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Luc and Brooke the super Ms welcome to
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my podcast thank you it's cool to be
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here oh it's bloody great to have you
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guys here and I you you guys reached out
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um to me about doing the podcast which I
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was so so humbled by I was going I
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wanted you on um but I wanted to leave
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you alone as well because I thought yeah
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the moms and they just want to go home
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and do Mom stuff oh I knew that you
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would call us out for um yeah I was who
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messed you to come on here but um we
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just wanted to share our story we know
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there's Heats of other moms that are out
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there working too and I think it's um
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just a nice story to sh oh now what you
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guys have done is um is phenomenal like
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it's it's it's crazy like in terms of um
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you because at the level of by the way I
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I know nothing about your sport and my
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my my lack of knowledge will become a
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parent um but you can you can hold my
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hand and guide me through it but um like
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in terms of high performance sport where
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you're talking about like um you know
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marginal gains and one perentes and
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things like that like the the amount of
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those little added extra things that you
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guys miss out on due to like sleep
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deprivation and you know having your
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mind focused on on other far more
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important things than the sport um it
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can't be underestimated and you're still
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[ __ ] did it I guess I guess that's
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been part of the exercise right is that
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we've been so trained over our whole
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careers to focus on the 1%ers and then
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you're suddenly in this position where
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um you don't really feel you you you
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don't really get the allowance to do
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that because it's changed so quickly and
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I think for us part of that was a mental
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shift of saying you've actually got to
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focus on the big rocks here because the
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1% is sometimes you don't get them
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anymore sucks for the Romanians who you
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beat it was Romania a what do we have to
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do these girls haven't even been
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training properly and they beat
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us they were actually lovely like we
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actually did a press conference with
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them um straight after the and it was
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probably one of my favorite moments
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because I respect them well we both do
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we respect them so much they they have
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honestly been so dominant in that
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category for a really long time um and
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they're probably uh what motivated me a
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lot of our two years on return because I
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I knew that the standard that they were
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at was to me it felt almost Untouchable
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so um we had to go above and beyond just
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to feel like we were going to get close
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and um in this press conference we
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basically said you know it's been an
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honor to with these guys because for us
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they've changed the standard of the race
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and they just go out that first 500 so
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hard and we knew that our only option to
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beat them was to go out with them and we
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had to do it differently in that way and
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um they their English isn't great but
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then they basically um when they
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answered their question um were so kind
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to us and said they just respected so
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much that we could show up as moms and
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for them to say that to us I just yeah
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felt so humbled by that yeah like they
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weren in a position where you know being
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a parent was on their mind and it they
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you know it doesn't matter what what
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we've done but the fact that they
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respected that um yeah it was just of
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this amazing moment in that press
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conference that we're all sitting there
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like grinning at each other and feeling
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really crying oh my God that is so
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special and um have I got this right and
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saying you guys um the gold medal race
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was the first race that you guys have
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won
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together I think yeah we won the heat we
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won the semi okay yeah that was the
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first big race we had won we came back
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um both kids in 2022 and then came back
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to Elite racing in 23 and I think we're
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was my first B final our first World Cup
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back um and managed to get fifth hit by
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the world Champs and again we raced
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another world champs this year and we
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got Fifth and like there were a lot of
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results that wouldn't have led people to
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think that we would have potentially get
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that gold but um you guys you guys
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thought you were going to get the gold
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though right yeah I think we oh no no I
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shouldn't say yes we knew we knew that
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we're stting from the B we needed to get
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here and like every day we were feeling
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fitter and faster and we like knew if we
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could execute it really well and those
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final few weeks that we're in for a shot
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but obviously it's never given it some
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yeah did you check out like um sports
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beding odds or anything like you guys
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would okay so we did not like that
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wasn't on my mind at all but we actually
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met somebody in Italy last week who um
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had put I think it was 20 on us yeah and
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he got back like over €2,000 and oh my
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God amazing he came shook our hands us a
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high was like thank you girls we were
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like thank you for bitting on us well
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that must mean your odds were like 100
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to one yeah I I mean I didn't check I
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just and I'm not good at mess but that
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is um oh that's outstanding
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so yeah did you guys just peek at the
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right time what is it I think it's um a
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combination
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of yeah a lot of things I think from the
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outside it's um because we were showing
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up um at you know say the World Cups and
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getting
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results that didn't look like on paper
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that we were um tracking uphill but we
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knew we were um I think as experienced
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athletes who've been to an Olympic Games
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before I think we also knew what
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standard was required of us and we were
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constantly working towards that every
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day and we used to say many small many
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small steps in the right direction
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because when you're in a position where
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you don't feel like um you are at that
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standard but you know what that standard
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is um it it was about chipping away and
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I think especially in the
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last six weeks yeah six months we um had
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a saying that we used to saying that was
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that we were dialing it up so we did a
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whole lot of like B work same as where
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you're running you do like all your base
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work um the bulk of the season it's the
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last six weeks where you come to doing
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your like your primers and your fast
