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The Mastering Podcast
In a world obsessed with instant gratification and overnight success, Mastering… offers a refreshing antidote. We go beyond the surface-level stories and delve into the nitty-gritty of what it truly takes to master a craft.
Mastering is a podcast that delves into the secrets of mastery by interviewing experts at the top of their game. Each episode features an in-depth conversation with a master from a different field, from artists and athletes to entrepreneurs and scientists. We'll explore their journeys, their mindsets, and the unique skills and strategies they've developed to achieve excellence.
The Mastering Podcast
Giving It a Shot: The Crazy World of Elite Athletics! | Olympians Riley Day & Cedric Dubler
Giving It a Shot: The Crazy World of Elite Athletics!
Storytelling in sports as a tool for connection. Experience the extraordinary journey of elite athletes as we dive into the world of track and field, highlighting the challenges and triumphs faced by Riley Day and Cedric Dubler. Both athletes share their personal stories, as Riley unveils the mental resilience required as she transitions from sprinting to the grueling 400-metre race.
• Transitioning from the 200m to the 400m
• Overcoming injuries and setbacks
• The mental fortitude needed for elite competition
• Growth of athletics in Australia
• Insights from Riley Day and Cedric Dubler's journeys
• The role of sponsorship in an athlete's career
• Importance of building a supportive community
This gripping conversation covers the complexities of overcoming injuries and the unwavering determination needed to chase Olympic dreams. Explore the community that champions one another and the rise of athletics in Australia, inspiring future generations to break barriers.
We discuss the essential role of sponsorships that support athletes in their careers, revealing how strategic planning and authenticity can create powerful partnerships. The dynamics of storytelling in sports take centre stage, illustrating how sharing personal journeys can foster deeper connections with fans and sponsors alike.
Whether you're an aspiring athlete or a sports enthusiast, this episode is a compelling exploration of the grit and determination found in the realm of athletics. Subscribe, share, and join us on this thrilling adventure!
Want more? Find us on You Tube, Instagram, X, and TikTok where we share bonus content and engage with our listeners.
Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review! Your support helps us bring more inspiring stories to life. ❤️
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I went to the Olympics for the 200 metres, but I have recently decided to move to the 400.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Why is that?
Speaker 3:Hold on.
Speaker 2:Not making that Olympics. Has that been your biggest setback? Do you think that you've faced I just couldn't accept that.
Speaker 4:It was over. You know, I expected to make it, I knew I could make it, I just needed that one performance. What is?
Speaker 3:doing the dubla? You mentioned that it. I just needed that one performance. What is doing the dubler? You mentioned that before.
Speaker 1:I think it sounds like you're doing a prep.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the inaugural episode of our Mastering Podcast, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes talking to the best of the best, from artists and athletes to entrepreneurs and scientists. My name is John Sanka. I'm a retired athlete who made a comeback as a master's athlete in my late 40s to represent Australia in track and field, so today's episode is a bit close to my heart. Australia has seen a huge boom in track and field recently. Matt Denny, nina Kennedy, gwad Gwad and Tori Lewis has become household names, but in my opinion, this journey started at the 2000 Olympics.
Speaker 3:In this first episode, we are bringing together two of the most memorable track and field athletes from Tokyo. Their mindsets and their stories of resilience, the relentlessness and the pure determination will give us an insight into what it takes to become a master or an elite athlete. Unarguably the queen of track and field at the Tokyo Olympics was Riley Day. Joining Riley is the master of multi-events, dual Olympian decathlete, a man who is synonymous for his act of kindness and mateship Cedric Dubler. Joining Cedric Riley and me, our moderator, the host with the most, the host of M26 Fit podcast, magda Solsen.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome Riley Day and Cedric Dubler. How are you guys? Good, happy to be here.
Speaker 4:Very happy to be here.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, let's kick off. Can you just give us a little bit of a snapshot of what got you started in athletics?
Speaker 1:I think I was like every Australian kid that did heaps of sports growing up and I found that team sports isn't really my calling. So mum and dad took me to Little Athletics one day and pretty much from there, the rest is history. I went through the schooling system, still did touch football and all the rest of it until I was about 15, and then I started specializing from then and started making my senior debut at 17. So I'm 24 now, so I've been a professional athlete for seven years.
Speaker 2:And how old were you when you first started? Little Athletics.
Speaker 1:So I started Little Athletics when I was nine, so before that I was pretty much just doing everything else netball, touch football and, yeah, from there went to dance for one lesson and I hated it.
Speaker 3:So why track and field, though? Why did you? You said, you touched footy and dance. You hated it, but why track and field? How did that stick?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I just I think it. I just sort of knew I didn't really have the passion for anything else and I was good at it. So that's normally kids they find something they're good at and they're like right, let's keep going. So yeah, I made nationals off no training when I was 10 and meddled, and then from there mum and dad were like, oh, she might be actually half good at this, and then from there kept on going.
Speaker 3:So you were able to make up your mind that you know you were good at a couple of events and you stuck to it.
Speaker 1:Yep, so I was better at the sprints, but I also I enjoyed doing long jump and triple jump, um, and then the hurdles until they started getting a bit too high. So I kept to the too high.
Speaker 4:That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1:That's the statement so I kept doing the sprints and the long jump and then eventually specialized it at 16 for just the sprints.
Speaker 3:So you could still make up your mind. Unlike the guy sitting next to you, I'm still deciding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, actually this is hot off the press and I haven't really told anyone this. I went to the Olympics for the 200 metres, but I have recently decided to move to the 400.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why is that?
Speaker 3:Hold on.
Speaker 1:Should we come back to it or should we talk?
Speaker 4:to Sandy no, let's keep going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is very recent and not many people know only like my small team know this. So this is hot off the press. 200, it is probably my first love and I really enjoy it. But I just think my body just doesn't like running above 95% anymore and, yeah, it's just really difficult for me to stay there. My body just breaks down, it has injuries. So I went to the drawing board with my coach and I made the decision myself to try and move to the force. You weren't pressured.
Speaker 3:You made the decision on your own. I made the decision myself to try and move to the force. You weren't pressured. You made the decision on your own.
Speaker 1:I made the decision on my own.
Speaker 3:Do you know?
Speaker 1:I know how hard it's going to be.
Speaker 4:Paul never saw it coming he never saw it coming.
Speaker 1:I was the person that.
Speaker 3:Wow, so Paul had no influence in that decision, you just went and did it on your own. Sorry, mate. This is great, but hold on, hold on. Yeah. So some of us that that try to attempt from that distance knows how hard I reckon it's the hardest event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely one of the hardest events not one of the.
Speaker 3:It is the hardest once you get to that to a non-athlete.
Speaker 2:Why is the 400 so difficult?
Speaker 3:I think you can break it in in sections, so the the first hundred, the second hundred and the third hundred, and then when you come to the fourth one, where you but why is that?
Speaker 4:more difficult because you've you've well I would say. I would say the only way to get really good at the 400 is to be willing to die multiple times a week, every week, for years. So it takes, it takes a dedication that not many people have. You can die for a few sessions and you're okay. Then a lot of people kind of step off the gas. To be good at the 400 requires that constant commitment to training, that willingness to throw up two, three, four times in a session and do that week after week after week after week and uh, and that's why I'm so excited for riley it's also technically one of the hardest events to master.
Speaker 3:You feel like you know my, my friends. Now my wife tells me you know, you're just running around one circle how hard can it be if you're good enough?
Speaker 1:you should be finishing that well under 50 seconds so my boyfriend said the same thing and he has never run a 400 or sprinted really in his life, so he's like all right, I reckon I can run a faster 400 than you. I said go on, then show me what you've got. He just went out there, sprinted a four and as and as soon as he finished, he's like.
Speaker 3:And he didn't tear his hamstring.
Speaker 1:No, he didn't. He looked at me dead in the eyes and was like I don't envy you at all.
Speaker 2:What time did he do?
Speaker 1:He ran 66 seconds. Okay, so the time. What do you run it?
Speaker 4:in 47.1, yeah.
Speaker 1:So the times that I'm aiming for will be 50 seconds.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Good on you. We need a 50-second 400-meter runner in Australia because if you look at athletics, right, we're in a really good spot right. We've got some really good sprinters, we've got some really good middle-distance runners, we've got some good 200 runners. With Goud Goud coming into the scene. We've got male 400 runners that are good enough now to be in the world stage, even in a final in the Olympics and world championships. Ellie Beer is there, but I think, having you know, a 50-second runner, that's what's Ellie and Boyer.
