October 15, 2025 • 29 mins
Lizzie Eastham and Sam Rickard present Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.
This week’s episode is dedicated to Mark Davies and Kieran Modra; two Paralympian who left us way too soon.
On this week’s show
“The Winner is... Sydeny!”
With the 25th anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Paralympics being celebrated at the Sydney Opera House on 18th October, we talk to three Paralympians about their experiences in the lead up to the Games; and during the event itself.
We also look ahead to Brisbane 2032.
Anthony Clarke is a Five-Time Paralympian. You can find out more about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Clarke_(judoka)
Jodi Willis-Roberts competed in both Goalball and Athletics over six Paralympics; you can learn more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodi_Willis-Roberts
Malcolm Bennett competed in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2014 as a Middle Distance Runner with Cerebral Palsy. Find out mere here: https://www.paralympic.org/malcolm-bennett
You can learn more about he athletes this show is dedicated to here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Davies_(athlete)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieran_Modra
Studio 1 welcomes any input from our listeners. If you have any experience or thoughts about issues covered in this episode or believe there is something we should be talking about.
You may also be interested in joining our choir of angels and telling your story.
EMAIL: studio1@visionaustralia.org or leave comment on the station’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork
This program was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at https://cbf.org.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
This episode is devoted to the memory of Mark Davies
and Kieran Modra OAM.
S2 (00:19):
This is Studio one with Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham
on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:28):
Hello, I'm Sam.
S4 (00:29):
And I'm Lizzie.
S3 (00:30):
And this is Studio One, your weekly look at life
from another point of view here on Vision Australia Radio.
S5 (00:36):
This week the winner is Sydney.
S3 (00:39):
It's been 25 years since the Paralympics came to Australia.
We talked to three athletes about their experiences and look
ahead to Brisbane 2032.
S4 (00:48):
As we always say at this point. Please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there's something we should
be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight
may help someone who's dealing with something similar.
S3 (01:04):
You can email us Studio one at Vision Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S4 (01:09):
Org or of course, you can drop us a note
on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com. What did
you think when you heard that Sydney had got the
Olympic and Paralympic Games?
S6 (01:26):
I was quite happy. I thought, don't have to travel
as far and be the first time my family and
friends can come and watch me fight at an international.
S7 (01:36):
I actually stayed up that night or got up that
night to watch the, uh, the announcement. I remember, uh,
getting up in the middle of the night. I know
it was like 3:00 in the morning, and I thought, oh, man,
this is amazing. Like, this is just something that you
have to work towards because there's nothing better than having
an Olympics and or Paralympics in your own country.
S3 (01:56):
I don't know about you, but was there ever any
doubt that you wouldn't be there?
S7 (01:59):
I don't think I had too many doubts at the time.
Like I just, I think I just backed myself and
knew that, um, I would, you know, do everything that
I possibly could to make sure I was going to
be there.
S8 (02:11):
1992 I would have been 14 years old and probably
at the time I didn't like I knew the I
knew the Olympics was the Olympics were a big thing. But, um, like,
I hadn't heard of the Paralympics till a few years later,
but I knew it would. It would be the Olympics
would be a big thing. So having seen them on
TV and stuff.
S3 (02:31):
So, so 14 year old, you hadn't really even thought
about doing sport or anything like that.
S8 (02:37):
Oh, I, um, I just thought I just played able
bodied sport, so I just played like, football. A bit
of rugby, bit of cricket. I didn't know disability sport
was a thing until probably till I met Neil at
the end of 96.
S3 (02:50):
Okay.
S4 (02:52):
Was it hard to qualify and be selected?
S6 (02:55):
I call finds always hard. You have to be top
12 in the world to go to the Paralympics. Um,
but fortunately I was reigning Paralympic champion. Although I still
had to qualify. It was. I would have got then
on a as a guest passed, I suppose, if Info
didn't make the qualification because I was already the current
(03:17):
reigning champion.
S7 (03:18):
I don't recall having any any real issues back then
at that time. I think it was the later Paralympics when,
you know, other people came along. Ah, and were, you know,
doing better than me or I had more injuries sort
of post 2000. But I don't, I guess like you
never you never think you're over the line even if
(03:39):
you've made the distances or the times or whatever the
particular criteria may be, because, you know, at the end
of the day, it comes down to selectors discretion as well.
I mean, you can do everything you can within your power,
but you're still waiting for that phone call or email
to make sure that you have made the team.
S3 (03:57):
I don't know about you, but I noticed that there
were a lot of retirements that year as well, so
people that were holding on for the games and couldn't
quite make it.
S7 (04:03):
Yeah, I'm sure that would be a massive carrot dangling
in front of you. I can only imagine what it's
like for the youngsters now, you know, just starting out
in their career. One that comes to mind is is
real short which is Russell Shorts, um young fella. He's
just competed at the World Track and Field Championships. You
(04:24):
know massive experience for him with an eye obviously to
Brisbane 32. So yeah I could just imagine the carrot
that's dangling in front of his eyes and and would
have done back in, you know, um, 92 or 93
whenever that announcement was made.
S3 (04:39):
Oh yes. For sure.
S8 (04:40):
Oh, jeez. This this is this is a bit of
a story. So I had I had the quickest time
in the, in the world during that qualification period for Sydney. Um,
and I remember that the day that sort of the
letters would have come out, I got one saying that
they couldn't, they couldn't tell me if I'd been selected
or not because of their silly quota rule. So I
(05:00):
spent a good 3 or 4 hours on the phone
trying to find out what was going on, so I
had to wait probably another 4 or 5 weeks before
it was actually confirmed.
S3 (05:08):
Um, did you find it was different, um, to other
comps in the fact that, um, you know, was there
more pressure, do you think, to, to actually, um, qualify or.
S8 (05:17):
I think there was because it was a home games
and it was starting to get some sort of that
sort of I guess once the year 2000 rolled around,
it was all starting to get a bit more exposure.
And I lived in Galway, which isn't a huge place,
especially back then. So sort of everybody knew who I
was because they'd seen me out running around and all
the rest of it. So there was sort of pressure
(05:39):
from that regard that people just expected you to qualify.
S4 (05:45):
What did you find different about the preparation for Sydney 2000.
S6 (05:49):
Preparations as far as training goes? Um, I think I
spent more time training in Japan, uh, this time at
the university over there. That's probably the main difference, whether
training's fairly ruthless. We're training six days a week, and
you're probably doing one hour in the morning, three hours
(06:10):
in the afternoon, just judo training, and you've got your
weights and running on top of it. So again, Japan,
I think 2 or 3 times in one year for
training was certainly different than what I've done beforehand.