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stuff and every week we were like Just
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Dial It Up Just Dial It Up hoping that
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we would get a bit quicker um each week
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yeah and did you feel yourself you you
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must like see your times and have like
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um good uh information from the training
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so you knew you were getting better the
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ding up thing I think we felt it was
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coming I think like we had confidence in
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um what we were doing and I think that's
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part of it right is that um when you're
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in a program that you believe in and
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it's proven and we backed our team part
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of it was just getting it done and
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trusting that then the outcome was going
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to be the right the right thing M yeah
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so um the previous Olympics that was uh
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Tokyo
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2021 yeah because of the co delay and
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you guys both one Silvers but not not
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together no I was in the woman's double
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and got silver to
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Romania's right how cool is that so how
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did you so and then so then were you
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guys quite tight then you knew each
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other quite well or yeah and we actually
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rode together in 2016 yeah and you just
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missed out on making the Olympics in Rio
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yes yeah
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so you rode together and then you so you
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didn't make Rio so you're like well
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that's it we're done let's go
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consciously uncouple or whatever um and
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then you yeah how did you end up back
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together um no it's um it's been a very
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like
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um I don't even know how quite to put it
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it's been a very lucky accident because
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we haven't um you know plan things
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together like we both went away from um
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the Tokyo Olympics and both know
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individually decided that we wanted to
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have kids and we both wanted to come
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back and then just by you know luck of
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timing our kids are three months apart
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and I managed to um well my my daughter
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car is three months older so I started
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training first and Lucy followed in it
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it just so happened that we yeah did we
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both tried for the double and got
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selected but you know R almost in our
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selection determines you don't just get
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uh given a boat so we've had to both
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trial to um
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our
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after yeah do you think
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um yeah in terms of like this that
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selection process um is it like the two
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best rowers for the boat or do you think
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you were paed up because you're like say
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say you just had a baby and you appeared
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with someone that didn't have a baby
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that wanted to train harder it could be
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like a a personality conflict or
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whatever do you think there was part of
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that that goes into it matching
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personality types or life stage types no
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to be honest like the way it works in
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rowing is that um indiv ually you get
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your seat and um I guess it just
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happened for us that it was a natural
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natural partnership and we're lucky that
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you know um as moms we get along well
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and the the um yeah the way that that
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worked out was not determined by ro New
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Zealand and I thought there were plenty
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of other people gunning for those seats
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so so cool yeah let's so let's talk
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about pregnancy and your kids so um yeah
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Lucy you've got ret yes yes and Brooke
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you've got Kira and they're born 3
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months apart in 2022 yes um it seems
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like you guys almost planned this whole
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thing like getting pregnant at the same
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time coming back at the same time like
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what are the chances they're so close in
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age I know well essentially what I guess
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what happened is we both um and I
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actually remember having that
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conversation at at the Tokyo Olympics is
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that I was aware that broe wanted to
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have a baby and broe was probably aware
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that I wanted to have a baby so we both
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knew we were heading into this phase of
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life where we wanted to have children
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but we definitely had talked about um
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the return to Sport and at the time um I
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didn't want to put any pressure on I
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knew that I wasn't done with rowing and
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I had this huge desire to be back rowing
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but I also didn't want to place um any
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rules around that um to myself I didn't
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want to say I had to be back I had to be
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back there because I didn't I was a
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first time Mom right like I didn't know
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how that was going to go I didn't know
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what challenges it was going to bring so
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I also gave myself the grace to say um
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if it doesn't work out you know you
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don't have to be back rowing um but I
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did train throughout my pregnancy within
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the Roy New Zealand team and um it I I
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didn't have a great pregnancy um I was
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sick basically the whole time and I kind
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of hated being pregnant if I'm being
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honest but um Brooke was because she was
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three months ahead of me when it came to
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the time to um return back into training
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and I had this tiny little newborn big
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because she was 3 months ahead it was um
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it gave me confidence because um I was
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watching her you know Brook ended up on
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the podium at Nationals when she only
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had a three-month old kid and I was
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sitting there with a tiny newborn
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thinking okay well this is going well
00:10:44
for her so I definitely think I can keep
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giving this a nudge and for me that
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helped me get back on the urg and get
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back on the water and yeah I think being
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so honest about that yeah I feel like um
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as as a woman there's almost an
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expectation that you're supposed to say
00:10:58
oh being pregnant was one wonderful and
00:11:00
it was a beautiful experience and I
00:11:01
enjoyed it but it's not the reality for
00:11:02
everyone is it I know and to be honest
00:11:04
it has taken me a long time um to say
00:11:08
that because I think the expectation is
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that you're supposed to feel um so
00:11:12
connected to this thing that you're
00:11:14
growing your body's doing such an
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amazing job of growing it but at the
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time like for me I just wanted it to be
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over to be honest like every day I was
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just counting that's how I would be I
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reckon if I was able to carry a baby and
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I had I had um you know a friend in
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Cambridge that was Jo on the same day as
00:11:30
me and she ended up giving birth four
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weeks before and I remember thinking God
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damn it like this is not fair and she
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said to me like my advice would be to um
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you know sit down with your baby and
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just you know maybe try having a moment
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of saying I'm ready for you and you know
00:11:48
you you can come like welcome into this
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world and I thought oh it's worth a shot
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I'll do anything because I've been
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trying absolutely everything cuz by now
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I'm over my je date and um and I sat
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down thinking oh good there to go and I