Speaker 1:They both hit around 51 seconds. Yeah, mid-51s. What's the Australian record, it's Cathy Freeman.
Speaker 4:She's pretty quick 48s ones.
Speaker 3:What's the Australian record? It's Cathy.
Speaker 1:Freeman, she's pretty quick 48? Yeah, that's a whole other level. So there's a long road from here till then. So we'll go along the journey. I'm excited for it, nervous, a little bit scared.
Speaker 4:So far. She's about two weeks in, so it's still very new, um, but I've, I've just been so excited for the session, so I've, every single day at training, I just remind her like you excited for for the weekend, you excited for these sessions. Um, just so so she doesn't forget, you know yeah, so what about you, cedric?
Speaker 2:how did you get started in athletics?
Speaker 4:Well, I think how most people kind of get started primary school, the school carnival I was okay at the long jump, I was okay at the high jump, I enjoyed the 800 and the 100. I kind of enjoyed a little bit of everything. And I actually was selected to go to the district championship. I thought I was kind of the world's greatest athlete at that point. It was so cool just looking on a map and being like whoa, you know, I'm versing people from this entire region. And then I went to the regionals and I went to the States and that just kind of blew my mind.
Speaker 2:What age were you when you were doing that?
Speaker 4:So that was year five of school Round 10. Round 10, yeah, no-transcript, absolutely no chance. And then, after a little bit of convincing, she found me a coach why did she say no, no chance oh, because you know she's seen pole vault go wrong.
Speaker 4:Uh, I think I think I must have like looked on YouTube or the internet and been like this is what it's like, and I click on a fail video and it's just people snapping poles and missing the mat and all sorts of stuff. So it probably wasn't the strongest pitch from my behalf. But I, a few years later that coach he was a paramedic, he was caught up in a lot of work and so he wasn't able to continue coaching. So I found a new coach who was Eric Brown, multi-event coach, and I started working with him just to do the pole vault. But he was like oh, come try a decathlon, let's see how you go. I was 16 or 15 at the time and I did. Okay, I couldn't throw to save my life. I still can't throw to save my life, but the other events went pretty well, just for our listeners, just describe what is the decathlon.
Speaker 4:So the decathlon is 10 different track and field events over a two-day competition. So it's always the same order. It's always five events. First day, five events second day. We do the 100, the long jump, shot, put high jump and 400 on day one and then we come out on day two we have to hurdle over the high hurdles, um, then the discus and then we do the pole vault riders. You know we're kind of exhausted and and we we just want to have a nap, uh, then the javelin and then the 1500 finish off. So I did that. It went okay, um. But then I kind of had a breakthrough in athletics the year after and then the year after that I was making world juniors and suddenly I was taking the decision to stop a lot of the other sports that I was doing to focus on the decathlon. And it went well, it paid off. I went to another world juniors after that, then I made the Olympics and then kind of, the rest is history. We were away.
Speaker 3:I'm going to ask the same question I asked Riley. You said you were doing other sports as well. So what was the catalyst for you to say I'm doing track and field, this is my sport.
Speaker 4:I think I just got good.
Speaker 1:I think that's literally the reason.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like I was playing football and basketball and volleyball and I did a little bit of swimming, I did taekwondo for a day similar to your dance career and I was enjoying everything and I was okay at football, soccer. But you know, then I made an australian team in athletics and I was like, well, you know, this is going pretty well and I'm enjoying it. I didn't, I enjoy the challenge, so I kind of pursued that and then suddenly it was, it became the thing that I was doing okay what age can you start?
Speaker 2:because I imagine, as a junior, as a 10 year old, are you still doing pole vault as a 10-year-old or do you need to wait till you mature a little bit before you go and tackle such a?
Speaker 4:I don't think you can do it before high school. Maybe you can train for it, but I don't think there's really any competitions. So I think it's mainly in high school that you can start. Some people don't start till well after that, and I was quite lucky that I had a gymnastics background as well. That was one of the things I did. So you know, that helped with a little bit of aerial awareness when it came to kind of picking up the pole vault.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what height are the poles Like? How high are you jumping as a high schooler?
Speaker 4:Well, high schooler I think, I got up to 470. Now I'm at 520. And the poles that I jump on now are between 4.90 meters and 5 meters. That's the length of the poles. They're actually on the car outside. They're strapped on the roof. I don't know if you saw them. They're strapped on the roof because I went up to the sunny coast yesterday for a session, so I've got my bags that I hope don't know if you saw them.
Speaker 3:Um, they're strapped on the roof because I went up to the sunny coast yesterday for a session, so I've got, uh got my bags that I hope don't get stolen. What's the hardest event out of the 10? What would be the hardest one?
Speaker 4:um my worst physically and mentally yeah yeah, I guess, like my worst event, the one I enjoy the least is probably the shot put um, just because it's my weakest.
Speaker 2:You're not exactly built like a shot put. I'm not built like a shot putter.
Speaker 4:Not at all. But the hardest would probably be the 400. And you know, when I think about this season, I came off a few injuries last year I tore my hamstring, then I broke my foot and had a bunch of time off training because of those two injuries. And when I think about the 400, because I don't have any base, I've lost all my fitness. Yeah, it's going to be probably seven or eight months before I can run anywhere near a decent 400. So, whereas the other events you can pick up a lot quicker than that, even the, the fitness work. Uh, for the 1500 you can pick up a lot quicker, but the 400 is is a sprint right like you're a sprint and it's the lactic tolerance.
Speaker 4:You know, the lactic right now is kicking in at 11 seconds um, whereas when I'm actually fit I can kind of make it. You know, maybe 30 seconds before it, uh, it starts to kick my ass your question.
Speaker 3:The problem is you, you go past that threshold right and there's not enough time. So it's like 400 in that pain sort of optimized position of you, run out of all of your energy, you don't replenish anything. So the last 50 meters you're, you're practically swimming in pain, like it is. My coach used to tell me, like you play the drums I don't know if you've ever heard of it you just the last 50 meters you play the drums, you just move your arms.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is playing the drive, yeah and every now and then you, you watch someone. They're coming into the home straight and the sniper gets them and they just start moving on the spot. You know they're not even moving towards the finish line. Yeah, it's, uh, it's entertaining and it's such a, it's such a fine line because if you, you can't pick up time in a 400, so if you go out too slow your race is is gone. If you go out too fast, you're not really making it to the finish line. And because in the decathlon it's one of it's important to maximize my points in that event, which is a fine line of putting it all on the line and playing it safe. And that's kind of one of the elements of the decathlon that I really like is this puzzle that I constantly get to kind of piece together and then hopefully nail all 10 over the weekend.
Speaker 3:Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm going to ask it anyway. But did you do the decathlon because you weren't good enough at one event?
Speaker 4:or, uh, I'm gonna say no, I don't know if I'll disagree right like is that your favorite sport? Because I hurdles, or pole vault, is one of my favorites. Okay, yeah, but um so. 2014 world juniors. I was over in america, ended up coming second at the world Juniors.
Speaker 3:In that competition I qualified for the Commonwealth Games in the long jump alone.
Speaker 4:I didn't know that, yeah. So I feel like if I and long jump is actually one of the events that I don't really train for, I might touch on it a few times a year and make sure my run-up's all good, leading into a competition. But I feel like if I was to specialize in an event, I would probably go to the long jump and I feel like with some training I would probably get better than what I am now and hopefully I would be at that competitive level, but probably not the same level as I am for the decathlon. So it's quite interesting to see how different athletes approach the decathlon Some athletes's. It's quite interesting to see how different athletes approach the decathlon.
Speaker 4:Um, some athletes are really solid across the board. They don't really have any strengths but they don't have weaknesses either. Um, and they, they are incredible decathletes and others like me we've got we're strong in the jumps. We're kind of weak in the throws, we're we're decent in the run and it makes and it kind of balances out. So yeah, I'm not average at everything. My long jump's okay.
Speaker 3:Are you annoyed Because it is the original sport? Right, it is the Olympic sport, the decathlon, that's where it all started. Right, but all the sprinters and the 400 runners, everyone gets all the accolades and the airtime. Dick Atlee, it's not so much. Is that frustrating, considering that you're doing 10 events? In the time to get one medal. You don't even get 10 medals.
