Robbie Frawley 00:10
Welcome to Chapter 4. In this final chapter Sally outlines the learnings applied from her Olympic career.
Robbie Frawley 1:03:22
Can we bounce back to your rowing career for a moment? You've spoken a lot about how you've drawn from that period of intense mental and physical training. Can we talk a little bit more about that period? You know, what were the highlights and what you learned that helped you later during your recovery from stroke?
Sally Callie 1:03:42
Yeah, sure. You know, after one year of learning how to row and standing on the podium of the Junior World Junior Championships, then three years later I was at the Olympic Games. And that four years was an incredible journey. But when I got to those Olympic Games it was just like I imagined when I was in Year 11, but 100 times better Standing shoulder to shoulder with your teammates, and walking into the stadium. I guess some of the athletes that were there were excited about the 100 piece uniform, the dining hall that was the size of a footy field, it was, you know, awesome. There were so many great things at the Olympics. But for me, I have to say the most exciting thing was the mentors. We were fortunate enough to have Laurie Lawrence as our mentor. And I'm sure many of your listeners know Laurie Lawrence. He's a famous swimming coach. And now he's been with the Olympic team for the last eight Olympic Games. And he's always on the team simply for his larrikin, humour, his poetry, and he's known to plot excursions for Olympic athletes. And when I say plot excursions, it was the year 2000. And Cathy Freeman was due to race her 400m and as you can imagine, the whole Olympic team was desperate to see her race. We had limited tickets available for the athletes so Laurie devised an excursion to smuggle us all into the Olympic Stadium. And that's what he did. He was very good at creating lots of opportunities so we could support our teammates. It was the year 2000 and he said meet us in the Olympic village and bring along your accreditation, your glue and your scissors. And he handed out a little sheet of paper that had a little 80 on it with a little check and field athlete. And all we simply had to do to see Kathy that night was cut out the little 80 symbol with the track and field logo and cover it with my rowing one, glue it to my accreditation and get into the event that night. His plan didn't stop there Robbie, because he managed to get John Howard, the prime minister at the time, he managed to get all the medalists and get them to put their medals on. And we created this sort of triangle as we entered the stadium that night. We had John Howard at the front, the Olympic medalists down the side and all of us non medalists, we were sort of jammed in the middle. And the whole idea was to sort of bamboozle those amazing Sydney 2000 volunteers with all the glistening metals, Susie O'Neill's smile, John Howard, and his eyebrows and everything like that, and just bamboozle the whole set, and make our way in and we got in that night. And we also had Cathy win gold. And I think that's my favourite Olympic memory, you know, to be part of a team and celebrate each other's wins. And yeah, Laurie really did set the scene that night, you know, as what it is to be an Australian and to support your mates, which was great. Yeah, so that was Sydney 2000. And with two Olympic Games under my belt and you know, finishing in a fourth place, I was pretty adamant I needed to go to another games and see if I could get a medal. That left Atlanta, which was sorry, Athens, which was four years later. And everything in those four years went to plan for my rowing partner and I. We were World Champions the year before and we were the favourites going into the games. But just eight weeks before I managed to come off my bike and fracture my rib and then eight weeks prior to that my rowing partner, she also came off her bike. So we hadn't had a very good training stint. While she was rowing a single skull, I was having to do a lot of visualisation because there's not much you can do with a broken rib. So I would be sitting in the boat, parked (on a trailer) leaning against a tree with theraband wrapped around the tree, visualising every aspect of the rowing boat, you know, the back turn, the front turn, the recovery, the drive, the start of the race, the finish. And she was rowing in the glacier lake (because we were over in Switzerland) in a single skull. So we had a bit of a shocker of preparation. But the day came of the heat of the Olympic Games and we were pretty nervous, because we were considered favourites, but we'd had such a terrible lead up. And we took off in the race and the heat was really tough conditions, very strong tailwind, and we crossed the line in first place and broke the World Record. So we were pretty shocked at this stage. But we had to go with it, and then the semi final came along, similar story. Strong tailwind, won the race, and again, found ourselves in the favourite spot for the final. So you can imagine at this stage, we were feeling pretty nervous, you know, hoping that we'd get a tailwind. I had still had a lot of bandages around the rib just to try and keep it in place. But when we got to the start line for the final, it was a headwind. So I knew it was going to be a longer race, it wasn't going to be six minutes 47 (seconds race) which was the current world record, which we held, it was probably going to be about an eight minute race. So we hopped onto that statline ready to go and we went out to win that medal. We lead for the first 250 metres and we lead for the next 500. We lead at the 1000m, which is the halfway mark and when we got to the 1750m, we found ourselves in second place. And as we got to the 10 strokes to go (point of the race) we found ourselves in third place. And then as we cross the finish line we finished in fourth. So you can imagine, you know, going to Olympic Games and finishing with way too many fourths was pretty disastrous. So I feel like I finished that Olympic career with a lot of resilience, and I just couldn't wait to get on that plane and get home!