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actually couldn't do it because I didn't
00:12:04
have any sense of connection to you know
00:12:07
this child that I've been growing
00:12:08
because I really resented you know I'd
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felt awful every single day and I I
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didn't have a sense of connection until
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he was born wow thanks for sharing
00:12:17
that's really cool when and when you say
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um like who was training all the way
00:12:22
through we both of you training all the
00:12:23
way through well we both were but in
00:12:25
different environments cuz I was
00:12:26
training at Ro New Zealand as part of
00:12:28
the team for as long I could until
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basically I couldn't get to the catch
00:12:31
because I couldn't F my guts between my
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lips till when so like till the third
00:12:36
trimester sort of thing or yeah wow oh I
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think I stopped at 25 weeks and what
00:12:41
sort of what sort of well like workouts
00:12:42
were you doing how intense was it I
00:12:44
guess for me it was a little bit
00:12:45
different um I trained away from R New
00:12:49
Zealand that year um and was actually
00:12:51
quite inspired that Lucy got to go over
00:12:53
season that she was racing I was well
00:12:55
you know it was interesting seeing that
00:12:57
from the other side of things and
00:12:59
I just keept fit my whole pregnancy um I
00:13:02
didn't follow like a strict program but
00:13:03
you know I was doing 30 minutes like
00:13:06
each side of the day and there's so much
00:13:09
and that you can read about people being
00:13:11
worried about what can you do while
00:13:12
you're pregnant everyone almost tends to
00:13:15
avoid exercising but we've been active
00:13:18
in exercising you know our whole Liv
00:13:20
that's that's our career that's what we
00:13:21
do so um it was almost just the advice I
00:13:25
got from like physiologist stuff was to
00:13:27
trust your body and to just do what
00:13:29
makes you feel good so I think I Ed up
00:13:31
to like 33 weeks still lifting weights
00:13:33
went to the gym the day before I gave
00:13:35
birth actually we burst
00:13:40
energy wow oh my God my husband was at
00:13:44
the point where I was like so annoying
00:13:45
had way too much that he was just like
00:13:47
going the J like you see so bro was your
00:13:50
yeah your um whole pregnancy experience
00:13:52
it sounds like it was It was kind of
00:13:53
different yeah um yeah in comparison I
00:13:57
had a really um good pregnancy and and
00:13:59
loved being pregnant and enjoyed um like
00:14:01
watched my body change and everything
00:14:03
that went through I feel like the funny
00:14:05
side of it is though I probably had the
00:14:07
worse of birth in you know
00:14:10
Lucy's went the other way yeah what was
00:14:12
your what was your your birth
00:14:13
experiences like mine was
00:14:14
straightforward and Brooks got I would
00:14:17
say a little bit of birth trauma yeah we
00:14:19
ended up um you know laboring for 18 20
00:14:22
hours and then ended up with an
00:14:24
emergency section
00:14:26
so yeah oh my God 18 hours
00:14:29
which I think it's a general amount of
00:14:31
Labor that you were probably similar in
00:14:32
terms of laboring but I mean it's just a
00:14:34
bit annoying to do all that labor and
00:14:36
then still have to have them come out
00:14:37
the sun roof yeah yeah right um recover
00:14:42
it and yeah necessari and that makes the
00:14:45
recovery way wor do not in terms of core
00:14:47
yeah um yeah my core was really painful
00:14:50
like lying down in bed with a newborn
00:14:52
baby I would have to like brace myself
00:14:54
every time I want to sit up and you're
00:14:56
not allowed to drive and things like
00:14:57
that um I think I was fortunate in how
00:15:00
my body actually physically did recover
00:15:02
and um being an athlete like the second
00:15:05
that they say you can go for a
00:15:07
walk like you can do you running oh my
00:15:12
God you're built different he she Savage
00:15:14
is she like the alpha dog on the boat
00:15:16
yes she is she was running I followed
00:15:18
all the protocols I just pushed it a
00:15:20
little bit well I mean when you're when
00:15:22
you're high performance athletes like
00:15:23
you guys I'm I'm I don't know I'm I'm
00:15:26
completely imagining here but I you know
00:15:28
I I think you must be you know fear
00:15:31
about losing Fitness I guess so even
00:15:32
though you're doing like a double
00:15:33
workout day you're doing less than what
00:15:35
you normally do you must be I don't know
00:15:37
does it play in the back of your mind
00:15:38
that the Romanians are you making all
00:15:39
these gains while you're losing Fitness
00:15:42
yeah it's really hard to feel um content
00:15:45
and patient when you feel like you're
00:15:47
under time pressure and I think for both
00:15:49
of us we actually recovered from birth
00:15:51
um relative relatively smoothly like I
00:15:54
think we both had a great return to
00:15:55
training but at the same time um you
00:15:58
can't help but feel like you're losing
00:16:00
ground um you're constantly on the back
00:16:03
foot and I think you come back into a
00:16:05
program where you know other people
00:16:07
haven't had this time off and your
00:16:08
you're playing catch up on where
00:16:10
everyone else is at and just little
00:16:13
things like I I did train basically for
00:16:16
as long as I could um and then once I
00:16:18
got um back into the program when ret
00:16:20
was maybe 10 or 12 weeks old um I got a
00:16:24
dexa scan done which is I don't know if
00:16:26
you know what that is but it's basically
00:16:27
a full body scan and I had one done
00:16:30
before I was pregnant with my muscle
00:16:32
mess and then one done at 10 or 12 weeks
00:16:35
postpartum where I could see my muscle
00:16:37
mess and I'd lost I think it was
00:16:39
something like 5 kgs of just pure lean
00:16:41
mess which I mean is completely
00:16:44
understandable but I still felt so
00:16:45
annoyed about it you know like so
00:16:48
annoyed my God you guys yeah and to make
00:16:51
things to add like an extra lay layer of
00:16:53
complication with the co thing it was
00:16:55
like a threee 3 years between Olympics
00:16:57
right which at the time we felt under
00:17:00
huge time pressure about um but I think
00:17:04
in hindsight um since the games we've
00:17:07
both come to realize that actually what
00:17:09
we did with the kids was full on and it
00:17:12
was busy and it was a lot and maybe if
00:17:15
we'd had to do it for a whole another
00:17:16
year we might not have been able to
00:17:18
sustain that and maybe the maybe our
00:17:20
timing was perfect and the window was
00:17:22
just right I don't know well those where
00:17:25
are those gold medals I was going to say
00:17:26
the gold medals are proof that it was
00:17:27
perfect where are they lift it up there
00:17:29
on the table them out there Jackson my
00:17:31
camera guy he will steal them Jack oh
00:17:34
hang on excuse me I'm going to go and
00:17:35
grab
00:17:37
them just leave them out
00:17:45
there tell you what whenever I whenever
00:17:48
I get to see one of these I get
00:17:49
goosebumps he there's something really
00:17:51
really special about it yeah how do you
00:17:52
guys feel yeah I still feel like I still
00:17:55
feel pretty
00:17:57
special man that's so cool all right
00:18:00
let's yeah let's talk about that so um
00:18:03
did you go to the uh the opening
00:18:05
ceremony no we didn't no oh cuz you were
00:18:08
out you were like out of town like 20ks
00:18:09
out of town or yeah staying at this
00:18:11
lovely French Mana just out of town um
00:18:14
which was yeah way easier for us for
00:18:16
commuting um the commute from Village
00:18:18
was over an hour and we had a Prett easy
00:18:20
20 drive from there but um did you not
00:18:23
want to like soak it up and be part of
00:18:25
it uh I not really
00:18:30
it was it was really good to watch on TV
00:18:32
but it did look miserable yeah and it
00:18:34
was so close to when our rowing starts
00:18:36
but by then I just like wasn't even
00:18:37
really tuned into I mean I think the
00:18:39
opening ceremony was playing on my TV
00:18:41
but we were so close to racing that I
00:18:43
watched the first like 10 minutes and
00:18:44
then I think I went to bed anyway and to
00:18:46
be honest I was a little bit um on edge
00:18:48
about the security of the whole thing
00:18:50
like I was a little bit nervous about
00:18:52
you know if anything's going to go wrong
00:18:54
it could be at the opening ceremony and
00:18:55
then I thought the same when we went to
00:18:57
the men's 100 meter final which was
00:18:59
amazing and such a cool experience but
00:19:01
at the same time there was so many
00:19:02
helicopters circling and I had a second
00:19:04
of being like Oh are we all good here
00:19:08
have you always been that way or is it
00:19:09
since you become a mom I think it's
00:19:11
since I've become a mom always that way
00:19:14
really she like the the safety Mom oh
00:19:17
god um yeah no no like that opening
00:19:20
ceremony was incredible he like it's the
00:19:22
most incredible um Olympic opening
00:19:24
ceremony ever that it happened you know
00:19:26
with the city as the backdrop rather
00:19:28
than just being in a St but the security
00:19:30
behind it like you could see like
00:19:32
snipers on rooftops and stuff it's
00:19:34
incredible I know I mean I'm sure they
00:19:35
had it covered but yeah it was crossing
00:19:37
my mind so um so the competition starts
00:19:41
so how many how many races do you have
00:19:43
before the the final we had two before
00:19:47
final okay so the first heat what
00:19:49
happens you oh good I can't
00:19:52
remember we what do you mean what do you
00:19:55
what do
00:19:56
you are you kidding
00:19:59
it's your Olympic
00:20:01
campaign we won our heat we did we won
00:20:04
our heat and we won our semi-final I
00:20:06
remember being probably the most nervous
00:20:07
of the semi-final because I think that's
00:20:09
a race that you can get caught out in if
00:20:11
you're you know too busy thinking about
00:20:13
the next race and actually quite of the
00:20:15
semi-finals are the hardest race and we
00:20:18
um yeah had a really great race and won
00:20:21
that but we got to watch the semi-final
00:20:23
behind us and Pros that had you know
00:20:26
just won at the World Cups and had been
00:20:28
on the Podium at the World Champ 4
00:20:31
missed out on the a final and that was a
00:20:33
really a moment that probably shook us a
00:20:35
little bit to be like [ __ ] like just
00:20:38
made this a final and these Crews that
00:20:40
have just won the World Cup and have um
00:20:43
know one last year that we've been
00:20:45
chasing aren't in that final and it was
00:20:47
a really like moment that we probably
00:20:50
took a second to look at each other and
00:20:51
be like we could do this wow quite a
00:20:55
gooseb
00:20:56
moment yeah so so in the final where you
00:20:58
won these gold medals um yeah it's 2,000
00:21:01
M race you did 6 minutes 50 seconds what
00:21:04
was it in the the Heats similar time
00:21:06
faster slow we actually went faster in
00:21:08
the
00:21:09
semifinal um yeah the the timings are
00:21:12
almost irrelevant I think are they why
00:21:14
why so well you don't really compare
00:21:16
from day to day just because the
00:21:17
conditions are so variable everyone's
00:21:20
hanging out for a day with a Bast tail
00:21:22
one so that you can't have a crack at
00:21:23
the world record what is the world
00:21:26
record7 oh [ __ ] far off that right yeah
00:21:30
but Paris was quite a windy course there
00:21:32
was quite a bit of wind all over the
00:21:34
place before our race um Emma twiger
00:21:36
raced to semi-final and um you can see
00:21:38
the flags blown down the course it was
00:21:39
this really nice Tower and I remember
00:21:41
her coming up and being like girls great
00:21:42
water out there and then by the time we
00:21:44
hopped on the flags were just mulling
00:21:47
around no this is um this is fascinating
00:21:49
to mey there's so many nuances to your
00:21:51
your sport that I I had no idea about I
00:21:53
actually um yeah there's a quote here
00:21:55
from um you Lucy um and it's a paragraph
00:21:58
which I've never read before in my life
00:22:00
and I've got no idea what it means
00:22:01
really I've come back into the skulling
00:22:04
side after sweeping I knew coming back
00:22:06
from pregnancy it was always going to be
00:22:07
a better decision for me to row on a
00:22:09
single and manage my own training which
00:22:11
is why I scaled during my pregnancy as
00:22:13
well I don't know what any of that me
00:22:16
what is that it's like a different
00:22:18
language
00:22:20
sorry okay so in Tokyo I was in the
00:22:23
woman's a which is sweet rowing which
00:22:25
means I have one or so I go out one side
00:22:28
of the the boat four of us go out one
00:22:29
side and the other four go out one way
00:22:31
so I guess I was specializing in the
00:22:33
sweep rowing for um the previous four
00:22:37
years but the thing about the sweet
00:22:38
growing is that you can't do it alone
00:22:40
because if you do it alone then you fall
00:22:41
out because you always need someone out
00:22:43
the other side so knowing that I was
00:22:46
coming back from pregnancy um I had
00:22:50
nobody to row with so I thought well
00:22:52
rowing in the single is going to be my
00:22:54
best return to training and in the
00:22:55
single is the two ORS which is what we
00:22:57
do in the double right
00:22:59
thanks for yeah you broke that down for
00:23:01
me like I'm an idiot and I appreciate it
00:23:02
because I am I had no idea what that
00:23:04
