July 3, 2024 • 47 mins
On this episode, ahead of the Paris Olympics, Murray is joined by one of our Olympic greats, Rob Waddell. Deaks and Rob talk about what it takes to win Olympics Gold, his time with Team New Zealand, this honest thoughts on Grant Dalton, heart surgery and his thoughts ahead of Paris.
Murray Deaker has been interviewing the biggest names in sport for 40 years. 'Murray Deaker’s Sporting Lives' will interview legends of sport, uncovering their stories. Full of memories, theories, and opinion. And no nonsense! 'Murray Deaker’s Sporting Lives' podcast brought to you by Gold Sport.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gold Sport presents Murray Deeker's Sporting Lives with Calloway, the
leading manufacturer of premium golf clubs, balls and accessories worldwide.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi Murray Deeca here, Welcome to Season two of my podcast,
Murray Deeka's Sporting Lives. During my career, I've spent over
forty years interviewing the biggest names in sport, and I'm
thrilled to bring you this podcast talking to sporting legends
and giving you a look into their world, to hear
their memories, their stories and some opinion too. Well, it's
(00:35):
only a couple of weeks to go before the Paris Olympics,
so it's only fitting that we chat to one of
our Olympic grapes.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Let's get to it. Gold Sport Presents Murray Deeka's Sporting
Lives with Callaway.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Rob Wodell has just about done it all. An Olympic
gold medal in the single skull, two World Championships in
the same event. A grinder on Team New Zealand for
thirteen years, a black belt in judo provincial rugby with
wy Kado and Chef Di. Mission for the New Zealand
(01:11):
Olympic team in twenty and sixteen and twenty twenty two.
Add to that heart surgery in two thousand and nine,
an honors degree in business, and three times winner of
the Hellberg Supreme Award. I'm actually worn out reading it out.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Congratulations on what already has been a fantastic career. What
do you look back on with the most pride?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Well, thanks, Mary, nice to be chatting again. It's been
ben awas, that's we've done interview. So lovely to connect
with you again and appreciate those kind words. Look to
your question of what do I look back on the
myst pride, I guess I've been I have been really
prosed to be involved with.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
A wide range of interests.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You've highlighted them, and they all have They're also unique
and it's a bit of a politically correct answer, but
I guess at the height of it, it's hard to
go past the what happened at Sydney for me and
winning Olympic gold medal. That is a career highlight. But
I guess right throughout my time in sport, I've always
(02:22):
done everything I possibly can. I've done my very best,
So I look back at a huge amount of pride
at things like team New Zealand and things the short
amount of time I played rugby and things like that.
I didn't always achieve what I wanted, but I do
walk away with a huge sense of pride that I
did everything I possibly could.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And I'd love to do it all again. It went
by far too quickly.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
It's a bit unfair really, because you do look back
and think, oh, I could have done this a bit differently,
or that a bit better. But that's that's the benefit
of hindsight, isn't it. But it was a busy twenty
years competing and then I've been lucky to be involved
with the Olympic Committee formerly a chief Mission, and then
other community of business interests as well, so I've done
(03:04):
things I'm very passionate about and very interested in.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Take us back to Sydney two thousand where you won gold.
How hard was your preparation for that event and was
that your peak as a rower?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yes, it was very, very hard preparation.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
My coach was Richard Tonks and the system for Nez
rowing at the time was a system where you didn't
go and hoping you wento knowing you you're going through well.
I think that is real strength that has endured to
this day that the teams can do produce repeatable success.
(03:43):
And I think if you're looking at their performances and
various Olympic Games and World champs and thinking, hey, what's
that magic wand how do they keep doing what they're doing,
I think you'd find work. I think would be right
at the top of it of the food chain there.
The rowing teams do train really hard in New Zealand.
They've got good system where they trained together and they
measure of each other all the time, so.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
There's there's no hiding. And I felt like that for
my program.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I felt like I had some really good years building
up to Sydney.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It was probably a big crossroads for me. It was
my if I.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
If I wasn't going to do it at Sydney, when
was I ever kind to do it. I had had
the right training, I had the right preparation. I was
the best age for it. And you realize that first
is one direction in your life and seconds as a
very different direction. So look, I went and incredibly well prepared.