S7 (06:23):
Yeah, I think in terms of my employer and getting
time off to train, I was working for the public
service at the time, and my coach had moved to
the AIS in Canberra, so I was still doing my
own training and stuff in Melbourne, but obviously needed to
catch up with the coach, and I put a proposal
(06:45):
forward to management at work at the time that, uh,
I was never going to have kids. So could we
do something like maternity leave but making sports leave? And
I was able to get I think it was one week, uh,
one week a month or thereabouts leading into the games
(07:05):
to go up and train with my coach. So that
was a pretty, uh, you know, the standard was set
then once for other people in the public service after
that that could, you know, do the same thing.
S8 (07:17):
I changed coaches sort of just before, um, I'd gone
from training with Neil and his coach to getting my
own coach for personal reasons. And I just found, like,
from sort of having a 98 world Championship experience, he's
the one that I could go from. Just the focus
and the exposure that we got seemed to be a
(07:38):
lot more like people sort of wanted to know to
a degree, not like it is not as big as
it is now, but wanted to know who we were
and what we were doing, whereas I remember leading into
98 worlds. Um, unless you knew me, nobody really cared.
S3 (07:52):
Uh, what I've also noticed is I get people during
the actual Olympics saying, why aren't you there already?
S8 (07:57):
Exactly. Because people can't couldn't differentiate the two. And I
guess nowadays you can see that as a positive because
people just, you know, include you in with your able
bodied counterparts. But yeah, back then, I don't think it
was as widely known in the community as it is now.
S4 (08:14):
What did you think about the Olympic Village and accommodation?
S6 (08:18):
I think the village and the accommodation was excellent. It
really had a great atmosphere there. One of the things
I like the best was they had like roaming barbecues.
So every night a barbecue would be in a different
area on the village by, you know, one night would
be by the Australian accommodation, the next night would be
by the by the Lithuanian accommodation. And you could follow
(08:42):
that barbecue trail. And that way you got to meet
other countries and athletes in a very social setting. So
that was probably something I hadn't experienced before at other times,
because I think it was really well, well planned and
well organised. And also we had, um, lots of people
coming to watch us, um, compete at the games, which
(09:04):
was unusual as that really broke a lot of barriers.
The Sydney Games that shows that, uh, we knew how
to run a proper Paralympic Games.
S7 (09:13):
It was good. It was one of the better ones,
I guess, because you're the home country, obviously you get
to pick the set of houses and things that are
closer to the amenities or in a better spot away from,
you know, partying, um, people who finished and partying and stuff. Yeah,
(09:33):
we were lucky I was actually in the house. So
I know that perhaps, uh, some of the people that
were in the portable rooms that were out the back
might not have been so lucky. But, yeah, the room
wasn't bad that that I remember.
S3 (09:48):
Who are you sharing with?
S7 (09:49):
I was sharing with an amputee track runner whose name
escapes me right now. It's one thing I'm really Francis.
Francis and I can't remember Francis's surname.
S3 (10:02):
I remember Francis, yes. Uh, but, uh. Yeah. It's shocking.
I saw the same thing. A lot of my, uh,
people in the in that house, sort of, uh, names
escaped my mind as well. I was in there with, uh,
Chris Nano as well, So they tried to keep an
eye on me, as it were.
S7 (10:16):
Lucky you.
S8 (10:17):
I was absolutely overawed by it all. I just remember
those first couple of days just going in there and
just being able to just look around and, you know,
it seems silly now that I've retired. But, you know,
the fact that if I wanted a magnum at 2:00
in the morning, I could just go to a vending
machine and get one. You know that the food hall
was open 24 hours a day. There's a cinema in
there and all these other things. Oh, that's not what
(10:38):
I'd expected. And then, you know, the dining hall itself
is just a whole nother world. During the Paralympics, because,
you know, there are people that don't have any arms
or any legs and, you know, they still eat. So,
you know, some of the things I saw in there
are a bit of a bit of bit of an
eye opener for the first couple of days, but, you know,
after that it sort of sort of settled down after
a couple of days and sort of got into, I
(10:59):
guess you'd understand, like a boring monotony, like you'd go
and have breakfast and then you'd go and do a
bit of training, and then you'd go and have lunch,
and then you'd try and kill some time until dinner.
So yeah, first couple days, super exciting. And then after that,
I guess once I'd seen everything. Yeah, it actually, like
I do, tell people this, that when you first get
into the village and you're not competing, it's a little boring.
S3 (11:21):
Who are you rooming with? Uh, in, uh, Sydney.
S8 (11:23):
Oh. Kieran O'Connell.
S3 (11:24):
Right. And how does that go?
S8 (11:25):
Yeah, we were good. We've always got along well. We've
roomed together. I think we roomed together a couple of
times and yeah, he's. No he's no scrappy that when you, uh,
that makes the bed for you and fold your clothes
for you. But yeah, he wasn't too bad, but yeah,
he's my number one.
S3 (11:40):
Okay.
S8 (11:40):
Because, you know, makes the bed fold your clothes, tidies
up all your stuff for you.
S4 (11:46):
What were your thoughts on the opening ceremony?
S6 (11:49):
Um, that was pretty overwhelming. Mainly because I was in it.
I was, um, one of the athletes who, um, carried
the torch into the stadium. In fact, I, uh, took
the torch from Katrina Webb, cerebral palsy woman in the
100 metre section of the of the track. Had to
run down that and pass it on to the second
(12:09):
to last person who lights it. Lights the torch. So
I was right in the middle of the stadium with
the torch, and it was just a very overwhelming sensation
with the all the noise of the speakers and the
music and the audience cheering at you. It was really, uh,
quite an experience.
S7 (12:26):
Oh, the opening ceremony. It was one of the better
ones because, again, they they looked after us, obviously, because
we're Australians. Um, we didn't I think we were coming
in last. But instead of sitting around for, you know,
5 or 6 hours waiting, waiting, waiting, they kept us
back in the village and, and we had a, I think,
you know, we had extended time at the village so
(12:48):
you could just sit around and do your own thing
until you had to get ready, because there's a lot
of sitting around for 5 or 6 hours post a, um,
an opening or closing ceremony. So I think we were
quite lucky. But the oh, the roar! When Australia walked out,
I was hanging out down the back of the team, uh,
which was our sort of where we sort of usually
(13:11):
hang out. And it was just the roar that we, uh,
that we got as we came into the stadium and
continued until we'd made the whole lap around, was just amazing.
S3 (13:20):
I don't know about you, but my mother actually recorded it.
And so, uh, the opening ceremony. So it was actually
the first time I saw most of it was actually
on video.
S7 (13:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, being being visually impaired, we don't. Yeah.
You don't really see what's going on, but there's the feeling, um,
you could feel was different that time around.