Speaker 1:I think it's about. I think it depends how well you tell your story during those big events In Tokyo. Cedric told a really good story and you have it at the bottom of your sheet is doing the dubla and that came from Tokyo and it's still spoken about today. So I don't think it depends on what event you do. I think it's how well you tell your story, that's a good point. Yeah, it's all about marketing.
Speaker 4:And one thing I enjoy like I don't really care for airtime on the TV, I enjoy creating content on social media and Decathlon. Before I kind of came through there were decathletes but it had been a while since someone had made an Olympics, so Decathlon was kind of forgotten about a little bit in Australia and I feel like over the last few years it has been built up a lot more. I made the Olympics in Rio, then at Tokyo we had myself and Ash, and then in Paris we had Ash and Dan and I was out injured. So we went from one to two to potentially three. We went from one to two to potentially three but another two athletes on the world stage and we have the strongest depth we've ever had in the decathlon. But building up those events takes time.
Speaker 3:It's done right. You're the first to make Olympics in Rio. After what? 16 years? 16 years, yeah. So we haven't had a decathlete representing Australia.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we had some at the Commonwealth Games but, yeah, not at the Olympics. So it was cool to kind of break through and then, over the last few years, try and build up the event where more and more people know what it is and know what it's about. But you know it's never going to be as popular as the 100 meters or the, the long jump or the, you know the 200 or 400 or you know those events that, um, that are over and done with very quickly. But but that's also not why I do the decathlon. You know I do the decathlon to answer the personal question of how good can I be? Yeah, and, and that's still an answer that I'm trying to find out and that's why I'm continuing- you know what they say?
Speaker 3:No one actually really knows the full Adam Savage quote Jack of all trades.
Speaker 2:Master of none.
Speaker 3:Often not as good as better than one I think that's what Adam Savage said better than one. I think that's what Adam Savage said Often better than one. That last part no one ever repeats.
Speaker 4:Yeah, okay, I didn't even know there was more to it.
Speaker 2:Rather die.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What about mentally? Mental strength, mental fortitude? What does that look like for you guys in your individual sports?
Speaker 4:I think you can.
Speaker 1:I think it's a lot of trial and error. It's also I struggled with it last year Obviously making an Olympics in 2020, you think that you're going to make every one from then until you finish your career and unfortunately, that's not always the case and a lot of the times it's not from lack of effort. Effort, it's just circumstances that you can't really control. And what happened with me was injuries took place and it was pretty much just trying to go up the creek without a paddle and I I did everything that I could to try and get to the Olympics, but unfortunately it didn't play out. And that is difficult because your mind takes you places that you don't really want to go and you start comparing yourself to your past self, to your future self and other competitors as well.
Speaker 3:And yeah, I remember that post when you didn't make the Paris Olympics.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was very emotional and there was a lot of support. Yeah, can you tell us like, what's that? What does that pathway look like? Like, why was it so? Why is it so hard for so many, especially in Australia? It seems to be a really tough road to take to get there.
Speaker 1:Well, what's the statistic Point zero, zero, zero, zero.
Speaker 4:Was it five or six zeros?
Speaker 1:It was yeah, five, five zeros.
Speaker 4:It's like one in every half a million people make it to an Olympics.
Speaker 1:So it's not easy.
Speaker 4:And then what was it to make a second Olympics? Like a third of Olympians make a second one, so it's practically nobody that can even make an Olympics, let alone two.
Speaker 2:Does Australia a better statistics than internationally? So if it's one in 500 000, is that australian or that's worldwide. That's worldwide and then there's only one in what you're saying 1.5 million that make a second olympics yeah, wow, yeah so it's.
Speaker 1:It's not supposed to be an easy, easy task. It it's hard with us because we're surrounded by so many Olympians every day that we sort of get flooded with everyone that achieves so much that you need to sort of remove yourself and then take a look at what you've actually done and how hard it is to actually achieve, because you say to everyone like, oh, yeah, I made the Olympics, sort of nonchalantly, yeah, and they're like, oh my God, that's amazing. Um, but I guess it's. I was talking to my psychologist today because I I find it really important to just work on performance, mindset and working through everything that you need to do in everyday life.
Speaker 1:And overthinking is a really big thing and your mind tries to make sense of things that don't go your way. So you make up different scenarios in your head of why you didn't make the olympics and it's even if it's not true, oh, you just weren't good enough. Even though you were good enough, just different circumstances happened that stopped you from making it. So overthinking is a big thing and it's a sort of removing those thoughts and recognizing that they're just thoughts is a big lesson that I haven't yet mastered. I only learned about it today. So, yeah, yeah, recognizing that they're just thoughts and it's not actually real is something that I'm now working on moving forward you might want to master it because you've got a lot more time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know especially with the lactates like oh why did I do this to myself.
Speaker 3:When you get to the 300s? Yeah is it?
Speaker 2:is it something that when you're having that discussion with your psych, is it? Is there some exercises like it's easier said than done? Isn't it like people say I'll just put that out of your mind, just put that behind you, but how do you actually go about doing that?
Speaker 1:so I asked the same question because I was like, oh, it sounds easier than what you're making it out to be. Um, it's pretty much just going through everyday life and recognising your thoughts, even if it has nothing to do with athletics. So if you're driving in the car and you're like, oh yeah, I probably need to go and get this for dinner, and, oh, I'm thinking about what I said to this person the other day, it's recognising that. Oh, this is a thought that I'm having. I'm thinking that I need to go to the shops and get apples, whatever. It's just practicing it before you actually need it. So it's the same as training for an event.
Speaker 1:You're training for this event and you're not actually racing the event every time.
Speaker 4:I think the first step is understanding why you're having certain thoughts and acknowledging it. And I think that's and acknowledging it and I think that's what a sports psych is really good at helping you with not necessarily helping you get like, be on the runway and feel fully comfortable, but when I'm at the end of the runway, we've we've practiced those or we're aware that those thoughts of like oh you know, the last time I did this I ruptured my hamstring could come in, and it's not practicing to block it out or anything, it's just going okay.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, the thoughts are here, let's, you know, put them aside and it's almost like a meditation, because that's what you're trained to do in the meditation is just let the thoughts come and let the thoughts go.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and even I remember speaking to my sports psych years ago about anger. There were some things that were really annoying me, and so we broke down the three reasons people get angry. I can't remember what they were, this was maybe four years ago but understanding that these are the reasons, that kind of trigger anger doesn't help me not get angry next time, but but it helps me identify potentially why I'm angry. Um so, so that's kind of the things that that a sports site can help with?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what about the pressures that you have when you're training? And then there's obviously the pressure you've got leading up to a race. Just walk us through that process.
Speaker 4:Well, the pressure of training is always there, especially in the decathlon. I'm training for 10 events in the week and I don't have much time per event because if I did a full session for every single event, it just wouldn't be possible. My body wouldn't be able to handle it. So I know that I have less throws, less jumps, less runs, to nail the things I'm working on. I think the thing that has helped me in those training sessions is going in with a really strong purpose and that comes down to the goal setting. So you know, we know what the overarching goal is whether it's a performance at a specific competition and then we've broken it down so that I know what my target is for each event. And then we've broken it down so that I know what my target is for each event, and then we've broken it down even further. So to get to my target in that event, what are the three things that I'm working on? So when I go into a training session, I know that I'm working on one of three things, or two of three things, and trusting the process, that that leads to the event outcome, which leads to the overall outcome. So trusting the process is really important. And then pressure leading into competitions is very high, I think again, especially in the decathlon, where we compete maybe three times a year and you have 10 events to try and nail. So there's a lot of things that that need to come right on the day, and I think just being organized and having a plan for the competition and having the support around me at the competition so that my coach knows exactly what the run sheet looks like, where he needs to be at what time, having the food plan ready to go, having the caffeine plan ready to go, having the massage therapist and the you know the other coaches that need to assist ready to go, having the caffeine plan ready to go, having the massage therapist and the you know the other coaches that need to assist ready to go so everyone knows what the plan is and then going out to execute so that we eliminate as many of the unknowns as possible.
Speaker 2:When do you feel the most pressure?
