One of the coaches says that tension is the enemy of fast swimming. So it’s all about being relaxed and swimming fast. And like you said, with that kickboard drill, it just gives you a chance to really reach your arm out in front of you and make sure it goes all the way under the kickboard before you pull. And you realize how much length you’re missing out in the front if you’re just pulling straight down. Welcome to the Effortless Swimming Podcast to show that help swimmers and triathletes love the water, become a better swimmer and live a better life. Here’s your host, Brenton Ford. Welcome to the Effortless Swimming Podcast. And I guess today is Kei Malboten, who’s just returned from Tokyo. You recently placed sixth in the 800 and the 1500 freestyle. So first of all, welcome back, congratulations and how are you feeling? Yeah, thank you. It’s a bit weird. We were just talking before we started how you come from this big hive

being at your best in the Olympic Village and I’m now sitting in quarantine and in a little room and can go on my balcony. And that’s about it. So it’s a bit of a weird feeling, but it’s good. Yeah, I mean, those those listening who aren’t from Australia, basically every time you come back into the country, you’ve got a quarantine for two weeks. So you’re kind of stuck in a small room, but then you’ll be free to go as you like, which would be nice. I’m sure you’re looking forward to seeing your family after what was probably one of the best experiences of your life. Yeah, for sure. I’m definitely looking forward to getting home. I think Mum and my partner Conor are eagerly waiting for me, counting down the days. So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to being home. I’ve been away for about two months, maybe a little bit longer. So, yeah, definitely looking forward to being home. And tell me about, yeah, about the racing over there.

So, I mean, you’ve raced common games where you had a crowd, you’ve raced world champs. How did they compare to that with very little crowd and without as much of the fanfare as you would have had in previous competitions? Yeah, it was it was a bit of a weird feeling. We were kind of told before, you know, be aware there will be no crowd. There’ll be no cheering. Definitely won’t be as loud as what some of the other meets we’ve been to. But honestly, when you’re walking out on pool deck, you don’t don’t even register that there’s no crowd. You’re so nervous and your heart rate’s so high and you’re so ready to race that you don’t even notice what’s going on. And by the end of the meet, there were so many Aussies in the stands. There are so many other countries in the stands. The athletes are making so much noise. So I think it really brought a good atmosphere to the pool. Obviously, it was disappointing that not everyone could be there.

And I’m sure the Japanese would have loved to be there. If the circumstances were different, they loved their swimming and it would have been a really cool atmosphere. But I think the athletes definitely made the best of what we could.

And what about in terms of the heats at night finals in the morning? I know you’ve sort of prepared for that. But how did that feel for you in terms of racing? Did it impact your performance? Was there anything noticeable on that front? Yeah, it was a bit of a struggle, I think across the board. Obviously, we had people some great morning swims, but across the board, the heats were super fast. It was taking really, really fast times to make the final. I know in my eight, I snuck into the final seventh, going 8, 20 and 8, 18. Ended up getting a bronze in the final in the morning. So it was just really fast to get into those finals and it really put the pressure on in the heats, which makes it quite difficult when you’re a distance, so am I, doing that four to 1500 and you have to be in that top eight. So yeah, it was really fast in the heats and in the finals you’d have maybe top forward go faster and then top forward end up going slower just with that turnaround.

But yeah, it definitely adds another element to it. We did practice it and we did train for it. Our nationals was like that. We did our heats at night in our finals in the morning, but it definitely impacts it. But yeah, I mean, it just made the heats super fast and it just made it a lot harder to get into the finals. It was amazing watching the heats because even, especially those events, even the ones that had semis as well, they were going so quick to make the, you know, to qualify for the semis that it’s just like, well, this is almost like a final with how quick they’re going. And obviously no one wanted to miss out. And so they’re all just going for it every single race. And it seemed really challenging to be able to build your, build your swims where you progressively get faster. I mean, we saw a couple of people do it. I think Kaylee was able to maybe do it in the 100 backstroke, but it looked very challenging to do for most people.

Yeah, I don’t think you realise at night you just get up and you swim fast anyway. There’s not many people that can get up and swim at night at an Olympic heat and just cruise through. So everyone’s kind of putting the pressure on anyway. And then I don’t think you realise how fast you’re swimming once you’re in the race. So yeah, it made for some really fast heat swims. And how about the, so from trials, you leading into trials, were you expecting to make the team or was it something that you thought that if I swim well, I know I’m going to make it? How are you feeling leading into trials? I’m fortunate enough to be ranked fairly highly across the four, eight and the 15. So I had a few shots at making the team. There’s so many girls that I’m competing against to make the team. It was kind of my goal to make the team. It definitely wasn’t something that I could cruise through and just swim OK. And then beyond the team, I was had to be at my very, very best.

