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Episode 100 - With Duncan Armstrong · Tom's Hirschsprung's Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: You are listening to Tom's Hirshbrung's Podcast, a space where
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Speaker 1: we talk openly about living with Hirshprung's disease. Whether you
0:09
Speaker 1: live with it, care for someone who has it, or
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Speaker 1: just want to understand more, this podcast is for you.
0:15
Speaker 1: Each episode, we will explore real stories and honest conversations
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Speaker 1: about a condition that often goes unheard. Thank you for
0:22
Speaker 1: tuning in. Hello, and welcome to episode one hundred of
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Speaker 1: Tom's Hirshbrungs Podcast. I have a very special one for
0:54
Speaker 1: you this afternoon. I am delighted to be joined by
0:59
Speaker 1: Olympic gold medaler and world record holder for the two
1:02
Speaker 1: hundred meter freestyle Duncan Armstrong Duncer, Welcome to the podcast.
1:07
Speaker 2: Hey you Tom. It's a real pleasure to be here.
1:09
Speaker 1: Mate, it's a pleasure to have you on. I'm very
1:12
Speaker 1: very excited because, as we said in our little chat
1:15
Speaker 1: we've just had, we get to talk sports, and I
1:17
Speaker 1: don't get to talk sport very oftened, So I'm really excited.
1:23
Speaker 1: But for those again who who don't only know you
1:27
Speaker 1: for your sporting credentials may not be aware that you
1:32
Speaker 1: have Hirspruk's disease. Would you like to talk a little
1:37
Speaker 1: bit about sort of the beginning of that.
1:40
Speaker 2: Sure, well, it's almost like the olden days. It's almost
1:43
Speaker 2: like ancient history came back all the way to nineteen
1:45
Speaker 2: sixty nine, so well before you were born, Sunshine, and
1:51
Speaker 2: not much was known about Hirschprunk's disease back in those days.
1:54
Speaker 2: But I got really really lucky, so bensay, in my
1:57
Speaker 2: blockage bloomer stomach up when I was, you know, about
2:00
Speaker 2: one years old, and didn't know really what was going on,
2:03
Speaker 2: and we had a stroke of luck because once I
2:05
Speaker 2: realized it was hirstprunx, I got in contact. My parents
2:09
Speaker 2: got in contact because I was only one at the time.
2:11
Speaker 2: But my parents Lauria and Barbara, and I'm number four
2:13
Speaker 2: or five kids, and none of them have had a
2:15
Speaker 2: problem at all, So this was brand new for them.
2:18
Speaker 2: And so they went to see a surgeon in Brisbane,
2:22
Speaker 2: quite a famous surgeon. His name was Des mcguckan, and
2:25
Speaker 2: Des mcguckan, funny enough, had just stepped off the plane
2:28
Speaker 2: from Canada. He went to a medical research conference up
2:31
Speaker 2: in Canada. And in that research conference in Canada, they
2:34
Speaker 2: were learning the new technique of a pull through operation
2:37
Speaker 2: for Herstbrugs. So there's basically the week before Stepped Off,
2:41
Speaker 2: A played and I was the first kid that it's
2:43
Speaker 2: set and so I came along and I got the
2:47
Speaker 2: first pull through in Queensland, not Australia, but in Queensland,
2:51
Speaker 2: and Des did a great job. And after dilation and
2:55
Speaker 2: going back to see him once or twice a year
2:58
Speaker 2: for about two or three years, I just basically got
3:00
Speaker 2: on with my life. So struggle luck there out of
3:03
Speaker 2: the gate, and I really haven't had any other procedures
3:08
Speaker 2: for that, getting into swimming from an early age and
3:12
Speaker 2: getting into like a high fiber diet and lots of calories,
3:17
Speaker 2: and back in those days, we didn't have a lot
3:20
Speaker 2: of nutrition in the early late seventies early eighties, So
3:24
Speaker 2: it was a trial and everything that what would affect
3:26
Speaker 2: my stomach and would affect my bowel movements in my
3:29
Speaker 2: early swimming, and then you know, just slowly learning more
3:33
Speaker 2: and more and more what you can, what you can't,
3:36
Speaker 2: what leads to explosive episodes, and what gets you through
3:40
Speaker 2: fairly smoothly in a day. So I didn't really have
3:44
Speaker 2: a community of hert Spring's people in Australia. It was
3:47
Speaker 2: just a thing that happened in my family and I
3:50
Speaker 2: hadn't I didn't meet another person with hert spring still
3:53
Speaker 2: was about seventeen years of age, and that was a
3:55
Speaker 2: baby that had been born in our local hospital here
3:59
Speaker 2: and Brisbe, and that my mum was in contact with
4:02
Speaker 2: the parents and I went up to visit them when
4:04
Speaker 2: I was seventeen years old and gave them a great
4:06
Speaker 2: sense of relief that I was in the Australian swimming team,
4:09
Speaker 2: I was winning gold medals in the Conworth Games at
4:11
Speaker 2: that stage and off to the Olympic Games of the
4:14
Speaker 2: year after and say, just for there those parents not
4:17
Speaker 2: to know what hurts Sprung's was, what the ramifications are,
4:20
Speaker 2: how it manifests later in life. I was able to
4:24
Speaker 2: give them a sense of relief as I walked in
4:27
Speaker 2: the room and they both burst into tears and we
4:30
Speaker 2: spent an hour together and it really calmed them down.
4:32
Speaker 2: And that kind of an episode I've had with my
4:35
Speaker 2: Hurtsprungs about half a dozen times now. Actually, an old
4:38
Speaker 2: teammate of mine in the Australian team, Dominic Sheldick, lives
4:43
Speaker 2: in Perth on the out side of the country from me,
4:45
Speaker 2: hadn't heard from many years and years and years. I
4:48
Speaker 2: was doing a bit of work as an ambassador a
4:50
Speaker 2: patron for the BEW group the Kids down here in Australia,
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Speaker 2: which is a support group that supports families with kids
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Speaker 2: with hirtsprungs. And this kid was born with hrspruns. I
5:01
Speaker 2: think it was the fourth kid out of five as well,
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Speaker 2: and Dominic just basically reached out and so I said, mate,
5:07
Speaker 2: I can see here on the website, what is this thing?
5:10
Speaker 2: Can we get some time together? I need some help.
5:12
Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm looking at. And so through
5:14
Speaker 2: a series of phone calls and online meetings, he was
5:17
Speaker 2: able to calm down and really take some action with BGK,
5:20
Speaker 2: the Bell Group of Kids, and get on with it.
5:24
Speaker 2: So that's been my experience with hersprungs. I've met dozens
5:27
Speaker 2: of kids and dozens of young adults who have had
5:31
Speaker 2: a range of different symptoms and presented in different ways
5:34
Speaker 2: with this thing, whether it be perforated anus or hersprungs.
5:38
Speaker 2: And you know, I've met so many courageous people who
5:42
Speaker 2: are under really tough challenges, much more than I ever
5:45
Speaker 2: witnessed or went through myself, and they have just just
5:50
Speaker 2: keep soldering on. They're very inspirational, full of courage and
5:52
Speaker 2: brave bravery. So the work that I do with BGK
5:55
Speaker 2: and the work that I do with people that I
5:57
Speaker 2: meet along the way have been has been really fulfilling.
6:00
Speaker 2: And and yeah, I'm very it's just my part of
6:05
Speaker 2: the story. And if I could lend Linda Hind I will,
6:08
Speaker 2: as in going on podcasts with Geezers on the other
6:10
Speaker 2: side of the work, I.
