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Barbara Kindle welcome to my podcast
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good to be here good to be here Barbara
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kle um I I'll do a slightly awkward
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introduction I won't do the whole thing
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though uh New Zealand Sports wom of the
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Year 96 98 99 2002 first New Zealand
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woman to to go to Five Olympics um and a
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rainbow of medals gold silver and bronze
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only New Zealand gold medalist from the
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92 Olympics uh and that first woman in
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40 years to win a gold 11 World
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Championship medals and 25 national
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titles it's quite a lot isn't it yeah
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and no the thing is with these awkward
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introductions for you that's just like
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scratching the surface like there is so
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so much more yeah that was my athlete
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life so when I look at I sort of divide
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my life into four years so every Olympic
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cycle and and that's how I remember it
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actually is by these Olympic Cycles but
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it continued after after when I retired
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in Beijing in 2008 I continued within
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the Olympic movement in lots of
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different roles and we've just got to
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the end of one in 2024 so yeah it's been
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a long career uh in sport yes so much
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edman including um the shift to mission
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for one of the games yeah so as was a
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shift mission for the Youth Olympic
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Games in bonis Aris in 2018 which was an
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amazing
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job amazing and kind of scary all at the
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same time because you you're dealing
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with 14 to 18 year olds and so you
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become liable
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for their for their behavior what does
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that mean oh so are you just like giving
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them a dressing down or expectation
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speech well you know you're responsible
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for them their parents sign their lives
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away sign their kids away and I become
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the mom or the parent of um we I think
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we had 65 athletes um for the for that
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Olympic games but they were an amazing
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bunch of Youth athletes and we had you
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know we had a few wobbles but um it was
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such a privilege to lead these these
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kids to the to the Olympic apps and we
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had a very successful games there
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fantastic um my first question would be
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how much of your life do you think has
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spent um waiting at um over oversized
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luggage counters at airports it's a it's
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a very inconvenient sport in terms of
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the gear you're traveling around it is
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it is and once I'd finished competing
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and I started um to serve the Olympic
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movement CU that's what they call it cuz
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it's a voluntary role and just traveling
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with one bag it was just like I think
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I've forgotten something I've forgotten
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something but you know it was
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interesting because one of the reasons I
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got into wind surfing at the very
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beginning cuz I could have chosen a lot
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of sailing Sports is because they
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supplied the equipment when you turned
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up to regetta and it was all One
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Design which was really easy so I would
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go to our first world championships all
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the boards were at supplied and I just
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flew with a bag this was when I was 16
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years old and and went to Scotland but
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then um to make a living out of it I had
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to I I I needed to compete in the
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professional circuit where it was
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customade
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equipment and you were competing in
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three disciplines and you had to supply
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all your own equipment so I went from
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traveling with nothing to traveling with
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six boards 14 Sals masks spoons gear
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bags wet suits um and it was close to
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probably around 250 kg worth of stuff
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and so you rock up to the um the counter
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and go hi yeah I'd just like to check on
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eight bags and say it really fast and
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then but you wouldn't show them where it
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is yeah they're over there where would
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you like me to take them I can take I
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can tag them for you but back then you
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could get away with it you know we had
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masks that were 4 and a half meters long
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but now they can't fit those into the
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airplane holds but yeah it was a it was
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there was a definite Talent who who were
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you traveling with who was giving you a
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hand nobody so in the early days when I
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started on the professional circuit so
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um I was the only New Zealander
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competing on the tour and so I was
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traveling as a young early early 20s
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late late tens around the world with 250
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300 kg with equipment and then you'd get
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to the other side and um you'd have to
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rent a car and I had to get someone else
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to rent a car for me because I was too
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young to rent cars and so and then we'd
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pile all our care gear on top of the
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roof or the organizer would Supply a
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truck and we'd have to pack all these
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bags up but most of the
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time the guys never helped us the girls
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we would just have to teach team up and
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do it ourselves so it was it was really
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hard work so having um I suppose at the
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time you just did it and you didn't
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really think much about it but having um
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being the mom of two daughters who are
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now past that age that you were Did you
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sort of look at them at those ages and
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think how the [ __ ] did I do this oh
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totally totally I mean when we went when
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I went to my first world championships I
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was 16 and my sister was 18 we' both
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qualified to to go to This Woman's World
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Champs we'd never been on an
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airplane so we were we were flying to
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first cuz the Olympics in Los Angeles
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had just happened and there was a
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friendly American guy who had rented his
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house to the sailing team and so we went
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and stayed with him we went to
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Disneyland because that had been a
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childhood dream and then we had to catch
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plane from there to London then we had
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to catch trains to LS in Scotland I'd
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never been overseas apart from sailing
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our boat and we had no parents to help
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us you know find where the airplane we
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were to catch from the gate um catching
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the trains um tunning up at the train
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station and then figuring how to you
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know wheel our B we didn't even have
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wheelie bags but then carry our bags to
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where the hotel was never heard foreign
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languages um you know I was fresh off
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the boat and my mom and dad just let us
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go you know we had Travelers checks
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didn't have phones um yeah it's worth it
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hammering this point up Point home so 84
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this is well well well pre- internet so
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um even a phone call back home to let
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them know you're okay was probably like
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15 bucks a minute or something well you
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had to remember go to the red telephone
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box you call the operator the operator
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would then call the operator of New
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Zealand the operator of New Zealand
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would then call the parents and say will
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you will you take a clicked call and Mom
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and Dad would say no because they had no
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money you know they'd spent all their
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money helping us girls get over to the
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world Champs they were like well we only
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want to talk to you if it's you know
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important and we have a motto in our
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family no news is good
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news oh my God oh my God we from Barbara
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for three months it must be good or
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she's dead yeah one of those but we did
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have a thing that when you were leaving
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a country to ring them up and when you
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arrived at that country safely to ring
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them up and that was that was kind of
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that was the expectation expectation so
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you're 5 57 now you just recently turned
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57 how are you how are you enjoying this
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this chapter this season of your life um
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it's it's
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frustrating way and the fact that
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you I want to be as good as I used to be
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you know and when you go sailing or I go
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surfing or I go foiling or um I've just
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got to wind it back because the risk of
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in injury um your brain thinks you're 21
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but your B's know it's
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57 and so it's that that that Parts a
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little bit you have to adjust to that
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and the fact that I have nanps every now
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and then because I actually get really
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tired and um I think when for for women
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you know no one tells you and about
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menopause and you go into that you know
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sort of been going through the cycles of
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that over the last 10 years and that's a
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that really knocks you around because I
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just cruise through until I hit that uh
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the menopause and then your hormones go
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crazy which makes you go a bit cray cray
