Learn from Athletes

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Jodie Henry [00:00] I had always wanted to stay under the radar and essentially by breaking the world record that night, I was the favourite for the final the next night in Lane 4.

Speaker 2 [00:11] Just how quick will it be? Can she get close to the world record? She's got it. Broken it in the semi.

Jodie Henry [00:19] My coach and I sort of had to really manage that, because I had had a history of really bad nerves. The next day, instead of going into the pool and being around all my teammates and around competitors, I stayed at the village and I stayed by myself, which probably was a little bit of a risk as well, because then I didn't have anyone just to chat to and chill out with.

But I went up to the village pool and had a little bit of a paddle and a swim in there. It was a bit hard because it was full of floaty things like big pink flamingos and things like that, because it was the village pool. It wasn't a training pool by any means, but I felt alright. I just had to sort of feel the water basically.

We fast forward to that night. Everything went smoothly except when I got in the water to warm up. I just didn't feel as good as I had the night before. My coach saw that there was a little bit of panic in my eyes. Luckily, he just said to me, that's okay, you don't, you might not have to swim as fast as you did last night. We're here to win. So that automatically relaxed me and changed my attitude and sort of went from worrying about a time to just going 'I'm here to race and I'm here to win.'

Speaker 2 [01:30] Representing Australia, Jodie Henry.

Jodie Henry [01:35] My plan, as I was announced, was to wave up to my parents on the right-hand side, over to my sister on the left-hand side, and down to my team on pool deck. And then I just had to smile. So that was our little plan to keep the nerves at bay and just to keep breathing and just keep me calm. And then out of the corner of my eye, I did notice Inge de Bruijn, who was my closest competitor, staring me down. I'm not an overly intimidating person, so the fact she was trying to psych me out sort of made me laugh a little bit.

So I got up onto the blocks and stuck to my race plan. My race plan was always a fast, easy down the first lap, and once I turned, I would just say go and head on home.

Speaker 2 [02:23] Jodie looks like she's a winner. Jodie Henry's in front and she's gonna do it again. Yes she does.

Jodie Henry [02:30] I didn't swim as fast as I had the night before, but I won and that was the important thing. And first Aussie female since Dawn [Fraser] to do it. So it was a nice little tick in the history books as well.

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Kurt Fearnley [00:00] All those times that you've dreamt that you've won that race, all those times that you've dragged it from a position where you had self-doubt into a position you are, you know, you are going to nail this thing and you are stronger and faster.

Speaker 2 [00:21] They're away and the Australian goes straight to the lead.

Kurt Fearnley [00:25] You spend that four years building the physicality, the muscle structure, to make sure that you have the ability to get to the stage and then when you get there, then it all switches from, from then on, from the moment that you enter into the village, it's all about mentality.

Speaker 2 [00:42] And there's Kurt Fearnley of Australia. Can he find his Beijing gold?

Kurt Fearnley [00:46] When it would get to the point that there is one of those almost, almost insurmountable moments, I asked myself one question, who am I? And when I ask myself that I know who I am because I planted that idea in myself day in, day out for a decade. I am strong, I'm resilient, and I'll never give up. That idea is stronger than any muscle.

Speaker 2 [01:09] Kurt Fearnley among the leading group.

Kurt Fearnley [01:13] It's about making sure you train that, that you can engage with that because that right there, that's the thing that will make the difference.

Speaker 2 [01:20] And as they come into view there's a huge roar for Kurt Fearnley.

Kurt Fearnley [01:24] When I hit that stadium, I remember thinking, relax. You're perfect. And that was in my head.

You've built this thing. You've built this person, this idea so strong. Do what you've done to get here. And no one will beat you today because you are just perfect.

Speaker 2 [01:45] Fearnley pushing for gold. He will get the gold.

Kurt Fearnley [01:49] In that moment when you cross the finish line. Sometimes it's elation. Sometimes it's like you've experienced that moment a thousand times. You almost feel like that's kind of how it was meant to be, because you've just convinced yourself so much that that is who you are. That is what you are after, and that's what's going to happen.

And when you are able to nail that idea with the physicality, you're hard to beat.

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Curtis McGrath [00:00] My Gold Medal Moment was one that culminated over four years and built up, right from my injury in Afghanistan, I stood on an improvised explosive device, an IED, and that detonated beneath me and took both my legs. Twenty minutes after that explosion, I said to the guys, I said I'll be all right, I'll be fine. I'll just go to the Paralympics.

