Speaker 3: Like the scary part is that that was like sixteen

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Speaker 3: years ago now so crazy.

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Speaker 1: I loved reading about the lead up to that event

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Speaker 1: and your coach Marv at the time, who would talk

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Speaker 1: to you in your preparation, and he would have this

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Speaker 1: thing that he would say to you. It was last

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Speaker 1: writer at the Olympics, thirty four point one the time

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Speaker 1: to beat and that was the Olympic record at the

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Speaker 1: time in the five hundred meter time trial. Yep. And

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Speaker 1: you had worked out that in order to win that

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Speaker 1: gold medal at your first Olympics, that that was the

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Speaker 1: time that you needed to be. Yeah, what role did

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Speaker 1: that play in your preparation for that event?

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Speaker 2: Huge?

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Speaker 3: Because, like I said, you can do all the physical

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Speaker 3: preparation in the world, but you don't know what that

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Speaker 3: stage is going to do to you mentally and emotionally.

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Speaker 3: And being only twenty years of age and having nothing

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Speaker 3: really to compare it to. My coach Martin Brass and

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Speaker 3: I worked with our sports like George Ridler in trying

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Speaker 3: to prepare me as much as possible in that space.

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Speaker 3: So he was pretty confident it was going to take

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Speaker 3: an Olympic record to win the gold medal, which was

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Speaker 3: thirty four one. My personal best up until that point

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Speaker 3: was thirty four to three, So I had to lift

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Speaker 3: two tents of a second as it was just to

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Speaker 3: be in contention. And you know, understanding that in a

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Speaker 3: race where it takes thirty four seconds, there are so

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Speaker 3: many things that can distract you from those years and

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Speaker 3: years and years of preparation.

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Speaker 2: So the mind, I.

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Speaker 3: Understood very very clearly was going to be the biggest

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Speaker 3: key to my success early on. And so we did

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Speaker 3: some practice drills and he basically said to me, last

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Speaker 3: ride at the Olympics thirty for one to beat.

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Speaker 2: I had the sports like painting a picture of what.

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Speaker 3: That velodrome and the noise and the atmosphere and the

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Speaker 3: visuals and the sounds were going to be like. And

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Speaker 3: I essentially got myself used to the adrenaline and nerves

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Speaker 3: that came with that. Imagineat or road picture, and I remember,

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Speaker 3: you know, thirty four to one ended up being the

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Speaker 3: time to beat. I was the last writer at the Olympics.

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Speaker 3: I watched every woman in the world post a time.

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Speaker 3: Then I had to go out and beat them. And

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Speaker 3: not only did I ride that Olympic record, I wrote

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Speaker 3: a world record and I was the first person to

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Speaker 3: write a sub thirty four second time trial over.

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Speaker 2: A five hundred meter distance.

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Speaker 3: So the funny part about that is my race was

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Speaker 3: two laps long and my celebration was six laps because

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Speaker 3: I just didn't.

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Speaker 2: Want to come off the track.

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Speaker 1: Oh good.

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Speaker 2: My coach was like, well deserved.

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Speaker 1: You get all the lights you need.

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Speaker 2: Well, I rode two k that day.

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Speaker 1: That's so good. I was chatting to a couple of

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Speaker 1: friends the other day about the difference between an individual

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Speaker 1: sport and a team sport. And I've played a lot

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Speaker 1: of team sports throughout my life and I'm currently doing

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Speaker 1: so with the rugby sevens. I used to run cross

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Speaker 1: country when I was a little kid, and it got

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Speaker 1: to a point when I was about twelve years old

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Speaker 1: and I just decided that I couldn't deal with the

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Speaker 1: pressure anymore. I just didn't want to take it. And

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Speaker 1: I thought I decided that team sports were for me.

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Speaker 1: But I think the conversation that I was having with

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Speaker 1: some friends the other day was that it takes an

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Speaker 1: immense amount of courage to be an individual athlete. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because on the day, you obviously have a huge team

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Speaker 1: behind you that contributes so much to your success. And

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Speaker 1: I know that's a really big part of it. But

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Speaker 1: on the day, you're the one who's out there on

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Speaker 1: the track and you're the one that has got that

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Speaker 1: pressure on you. And I'm sure that throughout your career

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Speaker 1: is probably something that you learned to deal with better.

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Speaker 1: But how did you deal with some of that pressure

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Speaker 1: throughout your career?

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Speaker 3: Yes, pressure and expectation changed as my career went on

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Speaker 3: in the years and success built. Like you said, I'm

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Speaker 3: an individual athlete, but I do belong to a much

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Speaker 3: larger team. You know of a staffing unit between twenty

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Speaker 3: and thirty members who are all experts in their field,

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Speaker 3: because I can't be an expert in all of them

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Speaker 3: for me to be able to execute on the day.

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Speaker 3: And it's funny this notion that a lot of the

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Speaker 3: public have about the selfish nature of an individual athlete

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Speaker 3: comparative to an athlete who will play in a team sport.

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Speaker 3: But we are very much team orientated people, but we

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Speaker 3: carry the pressure of at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: every person in that team has to let go and

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Speaker 3: trust that the preparation has been done, checked and given

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Speaker 3: in a manner that is understandable for the athlete to

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Speaker 3: execute at the.

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Speaker 2: End of the day.

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Speaker 3: And for me, I knew I had a great team

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Speaker 3: behind me. I had the best people that I could

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Speaker 3: possibly have in my corner, and I wore very heavily

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Speaker 3: anytime that I messed up at competition. I never blamed

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Speaker 3: anyone for mistakes or losses, but I thanked everyone when

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Speaker 3: those moments of success happened. And I learned over time

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Speaker 3: that success is actually really rare. You know, I've won

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Speaker 3: eleven world titles, which you know, I've got those medals

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Speaker 3: hanging up behind me in my career, and that makes

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Speaker 3: me it. When I retired, that made me the most

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Speaker 3: successful woman in my discipline in the world. But I

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Speaker 3: had lost a further twenty nine attempts to be world champion.

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Speaker 3: So I've won more than everyone else in the world,

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Speaker 3: but I have lost more than I have won. And

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Speaker 3: that says a huge, profound statement on the mentality of

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Speaker 3: what it takes to understand got to lose sometimes to win,

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Speaker 3: And so I'm very thankful for my team. I found

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Speaker 3: the pressure and expectation built my own anxiety, built on

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Speaker 3: my own anxiety over time, and I actually, to this

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Speaker 3: day now that I'm retired, struggle to put myself in

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Speaker 3: spaces that carry a lot of stress and pressure and expectation,

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Speaker 3: because I have really enjoyed letting that go for.