S8 (13:39):
My probably biggest memory from that whole games are the
like the walking out onto the, into the stadium. And
just because we didn't know how full it was going
to be, just walking out there and seeing how it
was capacity. And I just remember all these flashes going off,
you know, as we walked around. And probably the other
memory that comes from it is that people don't realize
is all those hours we spent in the car park
(14:01):
waiting to go in, you know, we just hung out
in the car park and you just you made friends
and you just made your own fun for a good
3 or 4 hours, whatever it was. But yeah, just
walking into that stadium and have it full and hear
the roar of the crowd and see all the the
flashes going off was. Yeah, it still sticks with me
to this day.
S4 (14:19):
What stood out to me during the games was.
S6 (14:22):
Probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my
life was, um, it was the finals of a cerebral palsy,
a disability race where, um, there was one Australian in
it and it was, um, a mixed category race, which
is unusual. Anyway, our Australian cerebral palsy guy was coming last,
(14:44):
or for whatever reason, in fact, he was going so
slow he was being lapped by the other athletes in
a 1500 meter race. And uh, in the end, he
was holding up the next race because he's running so
slow and the officials are trying to get him off
the track, um, before he completed the race. And he wouldn't,
wouldn't leave the track and wanted to finish that race.
(15:06):
And just that spirit alone, I thought was amazing. But
what happened then, when the people realized that this guy
was going to finish the race no matter what, regardless
of coming last. The I think it was one of
the Dutch people started, um, singing Waltzing Matilda because the
guy was Australian and then, uh, the Dutch team started
(15:28):
singing it, then the whole row started singing it, and
next thing you know, the whole row is singing Waltzing
Matilda to sing this guy home across the finish line. And, um,
I was one of the most emotional experience I've seen
of determination and dedication to someone's sport, with the crowd
backing him up even though he came dead last.
S7 (15:47):
All of it really. Just the the friendliness of the
crowd and just, you know, random people that would come
up to you and want to take photos and want
you to sign stuff. And I was probably all in
the bin by now or after all this time. But yeah,
just just in your own country, you know, people were
all probably more friendly than they'd ever have been in,
(16:09):
in another country. But yeah, I just the whole thing
was amazing.
S8 (16:13):
My first race, my my 800 meter semifinal. And I'm
not usually one to get nervous because, like, I knew
I was good, but I didn't know, like how good
I was. And normally I don't get nervous like 98 wells.
I just went out and ran and I didn't even
think about it. I had a rest day after the
opening ceremony, and then I had the 800 semi, and
I just remember it was about 1130 in the morning.
(16:33):
So you get up early, tried to eat some breakfast.
I couldn't do that. So I got all my stuff ready,
went out, got on the bus, went to the track
and I've never been I've never been this nervous in
my life. My initial thought was, I don't want to
mess this up. Well, you know what happens if I
mess this up and I don't get through? But, you know,
once I'd warmed up and, you know, I was in
(16:54):
the courtroom, and that was the longest 20 minutes of
my life. But once I was out on the track
and the gun went after the first 100m, it was just,
I guess, muscle memory in a way. But, you know,
like I do remember I had to run a lot
quicker than I was expecting to make the final. So, um,
when that happened, I knew it was going to be a,
you know, a big day the day after to try
(17:14):
and meddle and unfortunately fell just a little bit short.
S3 (17:16):
How did you find the home crowd when you were competing?
S8 (17:20):
Loved it. I mean, as you know from our World
Championship championship experiences, you know, there might be 100 people
in the crowd that aren't competing. So to have, you know,
like the night of my 1500, I reckon there must
have been about 60,000 people in there. It was it
was massive. The noise they made.
S3 (17:38):
Ah, yes. Nothing like it. I was it was funny.
You could actually get them going just by lifting your
arm up.
S8 (17:44):
Yeah, it was just crazy. And I think that definitely
I know it definitely helped in a couple of races. Um,
it just gives you that little bit of a boost.
S4 (17:53):
How did you go, girl?
S6 (17:55):
I think I think I came ninth, I was I
was quite disappointed about it. Of course, being world champion
and Paralympic champion. So it's fairly upset about it naturally. Um,
winning's fantastic. But losing is terrible. Uh, and everybody wants
to know when you're winning and when you've lost. Lose.
Nobody wants to know. So it was very disappointing. And
(18:16):
that's the nature of sport. And um, I think I
sobbed for a couple of days and just moved on
and got back into it and got ready for my
next tournament.
S7 (18:24):
Yeah, well, I was fortunate enough. I think I had
discus first and I wasn't really I wasn't really putting
too much emphasis on the discus, but I managed to
come away with a bronze medal in the discus, and
it was good because we knew all a lot of the, um,
officials and things. And one of the, one of the
(18:45):
field officials came over and said, uh oh, Harold Stevens
is in the in the stand, and he wanted to
wish you good luck. Harold was the president of our
local athletics centre in Coburg at the time, which is
where I was training in Preston. So, you know, little
things like that where you sort of knew the officials and,
you know, you weren't allowed to, uh, talk to them
(19:05):
and stuff, but, you know, you'd get the odd nod
or well-wishes from the officials, even though they weren't supposed
to do it. It was it was just good knowing
the officials and and that kind of thing. Uh, and
then I was lucky enough to win a gold medal
in the shot put on my last throw, which was
the second last throw of the competition. And yeah, we
(19:29):
are fortunate enough to have somebody come out to the
field with us. So, um, my guide for that was
Peter Negrepontis. So from that time on, we always kind
of had a special sort of bond because he told
me that I'd won it after I'd had my last throw,
and I said, oh, hang on, Pete, the the other
girl's still got to have her last throw. You know,
(19:49):
she could she could beat me. But once, uh, once she,
she'd had her throw and she didn't throw any further
than I did. It was uh, yeah, it was all
all celebrations on at that stage.
S3 (19:59):
How was the crowd there? I mean, that was always
the thing that amazed me is you'd go out there and, um,
you just, um, pump a fist in the air and
you'd get a response to it.
S7 (20:08):
Yeah, it was pretty amazing. Um, my mum, uh, and family,
my mum, hubby and friends of the of of mine
were at the games, which was great. Once the competition
was over, I asked after I'd won, we um, the
one of the officials took me over to a somebody
in the crowd that had a flag. So they gave
(20:30):
me the flag to do a victory lap. And it
was actually, I think, during one of Luis Savage's, uh,
medal presentations. So I grabbed the flag and I was
doing a victory lap, which is a bloody long way.
Won one. That's 400m. I don't know how you people
run 400m. I don't ever. Oh, I don't know how
(20:50):
you did it in the first place. It's like a
bloody marathon, but I, um, I did it. I had
to stop halfway through the victory lap. Um, because it
was Luis Savage's, um, medal presentation. So I did the lap.