Speaker 4:Before the hundred Before the hundred Well, maybe not the most pressure, maybe the most nerves, because after that you're kind of into the groove. You know you, you run well or you don't, doesn't really matter. Then you go to the long jump.
Speaker 2:What about leading up to it, the day, the two days, the two weeks leading up to it? Is there any nerves or apprehension?
Speaker 4:I, I think yes, uh, I've gotten better over the years. I remember when I was 17 in barcelona at the world junior championships, for the last five nights leading into the competition, I had these vivid dreams about what was coming up. And I'd wake up in the morning, having finished a decathlon, in my dreams going, oh my God, I'm exhausted. But then actually I got to the start line and you know, they say on your marks and you go into the blocks and you're there and you're going, whoa Like. I remember having this thought of you know, this is kind of what I've spent years leading up to, and then set, and then the gun goes and you run and you finish the race and you, you go. That actually wasn't too bad. So it's the anticipation of doing something that's always far worse than the actual doing of it, no matter how much you might dread it. And the more you recognize that, the more you can kind of prepare for it and either acknowledge those thoughts or go. You know that's, that's part of the game.
Speaker 2:Let's get on with it I love what you said about trust the process, because to neil said exactly the same thing to me, because I was wondering what's going through your mind. You're lining up, whether it be, say, the hijab, what is going through your mind? And you could be going well, I've got to do this, I've got to do this, I've got to do this, and trying to capture all those thoughts and she said all I do is I just stand there and I just go trust the process. I'm going to do exactly what I've just done in training, and just from a pressure release. So I thought that was fantastic. What about you, riley? What do you do?
Speaker 1:I think it's really important to train how you want to compete. So I guess the pressure comes from within yourself to make sure you're exceeding expectations of what's set for this session. And, yeah, overall it perfectly reflects how you've been training is how you're going to compete, and you see it time and time again it's the people that put themselves in a position to go above and beyond that make it and and yeah, it's as clear as day.
Speaker 3:So I go into every Sorry, I just had to yeah. Clear as day yeah.
Speaker 1:It's clear as day to that you need to give everything in every session to achieve your goals.
Speaker 3:Training with intention right 100% People ask me at 48, why do I run to and throwing up on the are?
Speaker 4:you 48, yeah, holy give me your skincare routine did you see him going over the hurdles on his instagram story? He's looking good. He's looking like a 28 year old.
Speaker 3:I felt 48 when I was going over there, but it's, you know, it's. It's training with intention, doesn't matter how good you are yeah and what it is. It's just like why are you not training to go to the Olympics? That's what people ask me. I said it doesn't matter If you're training to compete. Train with intention, Put it off, Don't leave anything.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and that's important for everything in life as well. You do things with intention, you don't just kind of do things half-heartedly.
Speaker 1:Unless that's your goal is to just do things half-heartedly throughout your life, then go right ahead. But it's not the way I want to live. No, exactly.
Speaker 2:You mentioned before just about the injuries and the setbacks. Has that been not making that Olympics? Has that been your biggest setback?
Speaker 1:do you think that you've faced I've faced not making the teams for the last three years due to injuries. Um, and 2022, I had a 2021. I had the best season I'd ever had. When it's 2022, I started the season in my fastest ever season opener and I was like, wow, let's Like I'm ready to compete at the world's best and be even better this year. And then my injury started and it essentially didn't stop until it hasn't stopped.
Speaker 2:Have you had the same reoccurring injuries or have they all been different injuries?
Speaker 1:They've all been different. So literally for the last few years I've been trying to chase my tail to make the teams and it's pretty much just turned into a snowball and it's just hasn't worked out in my favor and that obviously affects confidence, it affects self-esteem, it affects my fitness as well. Like it, it doesn't help at all. Um, so this season that I I don't know when I'm going to compete, I don't know what I'm going to compete in, um, but I'm not going to race until I'm ready, and I think that'll do me and my mental health a world of good, because, yeah, it's taking the pressure off.
Speaker 3:Yeah I don't know how you keep going right like that's three years, like it's. Most people would have sort of said I'm done. Right, like you went to the Olympics. You're one of the. You made the statistics right. You've gone to the Olympics. You were the golden girl coming out of, you know Tokyo. That was a big Olympics, right For everyone. We needed some relief and you guys delivered right when you. I remember when you made the is it finals or semifinals, semifinals, semifinal right.
Speaker 3:I'm like, oh my God, finally an Australian, like at the Tokyo Olympics, just when we needed it right.
Speaker 3:What you did was just lift a whole nation up. Right, you've gone and you've made the Olympics. You became the face of the sport. So sport overnight, and and you brought that joy to the like. At what point is that? I've done enough, like I this. I don't want to keep doing this to myself. It was, it's a lot of resilience I'm getting at. It's like where do you find this resilience? And you know, how do you keep going now, now, to say, now I'm gonna do the 400? You're just you're either crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to know what keeps you going the hardest thing, I think, last year, the few years leading up to paris, I miss out on a team. I'd be like, okay, no worries the hindsight of things, like grand scheme of things, no one cares about world champs, everyone cares about the olympics, make the olympic team. And then I miss out on the Olympic team and I'm like, oh shit, what? What now? And I don't really know yet. Um, but resilience is definitely a big thing that I've. That I have.
Speaker 1:Um, it's difficult at times. I'm like, why do I do this? But it the one thing that never goes away is why do I do this? But the one thing that never goes away is my desire to be the best in the world. And whether that's now to be a 400-metre runner we'll see. But when Paul chatted to me about things need to change, nothing changes without anything changing in terms of injuries, I didn't want to give up on the dream of being the best in the world just yet. And, yeah, I don't. I don't care if that's in the 200 what was that conversation like?
Speaker 1:um, it was difficult to hear, um, but Paul is an amazing human and he has put himself sorry, has put me before his own needs for a long time, and for him to have that conversation with me shows a lot about him as a person and his character, and I trust him fully to take me to being the best in the world. And I asked him straight up I was like do you think I have the capacity and the ability to be the best in the world for the 400? And he's like bloody oath, like let's do it, like give it a crack. But then he's like you know, you've just given me your soul, though Like this is going to be hard, but yeah, my desire to be the best in the world is stronger than the adversities that I've faced.
Speaker 3:How much does your coach play in this, in the whole picture? Like you've been with Paul right, Like you stuck with him through the whole thing. Like how much does it sort of play into who you are Like? You made it to the Olympics. Now you've stuck it out.
Speaker 1:You're now sticking, you're going to the 400, the hardest event on the planet after the decathlon sure I think it is just having trust and we've been through. I've been with him since 2018 and I've grown up with him, from my juniors to my seniors and we've been successful juniors to my seniors and we've been successful.
Speaker 1:And I think just I've completely lost my train of thought how important the coach is yeah, just him, having the faith in my ability as well and having trust in him to take me to where I want to go, and we've had the conversations. If there's any point that I don't think that's him, then he's completely okay with that. But, moving forward, I have, I have, faith in him that he will take me to where I want to go. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I think, going back to your, your point before about like when is enough enough?
Speaker 3:yeah.
Speaker 4:I think that's one of the traits that make elite athletes so good and also at our detriment is, you know, we will achieve something incredible. For me, my lifetime goal was making olympics, and then I did it at 21 and I was like well, that's not enough.
Speaker 3:Three times two missed out last year.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we gotta talk about that yeah, um, but then I, you know, I I achieved a lifelong dream at 21 and instead of going, okay, well, like you know, let me do something else, I was like, well, what's next? You know, there's actually, there's more, there's more there, there's more there, like maybe a top eight in the world, maybe even beyond that, let me or a long jumper or become a long jumper, but it's that constant. You know, no matter how well we do, we know there's more there. And I think in Riley's case, she knows that there is more there to unlock and that's probably what's kept her going as well is not having yet reached that ceiling that she knows she's capable of I think we're tapping into something that it's very rare and different.
Speaker 3:Right this this is what separates an elite athlete from a correct average person.
Speaker 1:It's, it's but unfortunately, a lot of the time, athletes don't get to finish on their own terms and the ones that do are very, very lucky, and the fall down from grace if you don't get to finish on your own terms is very difficult, and that's why I think it is so important to work with a psychologist, even during your career, to help you change and adapt to your new lifestyle, because you're up here and you're going to come crashing down and it's. Everyone talks about the post-Olympic depression like it's a real thing and it happens to most of us, and working through that, even at the end of your career, is very important and some people don't know how and it ends badly.