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Speaker 2: A little bit.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I'm sure you have. I think you've hurt that one.

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Speaker 1: Looking at two thousand and eight at the World Cup

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Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, you had an accident where you came

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Speaker 1: off your bike and fractured the C two vertebrate in

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Speaker 1: your neck. What did that feel like that moment that

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Speaker 1: you came off your bike and hit the track.

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Speaker 3: It felt like I was instantly hungover. I know that

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Speaker 3: sounds really weird, but I knew I was falling as

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Speaker 3: soon as my head hit the track. I felt instantly nauseous,

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Speaker 3: and then I was knocked unconscious. I came to when

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Speaker 3: I was on the bottom of the track, but I

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Speaker 3: was out again before I got rolled onto the stretcher.

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Speaker 3: But felt like I was maybe a little bit too

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Speaker 3: much fuss. You know, these sorts of falls happened at

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Speaker 3: every competition. I just seemed to fall awkwardly, or the

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Speaker 3: impact seemed to, you know, kind of the whiplash impact

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Speaker 3: was more the damage than the impact of hitting the track.

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Speaker 2: It was tough, you know.

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Speaker 3: Some five or six hours later, when I was told

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Speaker 3: by the medical team that I had actually broken my neck.

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Speaker 3: Because I was only seven months from the Olympic Games

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Speaker 3: and I was there at that race to qualify, I

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Speaker 3: had to I was halfway through qualification. I still had

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Speaker 3: two races around the world that I had to get

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Speaker 3: to to qualify, and so it was an extremely stressful time,

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Speaker 3: not just for me but for the team because at

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Speaker 3: this point.

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Speaker 2: You know, we were very much.

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Speaker 3: Underrepresented as in terms of women female track sprinters at

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Speaker 3: the Olympic Games. We had one event comparative to our

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Speaker 3: male counterparts who had three, So.

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Speaker 2: There was a lot of pressure at that time as well.

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Speaker 3: So being injured, I couldn't write the last few qualification races.

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Speaker 3: I had done enough prior to my fall to qualify

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Speaker 3: one spot for.

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Speaker 2: Australia by bear margin I think four points.

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Speaker 3: I had to prove to selectors that I was going

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Speaker 3: to be fit enough to fill it by four and

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Speaker 3: a half months after my fall. In that time, they

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Speaker 3: had to start to look elsewhere in case I wasn't

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Speaker 3: going to be fit enough. Obviously, the next person who

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Speaker 3: was also challenging for that spot was my sister carry

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Speaker 3: amongst a number of other women, and unfortunately for her,

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Speaker 3: I pushed so hard in my rehab and recovery to

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Speaker 3: make my dream happen that unfortunately her dream didn't happen

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Speaker 3: for her.

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Speaker 1: And that's a really interesting one because then it was

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Speaker 1: I think not into twenty twelve that they put some

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Speaker 1: changes in place to make it equal between the and

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Speaker 1: women's events, so it wasn't just the one writer that

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Speaker 1: was able to go. And I also found it really

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Speaker 1: interesting reading your book. There was a story I think

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Speaker 1: you were training with a few male cyclists and there

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Speaker 1: was a point where you kind of stood up for

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Speaker 1: something that you didn't think was right, and your coach,

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Speaker 1: Marv at the time said to you, I don't think

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Speaker 1: they're ready for a female leader.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Pretty astounding, but I think probably a relatively common experience,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately for a lot of female athletes, this notion of

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Speaker 1: when you stand up and when you're outspoken and things

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Speaker 1: like that. How do you think that you kind of

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Speaker 1: navigated that and do you think there's been a change

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Speaker 1: from when you first started as a really young cyclist

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Speaker 1: where you're at now post career for what that looks

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Speaker 1: like for females, whether it's specifically in cycling or across

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Speaker 1: sport as a whole.

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Speaker 3: Look when I first came into the sport, it was

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Speaker 3: heavily male dominated. We didn't get equal prize money until

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Speaker 3: two thousand and nine as female athletes, and we didn't

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Speaker 3: get equal Olympic events until twenty twelve. So that's a

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Speaker 3: very modern date to still be unequal or to finally

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Speaker 3: get equality in terms of opportunity. So I'm very grateful

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Speaker 3: to be have been involved in my sport at a

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Speaker 3: time when that happened. I'm thankful for the women who

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Speaker 3: preceded me, who made all those pressures and opportunities happen today.

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Speaker 3: And I know that women female track cyclists who will

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Speaker 3: follow my career benefit for the things that I have

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Speaker 3: progressed in the time that I was involved. You know, interestingly,

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Speaker 3: like with that comment or that story I shared around

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Speaker 3: Martin Brass and my male team colleagues. You know, culture

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Speaker 3: is an interesting one and it takes a long time

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Speaker 3: for culture to shift and change, and you have to

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Speaker 3: have people who are open minded to that change. You know,

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Speaker 3: a lot of people don't like change because it's just,

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Speaker 3: you know, it upheaves a lot of things that they're

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Speaker 3: comfortable with, and that a lot of people don't like

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Speaker 3: change for that reason. So at the time, I wasn't

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Speaker 3: trying to be a leader, So the comment actually opened

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Speaker 3: my eyes to the fact that he believed that I was.

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Speaker 2: Really for me.

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Speaker 3: I was just kind of battling and surviving every day training.

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Speaker 3: So in some ways, I think he really made me

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Speaker 3: look at the fact that I was leadership material and

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Speaker 3: we became fantastic friends still to this day, and he's

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Speaker 3: been a wonderful support in every regard.

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Speaker 2: Right from the get go.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, it's hard when moments like that happen because

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Speaker 3: it's easy to second guess yourself and go back into your.

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Speaker 2: Shell, which I did deliberately in that story.

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Speaker 3: If you might remember to the point where they thought

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Speaker 3: something was terribly wrong and I withdrew from the team.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's the team, like you would understand, everyone

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Speaker 3: has to be on the same page.

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Speaker 2: It's not one shoe for one person, one shoe for another.