6:11
Speaker 1: Will absolutely No, I'm very much appreciate it because I mean,
6:16
Speaker 1: as we said at the start, you know, it's about
6:20
Speaker 1: a part of this is about sort of offering hope
6:23
Speaker 1: and offering and saying you know, look, yes, you're going
6:26
Speaker 1: through there's a lot of parents do at that point.
6:29
Speaker 1: They go through a very tough time. There's a lot
6:31
Speaker 1: of procedures, there's a lot of long, complicated words that
6:34
Speaker 1: people don't quite understand at that point. But if they
6:38
Speaker 1: can see people who have Hirshbrung's, who've achieved great things
6:42
Speaker 1: and still are achieving great things, then I think that
6:46
Speaker 1: that can only be a good thing.
6:47
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah, like my third son, Noah son, Yeah,
6:56
Speaker 2: third son Noah and hes Hirsprungs as well. So he
6:59
Speaker 2: had he had to pull through as well when he
7:02
Speaker 2: was about sick four months old, so pretty much exact
7:08
Speaker 2: samely operation as me. And he's come through it really
7:10
Speaker 2: grady sixteen yet and really hasn't had a problem with
7:14
Speaker 2: his hursprungs all the way along. So a bit of
7:16
Speaker 2: a blessing there as well.
7:18
Speaker 1: That's fantastic because obviously, well, I mean, it's difficult to
7:22
Speaker 1: say how much genetic hirs sprungs is, but obviously there's
7:28
Speaker 1: a lot of people I speak to have had it
7:30
Speaker 1: passed through generations from and usually through males. I think
7:35
Speaker 1: it's about three in every four cases a male. But
7:39
Speaker 1: that's great to hear he's doing so well. Is he
7:41
Speaker 1: into swimming as well?
7:43
Speaker 2: No, I think he's too smart for that, Tom Very
7:47
Speaker 2: you need a special kind of intellect, the poco. But no,
7:53
Speaker 2: he's into rocklining. Yeah. So I've got five kids all up,
7:56
Speaker 2: Noah is the only one with bad head hirsprungs, and
7:59
Speaker 2: they've all that are a stack of sports and they've
8:03
Speaker 2: all loved it. But I've spoiled them too much and
8:06
Speaker 2: they don't feel they have to apply themselves too heavily,
8:10
Speaker 2: so they enjoy sport, but they're not a maniact like
8:12
Speaker 2: that far.
8:14
Speaker 1: But sports the most important thing in life though, so
8:17
Speaker 1: you know, that's fine.
8:19
Speaker 2: I agree with this. And the choice of sports for
8:22
Speaker 2: your kids is unbelievable this day. It's like the availability
8:25
Speaker 2: of the internet throws up so much coaching and knowledge
8:29
Speaker 2: and gear and you know, opportunity and access and information
8:33
Speaker 2: and education. It's just crazy how much is on your
8:37
Speaker 2: fingertips to go out sport.
8:39
Speaker 3: Now.
8:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's great because the more opportunity you have,
8:45
Speaker 1: the sort of more I guess more people that get
8:49
Speaker 1: into it, the more the sport grows. And it's it's
8:52
Speaker 1: one of those sort of chicken and egg things slightly,
8:55
Speaker 1: isn't it.
8:56
Speaker 2: But because the sport really helps you access your courage.
9:01
Speaker 2: Courage is the first thing you need to be capable
9:03
Speaker 2: of anything. Courage to have a go, courage to look silly,
9:05
Speaker 2: courage to be cringe, courage to be a failure, and
9:09
Speaker 2: a courage to win. So the courage that it takes
9:12
Speaker 2: to play sports sets you up in corporate life, family life,
9:17
Speaker 2: and other things you're going to get into as an adult.
9:20
Speaker 2: You know, like always laugh about how much courage it
9:22
Speaker 2: takes for a you know, a thirteen year old girl
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Speaker 2: to walk out behind the blocks in a swimsuit to
9:27
Speaker 2: have a go in front of their skill for friends.
9:30
Speaker 2: And yet we look at it like it's everybody does it.
9:34
Speaker 2: So again, sport gives you that incredible ability to do
9:37
Speaker 2: it safely and then you know to chase the other
9:40
Speaker 2: traits off that. Yeah, absolut totally agree that it gives you.
9:45
Speaker 2: It gives you so much more than just the physical
9:48
Speaker 2: side of just the whole well that keeps you fit,
9:50
Speaker 2: and this, that and the other, the the mans a side,
9:52
Speaker 2: the emotional side, the community side as well. The sport
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Speaker 2: gives you especially. I mean even in a in singular
10:01
Speaker 2: sports or seemingly singular sports like swimming, you still had
10:05
Speaker 2: a swimming community. You still were part of a team,
10:08
Speaker 2: you still trained as part of a team, and even
10:11
Speaker 2: the sort of player coach relationship as well, so you
10:15
Speaker 2: still have that sort of team environment. So it does.
10:20
Speaker 1: It gives you a lot, a lot more than people think.
10:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, and especially when you're moving community, say move a
10:25
Speaker 2: different town, different country, different state, your access to their
10:29
Speaker 2: community is through the sporting clubs. That if you go
10:32
Speaker 2: and join a local sporting club of any of it,
10:34
Speaker 2: it's going to give you instant community because you have
10:37
Speaker 2: a very common thing, which is the love of whatever
10:39
Speaker 2: the sport it's and a willingness to give it a
10:42
Speaker 2: go for the club. So therefore people can see you
10:46
Speaker 2: pretty quickly who and what you are in a new
10:48
Speaker 2: community through this excess point of sport.
10:51
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I guess as segues on quite nicely too,
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Speaker 1: sports and your sporting life and sporting career. And when
11:01
Speaker 1: you mentioned that, you mentioned moving you moved to Brisbane
11:06
Speaker 1: to train with a man called Laurie Lawrence, who I
11:10
Speaker 1: was reading about I've heard some stories about. He sounds
11:15
Speaker 1: an interesting character.
11:17
Speaker 2: Oh, he's an icon. He turned daily four yesterday, so
11:21
Speaker 2: he was his birthday yesterday. And the Warrior's powered by
11:24
Speaker 2: a different Patrick. That's all there is to it. And
11:27
Speaker 2: he's just one of those people that his vocation was
11:30
Speaker 2: coaching and unlocking into the potential and young people and
11:33
Speaker 2: he loved it. He just loved it. And he had
11:35
Speaker 2: some of the greatest swimmers this country has ever produced
11:39
Speaker 2: one gold medals at Olympics after Olympics after Olympics with
11:43
Speaker 2: with people like myself and John c Even and other people.
11:48
Speaker 2: So he's a very charismatic character. He went after child
11:53
Speaker 2: drowning in Australia, which is a really really big deal,
11:57
Speaker 2: and he reduced the child drownings from too about thirty
12:00
Speaker 2: so all those wives he saved over those years. And yeah,
12:04
Speaker 2: he's just a wild man who just would come up
12:07
Speaker 2: with sayings like someone's got to win these bloody races,
12:10
Speaker 2: it might as well be us, and things like that.
12:12
Speaker 2: And he just believed that no matter who you are,
12:14
Speaker 2: you could take on the best person of the world
12:18
Speaker 2: and if you're willing to do the work, you'll ad
12:20
Speaker 2: with success. And that's why we moved from Rockampton to
12:24
Speaker 2: Brisbane when I was about fourteen years of age. So
12:27
Speaker 2: my dad was a bank Johnny and my mom was
12:29
Speaker 2: a tradmun so the two brothers and for my swimming
12:35
Speaker 2: at age fourteen, so no pressure on me from early
12:37
Speaker 2: eight and I'd connected with Laurie and he had this
12:41
Speaker 2: powerhouse squad, the Lawrence Swim Team, and the rest is
12:45
Speaker 2: kind of history. I spent five years in that squad
12:47
Speaker 2: until I got to my first Olopic Games. I was
12:49
Speaker 2: able to win the Town of Freestyle and I got
12:51
Speaker 2: second in four hundred and then got on to ninety
12:54
Speaker 2: two four years later in Barcelona and then retired after that.