Speaker 2:What was it like not to make that last Olympics?
Speaker 4:It was wild because I expected to make it.
Speaker 1:We all expect to make it.
Speaker 4:We all expect to make it. You know, I started off the season strong. I started at the state championships in December the year before, so December 2023. I posted the 16th best score in the world for that whole year. It was a really low level competition so it didn't get me a lot of bonus points that would help me qualify. But all I had to do in 2024 was go to a competition, do a solid score, place reasonably well and I would be in. And I went to the national championships.
Speaker 4:I had a bit of a horrible lead up to the national championships, like I. I wasn't sleeping well. My my ceiling was actually leaking, so I had water damage in my room. I had mold in my room, it was, it was a whole thing. And, um, I just had a really horrible lead up to the national championships and we started the competition and the first two events just did not go well. And then the event it was, it was okay. And then the fourth event I was high, jumping into the sun, couldn't even see where the bar was, had a pretty average result and we were like well, to be honest, there's no point. Finishing, this isn't going to help us qualify for the Olympics. So then we're like okay, let's go to the, the Oceania Championships. It's a bigger competition, I'll score well there, I'll place well there and and that'll secure my spot.
Speaker 4:So, and then we had a really good lead up to the Oceania Championships and then I ran the hundred into a massive headwind, ran pretty strongly compared to the other athletes, and then we had the long jump, the winds turned around we had. Suddenly we had this, this massive tailwind behind us and I was like, all right, let's go pick up some points. And then my legs just felt off, like especially my left hammy just felt a little bit weird and I was trying to just kind of force through it. And on the third jump it just went. And that's where I in Australia it was reported that I ruptured my hamstring.
Speaker 4:I actually went overseas to try and get some more answers and they don't think it was fully ruptured my hamstring. I actually went overseas to try and get some more answers and they don't think it was fully ruptured, but there was definitely a solid tear in there. And suddenly in that moment you go from having it all kind of figured out, the plan of you know, I just have to go into this competition and do this one thing and you know, tick the box to it's. It's kind of fallen apart in front of your eyes. And then there was still a month left to qualify and and I'm thinking I've got a torn hamstring. But before the tokyo olympics I actually I tore my hamstring 18 days before the competition. It was a grade two tear with tenant involvement, and we were able to rehab it in time to to go to the olympics and perform there. So I was thinking the same thing could be possible and that's why I started to to.
Speaker 4:You know, I flew over to germany to see a doctor to to try and get some answers german doctor was he's a magician yeah um, and and then I, I entered in another competition over in in germany um, having done practically no training, and the hamstring wasn't ready to go. I also had flown over my coach from Australia because I hadn't packed any shoes. I hadn't packed. I thought the whole thing was over and the German doctor was like, oh, you can give it a go if you want to. You know.
Speaker 1:Yes, I will. Yes, I will. You've given me a half-ass. Yes, yes, I will. It was good enough.
Speaker 4:It was one of those things that I just couldn't accept that it was over. I expected to make it. I knew I could make it. I just needed that one performance. It was just within my grasp and all I had to do was close my fingers around it. And I wasn't ready to go in Germany. And so I said to my coach can we fly to the UK? There is one more comp. It's the final weekend of the qualifying period. Let's go there and let's see if the hamstring is any better next weekend. And we went there. It was freezing. It was horrible conditions.
Speaker 4:I warmed up the best I could around the hundred. I warmed up the best I could around the hundred. I felt a little pop in my hamstring and I was like, well, it's over. And then at that point it was like I don't know how to describe it. It's like everything that you've worked for, everything you've expected, Like I had already put myself into the mentality of like this is what I want to do at the Olympics, because I just expected the process to make it. I was already in a good position, I just had to finish a competition and and it kind of just slipped out of my grasp and I guess I'm going to come back to what I said earlier about overthinking your past, your future.
Speaker 1:So you're overthinking your future and not focusing on the here and now, and I guess that's sort of what I was working on this morning is not to overthink the past, not to overthink the future. Just concentrate on what you're doing in this right now yeah okay, because it, if you've taken yourself up to these yes, I'm already there and then you're not there and it's, I feel like it's a bigger fall than a potential. I'm doing this right now and that's all I'm focusing on.
Speaker 2:How do you balance it? How do you balance? Like most people, it's a work-life balance, but you guys are full-time athletes and how do you balance that level of training to avoid burnout and then still maintain relationships, family, friends?
Speaker 3:And how do you afford this right Like we're not in the US, you don't have the pro-athletic scholarships and everything else, all the money and the endorsements that you get. It's a struggle, right Like I read somewhere that most of the Australian Olympic athletes live under the poverty line.
Speaker 4:Well, I've placed top eight at the World Championships in 2022. I got bumped up to a very high level of funding in athletics. It was $30,000 a year, but as soon as I didn't make the Olympics last year, I got dropped to zero. So you know suddenly.
Speaker 1:That's a great question. I've been kicked out altogether.
Speaker 4:She doesn't even get a free gym access or medical, whereas I do. I'm still lucky in that regard, but it's a very, is it the?
Speaker 2:Queensland Institute of Sport or the Australian Institute of Sport, like. Who's the governing body on that?
Speaker 4:Well, australian Athletics is the governing body that makes those decisions, and then they put together a list and send it to the Australian Sports Commission and they say yes or no we're going to fund them or we're not.
Speaker 2:Is there a qualifying criteria in relation to funding?
Speaker 4:There is but you.
Speaker 1:It's up to their discretion Right.
Speaker 4:Everything in our sport has this discretionary element to it, and even you know when you read the selection policy you can be not selected for a team if you're not in good standing with Australian athletics. So even here I have to be very careful about what I say, because if they're not happy with how I present or what I say, that can affect my team selection.
Speaker 2:So do you work.
Speaker 3:Hold on. What does this have to do with sports? I don't get it. Hold on Like seriously.
Speaker 4:You'd think it's black and white, especially in a sport where Performance is a sport, exactly.
Speaker 3:It doesn't make sense to me in business, so it shouldn't make any sense in sports. Right, it's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Does it make any sense to right? It's interesting, isn't it? No, no, like most of us have to work to be able to fund how we live. Um, some of us are very fortunate to be able to do social media, because that's the only way you'll make. Money is through influencer yeah, influencer, um, but yeah, some of us opt to work sponsorships. Yeah, that's all comes through social media.
Speaker 2:It does yeah.
Speaker 1:That's our only leverage.
Speaker 4:power is social media and following, and even in Australia there are not many athletes that are sponsored to be an athlete. All our sponsorship arrangements are tied to social media because that's how we provide commercial value.
Speaker 3:So you're saying, like your sponsorships are not based on your performance or athletic?
Speaker 4:Sometimes they are, and obviously the better you perform that can give you some sort of commercial value, but for most people it comes from you know the reach that we have on social media.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, right. So back to how do you balance your life?
Speaker 4:Well, we've probably done a really poor job at that for the last few years, because I've been like full dedicated focus to the decathlon, to this pursuit, and it has paid dividends. I've made every single team since my first in 2016 all the way through to last year, where which was the first team that I'd missed out on, so I've I've had a really good career up to that point, um, but it's it's come at the detriment of a social life, of a work life. I haven't been to university, I haven't done a degree, I have no work experience outside of working with brands and delivering on things on that front. So that's something that I'm looking to change this year and actually figure out the balance a little bit better, and I know you're working on that front as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have a degree, so I studied when I was younger and I finished two years ago and, yeah, I just found that being a full-time athlete isn't really for me anymore. I find that if I have a job, I have something else to focus my mind on, and the big issues in athletics then become smaller if I have something else to yeah, I was actually going to ask that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, having a distraction, does that help you?
Speaker 1:100 in, but you have to plan it in a way that your training doesn't get affected. Yeah, but the mental side of things, I I think it 100 helps, so what?
Speaker 2:sort of a degree have you?
Speaker 1:got um. I've got a degree in marketing, oh sorry. Degree in bachelor of business major. Degree in Bachelor of Business, majoring in marketing and sports management.
Speaker 2:And what sort of job are you looking at?
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'm open to anything.
Speaker 4:Anyone that will pay her a lot to do little.