I didn't know where I was going to win, but
I knew I was really fast. The training under Richard
(04:38):
Tonks was hard. Richard does, and it's traditionally known for
for his his work ethic, with his cruise, and in
some ways racing was a bit easier than what you've
been through training, so you you're well prepared mentally for
what was coming your way. And the race itself was
(04:59):
was a uni I needed every bit of preparation I
could get because it was a particularly hard race.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
To win the final at the Sydney Olympics, well, it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Was fascinating because that came down to a battle between
you and Muller, and he had beaten you previously at
an event in Europe the time this time, though, you
beat him by eight lengths. Now that's an absolute hiding.
So what did you learn from the defeat a couple
of weeks before the Olympics or how many weeks.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
It was, that no one sort of sees all the
cards are on the table until the Olympic final, that
the winning margin was.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Less than that than the eight lengths.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
But I think with Zeno, he was a remarkable athlete
and he was a bit of a hero of mine
because and still is. He's a lovely guy. We keep
in touch to this day. And he had won the
nineteen ninety six Olympics. He had come through the years
before when I was young and trying to break into
the single skull, and here was this guy breaking world
(05:57):
records and setting the field of light. And he's a
really likable guy too, and so to a certain extent,
you just don't know what he's going to do until
you're in the final. You can have a race a
month before, you can have a race a week before,
the year before. Really, the Olympics is the big one.
It's the one every four years, and that's when you
know everyone's doing everything they possibly can. So Zeno in
(06:19):
nineteen ninety six had produced an exceptional sprint in the
finish when he went on to win the Olympic gold
medal at the Atlanta Olympics. So look, there was always
a concern for me. You don't know if there's something
going to come out from nowhere. But all you can
do is do your absolute very best. And the race unfolded,
I won't say unexpectedly, but Zeno through everything he could
(06:43):
at me in the field, through the middle of the
race with a really really fast pace, and you're in
a semi conscious frame of mind. Mari and I do
remember thinking about those thirds of the way down the course. Hey,
this pace is unsustainable. One of us is going to
one of us is going to pop. It's just who
goes first. And I think I was proud of anything
(07:04):
that day. It was my state of mind because it
wasn't emotional. It wasn't oh no, I'm behind, because I
was behind till the last sort of four hundred meters,
and it was more more, this is just what needs
to be done. And I think for any athlete that
is the one oh one of high performance sport. If
you can focus on the process not the outcome, that
really is the holy grail. You're not worried about the pressure,
(07:25):
You're not worried about the anxiety, You're not worried about
the people watching. You're just worried about sculling beautifully or
throwing a ball as far as you can or cycling
as fast as you can. And so I was proud
of my frame of mind on that day.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Do you I've heard that statement a lot of times.
Rob focus on the process, not the outcome. Damn hard
to do, particularly in golf.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Mate, I definitely have a massive in Gulf.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I can tell you that I wish I had, but
maybe I think these things do come down to time,
and it's the same mentally. You know, you prepare your
body physically every day and you get adaptation from that.
You get more capillaries, you get more blood flow, you
get more oxygen.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And the mind's exactly the same.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
If what you put into your mind every day has
a big as a big determinant on the final outcome.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
The two World Championships that you won in nineteen ninety
eight and nineteen ninety nine, were they harder to win
than the Olympics.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
No, the Olympics was the hardest race for sure, and
probably because of that point I made before that everything
everyone puts everything on the table, that it's just acts
of desperation to do everything you can to win World champs.
There's always that sort of mentality of hey, you know,
I've got next year, I've got the Olympics. The racers
themselves in those two years were I won't say easier,
(08:40):
because are still hard races. But when I first won
in nineteen ninety eight, it was a surprise for me
to win. I had been racing those guys all season
that the top echelon of single scolars in the world,
and there was a particularly rough day, and hey, I hope,
I hoped and dreamed I might get a medal, but
I was very pleased to get the gold, and then
belief sets in. And the following year I broke the
(09:02):
world record, which was a hell of a hell of
a highlight for me in Sint Catherines. I really enjoyed that.
In Canada, that was a real, really enjoyable regretter. So
that had a five second margin and I was comfortable
all the way. So No, Sydney was definitely the hardest
race and there wasn't much left in the tank after that,
after those two thousand meters.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Did the Olympic wind change your life?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yes, it does it.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
It is a reality that, as I said before, first
is one direction in your life and second is a
different one. And as much as you talk about focusing
on the process and not the outcome, theme is unavoidable.
You're going there because you believe you can achieve the ultimate.
You're incredibly proud to represent your family and your friends,
and you're always going to do your best, but you
(09:47):
want to walk away with the best result.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
You can achieve.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
So it is I guess, on a couple of fronts,
something you take a lot of satisfaction from For me,
it was a really proud just for family and friends
and for all of New Zealand, because as an athlete,
it feels like what you do is quite selfish. You're
always training in the singles, calling, for example, by yourself.
