August 30, 2024 • 38 mins
What does it take to win an Olympic silver medal in open water swimming? Olympic 10-kilometre silver medalist Moesha Johnson joins us on Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast to share her journey of her race in the Seine and the intense competition in Paris. Moesha opens up about her race strategy, how she tackled the challenging currents, and the thrill of standing on the podium.
Moesha gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the meticulous planning and mental fortitude required to excel in marathon swimming. She discusses the impact of water quality, athlete safety protocols, and the critical role of the feed zone. From optimal feeding, positions to choosing the right nutrition, Moesha's insights are a treasure trove for anyone interested in the intricacies of open water swimming.
We also chatted about strategic decisions during the 10km race and her 6th place finish in the 1500m in the pool the week before. We also delve into Moesha's rigorous training and recovery strategies and the influence of different training methodologies.
This episode is packed with actionable tips, that you can use in your own swimming journey. Learn from Olympic Silver Medallist Moesha Johnson
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danielle Spurling (00:11):
Hello swimmers and welcome to another
episode of Torpedo Swimt alkPodcast.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to an inspiring swimmer fromaround the world about their
swimming journey.
Inspiring swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
Olympic 10-kilometre silvermedalist from Paris, Moesha
Johnson, is our guest on thepodcast today.
(00:31):
Mo not only shared her thoughtson the race, the water quality
in the Seine and the joy ofracing in such an epic venue,
but so much more.
This is one episode you don'twant to miss.
Let's hear from Mo now.
Hi, Mo, welcome to the podcast.
(00:52):
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, it's so great to have youhere.
Congratulations on winning oneof the most exciting silver
medals at the Olympics.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, it was so exciting.
I watched.
I watched every single minuteof it.
Have you come down off thecloud?
Moesha Johnson (01:07):
yeah, I'm starting to come down off the
cloud.
Like you know, I'm still seeingpeople that I haven't seen for
like a few months, like as I'mgetting out on my holidays.
But you know, like for the mostpart, like I feel like I'm I'm
coming back to reality now,thinking about the next season,
so that really humbles youknowing that you have to get
back into work soon is.
Danielle Spurling (01:26):
I mean, I've heard a lot of people talk about
um post-olympic blues.
Is that a thing that you'veexperienced or starting to
experience?
Moesha Johnson (01:33):
yeah, no, yeah, post-olympic blues or post
anything blues is a legit thing.
Um, like from any major meet, Itend to get, you know, a little
bit flat sometimes, um, butit's just a natural sort of
thing.
You know, to have to have ahigh, you have to have a low,
and it's part of life to haveups and downs.
And you know I want to do thesports and so obviously you have
(01:55):
big adrenaline hits.
So to have the recharge youhave to go down through a low
and yeah, I've definitely had ita little bit, but I'm lucky
I've been around family andfriends, so know you don't
really feel it as much as ifyou're alone, I guess.
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (02:09):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Where are you?
I know you're on a farmsomewhere or you have been.
Where's your family farm?
Moesha Johnson (02:18):
So I'm from northern New South Wales, from
Tweed, so yeah, I grew up on afarm and I have a pet cow and
horses and ducks and chooks.
So you know, I've been reallyhibernating out there and
recharging and just kind ofhiding from the world a bit, and
it's been so, so nice.
So yeah, just hanging out withthe animals.
There's just not much trafficaround, no visitors were allowed
(02:42):
.
Really I had to go out ifanyone wanted to see me.
So it just really gave me sometime to myself just to recharge
and just spend time with familyand all the rest.
So yeah, I'll be getting backout to the city on Gold Coast
the next weeks now.
But yeah, it was so good,immediately off the back of the
Olympics just to go into alittle hole yeah, I bet, I bet.
Danielle Spurling (03:02):
And to spend it with family too.
That makes it really special,absolutely, absolutely.
Now let's look at the race.
Can you share with us yourstrategy for the 10k heading
into it, and did it change asthe race progressed?
Moesha Johnson (03:17):
yeah, 100%.
So I had a race plan and Ididn't really stick to it, um,
but that's very, that's very,typical of me, I think.
You know, with open water,you've got to be very fluid in
your approach, um, because, soyou know, it's nothing
straightforward.
So for me, you know, the raceplan usually is just sit in the
pack, conserve as much energyand then, you know, start moving
towards the end.
(03:37):
That's a pretty standard racestrategy.
But it was very clear, um,quite early on in that race,
that, due to the current, it wasgoing single file, which meant
you're gonna have to sit quitehigh up in the group.
So, um, I used the first fewlaps to check, kind of what was
happening at different points inthe race and then, about
halfway, I really decided, no,I'm gonna move now.
(03:58):
And, um, yeah, I stayed at thefront the whole time, which I'm
never allowed to do, likenormally, it's like a big no-no.
Danielle Spurling (04:09):
I did it the whole race, but that was the
kind of race that this was.
I love that.
I love that you took it out.
It was so gutsy and you weremaking a statement to everyone
on the course.
Moesha Johnson (04:18):
How were you feeling physically when you were
leading?
I felt great.
I felt so strong, so fit.
I'd prepared so well for thatrace.
So you know, halfway when youstart to make a move it's always
a bit nerve-wracking, um,because obviously you can blow
up if you're burning too muchenergy.
But I wasn't dragging a big fatpack around, it's just a nice
single slipstream.
So even though I would havebeen using more energy than, say
(04:40):
, the girls behind me, it wasn'tas much as it could have
potentially been.
So I was really cautious of theperceived effort that I was
putting in.
But yeah, definitely, like Iwas having, I was having to
really check in with myself andmy energy feeling just to make
sure that I was going to haveenough towards the end of the
race.
Danielle Spurling (04:58):
Still, yeah, and I know Sharon led for a
brief moment, sort of midwaythrough.
Were you tempted to sit on herfeet or did you just feel so
good that you wanted to racepast?
Moesha Johnson (05:08):
well, I definitely like she was leading
and it's good for me just to sitin there after those those few
laps.
And while she was leading, youknow, we were both kind of
relaxing from what I'vediscussed with her.
I asked her how did it feel foryou?
And she's like, yeah, it'spretty relaxed.
I was like, okay, good, it'sfor me too.
And while she was leading, Ireally used that opportunity to
look back at the path behind usand there's various distinct
(05:30):
points in that race where thepath would split and I'd have to
catch up again.
Um, just because of themaneuvers we were having to do
around the edge.
So, um, I was comfortable.
And then I, because I hadpatterned it out, I was like I'm
gonna go to the front because Iknow where the group's breaking
and I want to try and break thegroup up a little bit.
So I was like, oh, maybe I'llpush forward a bit and then pull
(05:50):
back into the group and pushagain and just break it down a
little bit.
But it just so happened itbroke down into a group of three
and guaranteed ourselves amedal quite early on in that
race.
Danielle Spurling (06:01):
It was brilliant to watch.
I mean, that current comingback looked so brutal and when
you were getting sort of pushedacross into the wall and those
plant reeds hanging down thatwere, you know, scratching your
arms, it looked so, so terrible.
Did you mentally prepare forthat current coming back on that
, on that lap each time?
Moesha Johnson (06:19):
So we're trained with that in mind and mentally,
like I prepared myself, youknow, know, I didn't just go and
go, oh my gosh, in the current,you know, like I got in knowing
that there was a current and itwould feel different.
So, yeah, the reeds weredefinitely a bit more of a shock
than probably even the currentat that point, because I
prepared for the current.
But the reeds that wereswimming through the plants that
were hanging were quite sharp,so we all got cuts on our arms.
(06:41):
They ended up cutting them forthe men's race because I don't
think they realized they weresharp either.
So that was probably the shockat first.
Oh, that was sharp, that kindof hurt, um, and that that
bridge definitely was a trickypart of the race that I, like
all of us, would have struggledwith.
Danielle Spurling (06:56):
So, yeah, yeah, do you like looking back
on it now?
Obviously you.
You started with the currentand then you turned around and
came back and the finishingshoot was um against the current
.
Would you prefer it that way,or would you have liked it the
opposite way around?
Moesha Johnson (07:13):
um, I liked it that way.
Um, the cut like going with thecurrent, it's very hard to feel
the water, um, like when you'recatching and pulling, kind of
not really catching and pulling,it kind of feels a bit soft and
loose underneath you, if thatmakes sense.
So, even though the current,you weren't really moving as
fast like we've swum in, youknow the endless pools we've
(07:33):
done a fair bit of training inthat so it kind of felt this
similar feeling.
So I felt like I could feelwhat I was actually doing under
the water.
So, um, I I don't think I'dchange it at all.
I'd maybe move that bridge.
That bridge and that pillar wasa bit annoying to me.
I'd maybe move that, butobviously you can't.
Danielle Spurling (07:50):
I mean, look, it made it a great spectacle
because you could see everything, and normally it's a lot harder
to get that sort of vision whenyou're sort of out in more open
water, not in a sort of a riversystem.
So that was great for the sport.
Moesha Johnson (08:03):
Yeah, 100%.
Like we just kept saying likeoh, it's the most iconic open
water race we've ever done andthe spectators and the crowds
were absolutely fantastic.
Like Paris Olympic Committee,they did a fantastic job.
Like we had lineups at the gateand people could watch, the
public could watch, and it's oneof the only races where I've
had where we had a crowd thewhole way around so you could
(08:24):
hear them the whole time.
And it just made me keen to getmore events like this, where
you know often we're havingwhere just one point of the
crowd and you swim out andaround and you basically once a
lap.
But I'm like, no, let's getsome more venues where we can
have crowds on both sidescheering for us.
It was so good for our sportand so good for us as athletes.