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Speaker 1: Now for a quick half time break. Workplace Law is

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00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,760
Speaker 1: a law firm focused on supporting and empowering FEMA athletes

351
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,440
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352
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:17,399
Speaker 1: an agent or would like to manage your own career,

353
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,680
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354
00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 1: athletes with guidance through the complexities of player contracts, negotiations

355
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:29,199
Speaker 1: and sponsorship agreements, personal brand building, mentoring with on and

356
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,720
Speaker 1: off field careers, crisis management, and work with individuals to

357
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,359
Speaker 1: ensure they respond to incidents and media stories in an

358
00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:40,560
Speaker 1: appropriate manner, and advice and representation in disciplinary hearings and tribunals.

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00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,360
Speaker 1: Find out more at www dot Workplace law dot com

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00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:48,760
Speaker 1: dot AU. Back to two thousand and eight, and you

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Speaker 1: qualified for Beijing and you made the time for that

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Speaker 1: two hundred meter time trial going into that Olympics. What

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Speaker 1: do you think it was Because that's obviously a pretty

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Speaker 1: significant injury to have even months out from the Olympics,

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Speaker 1: And I kind of beforehand, I'm like, I'm sure Anna's

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Speaker 1: talked about this story many times in her life, but

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Speaker 1: it's so interesting that I put this question out on

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Speaker 1: the Instagram page for the podcast, and that was the

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Speaker 1: one thing so many people said, how on earth do

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Speaker 1: you come back from breaking your neck seven months out

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Speaker 1: from the Olympics and have the courage to get yourself

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Speaker 1: back on the bike and compete at that level.

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Well, firstly, I was young and naive, and I honestly

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Speaker 3: felt fine, and I think.

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Speaker 2: That I didn't even though I.

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Speaker 3: Understood the severity of the injury, the severity didn't quite

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Speaker 3: equal where my head and my heart related it, you know,

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Speaker 3: does that make sense? And I think because I had

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Speaker 3: had a taste of Olympic Games, an Olympic Game success,

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Speaker 3: I was desperate for that again. And it's really not

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Speaker 3: until you have something taken from you that you realiz

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Speaker 3: how much you really want it or you don't. And

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Speaker 3: that's where I found myself in that moment. I'm pretty

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Speaker 3: stubborn and I'm pretty dogged when I make a decision,

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Speaker 3: and I was very, very adamant that I was going

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Speaker 3: to push to try and make that happen. Not just

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Speaker 3: because I wanted it and all those dreams and things,

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Speaker 3: but as you would understand from reading my book, there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of people and a lot of things that

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Speaker 3: went into my life and the opportunities that I've had

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Speaker 3: in my life.

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Speaker 2: And I wanted to capitalize on that.

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Speaker 3: If I was in that situation now, I would definitely

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Speaker 3: respond very differently, very differently, because I guess life, age

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Speaker 3: time perspective shifts things, and when you're young and gung

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Speaker 3: ho you're kind of like, nah, I'll be fine, I'll

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Speaker 3: bounce back.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: To be honest, sometimes I sit there and wonder myself

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Speaker 3: how I got through.

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Speaker 1: That, and you came through with the would you want

403
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Speaker 1: a silver medal in Beijing and absolutely amazing achievement. After

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Speaker 1: what that year held for you, What did that silver

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Speaker 1: metal signify in that moment?

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Speaker 3: It signified relief, it signified a reward, but it also

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Speaker 3: signified for me capability. And this is an interesting one

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Speaker 3: because you understand, I was Olympic champion in two thousand

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Speaker 3: and four, so I had pushed and achieved and reached

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Speaker 3: some pretty pretty great heights up until that point. But

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Speaker 3: I realized I could be better, I could do more,

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Speaker 3: and I also realized in other areas I was terribly

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Speaker 3: weak and I was very vulnerable. And so really, what

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Speaker 3: that medal did for me and that whole experience was

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Speaker 3: helped me to understand my capabilities, my strength and weaknesses,

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Speaker 3: and the simple fact.

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Speaker 2: That not just I could be good, but I could

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Speaker 2: be great.

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Speaker 3: And that made me really excited after that silver medal

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Speaker 3: to apply so much of what I'd learned about myself

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Speaker 3: through that experience to being a better athlete.

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Speaker 2: In the next four year cycle, and.

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Speaker 3: You can really define my career by pre and post accident.

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Speaker 3: You know, I won two of my world titles prior

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Speaker 3: to my accident. I won nine after, you know it.

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Speaker 3: I learnt so much from that moment.

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Speaker 1: It's amazing. And not long after two thousand and eight,

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Speaker 1: you had a new coach come into the fold, Gary West,

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Speaker 1: and I was really interested to read about the initial

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Speaker 1: relationship that the two of you had. You didn't quite

431
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Speaker 1: hit it off from the beginning. Now you had different

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Speaker 1: communication styles, and you were quite inquisitive in the way

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Speaker 1: that you wanted to know why you were doing exercises

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Speaker 1: and what it was achieving. And for me, I guess

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Speaker 1: the more that I've progressed through my career, I've come

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Speaker 1: to appreciate that as well. I think that as an

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Speaker 1: elite athlete, I think there's a lot of value in

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Speaker 1: knowing what you're doing and why you're doing it, and

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Speaker 1: I think that you get a lot more out of

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Speaker 1: it rather than just rocking up to training and listening

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Speaker 1: to what the coach says and going through the motions.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to know how that relationship kind of developed

443
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:17,239
Speaker 1: from that initial phase and from there and to what

444
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 1: you were then able to achieve as coach and athlete together.

445
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 2: Yeah.

446
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:26,240
Speaker 3: Well, I actually knew Gary from before when he became

447
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,359
Speaker 3: the head coach, and we had a fine relationship, but

448
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 3: he'd just done some overseeing sessions as he was the

449
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,560
Speaker 3: state coach for South Australia at the time, but having

450
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,720
Speaker 3: to work with him full time at a time where

451
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 3: I was already emotionally very charged after my coach had been,

452
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 3: in my opinion, unfairly moved on. And I think it

453
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,240
Speaker 3: would be fair of me to say, because Gary's obviously

454
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 3: not here to make comment, but I think it would

455
00:23:58,080 --> 00:23:59,359
Speaker 3: be fair of me to say that I was one

456
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 3: of the most challenging athletes that he ever worked with,

457
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 3: in that I wasn't an athlete that you just write

458
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:06,280
Speaker 3: a program for and I go and do it and

459
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 3: I don't ask questions. I like to understand what I'm doing,

460
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,399
Speaker 3: have the information so that I can buy into the plan,

461
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:15,879
Speaker 3: understand the strategy so that I can then.