And then protocol says that you've got to go back
the other way to go to the exit. And as
I was walking back, the bloody announcer over the PA said,
(21:11):
and there goes Jodi Willis Roberts on her third victory lap.
So by the time I cark it all, I've done
a marathon to celebrate.
S8 (21:19):
He was fifth in the 800. I was fourth in
the 1500. That one. That one hurt, um, because I'd
made a mistake in the race and I knew it
as soon as I did it, but I couldn't fix it.
And I think I was about six or seventh in
the 400. I mean, I deal with it better now,
but I guess, and a few people would understand this
(21:40):
with all the, the, I guess, the political illness of
the cerebral palsy classes. That's where it started. As soon
as Sydney is about where it started to change and
you started to wonder, is this person in the right class?
And I mean, there were a couple of Spanish people
in my 800 that didn't run the 1500 because they
were apparently misrepresenting their classification. So, you know, I take
(22:03):
the results with a grain of salt. I mean, I
did the absolute best that I could. I couldn't have
got any more out of myself. And unfortunately, it just
wasn't meant to be. But, you know, I still had
a great career. I don't know, I No, I don't
hold anything against it. It was fun. I made life
long friends. You know, if I could go back in time,
I might do a couple of things different. But, you know,
at the end of the day, it is what it is.
You learn from the experience and you move on.
S4 (22:27):
What were your thoughts on the closing ceremony.
S6 (22:29):
And the closing ceremony? It was quite comical because it
mirrored the, um, the TV show called The Gains by
Clarke and Doyle, which is a satire on the Olympic Games.
And in the satire they had, um, uh, The Seekers
during the closing ceremony, mainly for the Paralympics because, uh,
(22:50):
they lead singer of The Seekers was in a wheelchair
by this stage and blow me down at the Paralympics
at the closing ceremony. They had the seekers with Judith
Durham in a wheelchair. I thought that was quite sort of, um,
I would say patronising, but ironic, you could say. I
thought it was quite comical. And of course, the song
they finishes was The Carnival Was over.
S9 (23:12):
Oh, wow. Not I surprised?
S6 (23:14):
Yeah, which is a little bit corny, but also sort
of funny at the same time. So it was always
a good experience. Closing ceremony, because it's informal and athletes
on the field can mix with whatever country they wish
to choose to. Don't have to stay in your your
designated country.
S7 (23:29):
So the closing ceremony, I remembered telling my husband, Neil, to, uh,
wear a previous Australian tracksuit top that I had, and
I said, if I can. I knew where he was sitting.
I said, I'm going to come up and see if
I can get you to come out and experience the
closing ceremony. So once we'd done the the usual, you know,
(23:50):
walk in and the little lap and whatever, I went
up and found. Found Neil and um, because he had
an Australian uniform on the officials on the gate. Just
let him onto the, onto the field. So he got
to experience the closing ceremony, um, down on the ground
with the teams.
S4 (24:07):
What's your advice to any athletes looking to compete in
Brisbane in 2032?
S6 (24:13):
My I'm advice to anybody competing in the next Paralympics.
Do your training, get your fitness up there, enjoy your
sport and that's really all you can do. Let's just
have fun with your sport. Don't take it too seriously.
And naturally, at times you have to take some things seriously.
But just enjoy your sport and enjoy the travel and
camaraderie of other countries and meeting different people and experiencing
(24:37):
different cultures and and attitudes and things like that. So it's, um,
just enjoy sport. You're there to watch a sport. You're
playing for fun.
S7 (24:47):
Just do everything that you possibly can to put yourself
in a position to be selected. You know, if it
means missing a party or it means missing a function
or whatever it might be because you're you've got training
on or you've got something on or a competition. Just
just do everything you possibly can to put yourself in
(25:08):
the position to be selected, because it's something that you'll
never forget, and nobody will ever be able to take
that away from you.
S8 (25:14):
Yes, I do it. Yeah. As much as athletes, we
put pressure on ourselves, you know, to perform. And, you know,
coaches put pressure on us to perform because if we
don't perform, they don't keep their spots. Just if the
opportunity if you get the opportunity to go, you just go.
You do your best and you just enjoy the whole experience.
And I'm a big one for, you know, no matter
(25:35):
when you're competing, if you're competing the day after the
opening ceremony, I'm still a big fan of going in
the opening ceremony because you don't know like you don't
know if you're getting, you know, four years time, you'll
be there for another one. But I just, you know,
it's one of the greatest things in my life to
the sport, changed my life. And to do something like that,
that I never thought I would do, you know, I
(25:57):
found out about it in Paralympic sport at the end
of 1996 and yeah, three and a bit years later,
I'm running for my country at the Paralympics. I think
if anybody gets that chance, you know, it's amazing and
it will probably never happen again after that.
S4 (26:13):
Do you have anything else to add?
S7 (26:15):
Um, just, uh, just the friends that you're able to make.
I think also like yourself. And, you know, Russell Short,
I always mentioned Russell, um, even though, uh, another friend
of mine, Julie Iles, didn't make Sydney 2000, but she's
always going to be a great friend. I think once
you've been on a team and in teams and away
(26:37):
with people, even though you might not speak to them
for years on end, you know you'll get a text
or a message or a Facebook post or something will
come out of the blue. And that will, um, reignite
all the memories of what you've done in the past.
And you'll always have a special bond with those people.
And and that's pretty amazing.
S3 (26:57):
I found actually, um, Facebook's been very handy for that
as well, because you do keep track of people and
you're not constantly having to call people. You just you
can see what they're up to. And uh, and so yeah,
you're not haven't lost track with them.
S7 (27:09):
Yeah, exactly. Some people can see it as a bit lazy.
But then when you've been on so many teams and,
you know, so many people and you've got your own
stuff going on, what you know, whether it be family
or whatever, it does become really hard to catch up
with people and, and Facebook and social media, media in
general has been a great way to reconnect with people
from the past.
S8 (27:29):
It's hard to fathom that it's been 25 years. You know,
a lot of it sounds like yesterday. It feels like yesterday,
especially at the moment with that 25 years coming up
like I've, you know, found a lot of my old
uniform and, and stuff like that. And it just the
memories just come back. I mean I don't miss I
don't miss the training in the morning. I don't miss
the training in the afternoon. But I do miss the
(27:51):
friendships and the time that we used to spend together.
Just being ourselves, just mucking around.
S10 (27:55):
That's a wrap for this week. A big thank you
to Anthony Clark, Jody Willis Roberts and Malcolm Bennett.
S4 (28:01):
And of course, thanks to you for listening. That includes
our listeners on the Reading Radio Network.
S10 (28:06):
You can find the podcast of this program, including some
extra content on Apple, Spotify, Google or your favorite podcast
platform next week.
S4 (28:16):
It's a scam.