Danielle Spurling (08:41):
Yeah, I mean it really.
It was great and it was goodthat it lined up that sort of.
In Australia we could watch itat sort of 4 o'clock.
It wasn't one of those earlymorning 4.30 starts.
Moesha Johnson (08:51):
Yeah, it was so good for like, yeah home, it was
so good over there, so good forus four.
It was just such a fantasticrace and obviously very
interesting race as well, withthe dynamics of the environment.
Danielle Spurling (09:02):
Yeah, yeah, the tactics were so interesting.
I'm just, I'm really interestedto think about.
Like, when you're in the gutsof the race, how do you sort of,
if you're starting to feel alittle bit physically tired, how
do you sort of what self-talkdo you use to get yourself
through?
Moesha Johnson (09:20):
I definitely talk to myself or I talk like,
have a conversation I don't knowwhat you want to call it um,
this race was one of the races Ididn't talk to myself as much
because I have to talk myselfthrough like contact with other
athletes, normally like whenyou're getting hit or knocked
around or you're bumping intoeach other.
I really have to self-bookthose situations, um, but when I
(09:41):
was the environment, it wasmore just like, kind of, just,
you know, moving on, like, oh, Ihit it, I hit a branch, that's
it, move on, you know, um.
So for me, the self-talk wasn'tas strong as some other races
I've done, um, but definitelylike.
I was like, yeah, I just.
I think I just felt so strongthroughout the race that I
didn't have those moments oflike, oh, no, like um, where
(10:03):
there's some races where I'mlike, okay, stay calm, you got
this, you know, and you have toreally calm yourself down.
But this race, you know, Ireally just tried to switch off
a few times and I just startedsinging my song and you know,
just, just like, you know, youhad to just go through the paces
of the laps, but because itwasn't a packed swim, it was
more just checking in with mytactics, checking in with where
(10:24):
I was positioned and just makingsure I was not burning too much
.
You know energy stores and just, yeah, just staying calm and,
yeah, just making sure I was.
I have to make sure I'mconcentrating and not drifting
off.
So, um, yeah, definitely, whenyou get those moments of
tiredness, you know sometimesI'll go, okay, I'm gonna pull
back a bit and let someone elselead.
(10:45):
But, like I said, I just wentinto that race feeling so strong
and so fit what?
Danielle Spurling (10:49):
what song were you singing to?
Moesha Johnson (10:50):
yourself.
So, um, I was singing poison byalice cooper.
It's gone.
A lot of people have asked methis question.
Um, it's not my normal song,like it's just a new song that
started coming in the rotationbut it stuck in my head and
everyone was like that's soironic because of the water
quality debates and stuff, youknow.
But it was good I can.
I only knew a few words, but atleast I knew the tune and you
(11:13):
just kind of roll with it.
You can't.
I'm not going to physicallychange the song that I got stuck
in my head, so and obviouslyhad a good beat because you you
look like you were right up ontop of the water and, flying
along, you could tell that youwere feeling good.
Yeah, yeah yeah, so it must havebeen a good beat.
I can't think of it right now,but I was embracing it.
Yeah, you kind of just embracewhatever thought comes your way.
That's a good thought.
Danielle Spurling (11:34):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I know you had a practice eventin the sand leading up to it,
but were you apprehensive aboutthe water quality when there was
all that sort of rain a fewweeks before it started?
Moesha Johnson (11:45):
yeah, so we got, yeah, we got to train the day
before the race.
We had the option.
Not every athlete took thatoption, which I was a little bit
surprised by, um, but you knowwe've had on and off.
You know we've been watchingthe weather and the results.
We knew the rain would changeit, but at the end of the day,
this is the Olympics and for me,you know, I was going to get in
and race and they had a fewcontingency plans and they
(12:09):
weren't going to put us in ifthe water quality was bad.
You know they have, they have anumber and it's the same for
every race that we do it.
So there's a water qualityresult and if the waterfall is
bad, we don't race and if it'sunder this number, we're right.
So if it's a thousand, units ofwhatever it is or whatever they
measure I'm sorry, I don't knowthe numbers, but the number is
one thousand.
If it's over one thousand, it'scancelled or postponed.
(12:31):
If it's under one thousand, wehold it and that's a standard
number.
So, yes, obviously, like we'vebeen watching it, but, um, you
know we had some good weather.
If it wasn't gonna be held thefirst day, we had two days and
then we had, it didn't fit inthose two days.
Then we're going to move venues, so we were always going to
race um.
And then on top of it, we had areally great medical team on the
(12:52):
australian olympic committeeand we had an oral vaccine and
we had antibiotics, we hadmouthwash, we had body wash.
So no matter what for me, I wasso comfortable with the water
quality, I was covered.
For me it was just okay.
What's my race plan?
What's the current weatherconditions?
I need to feel the race.
So the water quality for me wasabsolutely like it was the
(13:15):
least of my worries.
It'd been a problem.
You know, media hyped it up allthe time and I just didn't want
to get caught up in that.
I just wanted to okay facts ifit's on, it's good, if it's not,
yeah, I think that's a greatmindset to have going into it.
Danielle Spurling (13:25):
Could you actually?
Moesha Johnson (13:29):
well, well, actually I can't remember, I
wasn't paying that muchattention, but I know, like you
know, I've done a lot of murkywater races and the color of the
water has never been anindication of water quality.
Um, so for me, like I don'tlike looking underwater, whether
it's clear or not, in the oceanor the river that's.
You know, it was this thingthat I struggled to get into
(13:50):
open water, because I didn'twant to have water underneath me
.
So I think when I'm swimming, Ido shut my eyes a little bit
and I don't like to look.
So sometimes I'll have a littleglance, but I am trying not to
look down.
Yeah, it's just, that's mypersonal thing, yeah, that makes
complete sense.
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
I just have this random fearthat, like I'm gonna, some weird
deep sea creature or rivercreature that that I've not
(14:13):
discovered before is going topop up or swim over a dead body.
You know, like they just don'twant to know what's underneath
me.
Danielle Spurling (14:18):
That's fair enough.
I'm interested in hearing aboutthe feed zone.
Firstly, what sort of did youconsume during the race and did
you change your feed plan?
You obviously had an idea ofwhat you were going to do.
Did you change that when youcame into the race?
Moesha Johnson (14:35):
I think they got like so, course wise and
tactical wise, it was quitetricky because we're being
washed down and I kind ofbecause I was one of the first
feeding stations I was coming upa bit wider and then cutting
across, which my coaches told melater wasn't good, but I think
it was good.
Um, so there's a lot ofdifferent tactics and depending
where you were, you know, likeyou know, say, for example,
(14:55):
sharon Van Rondeau was at theother end of the feed station,
so she'd grab a feed and thenfloat with the current down with
a feed.
So I think the feeding wasquite interesting, this one, if
you were watching it, especiallydepending where you were
sitting in the pack.
And, yeah, because there was somuch push coming off that that
that position in the river.
So it's something that I'd loveto experience again, to figure
(15:17):
out myself how to do it better,because I don't think I did it
very well, I'm not sure.
Well, I thought I did it well,but then, looking back, I'm like
, oh, actually it'd be fun toplay with that.
But yeah, coming in, you know, Ithought you know, when they're
1600 meter laps, sometimes youdon't need to feed every single
lap.
Um, so I thought about maybechanging it up a little bit, but
(15:37):
once the current was there, Ijust really wanted to make sure
my energy stores were topped upand I wasn't, you know, I wasn't
lacking anything or burning toomuch energy, so I just decided
to feed every single lap, justto be safe.
And then if I missed it, Imissed it.
But yeah, I have, because indoha, our qualification, I had
two feeds knocked out of my, mything.
(15:57):
So I have a little bit of aparanoia of like missing a feed.
Now, like obviously I can do it.
I didn't do hard, you know, soI can do it.
But I'm like, okay, I'm justgoing to take every feed that I
can, because in those conditionsyou just want to make sure
you're not lacking energytowards the race.
Danielle Spurling (16:12):
Oh, and in terms of what I have in my feeds
yeah.
Moesha Johnson (16:15):
So, um, you get a variety between the athletes,
but it's always a high carb mixand um a mix of caffeine or no
caffeine or gels.
So for me this is an accidentalbrand plug.
I'm not sponsored, but I'vebeen using cis beta fuel.
Um, it's like the highestrefined form of carbs that you
(16:36):
can kind of get um.
Sometimes if I want to add alittle bit more concentrate,
I'll add a bit of a gel, butit's so high the concentration
of carb mix anyway, that youknow I just stick to the normal
ratios.
Um, I did add caffeine thisrace.
I am not consistent with mycaffeine across races, I just go
on the feeling of what I want.
(16:57):
Um, so, yeah, I did havecaffeine and carbs, pretty
simple.
Danielle Spurling (17:02):
Um yeah, yeah , did you.
Did you find it um difficult toget back into your stroke rate
after you'd taken that sort oflittle break in the middle?
Or was it a nice little?
Moesha Johnson (17:12):
rest.
No, it's something that we'requite used to Like.
I always struggle.
Just I think you need a fewstrokes just to let it settle in
your stomach.
But you know it's something youpractise in training.
You're having hard drinks intraining and doing intensity
sets.
So, especially for poolswimming, we'll sit and take
gels during high intensity,which open water isn't.
So I think you know, um, thewhole race was changing pace and
(17:38):
changing.
You know practicing feeling.
So for me I didn't strugglewith it, but some people might.
Danielle Spurling (17:41):
I'm not really sure we'll be back with
Mo after this short break.
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(18:02):
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(18:22):
show.
And what were your sort of talkus through the last 500 metres
of the race?
Moesha Johnson (18:28):
So the last 500 metres was against the current.