Curtis McGrath [00:28] Leading into the Games, I was aware that I was the strongest I'd ever been, the fittest I'd ever been, and I'd done all the work that I'd needed to. And it was sort of that realisation that the gold medal moment in itself really had already been done. That allowed me to focus on just the pure performance.

Speaker 2 [00:45] 28-year-old from the Gold Coast very often crosses paths with the likes of Kenny Wallace.

Curtis McGrath [00:50] In my heat, I was a little bit distracted with, you know, the surrounds and everything that was going on. The crowd, the environment, an amazing atmosphere and the Brazilian people and even the crowds and everyone that came to watch the event were getting around it, which was really special.

Due to that distraction, I wasn't really paying attention to the starter. Before I even knew it. He was saying ready, set and I was not ready and set. And luckily enough though, all the training and culmination down to that moment, I put in a fairly good effort and lined up well for the final.

Speaker 2 [01:25] It's time for the Men's KL-2 final, and a four-time world champion, Curtis McGrath, including gold in this event.

Curtis McGrath [01:32] The final, I knew that if I had made the same mistake, I knew I would have a lot of trouble trying to regain back the performance loss in that start. This time I was definitely ready.

Speaker 2 [01:45] Curtis McGrath in 5. Off to a strong start.

Curtis McGrath [01:48] My strength is in the end of the race, and I knew that other competitors in my race were strong at the start. If I had raced the same similar race as their race plan, I would have a pretty hard time to catch up and I think that's a really important moment because as I was coming down the lane, I could tell that my race plan was starting to come out and starting to be laid down, and I could feel myself starting to gain momentum and understanding that I'm in my strength zone.

Speaker 2 [02:17] Once McGrath gets the boat running, he's tough to stop and pulling away from his nearest rival to take gold.

Curtis McGrath [02:24] Coming across the line, I was expecting to feel joy and celebration and excitement, but I got a really unexpected feeling. I had quite a lot of pressure there that I wasn't aware of, and when I crossed that line, that pressure became evident. It washed over me in this huge wave of relief. And I think that, you know, highlights the amount of work and effort and training and people's support in me in order to get to that moment and it was really special to be able to capitalise on all that and make the performance come together the way it did.

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Priya Cooper [00:00] My mental preparation, the lead up to the Sydney Games was a little bit hard work because I'd actually been injured probably about 6 months out from the Games. Had to have a shoulder operation, so the actual preparation had been disrupted. Mentally, I knew that I was strong. Physically I might not have been as strong.

Priya Cooper [00:23] Probably my most difficult moment at the Sydney Games was the fact that I'd done the 200 Individual Medley as the first event. I was the world record holder and I came fifth.

Speaker 2 [00:34] The two Australians, Priya Cooper and Brooke Stockham, are both medal chances.

Priya Cooper [00:38] The expectation was that I was going to win, win, win and I had this event where I came fifth, so my very next race was the 400 Metre Freestyle and the 400 Metre Freestyle, it is my race. I own the 400 Metre Freestyle. That was my one chance to get a gold medal at a home Games in front of a home crowd.

Speaker 2 [01:02] A big moment for Australia. Priya Cooper in lane four.

Priya Cooper [01:05] The stress of being able to actually pull it off when I knew that my body wasn't probably 100% was quite extreme and part of my race day strategy or walking out to the race, what I had to do was look straight down lane four and I'd go up and back, and that was part of my mental preparation to make sure that I knew that this is business. Now is the time to perform. Just use the crowd. I use the enthusiasm, the support that people had given me. It helped me build my self-belief.

Speaker 2 [01:45] Take your marks.

Speaker 2 [01:48] The start was okay.

Priya Cooper [01:49] As I dived in, I had to get out in front and then my strategy was to hold on, which is not normally a 400 metre freestyle strategy, but I knew that once I'm out there, the crowd will lift me and I will be able to bring it home.

Speaker 2 [02:10] 150m to go for Priya Cooper, she shows the total dominance that she has in this particular event.

Priya Cooper [02:17] And I really had the belief that this race is mine. I've got ownership of this and I think when you're looking at potentially having the best performance of your life, having that absolute bullet-proof belief that you own this and this is yours and nobody is taking it away from you, that kind of posture and that kind of belief can really go a long way.

Speaker 2 [02:45] And Priya Cooper of Australia goes in and wins the gold medal and wins it comfortably. Celebration at the Sydney International Aquatics Centre for Priya Cooper, the gold medal.