12:57
Speaker 2: So I spent I spent eleven years with Lourie and
13:01
Speaker 2: I've had forty years of therapy because of it. And
13:06
Speaker 2: it was and it was everything I dreamed of having
13:09
Speaker 2: a career like that. Like, you know, athletes talk about
13:12
Speaker 2: the sacrifice, and I just hate that word because you know,
13:16
Speaker 2: you're making some tough choices, but it's all about you.
13:19
Speaker 2: It's all about how faith can get using courage, being brave,
13:24
Speaker 2: investing time and you know, putting it all on the light.
13:29
Speaker 2: So the word sacrifice should only be used for our
13:33
Speaker 2: men and women in the military who stand in harm's
13:35
Speaker 2: way for us. You know, sport like Utah has meant
13:40
Speaker 2: so much to me. It's just has occupied such a
13:44
Speaker 2: massive space in my life and I'm so grateful for
13:46
Speaker 2: it because it's the it's the original reality TV and
13:53
Speaker 2: it murder stops changing. That's a real good say. I've
13:57
Speaker 2: never heard that before. I could say, you think about it.
14:02
Speaker 2: You can never red hold favorite in a Grand final,
14:05
Speaker 2: get beat you know, red hot favorite at the Olympics,
14:09
Speaker 2: red hot favorite, and horse racing and car racing, you
14:12
Speaker 2: name it. You can have this expectation that this result
14:16
Speaker 2: is going to happen, and the reality is it shows
14:19
Speaker 2: up right in front of you and it's not always right.
14:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it happens all the time. I mean you
14:24
Speaker 1: take any ollipt in games where the favorite doesn't always win.
14:29
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of times the favorite doesn't win,
14:32
Speaker 1: especially in things like horse raising as well.
14:33
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's amazing.
14:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's incredible, and I think that's why we also
14:40
Speaker 1: love it's so unpredictable.
14:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's why we love live sport because
14:44
Speaker 2: you see it unfold right now, there's a really interesting
14:47
Speaker 2: thing that installing. I follow the Brisbane Broncos and we
14:52
Speaker 2: and my team just won after nineteen years drought the
14:55
Speaker 2: Grand Final two weeks ago here in Austro and the
14:59
Speaker 2: Brisbane Broncos my team ever since I came into the
15:01
Speaker 2: competition in nineteen eighty eight. I'm sick for it. Right,
15:05
Speaker 2: So how do I think that I've won? When I
15:10
Speaker 2: watched my team at the grandstad Like, how's the transition
15:13
Speaker 2: from there's thirteen players on the field. They are definitely
15:16
Speaker 2: the ones who actually won this thing, right, But I
15:19
Speaker 2: talk about them like we won, we were great? Where
15:24
Speaker 2: the premiere is and I feel good. I've been feeling
15:26
Speaker 2: good for like the last couple of weeks, Like I
15:29
Speaker 2: nothing can touch me. I am feeling amazing, right And
15:33
Speaker 2: I didn't even kick a football or run with the
15:34
Speaker 2: football once. So how do we transition? How does the
15:38
Speaker 2: fan thing work in sport? Because it doesn't really work
15:42
Speaker 2: in the movie stars, and it doesn't really work in
15:44
Speaker 2: singing stars. And there's a difference, right, Yeah, there's a
15:48
Speaker 2: difference to being a fan of a singer or a
15:51
Speaker 2: group or a rock group, a rock star or an actor. Right,
15:55
Speaker 2: there's a difference because in sport we have this complete
15:58
Speaker 2: ownership of the team that we're a fan of, or
16:03
Speaker 2: Australia or a country or a state or whatever we are, right,
16:07
Speaker 2: we have this complete transition into ownership. It's fascinating. I
16:13
Speaker 2: don't know what, you.
16:14
Speaker 1: Know what, Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I get
16:19
Speaker 1: the feeling when you mentioned about not winning after nineteen years,
16:24
Speaker 1: because I'm a Newcastle United football fan, so we haven't
16:28
Speaker 1: won anything here he is, and then we won the
16:32
Speaker 1: Caravell Cup last year, so in my lifetime, that's the
16:35
Speaker 1: further that's the only thing we've ever won. So and
16:39
Speaker 1: that was I mean it's about fifty years since we
16:41
Speaker 1: last since we last won anything, so I know what
16:43
Speaker 1: it's like not to win anything for ages and then
16:46
Speaker 1: that euphoria of but you're right, it's we won. But
16:51
Speaker 1: like you say, with with a singer, if the singer goes.
16:54
Speaker 2: To number one, you don't go, well, we went to
16:56
Speaker 2: number one.
16:56
Speaker 1: Well no, they went to number one.
16:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, isn't it great? I love Tay Tay or whoever,
17:02
Speaker 2: but it's not the same, mate, because you feel it
17:05
Speaker 2: in your bones as a sports fan. Yeah, if you
17:08
Speaker 2: feel it all the way deep in your cups and
17:11
Speaker 2: you sit there going, oh, I'm so happy we wont.
17:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, No, you're absolutely right, And it's only sport
17:22
Speaker 1: can provide that. I don't think there's anything else in
17:24
Speaker 1: the world.
17:25
Speaker 2: I haven't experience with anything else, and I'm old. I've
17:29
Speaker 2: been a fan of a lot of things too, but
17:31
Speaker 2: nothing like this.
17:33
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's it's it's fascinating the transition that sport doesn't.
17:37
Speaker 4: Maybe it's because we identify with the players and maybe
17:40
Speaker 4: we might have played that sport as a youngster or
17:42
Speaker 4: an age group or a young bloke, and so therefore
17:45
Speaker 4: we have a we have an idea of what it
17:47
Speaker 4: looks like and what it feels like, and so therefore
17:50
Speaker 4: we can sort of like fantasize that we could do
17:53
Speaker 4: it all things like that, But I can't do a
17:56
Speaker 4: vydea on the field.
17:56
Speaker 2: Holy smoke. They are fit and strong and deadly, mate,
18:00
Speaker 2: they are amazing, Yeah, especially rugby. I mean especially rugby.
18:05
Speaker 2: Just I mean because the the physical power you need
18:10
Speaker 2: in any any position.
18:12
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's one of those sports really where
18:16
Speaker 1: physical makeup. I guess it determined your position a lot
18:22
Speaker 1: more than any other sport.
18:24
Speaker 2: No, I think you'll find it in every sport, Mate.
18:27
Speaker 2: You're kind of being exceptional about the codes, you know,
18:32
Speaker 2: like there is a certain shape in pole volving basketball, Yeah, true, gymnastics.
18:39
Speaker 2: Rugby is the is the sport for misfit toys, I think,
18:42
Speaker 2: because you've got the big props up front, you know,
18:45
Speaker 2: and their whole fitness regime is nothing like the winger,
18:48
Speaker 2: you know what I mean.
18:49
Speaker 1: So that's what I meant that that's kind of different positions,
18:53
Speaker 1: It required different misunderstood different.
18:55
Speaker 2: Sort of agree with you that it's a sport that
18:59
Speaker 2: really dicks bodies shape across the field depending on your job. Yeah,
19:04
Speaker 2: it's amazing.