meant okay so um so the final comes and
00:23:07
then do you guys have like a pre-race
00:23:09
like routine or superstitions or
00:23:11
anything like that what does what does
00:23:13
that what does that day look like I do
00:23:14
remember the
00:23:16
final should yeah that's the one yeah
00:23:18
does this bring back any memories yes I
00:23:21
do remember the final yeah so what time
00:23:22
what time of the day is the race uh it's
00:23:24
in the morning 11:00 I say was 11:18 but
00:23:28
she would know girl actually Lucy you to
00:23:31
this that speak to book about this yeah
00:23:34
so so do you you sleep all right the
00:23:36
night before we amazing um we we sleep
00:23:41
great for three weeks because we were in
00:23:42
the M oh
00:23:44
yeah with the kids there or no the kids
00:23:46
were in Paris but um and we'd been away
00:23:49
with um our kids and both of us had our
00:23:51
parents there for six weeks yeah prior
00:23:53
of that we'd been Inns um with the kids
00:23:56
coming home from training you know
00:23:57
looking after them and doing all that
00:23:58
kind of thing and for the 10 days
00:24:00
leading into our final we got to go into
00:24:02
the the Mana and we were calling it our
00:24:05
Olympic Retreat we we're there eating
00:24:07
Buffet meals and getting full night
00:24:10
sleep yeah it's there's little things
00:24:11
like that that you don't even think
00:24:12
about like a lot of a lot of people have
00:24:14
probably there and they're highly strung
00:24:15
and they're uptight but for you guys
00:24:17
it's a it's a holiday yeah I was like my
00:24:19
be made a lot of people are sick of
00:24:22
living in hotels because that's what you
00:24:23
normally do for few months leading into
00:24:25
the Olympics but yeah we were Liv yeah
00:24:28
yeah so so you sleep well you you sit an
00:24:31
alarm or you wake up
00:24:32
naturally an alarm yeah we um have a
00:24:36
routine that we do before every race
00:24:38
which would be to get up and to do a PR
00:24:41
R so but rather than going down to the
00:24:42
lake and using all that time we would
00:24:44
just do a little um 4K pedal on the for
00:24:47
our race which is just a nice time to
00:24:50
you know reset and start thinking about
00:24:51
the race Yeah we actually did it beside
00:24:53
each other and we kind of talked through
00:24:56
what would be I guess the ideal scenario
00:24:59
not not for how the race would play out
00:25:01
in terms of the other boats but how we
00:25:03
would be feeling in terms of executing
00:25:05
our own race plan and that's sort of
00:25:07
what you do um leading into um any
00:25:10
finals that you have your own specific
00:25:12
race plan and in the previous days
00:25:15
leading into the final I almost craved
00:25:17
us um rowing down the course and just
00:25:20
running through it in our minds because
00:25:22
um we know it so well by that point that
00:25:25
it's kind of has got to the point where
00:25:27
all Brooke needs to say is yep yep it's
00:25:30
certain markers and I know exactly what
00:25:32
she means and I know exactly how I'm
00:25:33
going to be feeling and for me it
00:25:36
becomes like a real safety net to be
00:25:37
able to run down the course and run
00:25:39
through there and just like visualize um
00:25:41
it was just the place that I wanted to
00:25:42
be in you know when you're so nervous um
00:25:45
it it was it was nice to sit there
00:25:48
together and just know that we're
00:25:50
feeling the same and that's what we feel
00:25:53
like doing I guess for our preow is
00:25:54
sitting on the UR together and running
00:25:56
it through yeah by the way I love how
00:25:58
you said we just do like a a like 4K
00:26:00
warmup like I think most people canet
00:26:02
visualize like a rowing machine at the
00:26:04
gym and 4ks is a long
00:26:06
way I suppose not for you guys like no
00:26:08
we're pretty happy when it gets down to
00:26:10
me a
00:26:10
4K we get to do that we get to do 4K
00:26:14
probably twice a year and it's the day
00:26:16
before the Olympic final and the day
00:26:18
before that well what's an intense
00:26:19
training session like generally training
00:26:22
sessions um in the Balan season are like
00:26:24
two hour sessions and they're really um
00:26:27
specialized to being in like the correct
00:26:29
heart rate zones and every session sort
00:26:30
of has a purpose some might be that
00:26:32
you're just long steady state of trying
00:26:33
to hit your heart rate right in your
00:26:35
Zone others are threshold sessions for
00:26:37
your G um so that mid race pace and
00:26:40
getting your heart rate into those zones
00:26:42
and then we do the max sessions I talked
00:26:44
about with the last six weeks trying to
00:26:46
dial it up and trying to get more and
00:26:48
more out of your
00:26:49
ma oh my God honestly I think it's very
00:26:52
similar to what you're doing with your
00:26:53
running training don't by the way this
00:26:55
is very very flattering but um you don't
00:26:57
don't let me into your professional
00:26:59
athlete
00:27:00
chat run go to the brook writes the run
00:27:04
sheet for the day of our race all right
00:27:07
what do you mean well that's just how
00:27:08
the day is going to go on the final so
00:27:10
we have a shared note on our iPhone and
00:27:14
um the day of the final all I need to do
00:27:15
is Click into it because Brooke has
00:27:17
written exactly where I need to be at
00:27:18
exactly what time amazing how how did
00:27:22
you fall into these
00:27:24
roles it would naturally not be my
00:27:26
strength which is
00:27:29
yeah I would say I like the organization
00:27:31
side of things and it's something that
00:27:33
we like flick to our coach as well so
00:27:34
know be but um it's very rinse and
00:27:37
repeat it's you do the same thing for
00:27:39
every single race so all I'm doing when
00:27:41
i'm running run sheet is um scribbling
00:27:43
out the times and putting the new times
00:27:45
in which are things like um our race
00:27:47
time that I put we're going to be on the
00:27:48
water 30 minutes before that um we're
00:27:51
going to be on hour before that and then
00:27:53
we're going to eat 3 hours before and
00:27:55
that's actually a nice way to fill in
00:27:56
the day because um you can get CAU
00:27:58
woring about the race what's going to
00:27:59
happen but actually like what do we
00:28:01
going to do next what's what's right in
00:28:03
front of us that we need to do and Lucy
00:28:05
if you're running late or something does
00:28:07
um does she get mad well I don't run
00:28:09
late because I hit the Run
00:28:12
cheat yeah I feir touche um okay so yes
00:28:16
so you're training in the morning of the
00:28:17
final um then you just leisurely trip to
00:28:20
what do you eat what do you eat there
00:28:22
eat that morning I would have had peanut
00:28:24
butter on right I had to just like some
00:28:27
CBS
00:28:28
yeah and honestly I remember sitting
00:28:30
there in the dining hall together and
00:28:31
it's a weird thing right because um
00:28:33
right the way through the campaign you
00:28:35
sit there with the whole team you know
00:28:36
everybody has breakfast at the same time
00:28:38
and then suddenly it's just two of you
00:28:40
sitting there before your race it's dead
00:28:43
quiet and you know you're heading
00:28:44
into your final and you got to go in the
00:28:48
van down together like it's it's all
00:28:49
very it's quiet and and are you um are
00:28:52
you excited are you petrified what's
00:28:55
going through your mind I wouldn't say I
00:28:57
was Petri I was definitely um I felt
00:29:00
like it was I felt like I was ready I
00:29:02
felt like it was the day to see what
00:29:04
could
00:29:05
happen and you you hoped for gold
00:29:08
but yeah so when you made it to that
00:29:10
final like where were you expected to
00:29:11
finish do you think well to be honest
00:29:13
I'm not sure I hadn't really given a
00:29:15
thought to where other people expected
00:29:17
we should finish but um I think sitting
00:29:21
warming up and sitting in the start
00:29:23
blocks um I just respected everybody
00:29:26
else in that race so much that
00:29:28
um I never felt like I never felt like
00:29:31
winning was going to be easy I never
00:29:33
felt like um we were likely to win I
00:29:36
felt like I could win um but I also felt
00:29:39
like we'd put ourselves in a position
00:29:41
where um if we were going to win it
00:29:43
could be
00:29:45
today was like hearing that like makes
00:29:47
my heart heart go really like L reliving
00:29:51
it or yeah so you're like back on the
00:29:54
water now yeah she's going to go out for
00:29:56
a nervous po
00:29:58
oh my god do you have nervous
00:30:01
I we all have nervous pose it's quite
00:30:04
yeah jeez for a pre-run event like you
00:30:07
go to the portal and then go straight
00:30:08
back in the line again for another one
00:30:10
but I suppose you yeah you have to time
00:30:11
your nervous po because once you're on
00:30:13
the water or near the water we've got a
00:30:15
five minute buffer in our run
00:30:18
ch um and Brooke how are you feeling did
00:30:21
you feel like you were going to
00:30:22
win not necessarily I think um it was a
00:30:26
race and like we've spoken about we had
00:30:28
such a plan and like we knew exactly how
00:30:30
we wanted to execute that I was
00:30:31
genuinely just thinking about what we
00:30:33
needed to do to execute um I remember
00:30:35
being so nervous sitting in the start
00:30:37
blocks and the only thing that I could
00:30:39
think of that was like helping me was
00:30:41
that I had to like and it's true like I
00:30:43
was excited to get to push to get to use
00:30:45
my legs cuz sitting there and you're so
00:30:47
so jittery that I was just like okay I
00:30:49
just can't wait for the buzzer to go off
00:30:51
so I can just push my legs as hard as I
00:30:52
can and like actually get to feel and um
00:30:55
get to come into the race m I also had
00:30:58
the sense of um I think when I sat in
00:31:01
the start line in Tokyo I had um more of
00:31:04
an expectation on myself for a sense or
00:31:07
I definitely had a sense of this needs
00:31:10
this needs to go well um whereas and I
00:31:14
this might be the effect of having
00:31:16
children this might be my perspective
00:31:18
because of ret but I think I had more of
00:31:21
a um you truly have have done what you
00:31:24
can here without having to comp
00:31:27
compromise with him so whatever will be
00:31:30
today will have to be because you've
00:31:32
given what you
00:31:33
can which felt like a peaceful place for
00:31:36
me to to sit in yeah that's awesome
00:31:40
that's so cool and so so the the waiting
00:31:42
but when you're waiting for the the
00:31:43
final to start are you guys um like
00:31:45
chatting and laughing and yeah having
00:31:47
banter with each other
00:31:49
or do do you process things differently
00:31:51
or no we're generally pretty
00:31:53
lighthearted if we have a reason to
00:31:54
laugh or something to laugh about we
00:31:57
like a nervous po
00:31:59
you but um I just remember sitting in
00:32:01
that start box we had the French um in
00:32:04
our final and the French is such a rowdy
00:32:07
crowd and it goes through each crew and
00:32:09
sort of announces each crew one by one
00:32:11
and when they you know when they said
00:32:13
the French um they were in one of the
00:32:14
early lanes and the crowd that are 2K
00:32:17
away just went crazy like you can hear
00:32:20
it from sitting in the start
00:32:22
blocks
00:32:23
wow oh my God that is so awesome it was
00:32:27
cool it was okay so then then then the
00:32:28
race starts oh by the way um Lucy you
00:32:31
mentioned before like on the water you
00:32:33
don't really talk but you know Brook
00:32:34
says Y and you know what it means yeah
00:32:37
by the time um by the time we're racing
00:32:39
I mean we're talking heaps when we're
00:32:40
warming up and stuff but by the time
00:32:42
we're coming down the track because your
00:32:43
heart rate so high because you're just
00:32:45
tapped right into your top end um I
00:32:48
can't she can't get out more than
00:32:51
basically yeah basically sitting in B
00:32:53
seat um it's easier for me to talk
00:32:56
cuz turn around to speak so I end up um
00:32:59
running through most of the race plan as
00:33:01
we spoke about like things we doing the
00:33:02
WM up and things we do on the day before
00:33:04
is that will come down the course and I
00:33:05
will like talk the whole like the whole
00:33:08
2K about what our race is going to be
00:33:10
like so I might be like yeah first te
00:33:11
we're going to really squeeze on our
00:33:12
legs second te we're going to Ln it out
00:33:14
a bit and even to the point where we're
00:33:16
coming into the last 500 just a train
00:33:18
like I would have been like okay here
00:33:19
comes the grand stand like feel that
00:33:21
Clos in on us like I'll be talking about
00:33:22
the noise that we're going to hear and
00:33:24
I'll be talking about how we're going to
00:33:25
do here and it's so like it's actually
00:33:27
quite specific that by the time we do
00:33:29
race I've gone over that so many times
00:33:31
that like just these yeps we have
00:33:34
visualized this moment so many times
00:33:35
that we know exactly what the other
00:33:38
person is about to do and what we expect
00:33:40
of each other what does that mean though
00:33:42
does it mean like um increasing the
00:33:43
stroke rate or so yeah there's times
00:33:46
that that that's what the Yip for
00:33:48
mean what if you get the Yip
00:33:51
wrong there's a bit of tone in it as
00:33:53
well
00:33:56
okay well you guys are in tune with each
00:33:58
other I think by the final we are yeah
00:34:01
it was quite incredible to actually feel
00:34:03
that and to be able to do it because I
00:34:05
think I almost um overdo the talking
00:34:07
because I'm so worried I'm going to
00:34:08
forget or miss something but honestly by
00:34:11
the time we do it it's that in sync that