(10:12):
You're out there, you're hungry, you're tired, you're generally not
for much conversation. You're the closer that your food and
your bed and your gym and the water can all
be together, the better, really, and so so then when
you can can show and share this with everyone, it
was very special for me.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
My late father was there as well and.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
The rest of my family and being able to share
that for me with them was just the and all
of New Zealand was a huge life highlight. And I
think you find that's why most athletes do it for
New Zealanders that are so proud to represent the country,
and it's such an incredible thing to share that with
the nation.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
When you do have that success.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I realized what a huge change it was for you.
You probably won't remember this, but I remember that what
happened at the airport and you were just about mobbed.
You know, I'm standing there elbowing people out of the
way to get something from you, talks heavy. Your wife
was there, fortunately, and you know immediately you'd become a hero.
(11:08):
I don't know how long that lasts for, but you're
a public figure from there on in and in your case,
because it was the sole gold at Sydney, it seemed
to me to be even bigger than that.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
You feel it, thanks Mary, It is. It is very
humbling how that success plays out. You get invited to
a hold.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Of things you never used to get invited to, and
some of them pretty pretty fun. And I think for me,
it's the unique stuff that a lot of people will
remember where they were and what they were doing at
that particular moment in time. You know, there was a
there's a group of people there that were watching that
race on that day, and you'll bump into the lad
in life and they'll say things like, hail standing at
(11:49):
at the supermarket next to the bananas and the aisle,
and I saw you up on the screen and it's
like you were there with them, she sort of. It's
like you shared that special moment in time. So it's
really humbling to have that, and I guess you know,
time moves on and you always take that huge sense
of pride with you, but you know, new, new and
(12:10):
amazing people come along and do even better things, and
it's incredible what some of our athletes are doing now.
And to a certain extent, unless your names up in
lights all the time, you fade off a little bit
into obscurity. To a point the other day where I
had to speak to a group of young kids and
I was supposed to do a presentation to them, but
(12:30):
no one had introduced me, so I had to get
up and introduce myself. And it was actually quite strange
having to explain a long time ago I'd rode in
a race I'd want to go bettle and the kid's
eyes were sort of oh, you could tell they hadn't
they didn't know anything about it, which is fine, that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Why did you switch from from doing the rowing when
you're almost at your peek to going to sailing on
Team New Zealand and to thousand and three?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
For reasons, Mary I was.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I was captured by and captivated by that, that that
dream of defending the countries on and being out on
the black boats. There's a lot of things that attract
people to sport, and that was one of the things
for was the excitement of being involved in a team
and being involved in Team New Zealand, and I'd spent
years been in an individual so the idea of doing
(13:26):
something as a team was had a really positive outlook.
I also felt like it achieved everything I wanted to
and running I felt.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Hey, of.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Have passed the test, I got one hundred percent. You
do I start studying for it again tomorrow and said
in four years time. So I didn't have the same
appeal as as as as taking on a new and
exciting challenge, So so I popped both hands up, and
I guess, looking back in hindsight, I was pretty naive
about what was required. There was a there was a
huge amount of sailing experience required, of which I had
(13:59):
done and so those first four years for me were
fent fascinating learning curve and I look back on those
those times as very happy times. They you know, my
time at TIM New Zealand was a really enjoyable part
of all of our lives, our families lives, and you
make lifelong friendships. You go to battle with a group
of mates and you do everything you can and those
(14:21):
friendships last forever, so that it was a fascinating sort
of thirteen years to be involved with in rich tem
New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Were you on board that boat when it d marshed
did in the wide matter?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yes, it was scary.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I was on board right from after just after two
thousand all the way through to twenty thirteen in San
fran on all those races, and so you went from
one extreme to the other where you're on these big,
heavy monohull boats with twenty ton of lead strapped to
the bottom of them top speed of eighteen knots, to
(14:56):
these incredibly fast falling dynamic catamarans, which had a top
speed we hit in San Francisco was just under fifty
three knots. So quite a contrast. And the boats were
scary in different ways. I guess the old generation, you
might call it the Sir Peter Blake generation five, is
how a lot of New Zealanders will remember it.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
They were frightening because of the load.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
There was so much load because you had so much
tension between this mast and the keel tower. The keel
toa had twenty ton of leaders ballaced and the mass
was some thirty five meters high and the boat's just
trying to tear itself to bits. So the loads were huge,
the loads on the spinnakers, the loads on the on
the on the middle of the boat. But the boats
are incredible to race because they were very traditional sailing boats.