19:05
Speaker 1: Absolutely. If we circle back to you and swimming, you
19:10
Speaker 1: mentioned a man's name John Seben, Yeah, nineteen eighty four
19:15
Speaker 1: gold medalist. You got to train with him. How important
19:22
Speaker 1: was he in your development?
19:26
Speaker 2: Oh? Everything? Like, you can't achieve what you don't see
19:29
Speaker 2: on a regular basis. And because John O did it
19:34
Speaker 2: four years before as a seventeen year old basically straight
19:37
Speaker 2: out of high school, I was able to really watch
19:41
Speaker 2: him build towards that, and I was able to spend
19:43
Speaker 2: four years after that coming into the next Olympic Games,
19:46
Speaker 2: I know, four years into ninety two, so he was
19:48
Speaker 2: a triple Olympian and one of Australia's greatest ever swimmers.
19:52
Speaker 2: In the way you approached it was a little bit different.
19:54
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that John O was a robot or
19:57
Speaker 2: anything like that. He prided himself on sort of line
20:00
Speaker 2: nderstanding who and what he is and training a little
20:01
Speaker 2: bit differently. So again that's courage again to get off
20:04
Speaker 2: the treadmill of laps and laps and laps and do
20:08
Speaker 2: something that you know works for you. But yeah, John
20:11
Speaker 2: O taught me just so much. You know, we hung
20:14
Speaker 2: out for years and all we did was dine out
20:18
Speaker 2: on swimming, you know, like we're the biggest swimming geeks
20:20
Speaker 2: you've ever seen. And so to see him get that
20:23
Speaker 2: unbelievable success, look at it, look at how he handled
20:27
Speaker 2: it between ompe Games and how he prepared himself for
20:29
Speaker 2: the next one and then the next one. It was
20:32
Speaker 2: a real gift. But the Lower Lauren swim team was
20:35
Speaker 2: sort of like prided on that, Like we had, you know,
20:38
Speaker 2: fifteen people going to the Conwical Games, we had ten
20:40
Speaker 2: people going to the Olympic Games. We had you know,
20:43
Speaker 2: we'd win nationals every year in terms of the club points, school,
20:47
Speaker 2: the pan packs, the World Championships, the World Cup. You know,
20:50
Speaker 2: the Lawrence swim team was this very very strong unit.
20:52
Speaker 2: They would just roll around and the expectation was was
20:55
Speaker 2: that if you're in this squad and you keep up,
20:59
Speaker 2: you'll get a green and gold jersey, green and gold tracksuit,
21:02
Speaker 2: and you will go and compete for your country. And
21:04
Speaker 2: that was the expectation. And we you know, we had
21:07
Speaker 2: many many things inside the squad that other squads just
21:09
Speaker 2: didn't do. So it's the standard you walk past is
21:12
Speaker 2: the standard you accept. And Laurie had these really really
21:16
Speaker 2: high standards that when we wanted a holiday. We just
21:19
Speaker 2: went and trained with another squad because they just they
21:23
Speaker 2: just didn't have the intensity. So it was like a
21:25
Speaker 2: mental break. You go over and people are midpooling and
21:29
Speaker 2: stopping before the flags and breathing on the way in
21:32
Speaker 2: and sort of like carrying on and not leaving on
21:35
Speaker 2: time and not really caring about coming in on time,
21:37
Speaker 2: and you know, all these small, very small swimming, swimming
21:41
Speaker 2: idiosyncrasies they go into the ultimate performance when the ultimate
21:45
Speaker 2: pressure's on, they just didn't do. So we'd go over
21:48
Speaker 2: there and it was just like a holiday. It was awesome.
21:50
Speaker 2: You'd come back all refreshed and smiling and really thinking
21:53
Speaker 2: swimming is a great sport. Laurie would look at you
21:56
Speaker 2: and go, you finished with that shit, yet let's go right.
22:03
Speaker 2: So camps were important. Freshening up when in other environments
22:08
Speaker 2: were important. And that's the way he kept saying, because
22:11
Speaker 2: Lorry just was always intense, one of the most intense
22:15
Speaker 2: individuals I've ever met, and you had to have a
22:19
Speaker 2: mental break, emotional break away from that at tops.
22:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's impossible to keep that up twenty four to seven.
22:26
Speaker 2: Not for him, he's a nutcut, but for you doing
22:30
Speaker 2: the lapse. Yeah, yeah, yeah, brain.
22:34
Speaker 1: But that's but I guess was that was he somebody
22:40
Speaker 1: who was just so important because he was so intense
22:46
Speaker 1: and so such a driven individual. Was that something that
22:51
Speaker 1: you sort of the credit your success too.
22:55
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, Laury and I formed a really really strong bond, okay,
23:00
Speaker 2: And that's where the therapy comes from. Because everything Laurie
23:02
Speaker 2: said would push a button for me, you know. So
23:05
Speaker 2: that's problematic, right. So, and Laurie was our psychologist, our
23:09
Speaker 2: masth Sue's our coach, our running coach, our gym coach.
23:13
Speaker 2: You know, he'd pick you up and drop you off.
23:15
Speaker 2: You know, he was just never off. He was just
23:17
Speaker 2: always on. And the reasoning was that because swimming comes
23:24
Speaker 2: down to a couple of minutes every four years, you know,
23:26
Speaker 2: you win an opportunity for the ultimate prize in swimming
23:29
Speaker 2: is the Olympic Gold Medal, and the opportunity, the door
23:33
Speaker 2: of opportunity swings open on one day every four years,
23:35
Speaker 2: and you've got two minutes against the best in the
23:37
Speaker 2: world to actually get it right and get out of it.
23:40
Speaker 2: So all of that pressure would crush a person, you know,
23:43
Speaker 2: if you sat around thinking about that all day you'd
23:45
Speaker 2: be sitting there going you'd go nuts and you'd never
23:47
Speaker 2: get there. So Laurie had this fantastic ability to break
23:51
Speaker 2: it all the way down into manageable bits. Now, two
23:55
Speaker 2: years out from the Olympic Games, when I was eighteen,
23:57
Speaker 2: I went to Edinburgh the eighty six Games, and I
24:01
Speaker 2: was able to win a couple of gold medals there
24:04
Speaker 2: and and I remember I did my best time by
24:08
Speaker 2: three or four seconds. You know, life was sweet. I'd
24:12
Speaker 2: gone up there. No one had really known me. You know,
24:16
Speaker 2: I had just a fantastic time in Scotland, swam beautifully
24:20
Speaker 2: and I was just sitting there on the side of
24:23
Speaker 2: the pill, feeling really full of myself, feeling like man,
24:27
Speaker 2: I kind of made it right. And I had the
24:31
Speaker 2: respect of the team. I was a rookie on that team.
24:33
Speaker 2: It was my first big team, so everyone slapping me
24:35
Speaker 2: on the back, and I really fit in. And so
24:38
Speaker 2: my performance had given me access to, you know, these
24:41
Speaker 2: guys that I've thought my heroes, right, and Worrie comes
24:45
Speaker 2: along and he goes, jeez, that's a good time. We've
24:49
Speaker 2: had a great time here. I said, yeah, he goes
24:53
Speaker 2: two fifty two, it's a great time. I go yeah,
24:59
Speaker 2: and he goes, sorry, three fifty two for the four
25:01
Speaker 2: hundredth great time. Okay, yeah, and he goes, you reckon.
25:03
Speaker 2: He win the Olympics in eighteen months. I said, ah, no, no, no,
25:07
Speaker 2: I got another four seconds to get off before I'm competitors,
25:10
Speaker 2: and he goes, right, we better get started tomorrow than eight.