00:34:14
yeah we we understand and we've told
00:34:16
this story probably a few times now but
00:34:19
we talked a lot about the Romanians are
00:34:21
really great at sprinting over the last
00:34:24
um last 500 meters basically they're
00:34:27
known for being able to get their stroke
00:34:28
rate up really high and just go for it
00:34:31
and um we had in our minds that they
00:34:33
they were potentially going to be
00:34:34
absolutely lethal there and we didn't
00:34:36
want to be in a position where we were
00:34:37
right beside them because we knew that
00:34:39
that could happen and if it did what
00:34:41
were we going to do and all we could
00:34:43
think about and all we kept coming back
00:34:44
to was Joe and Nathan in their London
00:34:47
final in the men's double and how they
00:34:49
were just still storming from behind and
00:34:52
just coming through and the speed that
00:34:53
they had on their boat in the last 500
00:34:56
we were like if we're in that position
00:34:57
it needs to be Punchy short like we're
00:35:00
going to have to Chuck in some really
00:35:02
big ones and um lo and behold we were in
00:35:05
the position where we were right beside
00:35:07
the Romanians and um we were kind of in
00:35:10
a position where we were like covering
00:35:11
them but just like only very really just
00:35:14
and I think I had going through my mind
00:35:16
the whole time they're going to come
00:35:17
they're going to come they're going to
00:35:17
come at us and um in training when we
00:35:21
were practicing the race plan Brooke had
00:35:22
always said and if we need to at 100 met
00:35:25
like when I say go like we know what
00:35:27
that means that's just like the
00:35:29
last the yourself yeah um and instead of
00:35:35
go I think she said
00:35:39
Joe which was just so funny because it
00:35:42
was so relevant to exactly you know the
00:35:44
way we were thinking about it amazing
00:35:47
yeah I've heard you um or read about it
00:35:50
in other interviews where you talk about
00:35:51
how with 500 met to go you were think
00:35:53
about Joe and Nathan by the way those
00:35:54
guys same event right and they won a
00:35:56
golden 12 2012 and where was that London
00:36:00
London yeah and I I was curious like how
00:36:03
you how you were both thinking about
00:36:05
them at the same time but is it because
00:36:06
of the VIS visualization and stuff that
00:36:08
you talked about previously yeah and
00:36:09
that race is just so iconic for um to
00:36:12
watch as rowers the way they did that
00:36:14
people don't often do it like that so I
00:36:16
think it's just um really embedded in my
00:36:19
mind for you know such a such an
00:36:21
outstanding race of what's capable and a
00:36:25
short amount of distance yeah so so your
00:36:28
event you're your backs to the Finish
00:36:30
Line eh yeah so you're rowing so when
00:36:33
you're in the lead position you you know
00:36:34
you're in the
00:36:35
lead are you sort looking are you s
00:36:37
looking around in your peripheral vision
00:36:39
or I tend to take a couple more looks um
00:36:41
earlier in the race to try and let Lucy
00:36:43
know where we are but coming into the
00:36:45
line like I'm not really looking out
00:36:46
because of the risk of you know catching
00:36:48
a bad stroke um the whole time we
00:36:51
probably didn't we watched the race back
00:36:54
we didn't actually realize how close it
00:36:55
was and we knew that we were right there
00:36:57
with Romania but I had no clue really if
00:37:00
our Bell was in front I was hoping that
00:37:01
my shoulders were just in front of the
00:37:03
girl next to us but we had no clue until
00:37:05
we crossed the finish line and I think
00:37:08
we were so in the moment of our race
00:37:10
that you know going from the 500 every
00:37:12
every 10 Strokes we were giving it more
00:37:13
giving it more giving it more to the
00:37:15
point where I knew that you know if we
00:37:17
cross the finish line and if it had have
00:37:18
been silver or bronze that I would like
00:37:22
to think that I would been happy I knew
00:37:23
that that was that was my best on the
00:37:25
day so when when did you realize you
00:37:27
were going to get a middle though or or
00:37:29
you didn't I I genely didn't think about
00:37:31
winning a midle I can I can say Honestly
00:37:34
though and um Tokyo the race was a bit
00:37:36
different the field was way more spread
00:37:38
Romania had a really good lead and we
00:37:40
probably weren't going to catch them and
00:37:42
I remember thinking myself wow we get
00:37:45
mid race like pretty cool and we almost
00:37:47
got bronze and then like this race it
00:37:50
didn't even cross my mind it was um just
00:37:52
about being so I think it's quite a
00:37:54
special thing that's how it happened
00:37:55
that's how it played out so in the zone
00:37:57
that um I was just thinking about you
00:37:59
giving my all those last every so when
00:38:02
when do you
00:38:03
realize I think I knew like your
00:38:06
peripheral vision I I had a sense that
00:38:09
we were up you know like I I wasn't
00:38:11
looking sideways I was looking only down
00:38:13
my own track but I I think I knew and I
00:38:16
think I knew it was it was close but I
00:38:18
didn't realize quite how close yeah cuz
00:38:20
you how many times have you guys watched
00:38:22
the race only twice really why it took
00:38:26
about a week for me to watch it as well
00:38:28
how come I think it just like brings
00:38:30
back literally like all the emotions
00:38:32
that you just felt and like I I cried
00:38:35
the first time I watched the race me
00:38:37
like wow like at what point like through
00:38:40
the race or just at the end I was
00:38:44
probably but I can watch I can watch I
00:38:46
could watch any of our team Race the
00:38:48
Olympic Final on TV now and I could cry
00:38:50
probably you know like just the sense of
00:38:53
emotion and what everyone's gone through
00:38:54
to be and you know I could watch any one
00:38:56
of those finals and probably still cry
00:38:58
but I am looking forward to watching it
00:38:59
with our coach to be honest which we
00:39:01
might do this weekend when when you guys
00:39:04
watch it do
00:39:05
you do you see
00:39:07
flaws 100% really I have the worst
00:39:11
rowing technique and I watch do you what
00:39:13
I'm so embarrassed at how I
00:39:18
wrot good I'm there breaking my arms any
00:39:21
rolls this thing will understand but I
00:39:23
think um you know that's oh it's
00:39:26
effective
00:39:27
we use we use quite a lot of video um
00:39:30
analysis like we're used to watching
00:39:32
ourselves and I think every time we get
00:39:34
video which when we're in training is
00:39:36
probably on a weekly basis the first
00:39:38
thing you do is look at yourself and
00:39:39
think oh yeah because straight away you
00:39:41
see what could be better and you know
00:39:43
you've got a picture in your head of
00:39:44
what's perfect and um it's hard to get
00:39:49
what's perfect at really high rate when
00:39:51
you're absolutely spin so naturally the
00:39:53
first thing you do is see your flaws and
00:39:54
think H yuck I think row SP though where
00:39:57
you're always chasing Perfection like
00:39:59
there would be no rower that would tell
00:40:01
you that that they're a perfect row and
00:40:04
I think that's what keeps us um hungry
00:40:05
to keep coming back is that you're every
00:40:08
day like looking at those things was
00:40:10
better and it's quite humbling yeah that
00:40:14
really is oh it's a great race to watch
00:40:16
um yeah there's that the horn that goes
00:40:19
off when you cross the line so it's like
00:40:21
um horn for you guys a fraction of a
00:40:24
second later another one for Romania and
00:40:25
then maybe a couple of seconds for third
00:40:28
so you you do you hear like friends and
00:40:31
family in the stand um or do you see it
00:40:33
on the screen that you've won what's
00:40:35
yeah it's kind of funny we probably um
00:40:37
obviously you're a little bit exhausted
00:40:38
so you're sitting there and yeah by the
00:40:40
way you guys looked um you looked you
00:40:41
looked absolutely [ __ ] at the end
00:40:44
honestly was I yeah there's a way screen
00:40:47
that pops up and um The Spectators can't
00:40:49
see it but we can see it and see like
00:40:51
one remain a second like that's that
00:40:52
moment have been like and then about 2
00:40:55
seconds later at the end of the Ponto
00:40:57
where um push off from it's this big
00:40:59
like and it's our coach and I've never
00:41:02
seen him get that far off the ground
00:41:04
he's he's standing at the end of the
00:41:06
Ponto giving us this B wow and like
00:41:09
we're both like Jo up D him we're
00:41:12
completely spin in it um yeah was just
00:41:15
crazy it must be yeah I mean it's a
00:41:18
feeling that um just such a Slither of
00:41:20
the population will'll ever get to
00:41:22
experience like it's it's
00:41:24
phenomenal just that feeling of
00:41:26
exhaustion but also just like um yeah
00:41:29
it's exhaustion mixed with Elation which
00:41:31
yeah you're right I'm not sure I'll ever
00:41:34
I don't know if I'll ever feel that
00:41:35
again yeah well giving birth yeah what
00:41:40
better I think legally you have to say
00:41:42
child birth but oh not
00:41:45
mine yeah so so then what happens you
00:41:48
you have to roll your way to the yeah so
00:41:52
the next hour was actually awesome
00:41:54
because
00:41:55
um um we we go through this media shirt
00:41:58
you you get off the water go through
00:42:00
this media shirt and then basically you
00:42:01
roll straight into your um Podium
00:42:04
ceremony which they give you about two
00:42:06
minutes to get put that track suit on
00:42:07
and they're literally counting you down
00:42:09
from two minutes so you're this hot
00:42:10
sweaty mess quickly trying to zip up
00:42:12
this track suit because it's all to such
00:42:14
tight timing because we finished our um
00:42:17
midal ceremony which basically I felt
00:42:20
like I sobbed my whole way through and
00:42:22
then it's great to watch it's wonderful
00:42:25
you you guys just look so
00:42:27
are happy which obviously you are you
00:42:29
know yeah I it was just so um it just
00:42:33
felt like oh you stand there and all the
00:42:36
emotion just comes together at once
00:42:37
that's what it felt like for me you can
00:42:40
see your family in the crowd and yeah
00:42:42
yeah what do you what are you thinking
00:42:43
when the the anthems play or you just
00:42:45
exhausted oh I think I was still just on
00:42:48
that level of elation and just feeling
00:42:52
yeah so grateful and so probably still a
00:42:55
little bit in shock yeah it's crazy cuz
00:42:57
not a moment that you particularly
00:42:58
prepare yourself for and then to be
00:43:00
standing there very long so you a lot of
00:43:03
time to like sit well to standing there
00:43:05
be processing this goal that you've had
00:43:07
for 15 plus years you know you've
00:43:10
actually done and for me I think I've
00:43:13
watched
00:43:16
of all
00:43:18
Tokyo and then to be like I'm standing
00:43:22
here in that same spot that they stood
00:43:23
in is yeah just kept taking me by
00:43:26
surprise and I think I like pull myself
00:43:27
together on the podum do like then I'd
00:43:30
look over and see my family see car
00:43:32
again be like and you probably can't
00:43:35
hear obviously you can't hear it on the
00:43:36
TV but there is moments like through the
00:43:38
Anem where one of us would do
00:43:41
like to rewatch it the mic does the mic
00:43:45
pick it up no the mic doesn't pick it up
00:43:47
there one saying you can't hear it like
00:43:49
obviously we can hear each other for the
00:43:50
odd wi oh oh my God what a thing to
00:43:54
experience honestly the the ultimate
00:43:55
feeling is happy so that lot as a lot
00:43:57
was going through your head but then it
00:43:59
just got better because we sort of left
00:44:00
the podium and then our men's four came
00:44:02
down and then it felt like was it men's
00:44:05
four first or woman's woman's four
00:44:06
sister yeah oh yeah your sister Phoebe
00:44:09
got a bronze yeah so like I left the
00:44:11
left the podium or maybe it was just
00:44:12
before the podium I can't even remember
00:44:14
it was such a it was such a crazy hour
00:44:17
but you know we're standing right there
00:44:18
Then screaming for our teammates and
00:44:20
again what was like a super close finish
00:44:23
so and then we had the men's four do
00:44:25
exactly the you know the same thing and
00:44:27
close finish so it just the whole hour
00:44:30
was yeah unbeatable for me yeah so yeah
00:44:34
and incredible for New Zealand as well
00:44:35
which is amazing you your sister you got
00:44:38
a bronze that's right you guys are like
00:44:39
the the barretts of
00:44:42
rowing who any other siblings that row
00:44:45
yeah so I actually Phoebe has a twin um
00:44:49
and she used to row too um but she now
00:44:53
um lives in the states yeah doesn't row
00:44:56
anymore and the woman's four um there
00:44:59
were two sisters Carrie and Jackie as
00:45:01
well and I was joking to De the other
00:45:03
girl on the that we
00:45:05
need got we sister B going on yeah yeah
00:45:08
yeah um and then so the gold medal
00:45:10
ceremony then um you pulled away for
00:45:13
like drug testing or anything like that
00:45:15
basically um we had this quite sweet
00:45:17
moment though leaving the um ponon all
00:45:21
our family were like standing um at the
00:45:22
front and we were quickly be in ushered
00:45:24
because you have to move your boats cuz
00:45:25
the next races are coming down and we
00:45:27
got this moment and we could see our
00:45:28
kids and we hadn't seen them for a few
00:45:29
days cuz we've
00:45:31
been and we said to this woman like
00:45:34
that's how kids can we go see them and
00:45:36
she basically was like wanted to say no
00:45:38
because at the time it was so strict she
00:45:40
basically covered her eyes and was like