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um your brain goes a bit more foggy you
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need a bit more sleep you have to look
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after your body because your joints get
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sore all those sorts of things but I
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seem to have got that under control so
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life is actually pretty good but it's
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just that I think that age thing throws
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you around a little bit but also it's
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amazing having adult children now and
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living vicariously through them yeah are
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you and your husband empty nesters no or
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sort of hanging on hanging on to the
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free rent yeah yeah well I would too if
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I was them right you know my brother
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didn't leave home until he was 48 is
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that right Bruce yeah with two kids and
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and a wife and he finally moved out um
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and there's nothing wrong with it you
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know fun if you get on with your parents
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um and they're cool then it's the only
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way you're going to get ahead now I
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think if you're a young person is to you
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know flat mate with your parents yeah so
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your girls are How old uh they're now 19
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and 23 right and they both represent New
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Zealand and water polo and uh so my
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oldest is a New Zealand um water Women's
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Water Polo Squad and my youngest is
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doing Wind foiling and they both went to
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World Champs last year amazing amazing
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God you must be immensely proud how um
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yeah I don't know if this is something
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you've even like discussed or even
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thought about but
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um I mean it's a lot of pressure for
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them growing up with the Kendall name
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well interesting um they don't have the
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Kindle name so okay so are they bright
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yeah they're bright hb's name yes and
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that and I think I just I don't know
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when I when they when we they were born
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I like no they'll they'll be Samantha
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bride and Amy bright and so when they
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went to school they didn't have my name
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so people couldn't say oh you're a
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Kindle you know oh in the water yeah or
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get you into sport or whatever it may be
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and so they were they had their own
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identity my oldest daughter probably got
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a little bit more of it you know are you
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going to follow in the footsteps of your
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mother got a lot of that and so when she
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was about 10 I thought well I've got to
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teach her to Wi surf because that's my
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job and so I drove her down to Lake
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pooke and and she's a really amazing
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listener and I gave her the instructions
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of the basic tips of how you stand on
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the board how you pull the rig up the
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golden rules and so I go a verbal lesson
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got her down to the the lake threw her
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on a board she jumped on the board
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sailed out went round to Mark and sailed
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back and went oh yeah I can do that and
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I went wow that's crazy talented so gave
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her a bigger rig she did the same thing
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so then she just went as fast as she
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could and just practiced falling in
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because it was so much fun and then she
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looked him in the eye and she said mom
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don't get too excited or don't get mad
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but I'm not going to ever race on one of
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these like you did and that was the end
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of that why why she was bored or just no
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cuz she people were always come up to
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her and say you're going to follow in
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the footsteps of of your mom and she
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just sort of recognized that she didn't
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want to she'd never be able to compete
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reputational wise you know and she's
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quite competitive because you don't want
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to be compared to your mother um but but
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by the time Amy came along she grew up
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sailing with Russell coz's
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son and um so it's just like well Matas
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can do it you know I can do it and and
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it was very normalized and Russell and I
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were hanging around and coaching the
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kids when they were young sailing small
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boats and she just didn't really it
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didn't really compute she didn't really
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know what I'd done I had done through
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the years you know i' never really
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talked to the girls about everything
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that i' had done but they thought it was
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strange that all these people would
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always come up and talk to me they were
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like who's that Mom and I'm go I'm not
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sure they go why are they talking to you
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and I said well they know me said why M
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and I've said well I've kind of get
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recognized cuz I was quite good at
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sports so I didn't really tell them a
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lot and that's slowly that's been coming
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out over the years yeah when did when
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did they sort of get in get to that age
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where they had an understanding of um
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you who their mom was and what she had
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done not until they were teenagers
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really they kind of knew the Olympics
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but because I was an international
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Olympic Committee Member One of the
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benefits of that you could bring your
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kids to the Olympic Games so you know
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Samantha was went to Beijing London and
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Rio and it was in Rio they went oh this
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is pretty cool and and then they were
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disappointed they couldn't go to J Japan
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but um so they'd been in around the
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Olympic Games but they sort of it was
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normalized for them a little bit and
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then it wasn't
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until well for a my youngest one when
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she got into wind surfing that she
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started to realize that I'd been quite
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good and probably at the world Champs
00:12:13
last year when um we were in Brazil and
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she was at the youth World Champs and
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she had a really bad first day and I
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knew it was happening because I'd been
00:12:22
coaching her and I she was in a pit you
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know and I knew she was going to choke
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with too much press putting too much
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pressure and expectation on herself and
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she came back to the beach and she was
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crying and and I sat down with her and
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she goes mom you must have been really
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good because this is so hard I don't
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think I'm ever going to be good enough
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and I went yes it was hard and yes I was
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really
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good and yes you you know what you can
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give up if you want it doesn't matter
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because it's this is not what it's about
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it's and I said you are good and this is
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fun we're in Brazil you've had a really
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bad day because you put too much
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pressure on yourself how about you just
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go home have some really good food hang
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out in the pool with all the other kids
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come back tomorrow and see what will
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happen and just forget about today it's
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it is hard you know what it doesn't
00:13:10
matter you and then the next day she
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came back and she won the day racing but
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she had a lot of bad results in the
00:13:16
first day so she couldn't discard them
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but um yeah it was she started to really
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realize that I must have cracked you
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yeah right validation he it's a good
00:13:26
good reminder mom was pretty [ __ ]
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good
00:13:30
so you um yeah were you were you like
00:13:32
how much of it was natural talent and
00:13:34
how much of it was hard work with you um
00:13:36
in the beginning I I have a natural
00:13:39
talent I have a superpower for balance
00:13:41
you know even foiling nowadays as a 57y
00:13:44
old woman I like you know I can jump on
00:13:45
a foil and surf the waves like I was
00:13:47
this morning um W so so I did have it
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and I think that came from being a bit
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of a dancer and being very agile um so I
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have a really good balance and and then
00:13:58
I have a really good feel to how to make
00:14:00
things go fast so when I jumped on a
00:14:03
wind Surfer or a boat or a skateboard or
00:14:05
a snowboard or a whatever it is a
00:14:09
natural talent for me easy but then I
00:14:12
have a tenacity and a fiercely
00:14:15
competitive Spirit um and drive and and
00:14:18
I was born with that yeah because
00:14:21
there's that saying that um you know uh
00:14:23
hard work beats Talent if talent doesn't
00:14:25
work hard so at that Elite level like
00:14:27
Talent or natural Talent it's only going
00:14:29
to get you so far right yeah and you um
00:14:32
you you you and your brother and and
00:14:34
your sister as well the three of you
00:14:35
right you never had a chance did you
00:14:37
like you're a water family yeah so my
00:14:39
mom and dad met sailing at a at a
00:14:41
regetta both of them just absolutely
00:14:44
loved sailing mom wasn't competitive she
00:14:47
was really she was really gentle um and
00:14:50
really a real an amazing mother she was
00:14:53
like the Rock and the Hub of our family
00:14:55
but my dad was um was very competitive
00:15:00
and but in a good way you know he just
00:15:02
loved the challenge of of a sailing race
00:15:04
because the Tactical the Tactical game
00:15:06
it is it's like playing chess with
00:15:08
Mother Nature and other people and he
00:15:10
loved that and he also loved adventuring
00:15:13
so he built a boat in 1975 and sailed
00:15:17
all of us to fij when I was 10 my sister
00:15:18
was 12 and my brother was 13 oh yeah I
00:15:21
heard about this so I mean this could
00:15:22
have been this could have been the fork
00:15:23
in the road moment where totally where
00:15:25
you were terrified of the ocean or
00:15:28
terrified you what happened um so we on
00:15:31
the way back a really big storm hit us
00:15:34
and we had to hve to so in a sail boat
00:15:37
that means pulling down all the sails
00:15:38
with just the Mast up so you ride out
00:15:41
the storm because if you put a sail up
00:15:43
you could roll um or tip over and it was
00:15:47
a little boat it was only 32t yacht and
00:15:49
it wasn't an Oceano boat so it had very
00:15:51
low sides on it um which meant that the
00:15:54
spray came over very easily and it was
00:15:56
so windy um we were still going six
00:15:59
knots in a direction that we had no idea
00:16:01
where we were going because Dad couldn't
00:16:03
navigate cuz we only had a sex tunt for
00:16:05
navig navigation there was no GPS's or
00:16:07
anything like that nowadays he was also
00:16:09
really seasick and we had to put a sea
00:16:12
anchor out like a big drove behind the
00:16:14
boat to slow the boat down and keep the
00:16:17
nose or the stoon of the boat into the
00:16:19
waves because if you go sideways there
00:16:21
was such big swells out there the boat
00:16:22
would have rolled we would have been
00:16:24
demastered gone into a life rter no one
00:16:26
would have found us cuz we didn't have e
00:16:28
herbs and things like that you know that