Robbie Frawley 1:09:34
Well, look, this probably isn't much consolation, but still the fact you're World Champion and a World Record holder, it still sounds just so impressive it just sort of overshadows the the lack of gold medal I think.
Sally Callie 1:09:46
Yeah. I guess when you're in it you don't realise that do you. It's taken me a long time to feel proud of that world record. But I look back now and I can see you all the lessons that were learnt in that period of time. Because I do look back and I see that lesson that obstacles become opportunities, you know, a broken rib actually gave Amber, my rowing partner some really good skills in the single skill to balance in those tricky conditions that we faced, and it also gave me some really good core stability, to be able to balance in the conditions that day. I still believe the only way we got the world record and won that heat and semi (final) was because we had the most amazing balance from all of our 16 weeks of single skulling and really random preparations.
Robbie Frawley 1:10:30
Do to that adversity.
Sally Callie 1:10:32
Yeah that lesson of obstacles or opportunities really proved itself in getting us that World Record. And that record was only broken just recently in Tokyo, so it stood for 17 years, which is really cool. Yeah, that Olympic Record.
Robbie Frawley 1:10:45
Very, very cool. What would you say, and you might have just told the story, but what would you consider the highlight of your professional career?
Sally Callie 1:10:55
I was actually asked this question the other day. The highlight was actually getting selected into a talent identification programme. I tell you what, to be tapped on the shoulder and be told you could be an Olympic Champion, at a sport you know nothing about, I will never forget, I will never forget how I felt, you know, and I think about that now, as a teacher and (as an) adult, if we can tap kids on the shoulder that we do see potential in and give them the confidence to step outside their comfort zone, and rise above any expectations I really believe that can change people's lives. So that would probably be the highlight of my career, even though it isn't a very exciting thing. Obviously breaking a world record was exciting, but the silver lining, I guess, was that it was the lesson of an obstacle becoming an opportunity, you know, our most terrible preparation in the lead up to the Olympic games ended up being an incredible opportunity to break a world record, and then keep an Olympic record for 17 years. That was a pretty special thing to do, too.
Robbie Frawley 1:11:57
Yeah absolutely! And can you describe to me any other aspects of your training, or learnings from that period, which became really helpful later?
Sally Callie 1:12:07
Yeah, I think the first lesson, you know, we were taught habits, you know, routine and habits, and that habits will determine your future. And I can remember sitting down with my coach, and really talking a lot about the compound effect of habits, you know, that we are faced with 1000s of choices per day. And it's often those mindless choices, you know, for example, how you spend your morning, who you talk to, how you talk to yourself, how much sleep you get, what you read, what you eat, all those tiny little choices, add up and compound and change the trajectory of your life. I thought that was a really good lesson, because we often think it's about what school we go to, what degree we get, how much money we earn, who we marry, that determine the trajectory, but really it's those tiny little, minor, small choices, you know, that if we can repeat them every day, they end up compounding to determine our future.
Robbie Frawley 1:13:03
And what did that look like in terms of fast forwarding to your recovery? What did that look like in that setting, in terms of habits?
Sally Callie 1:13:15
It's exactly the same, isn't it. I look back to when I was an athlete, and it is about how you talk to yourself, it's about your self talk. You know, making sure you give yourself enough positive self talk and get rid of the negative self talk. It's about how much sleep you get, making sure you get your eight hours of sleep. You know, when you're recovering from a brain injury, it's exactly the same as the lessons that you have to apply as an elite athlete. It's what you choose to eat, how much you know, you choose to drink, it's who you let into your life, those sorts of choices, compound over time to determine your future, and whether you're a brain injury survivor or Olympic athlete, or you're just trying to achieve well being I think those sorts of simple small daily habits affect our life and they compound and change that trajectory.
Robbie Frawley 1:14:02
Those habits and self talk, I feel like that's one I continually come back to because a bit of negative self talk can kind of sneak in and and even the awareness that that's happening (is a tricky thing to do sometimes) and remind yourself that you need to speak to yourself really well.