462
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 2: Execute the strategy.

463
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 3: And I am that I was an athlete that needed

464
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 3: to work with the coach as opposed to kind of

465
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,359
Speaker 3: be held at arm's length by a piece of paper

466
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 3: in a program. So It took a lot for us

467
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,680
Speaker 3: to get on the same page because my style made

468
00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 3: Gary feel threatened in his or his understanding of me

469
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 3: challenging his ability to coach, And that's not what it was.

470
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:43,679
Speaker 3: It was just I wanted to understand what he wanted

471
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 3: from me as an athlete, and it took us a while,

472
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 3: but once we kind of butted heads for probably twelve

473
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,919
Speaker 3: to eighteen months, we finally just sat down to the

474
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 3: point where I was prepared to leave the program because

475
00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 3: we just weren't going in the right direction. And and

476
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 3: he basically said to me, I'm sorry, I heard you,

477
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 3: but I wasn't listening. And we realized that we were

478
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 3: there for the same reasons. We were there to achieve

479
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,000
Speaker 3: the same things, and we needed each other to make

480
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,040
Speaker 3: it happen, and we needed to get to know each

481
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 3: other as a result. So once we nadded that out,

482
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 3: we became a hell of a team that was very,

483
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,679
Speaker 3: very successful in the next eight year period of my career.

484
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, and looking at the London twenty twelve Olympics, a

485
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: pretty huge part of your career and something that still

486
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: sticks with me from watching it back then. In the

487
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 1: preparation to the sprint event, so into going into race

488
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 1: one became a photo finish between you and rival Victoria

489
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 1: Pendleton for her home Olympics. We beat you by one

490
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 1: thousandth of a second and was then subsequently relegated because

491
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: she crossed those the sprinter's line, yes, across the sprinter's

492
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: line and gave you a bit of a bump, So

493
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,399
Speaker 1: she was relegated. So you took out race one of

494
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: the sprint. I'd like to play a quick audio clip

495
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 1: for you from race too, so you know this one

496
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: very well, but I thought i'd play this one four.

497
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 4: Year Pendleton leads me as Price to jump her down

498
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 4: the back straight and she's got her on the outside.

499
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,159
Speaker 4: Enemy as goes to the lead, Pendleton, I think is.

500
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 2: A split force.

501
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 4: It's enemies as goal wreck, it's anemy is winning gold

502
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 4: eleven three, four eight. She's upset a great rival in

503
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 4: the Olympic final in one in consecutive races. What an upsett.

504
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:37,399
Speaker 1: Moments before you'd implemented the track stand, yes, which was

505
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 1: all part of a very big plan that was about

506
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 1: eighteen months out from the London Olympics. As part of

507
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,040
Speaker 1: the project know they.

508
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 2: Enemy three years. That plan took.

509
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 1: Oh three years. Okay, Yeah, longer than I thought.

510
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we tried it. We'll try We trialed it

511
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 3: eighteen months out.

512
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,480
Speaker 1: Okay. So can you go into a little bit of

513
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 1: detail about the No Enemy project that you implemented to

514
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:03,200
Speaker 1: win that race.

515
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 2: Yeah.

516
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 3: So the know th Enemy project stemmed from the art

517
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,920
Speaker 3: of the Samurai in that it wasn't about knowing your enemy.

518
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 3: It was about knowing yourself so that you could front

519
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 3: up and compete against your enemy. So a lot of

520
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 3: people think that that pat was about Pendleton, but it

521
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,440
Speaker 3: was really about Pendleton so that I could be better

522
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,879
Speaker 3: because she was the best sprinter in the world and

523
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,679
Speaker 3: had been undefeated up until that point by six for

524
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,879
Speaker 3: six years, no one had worked out how to beat her.

525
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,479
Speaker 2: That's how good she was, like, she was phenomenal.

526
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 3: And I knew that if ARA was going to beat her,

527
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,040
Speaker 3: I had to get better because she wasn't going to

528
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:42,439
Speaker 3: get worse. So my coaching staff and sports science teams

529
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 3: came up with the No Dienidymy project, and basically what

530
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,000
Speaker 3: we did was we watched hundreds.

531
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 2: Of hours of footage.

532
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 3: We broke Victoria Pendleton down into statistical data so that

533
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:58,400
Speaker 3: we knew exactly what her choices of pattern of behavior were,

534
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,199
Speaker 3: and which ones she wanted to avoid, what time she

535
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:03,880
Speaker 3: started to accelerate, what position on the track she preferred,

536
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,920
Speaker 3: and when we broke her down to data, some really

537
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 3: interesting things happened. Firstly, the emotion was removed from the situation.

538
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 3: So you take that out of a human rivalry where

539
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 3: you sport Ossie versus Britain, you know you've got every

540
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,480
Speaker 3: possible concoction you could ever have for perfect recipe here,

541
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 3: you take that out, it allows you to see the

542
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 3: data and the information much more clearly in order to

543
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,680
Speaker 3: be able to create the strategy to execute on race day.

544
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 3: And what we were able to see was simply in

545
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 3: a sprint match, when she had her opponent in front

546
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 3: of her, she won them.

547
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 2: A large majority of the races.

548
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 3: But on the few occasions we saw where she was

549
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,960
Speaker 3: in front of her opponents, meaning you know, the rival

550
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 3: was behind her, that success rate dropped by a significant margin.

551
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 3: So we realized that my best chance to win against

552
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 3: the best in the world was to force her into

553
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 3: a position that she least practiced and therefore was least

554
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 3: successful in, and that was in the front position.

555
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 2: So it took us a while to.

556
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 3: Nut that out and work out the best way to

557
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 3: catch her off guard and shift her from the back

558
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 3: to the front. Because in a sprint match it's the

559
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 3: best of three. You have to beat your opponent twice,

560
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 3: not just once, so we have to be We had

561
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 3: to be very careful about what cards we played and when,

562
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 3: and so we a year and a half out at

563
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 3: the World Championships trialed the track stand, which.

564
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 2: Is a skill that anyone can use.

565
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 3: It doesn't always get, you know, used, and it doesn't

566
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 3: always end in success.

567
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 2: But what we learned was I could perform this skill.