00:45:41
just go and then we I think she even
00:45:43
said didn't she say she was like I'm a
00:45:45
mom go oh oh that's incredible so there
00:45:48
photos that people might have seen where
00:45:49
we have this Qui little cudle with our
00:45:52
kids which game was really special I'm
00:45:54
so glad we got that moment with them
00:45:55
because the rest of the day was just
00:45:57
Carnage going through um media and Drug
00:45:59
Testing we didn't see our coach even for
00:46:01
a couple of hours and then and we never
00:46:03
saw the kids again that day no um but
00:46:06
then you know the other side is is that
00:46:09
we got to celebrate with the mental got
00:46:12
to go to the m that night and all oh
00:46:15
it's so special and and yeah your kids
00:46:17
um ruper and Kira so they're similar age
00:46:20
both toddlers what like 18 months old
00:46:23
what they ret is 20 months old just yeah
00:46:27
so they they don't really have an
00:46:29
appreciation of of what's going on
00:46:32
what's their what's their take on it oh
00:46:34
yeah know but at the time at the games
00:46:37
um I don't think either of them had um a
00:46:41
sense for what was going on other than
00:46:42
the fact that they were in the stands
00:46:44
and super hot weather being fed ice
00:46:47
blocks they not a CL when everyone ask
00:46:50
so it's just Mommy's going to work sort
00:46:51
of thing yeah what Kira says mommy work
00:46:55
Mommy work again oh God does that make
00:46:57
you feel terrible
00:46:59
no oh that's so awesome they're sort of
00:47:02
at an age now where they've actually um
00:47:04
by default spent so much time together
00:47:07
and you know they've grown up in a way
00:47:09
together you know like I remember them
00:47:11
at um our first world Champs when rer
00:47:15
was um eight months and you know Kira
00:47:17
was nearly one and it's really nice now
00:47:21
to see them at an age where us starting
00:47:23
to um get an appreciation for each other
00:47:26
you know like at the age now where they
00:47:27
really know each other and you know they
00:47:29
walk into a room and they want to give
00:47:32
each other a hug which ends up being a
00:47:33
big shove and then there might be tears
00:47:35
but you know they they they start to
00:47:37
know like they definitely have um a
00:47:39
close relationship which to me is I feel
00:47:44
it's really special that we've been able
00:47:45
to give them that in a way yeah it's
00:47:48
it's so unique and so special it's all
00:47:51
yeah and the way that we've been on tour
00:47:53
you know with our whole families it it
00:47:55
is unique and I I can't think of another
00:47:57
way that it would have happened that we
00:47:58
would have lived in airbnbs next door to
00:48:01
each other with our kids and our parents
00:48:04
for four weeks like it it is unique and
00:48:06
it has been
00:48:07
special what now you keep going or you
00:48:09
done good question is is this a question
00:48:13
that you answer you can answer
00:48:14
collectively or is this like an
00:48:16
individual thing well I think at the
00:48:18
moment um yeah and again I don't want to
00:48:20
answer the Brooke but I think we're both
00:48:21
sitting in a place where um we can't
00:48:23
give you a 100% yay or nay you know I I
00:48:27
I want to be comfortable sitting with um
00:48:30
feeling like I don't have to decide yet
00:48:33
but I definitely um I I definitely am
00:48:36
feeling an an urge to go back and do it
00:48:38
all again and I don't know if that's the
00:48:41
endorphins of what it's been and yeah I
00:48:45
can't I can't give you a definite but I
00:48:48
do feel still really positive about this
00:48:50
Sport and what it's giving me and my the
00:48:54
the way it's going yeah what about you
00:48:56
bro
00:48:57
oh yeah that's the same for me
00:49:00
um I guess you know going forward four
00:49:03
years is a long time and you know I
00:49:05
would love for Cara to have a sibling so
00:49:07
you know if if that could happen down
00:49:08
the track and if I could still make it
00:49:10
back in a boat um you know that would be
00:49:12
amazing but also I you know get to the
00:49:14
stage where it's something I don't want
00:49:16
to do I'm not going for myself so it's
00:49:19
really like just sitting with and seeing
00:49:20
what feels right yeah and you you both
00:49:22
must have the the confidence now that
00:49:24
you can you can do if you want to have
00:49:25
another kid have another kid yeah you
00:49:26
can come
00:49:27
back doing it with two
00:49:30
kids great by with
00:49:34
one do all right um let's okay let's
00:49:38
talk about some of the training um and
00:49:40
bits and pieces that go with training
00:49:41
and being a a new mom that led up to
00:49:43
that gold medal moment so first of all
00:49:45
obvious
00:49:47
sacrifices yeah I sometimes I'm I'm
00:49:50
hesitant to call it um sacrifice um even
00:49:53
though I guess it was but to me
00:49:56
sometimes the word sacrifice makes it
00:49:57
sound as if it's something that doesn't
00:50:00
feel right or you know you don't want to
00:50:02
be doing and at the end of the day we
00:50:04
completely chose this for ourselves and
00:50:07
not only did we choose it once but like
00:50:08
we chose it every day because we both
00:50:11
said at the start that in no way would
00:50:14
we compromise the kids that was just we
00:50:16
weren't going to do it so um we wrote
00:50:18
down basically two goals and we said we
00:50:20
want to win Olympic gold medals but we
00:50:22
want to be the best Ms that we can be
00:50:23
and we felt that um one could not work
00:50:27
without the other because at the end of
00:50:29
the day if it wasn't working out if it
00:50:30
wasn't balanced we would have just
00:50:31
walked away from the rowing so I'm
00:50:33
always hesitant to call it um sacrifice
00:50:36
because the word feels wrong to me
00:50:38
because you know I was so grateful to be
00:50:40
in a position that we were choosing this
00:50:42
every day and choosing how to make it
00:50:44
work but in saying that it was a Juggle
00:50:48
and the sacrifice to use a word was
00:50:51
probably the time like the balance of um
00:50:55
how do you give your best to two things
00:50:58
that are so important and two things
00:50:59
that you know in my mind the rowing had
00:51:01
always required the 1centers and part of
00:51:04
that was going back to okay well if if
00:51:07
you can't always give the 1% is what is
00:51:09
the big rocks here that we absolutely
00:51:11
need to nail and we did have to make a
00:51:13
few compromises on the way that um we we
00:51:18
I guess in our previous Olympic campaign
00:51:20
had thought that was the only way to do
00:51:23
it like we did have to change that up a
00:51:25
bit and I think the strength and
00:51:27
changing that up was that we then had
00:51:29
each other to be able to be like yeah no
00:51:30
I'm comfortable with this this is
00:51:31
working like we could see the gain yeah
00:51:34
and our coach was amazing in that
00:51:37
um you know he's done things one way and
00:51:40
you know that's what has always worked
00:51:42
and there were a few things that we had
00:51:44
to um you know work them on be okay like
00:51:46
this just isn't working for us and at
00:51:49
any point we had those sort of teething
00:51:50
moments where um you know things weren't
00:51:52
working he was great just to sit down
00:51:54
and chat with him um he would understand
00:51:56
and where we were coming from and just
00:51:58
even making small tweaks to make our
00:52:00
days slightly easier it made all the
00:52:02
difference like what well I was that
00:52:05
reminded me of like we did have a time
00:52:07
where um Brooke was actually injured
00:52:09
broe you had a broken she had a broken
00:52:11
rib and um we were basically suffering
00:52:16
through some pretty big weeks and it was
00:52:18
that time in the year where you have to
00:52:19
get through the big weeks and we sort of
00:52:21
had fallen into because we were handling
00:52:23
the training at that point in the year
00:52:25
and we were getting better
00:52:27
I guess our coach was only lumping on
00:52:29
more work more work because we were
00:52:31
handling it and Brooke was doing massive
00:52:32
hours on the bike and um we got to a
00:52:35
point where um we started adding in the
00:52:38
three session a day thing which is quite
00:52:40
um you know R New Zealand does that all
00:52:43
the time often we have two days that are
00:52:45
three sessions a day and it just got to
00:52:47
a point where like we went out for a
00:52:49
coffee with them and I remember I just
00:52:51
started crying and I was like if this is
00:52:52
it if this is what I have to do like I
00:52:54
won't make it m um but very quickly like
00:52:59
we adapted and and it wasn't it wasn't
00:53:01
because I wasn't handling the training
00:53:02
but I I had got to a place where I felt
00:53:05
like I couldn't be a mom and I was
00:53:06
feeling guilty about that like I felt
00:53:08
like I couldn't um go home and even
00:53:11
function you know the way I needed to
00:53:13
and I was canceling every single
00:53:14
appointment that I had outside of just
00:53:17
training just to survive and that's not
00:53:19
really sustainable either yeah it almost
00:53:21
becomes um like slightly selfish at that
00:53:23
point doesn't it I suppose like if
00:53:24
you're if you're a young raw like and
00:53:26
your
00:53:27
late T early 20s and you're doing that
00:53:28
you can just go home and eat and sleep
00:53:30
and repeat coaches look at like how your
00:53:34
um you know pulling up each day like
00:53:36
they might see at the end of a training
00:53:37
session oh she looks cracked like she's
00:53:39
crying you know this week probably has
00:53:41
been too big and we're all nothing
00:53:43
experienced enough they like we could do
00:53:44
the training we could get through the
00:53:45
work but what our you know coach and
00:53:47
other people could see is that we would
00:53:48
be at home absolutely cracked lying on
00:53:51
the floor like just managing to just
00:53:54
managing to get by and so having look
00:53:55
after the kids so whereas other people
00:53:57
can go home and lie bed and watch
00:53:58
Netflix like you're still getting out
00:54:00
off your seat 10 times because you could
00:54:01
KN something again you're going to do
00:54:04
because you're a m but that's the side
00:54:05
of things that the coach and team can't
00:54:08
necessarily see so we need to have those
00:54:10
like open conversations to be like okay
00:54:13
don't think we can do this even though
00:54:15
you know you might be sacrificing result
00:54:17
at the end it's not worth it to not be
00:54:19
able to be a great month that we set out
00:54:21
to be yeah 100% what about um uh like
00:54:24
energy levels and sleeping patterns and
00:54:26
things like that like your sleeping pant
00:54:29
must have been all over the place right
00:54:30
they were compromised yeah and we'd be
00:54:32
lying to say that our energy levels and
00:54:33
sleep patterns
00:54:35
were of a good standard because for most
00:54:38
of it they just weren't and we just um
00:54:41
got good at functioning in that space
00:54:44
and it was a really safe space to be
00:54:46
able to show up and know that Brook
00:54:49
potentially had a [ __ ] night turn and
00:54:51
sometimes we wouldn't talk about it
00:54:53
until like um we often have really of
00:54:56
sessions on Wednesday and Saturday
00:54:59
mornings and sometimes um at the session
00:55:03
you know I remember one in particular
00:55:04
was like hugely Gilly and we'd wait
00:55:06
until we'd finished it on those days and
00:55:08
then we'd be like how did you sleep last
00:55:10
night oh my God it's like a conscious
00:55:13
thing or or what why I think you don't
00:55:15
want to admit it before the session
00:55:17
because you're like like Mak an excuse
00:55:19
yeah yeah you're like I know like I'm
00:55:21
pretty sure I'm going to finish the
00:55:22
session we'll get through it and then
00:55:24
I'll admit that I've only had 4 hours
00:55:26
Broast sleeping and sometimes the way
00:55:28
for me to deal with it would be like
00:55:29
okay I had the worst night but like she
00:55:31
might be all good so like we'll get
00:55:33
through this we'll get through this so
00:55:35
if she get a bad night too I definitely
00:55:36
don't want to know about it before it
00:55:38
starts and what about like home Dynamics
00:55:41
and stuff like Could you um why don't
00:55:43
you guys like sleep in separate rooms
00:55:44
and have your partners sleep in the room
00:55:46
with the baby or something that just was
00:55:48
not the case I know other
00:55:52
athletes but um yeah my
00:55:56
I think there's no Badges of Honor for
00:55:58
not sleeping but she hasn't been the
00:55:59
best sleeper and I've been you know the
00:56:00
one getting up to her most of the time
00:56:02
my husband works red we live in
00:56:04
Cambridge he commes hour so like you
00:56:06
know we're also also don't want him
00:56:08
sleep deprived and think a mom you're
00:56:11
person that hear the the noise first and
00:56:14
again that's a part of motherhood that I
00:56:16
actually I want to do it it's it's quite
00:56:18
can be equally special and annoying
00:56:22
having those moments in the night um
00:56:23
with your kid and that's something that
00:56:25
I wasn't will to
00:56:27
sacrifice wow that's inspirational
00:56:30
that's really cool jeez um she's going
00:56:33
to hear this one day and know how lucky
00:56:34
she is I'm
00:56:36
sure actually she was and when she hear
00:56:38
she
00:56:39
should and what about um navigating like
00:56:42
breastfeeding and and stuff like that
00:56:43
did you you you have like nannies at
00:56:45
home or did you take um were the babies
00:56:48
you know at the the gym or the lake and
00:56:51
yeah early on we had them at the lake um
00:56:54
quite a lot because
00:56:56
um like I can remember breastfeeding
00:56:59
before a weight session and then our