00:16:30
would have been a very sad story but we
00:16:33
made our way home you know we survived
00:16:35
it and that put Mom and Dad off
00:16:37
oceangoing sailing and I think if we'd
00:16:38
had a good time because Mom was a school
00:16:40
teacher perhaps we would have got into a
00:16:43
bigger boat and then started sailing
00:16:45
around the world a lot like a lot of
00:16:46
families do um and become boat people
00:16:49
you know you were sort of burnt after
00:16:50
that what what what are your like
00:16:51
personal memories of that as a
00:16:52
10-year-old like did your parents did
00:16:54
were you realize did you realize at the
00:16:56
time how dire the situation was or did
00:16:57
your parents manage amazingly enough
00:17:00
like I I think you know when you go
00:17:02
through a trauma well I know that when
00:17:04
you go through a trauma a lot of it gets
00:17:05
blocked out and you'll only remember
00:17:07
certain things um and I remember Mom
00:17:10
coming in after her watch and and she
00:17:13
was shaking and I thought oh mom must be
00:17:15
cold I'll give her a cuddle so I would
00:17:16
snuggle into her and sing and I was
00:17:19
naturally really happy um but but now
00:17:22
when I reflect she was obviously
00:17:25
obviously shaking because she was so
00:17:27
scared and but they never yelled at each
00:17:30
other like I was very sensitive to to
00:17:32
conflict and mom and dad never spoke
00:17:35
strong you know if they spoke strong
00:17:36
words it was very respectful
00:17:39
and yeah I just they weren't
00:17:43
yeah when Dad tells the story goes yeah
00:17:46
we were knocked over seven times so
00:17:48
knock over is when the boat goes Road
00:17:50
over into its side The Mask just about
00:17:52
touches the water and you bounce back up
00:17:53
and back up again because you have a a
00:17:56
lead weight underneath oh my God so I
00:17:58
don't remember that what about your
00:18:00
brother so he he was on he as well he
00:18:02
was so you were 10 at the time so he
00:18:04
would have been like 13 he was 13 and my
00:18:05
sister she loves the wild you know we
00:18:08
called we we called her wild Wendy and
00:18:11
she would she did a lot of the watches
00:18:13
with my mom so it wasn't it wasn't it
00:18:15
wasn't wild enough for her no she was
00:18:17
out the back woohoo let's go you know
00:18:20
yeah jeez that's it's like I've um I
00:18:24
heard you tell the story on another
00:18:25
podcast and
00:18:26
um you you knew you were near land
00:18:29
because you had like an AM transistor
00:18:31
and when you could pick up a radio
00:18:32
signal you realized you were but you had
00:18:33
no idea like where you were in relation
00:18:35
to land or what countries no we didn't
00:18:37
so Dad um lost sight of where we were
00:18:41
because he couldn't get a reading of the
00:18:42
sun cuz there was no sun we were in a
00:18:44
storm and we had a transistor radio and
00:18:47
it was a cheap one that we bought in
00:18:48
Fiji which was a prized item you know if
00:18:50
you had a transistor radio that was
00:18:52
prized but when you held it it would it
00:18:54
would Pi it would go so he knew that it
00:18:56
was picking up a radio Beacon somewhere
00:18:59
and it lined up with the compass bearing
00:19:00
that dead had which was what we had to
00:19:03
try and stay on he he thought we'd
00:19:05
missed the top of New Zealand and we're
00:19:07
coming down the other side but it was uh
00:19:09
we were lucky it was the poor Knights so
00:19:11
we at poor knights was our Landing it's
00:19:14
amazing you don't have any sort of um
00:19:16
you know triggers or PTSD or anything
00:19:19
like it's uh it's a that's a harrowing
00:19:21
thing to go through um but but I didn't
00:19:24
know that I
00:19:27
didn't ignorance
00:19:29
absolutely you know you don't you just
00:19:31
think oh this is normal Mom and Dad
00:19:32
aren't freaking out we'll just you know
00:19:35
so kids are very resilient kids are
00:19:38
amazing you know like they that's you
00:19:41
know after being a parent and dragging
00:19:43
my the girls around the world with us
00:19:46
and and sleeping in airplanes and cars
00:19:49
and all those sorts of things and they
00:19:51
there if you're happy your kids are
00:19:53
happy if you're stressed they're like
00:19:56
little mirrors all of a sudden they get
00:19:58
really stressed you know they it's
00:20:00
amazing yeah but for your parents to put
00:20:02
on a brave face and um you know hide
00:20:05
their fear stress and fear from you guys
00:20:07
in a a 10 m Long Boat I mean that's
00:20:10
incredible yeah I mean there if people
00:20:13
ask you know who are your Heroes
00:20:16
and my mom and dad you know 85 they're
00:20:19
now and they still go away in that boat
00:20:22
sunlight oh really God I'd put the boat
00:20:24
out to retirement after that they still
00:20:26
go away for 3 months and then last last
00:20:28
year in Cyclone Gabriel they were up in
00:20:32
um fera Harbor right up the far north
00:20:34
and I rang that I said Dad one of the
00:20:36
biggest Cyclones of the century is about
00:20:38
to hit I think it might be good if you
00:20:40
and Mom make your way to a marina no
00:20:43
I've been coming up here for 30 years
00:20:44
we're going to ride out the storm and
00:20:46
I'm like Dad you are at4 at the time you
00:20:51
don't mom pulls up the anchor you're not
00:20:53
going to be mom's not going to be able
00:20:54
to pull the anchor up in 50 60 knots
00:20:57
while you try and get yourself somewhere
00:20:58
safe but they got in moing they they
00:21:02
hooked up to the moring and then when
00:21:04
the wind changed cuz it goes around in a
00:21:05
circle they went around the point
00:21:07
Headland and got another moing and they
00:21:08
rode out the storm and mom was sending
00:21:10
me videos of white SS and the boat just
00:21:13
swinging and the you know swinging back
00:21:15
and forth on the morning crazy oh that's
00:21:17
a wonderful Story That's great so so
00:21:20
your brother Bruce
00:21:21
um he he won a bronze medal at the the
00:21:25
84 Olympic Games in LA and so how old
00:21:28
were you at the time were you still at
00:21:29
school I was still at school so I
00:21:31
remember um being in a math class so I
00:21:33
was um sixth form fifth form yeah yeah
00:21:36
fifth form I think it was six no six
00:21:38
form because it I ended up going
00:21:39
overseas after that um six form I was in
00:21:41
math and the math teacher said hey
00:21:43
Barbara your brother's on TV and it
00:21:45
looks like he might win a win a medal um
00:21:48
so I did you not get you you didn't get
00:21:49
the day of school no we didn't have TV
00:21:52
oh so um so they pulled me I got pulled
00:21:56
out in N class and I was able to watch
00:21:57
him win the race on TV at school how do
00:22:00
your parents not get a TV if your son's
00:22:02
competing at the the Olympic games um I
00:22:06
don't know not a TV family no we're not
00:22:08
a TV family because we I think we I
00:22:11
remember we had a TV it was a black and
00:22:13
white one and you had to have a license
00:22:14
to pay to pay the to have the TV you may
00:22:17
not remember that and we never played
00:22:19
their license because Mom and Dad you
00:22:20
know we were we lived on the smell of an
00:22:22
oily rag so they didn't pay the license
00:22:24
and if you didn't pay the license they'd
00:22:26
come up and they'd plastic bag up your
00:22:27
plug so you could couldn't use it but
00:22:29
then you could just open the place and
00:22:31
use it yeah that's I was thinking as you
00:22:33
were telling that that sounds flawed I
00:22:35
know it was and then our neighbors had a
00:22:36
TV so I'd go and watch their TV
00:22:39
occasionally but we didn't really watch
00:22:40
a lot of TV we were we were busy doing
00:22:43
things how was that so um yeah what are
00:22:45
your Recollections of seeing Bruce win
00:22:47
that medal well I just thought oh that's
00:22:49
pretty cool I don't know I just he was
00:22:52
he was away a lot you know cuz he was um
00:22:55
when you campaign you can't tell in New
00:22:58
Zealand we didn't have the fleets so he
00:23:00
spent most of his time in America so
00:23:01
he'd be away for five five six months in
00:23:04
America um trying to qualify New Zealand
00:23:06
in this new class and this new sport um
00:23:10
and so we never we didn't see him a lot
00:23:11
and I I suppose because I hadn't watched
00:23:14
a lot of TV you know it was amazing it
00:23:17
was at the Olympic Games but was just oh
00:23:19
it's the Olympics I didn't have a fan
00:23:22
girl moment if that makes sense in a way
00:23:24
and it was just like well that's cool
00:23:25
good on him and then I carried on with
00:23:27
my little life you know
00:23:29
bizar it didn't seem like a didn't seem
00:23:31
like a huge thing to you or wasn't a
00:23:33
moment that sort of inspired you to well
00:23:35
he was talented he was extremely
00:23:37
talented and I thought oh well you know
00:23:39
good on him you know we knew he was good
00:23:42
how about that yeah how about that in
00:23:44
the world he just got third he just got
00:23:45
it you know and yeah and he was he you
00:23:48
know when he was 16 he he hated being in
00:23:51
the boat with us CU we went we'd go away
00:23:53
in our mom and dad's boat and oh maybe
00:23:56
yeah he was 16 and I was 13 and instead
00:23:58
of being in the boat he wind surfed
00:24:00
beside the boat all the way down to
00:24:01
teranga he's probably traumatized after
00:24:03
the FG thing yeah and exactly didn't
00:24:05
want to be in the boat he wanted to Wi
00:24:07
and so that was a really amazing
00:24:10
platform for him to be so when he
00:24:12
started racing he was just so skilled
00:24:14
and talented um he he was a he had a
00:24:17
gift as well so who were your um like
00:24:21
Role Models Growing Up sporting wise who
00:24:24
who was there for you well there wasn't
00:24:26
really any no I mean like Dame Susan
00:24:29
maybe yeah but I didn't didn't really
00:24:31
know much about Dame Dame Susan until um
00:24:35
after I'd won the gold medal you know I
00:24:37
because I was so I was overseas for
00:24:39
eight months of the year competing on a
00:24:40
professional wind surfing circuit and
00:24:43
and so I wasn't in and around New
00:24:44
Zealand I didn't watch TV there was no
00:24:47
internet if you read the newspaper that
00:24:49
was good but I was very in my own bubble
00:24:52
um and so it was really just My Tribe of
00:24:55
people that were in my bubble where I
00:24:56
was competing and my brother you know
00:24:58
obviously if it hadn't been for him I
00:25:01
wouldn't have been I wouldn't have fast
00:25:03
trecked as fast as I did for for
00:25:05
Barcelona yeah I suppose he was like a
00:25:07
Trailblazer for you in a way he was and
00:25:09
I thought my brother's wi surfing he's
00:25:11
he sort of like moldered my parents in
00:25:13
the fact that we're not going to go to
00:25:15
college you know we're not going to go
00:25:16
to university and I want to do this too
00:25:19
and there was a the professional circuit
00:25:21
had prize money and I was like I could
00:25:23
make a living out of this and so that
00:25:25
was the draw cut for
00:25:27
me I've got a photo here to show you
00:25:29
this is you um on the podium getting a
00:25:32
gold medal at the 92 Olympics how do you
00:25:35
how do you feel when you see
00:25:36
that I was a bit
00:25:39
crazy but you see you see photos of you
00:25:42
at the um the next two Olympic Games 96
00:25:44
in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney um so
00:25:47
that's 92 where you get to get a gold
00:25:48
then you get a silver then a bronze um
00:25:51
the bronze ones a bit more subdued but
00:25:53
the silver one is exactly the same
00:25:55
reaction as when you get gold you just
00:25:57
you're very excited I was yeah I was I
00:26:00
was high energy so I had a lot of energy
00:26:03
my you know my mom always wanted to have
00:26:04
four kids and then she had me and she
00:26:06
decided three was enough so I was kind
00:26:09
of like a high energy um and I was one
00:26:12
of those kids that when I decided I
00:26:14
wanted something you couldn't stop
00:26:16
couldn't stop and but I was really happy
00:26:19
so I was a happy ener energetic kid and
00:26:23
so but I figured also out that if I was
00:26:26
happy I always sell the best when I was
00:26:29
happy so I leared how to keep myself
00:26:31
happy from a very very young age even
00:26:33
traveling around the world and some of
00:26:36
the stories you know getting passports
00:26:38
stolen being stuck in Paris no passport
00:26:41
no money all my valuables gone and
00:26:46
picking yourself up you know after a
00:26:48
weekend of hanging around in Paris and
00:26:51
sleeping and strange places to wait till
00:26:53
the embassy open so you can get going
00:26:55
again you know and realizing that that
00:26:58
when I was vibrating at a high resonance
00:27:02
I was I was going to win so that is
00:27:05
really just pure yeah from like do I did
00:27:08
it do you feel like it when you see that
00:27:10
photo do you feel like the same person
00:27:11
or does it just feel like so far removed
00:27:14
no I'm still really crazy
00:27:16
yeah in fact we like crazy that's why I
00:27:19
like having um you know being a mom of
00:27:23
my daughters because I could be I was
00:27:26
the crazy mom and they're used to it now
00:27:28
and so we dance around the kitchen we
00:27:31
skateboard around the lounge we hit the
00:27:34
dance floor as soon as there's good
00:27:35
music we live you know we got to and
00:27:39
that's what I I love hanging out with
00:27:41
them because they I feel like I can be a
00:27:42
kid around them and just not grow up and
00:27:44
be sensible just that youthful energy
00:27:46
you I I put on Instagram that you're
00:27:47
coming here and did anyone have any
00:27:48
questions and someone said I'm guessing
00:27:50
it's someone that knows you and your
00:27:51
brother uh they said ask ask her about
00:27:53
the parties her and Bruce used to used
00:27:55
to always be the people throwing parties
00:27:57
yeah yeah because um it's not that we I
00:28:00
didn't I didn't drink very much and and
00:28:02
we couldn't do drugs because you're in
00:28:04
this chesting pool but when you put
00:28:07
music on I couldn't stand still and my
00:28:09
brother was the same and I remember when
00:28:10
we were kids and we would go for a night
00:28:13
out with our parents we would go to a
00:28:15
DIN and dance and so they would have a
00:28:18
band at the restaurant that youd going
00:28:19
to so as soon as we' finish your dinner
00:28:22
we would all get up on the dance FL and
00:28:23
start dancing and it's so bizarre cuz
00:28:25
you don't see that anymore you know you
00:28:27
have to go clubs but this something
00:28:28
about music that that there's a vibe
00:28:31
that runs through your body and that
00:28:32
would just come out of me I my first
00:28:35
memories as a young kid was music and we
00:28:38
had the record player and now Lounge was
00:28:40
the only tidy room in the house and we
00:28:42
weren't allowed to go in there as kids
00:28:43
but I was only allowed to go there if I
00:28:44
was playing music and dancing so I'd go
00:28:47
on there put the record player on kmen
00:28:49
you know listen to um bolero and I would
00:28:53
dance around the lounge at 3 years old
00:28:55
for hours hours and hours just to music
00:28:59
yeah is that weird I don't know no no
00:29:01
from what I can gather like your first
00:29:02
job was a dance teacher as well yeah and
00:29:05
and somehow you only finished second on
00:29:06
Dancing With the Stars but we'll get to
00:29:08
that later but I feel like that was um
00:29:09
if it wasn't if wind surfing didn't
00:29:11
become a thing I feel like dancing would
00:29:13
have been the yeah it was you know it
00:29:15
definitely was and so so Mom was like
00:29:20
wow I really need to send her to dancing
00:29:22
so when I was eight there was a school
00:29:24
that just formed called the Julie Cotter
00:29:26
dancers and I went into that and was
00:29:28
just like this is me I'm going to be a
00:29:30
dancer you know and and my whole life
00:29:32
was around dancing so interestingly
00:29:35
enough wind suring is like dancing on
00:29:37
the
00:29:38
water oh that's something quite poetic
00:29:41
about that it is I mean it is it's like
00:29:42
you have to be really agile you have to
00:29:44
feel the wind you've got the the
00:29:46
wishbone which is the balance and it's
00:29:48
just it is it's like it's like a dance
00:29:50
on the water okay so let's um yeah let's
00:29:53
go to Barcelona so uh December the 23rd
00:29:57
the year here before um you're involved
00:30:00
in a big accident um what happens a boat
00:30:03
runs over you or something yeah so we
00:30:05
were skurfing so that's kind of what
00:30:08
they you see a lot of people doing now
00:30:09
is toe you know weight boarding but we
00:30:12
were doing it now they'd use a jit ski
00:30:14
but we were doing in an old dunger boat
00:30:16
a wooden boat in the surf up at Mong and
00:30:18
where you pull someone and on a
00:30:20
surfboard behind the boat and then you
00:30:22
pull them into the wave and then they
00:30:23
surf the wave in and and Away you go so
00:30:25
you don't have to pedal and then I was
00:30:27
spotting the W the boat got caught in a
00:30:30
wave and usually the boat would tip but
00:30:33
the boat tipped over washed me out and
00:30:35
then ran back over the top of me and um
00:30:38
the bottom of the motor hit my wrist on
00:30:41
my scaold bone and shattered it and when
00:30:43
it hit my wrist I went ow and then I
00:30:45
felt the propeller go sh on my leg bang
00:30:47
on my leg like I was wearing a wet suit
00:30:49
um and when I came up I locked at my
00:30:51
wrist and there was a gaping hole and I
00:30:54
went oh [ __ ] that doesn't look
00:30:56
good yeah so this is 2 days Before
00:30:58
Christmas um and in 2021 so you're going
00:31:01