And the 400 I was stirred at trials and that kind of knocked me around a little bit. It was a PB, but to just miss the team on the first day, I had to get my head back in the game. And then obviously 1500, that was a tight race the whole way. And I just managed to get my hand on the wall before the other girl next to me and qualified in the 15. And then so by the time I got to the eight, I was so much more relaxed and all the pressure kind of came off and I was able to get in. And so I’m a really good 800. So yeah, I definitely it was definitely like a big goal of mine just to make the team. It wasn’t like, oh, let’s just go to trials, get on the team and then focus on the Olympics. The focus was probably definitely on trials. And then was it four or six weeks in between trials and Olympics? It was about five weeks, I think that five weeks at home. Yeah, a week at home. And then we went away to Cairns. That’s right.

And and how is how is that preparing again? Do you prefer having a bigger gap in between where we used to have like a couple of months between trials and then Olympics? What do you think you’re better suited to? I think I’ve sung off both. I had a bit of a bit of trouble with this five week turnaround at Worlds in 2019. I ended up not something very well at Worlds. And then the week later in the World Cup, I swam PBs in almost every single race. So I mean, we had that to work off. And I think in that five week period, you’re not going to really build any fitness, you’re not really going to build any strength. It’s just about maintaining and getting back into a little bit of work and really resting. And as a distance, some of that can be quite hard to trust the process of resting to cut down on your case so much. But I mean, I sang well, I did big PBs at trials in the 800 and then to come back in and be right on that are very close to that

at the Olympics. I mean, that’s all you can ask for. It’s rare that someone gets up and does a big PB at the Olympics. So to be right on my best times after I just dropped again five weeks ago, I was pretty happy with it. Well, there’s so much that goes into the Olympics, isn’t there? Like you’ve got the travel, you’ve got you’re not staying at home or you’re not staying in an environment is probably as as comfortable as you used to. There’s different food. There’s so much other stuff that you’ve got to manage. And do you feel like that’s part of the reason why it is hard to hit PBs at a meet like the Olympics? Yeah, I think so. I also think that being at the Olympics, it’s not so much necessarily on time. I think you go to like trials or a nationals and everyone’s focused on PBs and swimming their own race. Whereas at an Olympic, it’s it’s just getting your hand on the wall in front of the person next to you.

No one really cares about what time they’re swimming. So especially in heats, I kind of knew I was sitting in the pool and was just making sure I was top three, top four in my heat. And then finals, you just get in and you just race and you just write in the person next to you. I don’t think people focus so much on times.

And and with your racing, how did you feel when you were there? Like the first the first race that you did, which is the 800, how do you feel in the heat? Did you feel like because sometimes when you get to a meet, you have that first race, it’s like, yep, I’m on. Or it’s like, OK, I’ve got a little bit of work to do. Where are we at in that first one? Yeah, the first race was my 1500 heat. So I don’t do as much work for the 1500 as I do for the eight. I kind of like get away with it a little bit nationally. I have a big distance background. So it’s something that I’ve kind of just kept in my program, but it’s something that I don’t really necessarily focus on. So I got into the heat. I think I just snuck under 16 minutes. I was kind of hoping to do a big PB. I thought that maybe it was like my time to do a PB. So that was a bit of a shock. But then to turn around and do another 1500 a day and a half later,

that really took it out of me that I was had three K of racing before I got to my 800. And like I like I said, before I couldn’t just cruise a 1500 and be in the final, like it was a max 1500 in the heats and then to get up and do it again. So that was pretty hard. It was pretty hard to recover from that 4800. But it is what it is. And a lot of people were in the same boat as me. So and then to make the finals, was that a surprise to you? Or you were, yeah, what were you thinking going in? Because I mean, imagine it’s pretty hard to kind of know where you’re at internationally, especially over the last 18 months, right? When there’s hardly any competitions, and it’s just you’re kind of going in a little bit blind to what your competition is doing. Yeah, for sure. I think the 1500 final that was just an added bonus for me. I didn’t really think I would make that. I knew the field would be super competitive.