(15:39):
You had a bowman, a mid bouman, a massman, a pitman,
you had trimmers, you had grinders, and it was a
real fascinating exercise and teamwork. You had to do every
part of your job perfectly right along the chain to
go well. And then, of course the boats have evolved
now to these incredibly fast foiling, dynamic catamarines which continued
(16:01):
to go faster and faster, and they were equally as
exciting and interesting in different ways. And my final campaign
was in San Francisco twenty thirteen. So unfortunately I never
won the America's Cup. I did three finals, but yeah,
pretty it's a great outcome that we still hold the
America's Cup, and I'm really proud that we do. That's
what I did it for is I wanted to see
(16:22):
New Zealand win, and I'm very pleased that we did.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Eventually.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
One of the most interesting parts of this is the
fact that there was a dramatic change in your body
from rowing to grinding and back to rowing. How challenging
was that? And what's harder the weight gain for grinding
or the weight loss for rowing.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Christ and I got from a sport that was all
about endurance, Arthur Lydiad's style training miles make champions and
you're sort of doing five or six hours of anaerobic
activity a day. And yeah, my way to Sydney, I
think it was around one hundred and one kilograms, and
then I decided hanging a involved to New Zealand, and
within a short space of time I was bordering on
(17:07):
one hundred and thirty kilograms, So huge, huge change in
body shape, one's fitness, one's strength.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's as simple as that.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So you change your body type, you change your training
quite dramatically, and I got a I put on that
weight pretty easily, mainly because with rowing you're so suppressed,
your body so depleted a lot of the time, and
so if you just stop all that aerobic training and
you train hard in the gym and you eat the
(17:34):
right food, you do put on the weight. So the
weight came on pretty easily. It was those boats are
all about ballast. They're about strength and the catamarans. A
couple of years later, we're much more about fitness and
speed and strength and endurance. So I probably got to
a better weight. But I did come back and have
(17:57):
another attempt at Rowhing in two thousand and eight and
I had to lose all that weight again, so that
was a real challenge and I never really got right
down to the weight I was Sidney. I still was
always carrying a couple of kilos, but that may have
changed over time. It was a very short short amount
of time that I tried to come back and claim
that Olympic.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Spot Gold Sport presents Murray Digger's sporting lives with Callaway.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
You mentioned you did three campaigns with Team New Zealand.
We know the old saying that you learn more from
defeats than from victories. What did you take out of
those three campaigns that helped you become such a successful
Chef de mission thanks to.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
The kind words.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I'd look back on Pobby, my time in the Olympic
Committee and also Team New Zealand, and I think of
this one word that.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Sticks out for me. It's the people.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
It's the people that you're with, good people in your
team leads to goodnessers and least the good outcomes. And
in both cases that the teams, both the Olympic Committee
and with Emirates Team New Zealand had had some incredible people.
I always marveled when I looked around it at who
was assembled. With the America's Cup, you had the very
best in New Zealand doing doing everything they possibly could
(19:17):
to win. And when you get one hundred people in
a team like that, the collective outcome of what you
produce is so much greater than what you might do individually.
And the thing you love about being in a team
like that, much like the Olympic team, is every single
person wants to be there. They don't go home. You
know when they can, they go home and the job's done,
and there's a real mentality that permeates through the whole
(19:40):
team that you're just doing everything possible. So I enjoyed
that in both teams, and they were. You take lessons
from both. I think I've admired with with Emorts Team
New Zealand, the tenacity of the team, how it's endured
over so many years, and it's it's doggedness to to
(20:00):
hang in there and to survive and you know, and
with under Grant's leadership to keep assembling great teams of people,
and then with the Olympic Committee, I guess the some
I was fortunate, with my background in sport to have
a lot of lessons that had come from my time
competing that I was able to understand and use in the.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Role of shift a mission.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
So yeah, they were different in different ways, but like
anything in life, you just keep learning and developing.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Right Indeed, now we're meant to be focusing on the Olympics,
but I do want to pick up on Dalton because
he's a controversial figure that you clearly rate him big time.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I sailed with Doults for a number of years and.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
You raised the point that he's been a polarizing figure
with in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I personal have a huge amount of respect for Grant.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I think what he's done is remarkable. I think what
Team is Yell have done is is a wonderful thing.