I just wanted to be in the leadbecause I knew that current was
hard to pass people.
It was the best position to bein to guarantee a better medal.
But obviously under that bridgethere was two options and I
tried sharon's option the lapbefore and I absolutely stuffed
it up.
I ran into the edge everyoneprobably saw that I ran into the
(18:50):
yellow thing, um, and I waslike, hey, I'm not doing that
again.
It didn't work for me, eventhough it was probably a better
route.
Um, and I knew that coming underthe bridge that time that
whatever way I took, sharonwould go the other way.
And you know she practiced itbetter than me the day before,
um, she had a training partnerwith her and I was doing it
alone, so she really nailed herskills that bit better.
(19:11):
Um, but obviously, coming underI was like, okay, I've
committed to this way, I'm gonnago this way and she commits
that way.
So I'm just gonna commit and Idid.
And then coming in, you know Ijust wanted to stand her feet as
long as I could, but you knowshe's talented athlete, she's
got much more speed at the endthan I do, but it's so hard to
know when to push because of thecurrent.
It's like, okay, do I startpushing now or now?
Um, but she kind of took off alittle bit sooner and the girl
(19:34):
behind me, I'd kind of securedmy place.
I just wanted to go in strongand yeah, coming into the touch
pad, you just kept swimming andit just wasn't getting any
closer and it was just like youjust see us nearly stop right at
the touch pad.
There's a strong current underthe pontoon pushing us up.
So it was a little bit.
It was a strange finish, but itwas also I.
We wanted a group of girls, soit's quite basic at the same
(19:56):
time.
Danielle Spurling (19:57):
Oh, it was brilliant to see it was.
It was such an exciting race.
Moesha Johnson (20:00):
It really was yeah, I've had a lot of people
say that to me and they're likeit was so nerve-wracking,
especially like people who don'tunderstand it like, or even
people who understand and I wasleading so early on.
Danielle Spurling (20:10):
they're like, well, I stressed, a lot of
people out no, I could tell thatyou were up on top of the water
.
You looked so comfortable andconfident.
You could tell you just werejust had that.
You're in that wave, thatbeautiful wave that we see, and
you're certainly in that in thatrace.
Have you got the medal there byany chance?
Moesha Johnson (20:28):
I do, I do, I've got it here.
So one moment um how beautifulis that it's massive yeah it's
so big, isn't it?
Yeah, that's the, that's theEiffel Tower, that's dark gray
and that's like the Paris design, and then on the back is the
classic um Olympiad it'sbeautiful how much does it weigh
(20:50):
?
Um, I would love to know theactual weight, but it's heavy,
like everyone gets the shockwhen they hold it.
So maybe like 500 grams Wow,yeah, but I'm not very good with
weights.
So, yeah, but it definitelyit's hefty.
Danielle Spurling (21:06):
It's a hefty thing, it's beautiful, beautiful
to have and well-deserved, yeah, thank you.
Thank you, congratulations onalso making the final of 1500 in
the pool and coming six.
That was an amazing achievementto be representing Australia in
the pool and in the marathon.
Yeah, what were your thoughtson your 1500 meter final?
Moesha Johnson (21:27):
yeah.
So obviously, like I would haveloved to have been under 16
minutes that's always just agood, good target time but I
just didn't quite have thatfront end speed that I was
wanting and I think you knowit's because I'd focused on the
10k, just flattened out a littlebit some of the that front end
speed.
Um, but you know, to swim to1500s at 16 minutes, back to
back, under such high pressureenvironment, and to be in the
(21:49):
final with a french girl, likeyou know, I absolutely did not
take that for granted.
Um, yeah, I think I think if itwas only the 1500, then maybe,
like I would have been, maybe alittle disappointed in the time,
but as we saw for some races,it wasn't about time or about
placing.
So, um, to come away, six havedone an Olympic final with such
(22:11):
a fast group of girls.
You know that was faster thanTokyo and I thought Tokyo was
fast.
Yeah, I just yeah.
I'm in a race with KatieLedecky and girls going 1540,
1541 and 1544.
You know that's incredible.
So, yeah, I'm pretty proud ofthat race too.
Danielle Spurling (22:30):
Yeah, it was a great race.
How did you recover like?
What was your recovery likebetween the heat and the final?
What did you do to get yourselfback up for the final?
Moesha Johnson (22:39):
yeah.
So it's something we don'treally get to practice a lot in
terms of that style, but we dopractice saying like racing,
1500 one day and 800 the next.
So, realistically, like youjust practice it every day in
training, um, you know you do ithard, set one day hard for the
next day.
So eating, well, um, hot, coldbars if you need them, norma
tech or compression massage ifthat works for you, um, sleeping
(23:03):
, um, and just yeah, but likeyou're fit enough that that, or
if you haven't, if you're notprepared for a backup, like that
, you probably haven't trainedit properly um true, but yeah,
for me it was just more aboutstaying calm, to be honest, um
in that environment.
Danielle Spurling (23:17):
So yeah, yeah , and obviously the 10k was your
sort of your main focus.
But you get into the villageand obviously you had the
training camp before.
But getting the village, whatdo you do for your training to
keep going during that sort ofweek of pool competitions?
Moesha Johnson (23:33):
for pool between between pool and open water.
Is that what?
Danielle Spurling (23:35):
you mean Well , I mean you didn't have your
1500 till later in the week,yeah, yeah, so obviously you
weren't racing the early part.
So how did you keep yourtraining specifically for you
going?
Moesha Johnson (23:46):
Yeah, so basically you just plan with
your coach what you know whatit's going to look like and you
just plan for your day that yourrace is day one.
So for me the 1500 was day one.
For me that's day one of mo'sracing, so you just plan it like
that.
So, um, they have a trainingpool and a comp pool and you
just go off and you do yourtraining, you stick to it and
you do your sets like normal.
(24:06):
So for me my 1500 was on dayone, even though it was on like
day four or something.
Um, but obviously, like attrials, it was a really good
practice for me.
I was at the last event on thelast night, so I really had to
practice how to manage the crazyenvironment around you, so I
felt really prepared for it.
Danielle Spurling (24:27):
Yeah, because that must be hard when you're
still focusing on your trainingand then you've got all these
teammates coming in with medalson the first night and fantastic
swims and the excitement thatgoes along with that exactly so
you really have to put a lid onyourself.
Moesha Johnson (24:41):
I always I tried to go to the training pool more
often where it was calm andrelaxing and, yeah, you don't
want to be burning that energy,um.
But yeah, definitely, trialsreally prepared me for it and it
really prepared me then forthis backup.
You know I had to do the 10kafter all, my teammates had
finished and we're on holidays,you know.
So I was when really holding mymyself together, knowing that,
(25:05):
yeah, you kind of really justhad to kind of remove yourself a
little bit, unfortunately, butthat's what you have to do when
you want to perform.
Danielle Spurling (25:12):
And, in terms of the village, when they had
all finished their pool swimming, were you still staying in that
apartment by yourself or didyou move with them?
Moesha Johnson (25:20):
So what happened after my 1500 final?
I'd requested to go out intoour staging camp with the open
water, so I left the village.
So I wanted to just calm down,decompress and reset and come in
with my teammates who had thesame goals that I had.
Um, and it worked out really,really well.
So I left my apartment and cameback in with the open water
(25:42):
group and then we went into ourown apartment with open water oh
that's good yeah, that wouldhave worked out well.
Danielle Spurling (25:49):
Yeah, now I just wanted to have a little bit
of a talk about your training.
I know you've worked withMichael Boll on the Gold Coast
with his squad in the last fewyears but you decided to change
your training base to Germany.
What prompted that change?
Moesha Johnson (26:00):
Yeah, um, quite like a number of things.
Um, so I went on training campwith them, uh, in 2022, just off
the back of worlds, and did theopen water with them.
And then I asked you know, wespoke with bolly and we decided
to do a training camp infebruary of 2023, and we've
(26:22):
spoken about a few differentthings and when I got over there
, we had a couple of chats andhe's like, look, if you think
you should stay, I feel like I,I would encourage and support
you.
Um, so, basically, I went ontraining camp and just never
came home.
Um, so for me, it's just europeknows how to do endurance
training in europe.
(26:43):
It's their passion.
Um, you know, they got tour defrance and all that in their
their blood and they got accessto high altitude.
And you know, they got tour defrance and all that in their
their blood and they got accessto high altitude.
And you know, I was doing somuch training over here alone
and, um, it was just so nice togo over there and be amongst
other hard workers and peoplewho are willing to do the extra
volume and the extra distance.
(27:03):
And they're all doing the samedouble up I'm doing the 1500 and
the 10k.
So it just was a good fit andthey welcomed me and, yeah, it's
a very different style oftraining to what I was doing um
with Michael and yeah, it'sobviously worked out really well
how?
Danielle Spurling (27:22):
how is it different what?
What was the difference thatyou really noted?
Moesha Johnson (27:26):
so for me it was doing the, the aerobic um,
maybe I don't know what peoplewould know it as a2 or bz2, um
kind of level.
So really working in that bluezone, green zone, heart rate
level.
Um, we did a lot more thresholdin australia so, um, I really
(27:49):
built a big aerobic base.
Now that, um, I'm building on,I'm actually building from that
again so I could swim atthreshold all day and red zone
in the heart rate.
You know when you do the heartrate, yeah, um, but I couldn't
sit slow in a pack, I could onlypace it up.
(28:09):
So I had to really train myselfto be able to swim slow and
efficient, um to conserve energyfor the end of the race how
interesting.
Danielle Spurling (28:21):
How big is the squad?
How big is the squad there?
Moesha Johnson (28:24):
so on the olympic team we had eight
swimmers.