25:13
Speaker 2: I'll see you back here at five, And as I
25:17
Speaker 2: was eighteen and I was definitely going out that night,
25:20
Speaker 2: so we went across the road to the Gold Medal
25:21
Speaker 2: pub and then at five o'clock in the morning, I
25:24
Speaker 2: came back and started the journey towards Seoul, and we
25:28
Speaker 2: did one hundred and sixty laps of the fifty meter
25:30
Speaker 2: competition pool in Edinburgh and that's where we started. So
25:33
Speaker 2: Laurie was always really good at sort of like harnessing
25:36
Speaker 2: the moment but landing the contrast or the context of
25:40
Speaker 2: how big the next step is. And about six months
25:44
Speaker 2: later he came along and he showed me the splits.
25:47
Speaker 2: The splits is the first lap, second lap, third lap
25:49
Speaker 2: by itself, so they're all they're all times, and then
25:52
Speaker 2: you have your final time when you touch the touch
25:54
Speaker 2: pads for the finish and he showed me the splits
25:56
Speaker 2: that I'd need to swim for the two hundred freestyle
25:58
Speaker 2: to break the world record, right, And I can remember
26:01
Speaker 2: my stomach just dropping. I remember just sitting there going,
26:04
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, that's almost my best time for each lap.
26:09
Speaker 2: I'm never going to get there. And I must have
26:12
Speaker 2: pulled a face because I didn't say anything, and he
26:15
Speaker 2: must have.
26:15
Speaker 3: He must have. He looked at me and he sort
26:17
Speaker 3: of said, hey, mate, let's just get the first lap.
26:20
Speaker 3: Then we'll get the second lap, and then we'll get
26:23
Speaker 3: the third lap, and then we'll get your home. Just
26:25
Speaker 3: do the training, rely on the program. It looks scary now,
26:30
Speaker 3: but in time it'll be just what you do right.
26:34
Speaker 3: And I could just I could just remember. It just
26:36
Speaker 3: felt like.
26:36
Speaker 2: Such a mountain to climb, really really hard. But he
26:40
Speaker 2: just knew how to do it. He knew how to
26:41
Speaker 2: get a young person, get him to show up, get
26:45
Speaker 2: him to have a game, and reap the benefits.
26:49
Speaker 1: That's brilliant, though, but he also must in that moment,
26:54
Speaker 1: because you wouldn't set someone that challenge if you didn't
26:56
Speaker 1: think they could do it, because he'd just be saying
26:58
Speaker 1: them not to fail.
27:00
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, the thing about thebare seeing the potential on
27:04
Speaker 2: young people is if you see their potential, not sort
27:08
Speaker 2: of like, hey, let's get a result pumped into you. No, no,
27:11
Speaker 2: let's get you to be the best version of you
27:13
Speaker 2: we possibly can be, whatever that looks like, because the
27:16
Speaker 2: results will take care of themselves. So it's not a
27:18
Speaker 2: time thing, it's an application thing. So if you get
27:22
Speaker 2: a young person to say, hey, listen, I can see it.
27:26
Speaker 2: I don't think you can see it, So let's just
27:28
Speaker 2: start the journey until you wake up to yourself and
27:30
Speaker 2: see your own potentially get on with it, right, And
27:33
Speaker 2: that's what you're trying to do. You're almost trying to
27:35
Speaker 2: awaken them to the possibility of thinking like this because
27:40
Speaker 2: you can't actually hand it to them. And shown times
27:42
Speaker 2: is about motivation and inspiration, not destination. Right, So you
27:49
Speaker 2: breaststroger butterfly, young and old, you have to work out
27:54
Speaker 2: what do you want? Well, what are you prepared to
27:57
Speaker 2: do to get to it? And are you really to
28:00
Speaker 2: start now? Because if you can't apply yourself to the process,
28:06
Speaker 2: the results will exactly take care of themselves. Again, because
28:10
Speaker 2: it comes back to this old saying, whether you think
28:12
Speaker 2: you can or think you can if you're pretty much right, yes,
28:16
Speaker 2: and so it's about yeah, so it's about unlocking that
28:19
Speaker 2: in a young person to say, what do you think
28:21
Speaker 2: you can do? Because I guarantee we'll be able to
28:23
Speaker 2: do that, But imagine just use your imagination for a
28:28
Speaker 2: little bit higher than that. Now, what do we need
28:30
Speaker 2: to do to get there? That's it, that's all you've got.
28:33
Speaker 2: That's the only scope you have as a coach to
28:36
Speaker 2: awaken the drive within and give them a blueprint to
28:39
Speaker 2: follow in the process. And if they can hook onto
28:44
Speaker 2: the process, well you don't know where they're going to
28:46
Speaker 2: end up.
28:47
Speaker 1: Imagination is a powerful thing, really powerful thing.
28:51
Speaker 2: It's the most powerful thing we got.
28:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then if you can, if you can harness
28:57
Speaker 1: that in the correct fashion, then yeah.
29:01
Speaker 2: So what's the tool? What's the tool to harness because,
29:05
Speaker 2: like I agree with you, Tom, imagination is potent, powerful,
29:11
Speaker 2: you know, it delivers our drive, you know, pleasure and pain,
29:15
Speaker 2: all of these things come out of our imagination, right,
29:19
Speaker 2: So what's the tool that we use to get the
29:22
Speaker 2: imagination moving.
29:26
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I'm not usually ask questions on
29:30
Speaker 1: the podcast. I don't want to.
29:31
Speaker 2: Say happy to be unique. I'm happy to be original,
29:36
Speaker 2: my man. So if you've got in front of your
29:40
Speaker 2: top and you can see their potential, yeah, and you
29:45
Speaker 2: know you've lit their imagination. What's the tool in the
29:50
Speaker 2: process to get them along the track? Everybody's everybody's got
29:59
Speaker 2: this tool, the application. I guess what's the tool application tool.
30:06
Speaker 1: Tool for this is tricky at four four point thirty
30:10
Speaker 1: in the morning. I'm with you, I I'll have to pass.
30:18
Speaker 2: It's a thing called enthusiasm. Yeah, you've got enthusiasm. I've
30:23
Speaker 2: got enthusiasm, Laurie, definitely an enthusiasm. Everybody's got their own
30:28
Speaker 2: blend of enthusiasm, and that's the tool in the process
30:32
Speaker 2: because if you I can ignite you to enthusiastically and
30:35
Speaker 2: you use your enthusiasm for the imagined idea, whether it
30:39
Speaker 2: be Gold medals, podcasts, hir Sprung's, you name it right.
30:45
Speaker 2: If I can ignite your enthusiasm, you'll move along the path.
30:49
Speaker 2: You'll move along the process towards the imagined goal. Yeah. Now,
30:56
Speaker 2: in swimming, I was very lucky to get caught up
30:59
Speaker 2: with a bloke who you is his enthusiasm every single
31:02
Speaker 2: day on the most boring sport you can possibly imagine. Now,
31:07
Speaker 2: some people say, oh, you know, sport's so boring, And
31:10
Speaker 2: I said, have you swim up and down a swimming pool?
31:12
Speaker 2: Like once? How many people did you talk to? Now?
31:17
Speaker 2: I tried doing it thousands of times a year. So
31:22
Speaker 2: Laurie really came in with this enthusiasm package. Like I
31:25
Speaker 2: said before at the start when we were describing he
31:27
Speaker 2: runs on a different battery and he uses that to
31:31
Speaker 2: ignite the imagination of swimmers to do the banal, the
31:36
Speaker 2: boring and the volume that it takes to get fast
31:40
Speaker 2: enough to compete on the world stage.
31:42
Speaker 1: You have to otherwise if you just if you just
31:45
Speaker 1: described it as right, swim up and down, swim up
31:47
Speaker 1: and down, not very well.