00:57:01
strength and conditioning coach um I I
00:57:04
would bring down the front peack and
00:57:06
there was a couple of times where she
00:57:07
would walk home to sleep after I'd
00:57:09
breastfeed um and then I started um I
00:57:13
guess both of our Journeys were
00:57:15
different because everyone you know
00:57:16
everyone is different in that regard but
00:57:19
um then I started expressing got them
00:57:21
onto a bottle and then I switched to
00:57:23
sort of a mixture of breastfeeding and
00:57:26
formula fed and
00:57:29
yeah amazing I think I eight months
00:57:33
old there's another guy and there was
00:57:35
like sorry I'm just pumping like we put
00:57:37
my milk in the fridge please don't drink
00:57:39
that after
00:57:42
training this protein shake tastes
00:57:44
really really funny quite a
00:57:46
sweet is a sweet apparently is sweet I
00:57:48
don't know for the coffee it up yeah
00:57:51
they don't
00:57:52
know um what about um oh of
00:57:56
conversations you had lots of
00:57:57
conversations about like I don't know
00:57:59
nappy rash
00:58:01
and yeah everything and even thinking
00:58:04
about one of our very first World Cups
00:58:07
that we went to that was actually the
00:58:09
way that I weaned rer off breastfeeding
00:58:12
because it was he was only four or five
00:58:14
months old and I I didn't take him and
00:58:15
we only went for 10 days and um that was
00:58:18
how I just sort of said okay that's
00:58:19
going to be done which in hindsight I've
00:58:21
heard other people talk about um when
00:58:24
they've weaned how terrible their bodies
00:58:26
of foul and how it's been such an
00:58:27
adjustment for two weeks but I hadn't I
00:58:30
obviously hadn't read anything and I
00:58:31
just stopped and maybe that wasn't the
00:58:33
smartest maybe that's the reason our
00:58:35
world cup wasn't good oh what happened
00:58:38
at the World Cup it was like a year
00:58:40
earlier eh that was our very very first
00:58:42
World Cup so that was our freshest um
00:58:46
intern International race and that it
00:58:48
wasn't good but part of it for us was
00:58:52
just we had just come back and we had to
00:58:54
rip the bandid off somehow we had to get
00:58:56
out there you to throw a line sand I
00:58:58
think we could have easily and even
00:59:00
coming back into like the r New Zeal
00:59:02
program you could easily hide yourself
00:59:03
away and like wait for a moment when
00:59:05
you're going to feel good and where it's
00:59:06
all going to feel perfect but you know
00:59:08
that was never going to be the case and
00:59:09
we just wanted to get out there and just
00:59:11
genuinely see where we at and we weren't
00:59:13
expecting amazing things but it's still
00:59:16
um you know when we'd come off these
00:59:18
amazing Tokyo campaigns where we you
00:59:19
know had one at these World Cups going
00:59:22
to be third in the B final getting beat
00:59:24
by Cru that you know you've been before
00:59:27
you know just highlighted how much
00:59:30
starting right back at the bottom how
00:59:32
much work here today it's daunting it
00:59:34
was daunting yeah and it felt it did
00:59:37
feel tough to show up but at the same
00:59:40
time What tough is and like kind of
00:59:41
embarrassing cuz you went I felt that
00:59:44
but at the same time I was trying to be
00:59:45
like no I'm really damn proud of myself
00:59:47
because yeah I've got a tiny baby and
00:59:50
I'm here on the international circuit
00:59:51
and we'd have other women from different
00:59:53
countries come up to us and be like it's
00:59:55
so amazing that you're here here and
00:59:56
then i' be you know thank you and I need
00:59:59
to be proud of myself for that but at
01:00:00
the same time your athlete brain is like
01:00:03
okay what do I need to do what do I need
01:00:04
to go home and do yeah your um
01:00:07
respective and a voice is mostly good
01:00:09
I'm thinking um yeah I had Dame Lisa on
01:00:12
the podcast and she talked about you
01:00:13
know how she gets really down on herself
01:00:15
at the end of like a tough training week
01:00:17
like you know has the self-doubt and is
01:00:19
she good enough is she doing enough um
01:00:21
you I'm guessing you guys just had that
01:00:23
all the [ __ ] time like sleep
01:00:26
deprivation and training hard yeah I
01:00:28
think one of the um special things about
01:00:30
having kids is you know my um South talk
01:00:33
and you know doubt might have gone on
01:00:36
longer in the day but generally now I
01:00:37
get home and it's just like straight
01:00:39
into okay I've got to change na make a
01:00:41
lunch box sleep at one and you I
01:00:44
generally would just switch on straight
01:00:45
on and off from training which as we
01:00:47
spoke about
01:00:49
is means you can do both really well um
01:00:52
you my time at rowing I really respected
01:00:54
and valued and you when I was there I
01:00:55
was just 100% of bodye and likewise when
01:00:57
I got home Cara was getting 100% of
01:00:59
bodye so there was almost less time for
01:01:02
the South talk of like worrying about R
01:01:03
woring about training worrying about the
01:01:05
one perent because I had a job to at
01:01:07
home and job yeah what about you Lo yeah
01:01:11
I would say the same thing and I think
01:01:13
that's where probably I I needed a
01:01:15
partner and I needed someone to that's
01:01:17
probably where the many small steps in
01:01:19
the right direction came from because
01:01:21
there was a such a long time where we
01:01:23
were sitting in a place where we're like
01:01:24
okay we're not happy with this
01:01:26
performance- wise but you know in those
01:01:28
times it was about focusing on where's
01:01:30
the Improvement going to come from and
01:01:33
where can we get more and as long as I
01:01:34
was seeing like really small Improvement
01:01:36
then I was okay with it yeah I suppose
01:01:38
you got to be so selfless as as a mom to
01:01:41
a newborn you you just can't have the
01:01:42
luxury of getting in your own head right
01:01:45
it was quite a mental shift um for me I
01:01:47
think you know going from athlete who
01:01:50
you know you never stop a session short
01:01:53
you do it um as best you can to then
01:01:56
having this little person who needs you
01:01:58
that if you're mid session in the cry
01:01:59
that you have to stop and you have to
01:02:00
get them and it's it's quite it doesn't
01:02:02
sound like much but it genely is quite a
01:02:04
mental shift to to be okay with like
01:02:07
stopping mid session to do that yeah
01:02:10
I've got a very clear picture over the
01:02:11
last ha of what sort of person you
01:02:14
are I
01:02:16
think she's ferocious eh yeah um what
01:02:20
about high performance sport were they
01:02:21
pretty good I I read or heard somewhere
01:02:23
that they they paid for you to see
01:02:24
pelvic floor specialist or
01:02:26
something so yeah same with ro New
01:02:29
Zealand this whole exercise I guess um
01:02:32
we couldn't tell them how it was going
01:02:33
to go you know it was like we need
01:02:35
support if we're going to do this
01:02:37
but we can't tell you how this is going
01:02:40
to pan out so um especially our
01:02:42
relationship with Roy New Zealand was
01:02:43
kind of we we needed to say when we
01:02:46
needed something because we were we were
01:02:47
learning as we went and the first year
01:02:49
we went on tour um you know we stayed in
01:02:52
airbnbs and um
01:02:56
some things went well and some things
01:02:58
didn't and then the next year it was
01:02:59
like okay this is going to be our
01:03:00
Olympic campaign we need um airbnbs that
01:03:03
are next to each other we need Vans we
01:03:05
need um the kids to have their own seat
01:03:07
on the plane because there's no way he's
01:03:09
sitting on my knee for 17 hours you know
01:03:11
just all all the little things that um
01:03:14
we were working out that could get
01:03:16
overlooked like even as small as like a
01:03:21
house of course God there's so much
01:03:23
extra stuff to yeah
01:03:26
okay a Bath's not important if you're
01:03:27
there for a couple of nights but if
01:03:28
you're going to live there for five
01:03:29
weeks with a kid then a Bath's far
01:03:31
easier than a
01:03:32
shower and again R was um you know great
01:03:36
in listening to what we needed and yeah
01:03:39
we got what was the right thing for our
01:03:42
campaign so cool that they believed in
01:03:44
you there must have been times when you
01:03:46
weren't delivering the results and they
01:03:47
were like oh what are we doing with
01:03:49
these two I'm not sure potentially I
01:03:52
didn't ask then um oh worked out great
01:03:55
in the end hey I I mentioned on
01:03:57
Instagram that you guys were coming I've
01:03:58
got some um questions here I feel like
01:04:00
um this first one's probably from like a
01:04:02
rowing person or a mom or both um a
01:04:06
question for both of you guys would you
01:04:08
rather give birth to twins or do four
01:04:11
times 2 km Max urg with 5 minute
01:04:15
rest definitely the
01:04:18
UR too really really which that is a
01:04:22
that is is that a hell session oh yeah
01:04:25
that would
01:04:26
2 km Max with 5 minute rest is that a
01:04:29
that's a tough session yeah but yeah
01:04:30
that's a really tough session but I'd
01:04:32
definitely rather do
01:04:33
that um uh ask them about the financial
01:04:37
side of being a high performance rower
01:04:39
yeah yeah do do you get paid all right
01:04:42
in terms of funding from high
01:04:43
performance sport yeah we get funding um
01:04:47
I think for me R isn't a financial
01:04:49
decision I you're not doing it to be R
01:04:52
CH yeah there's there's not a money not
01:04:54
not a lot of money left over by the time
01:04:55
you're paying for um daycare and all the
01:04:58
extra so I definitely came into this
01:05:01
knowing that it was because I wanted to
01:05:03
do it not
01:05:05
because do you get like a a gold medal
01:05:07
bonus or anything I know some countries
01:05:09
do that well the way it works is it's
01:05:11
called an Excellence Grant from high
01:05:12
performance Sports so essentially our
01:05:14
Excellence Grant now goes up because
01:05:16
we've gone from silver to gold right
01:05:19
yeah fantastic and what is that I think
01:05:22
the difference between silver and gold
01:05:24
is 10 grand right yeah awesome um did
01:05:28
you suffer from Mom guilt and if so how
01:05:30
did you overcome those thoughts yes yes
01:05:33
and I remember thinking that Mom guilt I
01:05:36
thought it was ridiculous before I had a
01:05:37
kid um
01:05:39
and I I did and it was very early on um
01:05:44
for me just small things like you have a
01:05:46
newborn and you've got used to having it
01:05:48
attached to you the whole time and as I
01:05:51
was coming back into training um which I
01:05:54
was getting out in a boat from probably
01:05:57
5 weeks five six weeks maybe and I
01:06:00
remember thinking you know I had to
01:06:02
leave him and I'd leave him with either
01:06:04
my partner or my mom completely safe you
01:06:06
know completely normal but because I was
01:06:08
getting on the water and Rowing up a
01:06:10
lake where I'm like I've got no cell
01:06:12
phone reception and you know things like
01:06:14
that like if I'm needed I can't get home
01:06:16
quickly and can someone even contact me
01:06:19
and you know and now I go training and I
01:06:22
don't even think about that but so early
01:06:24
on it was such a it felt so selfish you
01:06:28
know doing things like that as an
01:06:29
athlete it it felt really unnatural it
01:06:31
felt like I was just prioritizing my
01:06:33
little Hobby and to leave him yeah it
01:06:38
felt really unnatural but you know over
01:06:39
time I've I've learned that that's
01:06:41
absolutely not how I feel now now I
01:06:43
crave going training sometimes and it's
01:06:45
my me time and I need it and I need it
01:06:47
to be better when I go home and to think
01:06:50
about only myself for a couple of hours
01:06:52
is amazing and it refills my cup but um
01:06:55
it it's taken me yeah all of his first
01:06:59
six months of life to start to grow into
01:07:01
feeling that way what about you Brooke
01:07:03
same sort of thing no exactly the same
01:07:06
yeah those
01:07:07
initial weeks and months it almost feels
01:07:10
like no one else could do you know as
01:07:12
good as Jobs looking after your kids as
01:07:13
you can supp a maternal Instinct thing
01:07:15
isn't it you're fighting against that
01:07:18
and you know asking yourself you is this
01:07:20
worth it is it not but like L said um
01:07:22
getting to have that time for me to do
01:07:24
something for myself
01:07:26
generally made me a better
01:07:28
mom if if you went to Paris and the
01:07:30
result had been different and say you
01:07:32
made the final but you didn't you didn't
01:07:33
even get a medal um would it have still
01:07:36
been worth
01:07:37
it well that's a good question so you
01:07:39
did your best say say you even rode the
01:07:41
the exact same time as he did in the
01:07:42
final bit yeah I know I know that I'd be
01:07:44
disappointed I know that I'd be um yes
01:07:47
sitting with disappointment but I I
01:07:49
genuinely think that I would have said
01:07:51
I'd given that the best crack that I
01:07:53
could have m I'd like to think that I um
01:07:57
would have been happy regardless of the
01:07:59
result yeah felt like I couldn't have
01:08:01
done any more and was at the end of my
01:08:03
tether so many times that it was all I
01:08:07
could
01:08:07
do well thankfully it's so hypothetical
01:08:10
cuz we've got the
01:08:11
gold um how has the introduction of
01:08:14
coastal rowing changed how you see the
01:08:16
sports future oh that's been exciting
01:08:19
actually so that's where we've just been
01:08:20
in Italy um and we look at you guys did
01:08:23
the kids stay behind or they
01:08:26
oh I
01:08:26
[Music]
01:08:28
took and BR left here and I 100% should
01:08:31