But like you said, we haven’t had that many big international competitions. So a lot of those times that the girls had posted were from 2019. And obviously we were racing in 2021. So you don’t really know where everyone’s at. And then to sneak into the final, that was a huge added bonus. I was in the outside lane for both my finals, which I don’t like. And I kind of said to my coach after just wait till the day that I can get myself in one of the middle lanes where I can get in and race everyone, but I was just happy to make finals. Yeah, absolutely. And with the

like the the racing over there, I mean, it seemed as though with the crowd that I didn’t know if they’re putting in fake crowd noises or not on the TV because it sounded pretty loud, you know, what watching on on TV. Was it was it fairly loud over there because I’m still I still don’t know whether they’ve added the fake crowd noise like they do for the footy. Yeah, I don’t know if they I don’t think noises or not. But it was actually pretty loud. The Americans had those little like blow up, clappy things that you hit together. And the Russians had horns and cowbells and, you know, everyone was cheering in your home so there’s a pretty good atmosphere for finals.

Yeah, that’s that’s awesome. And was it was a difficult like trying to sleep at night before the finals? Because I would feel as though if you qualify a heat in the morning, you’ve got the day like you’re nervous and you might want to try and go and have a nap and stuff. But then to be able to have to get up and try and sleep at night to and be ready for a phone in the morning. To me, I feel like I would get no sleep at all. How did you go at night? It’s definitely difficult. I think our assistance guys, we were in a little bit of a better boat because we do our heat at night and then we have a whole day off. And then the final would be the next morning. So we actually get two sleeps. But I know like, well, most of the team, they don’t get that luxury of having two sleeps. And it’s definitely hard to sleep at night when you’re coming down from swimming so fast at night. And you’ve got adrenaline, caffeine, and then you’re trying to get in

and recover knowing that you have to swim fast the next morning. You also have to be early up early enough before you race. So yeah, there’s a lot of different things that go into it. But yeah, it’s definitely hard to wind down after a heat swim when it’s that way. Yeah, I can imagine. And with the Olympics being postponed a year, do you feel like it helped you or hinted you with the extension?

I think I was I was in a very good spot. In 2019, the start of 2020, I mean, I was training well and I was producing good times. But I think the delaying of it might have actually helped me. I think I’ve got a got a bit more of a confidence boost and a bit more of motivation to get back in and train. I put all in this put put in all this hard work during quarantine. And I kind of thought, well, like I’ve got to do this for a reason. I have to have something that motivates me and making the team was definitely that. And I think doing all those extra things, those dry land stuff and running and extra gym, I think it definitely paid off in the long run for sure.

And it seems as though the team in terms of the Australian team got on really well. It seemed like an amazing environment and culture to be a part of. And and sometimes one or two people can make or break how a team really sort of gels together. But it seemed that way from the outside. And that’s kind of what we heard being reported. Was that the case on the inside that everyone that was just a really great team to be a part of this year? Yeah, 100 percent. This is probably one of the best teams I’ve been on. There’s I think everyone here is friends and everyone here gets along. And I think that makes a huge difference. Like you said, there’s often individuals that can make or break a team environment. And we just didn’t have that in that case. And it did make a huge difference. You come back for a marshaling and it didn’t matter if you’d want a gold medal or just some heat and didn’t make a final. Everyone was welcoming you back and everyone there had your back.

And no matter what you were doing, if you were in the village by yourself in the afternoon, you can send a message into our group chat and say, Oh, does anyone want to come get dinner with me? And you’d have someone to walk you over to the dining hall and you just have someone around you all the time. And we put a lot of effort into that in the past three years. The our leaders like our leadership group has put a lot of effort into everyone getting along together and the support and the camaraderie between the group. And I just think it’s really paid off. And obviously, the public is starting to see it as like as we get a bit more results and they’re starting to see that everyone’s getting along really well. And it’s just a really good group. So I think that’s something that’s really positive for us for moving forward as well.

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I was really impressed when I used them. And I use them for a vast majority of the sessions that I’m currently doing. To find out more about the form swim goggles, go to formswim.com. And you can use our coupon code effortless at checkout and save $15 off your order. Back to the podcast. And who’s part of the leadership group? Is that swimmers or coaches or both? Yeah, so we have a swimmer leadership group. So that’s made up of, I hope I don’t forget anyone here,

Bronte Campbell, Jess Hansen, Alex Graham, Mitch Larkin, Kate Campbell. So they get together, I think they said, like once every two or three weeks, and sit down and discuss ways to help improve the team. And they just, they spend a good amount of time while we’re away and making sure that everyone gets along. And they put on like little things for us to do, like games nights and trivia shows. And just making sure that everyone’s, if you finish racing, you’re up there supporting people. And, you know, just making sure that everyone has each other’s back and holding each other accountable.