Priya Cooper [02:55] Having the crowd behind me and screaming and you can actually hear them under the water was the most amazing experience to take all of the pain away, to take all the self-doubt away. It helped me build my self-belief so that I could get on that block and win that gold medal.

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Matthew Levy [00:00] Very early on I was approaching training a bit blasé, going through the motions and not having a purpose. I think the key for me in life, um, is really having a purpose and to really be better than I am today.

Matthew Levy [00:17] I remember going and watching the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000 and seeing people with far worse disabilities than myself, and I really remember thinking that I really wanted to join them. I was lucky enough to represent Australia in my first Paralympic Games in 2004.

Speaker 2 [00:34] The S-8 Men's 50 freestyle.

Speaker 2 [00:37] Matt Levy.

Matthew Levy [00:39] That was a really great experience and it really kind of lit the fire to really want to do more than just make finals, do PBs. It was, I guess, a turning point. I didn't, I guess, achieve as well as I wanted to in 2008, in the Paralympic Games and it was really in those moments that I realised that I wasn't giving as much as I could do. Sat down with my coach and sat down with the people around me to really kind of understand, well, what can I do in these next 4 years? The big part of my journey was listening to the people around me and listening to what they had to say, and taking, I guess their feedback on board, whether it was negative or positive in training. And I looked at, I guess, my mental attitude and how I was, um, approaching every session, um, every turn, every dive, every stroke.

Speaker 3 [01:26] And there is the fastest team, Australia.

Matthew Levy [01:29] When I went to London 2012 Paralympic Games and uh, I think there would have been 15, 20,000 people at that stadium. Yes, I had doubts. Yes, I had apprehensions. Yes, I had second guessing of myself. But at the end of the day, I knew that I had done everything in my power to achieve the best outcome.

Speaker 4 [01:49] Take your marks.

Matthew Levy [01:52] All that, I guess, fear and all that doubt goes away when you're diving in, in that pool and swimming those laps for your country.

Speaker 3 [02:01] This is Matthew Levy, 25 years of age.

Matthew Levy [02:05] remember swimming about 14m ahead of the rest of the world, and it was a fantastic feeling to be that far in front.

Speaker 3 [02:13] Matthew Levy for Australia, now 15 metres clear of the rest of the world.

Matthew Levy [02:21] I grew up with a lot of these people that we were in this relay together with and to, I guess, share that moment with them and to share, I guess that experience is, um, was something that I guess dreams are made of.

Speaker 3 [02:37] Australia. Here are Australia. Awesome Australia.

Matthew Levy [02:41] To end that with a gold medal is, um, a fantastic achievement. And for me, I guess it's thanks to, I guess, the life lessons that I've learnt along the way and helped me achieve what I've been able to achieve.

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Stephanie Rice [00:00] It's one of the hardest events that I do, so I'm always really nervous before the 400 Medley.

Stephanie Rice [00:11] I remember just being so nervous, so many butterflies, so anxious.

Speaker 2 [00:17] Representing Australia, Stephanie Rice.

Stephanie Rice [00:20] I remember saying to my coach, like, I'm really nervous. I'm actually nervous about how nervous I am because I've never felt this way before. I think just vocalising the fact that this is how I feel almost takes a little bit of the pressure off. So I found being able to share how I was feeling really, really helped me.

My coach always said to focus on the simple things, focus on what you can control. Focus on just swimming your own race in your own lane. Don't be distracted by the lights and the cameras and everything else and just get out there and do the best that you can do. I think in an Olympics, when there's so much pressure on you, the more pressure you can almost take off, the better.

Stephanie Rice [01:01] In medley swimming, it's kind of hard to understand where you're sitting in the race because butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle and each athlete is better at different disciplines, so the race lead can always switch and change a lot.

Speaker 3 [01:15] Exactly what she has to do swim to her strength. Butterfly.

Stephanie Rice [01:18] I was in front at the halfway mark because I'm quite strong in the first two disciplines of butterfly and backstroke, but I knew some of my top competitors would be better in the second half of the race, so I really had to put myself in the front. I had to race from the start.

Speaker 3 [01:33] If she steps up this lead, Stephanie Rice like she's doing right now, she's going to be very hard to catch.

Stephanie Rice [01:38] And it wasn't until the very last lap of the 400 medley where I turned, and I saw my competitor was actually quite close to me.

Speaker 3 [01:48] So Rice turns with a commanding lead over Coventry and Hoff.

Stephanie Rice [01:52] And I was reaffirming almost every stroke. Like you're doing a good job. Keep focusing on yourself. You know, yes your body is really hurting. Just keep pushing. Only 25 more metres. Only ten more strokes.