It was quite a big group of us,very successful group, very
self-driven group, veryself-motivated um.
So in my group, uh, maybearound 12 to 16, it's changed a
little bit in the olympic year.
Danielle Spurling (28:39):
So and one of your main competitors, sharon,
is training alongside you.
How, how did that go, oh?
Moesha Johnson (28:45):
she's fantastic.
Um, we're great friends.
Um, we're such differentathletes so for us, like, it's
not like we're going to swim thesame race.
Um, you know, she, herstrengths are different to my
strength in training, herstrengths are different to my
strength, but polar opposite, um, and you know, she's like
literally the go to the sportand I've learned so much from
her.
She's, you know, I've beengreat company in training and
(29:10):
yeah, we've gotten along reallywell and it's just been such an
honor to train alongside her.
And yeah, like no one else hasdone what she's done.
You know, three olympic medalsand open water like all, there's
only other girls with one, soyou know, and two goals.
So for me it's been so specialand you know she's just been
such a great friend to me andoutside the pool we've had a lot
(29:31):
of fun this last year and yeah,it's been great.
Danielle Spurling (29:34):
That's really nice.
What town are you based in whenyou're over there?
So I'm in a city calledMagdeburg.
Moesha Johnson (29:40):
I'm in Magdeburg .
Danielle Spurling (29:42):
And can you share with us what a typical
training week pre-paris looklike for you in that sort of
lead up?
Moesha Johnson (29:48):
yeah, so we don't really do these typical
training weeks.
We fluctuate between 10sessions and 12 sessions, um,
it's a very fluid program so, um, but yeah, we're pushing up
some, some bigger volumes andwe're gonna block at altitude,
um, and we do six land sessionsa day but also a lot of focus on
(30:08):
recovery, like sleeping, eating, hot-collar bars, massage,
physio.
But yeah, I didn't have atypical program because I was
everywhere, I was back here fortrials and then I was over with
them for a few weeks and then Ihad to join back in with
Swimming Australia and then wemoved and we moved so I would
fall over the place.
So I don't know if I could sayI had a typical training week.
(30:33):
Um, we just had to really workwithin the travel confinements
that olympics bring.
Danielle Spurling (30:35):
So yeah, and hang on.
Did you just say six dry landsessions a day or a week, a week
, a week?
Moesha Johnson (30:40):
sorry, I don't know, I don't know it might be,
but you know we do dry landbefore swimming.
Yeah, we, we swim and then wedo like a stretch afterwards
just to relax the body so we canrecover.
And then we will do a dry landlike cardio, strength, circuit
power stuff or sometimes yoga,depending kind of the load we're
(31:02):
in.
And then you know, you comeback and do it again in the
afternoon, warm up dry land,warm up trial and warm up swim
recovery, sort of stretching.
Danielle Spurling (31:10):
But that's it , yeah and is a lot of the
training over there in openwater or is it all in a pool?
Moesha Johnson (31:17):
no, we do all our open water training in a
pool.
The only exposure we get ismaybe racing and then like the
training sessions before racingat the venue.
Um, but yeah, if we get theaccess somewhere we will do it,
but it is hard to access openwater venues yeah, fantastic.
Danielle Spurling (31:34):
And when do you head back over there, or are
you heading back over theresoon?
Moesha Johnson (31:38):
yeah, yeah, so we'll be heading back over there
.
I think you know that thatprogram is what really suits me
and my physiology.
Um, so I'll be heading over endof.
September, start of October, Ithink so.
Danielle Spurling (31:50):
I haven't really made a set plan yet.
Moesha Johnson (31:51):
So I've got to start making some plans for the
next season, because you knowyou've got to do it all again.
Danielle Spurling (31:56):
Yeah for sure .
Have you got any sort of?
Are you thinking about theWorld Champs in Singapore next
year, or have you got somethingelse on the horizon?
Moesha Johnson (32:04):
Yeah, no, obviously it's world champs.
Um, the challenging part for meis um commonwealth games.
I don't have any of my eventsin commonwealth games, so, um,
no, 1500, no 10k, no 5k, no,nothing.
So I'll be looking at 2026 as ayear that might be a little bit
alternative, but typically it'slike world champs or olympic
games that you target in thatyear.
(32:25):
Um, and then 2026 for me,without some games.
I might do like the World Cupcircuit, or maybe I'll just have
a bit of a relaxing year inpreparation for the final two
years in the Olympics.
Danielle Spurling (32:35):
And I was a little bit off track, but I was
really delighted to discover.
Your uncle is Brad Cooper,Munich gold medalist in the 400
free.
Has he had much influence overyour career?
Moesha Johnson (32:46):
Yeah, so he's married to my mum's sister, so
that's how we're related.
We're not like blood related,but he's, you know, had a big
influence in my life.
They, my auntie Cheryl anduncle Brad.
They owned a lunch or swimcenter so I grew up there.
My mum was working there, sothey really encouraged my mum to
let me swim because I justloved swimming as a little kid
and they couldn't keep me out ofthe water.
(33:08):
I just was in every swimminglesson I was allowed to be in
and yeah, and then I just keptprogressing through squads and
my mom like my auntie said to mymom oh you just gotta let her
race, she just wants to race.
So it's kind of been somethingthat's been quite instinctive
for me.
But you know, they reallyhelped my mom and guided my mom
and you know I trained underBrad for a number of years
before I moved up into some ofthe high performance squads.
(33:30):
So he's had a big impact on mylife and taught me a lot.
You know, I feel like I learneda lot of Don Talbot little
tricks through him.
Danielle Spurling (33:37):
So yeah, um, it's been fantastic and he's
been a great mentor yeah, hewould have been so proud of you
as all your family would havebeen.
Yeah, yeah, he was so shy hefamily would have been.
Moesha Johnson (33:47):
Yeah, he was so shy.
He brought out the medal and Iwas like we've got to get a
photo and he's like oh, I don'tknow.
But, yeah, it was such aspecial moment to share our
Olympic medals together.
Danielle Spurling (33:56):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
A bit of a difference in sizethere.
Oh yeah, and one question Iwanted to ask you too how did
you?
What was the first reason thatyou discovered the open water?
Because you obviously startedoff with pool racing.
(34:16):
What was your entree into it?
Moesha Johnson (34:19):
yeah.
So they've always wanted me todo open water and I always just
was like not interested, I likethe pool swimming.
But I think you know, to mecovert really really brought
about that first thought of likeoh, I could do this.
Um, you know, when we're inlockdown I did a lot of ocean
swimming, staying up to thewater, and I was like, okay,
(34:41):
okay, maybe I could do this, sosomething.
Then after that that we lookedat expanding me into, especially
after I missed the Olympics inthe pool in the Tokyo trials.
I needed something to keep itinteresting and open water was a
little sideline project that'snow become the frontline runner,
so yeah, absolutely did.
Danielle Spurling (34:59):
You did you used to swim other strokes, or
was it always just freestyle foryou?
Moesha Johnson (35:03):
no, I've swum other strokes as a little kid.
I was more of a breaststroker,I am swimmer oh um, but I'm just
not like the strongest girlaround so I did struggle to keep
up.
You know I needed longer than200 meters um, and my butterfly
you know for 400 I am my hundredfly like isn't as strong.
So, um, I just naturally alwaysjust just like moved into the
(35:25):
distance swimming andunfortunately that was just
freestyle.
But yeah, I did a range ofthings when I was younger.
Danielle Spurling (35:32):
And aside from your own race, what was
your favourite swimming memoryfrom the Paris Games?
Moesha Johnson (35:37):
There was a lot of fantastic races and obviously
, like Leon Marchand, summerMcIntosh, undeniably like
fantastic.
You know athletes and racers.
But you know, like KatieLedecky, you know to be in her
races and see her just be such agoat in the sport.
You know that was a great race,um, you know, I even loved the
women's 100 free.
Sarah sostrom, like I know,like obviously we would have
(35:58):
loved to see australia in there,but you know that was such a
fantastic race by her and shehasn't actually won the gold
medal even though she's a worldrecord holder and she's such an
incredible athlete.
That was amazing 100 freestyleby her and, yeah, even cam
mcavoy's 53.
But you know, for me thestandout race of the week was
probably the women's 800.
I thought that was a fantasticrace.
(36:20):
You know katie ledecky, youknow she's such a standout but
she fought for it.
And ariane, you know she foughtfor a silver medal and um third
place.
That was an incredible race byher and I was just really like I
still am mind blown by thatrace.
For me personally, I strugglewith the 800.
I just can't figure out how torace it.
Um, it's just not clicked forme, um and so to see them racing
(36:43):
it so well, so many fast girlsin that race it was amazing.
Danielle Spurling (36:47):
Yeah, it was so interesting because they
approached it so differently.
Moesha Johnson (36:50):
Yeah, absolutely , ariana and katie yeah, and
ariana, she really gave it tokatie and, like she, even in
ariana's interviews, she said no, it's a race I'm really proud
of.
I really fought for that silvermedal and, you know, third
place she even split it toperfection and this is so strong
.
You know, it's so nice to see anew name off there in the mix
(37:10):
and swimming so well yeah, thatwas.
Danielle Spurling (37:12):
That was a great race, that's.
It's good that you've mentionedthat one as well, because I
don't think many people haveyeah, I don't people even think,
people even realize howfantastic that was.
Moesha Johnson (37:22):
Like I'm I'm just being frozen and watching
that race on repeat, like it'sso good, oh, mo.
Danielle Spurling (37:27):
Thank you so much for joining us on the
podcast today.
You've been very generous withyour time and letting us have an
insight into that great raceand once again, congratulations.