S10 (28:18):
We talk to Jade Richards from Scam Watch about how
to identify a scam and avoid being ripped off.
S4 (28:24):
But between now and then, please do get in touch
with the show. Whether you have any experience of the
issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or
if you think there's something we should be talking about.
You never know. Your story and insight may help someone
who's dealing with something similar.
S10 (28:39):
You can reach us via Email Studio one at org.
That's studio number one at org.
S4 (28:46):
Or of course, you can find us on all the
good social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram by searching
for VA Radio Network. We want to hear from you.
S10 (28:56):
Bye for now.
S2 (28:57):
Studio one was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio. This show was made possible with the help
of the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at.
This episode is devoted to the memory of Mark Davies
and Kieran Modra OAM.
S2 (00:19):
This is Studio one with Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham
on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:28):
Hello, I'm Sam.
S4 (00:29):
And I'm Lizzie.
S3 (00:30):
And this is Studio One, your weekly look at life
from another point of view here on Vision Australia Radio.
S5 (00:36):
This week the winner is Sydney.
S3 (00:39):
It's been 25 years since the Paralympics came to Australia.
We talked to three athletes about their experiences and look
ahead to Brisbane 2032.
S4 (00:48):
As we always say at this point. Please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there's something we should
be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight
may help someone who's dealing with something similar.
S3 (01:04):
You can email us Studio one at Vision Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S4 (01:09):
Org or of course, you can drop us a note
on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com. What did
you think when you heard that Sydney had got the
Olympic and Paralympic Games?
S6 (01:26):
I was quite happy. I thought, don't have to travel
as far and be the first time my family and
friends can come and watch me fight at an international.
S7 (01:36):
I actually stayed up that night or got up that
night to watch the, uh, the announcement. I remember, uh,
getting up in the middle of the night. I know
it was like 3:00 in the morning, and I thought, oh, man,
this is amazing. Like, this is just something that you
have to work towards because there's nothing better than having
an Olympics and or Paralympics in your own country.
S3 (01:56):
I don't know about you, but was there ever any
doubt that you wouldn't be there?
S7 (01:59):
I don't think I had too many doubts at the time.
Like I just, I think I just backed myself and
knew that, um, I would, you know, do everything that
I possibly could to make sure I was going to
be there.
S8 (02:11):
1992 I would have been 14 years old and probably
at the time I didn't like I knew the I
knew the Olympics was the Olympics were a big thing. But, um, like,
I hadn't heard of the Paralympics till a few years later,
but I knew it would. It would be the Olympics
would be a big thing. So having seen them on
TV and stuff.
S3 (02:31):
So, so 14 year old, you hadn't really even thought
about doing sport or anything like that.
S8 (02:37):
Oh, I, um, I just thought I just played able
bodied sport, so I just played like, football. A bit
of rugby, bit of cricket. I didn't know disability sport
was a thing until probably till I met Neil at
the end of 96.
S3 (02:50):
Okay.
S4 (02:52):
Was it hard to qualify and be selected?
S6 (02:55):
I call finds always hard. You have to be top
12 in the world to go to the Paralympics. Um,
but fortunately I was reigning Paralympic champion. Although I still
had to qualify. It was. I would have got then
on a as a guest passed, I suppose, if Info
didn't make the qualification because I was already the current
(03:17):
reigning champion.
S7 (03:18):
I don't recall having any any real issues back then
at that time. I think it was the later Paralympics when,
you know, other people came along. Ah, and were, you know,
doing better than me or I had more injuries sort
of post 2000. But I don't, I guess like you
never you never think you're over the line even if
(03:39):
you've made the distances or the times or whatever the
particular criteria may be, because, you know, at the end
of the day, it comes down to selectors discretion as well.
I mean, you can do everything you can within your power,
but you're still waiting for that phone call or email
to make sure that you have made the team.
S3 (03:57):
I don't know about you, but I noticed that there
were a lot of retirements that year as well, so
people that were holding on for the games and couldn't
quite make it.
S7 (04:03):
Yeah, I'm sure that would be a massive carrot dangling
in front of you. I can only imagine what it's
like for the youngsters now, you know, just starting out
in their career. One that comes to mind is is
real short which is Russell Shorts, um young fella. He's
just competed at the World Track and Field Championships. You
(04:24):
know massive experience for him with an eye obviously to
Brisbane 32. So yeah I could just imagine the carrot
that's dangling in front of his eyes and and would
have done back in, you know, um, 92 or 93
whenever that announcement was made.
S3 (04:39):
Oh yes. For sure.
S8 (04:40):
Oh, jeez. This this is this is a bit of
a story. So I had I had the quickest time
in the, in the world during that qualification period for Sydney. Um,
and I remember that the day that sort of the
letters would have come out, I got one saying that
they couldn't, they couldn't tell me if I'd been selected
or not because of their silly quota rule. So I
(05:00):
spent a good 3 or 4 hours on the phone
trying to find out what was going on, so I
had to wait probably another 4 or 5 weeks before
it was actually confirmed.
S3 (05:08):
Um, did you find it was different, um, to other
comps in the fact that, um, you know, was there
more pressure, do you think, to, to actually, um, qualify or.
S8 (05:17):
I think there was because it was a home games
and it was starting to get some sort of that
sort of I guess once the year 2000 rolled around,
it was all starting to get a bit more exposure.
And I lived in Galway, which isn't a huge place,
especially back then. So sort of everybody knew who I
was because they'd seen me out running around and all
the rest of it. So there was sort of pressure
(05:39):
from that regard that people just expected you to qualify.
S4 (05:45):
What did you find different about the preparation for Sydney 2000.
S6 (05:49):
Preparations as far as training goes? Um, I think I
spent more time training in Japan, uh, this time at
the university over there. That's probably the main difference, whether
training's fairly ruthless. We're training six days a week, and
you're probably doing one hour in the morning, three hours
(06:10):
in the afternoon, just judo training, and you've got your
weights and running on top of it. So again, Japan,
I think 2 or 3 times in one year for
training was certainly different than what I've done beforehand.
S7 (06:23):
Yeah, I think in terms of my employer and getting
time off to train, I was working for the public
service at the time, and my coach had moved to
the AIS in Canberra, so I was still doing my
own training and stuff in Melbourne, but obviously needed to
catch up with the coach, and I put a proposal
(06:45):
forward to management at work at the time that, uh,
I was never going to have kids. So could we
do something like maternity leave but making sports leave? And
I was able to get I think it was one week, uh,
one week a month or thereabouts leading into the games
(07:05):
to go up and train with my coach. So that
was a pretty, uh, you know, the standard was set
then once for other people in the public service after
that that could, you know, do the same thing.