31:50
Speaker 2: For your enthusiasm. Got you out about it at four
31:54
Speaker 2: fifteen this morning, made to be online at four thirty
31:56
Speaker 2: for a podcast with some bloke on the other side
31:59
Speaker 2: of the well. See, this is enthusiasm, and we need
32:03
Speaker 2: to work out how we do enthusiasm and give our
32:07
Speaker 2: give ourselves permission to let it lose, because a lot
32:10
Speaker 2: of the time we reserve it, we cap it, we
32:13
Speaker 2: pull it back. We don't want to look silly, we
32:15
Speaker 2: don't want to cringe and stuff like that. We miss
32:17
Speaker 2: out many experiences because of that. But if you uncap
32:21
Speaker 2: it and you're enthusiastic about your kids, your wife, your family,
32:24
Speaker 2: you know is a limit. The world is your limit
32:30
Speaker 2: in terms of results.
32:32
Speaker 1: I think that's brilliant. But it's that that willing to
32:36
Speaker 1: look as willing to fail. We'll going to fail over
32:39
Speaker 1: and over to succeed.
32:43
Speaker 2: Well. We learn more out of our failures than our victories.
32:46
Speaker 2: When we win, we're cardy, hardy. But when we lose,
32:49
Speaker 2: we ponder, we get thoughtful, We actually stop and do
32:51
Speaker 2: the thought work to get better. We don't do that
32:54
Speaker 2: when we're winning, because the band aid's over us wanting
32:57
Speaker 2: to improve.
32:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's covered by the fact that you've won, whether
33:02
Speaker 1: you've played badly, whether you swam well or whatever. You
33:05
Speaker 1: kind of go, well, I've won, so I must have
33:06
Speaker 1: done well, you know, so therefore I'll move on.
33:10
Speaker 2: And externally, you get this reward from your community. So
33:13
Speaker 2: externally everyone's slapping it on the back and going your debate.
33:16
Speaker 2: But when you lose, that same community goes what happened
33:19
Speaker 2: and makes you explain it. So you do this self
33:22
Speaker 2: reflection when you lose, and your community doesn't let it
33:26
Speaker 2: get away with it, right, they either avoid you or
33:29
Speaker 2: say something stupid. But when you win, rewarding you, so
33:35
Speaker 2: you're not learning it. But when you lose, they make
33:38
Speaker 2: you learn something. It's good, It's very true. It's very true.
33:41
Speaker 1: And I know you mentioned about the Commonwealth Games and
33:44
Speaker 1: winning goal to the Commonwealth and in very much in
33:48
Speaker 1: preparation for soul sort of been eighty eight going into
33:55
Speaker 1: that Olympics, is it right? And saying that you weren't
34:01
Speaker 1: in the best of form in terms of race wins,
34:06
Speaker 1: you hadn't won for a couple of years.
34:09
Speaker 2: Spot on, you've done your research for thirty See you're fired.
34:13
Speaker 2: I'm wide awake me, I'm wide away levels when that
34:16
Speaker 2: coffee worked. Well, yeah, maybe I was RNGE forty eighth
34:19
Speaker 2: in the world because I wasn't a big guy. He's
34:22
Speaker 2: assuming the tournaments. Freestyle, you go back to body shapes
34:25
Speaker 2: in rugby. There's body shapes and swimming for different events.
34:27
Speaker 2: And the turn of meters freestyles is a speed and
34:30
Speaker 2: power of out like the four hundred meters on the track,
34:33
Speaker 2: and so you need a certain amount of sprintability. But
34:36
Speaker 2: then this unbelievable hardcore stamina to get home after getting
34:40
Speaker 2: ready out there, right in the first half of the race,
34:42
Speaker 2: and so I was about six seven inches shorter at
34:46
Speaker 2: six to one. Then most of the guys in the
34:48
Speaker 2: race are all like monsters, and that's the really good
34:52
Speaker 2: shape for turnaments freestyle. So I spent two years from
34:54
Speaker 2: the Conwealth Games at eighty six to eighty eight just
34:57
Speaker 2: getting bigger, and you know, just eaty and eating, and
35:00
Speaker 2: it's at my bow of nuts for those two years.
35:03
Speaker 2: But I was able to put on about twenty kilos
35:06
Speaker 2: of muscle or about fifteen kilos of mussel, and that
35:10
Speaker 2: gave me just enough power to be able to do
35:13
Speaker 2: what I want to do in the tournament's freestyle. But
35:16
Speaker 2: if I got caught up with how they swim the
35:18
Speaker 2: two hundred, I would have swumps flower because I don't
35:20
Speaker 2: have their body shape. And this is what we call
35:23
Speaker 2: swimming in our lane. You've got You've got to learn
35:25
Speaker 2: who and what you are, what you're good at, and
35:28
Speaker 2: stick with it. Don't get confused about trying to raise
35:32
Speaker 2: them on their turn. Don't get confused about he's much
35:35
Speaker 2: bigger and stronger and faster than me. You've got to
35:37
Speaker 2: work out. I've got it. I've got a lane of water,
35:39
Speaker 2: I've got two and a half meters of water here,
35:41
Speaker 2: which no one's allowed you, and knowing I'm not allowed
35:43
Speaker 2: out of so this is my weapon. So I've got
35:46
Speaker 2: to convince myself what am I really good at? How
35:50
Speaker 2: am I going to swim this race? To get out
35:52
Speaker 2: of the water completely satisfied, faster than ever one before,
35:56
Speaker 2: and having the Olympics that I've dreamt about. Right, So
35:58
Speaker 2: that's the mindset. So I didn't really give a shit
36:01
Speaker 2: about winning races for two years, and so I went
36:03
Speaker 2: ahead and did that. I didn't win races for two years,
36:06
Speaker 2: but what I did was this volume of training that
36:08
Speaker 2: none of the other seven finalists could do and did.
36:11
Speaker 2: So I spent two years kind of like buried in work,
36:15
Speaker 2: knowing that when I peeked out of it in my
36:18
Speaker 2: when I'm ready to race and soul, my peak was
36:20
Speaker 2: going to be higher than their peak. And that's exactly
36:23
Speaker 2: what happened. And I had to suck it up. I
36:24
Speaker 2: get no one understood, you know, I had to really
36:27
Speaker 2: understand what I was on about, because man, I'd go
36:30
Speaker 2: to races and just get pumped pumped by these geezers
36:34
Speaker 2: who weren't as good as me. I knew they were
36:36
Speaker 2: as good as me. I could beat them all day,
36:38
Speaker 2: every day, and they were giving me a ride royal
36:40
Speaker 2: touch up for years, right and so so then I
36:43
Speaker 2: went to Olympic Trials and everyone thought I was just
36:46
Speaker 2: a journeyman at that stage. And I get there and
36:51
Speaker 2: I won both races and trials three months out before
36:54
Speaker 2: the Olympics, and I really surprised ever him and it
36:56
Speaker 2: was like, oh, wow, what have you been doing? And
36:58
Speaker 2: I'm like, thanks for paying attention. But three months later
37:02
Speaker 2: my peak was even higher when I got to the Games.
37:04
Speaker 2: And so we're on day one of competition, so I
37:07
Speaker 2: knew I'd be really really hard to beat and if
37:09
Speaker 2: anybody beat me, it was going to be a world record,
37:12
Speaker 2: and I would get out of the pool somewhat satisfied
37:17
Speaker 2: because I knew that I was going to get a
37:18
Speaker 2: drop of about three seconds over the four laps, and
37:20
Speaker 2: that's what I did. The good news is I beat
37:23
Speaker 2: everybody by two tens of a seconds. I was to
37:25
Speaker 2: get the world record for myself and win the gold medal.