Sally Callie 1:14:21
Yes, crucial. Yeah, the self talk is a big one, isn't it? You know, and who you let into your life too. Those sorts of things, who do you expose yourself to every day. Do they make you feel good? Or do they make you feel, you know, doubtful... sort of despair and compare. They were really great lessons to carry as a junior athlete into being an Olympic athlete and then obviously, surviving a stroke. They're lessons that I think we can apply today as well. So you know, at that time I noticed that as my performance in the boat improved, so did my academics in the classroom, which was quite amazing. It really was an incredible lesson to be able to transfer those sport lessons into life and vice versa. I think any of us can take on those lessons. We've all got our own stories, we've all developed grit and resilience somewhere in our life. But if we can tap into that and transfer it into our next situation, I think that can help. You know, for me I've mentioned it before, journaling was a big thing, you know, setting goals, and making sure I tick those boxes every day. As an athlete, that was essential. I had this mindset journal, just a blank journal, and I called it the As many Wins As Possible journal. I called it the AWAP journal, a A W A P, the as many wins as possible journal. Every day I would just write the one percenters. You know, what did I achieve that day? What's something that went well? Because when you're at that elite level, you're not going to see big progressions, you're only going to get the one percenters every day. And then when I was in rehab, that was also helpful, because a lot of the time the focus was on the 1%, the tiny improvements, you know, it might be moving my thumb, or moving a toe, or perhaps being able to go to the toilet by myself, or dress by myself. Those very small things really had to be celebrated. So whether I was at the Olympics aiming for a gold medal, or whether I was in recovery in a stroke survivors unit, it's very simple. You know the one percenters are what counts. It's the progress, not the perfection. That was a big one for me. I actually remind myself all the time that it's not about perfection, because that's unachievable, but that progress, and celebrating those small successes and do that by writing that down every day and looking back on the day and finding one thing to write about that went well.
Robbie Frawley 1:16:44
That's good. Well, look, it's nearly time to wrap up. Do you have any sort of final thoughts, comments or advice you'd like to leave for people?
Sally Callie 1:16:55
No, I think just stick to those things that I mentioned, you know, making sure those daily habits are in place, because it's those small, simple things that we do every day, that compound. And secondly, I guess, making sure that we try and find meaning in any obstacle, that's really important. And then lastly, finding out that authentic 'you', you know, making sure you own your story, making sure you think about that wabi sabi Japanese bowl and let the light shine through the gold. Because we all have a story to tell and our story is who we are, we need to own that story and see that as our point of difference. So they're the three messages that I'd like to leave anyone that's struggling with a brain injury.
Robbie Frawley 1:17:39
Sally, thank you so much for your time and for your generosity of spirit and for your vulnerability sharing all of that. There's some really, really good lessons in there drawn from a place that is... I think it's really nice to see that parallel with the Olympics. You know it can be quite inspiring for those who are going through this, and particularly when you're saying "Oh you know, the Olympics were hard, but recovery from stroke, it's harder". You know it's nice for that (Acknowledgement), I suppose for people to hear that and to realise that 'yeah, it's not easy'. And here's Sally Cally, who's a world record holder, world champion, nearly gold medalist, multi Olympian.
Sally Callie 1:18:30
Thanks, Robbie.
Robbie Frawley 1:18:32
And she's with us! So, thank you so, so much for your time.
Sally Callie 1:18:36
Thank you Robbie. You know, surviving any neurological issue is difficult and as I said, for me, this was way harder than the three Olympics combined. So, you know, everyone has a story to tell and I think we need to be proud of our story and realise that this is what makes us who we are, and we need to own our story and then move forward as our point of difference, so thanks for your time.
Robbie Frawley 1:19:19
Hey, guys, it's Robbie again. I'll have shownotes on everything we talked about this episode on the podcast website. There's a link to that in the podcast description, along with the full transcript if you find that easier to follow along, or to find what you need. I need to highlight that neither I nor any of the people that I've interviewed on this podcast are medical professionals. The advice and learnings which we share during our discussions are not medical advice, and should be considered and reviewed in consultation with a trusted medical professional prior to being acted upon. These are our learnings from our experiences. Take what is valuable and leave the rest.
Robbie Frawley 1:19:57
Next episode, we're back to in person interviews and we'll be speaking with Trevor Barker, a former electrician who developed chronic low back pain following a workplace injury whilst an apprentice in his 20s. Following a long debilitating decline, his recovery when it came in his 50s was swift, and he's now back to a full and active life, working, in a loving relationship, happy, and an incredible advocate and support for others still recovering from chronic and persistent pain. He's a passionate and creative individual, and I look forward to sharing his story of recovery with you. Until then, I wish you courage and energy on your own journey forward. Thanks for listening