into the Olympic here had you you
00:31:03
already qualified for the Olympics so
00:31:05
you no no no so I you you went straight
00:31:07
away like oh this is it my Olympic no
00:31:10
ref I never even went there with my
00:31:11
brain I was just like oh better get that
00:31:13
fixed quickly so I can get back out on
00:31:14
the water again and that's pretty much
00:31:18
how no no no no sort of Shivers well
00:31:23
that's going to hold me back a little
00:31:24
bit I didn't have a comprehension of
00:31:26
what I'd actually done and then went to
00:31:28
the funger hospital and they just put it
00:31:31
in stitched it up and put it into a cast
00:31:33
and then a wind surf wind surfing intern
00:31:37
came in and said hey I know who you are
00:31:40
I've looked at your x-rays if you don't
00:31:42
go and see a specialist I don't know if
00:31:45
your wrist will heal because you've um
00:31:48
you've done damage to the scaphoid bone
00:31:50
which is the one bone in your body where
00:31:52
it takes longer to heal because the
00:31:53
blood has to go one way turn around and
00:31:55
come back out you know it's it's a
00:31:57
flating bone and said you need to go and
00:32:00
see a specialist and so I rang the
00:32:02
doctor straight away and he said don't
00:32:03
tell anyone I've told you because I
00:32:04
could lose my job because seniority so
00:32:08
rang my doctor got out of funger um we
00:32:11
were able to get hold of a specialist
00:32:12
and he came in on I think it was
00:32:14
Christmas Eve and he said um Barbara I'm
00:32:16
not sure if you're going to be a to wind
00:32:17
surf again the nature you've shattered
00:32:19
it so you um and if it's infected I'll
00:32:23
just have to close it up and that'll be
00:32:25
it if it's not infected I'll be ask have
00:32:28
to screw and pin it and I'm not sure if
00:32:31
you be able to win Sur again and I just
00:32:32
was just like I didn't really hear
00:32:34
that um well you just didn't want to
00:32:37
believe it no I didn't want to believe
00:32:38
it I was just like wow this this this
00:32:41
doesn't happen to people like me you
00:32:42
know this is I've got a lucky star so
00:32:45
refused to believe it for a start and
00:32:47
kep myself really fit because I knew
00:32:49
that the pending Olympic trials were
00:32:50
coming up in
00:32:53
February and it was a trial where there
00:32:56
was uh if you won the trials you got to
00:32:59
the Olympic Games and when they'd heard
00:33:02
that I broken my wrist I like oh boy um
00:33:05
we can't really have Barbara not
00:33:07
competing because she's The Benchmark
00:33:10
for wind surfing New Zealand you I was a
00:33:11
world champion um I just got second in
00:33:15
in an event in in America on the on the
00:33:18
Olympic class board so I was I was right
00:33:19
up there and so they did a big big it
00:33:24
was a big HOA and went to the courts and
00:33:26
all sorts of things but they y New
00:33:27
Zealand delayed the trials and that gave
00:33:31
me a little bit more time to heal They
00:33:33
delayed delayed them till April I think
00:33:35
it was so it gave me a couple of months
00:33:37
to heal and fortunately when I came out
00:33:40
of the cast even though my arm was like
00:33:43
a chicken wing um I was actually able to
00:33:45
hang on and put a bit of pressure
00:33:47
through it and so I had then another 3
00:33:49
weeks or so and then entered into the
00:33:50
trials and thank goodness I won geez was
00:33:53
it was that a stressful time incredibly
00:33:55
stressful time I just had to really
00:33:57
practice
00:33:58
um mindset and not go into the rabbit
00:34:01
hole of oh my God what am I going to do
00:34:03
if I can't win Surf and so it was
00:34:06
actually really good time because in
00:34:08
that during those time I I you do a lot
00:34:10
of reflection so sometimes injuries
00:34:13
are a special time you know that
00:34:16
everything happens for a reason firm
00:34:17
believer in that and it's a time to sit
00:34:19
down I was going like a headless chalk
00:34:21
you know and and this was the last
00:34:23
accident of a few of them that had
00:34:24
happened to me leading up and up until
00:34:26
this moment and I had to stop and really
00:34:29
reflect about
00:34:30
okay what does my life look like and
00:34:32
what do I really want and and so I got
00:34:34
engaged to my husband husband that
00:34:37
during that time because he was just
00:34:38
like well he says I don't care if you
00:34:40
can't win S I just love you for who you
00:34:42
are and I'm like wow you're a really
00:34:44
nice guy you're a keeper we're still
00:34:46
married today so and he was my coach so
00:34:50
yeah he was it was that was really cool
00:34:51
and then we're like well if I can't win
00:34:54
s anymore the only other thing I can do
00:34:56
is dance and I'm
00:34:58
maybe I'll start up a dance school of my
00:35:00
own and so I started looking for
00:35:03
industrial buildings to say well if I
00:35:05
buy a big industrial building then I can
00:35:06
have any business I like in an
00:35:08
industrial building that was my
00:35:09
mentality so spent a lot of my time
00:35:11
driving around looking at industrial
00:35:13
buildings and then I saw there was an
00:35:14
old church that came up for sale and I
00:35:15
thought that is perfect so we bought a
00:35:17
so I bought an old church I borrowed the
00:35:19
M money off mom and dad because it
00:35:21
didn't have a lot and and thought well
00:35:22
at least I've got something you know and
00:35:25
then yeah so it was a it was a good time
00:35:27
cuz put Roots down put those roots down
00:35:30
which gave me the wings to really fly
00:35:33
afterwards what did you end up doing
00:35:34
with the building uh lived in it so we
00:35:37
lived in a church for a long time got um
00:35:40
had our after wedding party there and
00:35:43
then um we my sold it to my brother
00:35:46
actually and he still lives in it today
00:35:48
oh amazing yeah amazing so so these big
00:35:52
races like um Barcelona and then the
00:35:54
Olympics that followed like mentally
00:35:56
mentally what were you like before these
00:35:57
races like were you a bundle of nerves
00:35:59
is there a lot of pressure no well I had
00:36:02
no pressure because um because it was
00:36:05
the first time women's wind surfing was
00:36:06
in the Olympic Games so there was a
00:36:08
blank canvas yeah but going into a World
00:36:10
Champ oh well I was champ in a different
00:36:13
class it was a different class so oning
00:36:14
is really complex because there's many
00:36:16
different things that you can do it's
00:36:17
not just it's like cycling we can have
00:36:19
Road cycling track cycling Sprints
00:36:22
pelaton well you know whatever the
00:36:24
Kieran the Kieran all those things you
00:36:26
know all those name fancy name
00:36:28
when surfing's the same so so I'd been
00:36:31
jumping from wave Sailing sailing in the
00:36:33
waves and big waves slum racing where
00:36:35
you're going as fast as you can downwind
00:36:37
course racing which you go around boys
00:36:38
which is similar to the Olympic class
00:36:40
but all on different boards so so I was
00:36:43
very
00:36:44
multi-dimensional in what I could do and
00:36:46
so I'd won a World Champs in in a
00:36:49
different type of board and then I had
00:36:51
to learn the Olympic class which was a
00:36:52
very difficult board to sell actually it
00:36:55
was a it had a rounded bottom on it and
00:36:57
it it was very very
00:36:59
Tippy so so it was kind of new and I
00:37:02
hadn't hadn't spent a lot of time of it
00:37:03
because I'd been competing on the pro
00:37:04
circuit I need to earn money and i'
00:37:06
allowed myself you know a year but that
00:37:09
had been cut short um with the with the
00:37:11
rest and then so I had a very very
00:37:14
intense buildup four months until the
00:37:17
games and but I had the best coach in
00:37:19
the world you know well training partner
00:37:22
of Bruce and and coach of Grant Beck who
00:37:24
would come and join us for for the big
00:37:27
events to to be another set of eyes and
00:37:29
then Aaron Macintosh was the training
00:37:30
partner so we were like a real
00:37:33
tight-knit team that was traveling
00:37:35
around Europe leading up into Barcelona
00:37:37
and it was full on you know I I I
00:37:39
remember crying quite a lot but I'd like
00:37:42
I'd go stop Barbara you know you're
00:37:44
really lucky to be alive crying because
00:37:48
you frustration okay frustration with
00:37:51
like I'm not getting fast enough um home
00:37:54
a little bit homesick you know when when
00:37:56
things aren't going so well the first
00:37:58
thing you do is get homesick you know
00:37:59
cuz you want to go back to your mom and
00:38:00
get a big cuddle you know still do
00:38:03
that and and just um you know like we
00:38:07
didn't have a lot of money so we had to
00:38:09
uh Bruce was really good at networking
00:38:12
and finding people that would um
00:38:15
accommodate the kiwis you know because
00:38:16
we didn't have money and so we'd we'd
00:38:18
stay at different people's places so
00:38:19
sleeping on people's couches Lounge
00:38:21
floors we never stayed in a hotel cuz we
00:38:24
never had enough money to pay for hotels
00:38:26
sleeping on the car sleeping in the car
00:38:28
sleeping on the ground sleeping in sleep
00:38:29
we always sleeping bags with us so it
00:38:32
was intense this is an Olympic campaign
00:38:35
athletes wouldn't do that nowadays no so
00:38:37
so it didn't feel like from your
00:38:38
perspective there was like the weight of
00:38:39
a Nation on your shoulders or no because
00:38:41
there was no internet there was no you
00:38:44
know hadn't been on television I'd been
00:38:45
under the radar you know they don't put
00:38:48
our sport on TV um the only the only
00:38:51
weight was the fact that I wanted to be
00:38:53
good enough so actually when I hit the
00:38:55
Olympic Games I could be the best I
00:38:57
could could be for my buildup and and
00:39:01
then it was just like you get to the
00:39:02
Olympic goes and goes Olympic Games and
00:39:04
I go this is just fun I want to go out
00:39:07
there and go yting you know because I'd
00:39:10
done this professional circuit where I'd
00:39:12
been competing every
00:39:14
month for prize money and if I didn't
00:39:18
get in the top five in the world and and
00:39:21
place then I wouldn't earn prize money
00:39:24
that would get me to the next event and
00:39:25
I'd have to come home and I would have
00:39:26
felt like I'd failed M see the Olympic
00:39:28
Games was easy because yeah you're tough
00:39:32
on yourself aren't you yeah but I think
00:39:34
most top top athletes are you know you
00:39:37
have to be tough yeah no but even like
00:39:40
at this at the start when I said how do
00:39:41
you feel about this chapter of your life
00:39:42
being 57 you're like oh you know I can't
00:39:44
do the things like I feel like there's
00:39:45
still that fiery 24y old inside there I
00:39:49
feel like I think I'm probably still
00:39:50
trailblazing in a way because you know
00:39:53
like wing foiling for instance which is
00:39:55
the new sport which is it which is a
00:39:57
small surf Bo with a big foil on the
00:39:59
bottom and then you hold this Wing
00:40:01
that's free flowing I think many people
00:40:03
might have seen that now cuz it's the
00:40:05
fastest growing sport so I picked that
00:40:07
up four or five years ago just because
00:40:10
it was like wow this looks fun and I'm
00:40:12
so I'm so much gratitude the fact that I
00:40:15
was young enough to pick that up because
00:40:17
it's such an amazing sport to feel like
00:40:19
you're flying above the water anyway I
00:40:21
entered into the Nationals um this year
00:40:25
and I ended up winning the grand Masters
00:40:26
the Masters in the
00:40:28
open God because there were no other
00:40:30
girls
00:40:31
competing okay well there was but most
00:40:34
of them had never raced before and they
00:40:35
were just doing it for fun and then the
00:40:37
top girls which was my daughter and a
00:40:39
few of the others like Jo Ali and stuff
00:40:41
they were all overseas or my daughter
00:40:43
had an injury so I was like so I was the
00:40:45
only girl racing in the race Fleet that
00:40:47
could race um and I ended up winning all
00:40:50
three divisions to be fair all all the
00:40:52
other competitors like if they turned up
00:40:53
and they saw Barbara Kendall on the
00:40:55
start sheet they probably eras their own
00:40:57
names but it's also yeah it's also a
00:40:59
sport that not a lot of women do you
00:41:00
know and it's been like that ever since
00:41:02
I took up wiing you know it's a sport
00:41:05
that um it's not easy you know and I
00:41:09
used to feel a little bit like well you
00:41:13
know maybe that my sport was easy
00:41:16
because you know easy for you easy for
00:41:19
me but but there was no one else no one
00:41:21
really came through and behind you know
00:41:23
it was very rare that we would have more
00:41:25
than four or five girls on a start line
00:41:26
whereas if you're Runner or
00:41:28
cyclists um there it's tough you know
00:41:32
but my sport I was like Lone Wolf for
00:41:34
many many many many years and feels like
00:41:37
a little bit still still like that now
00:41:39
yeah so um you so the the 92 Olympics so
00:41:44
there's there's a bunch of races and so
00:41:45
by the time you get to your final day
00:41:47
you need to finish in the top six in
00:41:50
order to win the gold is that right I
00:41:52
have no idea yeah that's funny because
00:41:54
people researched that and I had no idea
00:41:57
idea and and because for me it's the
00:42:00
results are always
00:42:02
irrelevant because you can you can my
00:42:04
brain would start oh you know I've got a
00:42:07
second and a sixth and an eighth I
00:42:09
wouldn't even be able to tell you where
00:42:11
I placed in this is how I compete anyway
00:42:14
everyone else is different I wouldn't
00:42:16
know I'd know approximately where I was
00:42:18
I wouldn't know what the points were
00:42:20
because my philosophy was I can only do
00:42:22
what I can only do and I'm going to go
00:42:24
out there and race the best I can in
00:42:26
every single race and and the rest is
00:42:28
takes care of itself I can't do anything
00:42:29
more than that so there's no use
00:42:31
obsessing about results that you can't
00:42:34
control and we didn't have sports
00:42:37
psychologists back then you just figured
00:42:39
it out for yourself you know and so you
00:42:40
just block out I just used to block out
00:42:42
there and coming into the last race big
00:42:44
deal for you know for the Spanish girl
00:42:47
um if she'd won she would have been
00:42:49
given a million dollars you know and a
00:42:52
pension a lot of them if they win a
00:42:54
medal you get a pension for life like
00:42:56
the Greeks and and the French girl same
00:42:58
thing she'd been been the world champion
00:43:01
for three years prior um so there's a
00:43:03
lot of pressure and stress and I was
00:43:05
just like man I'm just lucky to be on
00:43:07
the start line you know after everything
00:43:09
that I'd been through and that was a
00:43:11
place where you can let go you know like
00:43:15
and all the way through you know it's a
00:43:16
long a week is a long time to compete
00:43:18
and every day you got to go out there
00:43:19
and you got to pick yourself up and keep
00:43:20
going and keep going and keep going and
00:43:22
I just cruised through and the whole
00:43:25
noise of the Olympic Games didn't really
00:43:27
exist and so I just did my thing and got
00:43:30
to the start line and all the girls for
00:43:32
some reason were really aggressive on
00:43:34
the start line and a lot of them went
00:43:36
over the girls that I had to beat so but
00:43:39
I didn't know that I just said no away I
00:43:42
go and then yeah when I got to the
00:43:43
Finish Line I'm like wow all the horns
00:43:46
going people are yelling I think I might
00:43:49
have won and that was they was like wow
00:43:52
that's kind of cool oh so you didn't
00:43:53
even um it didn't occur to you during
00:43:55
the during the race like if I don't if I
00:43:57
don't mess this up the gold medal is
00:43:59
mine no you're just in the moment just
00:44:01
in the moment I love and and they you
00:44:03
know when you start to look at
00:44:05
Psychology and and which I've done a lot
00:44:08
now over the last sort of 20 years or so
00:44:11
that's exactly what you should be doing
00:44:12
it's you you don't think about the
00:44:14
future don't think about the past be
00:44:16
100% in the moment go wow look at that I
00:44:20
I think I might a winner might one for
00:44:23
gold so you so then you're so you're in
00:44:25
the water um so you you you know you win
00:44:28
the gold medal but you're you're on your
00:44:29
own for the until you how do you get
00:44:31
back in you pedal back in you so no you
00:44:32
I sailed back in So when you cross the
00:44:34
line um you sell back into the into the
00:44:39
into the little Marina at Barcelona and
00:44:42
there was like all these people standing
00:44:44
on the ramp and I'm going okay this is
00:44:46
really weird what do I do now how what
00:44:48
happens now you know and and in the back
00:44:51
of my mind I'm like I wonder how Bruce
00:44:53
is done because he just raced before us
00:44:56
and he had broken his fin halfway
00:44:59
through the regetta and it supplied
00:45:00
equipment usually if you break something
00:45:03
then they'll give you average points for
00:45:05
that race and so I knew that he had to
00:45:08
get into a certain place for him to
00:45:09
meddle and he was right on the cusp and
00:45:12
so he was the first one that came down
00:45:14
to the water and he helped me take my
00:45:16
rig off my board and I think Ralph
00:45:18
Roberts at the time was get her on the
00:45:20
board get her on the board we'll carry
00:45:22
her out of the water I'm like okay you
00:45:25
ever seen that it's iconic footage
00:45:27