Yeah, that’s great. Is it something that they’ve done in the past with that? They’ve had a leadership group of swimmers? Yeah, they’ve done it in the past, but I think over the past three years, they’ve just really highlighted how important it is and how much of a difference it makes on the team. And I think we really saw it this year, that when you have a good leadership group and that when everyone does get along, it does make a huge difference on performance. And once you get those performances, you can just carry that momentum day after day after day. And when you’re doing a nine day meet, you want to get to that ninth day, that final day of relays in the morning and have everyone in the stands cheering on those guys. And I mean, we had one of our best sessions in the pool that morning. So I think that just goes to show.

Yeah, that was amazing watching that. How was it in the stands watching that stuff, watching that stuff live? Yeah, it was good. So I didn’t get into the stands until I finished my 800 final and I ran straight back up into the stands and watched the rest of the finals for that day. And then obviously the last day of finals, Emma won her 53 and the girls won the medley really. And I don’t think I’ve ever screamed so loudly in my life watching Kate swim that 100 freestyle of that relay. And I was next to Bronte and she was grabbing me and we were just jumping up and down and everyone was jumping up and down. And I actually turned to me and said, I think I’m more nervous to watch the final than I was to swim my 400 free. So that just goes to show how much we all care and support each other and just want everyone else to do well as well as ourselves.

It was, I don’t think I’ve ever screamed at the TV so much either. That was just, it was such an amazing race, the girls four by one medley and for Kate as well, and I remember hearing her when she was interviewed, she said, she’s a bit disappointed with her 50 and she said, you find out who you are when the chips are down and it’s like, all right. And she certainly showed that. And I think the splits were like almost a second quicker. The change over times were like a second quicker than the US team or close to it. And that’s what got them over the line in the end, which is unexpected really compared to the US team. But just the grit and determination that she showed in that last 50 was incredible to watch. And I think there’s quite a few races actually over the course of the last, over the nine days that you’d look, it’s very hard to put one over the other. There was so many great swims like that from the Aussies.

Yeah, for sure. And I think that just kind of summed up the Aussies in this whole meet, you know. Like Kate came off the back of a disappointing 50 and then got in and did the 100 of their life and got those girls across the line. And I think that happened a lot during the meet.

MC Bong got an individual medal in our fourth Olympics and then stood on the podium and handed the gold medal to Kaylee. And I think that just goes to show what our team’s like. Zach Starrty cooks swimming over everyone on the last 50 of the 200 breaststroke. Yeah, I think it just showed what Aussies are like in a pool. And yeah, it was just a really good meet for everyone. Yeah, totally. And in terms of your training, so just a general overview of what a typical week would look like for you, what is it? How many swims, how many Ks are you usually doing in dry land and that kind of stuff? Yeah, so 10 swim sessions a week. So they usually like two, maybe two and a half hours. I don’t, I rarely go over 70 K a week. These days, I used to do a lot more when I was younger, but we’ve kind of pulled it back a bit as I focus a bit more on my speed stuff. So 70 is about my max. I’d usually hover between 60 to 65 K a week.

I’m in the gym three times a week, spin once or twice a week, a circuit once a week. Yeah, it ends up being a pretty big training week, but when you’re a distance swimmer, that’s just how it is. Yeah, that’s exactly right. It’s really funny actually watching, like with the distance guys and middle distance swimmers. It’s like, you know, you’re really there and it’s a full on swim. And then I was watching the 50s on the last day and like watching some of the specialists, like you’ve got Bruno and you’ve got like Crowded Joe, Crowded Joe and some of those just 50 specialists. That’s all they do. It’s like as a middle to long distance swim myself. It’s just, I could not imagine just going to the pool for 20, 21 seconds and that’s it. And that’s all you’re trying for. It was just, it was funny watching that compared to what you guys do. Yeah, it’s funny when you get talking to them as well and about their training.

And I train with Cam McEvoy and he does 50 hundred. So I see him get in the pool and then get out of the pool and I’ve still got my seven, six K session to go. But I mean, some of those guys that literally just do the 53, I think they swim about eight to 10 K for the whole week in the lead up to their 53. Most of the distance guards can cover that in about a session. So yeah, it’s a bit more different training, but obviously a lot of hard work goes into it for them too, especially out of the pool.