568
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,719
Speaker 3: Better than she could, and because we had played it early,

569
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 3: we didn't play that card again until we met her

570
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,959
Speaker 3: in the final a year and a half later. So

571
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 3: nowhere in Australia or the world did I use that

572
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 3: skill again trying to throw her and her team off

573
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 3: of the simple fact of what you don't see is

574
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,200
Speaker 3: what you don't expect, So it's sort of thing. And

575
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 3: then lo and behold on race day in London, pull

576
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 3: out a completely different race strategy to what they've been

577
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 3: working towards and seeing for the last year and a half,

578
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 3: and for us it ultimately paid huge success.

579
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: Huge an incredible moment. And some of the other parts

580
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: that I loved learning about was your preparation to that moment.

581
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 1: You talked with John Els, who played for the Wallabies,

582
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 1: and I've grown up in a rugby family idolizing players

583
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: like John Els and the success that the Wallabies had

584
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,240
Speaker 1: over that period. So the Wallabies every time they play

585
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: in New Zealand, who would be their biggest rivals? I

586
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: have to stand while the New Zealand players performed the Hacker,

587
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: which is obviously a very hard position to be put

588
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: in for standing against your opposition to be performing something

589
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: like this. And you were able to take a couple

590
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 1: of tips from John Els what he'd learned from that

591
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,479
Speaker 1: process to how you would be able to prepare yourself

592
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: for the big moment in front of a home crowd

593
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:54,480
Speaker 1: for your competitor.

594
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.

595
00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:00,120
Speaker 3: This rivalry between Penalton and I was huge, and I

596
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 3: knew I was the villain going into her home home

597
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 3: Olympics and she was the queen of the British not

598
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 3: just the cycling team, but the British Olympic team. So

599
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 3: if I was going to get success over Penalton, like

600
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 3: it was just going to be brutal in front of

601
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 3: a home crowd, and it was it was brutal. And

602
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 3: so it was my sports scientist Nick Fleiser who suggested,

603
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,520
Speaker 3: seeing that John Eels was our mentor for the games,

604
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 3: that I pick his brain around how he dealt with

605
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 3: hostile crowds and you know those pressure moments when he

606
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 3: needed to line up for a kick and you know,

607
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 3: you can hear comments in the crowd and things like that,

608
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 3: and really we were able to take away so many gems,

609
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 3: but the biggest one was just simply how to how

610
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 3: to take some control in an environment that you have

611
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,560
Speaker 3: very little to no control over, and especially in a

612
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 3: one on one competition situation like the sprint, even if

613
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 3: it's five seconds of control, it can make a huge impact.

614
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,280
Speaker 2: And basically to take the.

615
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 3: Kick or the sting out of the crowd, we just

616
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 3: let Victoria Pendleton go on the track first to soak

617
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 3: in all that noise and all that adulation. And I

618
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 3: just sat there with my coach and waited till the

619
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 3: pitch dropped, because I knew then the crowd was no

620
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 3: longer focused on you know, Victoria Pendleton, They were focused

621
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 3: on me, and I wasn't going to be overwhelmed by

622
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 3: the noise that went with Victoria Pendleton.

623
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 2: We let her have that all on our own and

624
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 2: it helped me.

625
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 3: Like I remember, I can see the footage, you know,

626
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 3: I'm just taking huge deep breaths, my shoulders are going

627
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 3: up and down on the bike, and I just remember

628
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,480
Speaker 3: the feeling of anxiety and pressure in that very moment.

629
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 3: And I looked very calm on the outside, but I

630
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 3: tell you what, it was churning like you wouldn't believe inside.

631
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,680
Speaker 2: Holy shit, I never ever want to feel that again.

632
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 2: Oh wow.

633
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 1: Oh I feel like I'm sweating here just thinking about it.

634
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 3: It's funny, you know, I do these little trips down

635
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 3: memory lane when I talk about these things, and it honestly,

636
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,479
Speaker 3: what I feel now, eight years later is exactly what

637
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 3: I felt on the line, you know. And I'll need

638
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 3: a nap after this is because like all the adrenaline

639
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 3: and shit's going through my body.

640
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:23,640
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's crazy.

641
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: Sorry about that.

642
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 2: I sleep well.

643
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 1: Oh good good. So coming home from your third Olympics

644
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 1: with your second goal, what was that? Like? I know

645
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 1: for us, after we won a gold medal in Rio,

646
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 1: we had a couple of people make comments that you'll

647
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: never have to work a day again in your life.

648
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,160
Speaker 1: You're going to have the sponsors planning on in and

649
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: you're going to be rich and blah blah blah. But

650
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: I've found personally that's quite different from what the reality is. Like,

651
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 1: What was that like for you coming home after each Olympics,

652
00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 1: which is obviously such a big build up, but it's

653
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: only every four year cycle.

654
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, So after Athens, I well, obviously first Games, I

655
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 3: was a part of a hugely successful team. We had

656
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,040
Speaker 3: twenty gold medals won, so in a way, I was

657
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 3: a name that got lost in the success of that team.

658
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 2: I didn't get any sponsors.

659
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,320
Speaker 3: We had drug issues in our sport at the time,

660
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 3: and no one wanted to touch an athlete from cycling.

661
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 2: Didn't matter whether I was Olympic champion, world champion, world

662
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:26,240
Speaker 2: record hold, it doesn't matter.

663
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 3: So I went back to working two jobs after my

664
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:33,279
Speaker 3: first Olympic Games because I had no other money, and

665
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,839
Speaker 3: I you know, but I also learned about simple fact that.

666
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 2: No one owed me anything just because i'd won, you know,

667
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:42,319
Speaker 2: like it.

668
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,479
Speaker 3: I didn't need that as a reward because I got

669
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 3: that reward.

670
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 2: I got the reward, I got the medal, you know, and.

671
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 3: I think because I had that attitude and I went

672
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,520
Speaker 3: through my experience leading into Beijing, I think in some

673
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,720
Speaker 3: ways that probably helped me build my profile over time.

674
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 3: So I came home relatively unknown from Athens, went back,

675
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 3: started working two jobs. Came home from Beijing, and a

676
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 3: lot of people go, oh, you're the girl a broke

677
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,239
Speaker 3: a neck. So I was starting to get some recognition

678
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 3: and joining of the dots by the public because I'm

679
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 3: not in a high profile sport and they tune in

680
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 3: every two to four years when Common Games or Olympic

681
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 3: Games are on.