Moesha Johnson (37:37):
Thank you so much and thanks for having me.
Danielle Spurling (37:39):
Yeah, you're welcome.
Okay, take care.
Thank you.
Bye.
Take care, mo.
Thanks to Mo for sharing herolympic journey with us today.
I adored hearing all herperspectives on the 10k and
other parts of her swim journey.
I hope you did as well.
For more insights into behindthe scenes and what's coming up
(38:00):
on the podcast, become asubscriber of the show, and you
can do that through our torpedoswim talk website.
Till next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
Hello swimmers and welcome to another
episode of Torpedo Swimt alkPodcast.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to an inspiring swimmer fromaround the world about their
swimming journey.
Inspiring swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
Olympic 10-kilometre silvermedalist from Paris, Moesha
Johnson, is our guest on thepodcast today.
(00:31):
Mo not only shared her thoughtson the race, the water quality
in the Seine and the joy ofracing in such an epic venue,
but so much more.
This is one episode you don'twant to miss.
Let's hear from Mo now.
Hi, Mo, welcome to the podcast.
(00:52):
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, it's so great to have youhere.
Congratulations on winning oneof the most exciting silver
medals at the Olympics.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, it was so exciting.
I watched.
I watched every single minuteof it.
Have you come down off thecloud?
Moesha Johnson (01:07):
yeah, I'm starting to come down off the
cloud.
Like you know, I'm still seeingpeople that I haven't seen for
like a few months, like as I'mgetting out on my holidays.
But you know, like for the mostpart, like I feel like I'm I'm
coming back to reality now,thinking about the next season,
so that really humbles youknowing that you have to get
back into work soon is.
Danielle Spurling (01:26):
I mean, I've heard a lot of people talk about
um post-olympic blues.
Is that a thing that you'veexperienced or starting to
experience?
Moesha Johnson (01:33):
yeah, no, yeah, post-olympic blues or post
anything blues is a legit thing.
Um, like from any major meet, Itend to get, you know, a little
bit flat sometimes, um, butit's just a natural sort of
thing.
You know, to have to have ahigh, you have to have a low,
and it's part of life to haveups and downs.
And you know I want to do thesports and so obviously you have
(01:55):
big adrenaline hits.
So to have the recharge youhave to go down through a low
and yeah, I've definitely had ita little bit, but I'm lucky
I've been around family andfriends, so know you don't
really feel it as much as ifyou're alone, I guess.
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (02:09):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Where are you?
I know you're on a farmsomewhere or you have been.
Where's your family farm?
Moesha Johnson (02:18):
So I'm from northern New South Wales, from
Tweed, so yeah, I grew up on afarm and I have a pet cow and
horses and ducks and chooks.
So you know, I've been reallyhibernating out there and
recharging and just kind ofhiding from the world a bit, and
it's been so, so nice.
So yeah, just hanging out withthe animals.
There's just not much trafficaround, no visitors were allowed
(02:42):
.
Really I had to go out ifanyone wanted to see me.
So it just really gave me sometime to myself just to recharge
and just spend time with familyand all the rest.
So yeah, I'll be getting backout to the city on Gold Coast
the next weeks now.
But yeah, it was so good,immediately off the back of the
Olympics just to go into alittle hole yeah, I bet, I bet.
Danielle Spurling (03:02):
And to spend it with family too.
That makes it really special,absolutely, absolutely.
Now let's look at the race.
Can you share with us yourstrategy for the 10k heading
into it, and did it change asthe race progressed?
Moesha Johnson (03:17):
yeah, 100%.
So I had a race plan and Ididn't really stick to it, um,
but that's very, that's very,typical of me, I think.
You know, with open water,you've got to be very fluid in
your approach, um, because, soyou know, it's nothing
straightforward.
So for me, you know, the raceplan usually is just sit in the
pack, conserve as much energyand then, you know, start moving
towards the end.
(03:37):
That's a pretty standard racestrategy.
But it was very clear, um,quite early on in that race,
that, due to the current, it wasgoing single file, which meant
you're gonna have to sit quitehigh up in the group.
So, um, I used the first fewlaps to check, kind of what was
happening at different points inthe race and then, about
halfway, I really decided, no,I'm gonna move now.
(03:58):
And, um, yeah, I stayed at thefront the whole time, which I'm
never allowed to do, likenormally, it's like a big no-no.
Danielle Spurling (04:09):
I did it the whole race, but that was the
kind of race that this was.
I love that.
I love that you took it out.
It was so gutsy and you weremaking a statement to everyone
on the course.
Moesha Johnson (04:18):
How were you feeling physically when you were
leading?
I felt great.
I felt so strong, so fit.
I'd prepared so well for thatrace.
So you know, halfway when youstart to make a move it's always
a bit nerve-wracking, um,because obviously you can blow
up if you're burning too muchenergy.
But I wasn't dragging a big fatpack around, it's just a nice
single slipstream.
So even though I would havebeen using more energy than, say
(04:40):
, the girls behind me, it wasn'tas much as it could have
potentially been.
So I was really cautious of theperceived effort that I was
putting in.
But yeah, definitely, like Iwas having, I was having to
really check in with myself andmy energy feeling just to make
sure that I was going to haveenough towards the end of the
race.
Danielle Spurling (04:58):
Still, yeah, and I know Sharon led for a
brief moment, sort of midwaythrough.
Were you tempted to sit on herfeet or did you just feel so
good that you wanted to racepast?
Moesha Johnson (05:08):
well, I definitely like she was leading
and it's good for me just to sitin there after those those few
laps.
And while she was leading, youknow, we were both kind of
relaxing from what I'vediscussed with her.
I asked her how did it feel foryou?
And she's like, yeah, it'spretty relaxed.
I was like, okay, good, it'sfor me too.
And while she was leading, Ireally used that opportunity to
look back at the path behind usand there's various distinct
(05:30):
points in that race where thepath would split and I'd have to
catch up again.
Um, just because of themaneuvers we were having to do
around the edge.
So, um, I was comfortable.
And then I, because I hadpatterned it out, I was like I'm
gonna go to the front because Iknow where the group's breaking
and I want to try and break thegroup up a little bit.
So I was like, oh, maybe I'llpush forward a bit and then pull
(05:50):
back into the group and pushagain and just break it down a
little bit.
But it just so happened itbroke down into a group of three
and guaranteed ourselves amedal quite early on in that
race.
Danielle Spurling (06:01):
It was brilliant to watch.
I mean, that current comingback looked so brutal and when
you were getting sort of pushedacross into the wall and those
plant reeds hanging down thatwere, you know, scratching your
arms, it looked so, so terrible.
Did you mentally prepare forthat current coming back on that
, on that lap each time?
Moesha Johnson (06:19):
So we're trained with that in mind and mentally,
like I prepared myself, youknow, know, I didn't just go and
go, oh my gosh, in the current,you know, like I got in knowing
that there was a current and itwould feel different.
So, yeah, the reeds weredefinitely a bit more of a shock
than probably even the currentat that point, because I
prepared for the current.
But the reeds that wereswimming through the plants that
were hanging were quite sharp,so we all got cuts on our arms.
(06:41):
They ended up cutting them forthe men's race because I don't
think they realized they weresharp either.
So that was probably the shockat first.
Oh, that was sharp, that kindof hurt, um, and that that
bridge definitely was a trickypart of the race that I, like
all of us, would have struggledwith.
Danielle Spurling (06:56):
So, yeah, yeah, do you like looking back
on it now?
Obviously you.
You started with the currentand then you turned around and
came back and the finishingshoot was um against the current
.
Would you prefer it that way,or would you have liked it the
opposite way around?
Moesha Johnson (07:13):
um, I liked it that way.
Um, the cut like going with thecurrent, it's very hard to feel
the water, um, like when you'recatching and pulling, kind of
not really catching and pulling,it kind of feels a bit soft and
loose underneath you, if thatmakes sense.
So, even though the current,you weren't really moving as
fast like we've swum in, youknow the endless pools we've
(07:33):
done a fair bit of training inthat so it kind of felt this
similar feeling.
So I felt like I could feelwhat I was actually doing under
the water.
So, um, I I don't think I'dchange it at all.
I'd maybe move that bridge.
That bridge and that pillar wasa bit annoying to me.
I'd maybe move that, butobviously you can't.
Danielle Spurling (07:50):
I mean, look, it made it a great spectacle
because you could see everything, and normally it's a lot harder
to get that sort of vision whenyou're sort of out in more open
water, not in a sort of a riversystem.
So that was great for the sport.
Moesha Johnson (08:03):
Yeah, 100%.
Like we just kept saying likeoh, it's the most iconic open
water race we've ever done andthe spectators and the crowds
were absolutely fantastic.
Like Paris Olympic Committee,they did a fantastic job.
Like we had lineups at the gateand people could watch, the
public could watch, and it's oneof the only races where I've
had where we had a crowd thewhole way around so you could
(08:24):
hear them the whole time.
And it just made me keen to getmore events like this, where
you know often we're havingwhere just one point of the
crowd and you swim out andaround and you basically once a
lap.
But I'm like, no, let's getsome more venues where we can
have crowds on both sidescheering for us.
It was so good for our sportand so good for us as athletes.
Danielle Spurling (08:41):
Yeah, I mean it really.
It was great and it was goodthat it lined up that sort of.
In Australia we could watch itat sort of 4 o'clock.
It wasn't one of those earlymorning 4.30 starts.
Moesha Johnson (08:51):
Yeah, it was so good for like, yeah home, it was
so good over there, so good forus four.
It was just such a fantasticrace and obviously very
interesting race as well, withthe dynamics of the environment.
Danielle Spurling (09:02):
Yeah, yeah, the tactics were so interesting.