Yeah, yeah, true. And I mean, there’s got to be something that you really enjoy about distance swimming, being a distance swimmer. I mean, it’s, I don’t know, for me, when I’m, when I’ve been training well and training hard, like there’s just a, there’s a real kick out of when you’re fit and being able to hit your times and hit your paces and that feeling that you get. Like what is it, what is it for you that you like about it? No, no, I definitely agree with you. I know exactly what you’re talking about when you can get in and swim those really fast times over and over again and you’re just clicking, like clocking them over and continuously hitting those fast times. It’s kind of a weird feeling and hard to describe, but I definitely know what you’re talking about. I think there’s that element to it for me for sure, but I also love doing things that others wouldn’t be doing. Like I love getting these big sessions

and being like, oh yeah, I can do that and knowing that like half the squad would be like, there’s no way I would ever do that if someone put that in front of me. And I think it’s a challenge that comes with being a distance swimmer that I enjoy for sure. Yeah. And is there, there’s some favorite sets that you have or maybe some of the hardest sets that you did in the lead up to the trials or to the Olympics that still do you mind? There’s a few that we do all the time. So between trials and Olympics, we kind of repeated exactly what we did before trials just so we could compare and we knew it would be the same kind of lead in. We do a set that’s two broken 1500s. So it was, it’s a dive 300 on 430 and then 12 ones on, I think it’s 130. Then we get a little bit of loosen, jump out, put our suits on and do the exact same thing again. So two broken 1500s, that’s a pretty big set. We do 50s on 40, trying to hit 800 pace.

So that’s like trying to hit 30 points on 40.

Yeah. A lot of race specific work

comes into it in those last five weeks. A lot of 150s at pace.

Yeah. And I’m guessing in there, further out from competition, are you doing some, just more sort of aerobic base sessions, is it? And it’s just as you get close, you start to do more and more of those race pace ones. Yeah. So definitely like the further we are out from competition, the more you get to like your 10-4s or your 6-800s descending rep times and things like that, where you’re just not plotting up and down. That’s the real way to put it, but you’re swimming at like a threshold pace for a very long period of time and you’re just building this big base of fitness. You have this big base and then when you get to the competition, you’re at like this tiny little peak of trying to hit race speed and race speed with good technique. And that’s what all you’re working on for the past five weeks, but you have this big base of endurance work behind you.

And what are you hitting for, like your broken 1500, the 300 and then the 100, is what pace is here when you’re swimming well, where you’re at? So the dive 300, we’re trying to be under 310. So around 309-ish, 308 is a pretty good first 300. And then the hundreds, I think Maddie and I, a few of the sessions are holding like 61s on the hundreds, which is almost getting down to about 800 paces. But yeah, I mean, it’s sessions like that, that give you a bit of confidence when you’re behind the blocks. And you know, like if I can hit 61s for the 30, 100s, then surely I can swim the 1500, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that’s right. And what about technique? Is there anything that you’ve worked on over the past couple of years with your stroke? Or is there something recently that you’ve been working on? And how do you go about working on your stroke? Because it’s, I mean, because you’re doing so much training, it seems as though it’s a lot about just thinking about it as you’re swimming and just checking in every now and then and keeping it front of mind as you’re going through these sets. So yeah, where is it for you in terms of technique? What do you focus on? Yeah, I think the hardest thing when you’re trying to fix technique is constantly being reminded of it. And when you’re a distance swimmer, it’s very easy to get in and swim in 7K session and not think and just kind of black out while you’re swimming and not think about it. But I do try to spend a lot of time focusing on my stroke. I have quite a long stroke

compared to a lot of the distant swimmers in the pool. They’re quite choppy and short and spin their arms over and rate a bit higher. But I tend to use the length of my stroke so that means I have to have a really high catch at the front of the stroke and I have to push through all the way at the back. And I really struggle to maintain that in early season. It takes a lot of strength. And then as I rest, I can really see the length come through. But for me, it’s all about just having that high elbow and pulling the water at the very front of my catch and not letting that slip and then making sure I can hold that length all the way through my stroke.

Are there any particular drills or maybe dry land things that you do to help with it? I love my single arm freestyle. It’s very simple, but it makes a huge difference. Not only being in the catch position but keeping your hips still, which is another huge thing for me is not rotating my hips all over the place.

As one where you have like a kickboard out in front of you and your hands are on top of the kickboard and again, single arm, but as your hand enters, your hand comes under the kickboard so you can really feel yourself getting the full length.

I also do a lot of single arm butterfly as well, just for length and rhythm.

High elbow freestyle just in that catch position, really letting myself relax over the top. Which I think makes a huge difference in distance swimming. If you can be relaxed when you’re coming over the water, then you can use a less energy to pull and you’re not wasting any extra energy.

