{"id":282710,"date":"2023-04-02T00:31:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T00:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=282710"},"modified":"2023-04-02T16:00:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T16:00:57","slug":"probably-regret-it-stars-huge-olympics-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=282710","title":{"rendered":"'Probably regret it': Star's huge Olympics call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bronte Campbell<\/a> will seek to add her name to one of the most exclusive lists in sport, after deciding to chase a spot on the national team for next year's Paris Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Only four Australian swimmers, her sister Cate, Emily Seebohm<\/a>, Libby Trickett and Dawn Fraser have won gold medals at three different Olympics.<\/p>\n

When Wide World of Sports pointed out she could find herself part of that group in July 2024, Campbell was momentarily blown away.<\/p>\n

\ufeffLIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Latest news and results from Australian Grand Prix<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sheens takes dig at own team as Tigers woes worsen\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> AFL world divided over umpire's harsh call\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"Woah," she said, before pausing briefly.<\/p>\n

"That's a very short list. Is that everyone?<\/p>\n

"I'd never really thought of that. It's pretty incredible. It's a great list and I'd \ufefflove to have my name on it."<\/p>\n

Campbell hasn't competed since the Tokyo Olympics<\/a> in 2021, having decided to take a much needed break from the sport.<\/p>\n

Part of the gold medal winning 4×100 metres freestyle relay team<\/a> in both Rio and Tokyo, she needed time away to decide whether or not she wanted to take a shot at qualifying for Paris, a decision she confirmed on Nine's Sports Sunday<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"A lot of my friends have been telling me they're looking forward to my comeback, but I never actually said I was retired," she explained to Wide World of Sports prior to the announcement.<\/p>\n

"I purposely didn't do that. \ufeffAfter the Tokyo Olympics I really needed a break, to do something different with my life other than swimming. It was an all-consuming thing for 21 years.<\/p>\n

"It was not just my mind that needed the break, but also my body. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"I took the 18 months, and to be honest I flipped between, 'Yeah, I can't wait to swim again' to, 'Wow, life without training every day is quite good'."<\/p>\n

Stream every heat & final of the National Age & Australian Swimming Championships exclusive, live and free on<\/em><\/strong> 9Now<\/em><\/strong><\/a> from April 7-20. For tickets go to<\/em><\/strong> swimming.org.au<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Life without training meant a 9-5 job for the first time in her life, taking on a business consulting role with Ernst & Young in Sydney and feeling like a "normal person".<\/p>\n

"It was great to experience that and figure out what I wanted to do," the 28-year-old explained.<\/p>\n

"But if I want to go to Paris this is the time I have to make that call.<\/p>\n

\"Bronte<\/p>\n

"There's still a little part of me that thought, 'I want to see what can happen \ufeffif I apply everything I've ever learnt in my career and see where that gets me to.'<\/p>\n

"That break means all my injuries are in a good state, the main driver for me, apart from the fact I love it, is the curiosity of what might happen this time around. If I didn't scratch that itch I'd probably regret it."<\/p>\n

Not only are the physical aches and pains gone, mentally Campbell has a fresh approach as well.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"It definitely does give you a new perspective, taking the time away," she said.<\/p>\n

"That perspective comes with taking a step back and realising it's not all about getting upset because one training session doesn't go very well, which \ufeffI had a tendency to do.<\/p>\n

"Now I can see the bigger picture, and the extra bit of perspective is that I realise I actually do have a choice to do this. Before, I kind of always knew I had a choice of whether to swim or not, but it didn't feel like that. It felt like I had to swim.<\/p>\n

\"Bronte<\/p>\n

"Now I'm making the choice to do it again, which also means I can make the choice to stop at any time. \ufeffIt's a very small distinction but it makes a big difference."<\/p>\n

Getting back into training meant returning to the pool at the Cranbrook school in Sydney, and the dreaded early morning wake up calls.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"You know what, the alarm is at 4.45am and I haven't got up this early for a very long time. It's too early," she joked.<\/p>\n

"Before when I was training as a senior \ufeffathlete you got to get up a little bit later, because you don't need to train around school time. But at the moment, because I've been training with a school program it's back to getting up at 4:45.<\/p>\n

"That's not morning, by the way. 4:45 is the middle of the night, lets be clear on that!<\/p>\n

"That's the bit I don't like. It never gets better."<\/p>\n

Campbell's long-time coach, Simon Cusack, has moved into a new role mentoring younger coaches, which means Campbell will now work with Shannon Rollason, who previously coached Jodie Henry and Alice Mills.<\/p>\n

And despite being a two-time Olympic gold medallist, Campbell realises this is a whole new start.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I don't want to swim again and rely on what I did in the past," she said.<\/p>\n

\"Bronte<\/p>\n

"Swimming's not like that anyway. In my event\ufeff, you've got to be amongst the best in the world just to qualify for a relay team, given the depth and quality of the 100 metres freestyle swimmers in this country.<\/p>\n

"I want to do better. \ufeffMy goal is to break new ground. I'm not just phoning this in.<\/p>\n

"This time I can explore \ufeffthings a bit deeper, and I'm really interested by that. That's the goal, not to just do the same things again."<\/p>\n

The depth in the 100 metres freestyle that Campbell references means there's a chance that 15 months of work could count for nothing, and she might find herself watching the Paris Olympics from afar if she doesn't make the team.<\/p>\n

"I'm 100 per cent prepared for that," she said, when asked if she'd contemplated the possibility of not qualifying.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI want to do this, regardless of results. I want to do this because of the things I'm going to learn along the way. It's the curiosity that's driving me.<\/p>\n

"The result doesn't actually justify the means of getting there. \ufeffI've had preparations in the past where I absolutely hated it, but I ended up getting a good result.<\/p>\n

"I'm embarking on this knowing that my injuries could flare up at any time, \ufeffand it could be a case of, I thought I could do this but I can't. I'm very much aware that could happen.<\/p>\n

"Success is possible, but so is failure.<\/p>\n

"That's scary, but \ufeffit's also very invigorating."<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeff<\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bronte Campbell will seek to add her name to one of the most exclusive lists in sport, after deciding to chase a spot on the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282710"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282712,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282710\/revisions\/282712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}