S8 (07:17):
I changed coaches sort of just before, um, I'd gone
from training with Neil and his coach to getting my
own coach for personal reasons. And I just found, like,
from sort of having a 98 world Championship experience, he's
the one that I could go from. Just the focus
and the exposure that we got seemed to be a
(07:38):
lot more like people sort of wanted to know to
a degree, not like it is not as big as
it is now, but wanted to know who we were
and what we were doing, whereas I remember leading into
98 worlds. Um, unless you knew me, nobody really cared.
S3 (07:52):
Uh, what I've also noticed is I get people during
the actual Olympics saying, why aren't you there already?
S8 (07:57):
Exactly. Because people can't couldn't differentiate the two. And I
guess nowadays you can see that as a positive because
people just, you know, include you in with your able
bodied counterparts. But yeah, back then, I don't think it
was as widely known in the community as it is now.
S4 (08:14):
What did you think about the Olympic Village and accommodation?
S6 (08:18):
I think the village and the accommodation was excellent. It
really had a great atmosphere there. One of the things
I like the best was they had like roaming barbecues.
So every night a barbecue would be in a different
area on the village by, you know, one night would
be by the Australian accommodation, the next night would be
by the by the Lithuanian accommodation. And you could follow
(08:42):
that barbecue trail. And that way you got to meet
other countries and athletes in a very social setting. So
that was probably something I hadn't experienced before at other times,
because I think it was really well, well planned and
well organised. And also we had, um, lots of people
coming to watch us, um, compete at the games, which
(09:04):
was unusual as that really broke a lot of barriers.
The Sydney Games that shows that, uh, we knew how
to run a proper Paralympic Games.
S7 (09:13):
It was good. It was one of the better ones,
I guess, because you're the home country, obviously you get
to pick the set of houses and things that are
closer to the amenities or in a better spot away from,
you know, partying, um, people who finished and partying and stuff. Yeah,
(09:33):
we were lucky I was actually in the house. So
I know that perhaps, uh, some of the people that
were in the portable rooms that were out the back
might not have been so lucky. But, yeah, the room
wasn't bad that that I remember.
S3 (09:48):
Who are you sharing with?
S7 (09:49):
I was sharing with an amputee track runner whose name
escapes me right now. It's one thing I'm really Francis.
Francis and I can't remember Francis's surname.
S3 (10:02):
I remember Francis, yes. Uh, but, uh. Yeah. It's shocking.
I saw the same thing. A lot of my, uh,
people in the in that house, sort of, uh, names
escaped my mind as well. I was in there with, uh,
Chris Nano as well, So they tried to keep an
eye on me, as it were.
S7 (10:16):
Lucky you.
S8 (10:17):
I was absolutely overawed by it all. I just remember
those first couple of days just going in there and
just being able to just look around and, you know,
it seems silly now that I've retired. But, you know,
the fact that if I wanted a magnum at 2:00
in the morning, I could just go to a vending
machine and get one. You know that the food hall
was open 24 hours a day. There's a cinema in
there and all these other things. Oh, that's not what
(10:38):
I'd expected. And then, you know, the dining hall itself
is just a whole nother world. During the Paralympics, because,
you know, there are people that don't have any arms
or any legs and, you know, they still eat. So,
you know, some of the things I saw in there
are a bit of a bit of bit of an
eye opener for the first couple of days, but, you know,
after that it sort of sort of settled down after
a couple of days and sort of got into, I
(10:59):
guess you'd understand, like a boring monotony, like you'd go
and have breakfast and then you'd go and do a
bit of training, and then you'd go and have lunch,
and then you'd try and kill some time until dinner.
So yeah, first couple days, super exciting. And then after that,
I guess once I'd seen everything. Yeah, it actually, like
I do, tell people this, that when you first get
into the village and you're not competing, it's a little boring.
S3 (11:21):
Who are you rooming with? Uh, in, uh, Sydney.
S8 (11:23):
Oh. Kieran O'Connell.
S3 (11:24):
Right. And how does that go?
S8 (11:25):
Yeah, we were good. We've always got along well. We've
roomed together. I think we roomed together a couple of
times and yeah, he's. No he's no scrappy that when you, uh,
that makes the bed for you and fold your clothes
for you. But yeah, he wasn't too bad, but yeah,
he's my number one.
S3 (11:40):
Okay.
S8 (11:40):
Because, you know, makes the bed fold your clothes, tidies
up all your stuff for you.
S4 (11:46):
What were your thoughts on the opening ceremony?
S6 (11:49):
Um, that was pretty overwhelming. Mainly because I was in it.
I was, um, one of the athletes who, um, carried
the torch into the stadium. In fact, I, uh, took
the torch from Katrina Webb, cerebral palsy woman in the
100 metre section of the of the track. Had to
run down that and pass it on to the second
(12:09):
to last person who lights it. Lights the torch. So
I was right in the middle of the stadium with
the torch, and it was just a very overwhelming sensation
with the all the noise of the speakers and the
music and the audience cheering at you. It was really, uh,
quite an experience.
S7 (12:26):
Oh, the opening ceremony. It was one of the better
ones because, again, they they looked after us, obviously, because
we're Australians. Um, we didn't I think we were coming
in last. But instead of sitting around for, you know,
5 or 6 hours waiting, waiting, waiting, they kept us
back in the village and, and we had a, I think,
you know, we had extended time at the village so
(12:48):
you could just sit around and do your own thing
until you had to get ready, because there's a lot
of sitting around for 5 or 6 hours post a, um,
an opening or closing ceremony. So I think we were
quite lucky. But the oh, the roar! When Australia walked out,
I was hanging out down the back of the team, uh,
which was our sort of where we sort of usually
(13:11):
hang out. And it was just the roar that we, uh,
that we got as we came into the stadium and
continued until we'd made the whole lap around, was just amazing.
S3 (13:20):
I don't know about you, but my mother actually recorded it.
And so, uh, the opening ceremony. So it was actually
the first time I saw most of it was actually
on video.
S7 (13:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, being being visually impaired, we don't. Yeah.
You don't really see what's going on, but there's the feeling, um,
you could feel was different that time around.
S8 (13:39):
My probably biggest memory from that whole games are the
like the walking out onto the, into the stadium. And
just because we didn't know how full it was going
to be, just walking out there and seeing how it
was capacity. And I just remember all these flashes going off,
you know, as we walked around. And probably the other
memory that comes from it is that people don't realize
is all those hours we spent in the car park
(14:01):
waiting to go in, you know, we just hung out
in the car park and you just you made friends
and you just made your own fun for a good
3 or 4 hours, whatever it was. But yeah, just
walking into that stadium and have it full and hear
the roar of the crowd and see all the the
flashes going off was. Yeah, it still sticks with me
to this day.
S4 (14:19):
What stood out to me during the games was.