37:28
Speaker 2: So for me, I was relieved. I'd spit so low,
37:33
Speaker 2: working so hard, I'd invest it so much into it
37:36
Speaker 2: top that if I didn't win, I'd bepewing for the
37:40
Speaker 2: rest of my life. Good news is I won, so
37:43
Speaker 2: I don't have to get out of that path. You
37:45
Speaker 2: got the right outcome, but get the rounding up. To
37:49
Speaker 2: put it mildly, but it is.
37:53
Speaker 1: What does that feel like when you're you're getting ready
37:57
Speaker 1: to start, knowing that the next two minutes, just under
38:00
Speaker 1: two minutes one seven twenty five to be exact, is
38:06
Speaker 1: going to be the most important two minutes of your life.
38:11
Speaker 2: Well, it's not the first time you step up in
38:13
Speaker 2: that sort of environment. Nothing's like the Olympic Games in
38:17
Speaker 2: terms of pressure, so everything is by ten. But you've
38:21
Speaker 2: been to colm Games, and you've been to World champs
38:23
Speaker 2: you've been to national championships and everything. So it's a
38:26
Speaker 2: progression of handling pressure, and all the way along there's
38:30
Speaker 2: these missteps and failures and things that have really taught
38:33
Speaker 2: you a lesson about routines and what's good for you
38:36
Speaker 2: and how to think and getting emotions under control that
38:40
Speaker 2: I would get so tunnel vision at times it was
38:44
Speaker 2: impossible to talk to me for weeks, you know, like
38:47
Speaker 2: you know, your girlfriend gets scared, your parents don't understand.
38:50
Speaker 2: Everyone is so relieved when the race is over, because
38:52
Speaker 2: you're turned into an absolute cockett, right, so selfish, so
38:57
Speaker 2: absorbed everything's about. And I'll give you a give you
39:01
Speaker 2: an idea of how tunnel vision you get. About twenty
39:03
Speaker 2: five minutes before I went down for the tournamentutes freestyle
39:06
Speaker 2: in Soul, I went. You gave into a ready room
39:08
Speaker 2: for forty minutes because of drug reasons, and you got
39:11
Speaker 2: eight big bay burns just sitting in there freaking out
39:14
Speaker 2: because the four year clock is about to stop and
39:16
Speaker 2: they're getting crushed by the pressure, right, and we're all
39:19
Speaker 2: sitting together. Right, it's just bizarre, so good. I love it.
39:23
Speaker 2: So anyway, twenty minutes before that, I'm getting my last
39:25
Speaker 2: massage and I was the only one swimming kind of
39:28
Speaker 2: that night, so I e the two massage therapists, Dorothy
39:31
Speaker 2: and Sue Stanley massage in me out, saying tah, you know,
39:35
Speaker 2: it's good to be a swimmer. And I'm just lying
39:37
Speaker 2: there and I'm just so so about it, right, I
39:40
Speaker 2: don't know what's going on. And our psychologist walks over it.
39:43
Speaker 2: His name was Jeff Bond, and Jeff is a legend
39:46
Speaker 2: of a bloke, you know, a nice bloke took Pat
39:49
Speaker 2: Cash to the Wimbledon total the year before, a really
39:52
Speaker 2: famous guy in terms of psychology, but it was the
39:55
Speaker 2: first time he ever went away with this, right, So,
39:58
Speaker 2: how I'm lying there and I flip over and Jeff
40:02
Speaker 2: strolls over. He goes, okay, done. It's about twenty minutes
40:05
Speaker 2: before you get a ready raab. Why don't we have
40:07
Speaker 2: a chat about what you're going to do next? And
40:11
Speaker 2: apparently I just looked up at him and said, I
40:13
Speaker 2: tell you what would do? Jeff? How about you fuck
40:16
Speaker 2: off and I'll go down there and I'll win gold
40:19
Speaker 2: medal for a stray How about that? Right? And if
40:23
Speaker 2: I did? And I did it. Now ten years after
40:27
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight, we all get together. The team got
40:29
Speaker 2: together for a ten year reunit. So it was beautiful.
40:32
Speaker 2: Everyone came down and Sue Stanley and Dorothy were two
40:35
Speaker 2: Massas therapists on that day, come up to me ten
40:37
Speaker 2: years later and they dug our favorite memory is you
40:42
Speaker 2: telling Jeff Bondigo himself?
40:45
Speaker 3: Right?
40:45
Speaker 2: And I'm like, and I looked at him, I'm like,
40:47
Speaker 2: what are you talking about? And they're like, what do
40:50
Speaker 2: you remember? Don't remember it, don't remember a second of it.
40:54
Speaker 2: Not a thing, right. So then they told me that
40:59
Speaker 2: we fell a laughing and they told me the story.
41:02
Speaker 2: So I had to write to Jeff Bonden to say, hey, mate,
41:04
Speaker 2: it might be a little bit overdu but I'm sorry
41:05
Speaker 2: about what we talked about. I'm the mass And he said,
41:10
Speaker 2: don't worried out mate, you're you're pretty focused. I love
41:15
Speaker 2: that story. So that's what that's what these environments bring
41:19
Speaker 2: in terms of focused intensity and things like that. Every
41:24
Speaker 2: sport has their own dictates in terms of how the
41:26
Speaker 2: athletes go about it. But that's the thing I'd missed
41:30
Speaker 2: the most when I retired, and it took me a
41:32
Speaker 2: while to retire, and it took me time to get
41:35
Speaker 2: over not being a swimmer anymore, because the moments that
41:40
Speaker 2: you're in that ready room and out on deck is
41:43
Speaker 2: all about potential, right, but it comes with such in
41:46
Speaker 2: intensity that you can never find it again in life.
41:50
Speaker 2: So you have to come to terms with that, and
41:51
Speaker 2: sometimes it takes. It takes many years, and sometimes it's
41:54
Speaker 2: very difficult. Everyone's got their own journey. But that's what
41:58
Speaker 2: I missed the most. I miss being in a headlock
42:02
Speaker 2: on deck and not being able to get out of it.
42:05
Speaker 2: And then having to do something about it. I missed
42:07
Speaker 2: that and compromising. Well, how good are you? You know?
42:13
Speaker 2: I love that. I love asking those questions and I
42:16
Speaker 2: love meeting the challenge of that. And that's where the
42:18
Speaker 2: adrenaline hits. The adrenaline hits when you start thinking about
42:21
Speaker 2: meeting that challenge. And at the Olympic Games, the challenge
42:24
Speaker 2: is so big. Your adrenaline shot is so big and
42:28
Speaker 2: so deep. It scars you for life. It's awesome, scars
42:33
Speaker 2: in a good way. Yeah, yeah, most definitely.
42:37
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's entire intoxicating level of pressure and
42:44
Speaker 1: for ninety ninety nine point nine per people, they would
42:49
Speaker 1: absolutely hate that.
42:51
Speaker 2: But yeah, but it's a journey towards it. It's a
42:53
Speaker 2: really so you don't walk out on deck in your
42:56
Speaker 2: first year and go I can go, you know, you
42:59
Speaker 2: know from the speaking you again in the under ages five, six, seven,
43:02
Speaker 2: eight by your brothers at a club on a Wednesday night,
43:06
Speaker 2: it starts shaping the way you think about and becoming capable.
43:10
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And just one final, one final question. Yeah, we're
43:18
Speaker 1: all right, Yeah, we're all right, we'll be all right.
43:23
Speaker 1: Just on that particular day, on the nineteenth September. What
43:28
Speaker 1: is that like getting the gold medal put round your
43:33
Speaker 1: neck and the national anthem play.
43:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the most emotional part of the whole journey,
43:41
Speaker 2: because you know, you've raised the flag for your country.
43:44
Speaker 2: You have raised the flag for your country. You have
43:48
Speaker 2: done something worthy enough to raise your flag and hear
43:52
Speaker 2: the national anthem, and you've done it. And so for me,
43:55
Speaker 2: it's that's a deeply personal journey that gets me emotional
43:58
Speaker 2: every time I think about it, because I dreamt about
44:02
Speaker 2: it and I always admired people who did it, and
44:05
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, I step up and I
44:06
Speaker 2: joined their ranks. And you know, you can get technical
44:09
Speaker 2: about the swim and you can get relief about the investment,
44:13
Speaker 2: but at that moment, when you're on the top of
44:14
Speaker 2: the podium and it's the world's best view, you know,
44:18
Speaker 2: you can see for miles and it all just comes
44:21
Speaker 2: together with all your dreams coming into our reality, and
44:23
Speaker 2: there's a real disconnect between your subconscious and then the conscious,
44:28
Speaker 2: and then it slams together with that national anthem and
44:33
Speaker 2: you know, I'm a crazy patriot about everything to do
44:35
Speaker 2: with Australia, and that flag means so much to me.
44:38
Speaker 2: So you know, I can take a journey back to that,
44:41
Speaker 2: pulled it pretty quickly and that flag down the end
44:44
Speaker 2: of the pool, me staring at it, the national anthem,
44:48
Speaker 2: you know, just echoing through that enormous complex being in
44:52
Speaker 2: a foreign land raising the Australian flag. It's all the
44:58
Speaker 2: field of DRAMs. Basic.
45:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I think it's one of those things you
45:06
Speaker 1: can't quite sort of picture how that feels until it
45:11
Speaker 1: actually happens.
45:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's my breath moment as an Australia easily.
45:16
Speaker 1: That's absolutely incredible. And I guess kind of for you now,
45:23
Speaker 1: I mean obviously you then worked in media for Fox Sports.
45:29
Speaker 1: What are the sort of plans for you at the
45:32
Speaker 1: moment kind of going forward. I know you're involved in
45:36
Speaker 1: sort of mentorship and a bit of coaching as well.
45:40
Speaker 1: What what what lays.
45:41
Speaker 2: In your future? Yeah, thanks for thanks for asking mate.
45:45
Speaker 2: I I've had several careers like in television, radio, media, print,
45:51
Speaker 2: a little bit socially online and stuff like that. And
45:54
Speaker 2: so I've been a broadcaster for many years and I
45:58
Speaker 2: kind of followed the swim team around and another golden
46:00
Speaker 2: age coming into the Sydney two thousand Olympics then all
46:02
Speaker 2: the way through to London in twenty twelve, but got
46:07
Speaker 2: too old for them, mate, they had to give it away.
46:10
Speaker 2: I was commentating on very young people and somebody else
46:16
Speaker 2: should give it Agather, that's for sure. So flexed out
46:19
Speaker 2: of that and now with the Brisbane Olympic Games coming
46:22
Speaker 2: up in seven years time, my businesses are kind of
46:25
Speaker 2: all slanted towards the build up. So I train a
46:27
Speaker 2: lot of athletes into broadcasting. I trained a lot of
46:30
Speaker 2: athletes into corporate representation and transitioning out of their careers
46:34
Speaker 2: into corporate life. So I do a lot of teaching
46:36
Speaker 2: and a lot of mentoring around that space. And I
46:39
Speaker 2: think I'll be probably doing that for the next seven years,
46:41
Speaker 2: heading into Sydney, sorry, heading into Brisbane twenty thirty two,
46:45
Speaker 2: and just being the superstar that I am. Mate, there's
46:50
Speaker 2: a ah yeah, so yeah, Look, I think I'm going
46:54
Speaker 2: to be very busy for the next seven years. I'm
46:57
Speaker 2: a crazy Christian, so I do all to work with
47:00
Speaker 2: Christian organizations, and you know, we attend church every Sunday,
47:03
Speaker 2: and kids love youth, so Jesus in the middle of
47:07
Speaker 2: the family and everything that we do here. I'm tremendously
47:10
Speaker 2: proud of the five kids that I've got. So the
47:12
Speaker 2: grand kids are starting to arrive. We've got another one
47:14
Speaker 2: at arriving next week hopefully if all goes well, or
47:18
Speaker 2: a little grandson Duncan Junior DJ and that's my name,
47:23
Speaker 2: not theirs, all right, I thought that's one of the chops. No,
47:28
Speaker 2: I'm terrorizing with the idea that you'll be So yeah,
47:34
Speaker 2: life nuch is on and I'm really fascinated to see
47:37
Speaker 2: where it takes me over the next sort of seven
47:42
Speaker 2: years at least until retirement. I think i'll give it
47:44
Speaker 2: away after twenty thirty two, and I'm about sixty three
47:47
Speaker 2: sixty four, so yeah. I live on the Sunshine Coast
47:51
Speaker 2: on the beach, three or four days days a week.
47:53
Speaker 2: It's part of our lifestyle and our culture. So I
47:55
Speaker 2: feel very blessed in terms of the environment that we
47:58
Speaker 2: found ourselves in. I've been with the saying girl for
48:00
Speaker 2: thirty years. I'm still feeling her somehow, and she's still
48:07
Speaker 2: hanging around, so please let that continue. We do it
48:11
Speaker 2: too much wrong then, Yeah, it's really just family focused
48:14
Speaker 2: and doing quality work with quality people. It sounds a
48:17
Speaker 2: bit pithy, but really they are my priorities and I'm
48:20
Speaker 2: very blessed to be able to focus on them.
48:23
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, it has been by honor. It has been
48:27
Speaker 1: really really good to have you on to chat to you,
48:30
Speaker 1: and I'm so so glad that we did this. I'm
48:34
Speaker 1: so glad I got to hear, got to hear first
48:37
Speaker 1: handy story and just thank you so so much for
48:41
Speaker 1: coming on. This has been this has been a really
48:45
Speaker 1: good episode one hundred And I don't know it goes
48:47
Speaker 1: without saying, but I'll say it anyway that I'd wish
48:49
Speaker 1: you the very best with your her future endeavors, especially
48:54
Speaker 1: coming up to Brisbane twenty thirty two, and we'll keep
48:58
Speaker 1: an eye on how everything.
48:59
Speaker 2: Goes is made. It's been a please to be on
49:01
Speaker 2: your podcast. I love being a Centurion too, thanks Matte.
49:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred significant milestone up oh was the one
49:06
Speaker 1: hundredth Olympic medal won by Australia in the swimming pool
49:10
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty eight. And now I'm the one hundredth
49:13
Speaker 1: guest on Tom's podcast. Yeah, we won't say which one
49:18
Speaker 1: is more important.
49:21
Speaker 2: Well, it's always it's always the latest ecchoeade, right, it's not. Yeah, absolutely,
49:26
Speaker 2: it's always the one right now, So this is it.
49:29
Speaker 2: I'll go with that. I agree, Yeah, I'll go. Thank
49:32
Speaker 2: you so so much. We covered off Matte take care
49:35
Speaker 2: all the way goes teess Ma.
49:40
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening and being part of this growing community.
49:43
Speaker 1: If you have enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe,
49:46
Speaker 1: leave a review, and share it with someone who might
49:49
Speaker 1: need it. You can connect with us on social media
49:52
Speaker 1: via Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok under the name Tom's hirs
49:56
Speaker 1: Sprung's Podcast. See you next week, sa