682
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:23,360
Speaker 2: So then I come home from Athens.

683
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 3: And the whole hype and rivalry of Pendleton and Ossie

684
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 3: versus brit and everyone's like thank you because we.

685
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 2: Only won seven gold medals as a team in London.

686
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 3: So the fact that I beat a brit to do

687
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,920
Speaker 3: it gave all the Aussies who were living abroad but

688
00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 3: also at home a chance to finally serve back to

689
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 3: the Bombs.

690
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:42,320
Speaker 2: Who were winning everything.

691
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,760
Speaker 3: And so you know, I became animeirs the Olympic champion.

692
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,200
Speaker 3: And then I came home from Rio and I honestly

693
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:55,319
Speaker 3: felt like it Ria wasn't a success because I didn't

694
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:57,760
Speaker 3: win a gold medal, and I understood what the public

695
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 3: perception of what success was for me, even that was

696
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,399
Speaker 3: very different to what my own individual assessment of what

697
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,279
Speaker 3: that would have been. I came home from Rio and

698
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 3: was blown away by the love and support and everything

699
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,720
Speaker 3: that came with eventually hanging up the bike after twenty

700
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 3: four years. And I think in some ways, because it

701
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 3: was such a long career as successful career and I

702
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,320
Speaker 3: was pretty honest in who I was in that time,

703
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:34,359
Speaker 3: that people grew with me and felt the winds, they

704
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:35,880
Speaker 3: felt the losses.

705
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 2: They saw the emotion, they saw the accidents, the pain,

706
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 2: everything that was in between.

707
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 3: And really sports people are the real life version of

708
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,319
Speaker 3: reality TV, and so for a lot of people, I

709
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,919
Speaker 3: was part of that era for them. So I'm really

710
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 3: grateful that Australians remember me and have that connection as.

711
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,600
Speaker 2: A result of my love and my execution of my sport.

712
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,319
Speaker 1: I want to go into into post ReHO on a

713
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 1: little bit, but I thought twenty fifteen was a pretty

714
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:12,279
Speaker 1: huge moment where you won your eleventh world title and

715
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,279
Speaker 1: became the most successful female as you mentioned before in

716
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 1: your sport with eleven world titles, but you also touched

717
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,800
Speaker 1: on the fact that there was a twenty nine losses

718
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: that you had at that level as well. I was

719
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: listening to it. I don't know if you listened to

720
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:26,440
Speaker 1: Tim Ferriss at all, but I was listening to a

721
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:27,880
Speaker 1: podcast with him the other day and he asked a

722
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 1: question which was what was what has been your favorite failure?

723
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:34,360
Speaker 1: Which I thought was just a really I just really

724
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 1: liked that question in terms of what has been your favorite,

725
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:38,799
Speaker 1: what has it taught you, and what have you got

726
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 1: the most out of from that experience?

727
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 2: That is a great question. I have never been asked

728
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 2: that question.

729
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:46,800
Speaker 1: I should have pretended it was my own question.

730
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:54,360
Speaker 3: Dammit, Yeah, what is my favorite failure? I really have

731
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 3: to think about that, because you never you don't often

732
00:37:57,600 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 3: look at failure with favorable ye.

733
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 2: I honestly don't know. No, I do, Okay, I do.

734
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,759
Speaker 3: It will be the Kieran Final at the London Olympics,

735
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:11,919
Speaker 3: and it would be that because I was the reigning

736
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 3: world champion, I went off script, I got ahead of myself.

737
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 3: I made the wrong decision and I flounded in front

738
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 3: of millions and I cost my team a result that

739
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,759
Speaker 3: as a team we were already struggling and we're in

740
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 3: a performance based industry, and I knew that we needed

741
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,040
Speaker 3: the results in order to get the funding to go

742
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 3: forward the next four years. So I found that loss

743
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 3: particularly brutal emotionally. I remember writing messages to family, to sponsors,

744
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:55,400
Speaker 3: to friends apologizing for what they witnessed, and I just

745
00:38:55,560 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 3: felt like it was appalling for someone where the green

746
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 3: and gold.

747
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 2: But I learned from.

748
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:09,320
Speaker 3: That, which is probably why it's my favorite that even

749
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 3: when you're at the top of the tree, nothing's perfect,

750
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,400
Speaker 3: and in some ways, that in itself is perfect.

751
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 2: You know.

752
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,080
Speaker 3: I spent all my life and career trying to do

753
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,560
Speaker 3: everything to the nth degree in the finest detail and

754
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:24,920
Speaker 3: winning by more than you know, a thousandth of a second.

755
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:29,840
Speaker 3: But sometimes it's the imperfect moments that help you be

756
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:30,480
Speaker 3: more perfect.

757
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:31,960
Speaker 2: So I'll go with that one.

758
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:34,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really like that. Every week on the show,

759
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 1: I have a question from a five year old and

760
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 1: from my grandma.

761
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,320
Speaker 2: I love it.

762
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: So the first question is from five year old Freda,

763
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:49,040
Speaker 1: who we have shown some vision of you cycling him.

764
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 1: Do you ever get dizzy going around and around of

765
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 1: the circle?

766
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 2: I love it. I just love it.

767
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 3: Look, I don't get dizzy, But I actually find it

768
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,760
Speaker 3: hard to go the opposite way because I always turned left.

769
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 3: So if I ever rode the villageron backwards, which is

770
00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:11,640
Speaker 3: a very rare thing to do, I actually really struggled

771
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:16,720
Speaker 3: and it seemed really steep. So I am better turning

772
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:19,120
Speaker 3: left on a pushbike than I am turning right because

773
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 3: I did it for so long.

774
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,919
Speaker 1: Wow, Derek Zulander can only turn left?

775
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:24,239
Speaker 2: Yes.

776
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:29,279
Speaker 1: Second question is from my granny, hi Anna. I am

777
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: a mother of three and have ten lovely grandchildren. What

778
00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:37,120
Speaker 1: has been your favorite part of becoming a mother?

779
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:42,080
Speaker 2: Well, thank you Granning. Congratulations on your family. They're beautiful.

780
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:48,480
Speaker 3: Thank My favorite part of becoming a mother has been

781
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:53,640
Speaker 3: that she's slowed me down in that I love to

782
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 3: spend every second and every moment with her.

783
00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 2: I love.