I'm just, I'm really interestedto think about.
Like, when you're in the gutsof the race, how do you sort of,
if you're starting to feel alittle bit physically tired, how
do you sort of what self-talkdo you use to get yourself
through?
Moesha Johnson (09:20):
I definitely talk to myself or I talk like,
have a conversation I don't knowwhat you want to call it um,
this race was one of the races Ididn't talk to myself as much
because I have to talk myselfthrough like contact with other
athletes, normally like whenyou're getting hit or knocked
around or you're bumping intoeach other.
I really have to self-bookthose situations, um, but when I
(09:41):
was the environment, it wasmore just like, kind of, just,
you know, moving on, like, oh, Ihit it, I hit a branch, that's
it, move on, you know, um.
So for me, the self-talk wasn'tas strong as some other races
I've done, um, but definitelylike.
I was like, yeah, I just.
I think I just felt so strongthroughout the race that I
didn't have those moments oflike, oh, no, like um, where
(10:03):
there's some races where I'mlike, okay, stay calm, you got
this, you know, and you have toreally calm yourself down.
But this race, you know, Ireally just tried to switch off
a few times and I just startedsinging my song and you know,
just, just like, you know, youhad to just go through the paces
of the laps, but because itwasn't a packed swim, it was
more just checking in with mytactics, checking in with where
(10:24):
I was positioned and just makingsure I was not burning too much
.
You know energy stores and just, yeah, just staying calm and,
yeah, just making sure I was.
I have to make sure I'mconcentrating and not drifting
off.
So, um, yeah, definitely, whenyou get those moments of
tiredness, you know sometimesI'll go, okay, I'm gonna pull
back a bit and let someone elselead.
(10:45):
But, like I said, I just wentinto that race feeling so strong
and so fit what?
Danielle Spurling (10:49):
what song were you singing to?
Moesha Johnson (10:50):
yourself.
So, um, I was singing poison byalice cooper.
It's gone.
A lot of people have asked methis question.
Um, it's not my normal song,like it's just a new song that
started coming in the rotationbut it stuck in my head and
everyone was like that's soironic because of the water
quality debates and stuff, youknow.
But it was good I can.
I only knew a few words, but atleast I knew the tune and you
(11:13):
just kind of roll with it.
You can't.
I'm not going to physicallychange the song that I got stuck
in my head, so and obviouslyhad a good beat because you you
look like you were right up ontop of the water and, flying
along, you could tell that youwere feeling good.
Yeah, yeah yeah, so it must havebeen a good beat.
I can't think of it right now,but I was embracing it.
Yeah, you kind of just embracewhatever thought comes your way.
That's a good thought.
Danielle Spurling (11:34):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I know you had a practice eventin the sand leading up to it,
but were you apprehensive aboutthe water quality when there was
all that sort of rain a fewweeks before it started?
Moesha Johnson (11:45):
yeah, so we got, yeah, we got to train the day
before the race.
We had the option.
Not every athlete took thatoption, which I was a little bit
surprised by, um, but you knowwe've had on and off.
You know we've been watchingthe weather and the results.
We knew the rain would changeit, but at the end of the day,
this is the Olympics and for me,you know, I was going to get in
and race and they had a fewcontingency plans and they
(12:09):
weren't going to put us in ifthe water quality was bad.
You know they have, they have anumber and it's the same for
every race that we do it.
So there's a water qualityresult and if the waterfall is
bad, we don't race and if it'sunder this number, we're right.
So if it's a thousand, units ofwhatever it is or whatever they
measure I'm sorry, I don't knowthe numbers, but the number is
one thousand.
If it's over one thousand, it'scancelled or postponed.
(12:31):
If it's under one thousand, wehold it and that's a standard
number.
So, yes, obviously, like we'vebeen watching it, but, um, you
know we had some good weather.
If it wasn't gonna be held thefirst day, we had two days and
then we had, it didn't fit inthose two days.
Then we're going to move venues, so we were always going to
race um.
And then on top of it, we had areally great medical team on the
(12:52):
australian olympic committeeand we had an oral vaccine and
we had antibiotics, we hadmouthwash, we had body wash.
So no matter what for me, I wasso comfortable with the water
quality, I was covered.
For me it was just okay.
What's my race plan?
What's the current weatherconditions?
I need to feel the race.
So the water quality for me wasabsolutely like it was the
(13:15):
least of my worries.
It'd been a problem.
You know, media hyped it up allthe time and I just didn't want
to get caught up in that.
I just wanted to okay facts ifit's on, it's good, if it's not,
yeah, I think that's a greatmindset to have going into it.
Danielle Spurling (13:25):
Could you actually?
Moesha Johnson (13:29):
well, well, actually I can't remember, I
wasn't paying that muchattention, but I know, like you
know, I've done a lot of murkywater races and the color of the
water has never been anindication of water quality.
Um, so for me, like I don'tlike looking underwater, whether
it's clear or not, in the oceanor the river that's.
You know, it was this thingthat I struggled to get into
(13:50):
open water, because I didn'twant to have water underneath me
.
So I think when I'm swimming, Ido shut my eyes a little bit
and I don't like to look.
So sometimes I'll have a littleglance, but I am trying not to
look down.
Yeah, it's just, that's mypersonal thing, yeah, that makes
complete sense.
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
I just have this random fearthat, like I'm gonna, some weird
deep sea creature or rivercreature that that I've not
(14:13):
discovered before is going topop up or swim over a dead body.
You know, like they just don'twant to know what's underneath
me.
Danielle Spurling (14:18):
That's fair enough.
I'm interested in hearing aboutthe feed zone.
Firstly, what sort of did youconsume during the race and did
you change your feed plan?
You obviously had an idea ofwhat you were going to do.
Did you change that when youcame into the race?
Moesha Johnson (14:35):
I think they got like so, course wise and
tactical wise, it was quitetricky because we're being
washed down and I kind ofbecause I was one of the first
feeding stations I was coming upa bit wider and then cutting
across, which my coaches told melater wasn't good, but I think
it was good.
Um, so there's a lot ofdifferent tactics and depending
where you were, you know, likeyou know, say, for example,
(14:55):
sharon Van Rondeau was at theother end of the feed station,
so she'd grab a feed and thenfloat with the current down with
a feed.
So I think the feeding wasquite interesting, this one, if
you were watching it, especiallydepending where you were
sitting in the pack.
And, yeah, because there was somuch push coming off that that
that position in the river.
So it's something that I'd loveto experience again, to figure
(15:17):
out myself how to do it better,because I don't think I did it
very well, I'm not sure.
Well, I thought I did it well,but then, looking back, I'm like
, oh, actually it'd be fun toplay with that.
But yeah, coming in, you know, Ithought you know, when they're
1600 meter laps, sometimes youdon't need to feed every single
lap.
Um, so I thought about maybechanging it up a little bit, but
(15:37):
once the current was there, Ijust really wanted to make sure
my energy stores were topped upand I wasn't, you know, I wasn't
lacking anything or burning toomuch energy, so I just decided
to feed every single lap, justto be safe.
And then if I missed it, Imissed it.
But yeah, I have, because indoha, our qualification, I had
two feeds knocked out of my, mything.
(15:57):
So I have a little bit of aparanoia of like missing a feed.
Now, like obviously I can do it.
I didn't do hard, you know, soI can do it.
But I'm like, okay, I'm justgoing to take every feed that I
can, because in those conditionsyou just want to make sure
you're not lacking energytowards the race.
Danielle Spurling (16:12):
Oh, and in terms of what I have in my feeds
yeah.
Moesha Johnson (16:15):
So, um, you get a variety between the athletes,
but it's always a high carb mixand um a mix of caffeine or no
caffeine or gels.
So for me this is an accidentalbrand plug.
I'm not sponsored, but I'vebeen using cis beta fuel.
Um, it's like the highestrefined form of carbs that you
(16:36):
can kind of get um.
Sometimes if I want to add alittle bit more concentrate,
I'll add a bit of a gel, butit's so high the concentration
of carb mix anyway, that youknow I just stick to the normal
ratios.
Um, I did add caffeine thisrace.
I am not consistent with mycaffeine across races, I just go
on the feeling of what I want.
(16:57):
Um, so, yeah, I did havecaffeine and carbs, pretty
simple.
Danielle Spurling (17:02):
Um yeah, yeah , did you.
Did you find it um difficult toget back into your stroke rate
after you'd taken that sort oflittle break in the middle?
Or was it a nice little?
Moesha Johnson (17:12):
rest.
No, it's something that we'requite used to Like.
I always struggle.
Just I think you need a fewstrokes just to let it settle in
your stomach.
But you know it's something youpractise in training.
You're having hard drinks intraining and doing intensity
sets.
So, especially for poolswimming, we'll sit and take
gels during high intensity,which open water isn't.
So I think you know, um, thewhole race was changing pace and
(17:38):
changing.
You know practicing feeling.
So for me I didn't strugglewith it, but some people might.
Danielle Spurling (17:41):
I'm not really sure we'll be back with
Mo after this short break.
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(18:02):
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(18:22):
show.
And what were your sort of talkus through the last 500 metres
of the race?
Moesha Johnson (18:28):
So the last 500 metres was against the current.
I just wanted to be in the leadbecause I knew that current was
hard to pass people.
It was the best position to bein to guarantee a better medal.
But obviously under that bridgethere was two options and I
tried sharon's option the lapbefore and I absolutely stuffed
it up.
I ran into the edge everyoneprobably saw that I ran into the
(18:50):
yellow thing, um, and I waslike, hey, I'm not doing that
again.
It didn't work for me, eventhough it was probably a better
route.