you s of being carried like a Cleopatra
00:45:29
or something with a bottle of champagne
00:45:32
yeah so yeah yeah do you do you remember
00:45:34
that moment like it was yesterday or I
00:45:36
remember well there's a few things I
00:45:37
remember so Bruce just sort of he looked
00:45:40
really happy but I knew something
00:45:41
because I hadn't been able to talk to
00:45:42
him how he' done and I think he might
00:45:44
have said to me Barbara just got fourth
00:45:45
and I just
00:45:47
went you know and then I was like oh my
00:45:50
God what is happening you know so it was
00:45:52
a real Paradox it was this and it was
00:45:54
that and I remember being on the board
00:45:57
and Lisa newberger one of my friends who
00:46:01
I'd been competing on the pro circuit
00:46:02
with who was at the Olympics as well she
00:46:04
had some crusan rum in this tiny bottle
00:46:06
bottle and she threw it at me and I'd
00:46:07
got it stuck on my eyes and so I was
00:46:09
like that's all I remember trying to get
00:46:12
rum out of my eyes and I had the
00:46:13
champagne it was weird just those funny
00:46:15
things you do remember yeah and then um
00:46:18
then then what happens when's the middle
00:46:19
ceremony so usually nowadays they have
00:46:22
the metal ceremony very close after you
00:46:25
finished yeah like 20 minutes yeah but
00:46:27
now but those days I think they waited
00:46:29
till a few classes had finished and then
00:46:31
they do a bunch of them together so I
00:46:32
think I had a day off and then the
00:46:34
middle ceremony was the next
00:46:36
day so after that because it was like
00:46:38
the only gold medal that year all the
00:46:40
dignitary and and sailing was in the
00:46:42
Olympic Village so the so the Olympic
00:46:45
Marina that was built and the village
00:46:48
were all is one so it's only games where
00:46:50
we were in the heart of the Olympic
00:46:53
Games so all the New Zealand team the
00:46:56
officials the to missions the ioc
00:46:59
members which I had no idea who any of
00:47:01
them were by the way cuz I was living in
00:47:03
this world of being an athlete and then
00:47:05
I became one of them I'm like who are
00:47:07
these people anyway and then you get
00:47:10
dragged off for you know for for for
00:47:13
lunch with the um governor general of
00:47:16
New Zealand I'm like who's that person
00:47:18
you know and then dragged off to Media
00:47:21
interviews and meanwhile all your family
00:47:24
which is the winding family were all
00:47:27
hanging out together and they all went
00:47:28
partying and then when I finished all my
00:47:31
television interviews with homes and
00:47:33
don't get me wrong it was really cool
00:47:34
but I just wanted to be with my friends
00:47:35
and celebrate and when I came back to
00:47:37
the village that all
00:47:39
gone and there was no one around and I'm
00:47:41
like well that sucks the loneliest Gold
00:47:45
Medal winner in history so I crawled
00:47:46
into my wardrobe and cried oh did you
00:47:49
yes did you actually oh B that's
00:47:52
terrible yeah well have you have you
00:47:56
ever told that before no that's the
00:47:58
saddest ending ever so when did you was
00:48:01
it when you started doing the interviews
00:48:02
like with um you know the satellite
00:48:04
interviews back home to the home show or
00:48:06
you one news three news whatever is is
00:48:09
that when you realized the significance
00:48:10
of what You' done like it was the first
00:48:12
gold medal by New Zealand women in 40
00:48:13
years or yeah yes it was I had no idea I
00:48:16
had no idea of the significance of that
00:48:20
um until those interviews started but I
00:48:23
really didn't know the significance of
00:48:25
it until he came home
00:48:28
yeah just massive so um Evette Williams
00:48:32
uh had won a gold medal for the long
00:48:34
jump 40 years earlier she was the first
00:48:36
New Zealand woman to win a gold Olympic
00:48:38
medal 40 years later you're the now it
00:48:40
happens that we're winning them left
00:48:42
right and Center yeah there so many
00:48:44
which is bloody brilliant it is and I
00:48:46
remember a vet came when I got home
00:48:49
finally got home to my mom and dad's
00:48:50
place she came around and congratulated
00:48:53
me and we we we compared medals and hers
00:48:55
was just a tiny little coin if she has
00:48:58
seen the medals today she would just be
00:49:00
blown away because they're you know
00:49:01
they're this big hers was just a coin
00:49:04
without even a rivon her gold medal and
00:49:06
we have this amazing photo um which I
00:49:08
actually Treasure of her and I together
00:49:10
in our Blazers from our Olympic Games
00:49:11
holding our medals yeah you became quite
00:49:14
good friends after that yeah well she
00:49:15
grew she's imp she lived just 10 minutes
00:49:18
down the road from where I did and she'd
00:49:20
coached my husband's family in athletics
00:49:22
so it's a very small community so yeah
00:49:25
we we we and I went to funeral and she
00:49:28
was an amazing lady beautiful unassuming
00:49:31
humble woman but a real
00:49:34
Trailblazer yeah as as you are as you
00:49:37
are and um yeah yeah massive so you you
00:49:41
were the only New Zealander to win a
00:49:42
gold at those games so you came back
00:49:44
there was like a ticket tape parade um
00:49:47
that ticket tape parade was insane so we
00:49:50
just got off the plane we got taken in
00:49:52
these buses we're in our summer
00:49:54
Barcelona skirts and Blazers it's a
00:49:57
howling southwesterly it's about 10°
00:50:00
with rain schools coming across we're
00:50:03
like oh my God it was freezing and then
00:50:06
we got taken in buses to the bottom of
00:50:08
Queen Street and put in these cars to go
00:50:11
up Queen Street and there was just
00:50:13
people everywhere I was just oh that was
00:50:17
mindblowing and all that you know the um
00:50:20
paper of people throwing the streamers I
00:50:22
think that's the last one that they had
00:50:24
like that I might be wrong but because
00:50:26
it was such a mess probably to clean up
00:50:27
and the logistics of it and then we then
00:50:29
I got given you know had to as a
00:50:31
spokesperson had got given a check of
00:50:33
25,000 from the New Zealand Sports
00:50:36
Foundation at the
00:50:37
time which I had no idea that that
00:50:39
happened either oh that would have been
00:50:40
a significant amount of money back then
00:50:42
yeah but half of it had to go to your um
00:50:45
Sports Federation oh you're joking
00:50:47
really mhm oh yeah and I was like really
00:50:51
but that doesn't seem fair
00:50:53
yeah um how yeah how was this for you so
00:50:56
you're at the time yeah I was really and
00:50:58
I was young you know I was a young 24
00:51:01
like the 24 we didn't have internet so
00:51:04
you didn't have access to all this
00:51:05
knowledge and stuff and then having to
00:51:07
get up and speak um I'd never done that
00:51:10
before you know I'd been a dance teacher
00:51:13
years ago you know quite a few years
00:51:14
before never been a speech person and
00:51:17
then and then ended up you know having
00:51:20
to speak a lot it's a massive baptism of
00:51:23
fire right was it was it enjoyable
00:51:25
though like being overnight
00:51:27
um CU you were you were a household name
00:51:28
like I don't think we can emphasize that
00:51:30
point home enough just what a big deal
00:51:32
this was everywhere I went people knew
00:51:34
who I was and it was weird in the
00:51:37
beginning
00:51:39
um but maybe because I was a dancer and
00:51:42
loose used to being on the stage I just
00:51:44
put you put on a presence and you just
00:51:46
smile and wave and and but people were
00:51:49
so and they still are like I on the
00:51:52
beach the other day um a woman came up
00:51:54
to me and said Barbara I'm so glad I
00:51:56
bumped into you I've been wanting to
00:51:58
tell you for years and years and years
00:52:00
you know you are an amazing person thank
00:52:04
you so much for everything that you've
00:52:05
done and I just
00:52:07
been like this you know and so it still
00:52:09
happens like that now which is really
00:52:11
cool that that's that's especially now
00:52:14
I'm removed from it and it's not so
00:52:16
confronting um it was really really
00:52:18
awesome so yeah it was hard in the
00:52:20
beginning but then you people are always
00:52:22
so positive and then I realized that I
00:52:25
had a responsibility
00:52:27
to be a role model and to encourage and
00:52:31
inspire people to just go out there and
00:52:32
go for it hard in the beginning and in
00:52:34
what way like from a pre perspective no
00:52:36
your privacy okay so I was
00:52:39
crazy and then you've said this about
00:52:42
half a dozen times not crazy in a bad
00:52:44
way but no just crazy energy yeah crazy
00:52:47
energy and you just you get a bit maybe
00:52:49
self-conscious you know a little bit so
00:52:51
you have to tone tone yourself down and
00:52:53
oh cuz you just feel like people are
00:52:54
watching you yeah you feel like you're
00:52:55
being watched whole time you know you're
00:52:56
at a pub and you hang out with your
00:52:58
mates and you're having good town
00:52:59
yelling and you're being obnoxious or
00:53:01
whatever it may be and someone goes
00:53:02
yells across the pub hey I know you
00:53:04
you're Barbara Kindle and everybody then
00:53:07
turns and stares at and you go oh you
00:53:10
know so it was a little bit to get used
00:53:13
to as a as a as a in young person yeah I
00:53:17
suppose especially if you're just a
00:53:18
beach girl that likes hanging out with
00:53:19
your brother and your mates doing yeah
00:53:21
and and I I had a really amazing circle
00:53:24
of friends that were my mates that we're
00:53:26
all wind Surfers we're all all our tribe
00:53:30
you know we just celebrated 50 years of
00:53:31
wind surfing this year and it got to um
00:53:33
bump in we all came together and there
00:53:35
was over 400 of us from New Zealand that
00:53:37
all wi surfed from over the centuries
00:53:40
not centuries decades centuries will be
00:53:42
too old and it was so nice all these
00:53:45
people that we'd hung out with in Maui
00:53:46
and Hawaii when we've been living there
00:53:48
and people that I'd done campaigns with
00:53:50
and it was just like it's your family
00:53:52
you know and I had this amazing bunch of
00:53:54
people who were they just saw me as
00:53:56
Barbara you know there was no stars in
00:53:58
their eyes um was just like Legend in
00:54:02
her own lunchbox you know whatever and
00:54:04
we carried on so it was kept you really
00:54:06
normal were there were there cool um
00:54:09
commercial opportunities that came from
00:54:10
it or was that not really a thing then
00:54:12
no not really a thing um it was still
00:54:14
good for me like speaking I I I I was
00:54:17
like wow I can earn that much from a
00:54:19
speak I'm man you know Count Me In you
00:54:21
know um and you get over your nerves
00:54:23
pretty quickly when you realize how much
00:54:25
those corporate dinners pay and then I
00:54:26
was like hang on a minute I could
00:54:28
probably make a little bit of money
00:54:29
which will help me if I decide to keep
00:54:31
wind surfing you know cuz after every
00:54:33
Olympics you're like man that's said I'm
00:54:34
retiring I want a normal life and then I
00:54:37
was like oh I could earn a bit of money
00:54:39
and I could go back onto the
00:54:41
professional circuit again my husband
00:54:43
could come with me cuz I got married and
00:54:45
be my caddy which would be incredible
00:54:48
and it's such an amazing lifestyle you
00:54:49
know traveling from Beach to beach all
00:54:51
these amazing beaches around the world
00:54:52
and competing and we competed in
00:54:54
swimming pools and and France you know
00:54:57
with fans on the and do it with my best
00:54:59
friend that' be pretty cool and and I
00:55:02
spoke at an event for Kmart actually and
00:55:04
afterwards they said we'd like to
00:55:05
sponsor you and I'm like really that
00:55:08
would be awesome so yeah that was my
00:55:10
first real sponsor where that I paid
00:55:12
good money and then I got a couple of
00:55:14
Television ads on a few things and and I
00:55:16
was able to go and compete with a little
00:55:18
bit of budget and that was amazing oh it
00:55:21
must have just made life so much more
00:55:22
comfortable it was it was like well I've
00:55:24
got to do this again yeah I got to taste
00:55:26
of it what were the what were the tv ads
00:55:29
I bet that's still on YouTube or
00:55:30
somewhere um I did this one in a um I
00:55:34
did one for a toothpaste I did one for
00:55:36
no that actually most that can't even
00:55:40
remember one I did after I after i' had
00:55:42
kids that's when I became more
00:55:43
marketable but before kids it was just
00:55:45
like there wasn't a big market for women
00:55:48
Sport and then the um the 96 games in
00:55:50
Atlanta um you so you were the flag
00:55:53
bearer which is a huge honor when when
00:55:55
do you find out about that how long
00:55:56
before the games so we you'd get asked
00:56:00
by the chef to missioner who was Dave
00:56:01
Curry Dr Dave Curry at the time and he
00:56:03
asked me and I no yeah that sounds like
00:56:05
I'm I'm a I'm a yes person you know if
00:56:07
there's an opportunity that presents
00:56:09
itself you say yes and then you worry
00:56:11
about how you're going to do it later
00:56:13
and my n it was a it was a um something
00:56:16
that's been passed on from my both my my
00:56:18
nan and my nanas my Nana said to me you
00:56:20
know Barbara just say yes you know and
00:56:23
see where it goes see where you go see
00:56:24
what happens um and so I said yes it
00:56:28
happens about 2 days before the the team
00:56:34
Gathering and then they announce it and
00:56:35
then you go up there you go up and you
00:56:37
get the back then they didn't have the
00:56:39
um the cloak the cloak and things um and
00:56:43
they just announce your name and you go
00:56:45
and then the flag and then they take
00:56:46
photos and then you have to make a
00:56:47
speech and then I'm like wow these are
00:56:50
all my peers I'm like leading my peers
00:56:54
and who people that are just you know
00:56:56
who you respect very well this is
00:56:57
actually a little bit of a
00:56:59
responsibility in a way as well so it
00:57:01
put a bit of pressure on yeah yeah I
00:57:03
wonder that yeah so you you were you
00:57:05
yeah four years earlier you'd won the
00:57:07
gold medal um you're breaking this
00:57:09
40-year drought for New Zealand um then
00:57:11
you're the flag bearer it's like really
00:57:13
underlining your name isn't it like the
00:57:15
weight of that must have felt like the
00:57:17
the weight of the Nation on your
00:57:18
shoulders it did it did and I had no way
00:57:21
to express that like if you saw a
00:57:24
psychologist back then there was
00:57:25
something wrong with you and there was
00:57:27
nothing wrong with me but but there was
00:57:29
no acknowledgement of that and so I
00:57:33
could feel myself getting Tighter and
00:57:34
Tighter and
00:57:35
Tighter being the defending Champion you
00:57:38
know second in the world Champs leading
00:57:40
up into it you know game on even though
00:57:42
we were on a different type of board and
00:57:44
that opened it up to pumping so the
00:57:46
first Olympic Games you know our class
00:57:48
the class has changed and evolved and so
00:57:50
it was a different skill set much much
00:57:52
more athletic where you're Fanning the
00:57:54
sale as fast as you can so it's more
00:57:55
like being on rowing machine we became
00:57:57
real athletes um and so that experience
00:58:02
for me was that it was frustrating
00:58:05
because physiologically if you don't
00:58:07
breathe properly or you're under stress
00:58:09
you breathe too high up into your
00:58:11
shoulders and your neck and then that
00:58:14
blocks the flow and the energy down to
00:58:16
your arms which is on a on a Meridian
00:58:18
that goes across your heart and lungs it
00:58:20
goes right across your chest so if
00:58:21
you're stressed or not breathing
00:58:23
properly it can affect your arm and I
00:58:26
had terrible arm pump up and it wasn't
00:58:28
couple tunnel it was an energy and it
00:58:31
was a postural thing and that really
00:58:35
inhibited my performance in Atlanta
00:58:38
which was a bummer but the Hong Kong
00:58:40
girl she' been my training partner um in
00:58:44
Barcelona and we'd been training a lot
00:58:46
leading up into 96 because her coach was
00:58:48
a really good friend of brucees he was a
00:58:51
Dutch guy and so we we'd become good
00:58:53
friends and she'd just
00:58:56
gone from not being an athlete at all to
00:58:58
this superum you know they' started this
00:59:00
is when the the whole um Sports Science
00:59:02
started where we were being late tested
00:59:04
V2
00:59:06
tested and Hong Kong got into earlier
00:59:08
than what we had it here in New
00:59:10
Zealand and so she was just a machine
00:59:13
and on fire um and so I was really happy
00:59:17
in the end just to win the silver well
00:59:18
you as I said before you see you on the
00:59:20
podium and it's no different to four
00:59:22
years earlier when you got the gold yeah
00:59:24
you realize when you're in it like oh
00:59:26
[ __ ] you know I'm only I've got the
00:59:28
silver and then you take a day to
00:59:30
reflect and you go wow I actually won
00:59:33
silver got the with these limitations
00:59:35
you know with being out not being able
00:59:37
to pump prop it's like having one arm
00:59:39
again so yeah it was really interesting
00:59:41
and yeah and then then there was a whole
00:59:43
lot of interesting things that happened
00:59:44
after that interesting things and um
00:59:48
well it was because the day the Hong
00:59:51
Kong girl won the gold and she didn't
00:59:53
have to didn't have to win the last race
00:59:56
and because someone else in the New
00:59:57
Zealand team was about to win a medal up