have left R but um mom came with me she
01:08:35
was a legend she's like jet lagged as
01:08:37
ever and it was because the turnaround
01:08:39
was really tight you know because we
01:08:41
were only there for not that long
01:08:43
basically
01:08:44
he didn't sleep the way over never got
01:08:46
into sleeping and then we've come back
01:08:48
so anyway that's that's done now um but
01:08:52
the coastal rowing thing is it's awesome
01:08:55
it's bigger boats essentially they're
01:08:58
not the skinny skips that you see
01:08:59
they're wider so they can go through
01:09:01
some serious Surf and the race is we did
01:09:04
the long distance race which is a bit
01:09:06
different um in more like big rolling
01:09:08
swell but the Sprint that's going to be
01:09:10
in the um La Olympic Games is shorter
01:09:13
than your normal rowing race it's only
01:09:15
500 met so it's out through waves like a
01:09:17
bit of a sling through boys and then
01:09:19
back they to Sprint up along the beach
01:09:23
wow so it's great viewership yeah would
01:09:26
you guys be to potentially explore that
01:09:28
for the LA games I mean I'll stay
01:09:30
dipping my toes in like the coastal side
01:09:32
of like it's a it's awesome to be out on
01:09:35
the ocean like there's something special
01:09:36
about you know going rowing in a coastal
01:09:38
boat and being out at sea but I don't
01:09:39
think I'm I don't think I'll be doing
01:09:40
the
01:09:42
Sprint um someone asked on Instagram um
01:09:45
for Brook and Lucy what role do you each
01:09:47
play in this partnership I feel like
01:09:49
we've had a glimpse of this through the
01:09:50
past
01:09:51
hour so Brooks you're the boss no she is
01:09:56
in terms of like Brooke is like timely
01:09:58
organized um like if I I said to her the
01:10:02
other day I in the last couple of weeks
01:10:04
um as we've like booked a few things
01:10:07
into our calendar I said I've started to
01:10:08
get this real fear that one day she's
01:10:10
going to message me saying where the
01:10:11
hell are you and I'm going to have to
01:10:13
reply saying where the hell am I mean to
01:10:17
be she's definitely the one on top of um
01:10:20
all that stuff and I think in this
01:10:22
partnership she also was the one that
01:10:24
had done it before you know know like
01:10:25
she had she had sat in this boat class
01:10:28
in Tokyo and I had respected her so much
01:10:31
through this that whole campaign like
01:10:33
she was a world champion in in this boat
01:10:35
class and for me that was being able to
01:10:37
go to her constantly and you know sort
01:10:39
of say well what do you think be really
01:10:41
critical of that performance like where
01:10:43
do you think that's stacking up like
01:10:45
what which bits are right here which
01:10:46
bits uh yeah I think our um partnership
01:10:49
has been so special because you know of
01:10:52
the like General um mutual respect that
01:10:53
we have for each other like I look at to
01:10:55
Lucy and everything that she's doing and
01:10:57
there's we're like always proud of each
01:11:00
other like there's no Lucy is the most
01:11:03
competitive person I know but between us
01:11:05
there's no like competitiveness like
01:11:06
we're generally like I'm genely happy
01:11:08
for everything she does and I feel that
01:11:09
same um feeling back and I think what
01:11:12
Lucy brings to the partnership is this
01:11:15
just yeah unwavering um competitors like
01:11:18
the fact that she said if we finished
01:11:19
that race and we hadn't won that she
01:11:21
would have been disappointed like that's
01:11:23
that's brutal that's honest and that's
01:11:24
Lucy I love because I know if we're
01:11:26
showing up to a race or to a spad piece
01:11:28
that she's out there to win she's doing
01:11:30
everything I'm going to do my best to
01:11:31
hang on behind her that's cool have
01:11:34
there ever been any sort of arguments or
01:11:36
you know professional friction with each
01:11:38
other I can honestly say no it's it's
01:11:40
been amazing but I think amazing yeah
01:11:43
yeah no they
01:11:44
hasn't that's so what a special
01:11:47
relationship and you you're linked by
01:11:48
this thing for life regardless of what
01:11:51
happens from here on on it's such a cool
01:11:53
thing to experience together um any Grim
01:11:56
or traumatic experiences as new mothers
01:11:58
that you
01:12:01
remember well Brook it sounds like the
01:12:03
birth was that yeah the the bir's kind
01:12:07
of um been funny though we've been on
01:12:10
multiple bike rides we go for two to
01:12:13
three hours and had a lot of time to
01:12:15
debrief these sort of things together so
01:12:17
I'm feel a bit more confident now about
01:12:19
if I get to go through again because of
01:12:21
the time we had to to debrief that um
01:12:25
someone no you think no no no um how how
01:12:32
awesome are Long Hall flights with
01:12:34
toddlers it's so
01:12:37
bad you fly business
01:12:39
or oh my God we don't oh but you get the
01:12:42
um the front row with the baby no
01:12:45
because our babies are too big we we had
01:12:47
that when they were little which was
01:12:48
nice and now yeah we're back of the
01:12:50
plane the seat for them and basically
01:12:54
just turn on the TV for 17 hours is
01:12:57
quite sweet she'll turn to look at me be
01:12:58
like one
01:12:59
more for a good 17 hours um and do you
01:13:02
guys I mean you know I always feel bad
01:13:04
when I see parents um probably more so
01:13:07
with newborns in a plane and the baby's
01:13:08
crying cuz it's like there's nothing you
01:13:10
can do about it it's nobody's fault but
01:13:12
do you feel bad like when you kids are
01:13:14
making a lot of noise on the plane for
01:13:15
the people I I've done it enough times
01:13:18
now that I'm just past that point I'm
01:13:19
like you should feel sorry for me you
01:13:20
should be offering me a bit of help cuz
01:13:23
yeah I think I I felt like that when he
01:13:25
was really small and now I'm just past
01:13:27
caring and I'm just there surviving and
01:13:30
now he's at the age where he can watch a
01:13:33
screen and um I never thought I'd be a
01:13:36
parent that you know shoves a screen in
01:13:38
front of my child's face but that's
01:13:41
that's how I'm surviving those flights
01:13:42
you know like you get on the Dubai leag
01:13:44
and it's 17 hours and you feel like
01:13:46
you've been heck can sleep for you know
01:13:49
5 hours and then wake up and you feel
01:13:51
like you've been on this plane all day
01:13:52
and you've still got over 10 hours hours
01:13:55
to go and like how am I going to get
01:13:56
there oh that's such a long time and
01:13:59
he's so full of energy yeah it's so
01:14:02
tough on them but I don't plan on doing
01:14:04
it again for at least a good six months
01:14:08
that sound that sounds like my sister
01:14:09
she she was like my kids are never going
01:14:10
to be device kids blah blah blah and
01:14:12
then now her kids they've all got like
01:14:14
little American accents because they
01:14:15
watched so much Disney
01:14:17
Channel um any role models who made
01:14:21
similar comebacks that you draw
01:14:22
inspiration from oh so many M did you
01:14:26
pick the brains of anyone like Dame
01:14:28
Valerie Adams or I remember jumping on a
01:14:30
call with Jim hearing how she did it and
01:14:34
yeah again we were so inspired by so
01:14:36
many stories that hadn't quite seen it
01:14:39
done in our era of rowing and in the
01:14:41
Rome New Zealand program so a lot of it
01:14:43
was very new and um you know the advice
01:14:46
we got was great but until you live it
01:14:48
and do it it's you can't compare and
01:14:51
even if we were to give advice to
01:14:52
someone else so individual like what
01:14:55
Lucy and I both went through yep sounds
01:14:57
like we same two months in a boat but it
01:14:59
was completely different for both of us
01:15:01
so any advice that you could even give
01:15:03
to someone could almost be irrelevant
01:15:05
their situation yeah yeah so Sonia
01:15:08
wadell had done it in rowing um years
01:15:11
ago obviously not in our time and um we
01:15:14
knew that she'd done it and I remember
01:15:15
bumping into her um in Cambridge just in
01:15:18
the street one time and I was pregnant
01:15:20
at the time and said you know I'm going
01:15:22
to um come back well that's the plan and
01:15:25
I remember her saying to me okay like
01:15:26
definitely doable yeah go for it and
01:15:29
then she said I did a World Cup at um I
01:15:32
think she said 5 months and she was like
01:15:34
I was useless I was out the back door
01:15:35
but then I did one at 10 months and it
01:15:37
was awesome and I really I really held
01:15:40
on to that you know and we we did that
01:15:42
World Cup at about the same at about the
01:15:44
same time and that was when it it didn't
01:15:46
go so well so I really held on to it was
01:15:48
such a tiny nugget of information but I
01:15:50
remember thinking like just keep going
01:15:51
keep going keep going she felt good at
01:15:52
10 months what what do you mean 10
01:15:54
months like a month after
01:15:56
giving okay two months post right right
01:15:59
I was like geez that's a long gation
01:16:00
period fourth trimester um said it was a
01:16:05
long
01:16:06
pregnancy um have they been have the
01:16:09
girls been able to get back to their urg
01:16:12
personal bests post pregnancy oh um I I
01:16:17
did one near enough like I think I was
01:16:20
just under three seconds um and I reckon
01:16:23
if I'd done one more more I would have
01:16:26
been within a
01:16:27
second so you're there or thereabouts we
01:16:30
were definitely there yeah yeah I didn't
01:16:32
get
01:16:34
to I'd like to think that by the
01:16:38
time um and how do you hope to be
01:16:40
remembered within the sport of Ry oh
01:16:43
that's a nice question tough question
01:16:45
but a nice
01:16:47
question probably um it's good Mothers
01:16:52
yeah yeah super super moms isn't the
01:16:55
nickname it's probably not the word I
01:16:57
would I think Super Moms is um so many
01:17:00
moms are super moms you know like being
01:17:02
a mom is tough and so many moms are um
01:17:07
at their day-to-day jobs doing amazing
01:17:09
things and our day-to-day job is still
01:17:12
our our job you know like and we're just
01:17:15
lucky that we get to be outside and
01:17:17
we're chasing a dream and like okay it
01:17:19
worked out amazingly but for the most
01:17:21
part of being moms it's just been us
01:17:24
showing up to work and giving our best
01:17:26
and a lot of moms do that yeah bealed
01:17:30
out to moms are just showing up every
01:17:33
day for the kids and you know the moms
01:17:35
that have to go to work as well yeah
01:17:36
yeah but I do hope I do hope rowing has
01:17:39
so many young women in the program all
01:17:41
the time and um I do hope that
01:17:44
potentially um this could extend the
01:17:47
retirement age of some woman because I
01:17:49
think rowing is such a sport where you
01:17:51
know you can continue to grow through
01:17:53
your 30s and I I hope that if anyone um
01:17:57
comes a point in their career where
01:17:58
they're considering it it just if
01:18:00
nothing gives them a little bit of
01:18:02
belief yeah you guys are true
01:18:04
Trailblazers say and I suppose you've um
01:18:07
you've carved a path to prove that it
01:18:08
can be done yeah I think so and on our
01:18:13
um Podium there were three mothers
01:18:15
standing on that Podium so the girl in
01:18:17
the
01:18:19
GB one yeah was the M's well her son was
01:18:22
a couple months older than because and I
01:18:25
think even just for the r community and
01:18:28
the sports community that you know
01:18:30
mothers shouldn't parents shouldn't have
01:18:32
to stop um what they believe in to start
01:18:36
a family like you can do them both
01:18:37
coherently I think it only gives you
01:18:39
power and strength yeah you you can have
01:18:42
it all and you can you can do do
01:18:44
everything at a high level it's
01:18:47
badass hey it's really cool you're both
01:18:49
proud of yourself yeah yeah yes you
01:18:52
should be what and what about your
01:18:54
partners
01:18:55
proud of us yeah I think my husband's
01:18:58
still in a bit of shock a bit of shock
01:19:01
in what way oh I think he
01:19:04
um always hoped that this would be
01:19:06
something that I could do but I think
01:19:07
until you do it and he's been the one
01:19:10
who's you know see me in all the worst
01:19:12
days you know I generally can get
01:19:13
through the dab training get through the
01:19:15
parenting side and then it's you know
01:19:16
8:00 p.m. and car's asleep that I'm
01:19:18
absolutely cracked and there's nothing
01:19:19
left in the tank to give him so he's
01:19:21
yeah just been an amazing supporter in
01:19:23
that to make sure that that I'm you know
01:19:25
looked after and and he's always
01:19:27
supported me and in my goals and he's
01:19:29
always made sure that I'm you know first
01:19:31
and foremostly like happy and having fun
01:19:33
and I just so thankful for that support
01:19:36
I had from him well it's true you you do
01:19:39
you know reserve your worst behavior for
01:19:41
the people that you love the most it's
01:19:42
just how how as humans are wired so and
01:19:45
I think for both of them like my partner
01:19:48
never even questioned for a split second
01:19:50
oh you're coming back to rowing like it
01:19:52
was like oh that's what you want to do
01:19:53
okay we're doing it
01:19:55
oh it's wonderful having that support
01:19:56
network around you well you guys are
01:19:59
amazing and I'm so pleased we finally
01:20:00
connected and made this made this happen
01:20:03
um congratulations for everything you've
01:20:05
done on the water and around the house
01:20:08
thank you thank
01:20:10
you yeah and I love you guys Brook and
01:20:12
Lucy thank you so much for coming on the
01:20:14
podcast oh it's been a pleasure it's
01:20:15
been fun thanks very
01:20:23
thanks for