Um, and I knew that coming underthe bridge that time that
whatever way I took, sharonwould go the other way.
And you know she practiced itbetter than me the day before,
um, she had a training partnerwith her and I was doing it
alone, so she really nailed herskills that bit better.
(19:11):
Um, but obviously, coming underI was like, okay, I've
committed to this way, I'm gonnago this way and she commits
that way.
So I'm just gonna commit and Idid.
And then coming in, you know Ijust wanted to stand her feet as
long as I could, but you knowshe's talented athlete, she's
got much more speed at the endthan I do, but it's so hard to
know when to push because of thecurrent.
It's like, okay, do I startpushing now or now?
Um, but she kind of took off alittle bit sooner and the girl
(19:34):
behind me, I'd kind of securedmy place.
I just wanted to go in strongand yeah, coming into the touch
pad, you just kept swimming andit just wasn't getting any
closer and it was just like youjust see us nearly stop right at
the touch pad.
There's a strong current underthe pontoon pushing us up.
So it was a little bit.
It was a strange finish, but itwas also I.
We wanted a group of girls, soit's quite basic at the same
(19:56):
time.
Danielle Spurling (19:57):
Oh, it was brilliant to see it was.
It was such an exciting race.
Moesha Johnson (20:00):
It really was yeah, I've had a lot of people
say that to me and they're likeit was so nerve-wracking,
especially like people who don'tunderstand it like, or even
people who understand and I wasleading so early on.
Danielle Spurling (20:10):
they're like, well, I stressed, a lot of
people out no, I could tell thatyou were up on top of the water
.
You looked so comfortable andconfident.
You could tell you just werejust had that.
You're in that wave, thatbeautiful wave that we see, and
you're certainly in that in thatrace.
Have you got the medal there byany chance?
Moesha Johnson (20:28):
I do, I do, I've got it here.
So one moment um how beautifulis that it's massive yeah it's
so big, isn't it?
Yeah, that's the, that's theEiffel Tower, that's dark gray
and that's like the Paris design, and then on the back is the
classic um Olympiad it'sbeautiful how much does it weigh
(20:50):
?
Um, I would love to know theactual weight, but it's heavy,
like everyone gets the shockwhen they hold it.
So maybe like 500 grams Wow,yeah, but I'm not very good with
weights.
So, yeah, but it definitelyit's hefty.
Danielle Spurling (21:06):
It's a hefty thing, it's beautiful, beautiful
to have and well-deserved, yeah, thank you.
Thank you, congratulations onalso making the final of 1500 in
the pool and coming six.
That was an amazing achievementto be representing Australia in
the pool and in the marathon.
Yeah, what were your thoughtson your 1500 meter final?
Moesha Johnson (21:27):
yeah.
So obviously, like I would haveloved to have been under 16
minutes that's always just agood, good target time but I
just didn't quite have thatfront end speed that I was
wanting and I think you knowit's because I'd focused on the
10k, just flattened out a littlebit some of the that front end
speed.
Um, but you know, to swim to1500s at 16 minutes, back to
back, under such high pressureenvironment, and to be in the
(21:49):
final with a french girl, likeyou know, I absolutely did not
take that for granted.
Um, yeah, I think I think if itwas only the 1500, then maybe,
like I would have been, maybe alittle disappointed in the time,
but as we saw for some races,it wasn't about time or about
placing.
So, um, to come away, six havedone an Olympic final with such
(22:11):
a fast group of girls.
You know that was faster thanTokyo and I thought Tokyo was
fast.
Yeah, I just yeah.
I'm in a race with KatieLedecky and girls going 1540,
1541 and 1544.
You know that's incredible.
So, yeah, I'm pretty proud ofthat race too.
Danielle Spurling (22:30):
Yeah, it was a great race.
How did you recover like?
What was your recovery likebetween the heat and the final?
What did you do to get yourselfback up for the final?
Moesha Johnson (22:39):
yeah.
So it's something we don'treally get to practice a lot in
terms of that style, but we dopractice saying like racing,
1500 one day and 800 the next.
So, realistically, like youjust practice it every day in
training, um, you know you do ithard, set one day hard for the
next day.
So eating, well, um, hot, coldbars if you need them, norma
tech or compression massage ifthat works for you, um, sleeping
(23:03):
, um, and just yeah, but likeyou're fit enough that that, or
if you haven't, if you're notprepared for a backup, like that
, you probably haven't trainedit properly um true, but yeah,
for me it was just more aboutstaying calm, to be honest, um
in that environment.
Danielle Spurling (23:17):
So yeah, yeah , and obviously the 10k was your
sort of your main focus.
But you get into the villageand obviously you had the
training camp before.
But getting the village, whatdo you do for your training to
keep going during that sort ofweek of pool competitions?
Moesha Johnson (23:33):
for pool between between pool and open water.
Is that what?
Danielle Spurling (23:35):
you mean Well , I mean you didn't have your
1500 till later in the week,yeah, yeah, so obviously you
weren't racing the early part.
So how did you keep yourtraining specifically for you
going?
Moesha Johnson (23:46):
Yeah, so basically you just plan with
your coach what you know whatit's going to look like and you
just plan for your day that yourrace is day one.
So for me the 1500 was day one.
For me that's day one of mo'sracing, so you just plan it like
that.
So, um, they have a trainingpool and a comp pool and you
just go off and you do yourtraining, you stick to it and
you do your sets like normal.
(24:06):
So for me my 1500 was on dayone, even though it was on like
day four or something.
Um, but obviously, like attrials, it was a really good
practice for me.
I was at the last event on thelast night, so I really had to
practice how to manage the crazyenvironment around you, so I
felt really prepared for it.
Danielle Spurling (24:27):
Yeah, because that must be hard when you're
still focusing on your trainingand then you've got all these
teammates coming in with medalson the first night and fantastic
swims and the excitement thatgoes along with that exactly so
you really have to put a lid onyourself.
Moesha Johnson (24:41):
I always I tried to go to the training pool more
often where it was calm andrelaxing and, yeah, you don't
want to be burning that energy,um.
But yeah, definitely, trialsreally prepared me for it and it
really prepared me then forthis backup.
You know I had to do the 10kafter all, my teammates had
finished and we're on holidays,you know.
So I was when really holding mymyself together, knowing that,
(25:05):
yeah, you kind of really justhad to kind of remove yourself a
little bit, unfortunately, butthat's what you have to do when
you want to perform.
Danielle Spurling (25:12):
And, in terms of the village, when they had
all finished their pool swimming, were you still staying in that
apartment by yourself or didyou move with them?
Moesha Johnson (25:20):
So what happened after my 1500 final?
I'd requested to go out intoour staging camp with the open
water, so I left the village.
So I wanted to just calm down,decompress and reset and come in
with my teammates who had thesame goals that I had.
Um, and it worked out really,really well.
So I left my apartment and cameback in with the open water
(25:42):
group and then we went into ourown apartment with open water oh
that's good yeah, that wouldhave worked out well.
Danielle Spurling (25:49):
Yeah, now I just wanted to have a little bit
of a talk about your training.
I know you've worked withMichael Boll on the Gold Coast
with his squad in the last fewyears but you decided to change
your training base to Germany.
What prompted that change?
Moesha Johnson (26:00):
Yeah, um, quite like a number of things.
Um, so I went on training campwith them, uh, in 2022, just off
the back of worlds, and did theopen water with them.
And then I asked you know, wespoke with bolly and we decided
to do a training camp infebruary of 2023, and we've
(26:22):
spoken about a few differentthings and when I got over there
, we had a couple of chats andhe's like, look, if you think
you should stay, I feel like I,I would encourage and support
you.
Um, so, basically, I went ontraining camp and just never
came home.
Um, so for me, it's just europeknows how to do endurance
training in europe.
(26:43):
It's their passion.
Um, you know, they got tour defrance and all that in their
their blood and they got accessto high altitude.
And you know, they got tour defrance and all that in their
their blood and they got accessto high altitude.
And you know, I was doing somuch training over here alone
and, um, it was just so nice togo over there and be amongst
other hard workers and peoplewho are willing to do the extra
volume and the extra distance.
(27:03):
And they're all doing the samedouble up I'm doing the 1500 and
the 10k.
So it just was a good fit andthey welcomed me and, yeah, it's
a very different style oftraining to what I was doing um
with Michael and yeah, it'sobviously worked out really well
how?
Danielle Spurling (27:22):
how is it different what?
What was the difference thatyou really noted?
Moesha Johnson (27:26):
so for me it was doing the, the aerobic um,
maybe I don't know what peoplewould know it as a2 or bz2, um
kind of level.
So really working in that bluezone, green zone, heart rate
level.
Um, we did a lot more thresholdin australia so, um, I really
(27:49):
built a big aerobic base.
Now that, um, I'm building on,I'm actually building from that
again so I could swim atthreshold all day and red zone
in the heart rate.
You know when you do the heartrate, yeah, um, but I couldn't
sit slow in a pack, I could onlypace it up.
(28:09):
So I had to really train myselfto be able to swim slow and
efficient, um to conserve energyfor the end of the race how
interesting.
Danielle Spurling (28:21):
How big is the squad?
How big is the squad there?
Moesha Johnson (28:24):
so on the olympic team we had eight
swimmers.
It was quite a big group of us,very successful group, very
self-driven group, veryself-motivated um.
So in my group, uh, maybearound 12 to 16, it's changed a
little bit in the olympic year.
Danielle Spurling (28:39):
So and one of your main competitors, sharon,
is training alongside you.
How, how did that go, oh?
Moesha Johnson (28:45):
she's fantastic.
Um, we're great friends.
Um, we're such differentathletes so for us, like, it's
not like we're going to swim thesame race.