S6 (14:22):
Probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my
life was, um, it was the finals of a cerebral palsy,
a disability race where, um, there was one Australian in
it and it was, um, a mixed category race, which
is unusual. Anyway, our Australian cerebral palsy guy was coming last,
(14:44):
or for whatever reason, in fact, he was going so
slow he was being lapped by the other athletes in
a 1500 meter race. And uh, in the end, he
was holding up the next race because he's running so
slow and the officials are trying to get him off
the track, um, before he completed the race. And he wouldn't,
wouldn't leave the track and wanted to finish that race.
(15:06):
And just that spirit alone, I thought was amazing. But
what happened then, when the people realized that this guy
was going to finish the race no matter what, regardless
of coming last. The I think it was one of
the Dutch people started, um, singing Waltzing Matilda because the
guy was Australian and then, uh, the Dutch team started
(15:28):
singing it, then the whole row started singing it, and
next thing you know, the whole row is singing Waltzing
Matilda to sing this guy home across the finish line. And, um,
I was one of the most emotional experience I've seen
of determination and dedication to someone's sport, with the crowd
backing him up even though he came dead last.
S7 (15:47):
All of it really. Just the the friendliness of the
crowd and just, you know, random people that would come
up to you and want to take photos and want
you to sign stuff. And I was probably all in
the bin by now or after all this time. But yeah,
just just in your own country, you know, people were
all probably more friendly than they'd ever have been in,
(16:09):
in another country. But yeah, I just the whole thing
was amazing.
S8 (16:13):
My first race, my my 800 meter semifinal. And I'm
not usually one to get nervous because, like, I knew
I was good, but I didn't know, like how good
I was. And normally I don't get nervous like 98 wells.
I just went out and ran and I didn't even
think about it. I had a rest day after the
opening ceremony, and then I had the 800 semi, and
I just remember it was about 1130 in the morning.
(16:33):
So you get up early, tried to eat some breakfast.
I couldn't do that. So I got all my stuff ready,
went out, got on the bus, went to the track
and I've never been I've never been this nervous in
my life. My initial thought was, I don't want to
mess this up. Well, you know what happens if I
mess this up and I don't get through? But, you know,
once I'd warmed up and, you know, I was in
(16:54):
the courtroom, and that was the longest 20 minutes of
my life. But once I was out on the track
and the gun went after the first 100m, it was just,
I guess, muscle memory in a way. But, you know,
like I do remember I had to run a lot
quicker than I was expecting to make the final. So, um,
when that happened, I knew it was going to be a,
you know, a big day the day after to try
(17:14):
and meddle and unfortunately fell just a little bit short.
S3 (17:16):
How did you find the home crowd when you were competing?
S8 (17:20):
Loved it. I mean, as you know from our World
Championship championship experiences, you know, there might be 100 people
in the crowd that aren't competing. So to have, you know,
like the night of my 1500, I reckon there must
have been about 60,000 people in there. It was it
was massive. The noise they made.
S3 (17:38):
Ah, yes. Nothing like it. I was it was funny.
You could actually get them going just by lifting your
arm up.
S8 (17:44):
Yeah, it was just crazy. And I think that definitely
I know it definitely helped in a couple of races. Um,
it just gives you that little bit of a boost.
S4 (17:53):
How did you go, girl?
S6 (17:55):
I think I think I came ninth, I was I
was quite disappointed about it. Of course, being world champion
and Paralympic champion. So it's fairly upset about it naturally. Um,
winning's fantastic. But losing is terrible. Uh, and everybody wants
to know when you're winning and when you've lost. Lose.
Nobody wants to know. So it was very disappointing. And
(18:16):
that's the nature of sport. And um, I think I
sobbed for a couple of days and just moved on
and got back into it and got ready for my
next tournament.
S7 (18:24):
Yeah, well, I was fortunate enough. I think I had
discus first and I wasn't really I wasn't really putting
too much emphasis on the discus, but I managed to
come away with a bronze medal in the discus, and
it was good because we knew all a lot of the, um,
officials and things. And one of the, one of the
(18:45):
field officials came over and said, uh oh, Harold Stevens
is in the in the stand, and he wanted to
wish you good luck. Harold was the president of our
local athletics centre in Coburg at the time, which is
where I was training in Preston. So, you know, little
things like that where you sort of knew the officials and,
you know, you weren't allowed to, uh, talk to them
(19:05):
and stuff, but, you know, you'd get the odd nod
or well-wishes from the officials, even though they weren't supposed
to do it. It was it was just good knowing
the officials and and that kind of thing. Uh, and
then I was lucky enough to win a gold medal
in the shot put on my last throw, which was
the second last throw of the competition. And yeah, we
(19:29):
are fortunate enough to have somebody come out to the
field with us. So, um, my guide for that was
Peter Negrepontis. So from that time on, we always kind
of had a special sort of bond because he told
me that I'd won it after I'd had my last throw,
and I said, oh, hang on, Pete, the the other
girl's still got to have her last throw. You know,
(19:49):
she could she could beat me. But once, uh, once she,
she'd had her throw and she didn't throw any further
than I did. It was uh, yeah, it was all
all celebrations on at that stage.
S3 (19:59):
How was the crowd there? I mean, that was always
the thing that amazed me is you'd go out there and, um,
you just, um, pump a fist in the air and
you'd get a response to it.
S7 (20:08):
Yeah, it was pretty amazing. Um, my mum, uh, and family,
my mum, hubby and friends of the of of mine
were at the games, which was great. Once the competition
was over, I asked after I'd won, we um, the
one of the officials took me over to a somebody
in the crowd that had a flag. So they gave
(20:30):
me the flag to do a victory lap. And it
was actually, I think, during one of Luis Savage's, uh,
medal presentations. So I grabbed the flag and I was
doing a victory lap, which is a bloody long way.
Won one. That's 400m. I don't know how you people
run 400m. I don't ever. Oh, I don't know how
(20:50):
you did it in the first place. It's like a
bloody marathon, but I, um, I did it. I had
to stop halfway through the victory lap. Um, because it
was Luis Savage's, um, medal presentation. So I did the lap.
And then protocol says that you've got to go back
the other way to go to the exit. And as
I was walking back, the bloody announcer over the PA said,
(21:11):
and there goes Jodi Willis Roberts on her third victory lap.
So by the time I cark it all, I've done
a marathon to celebrate.
S8 (21:19):
He was fifth in the 800. I was fourth in
the 1500. That one. That one hurt, um, because I'd
made a mistake in the race and I knew it
as soon as I did it, but I couldn't fix it.
And I think I was about six or seventh in
the 400. I mean, I deal with it better now,
but I guess, and a few people would understand this
(21:40):
with all the, the, I guess, the political illness of
the cerebral palsy classes. That's where it started. As soon
as Sydney is about where it started to change and
you started to wonder, is this person in the right class?