01:00:00
in Atlanta I can't remember exactly who
01:00:02
it was all the New Zealand press
01:00:06
disappeared because Savannah was an
01:00:07
hours flight from Atlanta so they all
01:00:10
went back up to Atlanta so when I won my
01:00:12
silver medal there was no New Zealand
01:00:15
press
01:00:16
and I can't there was no photos of me
01:00:19
winning how was that was that was that
01:00:22
um there is not you go you Google it and
01:00:24
you can't find any photos and so what
01:00:26
happened when they say oh barara have
01:00:27
you got a photo with you men I went no I
01:00:28
haven't so we had photographers come
01:00:30
around to the my home when I got home
01:00:32
and I dressed up on my tracksuit and
01:00:35
took some photos in were you pissed
01:00:37
about that I was like well I didn't know
01:00:40
that until later and I'm like and then
01:00:42
another thing what had happened is the
01:00:44
rest of the sailing team because we' had
01:00:45
so much success in Barcelona and we
01:00:48
didn't have as much s success in Atlanta
01:00:51
um when I came back to the Pontoon there
01:00:52
was no
01:00:53
celebration um I said there's someone
01:00:56
said oh there's a bottle of champagne
01:00:57
for you in the fridge but we're not
01:00:58
going to celebrate now because everyone
01:00:59
else has to still
01:01:01
compete I'm like oh
01:01:04
okay and then we back to the hotel room
01:01:06
and that was it you went to wardrobe and
01:01:08
cried again well no because I was still
01:01:10
surrounded I had quite a few friends in
01:01:12
Atlanta were like oh this is still
01:01:13
really cool and um you know you don't
01:01:17
think about those things until later you
01:01:20
know cuz you just you're sort of like
01:01:21
cuz I'm very in the moment girl and I
01:01:23
don't reflect I'm just like oh this is
01:01:25
okay this is interesting this is
01:01:26
interesting and just away I went cuz I'm
01:01:28
like well it is what it is and Away you
01:01:30
go and let it go it's not until you look
01:01:31
back and you
01:01:33
go that wasn't right cuz I don't feel
01:01:36
that that should have happened to a
01:01:37
silver medalist I need to say something
01:01:39
about that and so that's when I found
01:01:42
out that um New Zealand had an athletes
01:01:44
commission and I went actually I want to
01:01:45
hear my voice heard because I don't want
01:01:47
to have other people um feel like
01:01:50
they've lost because theyve won a silver
01:01:54
medal good for you
01:01:56
where where did that come from that sort
01:01:58
of um what's the word I'm looking for I
01:02:02
you know that sort of uh you you're not
01:02:04
going to just just going to be a good
01:02:06
girl and sit in the corner um that
01:02:08
probably came from being who I was when
01:02:11
I was born
01:02:13
because my mom wanted to have four cids
01:02:15
and had me you you know what I mean
01:02:18
that'd be the easiest thing just to go
01:02:19
oh just I won't make a big deal about
01:02:20
this whatever well that's what women
01:02:22
have done for a really long time yeah
01:02:24
and I was bought up up to speak up and I
01:02:28
was brought up I always felt like I was
01:02:30
like I was a boy cuz I grew up you know
01:02:33
i' mostly being hanging around the guys
01:02:36
racing all the time there'd been no
01:02:37
other girls and so I felt like one of
01:02:38
the lads so it never really occurred to
01:02:40
me that on a lot of levels that things
01:02:44
weren't appropriate or girls were being
01:02:46
you know oh you should be back in the
01:02:48
kitchen you know as I was told later on
01:02:51
um but yeah I was like actually male or
01:02:55
female this is something you shouldn't
01:02:57
be made to
01:02:58
feel after you won a midle I feel like
01:03:01
it' be an easier conversation to have
01:03:02
now but uh 20 28 years ago whatever it
01:03:05
is you know um yeah you yeah they would
01:03:08
be rocking the boat like Barbara Kendall
01:03:10
she's a troublemaker yeah exactly and
01:03:12
and still sort I get that barara has
01:03:14
very strong opinions and I'm going well
01:03:16
actually usually my opinions are
01:03:18
attached to something that's happened
01:03:20
yeah that says well maybe this isn't
01:03:22
right how can we do this better
01:03:25
and then four four years after that it's
01:03:27
the Sydney games where you win a you win
01:03:29
a bronze which oh no I retired after it
01:03:32
96 because we talk about this transition
01:03:34
thing you know when when when athletes
01:03:36
retire you know after you've done
01:03:38
Olympics you go that's it I'm done I'm
01:03:40
not going to win s anymore I'm going to
01:03:41
get myself a real job and then I went
01:03:43
and coached did you for how long um six
01:03:48
months that's the shortest retirement
01:03:50
ever yeah and then what then you missed
01:03:52
it and well then I missed it and I and I
01:03:54
found I was a bit of training partner
01:03:56
than a coach um and I was tra coaching
01:03:58
the youth team and so I went to the
01:04:00
youth worlds with the youth team and and
01:04:01
one of the young boys they got a fourth
01:04:03
and I went actually I'm quite a good
01:04:04
coach and training partner and I'm going
01:04:06
quite fast perhaps I should try for
01:04:08
Sydney because it's so close and this is
01:04:11
when the government started giving pigs
01:04:12
grants so performance enhancing grants
01:04:15
so we actually if we were top 10 in the
01:04:17
world you could get
01:04:19
$10,000 that was big I think it might
01:04:21
have even a bit be been more a bit more
01:04:23
back then and I was like wow for the
01:04:26
first time instead of having to have my
01:04:27
own sponsors we're getting supported by
01:04:29
the government to be a professional
01:04:32
athlete in a way um and coaches were
01:04:35
starting to get paid as well which was
01:04:37
amazing because coaches were never paid
01:04:39
until Sydney so Sydney was like the
01:04:41
first games where there was funding and
01:04:44
so you and you were still quite young
01:04:46
early 30 I was early 30s yeah yeah I was
01:04:49
32 okay so you get a bronze for that are
01:04:52
you which completes the whole set which
01:04:54
is amazing gold silver and bronze in
01:04:56
that order as well um was that um yeah
01:04:59
was it disappointing or was it
01:05:01
gratifying no was I was really happy
01:05:03
with the bronze because Murphy's Law um
01:05:05
happened in that one where I was I won
01:05:07
back-to-back World Championships leading
01:05:09
up into that um Olympic games which no
01:05:12
one had ever done before so cuz
01:05:14
sailing's random it's not like a
01:05:16
distance that you run or a um a shop
01:05:18
putut that you throw or a kayak race in
01:05:20
a straight line it's like you never know
01:05:23
and they can't control the weather you
01:05:24
don't know where you're going to it's
01:05:25
it's random
01:05:26
um and the so with Sydney the the
01:05:30
Italian girl that bat me she was being
01:05:32
my arch rival for many Olympic Games and
01:05:34
was very similar to me in the way that
01:05:35
she sailed and it was her turn you know
01:05:38
she'd got a silver uh sorry she'd got
01:05:40
the bronze in Atlanta and she went on to
01:05:42
do six Olympic Games actually and then
01:05:44
the German girl who was super super
01:05:47
light just had this amazing Lucky Star
01:05:50
and she was really fast and we had the
01:05:52
same wind every single day and she'd
01:05:54
never ever beaten me in a regat and I
01:05:56
think she'd only ever beaten Me In One
01:05:58
race she ended up winning the silver and
01:06:00
I was like nothing I can do about that
01:06:02
so I was really happy to have got the
01:06:04
bronze in that rega yeah oh
01:06:06
congratulations and then um two more
01:06:08
Olympic campaigns uh which took it to
01:06:10
five um which is remarkable eh it's some
01:06:13
serious longevity yeah serious so um
01:06:16
after Sydney I retired again yeah and
01:06:19
then and then um you're the worst at
01:06:21
retiring yeah I was and then I was like
01:06:24
all of a sudden maternal clock was like
01:06:27
I want to have kids you know and it was
01:06:29
just I never even knew babies existed
01:06:31
until then really we I didn't even know
01:06:33
that there was a whole genre of shopping
01:06:34
for babies but you know and anyway had
01:06:37
my first daughter who was just the most
01:06:39
beautiful amazing young woman and when
01:06:41
she when she got put into my arms I'm
01:06:44
like oh [ __ ] what do I do now I don't
01:06:47
know how to be a mom so I said to her
01:06:50
you're going to have to teach me how to
01:06:51
be a mom because I have no idea we're in
01:06:53
this together and she's been like that
01:06:55
ever since and still is like let's like
01:06:59
we're best friends in a way cuz I'm like
01:07:01
I have no idea how to be your mother
01:07:02
let's do this together and then and and
01:07:05
even now as a young adult I'm like how
01:07:07
do I do it how do I want how do you want
01:07:08
me to do it how do you want me to help
01:07:09
you the whole way through it just
01:07:11
amazing amazing woman must have been
01:07:13
difficult for the first 18 months or so
01:07:15
when communication's a little bit Yeah
01:07:17
but but she was a really good baby she
01:07:18
was actually a really good baby and then
01:07:20
I about 13 months into it I was like I
01:07:23
really want to go sailing and then
01:07:27
knew the world Champs was coming up in
01:07:28
Thailand never being to Thailand wanted
01:07:29
to go somewhere warm um one of the young
01:07:33
guys I said to him John Paul toin find
01:07:35
me some fast equipment because it's one
01:07:37
design I just want to come and do the
01:07:38
the world champs for fun um I had no
01:07:41
funding because they took away all my
01:07:43
funding after having a kid there was
01:07:44
nothing left so I had I paid for it
01:07:46
myself and for my husband and all of us
01:07:48
to go why not because you had a Cod yeah
01:07:50
because that was it well they didn't
01:07:52
think that I'd about to come back and
01:07:54
there was no I wasn't in the system
01:07:56
because I'd retired I hadn't really
01:07:58
officially retired I just hadn't said
01:07:59
well I'm I'm going to have a kid and
01:08:01
then they didn't say that's the reason
01:08:03
why they did they no it was unspoken
01:08:06
sort of um and then when I won the world
01:08:08
Champs was just like oh no now we're
01:08:10
going to have to fund her again because
01:08:13
that qualified me for
01:08:14
Athens here she is the squeaky wheel
01:08:17
again it's G some more oil squeaky wheel
01:08:20
exactly but though actually y new Zeal
01:08:22
was pretty good because I said well you
01:08:24
know I can't leave her at home because
01:08:26
my husband's a coach we have to travel
01:08:28
around together and so and the funding
01:08:30
got better from the government I got
01:08:31
good sponsors because at the end I said
01:08:33
well I can't continue unless I get
01:08:34
sponsors and I was really lucky you know
01:08:37
there's a whole genre of carry baby milk
01:08:39
and appliances and I was able to get
01:08:41
good sponsorship that enabled us all
01:08:43
three of us to go around you know
01:08:44
compete cuz you you're away five months
01:08:46
of the year six months of the year to do
01:08:48
these campaigns properly and we couldn't
01:08:50
sleep in the car anymore you know cuz we
01:08:52
had a kid so um Logistics a lot to think
01:08:55
about yeah and then Athens um was yeah
01:08:59
it was it was that was probably my most
01:09:01
disappointing games in in a away with
01:09:03
results wise so it was 2004 yeah and
01:09:06
then um your last Olympics uh Beijing in
01:09:09
2008 where you finished sixth as a 41y
01:09:12
old M of two yeah um I mean six sixth
01:09:16
place it's not on the podium but you
01:09:17
look back now 41 years old mom of two
01:09:20
you bloody proud of that oh really proud
01:09:22
and particularly I'd once got sick in
01:09:25
the two World Championships leading up
01:09:27
into that so um I was right there and
01:09:31
but I was tired you know and
01:09:35
and just the fight of everything I was
01:09:38
like okay I'm really having to really
01:09:41
dig deep to motivate yourself to get
01:09:42
yourself to the gym to sell the
01:09:45
equipment and the equipment is a new set
01:09:47
that's one of the reasons I went back is
01:09:48
because it was new equipment faster and
01:09:50
I'm like this looks like fun I quite
01:09:52
like to do this my husband was an
01:09:54
incredible training partner he was like
01:09:55
the fastest girl on the water so I had
01:09:58
the best in the windy um he was terrible
01:10:01
when it was light he was he was such a
01:10:02
good training p and and China was light
01:10:04
a little bit light too but I felt like I
01:10:06
was my back was against the wall a
01:10:07
little bit leading up into it um I was
01:10:10
fighting you know for funding fighting
01:10:12
for my place in the team just everything
01:10:14
was just a little bit more of a fight
01:10:15
felt like a battle Yeah and then in um
01:10:18
so two years after that in 2010 year
01:10:19
retire um yeah you're at peace with the
01:10:23
decision you oh yeah no I was well ready
01:10:25
well this was the eighth time you'd
01:10:26
retired yeah yeah yeah um when I
01:10:29
remember in the last second to last race
01:10:31
I got around the top Mark and I looked
01:10:33
behind me and there was only one girl
01:10:35
behind me and I went I don't even know
01:10:37
how that happened and then I just
01:10:39
started laughing going I've done this
01:10:42
enough I've spent you know 25 years of
01:10:45
my life sailing really fast around boys
01:10:47
to prove that I'm really good at it and
01:10:49
I don't really feel like I need to do
01:10:51
this anymore it was it was just like
01:10:53
this this is it this is
01:10:56
probably close to the last race I'll
01:10:58
ever do so there was no like post post
01:11:02
sporting career Comedown or anything no
01:11:04
nothing that's great is it I know I I
01:11:06
charged into the next thing yeah which
01:11:08
was what Strat edman coaching no I was a
01:11:11
by that time I'd become an international
01:11:12
Olympic Committee Member so so speaking
01:11:15
up as an athlete I got into the athletes
01:11:16
commission every year every Olympic
01:11:19
Games the there is a vote of athletes
01:11:21
that sit on the international Olympic
01:11:23
Committee as the athletes voice
01:11:25
and i' put my name up for Sydney but
01:11:28
really no no idea what it was for um but
01:11:31
but small sport no one was being vot you
01:11:33
know um small country no one in New
01:11:35
Zealand knew what it was didn't get
01:11:36
enough votes but in 2005 Susie O'Neal
01:11:39
who' got voted on she didn't want to
01:11:41
finish her term because she was going to
01:11:44
have kids and so I was the next highest
01:11:47
vote in Sydney and I got this phone call
01:11:49
and I remember it really clearly from
01:11:51
Tay Wilson who was our IU remember at
01:11:53
the time he said Barbara um would you
01:11:54
like to become an ioc M member and I
01:11:57
went sure yeah okay no idea what it was
01:12:00
for or how it even got this phone call
01:12:02
it's like we were saying before it just
01:12:03
say yes and and he said well you need to
01:12:05
come to you need to come to Singapore
01:12:07
and you'll get signed in as an i member
01:12:08
and I was five months pregnant at the
01:12:10
time with Amy I said well I'm about to
01:12:12
have a baby on that day and he says oh
01:12:13
you you come afterwards so after was Amy
01:12:17
Amy was born I went to my first meeting
01:12:19
um as an international Olympic Committee
01:12:21
athletes commission member no idea what
01:12:24
I was in for but they gave me a first
01:12:26
class ticket and I went this is pretty
01:12:28
Swanky and then I'm like I had to take
01:12:30
my baby with me cuz I was breastfeeding
01:12:32
and first class with a baby going
01:12:34
looking at all these businessmen going
01:12:35
how do I keep this baby quiet she was a
01:12:37
fussy baby and got to the airport and
01:12:41
they picked me up in this limousine with
01:12:43
my name on the sign Miss Barbara kendle
01:12:46
VIP and I'm like this is pretty amazing
01:12:49
and a Mercedes and then got to the
01:12:51
Palace Hotel and Lan and Switzerland
01:12:53
with the ISC is headquartered and it was
01:12:55
everything was gold and it was just five
01:12:58
star amazingness he did it was just like
01:13:02
wow all my Christmases had come at once
01:13:05
then I like cool I'm going to be hanging
01:13:06
out with you know these leader athletes
01:13:09
like Sergey bubka um Frankie Fredericks
01:13:12
Alexander popof all these big names and
01:13:15
um and I'm like cool so I rock up
01:13:18
downstairs the next morning after a
01:13:20
restful night you know baby brain best
01:13:22
freeding organized a babysitter in a
01:13:24
t-shir and jeans and everybody is in
01:13:26
suits and ties and I don't want to go
01:13:29
back to the room because then the baby
01:13:30
will sork and I'm like okay I've got my
01:13:32
Cur t-shirt on my flare jeans and
01:13:36
boots no one told me that that's there
01:13:39
was dress code like I slip through the
01:13:41
cracks and turn up at this meeting and
01:13:43
we're all sitting around a table like
01:13:45
this with microphones and you have to
01:13:46
press the microphone to speak because
01:13:48
it's all translated into six different
01:13:50
languages because you've got like all
01:13:52
the you know United Nations around the
01:13:54
table and I just sat there just going oh
01:13:56
my God and then having to go off to the
01:13:58
bathrooms to breast to pump milk because
01:14:01
my boobs are exploding with milk because
01:14:03
she's only 3 months old and
01:14:07
I'm it was a nightmare and then and then
01:14:10
you get home and then we have a
01:14:11
president's dinner and I'm going I'm not
01:14:13
paying 40 what was it $40 an hour for a