784
00:40:56,719 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 3: My favorite part of the day is opening the door

785
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,279
Speaker 3: to her room and seeing how happy she gets to

786
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 3: see me walk in and pick her up out of

787
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,839
Speaker 3: the cot. The next favorite part of my day is

788
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 3: the excitement when she sees what food she's getting for breakfast.

789
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:12,799
Speaker 2: You know, like that veggie might tast Oh.

790
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, veggie might toast Like it's so exciting, but it's

791
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:19,120
Speaker 3: just it's Veggie might toast and I love the fact

792
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:25,080
Speaker 3: that everything is new. She's never seen her touch, tasted

793
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,920
Speaker 3: anything before, and I think she's helped me, as a result,

794
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 3: enjoy the really simple, fine things in life and become

795
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:35,919
Speaker 3: a bit more of a kid again.

796
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really nice. I love that. One of the

797
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:41,160
Speaker 1: biggest moments that stuck with me reading your book was

798
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:45,000
Speaker 1: quite early on, actually you talked about what you'd been

799
00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:48,480
Speaker 1: through with your retirement and in your personal life and

800
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: losing your coach Gary to mooden your own disease after

801
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:55,839
Speaker 1: the Real Olympics, and you talked about not being able

802
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 1: to sleep at night and being anxious and just feeling

803
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:02,720
Speaker 1: so alone. I'm getting emotional because it was also something

804
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 1: that I the past eighteen months have really struggled with,

805
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: is my sleeping and anxiety and things like that. And

806
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:10,200
Speaker 1: it was quite incredible to read about what you went

807
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,840
Speaker 1: through and to empathize with that feeling of that feeling

808
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 1: of loneliness, but also beautiful to read about the way

809
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 1: that you had family and friends around you that you

810
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 1: would call in the middle of the night in those moments,

811
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:26,839
Speaker 1: and the way that you were able to reach out

812
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:30,120
Speaker 1: for help from them and also from professional help and

813
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 1: the really important components like that, What do you think

814
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,560
Speaker 1: that that journey has been like for you post sport

815
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:40,320
Speaker 1: and with everything that you went through.

816
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a hell of a run, that's for sure.

817
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:49,320
Speaker 3: And for those who haven't read my book to give context,

818
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,600
Speaker 3: my book, The New One is not your typical sports

819
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,840
Speaker 3: autobiography book, and in some ways, it's very theatrical in

820
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 3: how it's written. It's not I was born here, I

821
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:03,319
Speaker 3: grew up here, I got to sport here. It's very

822
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,839
Speaker 3: much pointed around moments in time and experiences in order

823
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 3: to showcase the moment, showcase the lesson and the path

824
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 3: out or away from those experiences.

825
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,839
Speaker 2: And the opening chapter of.

826
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:23,280
Speaker 3: The book is not what anyone expected, and that's because

827
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:28,680
Speaker 3: behind closed doors often we are our true selves and

828
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 3: sometimes we fear being our true selves when we step outside,

829
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:34,840
Speaker 3: and we've got to put on this brave mask.

830
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,480
Speaker 2: And you know, we've got it all. We do it all.

831
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:40,319
Speaker 3: We've got balance, we've got success, we've got love, we've

832
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,280
Speaker 3: got support, all those sorts of things.

833
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,440
Speaker 2: For me, when I retired, I let go of a

834
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 2: twenty four year career. And anytime.

835
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:55,200
Speaker 3: Something comes to an end, you have an element of

836
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:58,600
Speaker 3: grief and loss for that ending, for that change.

837
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:02,680
Speaker 2: So four year career that in itself was significant.

838
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,640
Speaker 3: I was going through divorce at the time, and I

839
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,400
Speaker 3: really valued my relationship, so there was another element of

840
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:15,720
Speaker 3: grief and loss. I had the diagnosis of my coach,

841
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 3: Gary West, who, even though our relationship was rocky to

842
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 3: start with, became fantastic in the time that we shared together.

843
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 3: And I witnessed, you know, him essentially becoming entrapped and

844
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 3: entombed in a body that died around him, but he's

845
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 3: mind stayed sharp. And I lost a great mentor and

846
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 3: a great friend and a great confidant.

847
00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,200
Speaker 2: And you know, those things can really knock.

848
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,640
Speaker 3: You, but they can also give you perspective. But it

849
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 3: takes time. And the frustrating thing is when you're in

850
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,040
Speaker 3: a moment where you can't see daylight, let alone time,

851
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 3: time feels incredibly brutal and terribly slow. And so when

852
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 3: I was going through those moments and those lenges, which

853
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 3: you know so many of us experience. You think about

854
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,239
Speaker 3: the circumstances around COVID. How many people have lost their jobs,

855
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:11,479
Speaker 3: how many people have lost loved ones, And we don't

856
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:13,680
Speaker 3: compare our loss and grief in any comparison. You know,

857
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,479
Speaker 3: we don't experience it, you know, in the same level

858
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 3: that it's different and interpreted individually for everyone, So our

859
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:25,360
Speaker 3: responses are therefore individual for everyone. So you know, for me,

860
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:31,600
Speaker 3: I was very lost. I had no direction. I you know,

861
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:33,799
Speaker 3: I could keep myself very very busy in the day,

862
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:36,320
Speaker 3: and then as soon as nighttime would come.

863
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:42,560
Speaker 2: It was just so glaringly quiet. It was just so quiet.

864
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:47,399
Speaker 3: And unfortunately for me, in those times, my mind would

865
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,920
Speaker 3: race faster than I ever did on a bike and

866
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,279
Speaker 3: I couldn't quiet it down, and as a result of that,

867
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 3: I couldn't get any sleep.

868
00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:58,120
Speaker 2: And you understand that sleep is.

869
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:03,040
Speaker 3: So important for recovery, for refreshing, for understanding and interpretation

870
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:06,800
Speaker 3: of experiences and emotions and progression in and out of

871
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 3: those things. So that so lacking sleep, it just all

872
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 3: compiled for me, and it took me some time to

873
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:16,879
Speaker 3: understand why I was feeling, what I was feeling, what

874
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:18,760
Speaker 3: it was that I was feeling.

875
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:21,879
Speaker 2: How I could get help.

876
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:23,440
Speaker 3: You know, it's one thing everyone says, oh, you can

877
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:26,640
Speaker 3: get help, but what does help look like? And there's

878
00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:28,760
Speaker 3: been a few times where I've gone to my cycle,

879
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 3: and I've got I don't know how how do I

880
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:31,680
Speaker 3: get help for this?