Seeing a number one next to my name was just the biggest joy, excitement, relief, pride. Everything rolled up into one.

I was so proud because I knew I was capable of the win, but I was more proud of being able to execute everything at that one moment in time, in an environment that is so high pressure, with so much uncertainty, so much external pressure coming at you. To have been the first Australian to win a medal at the 2008 Olympics was a huge, huge honour and something I'm very proud of.

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Steve Hooker [00:00] Anything less than a gold medal for me in Beijing, I would have viewed as a I guess a failure is the word that comes to mind.

Steve Hooker [00:13] The night before my final I barely slept, or it felt like I didn't sleep, but I wasn't stressed. If you don't believe that you're going to win the gold medal there's a high likelihood that you won't win it. I believed I would find a way to overcome. I believed I would find a way to make a clearance. And more than that, the situation and the enormity of the event would bring out the best in me, not the opposite.

Speaker 2 [00:40] Third attempt, five metres 90. He's in a tie for first place.

Steve Hooker [00:45] Yevgeny is lining up for his third attempt.

Steve Hooker [00:49] I'd spent my whole day not watching him jump, so I'd listen to the crowd kind of get noisy as he's taking his run up, and then you'd hear them kind of pause as he goes in the air, and then you'd either hear a cheer if he clears, or a sigh of the crowd if he missed. On his third attempt, he missed, and the crowd sighed.

And for me, that was the moment where everything kind of kicks in. That's my time to kind of get my headspace right. So I gave, you know, I gave myself a moment. I said, this is it.

Officials call my name. Time starts and I see myself just walk over to my mark. Poles on the shoulder. I know exactly what's going to happen and there's no stopping, there's no moment where I think it's time to go. That moment had already happened three minutes ago, you know, like I was already in the flow of the whole thing. I just pick up the pole and I just start running down the runway.

And it was the easiest jump I've ever done in my life.

Speaker 2 [01:40] Up he goes. He goes over.

Steve Hooker [01:44] In my mind I'd done that jump thousands and thousands of times. For some reason, I'd sort of visualise this jump over and over again in like high fidelity in my mind and I would imagine perfect jumps where, you know, it was my jump to win the gold and I would make the clearance. I would imagine it from the first person perspective, like I was picking up my pole and running down the runway. I would imagine it from the view that my coach would be looking at it from sort of side on, where you could see the cadence and the stride length of my run.

And when it came time for that moment, I did nothing. It was all kind of in me. The rhythm was in me. The timing of that jump was in me, and it just took care of itself. And afterwards I just felt relief that I'd not missed my opportunity. Um, and I felt pretty tired.

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Kim Brennan [00:00] Sometimes that distraction of the circus that goes on around you really needs to be put to one side to focus in on what is actually quite a simple task, which is doing what you've trained yourself to be able to do.

Kim Brennan [00:16] This is the Olympics.

Speaker 2 [00:18] And away in the first semifinal. Kim Brennan...

Kim Brennan [00:22] I think the semifinal is probably the hardest race that you race. You don't get to the final unless you get through the semifinal. It's almost a fear state because the threat of not making it to that final, that thing that you've trained for at times can feel quite overwhelming.

What I really took out of that was how strong and how clear my focus was. The ability to reframe that fear state to that opportunity state of 'This is the closest I'm going to come of having that pressure that you get of the Olympic final.'

I would have expected to be really nervous for an Olympic final, but it was actually this sense of calm and peace. This is it. This is my opportunity to do what I've been born to do.

Speaker 2 [01:12] Away in the final of the women's single sculls...

Kim Brennan [01:15] Being so in touch with what is going on around you, it's almost like your senses are so heightened you can hear the bubbles under the boat, feel the excitement, you can hear your breath. Getting towards the last 500 metres was the first time I really started to become aware that that I was leading the race and, and I think actually that was the moment that it was almost like the focus was slightly broken, that for the first time I started thinking about the outcome rather than what it was that would get me there.

Speaker 2 [01:50] And no one is faster than Kim Brennan. She completes her set. Gold to Australia.

Kim Brennan [01:55] It wasn't the culmination of, you know, a heat, a quarterfinal, a semifinal. It was a culmination of, you know, every stroke, every lift, every bike ride, every psych session, every debrief, every time we watched a video of being clear on how that particular component of my life was going to help me build both the psychology and the physiology, to be able to be in the place I needed to be to win that race on that day.