01:14:17
babysitter anymore because you're a
01:14:19
volunteer I'm going to bring my baby to
01:14:21
the meeting with the president and I did
01:14:24
I bought her in
01:14:25
the push chair rocked her up and she sat
01:14:27
beside me in the push chair while she
01:14:29
cuz she was asleep and I'm like but and
01:14:32
no one did that I didn't know this at
01:14:34
the time cuz I'm like what else am I
01:14:35
going to do I have to bring my baby
01:14:37
along with me and then at the end of it
01:14:39
I said you know what this sucks being a
01:14:42
mother in a woman in leadership as a
01:14:44
young mother there's no support you know
01:14:48
babies to be seen not heard but what I
01:14:49
moment doing I don't have a nanny I'm
01:14:51
not rich enough to afford a nanny to fly
01:14:52
with me a lot like a lot of the other
01:14:53
members and at the time they're only 15
01:14:55
women out of 130 membership on the
01:14:59
ioc and so I spoke up and now look at it
01:15:03
it's amazing yeah also part of part of
01:15:07
that for you like having gone from being
01:15:09
um an athlete and a very very successful
01:15:11
Olympic Athlete to being on the other
01:15:12
side on the edman side were you like
01:15:14
what the [ __ ] like we you know we're
01:15:16
hustling with sponsorship we're hustling
01:15:18
with funding we're sleeping on cardboard
01:15:20
beards and you guys are yeah did you I
01:15:23
was like the irony of it wasn't lost on
01:15:25
you no oh God no I was like oh my God
01:15:28
can I trade that f f in I'll fly economy
01:15:31
class and then I'll be able to use that
01:15:33
money to help other athletes or to help
01:15:37
something you know but then I but then I
01:15:39
realized that actually I needed to sleep
01:15:41
because I was some you know by the end
01:15:43
the time I finished my term I was
01:15:45
traveling every month for a week to
01:15:47
Europe or somewhere else to fly and just
01:15:50
you need I needed to lie flat cuz when
01:15:52
you're on an airplane that's when you
01:15:53
got to sleep so when you get there you
01:15:54
could be shock up and on it and and and
01:15:57
make good decisions you um what's
01:16:00
involved with being one of those members
01:16:01
like one of those 130 members of the I
01:16:04
what so you I you what you you get put
01:16:07
on different commissions and you advise
01:16:11
you come up with recommendations where
01:16:12
you advise the ioc executive board on
01:16:14
how they're going to spend their $3.25
01:16:17
us million a day in sport wow so it was
01:16:21
a big I had no idea how big the role was
01:16:24
you know I had no idea that you you got
01:16:25
to vote where the Olympic Games were
01:16:27
going to happen next you got to vote
01:16:28
who's on the executive board you get to
01:16:30
um help mold what sports are going to be
01:16:33
on the program for the Olympic Games the
01:16:36
amount of money that that that is
01:16:39
floating around in federations and and
01:16:41
how it's allocated to National Olympic
01:16:43
committees um scholarships um the
01:16:46
environment women and Sport all these
01:16:48
things I had no idea and it took me four
01:16:51
years to really understand how I was
01:16:54
going to make a difference and there's a
01:16:56
lot of politicking around a lot of brown
01:16:57
noosing where people come up to you and
01:16:59
talk to you and say we'd really like
01:17:00
your vote and blah blah blah blah blah
01:17:02
you know and there's just this whole
01:17:04
world of all the deals made in the
01:17:06
hallways of of the movement yeah and I'd
01:17:09
get the feeling you've got a real good
01:17:10
sort of B yeah very and I don't don't do
01:17:13
it very well at all that's why I don't
01:17:14
wouldn't make a very good politician
01:17:16
because I I was just like I straight
01:17:17
talker you know and and new zealanders
01:17:19
are really well respected in the world
01:17:21
of politics because we have incredible
01:17:23
integrity um coming from New Zealand
01:17:26
like there's no briber and Corruption
01:17:27
and and I'll Pat your back if you Pat my
01:17:29
back it's really like like actually who
01:17:31
is the best person for the job whether
01:17:33
you're male or female you know that's
01:17:35
where I came from and very transparent
01:17:37
with everything that you
01:17:39
do just a thought so as someone that's
01:17:41
been a very successful athlete and has
01:17:43
been on the Edmond side of the Olympics
01:17:44
um what are your thoughts on ray
01:17:47
gun that was a really interesting one
01:17:49
that one I um you know she she qualified
01:17:53
underneath the rules
01:17:55
and I think because Dance Sport was very
01:17:58
new to the Olympic program she kind of
01:18:01
slipped through the cracks because
01:18:03
Oceana we're only 17 National Olympic
01:18:05
committees whereas in Africa you got 55
01:18:07
so it's easier to qualify a continental
01:18:09
spot which is under Olympic solidarity
01:18:11
to ensure all the continents are
01:18:12
represented in each sport so she found a
01:18:16
gap qualified rightfully so and then got
01:18:20
to go but there should be um it's just
01:18:23
like Edy the e
01:18:25
you know or the eel in the swimming pool
01:18:28
yeah you remember that I do that
01:18:30
Nigerian guy and African guy so she was
01:18:32
like that that kind of entry in a way
01:18:35
that we' got to have someone from the
01:18:36
continent and and away she goes so she
01:18:39
qualified she was in the within the
01:18:41
rules and she did what she thought was
01:18:43
going to be creative you know for for it
01:18:46
so and that obviously showed a gap so
01:18:48
would wouldn't happen
01:18:50
again plugged but um break dancing's not
01:18:53
in dance Sports not in yeah the next um
01:18:57
oh let's talk I've got I've got a card
01:18:58
here called bits and pieces some other
01:19:00
bits and pieces to the incredible barara
01:19:02
Kindle story so what was this the
01:19:04
surfboard accident in 2019 did you end
01:19:06
up with a bunch of stitches on your yeah
01:19:08
that was me recreational surfing um out
01:19:10
at the outside of the barrier and it was
01:19:13
a really big day and we were on boats
01:19:16
cuz there's not a lot out there um and I
01:19:19
came off the back of a wave and you sort
01:19:21
of do the Superman thing at the back of
01:19:22
the wave if you've had a really good
01:19:23
wave but it was very very windy offshore
01:19:25
and the board got picked up and as I
01:19:27
popped up bad timing the the board
01:19:29
smashed me in the face um
01:19:32
right and I and I remember just going ow
01:19:35
that hurt and put my hand up to my face
01:19:36
and my hands went inside my cheek and I
01:19:39
went oh [ __ ] that's not good and there
01:19:41
was blood all over my head and I went
01:19:43
okay I think I better go back to the
01:19:44
boat cuz it's quite shy out there and I
01:19:47
was peddling and I was really tired
01:19:49
because at the end of a hard week of
01:19:50
Surfing and so every breath I took I was
01:19:52
like and every time I blew out but blood
01:19:54
would go onto the board and I'm like
01:19:56
this ain't good um is it is it the scy
01:20:00
yeah just here Jesus Jesus you're a s AR
01:20:03
you you like 52 53 I and I was like oh
01:20:06
no I'm going to have to probably get
01:20:07
this is I didn't I couldn't think about
01:20:09
what it was going to look like because I
01:20:11
was like I might have to get plastic
01:20:12
surgery you know this is quite gnarly
01:20:14
and when I went in into the
01:20:17
um the doctor in it at the barrier he
01:20:21
just I walked in he goes oh you're not
01:20:22
the most famous person I've stitched up
01:20:25
he was he' been an all blacks dancer H
01:20:26
dancer doctor and stitching up the All
01:20:30
Blacks you know faces and he says you
01:20:31
won't need plastic surgery and you're
01:20:35
probably about to Surf tomorrow and I
01:20:36
went oh that's a good
01:20:37
prognosis so he stretched up my face
01:20:40
went back to the boat that night quite
01:20:43
sore woke up in the morning and my face
01:20:45
was like this and I had this huge big
01:20:48
because the face had swollen you know
01:20:49
everything was spread out this huge big
01:20:51
black caterpillar on my face and I went
01:20:53
I burst into tears
01:20:55
that was another teary
01:20:57
moment yeah wow that's um that's
01:21:01
hilarious that's quite great just you're
01:21:03
not aging gracefully are you and no but
01:21:05
they say you know scars gray hairs and
01:21:08
wrinkles are a good sign that you've
01:21:11
lived oh and I I think um you you being
01:21:13
out there tearing it up in your 50s
01:21:15
that's um that's goals yeah well I hope
01:21:19
I set you set like a a role model for
01:21:22
like well if Barbara can do it I can do
01:21:23
it you know that's that's what I'd like
01:21:25
to imagine has happened now you've got
01:21:28
um a royal honor what what's your Royal
01:21:30
honor what you've got a so I've got a I
01:21:32
got a member of the British Empire after
01:21:34
I won the gold medal services to win
01:21:36
surfing and then I got a companion of
01:21:38
the New Zealand order of Mer um for
01:21:42
leadership and why AR why aren't you a d
01:21:44
very good
01:21:45
question don't
01:21:47
know the thing is you know I was maybe
01:21:49
before my time
01:21:52
and williet Williams had got it they
01:21:55
they actually told her just before she
01:21:57
died um and so that was really sad
01:22:00
because she was a
01:22:01
Trailblazer and I don't know I don't
01:22:04
know that who knows how all those things
01:22:06
work it's just one of those things that
01:22:07
does it bother you sometimes it does I'm
01:22:09
like oh that's a bit strange cuz I feel
01:22:12
like I've done a I mean I've dedicated
01:22:14
my life since I was 16 to Sport and
01:22:16
particularly the
01:22:18
last so I started in 2005 so 20 years 19
01:22:22
years as a pretty much as a volunteer
01:22:24
here cuz I got those you know being an
01:22:27
ioc member it's it's a real privilege
01:22:30
but that's a responsibility and it's and
01:22:33
it's a voluntary role and that I had to
01:22:35
sacrifice a lot of my maybe Financial
01:22:39
you starting up a business or working
01:22:41
for a big salary you know after I'd
01:22:43
retired I just carried on with the ioc
01:22:45
and survived just like an athlete so
01:22:48
yeah it was it sometimes it is I was
01:22:51
surprised during this research that you
01:22:52
you you went today it's embarrassing
01:22:54
because a lot of people say oh Dan
01:22:56
Barbara kendle and they introduce you
01:22:57
and go well actually I'm not don't
01:22:59
correct them don't correct them in
01:23:00
Future Let's I go I go I'm one
01:23:04
below well can they um yeah can they
01:23:06
over I don't know you're not over B my
01:23:10
it's not my because it's just an award
01:23:13
you know it's just a thing it's a thing
01:23:14
that you put and but I think what if you
01:23:17
ask me what I'm most proud of I'd be
01:23:19
proud most proud of my daughters and who
01:23:22
they are of because that to me as if
01:23:24
when you've been you know they talk
01:23:26
about leadership in women and you know
01:23:29
once you're a mom it's it it's very hard
01:23:31
to be away from your kids because you
01:23:33
you're attached to them and you want to
01:23:34
be for there I miss you know my
01:23:36
daughter's first day of school cuz I was
01:23:38
traveling and th those types of things
01:23:40
and then you enter menopause and you run
01:23:42
out of energy to take on women's
01:23:43
leadership roles and so so my husband
01:23:46
has been most
01:23:48
incredible mother to my girls you know
01:23:51
he's he's been the the stay-at-home dad
01:23:53
who's made the school lunches took them
01:23:55
to school took them to dancing took them
01:23:57
to music lessons took them to netball
01:23:59
took them to water polo and they are
01:24:01
incredible
01:24:03
girls what's been the the key to a
01:24:06
successful partnership successful
01:24:07
marriage communication lots and lots and
01:24:10
lots of communication and you know like
01:24:13
sh my husband Shane's really allowed me
01:24:15
to be who I
01:24:17
am and hasn't been intimidated by a
01:24:20
strong opinionated woman he just loves
01:24:24
it you know and comes along for the ride
01:24:25
and away we go so do I I find it
01:24:28
inspiring yeah and so so we've been best
01:24:31
friends since we since I was 19 you know
01:24:34
and we just is that when you met yeah we
01:24:35
met and he just allowed me to be me and
01:24:38
just like today for instance and we were
01:24:40
foiling in the surf and I'm like oh no I
01:24:43
have to get get in because you know time
01:24:45
and he says leave your equipment on the
01:24:47
beach I'll D it and bring at home you go
01:24:49
home and where you go so yeah you know
01:24:51
stuff like that yeah oh that's so
01:24:53
special awesome
01:24:55
he's he's a he's a he's a gold he's the
01:24:57
gold and you guys had a um a massive
01:25:00
house fire R like 2010 yeah so what
01:25:02
happened your whole house burned down no
01:25:04
no no no we were um we live we had got
01:25:06
four acres in the bush and someone let a
01:25:09
firework off at the bottom of our
01:25:11
section on on a road that had just been
01:25:12
formed
01:25:14
and strapped a few fireworks together
01:25:17
let off put it on the ground probably
01:25:19
lit it caught the grass on fire cuz it
01:25:21
was really dry at the time and there was
01:25:22
a hling Southwest and it just fan and up
01:25:25
the um uper section cuz we had a lot of
01:25:27
toy toy and stuff and um I was driving
01:25:30
home from swimming lessons with the kids
01:25:32
and I went oh there's a firet truck
01:25:34
going up our road oh there's nine fire
01:25:37
trucks up our road oh shoot that smoke
01:25:42
is coming from our house ran into the
01:25:44
house and they were going and I and and
01:25:46
the guy says you got 10 minutes to grab
01:25:48
what you
01:25:50
want so that's an interesting question
01:25:52
you got 10 minutes in your house to grab
01:25:53
things that you would like because the
01:25:54
rest of it probably won't make it yeah
01:25:56
cuz that's a um yeah it's a question
01:25:58
people ask for fun I like a dinner party
01:26:01
sort of question what do you gr well
01:26:03
lucky I had my medals in the car because
01:26:05
um the I'd just been speaking at a
01:26:08
school after that I bought a fireproof
01:26:10
safe and I live in there cuz I'm like we
01:26:11
can't get another one um and I had I
01:26:14
just bought an
01:26:15
iPad and I oh that'll do you I suppose
01:26:19
back in the day you'd grab like old
01:26:21
physical photo albums but everything's
01:26:22
on the cloud now yeah well but AR I I
01:26:24
haven't transferred them but my latest
01:26:27
ones are but the but I have all these
01:26:28
albums that I probably at some stage
01:26:30
should get digitized was it just a
01:26:33
moment that you realize that stuff is
01:26:35
just stuff yeah I very much like that
01:26:37
everyone family calls me the chucker
01:26:40
ouer because I get rid of I'm getting
01:26:42
rid of stuff all the time to minim
01:26:44
minimize that's why I love going
01:26:45
overseas you have one bag yeah I don't
01:26:47
need stuff and then um Dancing with the
01:26:49
Stars 2009 U this I know you like saying
01:26:53
yes to things but this was a no-brainer
01:26:55
right like this is the reality show you
01:26:56
were born to do yeah well it was when
01:26:58
I'd seen it I'd thought oh God I'd love
01:27:00
to learn how to ballroom dance and I
01:27:02
putting it in perspective so I was
01:27:06
42 at the time and I hadn't danced since
01:27:10
in a formal way since I was 18 so that's
01:27:13
a lifetime and so when I started dancing
01:27:16
Borum and I'd never done it I felt like
01:27:18
a beginner I was like oh my God you know
01:27:21
somebody else and getting into syn
01:27:24
learning steps and memorizing them and
01:27:26
getting spatial awareness and all that
01:27:29
sort stuff I had the Rhythm no problem
01:27:30
at all with rhythm but I was just used
01:27:32
to shaking it Loose you know so it was
01:27:35
actually it was super fun and I picked
01:27:36
it up very very
01:27:38
quickly but the reality is you only have
01:27:40
three days to to master something you
01:27:42
know and I I like to master it so I
01:27:44
could then enjoy it you never had a
01:27:46
chance to master anything you were just
01:27:47
sort of like in this days of like being
01:27:49
swung around the floor and hoping that
01:27:51
you remember your steps who who who else
01:27:54
was in that season with you um we had oh
01:27:57
T te coffee he ended up winning um we
01:28:01
had um all black guy
01:28:06
Surfer um God goodness May Quinn no no
01:28:09
no no um bald hair not Norm hermit but
01:28:13
it was um really fun guy he commentates
01:28:16
sometimes oh he was on TV with ail
01:28:20
April J Josh coni I recorded a podcast
01:28:23
with him a few days guy yeah I can't
01:28:25
believe me that long to remember um yeah
01:28:27
so we yeah and we had a like um you know
01:28:31
reality television programs the that
01:28:34
group of people that you do it with
01:28:35
become your family because you go
01:28:36
through you share an incredible
01:28:38
experience and for me the exciting part
01:28:41
was you know when you got to say okay
01:28:43
what are we going to dance today and
01:28:45
then learning the dance and then turning
01:28:46
up to the dress rehearsal getting these
01:28:48
frr costumes cuz I've never been girly
01:28:50
girl you know to wear all these things
01:28:52
sexy costumes I'm like really um but
01:28:56
then I didn't like the competition side
01:28:57
of it because it was just like you're
01:28:59
being judged on something you'd never
01:29:01
done to told to ooze and I'm going I
01:29:03
can't oo I'm my brain's
01:29:05
going what does that even mean I know be
01:29:08
look sexy and I'm like huh you know but
01:29:11