Um, you know, she, herstrengths are different to my
strength in training, herstrengths are different to my
strength, but polar opposite, um, and you know, she's like
literally the go to the sportand I've learned so much from
her.
She's, you know, I've beengreat company in training and
(29:10):
yeah, we've gotten along reallywell and it's just been such an
honor to train alongside her.
And yeah, like no one else hasdone what she's done.
You know, three olympic medalsand open water like all, there's
only other girls with one, soyou know, and two goals.
So for me it's been so specialand you know she's just been
such a great friend to me andoutside the pool we've had a lot
(29:31):
of fun this last year and yeah,it's been great.
Danielle Spurling (29:34):
That's really nice.
What town are you based in whenyou're over there?
So I'm in a city calledMagdeburg.
Moesha Johnson (29:40):
I'm in Magdeburg .
Danielle Spurling (29:42):
And can you share with us what a typical
training week pre-paris looklike for you in that sort of
lead up?
Moesha Johnson (29:48):
yeah, so we don't really do these typical
training weeks.
We fluctuate between 10sessions and 12 sessions, um,
it's a very fluid program so, um, but yeah, we're pushing up
some, some bigger volumes andwe're gonna block at altitude,
um, and we do six land sessionsa day but also a lot of focus on
(30:08):
recovery, like sleeping, eating, hot-collar bars, massage,
physio.
But yeah, I didn't have atypical program because I was
everywhere, I was back here fortrials and then I was over with
them for a few weeks and then Ihad to join back in with
Swimming Australia and then wemoved and we moved so I would
fall over the place.
So I don't know if I could sayI had a typical training week.
(30:33):
Um, we just had to really workwithin the travel confinements
that olympics bring.
Danielle Spurling (30:35):
So yeah, and hang on.
Did you just say six dry landsessions a day or a week, a week
, a week?
Moesha Johnson (30:40):
sorry, I don't know, I don't know it might be,
but you know we do dry landbefore swimming.
Yeah, we, we swim and then wedo like a stretch afterwards
just to relax the body so we canrecover.
And then we will do a dry landlike cardio, strength, circuit
power stuff or sometimes yoga,depending kind of the load we're
(31:02):
in.
And then you know, you comeback and do it again in the
afternoon, warm up dry land,warm up trial and warm up swim
recovery, sort of stretching.
Danielle Spurling (31:10):
But that's it , yeah and is a lot of the
training over there in openwater or is it all in a pool?
Moesha Johnson (31:17):
no, we do all our open water training in a
pool.
The only exposure we get ismaybe racing and then like the
training sessions before racingat the venue.
Um, but yeah, if we get theaccess somewhere we will do it,
but it is hard to access openwater venues yeah, fantastic.
Danielle Spurling (31:34):
And when do you head back over there, or are
you heading back over theresoon?
Moesha Johnson (31:38):
yeah, yeah, so we'll be heading back over there
.
I think you know that thatprogram is what really suits me
and my physiology.
Um, so I'll be heading over endof.
September, start of October, Ithink so.
Danielle Spurling (31:50):
I haven't really made a set plan yet.
Moesha Johnson (31:51):
So I've got to start making some plans for the
next season, because you knowyou've got to do it all again.
Danielle Spurling (31:56):
Yeah for sure .
Have you got any sort of?
Are you thinking about theWorld Champs in Singapore next
year, or have you got somethingelse on the horizon?
Moesha Johnson (32:04):
Yeah, no, obviously it's world champs.
Um, the challenging part for meis um commonwealth games.
I don't have any of my eventsin commonwealth games, so, um,
no, 1500, no 10k, no 5k, no,nothing.
So I'll be looking at 2026 as ayear that might be a little bit
alternative, but typically it'slike world champs or olympic
games that you target in thatyear.
(32:25):
Um, and then 2026 for me,without some games.
I might do like the World Cupcircuit, or maybe I'll just have
a bit of a relaxing year inpreparation for the final two
years in the Olympics.
Danielle Spurling (32:35):
And I was a little bit off track, but I was
really delighted to discover.
Your uncle is Brad Cooper,Munich gold medalist in the 400
free.
Has he had much influence overyour career?
Moesha Johnson (32:46):
Yeah, so he's married to my mum's sister, so
that's how we're related.
We're not like blood related,but he's, you know, had a big
influence in my life.
They, my auntie Cheryl anduncle Brad.
They owned a lunch or swimcenter so I grew up there.
My mum was working there, sothey really encouraged my mum to
let me swim because I justloved swimming as a little kid
and they couldn't keep me out ofthe water.
(33:08):
I just was in every swimminglesson I was allowed to be in
and yeah, and then I just keptprogressing through squads and
my mom like my auntie said to mymom oh you just gotta let her
race, she just wants to race.
So it's kind of been somethingthat's been quite instinctive
for me.
But you know, they reallyhelped my mom and guided my mom
and you know I trained underBrad for a number of years
before I moved up into some ofthe high performance squads.
(33:30):
So he's had a big impact on mylife and taught me a lot.
You know, I feel like I learneda lot of Don Talbot little
tricks through him.
Danielle Spurling (33:37):
So yeah, um, it's been fantastic and he's
been a great mentor yeah, hewould have been so proud of you
as all your family would havebeen.
Yeah, yeah, he was so shy hefamily would have been.
Moesha Johnson (33:47):
Yeah, he was so shy.
He brought out the medal and Iwas like we've got to get a
photo and he's like oh, I don'tknow.
But, yeah, it was such aspecial moment to share our
Olympic medals together.
Danielle Spurling (33:56):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
A bit of a difference in sizethere.
Oh yeah, and one question Iwanted to ask you too how did
you?
What was the first reason thatyou discovered the open water?
Because you obviously startedoff with pool racing.
(34:16):
What was your entree into it?
Moesha Johnson (34:19):
yeah.
So they've always wanted me todo open water and I always just
was like not interested, I likethe pool swimming.
But I think you know, to mecovert really really brought
about that first thought of likeoh, I could do this.
Um, you know, when we're inlockdown I did a lot of ocean
swimming, staying up to thewater, and I was like, okay,
(34:41):
okay, maybe I could do this, sosomething.
Then after that that we lookedat expanding me into, especially
after I missed the Olympics inthe pool in the Tokyo trials.
I needed something to keep itinteresting and open water was a
little sideline project that'snow become the frontline runner,
so yeah, absolutely did.
Danielle Spurling (34:59):
You did you used to swim other strokes, or
was it always just freestyle foryou?
Moesha Johnson (35:03):
no, I've swum other strokes as a little kid.
I was more of a breaststroker,I am swimmer oh um, but I'm just
not like the strongest girlaround so I did struggle to keep
up.
You know I needed longer than200 meters um, and my butterfly
you know for 400 I am my hundredfly like isn't as strong.
So, um, I just naturally alwaysjust just like moved into the
(35:25):
distance swimming andunfortunately that was just
freestyle.
But yeah, I did a range ofthings when I was younger.
Danielle Spurling (35:32):
And aside from your own race, what was
your favourite swimming memoryfrom the Paris Games?
Moesha Johnson (35:37):
There was a lot of fantastic races and obviously
, like Leon Marchand, summerMcIntosh, undeniably like
fantastic.
You know athletes and racers.
But you know, like KatieLedecky, you know to be in her
races and see her just be such agoat in the sport.
You know that was a great race,um, you know, I even loved the
women's 100 free.
Sarah sostrom, like I know,like obviously we would have
(35:58):
loved to see australia in there,but you know that was such a
fantastic race by her and shehasn't actually won the gold
medal even though she's a worldrecord holder and she's such an
incredible athlete.
That was amazing 100 freestyleby her and, yeah, even cam
mcavoy's 53.
But you know, for me thestandout race of the week was
probably the women's 800.
I thought that was a fantasticrace.
(36:20):
You know katie ledecky, youknow she's such a standout but
she fought for it.
And ariane, you know she foughtfor a silver medal and um third
place.
That was an incredible race byher and I was just really like I
still am mind blown by thatrace.
For me personally, I strugglewith the 800.
I just can't figure out how torace it.
Um, it's just not clicked forme, um and so to see them racing
(36:43):
it so well, so many fast girlsin that race it was amazing.
Danielle Spurling (36:47):
Yeah, it was so interesting because they
approached it so differently.
Moesha Johnson (36:50):
Yeah, absolutely , ariana and katie yeah, and
ariana, she really gave it tokatie and, like she, even in
ariana's interviews, she said no, it's a race I'm really proud
of.
I really fought for that silvermedal and, you know, third
place she even split it toperfection and this is so strong
.
You know, it's so nice to see anew name off there in the mix
(37:10):
and swimming so well yeah, thatwas.
Danielle Spurling (37:12):
That was a great race, that's.
It's good that you've mentionedthat one as well, because I
don't think many people haveyeah, I don't people even think,
people even realize howfantastic that was.
Moesha Johnson (37:22):
Like I'm I'm just being frozen and watching
that race on repeat, like it'sso good, oh, mo.
Danielle Spurling (37:27):
Thank you so much for joining us on the
podcast today.
You've been very generous withyour time and letting us have an
insight into that great raceand once again, congratulations.
Moesha Johnson (37:37):
Thank you so much and thanks for having me.
Danielle Spurling (37:39):
Yeah, you're welcome.
Okay, take care.
Thank you.
Bye.
Take care, mo.
Thanks to Mo for sharing herolympic journey with us today.
I adored hearing all herperspectives on the 10k and
other parts of her swim journey.
I hope you did as well.
For more insights into behindthe scenes and what's coming up
(38:00):
on the podcast, become asubscriber of the show, and you
can do that through our torpedoswim talk website.
Till next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
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