Speaker 1:No, I'm looking for something that I'm able to do I don't know part-time to 0.8 maybe of the week. Um, it's a lot of prerequisites, but I'm like it's hard because that's the way that I'll be able to balance it is, I could just go and get a job at Woolies down the road, but then I'll have to be there on site, whereas I want to be able to do it wherever I am in the world you know yeah um, just because that's when, when you're overseas, that's when you have the most time and the most time to think, and I think having a job when you're over there is.
Speaker 3:So, since you finished your degree, have you used your degree? Have you done any? You haven't done a job.
Speaker 1:No only other than marketing myself.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I haven't got any corporate experience per se.
Speaker 2:I'm just curious.
Speaker 1:So when you got a marketing degree and you finished that, you said a couple of years ago how has marketing changed in the last two years from what you studied? Oh, the degree is so dated. Um, yeah, it is so dated.
Speaker 2:There's been so much evolution in technology, hasn't it?
Speaker 1:I did so a total of 24 courses that you need to complete a degree. One of them is on social media, and that's one of the biggest forms of marketing there is these days, and even then it's like this is not real world marketing.
Speaker 3:There are better working disruption models out there, but let's not go there. Let's not go there.
Speaker 2:Let's chat mindset. So you've got visualisation. What are some of the tools that you use to maintain the right mindset? You need to be an elite athlete.
Speaker 1:I think it's having little goals to work towards and also having a big goal so you can have a big goal, but that might be so. The Olympics four years down the track, that's a long way to go from this point to this point.
Speaker 1:So having little goals in between to work towards to get to your end goal those, those kind of stepping stones along the way yeah, I think is easier to keep a positive mindset because you're working towards something and once you've hit it you're like awesome, let's upgrade it and go to phase two.
Speaker 2:So I think for me that really helps just to have smaller goals to work towards that objectively is going to get you to your goal yeah, I've heard that referred to as it's more of a um, an action goal versus a results goal, because that result, for example, that's something that's difficult to measure. But if you've just got the action goal, the action goal might be I need to train two hours a day. You can control that and the effort that you put in through that training, for example, whether it be heart rate based, it's they're all the ones that you can control and you go. If I know, if I do that for one week, for two weeks, for five weeks, then I'm going to be able to do this in this particular time based on those metrics and you're not getting as hung up about that because you can't control that in your day-to-day training. What you can control are those smaller. Is that something that plays a part in?
Speaker 4:yeah, and I also. Even even for the big goals. For me it's still a goal that is within my grasp. So for me I set the big goals as a point score rather than a placing, because I can't control what anyone else does. But I can control how I perform and then along the way. It's all you know. To score 8,500 points I need to run a 10.85 in the hundred.
Speaker 2:Let's just stop you there for a sec. Can you just explain that to the listeners, how the point scoring works throughout those events?
Speaker 4:So the better I perform, the more points I I get. So the quicker I run the hundred, the more points I get. The further I jump in long jump, the further I throw the shot put or the discus or the javelin, if you run that time, you get these points. Yes, yeah, which which then makes it equal across the board. It doesn't matter where I am in the world.
Speaker 4:Um two meters in high, jump is this many I'm going to say 870 points and every three centimeters beyond that is 30 extra points or 32 extra points, um, so you always know, kind of, what those goals are and I know you know 8 500 points. I could break it down to you know what that is per event, um those performances, and then I know in training what I need to do to hit those metrics. So it's all things that I can do that are within my control.
Speaker 2:Yep, and what about you, riley? Like how are you measuring and looking at those little smaller goals now that you've jumped into the 400?
Speaker 1:I don't really know yet, because I'm only….
Speaker 4:She doesn't know what she's into.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Have you even done a week off training for the 500? I've done one. I've done. Really know yet because I'm only, she doesn't know what she's into. Yeah, because have you done. Have you even done a week of training for the? I've done one I've done one how did that go?
Speaker 1:um, I have a starting point. It's it's a big jump from a 200 can we talk about your first session? Yeah, can I, can I can I tell?
Speaker 4:can I tell everyone about your first session go for it, okay, well I'll preface this by saying we have no idea what Riley's pace is for the 400, and but we kind of well not me, paul made up this, this figure, right, she was running six 200s made up this target figure and said stick to that, that pace, um don't? He said in capital letters do not go faster do not go faster, and if you drop a second and a half slower than that target pace, the session's done yeah I.
Speaker 4:I went out and I joined her to pace her, to kind of support her along, and the first rep was two seconds slower than the target pace.
Speaker 1:So the session should have been done and we, mind you, we had like a three meter head it was.
Speaker 4:It was the conditions were horrible and the coach was away that day. Um he was.
Speaker 1:He was holidaying in tasmania which would have been lovely I kept running.
Speaker 4:I did, I did four and did the second one. That was within the second and a half. Then the third one was was back into the headwind, back into the headwind.
Speaker 1:It was too slow again. If you don't mind me asking um with the wind. It was like 27 mid. I think that was my target. Time was 26 okay um and for six twos, 26 seconds with three minutes break.
Speaker 3:That's yeah, quite yeah, so just explain to me.
Speaker 2:I understand how you can get a headwind into 100, but when you're running around in a full circle, how can you have a headwind?
Speaker 1:so I was only running, running 200s.
Speaker 3:Oh right, so just half a lap In a 400, you're always guaranteed.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 4:And at Cusack you can get a headwind the whole way, because it is a horribly built stadium.
Speaker 2:So you get a swirling breeze and the headwind just follows you.
Speaker 3:Exactly that's where we're hoping the Olympics are going to be.
Speaker 2:No it's not even good at that subject.
Speaker 3:Do you think we're going to have the Olympics?
Speaker 4:Well, we're going to have the Olympics, but hopefully not at CUSAC.
Speaker 3:The rate it's going, no one believes that it's going to happen. What the Olympics?
Speaker 4:Well, we need a stadium. Well, true, look, I'd like Vic Park to go ahead.
Speaker 2:Me too.
Speaker 4:I think that would be really cool. I think cusack is. This is the thing about cusack is personally, I would love a brand new stadium at cusack, but knocking down temporary grandstand to put up temporary grandstand is is just a horrible idea. It's not good enough for the olympics. I also think brisbane can can use a brand new stadium, and if yeah, and if they built that at cusack, it also wouldn't make sense, because why would you have a track in there 365 days a year when, when you know there's six of us using it? Yeah, so so it it. It can't be at cusack. It needs to be somewhere else. Otherwise, if they have it at cusack, there's there's no, there's no value in leaving the track in there. That you're better off ripping it up and and having it as a footy field or something. No, there's not. No, there's a.
Speaker 2:There's no value in leaving the track in there, that you're better off ripping it up and and having it as a footy field or something there's no, there's not.
Speaker 4:No, there's a, there's a bus line, but yeah, yeah hasn't got the train.
Speaker 3:Why is this so hard if it makes sense to all of us here? Someone just needs to come in and just make the decision not everyone's gonna be happy yeah pretty much, yeah, but it seems like I haven't heard of anyone who's against the idea of Wig Park right.
Speaker 4:But maybe you speak to people in the sporting world that know what the Olympics is about. I think if you look and speak to people more broadly, they're going. That's a lot of money. We don't see the value in that and I think people will see that value when we get closer to the Olympics and the excitement builds. But when you're seven years out or whatever we are, it's really hard to see that value.
Speaker 2:But it's a lack of vision because every single big infrastructure project looks like it's expensive. It's not the gateway bridge, and then you finally build it and then everybody goes. Well, we should have built that five years ago.
Speaker 4:And I think that's why we just need to stop asking questions. We need how far away from the 100-day review are we from being done? I think it's almost done. There might be another 10 days or something left, but we just need people to start making decisions and going. This is the plan, this is what we're doing, and just go and execute. But I think you know before that it was used as a political tool and it was kind of ping-ponged back and forth and they were trying to keep everyone happy and the simple fact is you're not going to and you, you need to just go and make a decision and then people will see the value in it. You know, as we get closer, or, as riley said, when they go to the taylor swift concert and, and you know, have to fly to sydney for it, or melbourne exactly, or she doesn't get here at all.
Speaker 3:Now, right, she didn't come here no, she didn't.
Speaker 1:Why would she come to brisbane when she can sell out mcg and have a hundred thousand people, and come to suncorp and sell out 50 000?