881
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:32,040
Speaker 2: You know?

882
00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 3: And she just simply says to me, just start with

883
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,480
Speaker 3: eating food and getting sleep and putting people around you

884
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 3: that can help you do that, just to start with,

885
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 3: because otherwise you can't make logical decisions that alone have conversations.

886
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:49,960
Speaker 3: So the one thing I will say about this is,

887
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:52,520
Speaker 3: you know, the it's really important for us to be

888
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 3: open and honest, and I wanted to be with this

889
00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:58,919
Speaker 3: book and sharing that about mental health in terms of

890
00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:06,239
Speaker 3: we're sports women, you know, we understand and this whole society's.

891
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,120
Speaker 2: View on it's great to hire a coach to get

892
00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:09,399
Speaker 2: your body into shape.

893
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:12,799
Speaker 3: Why don't we have that attitude towards psychs who can

894
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 3: help get our heads in shape? You know, there's this

895
00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 3: stigma around the professionals in the mental field. And I'm

896
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:23,520
Speaker 3: really open minded to the simple fact of understanding, hey,

897
00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:24,920
Speaker 3: I've got a short bull here, but I want to

898
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 3: be better at it. Who can help me and who's

899
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:28,920
Speaker 3: a good coach in that area to help me?

900
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:32,240
Speaker 2: So being open minded to that helps.

901
00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:38,400
Speaker 3: But the hard part is they can't rush the clock either,

902
00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:41,319
Speaker 3: so you have to take the time you need in

903
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,680
Speaker 3: order to sit in those moments of difficulty before you

904
00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:46,520
Speaker 3: can learn to bring yourself out.

905
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 1: I really like that that way of looking at it

906
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,440
Speaker 1: quite practically, because I think there definitely is that stigma

907
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 1: around looking for that professional help, but it is it's

908
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:55,279
Speaker 1: such a practical thing. It's like, I need help with this.

909
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:58,160
Speaker 1: That's the person who can help fix it. Let's do that. Yeah.

910
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,920
Speaker 1: I think that's a really important message. Yeah. My final

911
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 1: segment is a would you rather segment that I always

912
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:09,600
Speaker 1: finish with. Gosh Okay, So number one? Would you rather

913
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,760
Speaker 1: win gold in an individual or a team event?

914
00:48:13,239 --> 00:48:13,799
Speaker 2: Individual?

915
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:18,920
Speaker 1: Number two? Would you rather you wear the visor on

916
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:21,520
Speaker 1: your helmet when you're racing? Would you rather wear a

917
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 1: dark visor that you can't see through a clear one

918
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,680
Speaker 1: so that your opponent can see your your eyes?

919
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 2: I preferred the clear visor.

920
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 3: I went with the dark visor because I knew that

921
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:36,680
Speaker 3: it added an element.

922
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:41,400
Speaker 1: Of fear the unknown. Yeah.

923
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they knew what my eyes were like but

924
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:44,319
Speaker 2: they couldn't see them.

925
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 1: Ah. Nice, all right. The final one, would you rather

926
00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,439
Speaker 1: wear lycra for the rest of your life or never

927
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:53,360
Speaker 1: be able to eat Lamington's again?

928
00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:59,160
Speaker 2: Oh? I love Lambingdon's. Can you say that again.

929
00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:03,279
Speaker 1: Would you rather wear Lycra for the rest of your

930
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 1: life or never be able to eat Lamington's again.

931
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:07,560
Speaker 2: I'd wear Likra.

932
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:08,680
Speaker 1: That's true love.

933
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:11,279
Speaker 2: I just I love the Lamington That is true love.

934
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:16,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, pree wasy girl. So just before we wrap up,

935
00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:18,640
Speaker 1: where can people find you on socials and where can

936
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,479
Speaker 1: people buy your book, which I would one hundred percent

937
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 1: recommend to anyone, any particularly any young girl, but anyone

938
00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:27,399
Speaker 1: just interested in hearing more about your story. I think

939
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:29,719
Speaker 1: you've done an amazing and amazing job.

940
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:30,120
Speaker 2: Thank you.

941
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:33,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm on social media just anime is on all

942
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 3: the platforms, very simple and if you're interested in my book,

943
00:49:38,239 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 3: anime is Now, it's available direct through the publisher at

944
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 3: stokekillpress dot com.

945
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:47,279
Speaker 2: Otherwise look into your book, your dimics bookstores who have

946
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:48,279
Speaker 2: them stopped as well.

947
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,879
Speaker 1: So I just want to say thank you so much

948
00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:54,799
Speaker 1: for coming on and taking time to talk with me.

949
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:56,960
Speaker 1: As I said, you were one of my idols as

950
00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:58,640
Speaker 1: a kid. If if I look at my top three,

951
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:01,160
Speaker 1: it was Kathy Freeman, Lauren Jackson and anime Is. So

952
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:04,279
Speaker 1: I'm quite blown away by the fact that I've been

953
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:07,359
Speaker 1: able to have the chance to sit and talk with you. Yeah,

954
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: and I found interesting the way you talked about when

955
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:11,640
Speaker 1: you retired that you kind of felt like the sport

956
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:14,480
Speaker 1: went on without you. And I'm sure that as you've

957
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:16,400
Speaker 1: had some time to reflect on that, you've realized how

958
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 1: valued you are as an Australian hero. But yeah, I

959
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:22,400
Speaker 1: just want to personally say thank you for everything that

960
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:24,479
Speaker 1: you've done in the way that you've inspired me. Gosh,

961
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:26,600
Speaker 1: and you just stop crying. What's going on?

962
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:30,959
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

963
00:50:31,200 --> 00:50:33,840
Speaker 3: Just so kind of you to say that, And it

964
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:37,120
Speaker 3: is nice, you know, compliments like that are sometimes really

965
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:39,000
Speaker 3: hard to get, but it is lovely to know that

966
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:42,040
Speaker 3: I've impacted in that way in such a such a

967
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:42,759
Speaker 3: positive way.

968
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:47,879
Speaker 1: So no curious, Thanks so much, Anna, Thanks so much

969
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: for listening. We'll catch you on the next episode. You

970
00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:53,920
Speaker 1: can find us on Instagram at the FEMA Athlete Project.