MONEY
In 2008, aged 16, you were the youngest Australian ever to win an Olympic medal in diving. Does being in the public eye for so long mean you’re rich? No. Being an athlete in a very small sport in Australia definitely does not mean you’re rich. You also don’t see big sponsorship deals the way you used to, especially now there’s social media [fragmenting the market].
So take me through the pie chart of how you earn money. As well as being a diver, you also coach and co-own a gym. Am I missing anything? I also have my own activewear label, Havok, which is a fairly recent development. It’s not necessarily intended to support myself now, it’s more like my plan for when I eventually retire. I’m glad I had jobs to fall back on because this past year, due to COVID-19, we didn’t get to compete. You don’t necessarily get paid to dive unless you win competitions.
To clarify: if you don’t win, you get nothing? It depends. We get assistance from the Australian Institute of Sport, but it’s based on previous results. That’s pretty much the only money I earn as an athlete. You basically have to have a paid job to just survive as an athlete.
That strikes me as brutal. Because if you’re having a rough patch and not getting the results, you don’t get money to help you get better. Exactly. It becomes a cycle. If you have a bad year, that’s another year that you have to make it on your own.
Loading
What a hustle! Have you ever considered quitting? I have, but not seriously. I keep the big picture in mind.
If I gave you $100 and you had to spend it on yourself in the next hour, what would you buy? All the Nurofen and Voltaren!
BODIES
What does a life of competitive diving do to your body – for better and worse? I’ve had pretty much every injury under the sun, but I’m lucky that I haven’t had – touch wood – anything major that’s put me out of the Australian squad. I’ve had a pretty long career considering I dive off the 10-metre platform, which is particularly hard on the body – hence the Nurofen and Voltaren.
You dive off 10-metre platforms. You’re clearly not scared of heights. Are you scared of anything? Actually, I might be scared of heights. Not to dive off, but whenever I go really high – like waiting for a slide at the water park – it’s not very comfortable. So I’m not great with heights, which is funny.
There’s our headline: “Ten-metre platform diver afraid of heights!” You don’t think 10 metres is high? It’s high, but it’s only 10 metres. I wouldn’t skydive or bungee-jump or put myself in a situation where I had to be any higher than that.
How many hours a day, and how many days a week, do you train? We’re talking six days a week, roughly 51⁄2 hours a day.
Tell me about your tattoos. I’ve got the Olympic rings tattooed on my leg, which everyone’s seen. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to get them as hearts instead of circles the night before. Then I’ve got one across my left ribs that says, “Only as much as I dream can I be.” It’s a reminder that my only limitation is myself.
What else can you do with your body besides diving? I come from a family of weightlifters and I won state championships a couple of years ago: I snatched 40 [kilograms], clean-and-jerked 50. Which is not very impressive in weightlifting. But hey, I’m a diver.
To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.
The best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Sign up here.
Source: | This article originally belongs to smh.com.au
ncG1vNJzZmhqZGy7psPSmqmorZ6Zwamx1qippZxemLyue82erqxnn6HGrrzInGSdoaaav265xKWgrKuRYsS2ecimZKenpGK0s7HArWSwoaSdeqmxyKCfratf