Yeah, so that last one, you’re kicking on the side, you’re bringing your arm through. Yeah, so it’s just a normal freestyle stroke. Just a normal freestyle stroke and then you’re pausing in that catch position with your elbow up as high as you can. Just letting yourself recover and relax and then flinging your arm forward. But it’s just all about being relaxed in that recovery and as relaxed as possible and then as soon as your hand hits the water for that catch, you’re ready to go again. Yeah, that’s good. It’s something that where I work a lot with adults who have maybe been swimming for one or two years and what we often see is they’re very tense over the top and so it’s good to get them to, it’s called recovery because you want to be relaxed and recovering over the top of the water. So with the hand and forearm, if you can just sort of switch that off and keep it loose, it can help you apply the power where it’s actually necessary,

which is under the water. So it’s good to hear that. And I think with that kickboard draw you’re talking about as well, with adults that we work with, often they’re very short, like they don’t almost like rotate forwards, they just sort of pull straight through. So if you can get that length out the front, it makes a big difference. But I think the tendency is there to just want to enter the water and pull straight through because they think you’ve got to get straight into the propulsive part but you actually need that length out the front like you’re talking about. Yeah, for sure. One of the coaches says that tension is the enemy of fast swimming. So it’s all about being relaxed and swimming fast. And like you said with that kickboard draw, that just gives you a chance to really reach your arm out in front of you and make sure it goes all the way under the kickboard before you pull and you realize how much length

you’re missing out in the front if you’re just pulling straight down.

I like that. Yeah, the tension is the enemy of fast swimming, did you say? So it’s so true in like every sport, isn’t it? It’s like it’s that very fine balance between like exerting yourself and working hard but being able to stay relaxed as you do it. And I think that’s sort of going back to what we were talking about earlier about one of the appeals of say distance swimming. It’s like it’s when you’re right at that that limit where it’s like you’re almost at sort of top revs but you know you can just sit there and you can hold it. And when you do a good session you’ve been able to do it. It’s there’s something very peaceful about it as well. So it’s yeah, there’s something to it. Yeah, it’s weird. I think it’s maybe it’s similar to like a run as high that they get when all the dolphins kick in. But yeah, like you said, and there’s something special about those sessions where you dive into the water and you just feel amazing

and you just keep pushing out these amazing times and reps and while feeling relaxed. And yeah, if you can do it while feeling relaxed it makes a huge difference.

And you’ve got quite a few good, quite a few good swimmers in your squad. So how many others from your squad made the team? Yeah, so we had five Olympians come out of TSS which is a pretty huge achievement. I think, I think St. Peter’s got us by one but that’s all right. To have five is pretty, pretty huge. And yeah, our coach Chris would have been pretty happy with that.

I can imagine. And how long have you been at TSS for? So I have been something at TSS since I was about nine or 10 years old. I’m now 24. So it’s been a very long time and I’ve moved up through the coaches there. And it’s been a great club for me and I’ve really developed as a swimmer there. And Chris, I was there swimming as a young star in the 25 meter pool and Chris had his British boys over. He used to coach in Great Britain so he’d bring these boys over and they’d go to school and swim out of TSS. So he’s kind of been a part of my journey ever since I was young.

Yeah, it’s been really good to go to the Olympics with him and feel like it’s been a long time coming for us.

Yeah, that’s fantastic. And looking forward, so when you do get home you’re taking some time off and then getting back into it or what’s the next six to 12 months look like for you? Yeah, I’ll definitely take some time off. I think I need a bit of rest to try and recover and get my mind back into it. I know we have two weeks up here in quarantine but that’s not quite the break that I want. So I’ll have some time off and see family and friends and maybe go have a long weekend somewhere. Yeah, I haven’t planned anything yet but I will be definitely having some time off and then, yeah, it’s straight back into hard work. I think World Championships trials are in April so we don’t really have that much time.

Yeah, it’ll be straight back into hard work.

But you’ve definitely earned your break so congratulations on your Olympic results and thanks very much for joining me on the podcast. It’s been great to hear it from the inside because obviously all we’ve seen is from the TV basically but it’s amazing to see the Aussies back to where they were in the early 2000s with results and team spirit and all of that so it’s been great to see. So thanks for joining me on the podcast. Thanks so much for having me. Thanks for listening to the Effortless Swimming podcast. If you’d like us to help you become a faster, more efficient swimmer, go to www.effortlesswimming.com.