And I mean, there were a couple of Spanish people
in my 800 that didn't run the 1500 because they
were apparently misrepresenting their classification. So, you know, I take
(22:03):
the results with a grain of salt. I mean, I
did the absolute best that I could. I couldn't have
got any more out of myself. And unfortunately, it just
wasn't meant to be. But, you know, I still had
a great career. I don't know, I No, I don't
hold anything against it. It was fun. I made life
long friends. You know, if I could go back in time,
I might do a couple of things different. But, you know,
at the end of the day, it is what it is.
You learn from the experience and you move on.
S4 (22:27):
What were your thoughts on the closing ceremony.
S6 (22:29):
And the closing ceremony? It was quite comical because it
mirrored the, um, the TV show called The Gains by
Clarke and Doyle, which is a satire on the Olympic Games.
And in the satire they had, um, uh, The Seekers
during the closing ceremony, mainly for the Paralympics because, uh,
(22:50):
they lead singer of The Seekers was in a wheelchair
by this stage and blow me down at the Paralympics
at the closing ceremony. They had the seekers with Judith
Durham in a wheelchair. I thought that was quite sort of, um,
I would say patronising, but ironic, you could say. I
thought it was quite comical. And of course, the song
they finishes was The Carnival Was over.
S9 (23:12):
Oh, wow. Not I surprised?
S6 (23:14):
Yeah, which is a little bit corny, but also sort
of funny at the same time. So it was always
a good experience. Closing ceremony, because it's informal and athletes
on the field can mix with whatever country they wish
to choose to. Don't have to stay in your your
designated country.
S7 (23:29):
So the closing ceremony, I remembered telling my husband, Neil, to, uh,
wear a previous Australian tracksuit top that I had, and
I said, if I can. I knew where he was sitting.
I said, I'm going to come up and see if
I can get you to come out and experience the
closing ceremony. So once we'd done the the usual, you know,
(23:50):
walk in and the little lap and whatever, I went
up and found. Found Neil and um, because he had
an Australian uniform on the officials on the gate. Just
let him onto the, onto the field. So he got
to experience the closing ceremony, um, down on the ground
with the teams.
S4 (24:07):
What's your advice to any athletes looking to compete in
Brisbane in 2032?
S6 (24:13):
My I'm advice to anybody competing in the next Paralympics.
Do your training, get your fitness up there, enjoy your
sport and that's really all you can do. Let's just
have fun with your sport. Don't take it too seriously.
And naturally, at times you have to take some things seriously.
But just enjoy your sport and enjoy the travel and
camaraderie of other countries and meeting different people and experiencing
(24:37):
different cultures and and attitudes and things like that. So it's, um,
just enjoy sport. You're there to watch a sport. You're
playing for fun.
S7 (24:47):
Just do everything that you possibly can to put yourself
in a position to be selected. You know, if it
means missing a party or it means missing a function
or whatever it might be because you're you've got training
on or you've got something on or a competition. Just
just do everything you possibly can to put yourself in
(25:08):
the position to be selected, because it's something that you'll
never forget, and nobody will ever be able to take
that away from you.
S8 (25:14):
Yes, I do it. Yeah. As much as athletes, we
put pressure on ourselves, you know, to perform. And, you know,
coaches put pressure on us to perform because if we
don't perform, they don't keep their spots. Just if the
opportunity if you get the opportunity to go, you just go.
You do your best and you just enjoy the whole experience.
And I'm a big one for, you know, no matter
(25:35):
when you're competing, if you're competing the day after the
opening ceremony, I'm still a big fan of going in
the opening ceremony because you don't know like you don't
know if you're getting, you know, four years time, you'll
be there for another one. But I just, you know,
it's one of the greatest things in my life to
the sport, changed my life. And to do something like that,
that I never thought I would do, you know, I
(25:57):
found out about it in Paralympic sport at the end
of 1996 and yeah, three and a bit years later,
I'm running for my country at the Paralympics. I think
if anybody gets that chance, you know, it's amazing and
it will probably never happen again after that.
S4 (26:13):
Do you have anything else to add?
S7 (26:15):
Um, just, uh, just the friends that you're able to make.
I think also like yourself. And, you know, Russell Short,
I always mentioned Russell, um, even though, uh, another friend
of mine, Julie Iles, didn't make Sydney 2000, but she's
always going to be a great friend. I think once
you've been on a team and in teams and away
(26:37):
with people, even though you might not speak to them
for years on end, you know you'll get a text
or a message or a Facebook post or something will
come out of the blue. And that will, um, reignite
all the memories of what you've done in the past.
And you'll always have a special bond with those people.
And and that's pretty amazing.
S3 (26:57):
I found actually, um, Facebook's been very handy for that
as well, because you do keep track of people and
you're not constantly having to call people. You just you
can see what they're up to. And uh, and so yeah,
you're not haven't lost track with them.
S7 (27:09):
Yeah, exactly. Some people can see it as a bit lazy.
But then when you've been on so many teams and,
you know, so many people and you've got your own
stuff going on, what you know, whether it be family
or whatever, it does become really hard to catch up
with people and, and Facebook and social media, media in
general has been a great way to reconnect with people
from the past.
S8 (27:29):
It's hard to fathom that it's been 25 years. You know,
a lot of it sounds like yesterday. It feels like yesterday,
especially at the moment with that 25 years coming up
like I've, you know, found a lot of my old
uniform and, and stuff like that. And it just the
memories just come back. I mean I don't miss I
don't miss the training in the morning. I don't miss
the training in the afternoon. But I do miss the
(27:51):
friendships and the time that we used to spend together.
Just being ourselves, just mucking around.
S10 (27:55):
That's a wrap for this week. A big thank you
to Anthony Clark, Jody Willis Roberts and Malcolm Bennett.
S4 (28:01):
And of course, thanks to you for listening. That includes
our listeners on the Reading Radio Network.
S10 (28:06):
You can find the podcast of this program, including some
extra content on Apple, Spotify, Google or your favorite podcast
platform next week.
S4 (28:16):
It's a scam.
S10 (28:18):
We talk to Jade Richards from Scam Watch about how
to identify a scam and avoid being ripped off.
S4 (28:24):
But between now and then, please do get in touch
with the show. Whether you have any experience of the
issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or
if you think there's something we should be talking about.
You never know. Your story and insight may help someone
who's dealing with something similar.
S10 (28:39):
You can reach us via Email Studio one at org.
That's studio number one at org.
S4 (28:46):
Or of course, you can find us on all the
good social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram by searching
for VA Radio Network. We want to hear from you.
S10 (28:56):
Bye for now.
S2 (28:57):
Studio one was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio. This show was made possible with the help
of the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at.
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