Speaker 3:there's enough economic value examples here right, like we don't have enough tracks to start with in in queensland, let alone australia. We don't have enough tracks. So I think the answer is there, but I want to switch to something positive, right before we run out of time. What is doing the dubler you mentioned that before at this time?
Speaker 2:Great question.
Speaker 1:I think it sounds like you're doing a poop.
Speaker 4:It does. She put that in my mind years ago. Now, whenever someone says it. Now, you're going to talk through it with that in my mind years ago and now, whenever someone says it now you're going to talk through it with that in your mind.
Speaker 4:That's going to be really interesting yeah, doing a dubla was coined at the tokyo olympics when, in the last event of the decathlon, I paced my teammate ash maloney, uh, in the 1500, and my job going into that race was just to pace him at a certain pace and keep track of where, um, the two athletes that were fourth and fifth were in the race, because if they got too far away or too far ahead of us, ash would have lost his bronze medal.
Speaker 4:And I paced him and it was. It was you know with exhausted and and the pace just kind of kept slipping and slipping and I needed him to kind of step up and go and there was one lap to go. Garrett Scantling from the US was, I think he was 10 seconds in front of us, which was right on that mark of Ash losing his bronze medal. And I realized if leading from the front wasn't going to work for Ash, I needed to drop back behind him and kind of push him across the line, and so that's what I did with 400 meters to go, and I just started screaming his ear.
Speaker 4:I was just caught up in the moment I was, so I was so pumped up on adrenaline and I started screaming and I was, I was, um, just trying to push him and encourage him, and I did that for about 150 meters, um, before he kind of switched back on and realized where he was, and then he he kind of kicked home um to to claim that bronze medal for himself, um, and then it turned out afterwards that there was. I I forgot all about tv because we were in a, an empty stadium. You forget that there's cameras and stuff around with the um covid olympics.
Speaker 3:Right With the COVID Olympics, right the COVID Olympics.
Speaker 4:But it turns out that on that first bend there was a Channel 7 camera that caught me screaming at Ash and it went viral in Australia. And so doing a dubler is about supporting a mate when they need support. It's not about doing a poop.
Speaker 3:It did get you on a chocolate wrapper right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Cadbury came to the table and they said yeah, we want to put you on a chocolate bar, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 3:How important is it to have the right sponsors right, have them at the right time, like perfect example. Is that trip to Germany right, where Koala came to your rescue? Just tell us a bit about that story and how important is it, and I would love to hear from you as well, right?
Speaker 4:Well, I think sponsors are hard to come by and having really good sponsors make all the difference. I partnered with actually we both did. We partnered with Koala last year on a social campaign Because you wanted a nice mattress, Wanted a nice mattress, it was nice mattress they were an olympic campaign with oh yeah, with a few athletes.
Speaker 2:Give them a plug. Who are they? What do they do?
Speaker 4:koala, they do mattress yeah they do mattresses, they do beds, they do some furniture as well, they do outdoor settings now, um, but uh, you know, they wanted to help us improve our sleep and and so they came to the table and, funnily enough, after I got my koala mattress I actually started sleeping better. So I was able to kind of get my training and my preparations back on track, and so I had this kind of connection with koala from that campaign. And then, after I tore my hamstring in Fiji, I flew back to Australia. I got my scan. I realized that there was a ruptured hamstring. I had a ruptured hamstring and we were kind of going back and forth with what we do. Do we continue, do we not? Do we throw in the towel? And I wasn't getting enough answers in Australia. So I realized I wanted to go over to Germany to see a doctor, to see a specialist, to get some solid answers.
Speaker 4:But the issue is I could only fly economy, and so I put out a call on Instagram to say does anyone know anyone at Qantas that could upgrade my flight from economy to business? And there were a few. You, it's like my brother's, sister's, uncle's goldfish, you know, loads the luggage or something, but we couldn't quite get to the right person. And a few days later, Koala messaged me and they said you know, how are you going with it all? Is it coming through? And I said it doesn't look like it. And I've just found out that I can't do a points upgrade either because business is fully booked. So it looks like I'm going to be sitting in economy.
Speaker 4:And so they called and they said book whatever you need and we'll pay for it. And I said okay, well, like you know, I'll book business to go there, I'll book economy back. And they said no, no, no, go business back as well, because you're not exactly a short guy, are you? I'm not a short guy and and this was the thing is like, if I've got a ruptured hamstring, I can't be sitting in economy with my hips, with my hamstring on stretch for 24 hours. Um, I needed to to be lying flat, especially when I'm I'm going to seek answers to find information. So koala paid 17 000 for this return flight ticket on on a whim. They didn't ask for anything and they just said you know, go get the answers you need, we've got your back. And that was really, really, really special.
Speaker 1:Apparently they got their return of investment from sales from Cedric as well. So they got their money back and more, and that's the thing right Like.
Speaker 3:This is the thing when you invest in the right people and sports people are exactly from your story. Like you guys are resilient, you you like a dog with a bone. You don't give up. Right like and also you've got so much loyalty and I've seen many times, every, every, everywhere you go, you plug the brand right if they do the right thing, and I think, more Australian businesses need to back athletes, and that's something that doesn't happen enough.
Speaker 3:You know, there's always the expectation of eyeballs, right, we don't have the eyeballs that the American athletes have, or the European athletes have you mentioned the Americans twice?
Speaker 2:Are they the country that does the best as far as looking after the athletes, or which?
Speaker 3:country. Do you think it's a home of capitalism? They'll do anything to.
Speaker 2:But what about other countries? I know Germany's come up a couple of times in conversation, so they've obviously got some elite people over there, elite coaches.
Speaker 1:They all get paid full-time to be an athlete. Those other nations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it all goes back to In your Olympic level. Yeah, it does go back to the eyeballs, right? So they have programs with much bigger deals in streaming deals.
Speaker 4:So the programs there are, but it also comes down to how the sport is run. I feel like in Australia we could turn around it so easily if we just invested in the right sort of stuff. If you've watched an athletics broadcast, it is boring. I watched a competition the other day and they focus on a few events. They focus on the races, they don't play replays, they don't go to the field events.
Speaker 3:It is a horribly broadcast sport Unemotional, yeah, and you would watch. Like you know, most people would just tune in to watch Goud Goud run. I would just do it to watch Reece run.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, it's one of those ones where you watch someone you know Correct.
Speaker 3:Whereas when it comes to even the NCAA championships, I would watch the whole thing. It's so exciting.
Speaker 4:Yeah. All of these backstories that's been built and this is what's missing and I think this is what could elevate any sport. You look at F1, right, how they've turned the storytelling around, how they brought in Netflix to create a drama series In Australia. We do nothing. We do nothing to promote the stories of the athletes. We do nothing to raise their profiles. It comes down to the individuals to do it themselves, but it needs to be run from the sport.
Speaker 3:How do we do it? Where do we need to make the changes? Where does it change?
Speaker 4:Well, I can't say that without getting kicked off. The next team I want to get on. It comes from not paying their own salaries and actually investing in a content team, in people that actually know how to do broadcast better. It comes from storytelling. It doesn't like….
Speaker 3:Is that the responsibility of Athletics Australia?
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:What's it called now I've forgotten.
Speaker 4:Australian Athletics. Yeah, yeah, a big rebrand to switch it around.
Speaker 3:There's a huge rebrand right, so does that come from that or from? The broadcasting companies Like where does…?
Speaker 4:No that, or from the broadcasting companies Like where does it come from? It comes from Australian Athletics, because they would make so much more if they could elevate their athletes and if they elevate the athletes as well, the athletes make more money and they perform better. But if they don't want to invest in the athletes in the profiles, then the athletes have to go and get jobs to fund their pursuit and the whole performances of the Australian team are sacrificed.
Speaker 3:There's no better time to do it than now. Right Like we've got Tory, we've got Gaut Gaut.
Speaker 4:We've got so much talent.
Speaker 3:We've got some of the best talent. We've got the fastest 60 meter in the world right now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, lucky Kennedy, we've got so much talent and we just haven't pushed out those stories.
Speaker 3:Yeah and we're going to have the fastest 400 female coming up pretty soon. And you know it's crazy. It doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 1:This is public knowledge, so I'm not dissing anything.
Speaker 4:She's a lot more careful than I am when it comes to this sort of stuff.