it was super fun it was such a fun
01:29:13
Journey should you should you have won
01:29:15
it uh that was
01:29:18
irrelevant that was irrelevant we you
01:29:21
know raising 125 ,000 for the upside
01:29:25
Downs trust um and I still do work for
01:29:27
them now um we just raised $85,000 a few
01:29:30
weekends ago with a fundraiser with them
01:29:33
and meeting that group of people was was
01:29:35
the gy um the judges it was really nice
01:29:39
to win the final night and get per
01:29:41
perfect tens and everything like perfect
01:29:43
scorecard and every single
01:29:45
dance that was the one it wasn't about
01:29:48
who was going to get the silver
01:29:50
ball yeah I mean what are you going to
01:29:52
do with the glitter ball trophy anyway
01:29:54
you got a safe full of Olympic medals
01:29:56
there was you know everybody was a
01:29:57
winner that went on that show yeah oh
01:29:59
nice and so tady coffee won that one um
01:30:02
coincidentally he's just been on
01:30:05
Celebrity island cele island which you
01:30:07
you were also on a few years ago yeah so
01:30:09
I went 2019 yeah now you have to forgive
01:30:11
me I didn't I didn't see the season but
01:30:13
um I did some reading up about it um
01:30:15
were you the villain
01:30:17
apparently well I was probably very
01:30:20
opinionated right and so I I I fell into
01:30:23
C captaincy from day one and so you sort
01:30:27
of set a tone and a um and a and a Manar
01:30:30
T of what you want how you want to
01:30:32
survive this weird situation and luckily
01:30:35
we had an incredible team of us that had
01:30:37
been in a competitive environment and
01:30:40
were really chilled out so we had Moses
01:30:42
McKai who's quite competitive even
01:30:44
though he's an opera singer we had Gary
01:30:46
Freeman we had um um boxer oh Shane
01:30:51
camon Shane Cameron um and so we and and
01:30:54
then Lana [ __ ] Lana who was a runner so
01:30:57
she was sort of athletic as well and so
01:30:59
we had this we were really chilled and
01:31:03
um and one of the competitors wanted us
01:31:06
to get into strategy and I'm like when
01:31:09
you get there you just go hard you don't
01:31:10
need to strategize about who you're
01:31:12
going to try and save you know let's
01:31:13
just go out there and do what we have to
01:31:15
do it was a really funny time who yeah
01:31:18
who who did you have beef with was I was
01:31:20
m m got all sensitive that's right
01:31:23
there's a there's a qu from That season
01:31:24
I don't need to prove myself to Barbara
01:31:26
kindall what was the um what's the back
01:31:28
story with that oh the back story was
01:31:30
you know I wanted to keep I said strong
01:31:32
guys meaning physically strong guys
01:31:34
because there was a lot of lifting
01:31:37
things and holding things and physical
01:31:40
challenges and so I didn't want to get
01:31:42
rid of Moses and um Shane because they
01:31:45
were like strong and I was coming down
01:31:48
to like um and that's what I was meaning
01:31:51
but it got like anything on those
01:31:52
reality television program they take
01:31:54
everything out of context and so when I
01:31:56
said mad he said well the first thing I
01:31:58
I don't want to get rid of the strong
01:31:59
competitiv and he instantly went oh I'm
01:32:01
I'm not
01:32:03
strong but it was physical but he is
01:32:05
strong you know he was a really fast
01:32:06
runner he was super fit he was a really
01:32:08
good swimmer um but when it went under
01:32:10
competition sometimes his brain like he
01:32:13
had one job on one thing to UND a tap
01:32:15
and he couldn't find the tap but it was
01:32:17
right there so when people go under
01:32:19
competition your brain's go into fear
01:32:21
mode and then you can't think straight
01:32:24
but with athletes because we we're in
01:32:26
Fair mode the whole time you learn how
01:32:28
to just sink into it lean into the
01:32:31
pressure lean into the pressure and go
01:32:33
and so he took it really really
01:32:35
personally personally and yeah so that
01:32:39
was quite
01:32:40
funny but no one has to prove themselves
01:32:42
to anybody you prove it you know it's
01:32:44
like what it is it's like Sir Edmund
01:32:47
Hillary it's not the mountain that you
01:32:49
co conquer it's yourself you know and
01:32:51
that's what those those reality programs
01:32:54
it's not everyone else around you it's
01:32:56
you because it's just a reflection of
01:32:57
you what you're experiencing yeah I
01:32:59
messaged um Eric Murray this morning oh
01:33:01
yeah he he was on the same season um I
01:33:04
said you got any bab rindle stories he
01:33:06
said he was on a different team so he
01:33:07
didn't have much to do with you no but
01:33:09
he said um he thinks she hated it she
01:33:11
was sick all the time yeah well I got I
01:33:14
had no food and I got I ate a rancid
01:33:17
coconut which gave me diarrhea and um I
01:33:21
couldn't get rid of it because I had no
01:33:23
food to soak up the stomach they keep
01:33:25
giving me anti- diarrhea pills but we
01:33:28
needed food and then when we finally did
01:33:30
we win food there was tins so that's not
01:33:33
very good for someone that's had
01:33:34
diarrhea for a week and I lost 5 kilos
01:33:37
in two weeks so and then what happened
01:33:40
is I lost the cognition to my brain
01:33:41
because your brain is the first thing
01:33:42
that goes physically I was good but your
01:33:45
brain went and we played a memory game
01:33:47
and and I went I have a usually good
01:33:49
memory and went oh I can't remember
01:33:52
anything and and went okay this is this
01:33:55
has not good its time for me to go and
01:33:58
you um yeah you love saying yeaster
01:33:59
things but if you got asked to go on
01:34:00
that again no if they if well if they if
01:34:04
we got food like you knew you were going
01:34:06
to get food not tim tams and actually
01:34:08
the first one we ran they gave us a
01:34:10
couch and a bottle of wine and I'm going
01:34:12
can you give us some crackers with the
01:34:14
wine we going to do with this we hadn't
01:34:16
eaten for a week you know yeah we'd had
01:34:18
rice and so yeah it was just one of
01:34:21
those things I'm like and but what's
01:34:22
really good now
01:34:24
is that I spoke up about it and I said
01:34:26
that's not safe and nowadays you get
01:34:29
hungry but you don't get hungry like we
01:34:30
were um they they have a lot more food
01:34:33
in everyone which is really good to see
01:34:36
and I hear you you your your daughters
01:34:38
were really proud like that have viewing
01:34:39
parties every week it was on and yeah
01:34:41
well that age where they were they
01:34:44
understood what was going on so we'd had
01:34:45
friends come around and we'd watch it
01:34:46
and we'd laugh and laugh and laugh at it
01:34:50
it was it's a bit uncomfortable because
01:34:51
you don't know how they're going to
01:34:52
betray you um in the in in these games
01:34:56
um and that and your reputation is sort
01:34:57
of everything I wasn't there to be
01:34:59
entertainment I was there to sort of
01:35:01
have a bit of fun and meet people and
01:35:03
and try and win some money yeah yeah
01:35:06
were you um were you s scared by the
01:35:08
experience or a little bit a little bit
01:35:10
yeah a little bit in the end because it
01:35:12
was just just because I was disappointed
01:35:14
in a way that that I'd got so run down
01:35:18
from having not enough food and and then
01:35:22
um you know the reaction of mie to to he
01:35:26
he said it in Good Humor but he meant it
01:35:28
you know obviously when I'd said we want
01:35:30
strong players he'd taken it completely
01:35:32
personally and so he sort of had a bit
01:35:34
of a grudge yeah oh God is he still
01:35:37
long-standing beef with you two no no no
01:35:40
no not at all I mean he does what he
01:35:42
does I do what I do and you know and he
01:35:44
doesn't need to prove himself to you
01:35:45
damn it no and then and then when he
01:35:47
said take that Barbara Kel when he want
01:35:49
it I'm just like really oh did he yes
01:35:52
did he so so you you'd gone been gone
01:35:54
for weeks and weeks or yeah and then I
01:35:55
had the woman's weekly ring me up and
01:35:57
said would you and Mary like to get to I
01:35:59
said oh for goodness sake would you find
01:36:01
something that's much more newsworthy
01:36:03
than that I was just like really yeah
01:36:05
anyway oh God I know but that's that's
01:36:08
the world we live in you know and that's
01:36:10
the world that I try and not live in
01:36:12
because it's like actually I'd rather
01:36:13
just I don't do drama don't do drama at
01:36:17
all when you this sounds like a morbid
01:36:20
question but it's but it's actually not
01:36:21
I had had this guy on the podcast called
01:36:23
um Allen who's actually in Barcelona at
01:36:25
the moment with Team New Zealand okay
01:36:26
and he's like a coast to coast
01:36:27
multisport Legend and he did one of
01:36:29
those um overnight Adventure races and
01:36:31
Richie mcco was one of his teammates and
01:36:33
in the the Dark of the night when they
01:36:34
were climbing up this this hill um
01:36:36
Richie played a game with all his
01:36:37
teammates and he said um uh you what
01:36:40
three words you would you like to be
01:36:43
bounced around the roomed at your
01:36:45
funeral um so what would they be for you
01:36:48
well mine would definitely be definitely
01:36:51
be something around trailblazing mhm you
01:36:56
know really Paving the way um cuz that's
01:36:59
that's you know that's your that's why
01:37:01
we're here is that you make a path for
01:37:04
the others to come through and it's
01:37:05
easier you know and it's and they're
01:37:07
more Wise from the wisdom you know they
01:37:10
still have to make make their own
01:37:11
mistakes but there's a wisdom there that
01:37:13
you that that makes it easier for them
01:37:15
to reach self-actualization or whatever
01:37:17
it may be nana or whatever you know when
01:37:19
you get into Buddhism um the second
01:37:22
thing is um
01:37:24
something in in and around um positivity
01:37:28
and happiness you know Joy joyful laugh
01:37:33
good energy good vibe good Verve and
01:37:36
then
01:37:37
um it' be around
01:37:39
loyalty something around very loyal I've
01:37:42
always been very very loyal yeah that
01:37:45
great
01:37:46
words right that's awesome and I
01:37:48
wouldn't like people say oh you'll be
01:37:50
remembered that you were a competitor
01:37:51
and I'm like but I wasn't competive
01:37:54
against people I was just competitive
01:37:57
how far can I take this you know I get
01:38:00
the feeling you're still like that now
01:38:02
yeah yeah yeah that's tring you know
01:38:04
just trying your best everything you do
01:38:06
because 100 peren ISM has always been
01:38:09
and that's what I've really tried to
01:38:11
drill into my girls you know when you do
01:38:14
something give it everything that you've
01:38:16
got because you don't know how good
01:38:17
you're going to get if you don't you
01:38:19
know and just push the boundaries and
01:38:21
see where you can go with whatever you
01:38:22
do I love that that's a great message um
01:38:24
are you proud of yourself oh yeah yeah
01:38:27
yeah I really like how I am really um
01:38:30
and but you know when you it feel sounds
01:38:33
like I've had this most and I have most
01:38:35
this incredible life um but the real
01:38:39
character comes from when you've had to
01:38:41
go deep you know from things that don't
01:38:44
go so well you know you have to go
01:38:46
really deep and go right how do I pull
01:38:48
myself out of this one and and then work
01:38:50
out how to do it quick yeah so that
01:38:52
resilience so so dealing with adversity
01:38:55
and learning
01:38:56
resilience is crucial as a human what's
01:38:59
been the biggest adversities for you
01:39:01
well I reckon you know that the injury
01:39:04
in my WR that was nothing compared to
01:39:06
you know the
01:39:07
last it's been quite tough over the last
01:39:09
four years with covid and um parents
01:39:11
getting older health issues in and
01:39:15
around the family um my daughter got
01:39:17
really sick when she was overseas and
01:39:19
she was in America doing a water polo
01:39:21
scholarship those really stressful stuff
01:39:25
so doing an Olympic campaign is easy
01:39:27
when you start to have to deal with
01:39:29
emotional stuff and um you know other
01:39:33
life things that happen on your journey
01:39:35
and a lot of mine has been you know had
01:39:37
this beautiful pathway and a lot of it
01:39:39
has been plopped into the last four
01:39:41
years it's tough It's been
01:39:43
tough yeah I'm I'm in the same position
01:39:46
as you and that um both my parents are
01:39:48
still alive and well um but they're not
01:39:50
getting any younger no um so yeah you
01:39:53
and both we're going to have a [ __ ] to
01:39:54
deal with over the next 20 years that's
01:39:56
what life is meant to be you know it's
01:39:58
meant to be
01:39:59
like you know the good and the bad
01:40:02
they're all good because we're just
01:40:04
humans you know and you you're just
01:40:05
having all these experiences as a human
01:40:08
and you have these amazing experience
01:40:10
I've had like huge amazing experience I
01:40:12
just go I can't believe this it's very
01:40:14
surreal I always go into very third
01:40:16
person when I have these experiences cuz
01:40:18
I never buy into the ego never try not
01:40:21
to I sometimes do but very go wow look
01:40:23
at that happening to me this is really
01:40:26
freaky you know like having dinner with
01:40:29
a shake of Q8 in in Monaco or um
01:40:33
christening a cruise ship um the Pacific
01:40:35
Pearl and and being the bottle Smasher
01:40:38
and you know having a giraffe named
01:40:40
after you in the in the in the zoo and
01:40:43
you know stuff like that weird [ __ ]
01:40:45
random random stuff it's so awesome and
01:40:47
and you know or going to being a vice
01:40:49
president of Surfing and going on a jet
01:40:51
ski and being at the mouth of chopu
01:40:54
where it's spitting out way spitting out
01:40:56
as it's barreling and a surfer pops out
01:40:58
and you're right there looking at this
01:40:59
going I can't believe this is you know
01:41:01
this is my life and then you have these
01:41:03
other moments in life which are really
01:41:06
emotionally traumatic you know and um
01:41:10
and then dealing with the fact that
01:41:11
you've got no money in the bank and
01:41:12
you're having to pay rates at the age of
01:41:14
57 you're just like what the hell how
01:41:16
did I get here you know stuff like that
01:41:18
because it's choices that you've had to
01:41:20
make and and coming through so it's
01:41:22
colorful you know and you just deal with
01:41:24
it yeah and it is frustrating to hear
01:41:27
that that you can you be at the uh the
01:41:29
absolute your peak in the world and your
01:41:31
chosen sport for so many years and not
01:41:33
have sort of Financial Security at the
01:41:34
end of it it's disappointing well it it
01:41:36
isn't yes or no you can be asset reach
01:41:39
rich and and cash poor and that's what
01:41:41
we've got to you know we're asset Rich
01:41:44
um so we own our own house you know um
01:41:47
don't get me wrong we've done this
01:41:48
amazing thing but it's just been the
01:41:49
last few years been really really tough
01:41:51
just as you sort of transition and and
01:41:53
into the next thing and and so we could
01:41:56
sell but then that's that's sort of like
01:41:58
the next stage so it's just sort of
01:42:00
managing all those life managing life in
01:42:02
the different ages and stages that you
01:42:03
go
01:42:05
through don't got that's why I'm crazy I
01:42:08
like being a kid CU you don't have
01:42:10
responsibility you don't have to like
01:42:12
you know grow up and pay you know all
01:42:15
those things I just I just want to be a
01:42:17
child again yeah but you you find every
01:42:19
um like every every sort of chapter or
01:42:21
season of Life comes with its own sort
01:42:22
of expected challenges I'm I what I am
01:42:25
enjoying Now is slowing down a little
01:42:27
bit and I'm really good at sitting on
01:42:28
the couch now and watching
01:42:31
television I don't know I'm calling
01:42:33
[ __ ] on that you you st me as a lady
01:42:36
that is um going to continue to live
01:42:37
life at 100 miles hour yeah well I think
01:42:40
that's how you do it and then and then
01:42:41
when it's time to go you go real fast
01:42:43
that's what I'd like just you know I
01:42:45
wouldn't wish you know like not trying
01:42:47
to send it out there but not manifesting
01:42:49
I won't be a very good
01:42:51
patient you know what I mean an
01:42:53
impatient patient yes yeah well Dame
01:42:56
barbar Kendall we're manifesting a touch
01:42:59
what I don't really what would what
01:43:01
would that
01:43:02
do well I don't know well it's
01:43:06
deserved validation would it mean
01:43:08
anything would it change you no but yeah
01:43:10
anyway it's you know I like if I was you
01:43:13
it would hurt me if there was someone
01:43:15
that I in my mind I'm not going to name
01:43:17
any names but got you know got a nigh
01:43:19
Hood ahead of me when I thought I
01:43:20
deserved it more but anyway yeah I don't
01:43:22
know it's all different you know I I'm
01:43:26
it is what it is ages and stages and in
01:43:28
in different phases in in in in cultural
01:43:32
awareness and all that sort of stuff so
01:43:34
there's there's different
01:43:36
reasons well title or no title you are a
01:43:39
kiwi Legion there's no doubt about it
01:43:40
it's been so good to meet with you today
01:43:42
thank you so much for your time yeah
01:43:43
thank you it's been it's been it's
01:43:45
always good to tell a story I love a
01:43:46
good story yeah is it nice to reflect
01:43:49
yeah it is it is actually um and there's
01:43:52
some things you can say in some things
01:43:53
she can't so yeah it has been good