Speaker 1:The last report last year from AA was 250,000 went to athletes and coaches and I think the other number they made about $13 million or something, or $16 million. It was about $18 million going to start.
Speaker 4:Salaries.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 4:That puts it into perspective, yep.
Speaker 2:Something like that. I'm not going to mention names either, but there's a lot of charity organisations. There's a big difference. They're exactly the same. So 82 cents of every dollar goes towards the staffing of those organisations. 18 cents actually gets on the ground to help when you donate and you get an understanding of that. And, like I said, I'm not going to mention any companies. But it's quite tragic when you look at it from that perspective.
Speaker 2:People are donating, thinking this is going to that, but it's actually going to running the organisation. It's not in getting to the ground.
Speaker 4:I guess this is a good call to action to the ASF, the Australian Sports Foundation. Through the ASF, if there is an athlete that anyone watching this wants to support, the athlete can set up a page on the ASF. It is fully tax deductible for the donor and it's paid to the athlete as a grant, so it's non-taxable for that athlete as well. The ASF takes 5%, the athlete keeps 95%.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, that's the way it should be.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so if there is anyone watching and they want to support an athlete that they you know, if they've been a fan of their journey, or they want to support them, that's the best avenue to do it.
Speaker 1:And if they don't have one it takes five minutes to set up and just message them and say can you set this up for me, because I want to give you something who's the author of that organisation.
Speaker 4:I'm not sure. I'm not sure they're based in Milton in Brisbane. Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And they're doing great jobs, and not just for individuals, for sporting clubs as well. Yeah, so it's Is.
Speaker 2:Is that just athletic?
Speaker 4:No, no, no, that's all sports, all sports.
Speaker 1:And it could be from a nine-year-old to a master's athlete.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you don't have to be at a certain level. Anyone can set up a page. There's obviously restrictions. You can't get a tax deduction, donation whatever from your brother or your family or those sort of things. No money laundering yeah, it's not to launder, but you know when we talk about charities and it not actually reaching the cause, the ASF is the perfect avenue for this specific purpose Perfect.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, riley, before we finish up, how's your journey been? Like you know, have you had any sponsors? Like Cedric, like Koala, have you had the support? We also Woolworths. Right, you were working for Woolworths. You were the girlfriend board, they said, working for Woolworths as a. I don't know what you were doing then, but we saw you running along the the aisle yeah. Are they still behind you?
Speaker 1:They are. I was on a three-year contract with them until Paris and now I'm on a one-year contract. They have been very supportive with me in the lead-up to Paris. It's dropped since then, but any support is appreciated from any sort of company. I've got loyal sponsors True Protein and no Timid Souls, which are both Australian companies.
Speaker 3:Is that the one who keeps smelling the T-shirt? Yeah, the one that doesn't stink. Does that work? I promise?
Speaker 1:I swear on my dog's life.
Speaker 3:It did not stink after five days, you do have a dog, right she?
Speaker 1:doesn't have a dog.
Speaker 4:You do not have a dog. Your boyfriend has a dog she's my dog too, so cute.
Speaker 1:She's gone and peed on Emily, so you claim your boyfriend's dog to your boyfriend.
Speaker 3:Well done. So, it does work, so you could run, but hold on. You've been running 100 metres, right.
Speaker 1:How's it going to smell?
Speaker 3:after 400. That's the question I need to retest.
Speaker 1:No, timid what's it?
Speaker 3:called no timid souls.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so they've been really loyal for me, to me, and they have been understanding of my change of direction as well and, yeah, I I look forward to keeping that partnership going and building the relationship with them. So, yeah, as you said before, the athletes are loyal to people that are loyal back.
Speaker 3:And is it True Protein?
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Is that? Who's that? A protein company?
Speaker 1:Supplements, yeah they're based in Sydney. Cedric is sponsored by them as well. They're based in Sydney and they do everything out of their office.
Speaker 3:It seems like there's a community of companies that support Aussie athletes. Right, like you said, koala supported a lot of Olympic athletes. True Protein sounds like everyone sort of they're getting behind these athletes. It seems like a few of them. We need more.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we do need more. Yeah, and it's so good to have these companies involved.
Speaker 2:Great opportunity leading up to 2032.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, great opportunity leading up to 2032. Absolutely yeah. The commercial value will just continue going up and up and up for Australian athletes. So we just need more companies involved and ready to explore. It's really easy for these companies to go direct to influencers, and I think that's kind of what we're competing against as well. Which is their full-time job, which is their full-time job, which is their full-time job. That's exactly, but I think it's so much more authentic if you're getting behind Australian athletes.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more, because I think, as an athlete, you've actually got a purpose, whereas the influencer, their purpose is just the influencer, they don't actually have a cause.
Speaker 3:And mate, if you're taking protein drinks and using that stuff and you're putting it to the test, that's the real test, right?
Speaker 4:That's why I hate the term influencer. You know, when people ask what I do, I don't like using the term influencer. I create content I share with people. My journey and part of my journey is using these products, is sleeping on a koala mattress, is using the True Protein products. It's all authentic, natural partnerships. I don't like the term influencer. It sounds disingenuous.
Speaker 2:But it's inspirational. I did a little bit of sponsorship with Tania when I first met her and it was just understanding what you guys do on a daily basis, where you give up everything, you give up family, you give up friends, you give up any potential of careers to go and chase a dream and I'm getting goosebumps, it's just. I have the most admiration for that because I think that that's something that's missing from society and I'm just. I love just dream, chasing that you've got something, and usually it starts with a vision, but being able just to to follow that and follow it and the price that you guys pay compared to, yeah, some of the other athletes around the world that are um are paid and and can be rewarded accordingly, whereas you guys are just. Maybe I'll make it, maybe I won't.
Speaker 3:But it's 100% and it seems like you've got a really good community now, right, yeah, it takes time. Were you part of a wedding when she got married. It's a really nice little community. It seems like every time I see you guys at a meet it seems like everyone's really good friends.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you're all in the journey together, like you're enemies per se for the three minutes that you're lined up against each other, and then Hopefully not that long.
Speaker 4:Oh no, I was going to say I'm
Speaker 1:talking about from the start, like from the onset.
Speaker 2:But to be able to say, because the decathletes are multi-event athletes, that's even in closer community, isn't it than compared to some of the other ones?
Speaker 4:Well, I think, because we are in it together for so long, we're together for two days and we also recognise that other people have strengths and weaknesses and we'll beat them in that event and they'll beat us in this event. We get nothing out of, you know, button heads against each other. So a story that not a lot of people know, and I know we've gone over time. But before the 1500 in Tokyo, you know, I was planning on pacing Ash and we were making phone calls back home to figure out the target times and what everyone was expected to run.
Speaker 4:But I actually had the coach of Damien Warner, the Canadian decathlete, come over to me and say hey, who was the Olympic champion who broke the Olympic record, I believe, and was the fourth man ever to break 9,000 points that day and three months prior to the Olympics he had that 9,000 point barrier on the line and he'd just missed it in the 1500. And so his coach came up to me before the 1500 in Tokyo and he said what's your plan for this race? Could you help Damien? And I absolutely would have if I wasn't helping Ash. So it's that sort of environment that we create in the decathlon and that's why pacing Ash in the 1500 was not an abnormal thing to do. I was ready to pace the Canadian athlete to Olympic gold. It's one of those things that I really love about the decathlon that camaraderie and those friendships that I've made.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I love about sport in general, so love it.
Speaker 3:It builds a different side of you, right, like, hopefully. Now we've seen the success of our 4x100 teams, both men and women, so it sounds like we're going to have a 4x400 for the next. I'd say so that's good, yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, let's wrap it up. We know you guys have got training to get to Super. Appreciate you guys coming in and having a conversation with us today. Love your insights.
Speaker 4:Thanks for having us. Thank you, this was great. Enjoy the conversation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we should do it. We should do it again. I want to do a follow-up after a few months.
Speaker 1:I come in like oh.
Speaker 3:First 90 days. We should do a first 90-day one.
Speaker 4:A before and after I come in on a stretch.
Speaker 3:We've got to bring in some more athletes. Actually, we've got to get some more. We should do a series because people need to start hearing. Like you said, it's a really good point, agreed.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and so many athletes have really incredible stories and so much good insight, so I would recommend it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Just get the stories out there. Awesome. Thanks so much good insight so would recommend it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, just get the stories out there awesome thanks so much.