And the fact that we hold the America's Cup. He
is incredibly determined. He has done everything he possibly can
right from day one to win and hold on to
the America's Cup. And I think that there's plenty of
(21:17):
criticism out there, but it's a big question to ask
yourself if you think you can do a better job
or that if you can raise the funds, And obviously
there is some conjecture about that. But Grant has done
a remarkable job of holding the team together with the
funding because it's not a small exercise to raise that
amount of money to have a team. And yeah, I
(21:40):
certainly applaud him for the determination he's had to hold
the team together and to ultimately have won the America's Cup.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Now, in the middle of your sailing and your adventures
with Team New Zealand, you made a comeback and rowing
and we will never forget it because it featured a
head to head battle between yourself for Mahe Drysdale for
the single skull position ridiculous rule that the Olympics have
that only one person can go. Now, you'd beaten him
(22:09):
in the fine in the regionals, but selector said they
were going to have a best of three and you
were one all going into the third decisive race, which
he won. What we didn't know was you had a
heart problem. In the middle of that third race. You
just couldn't keep going. Tell me about this because we
(22:29):
all watched it. Everybody was glued to this because here's
two heroes going head to head, somewhat like we're going
to see at the Olympics between Carrington and Fisher.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
I would suggest, all right, So look, I decided I
was going to come back and compete and rating again
wasn't something I decided spur of the moment. I did
think about it that he is leading up to it,
but I was quite constrained that I was still with
Team New Zealand and sailing with the America's Cup, and
so when that finished, I had six months to then
come back.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And try and regain the spot.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
So I had to lose twenty five odd kilograms and
learn how to scull again. It was a big ask,
and on top of that, try and beat the guy
who had claimed the world record in the meantime, So
it was a big ask. I will reflect on that
time and say it was one of the most exciting
times I've had in sport.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
I loved it.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
I loved every day, I loved every moment. It was
such a challenge. I think maybe in some ways that
the bigger the challenge, the more exciting it is. And
I got everything. I possibly coult out of myself. I
reset my PBS and broke the world record on the
rwing machine and tried to take things to another level. Yeah, Unfortunately,
as history would have it, I didn't win the trial
(23:45):
for the Olympics. And in the final race of that series, yes,
I did have an episode of what they call actual fribulation.
It wasn't a new problem for me. I had had
it for many years. It's something I battled with and
tried to keep under control. And I guess that point
to people within rowing would have known that I had
(24:07):
that problem, but it's not something you want to talk
about too publicly. It's a medical thing and no one
really likes to make excuses. And I think probably that
was one of the hardest things from that race is
if you break your arm and you've got a bone
sticking out of your skin, you can point to it
and you can say, well, this is why I had
to stop growing, because I've got a bone sticking out
of my arm.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
But when it's the heart, it's less visible.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
So people can't see the problem that you had, and
that takes People may have a different view when they
reflect on the result from why it happened, but It
was a very real thing for me. I battled with
it through my whole rowing career. Ultimately I ended up
having heart surgery. I had it in two thousand and nine,
(24:48):
and the reason for having it probably later rather than
earlier in my own career is it was still a
developing process. It's quite an evasive thing to go into
your heart and to have surgery the way that they
do it. We've got some incredible people in New Zealand
that do that now. I was lucky to have doctor
Martin Styles at Waiketo who did my surgery for me
(25:09):
locally and touch what.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I lead a very happy, healthy, normal life.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Now, but it prior to that surgery, it was certainly
a problem and unfortunately became.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
So in that race that you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You're fascinating that you look back with that, you know,
and it's exciting, and I think the Fisher Carrington thing
is going to be brilliant because you know you were
talking before, nobody knows what's going to happen in the
final of an Olympics, and they're both obviously going to
be in the final, but who's going to do what race?
You'll be watching that one closely, wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You now, I absolutely will be in some other fascinating
matchups too, not just within New Zealand, but you know
Ainger Brits and Josh Kerr for the fifteen hundred. That's
going to be a grudge match. And I think your
point there about the Bay in the final. I hope
they both are, but both athletes. I know. We'll be
very much looking at it one step at a time.
You've got to win the finally got to be in
(26:04):
the final. And every sports has had different roles Trithon,
You've been able to have multiple athletes from one country,
Athletics sometimes the same. Unfortunately, when I was competing and rowing,
there was only one single skull spot and I didn't
end up securing it that year. But that's the beauty
of sport, right is it's about as basic and.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Raw is it raw as it gets.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
And I think it's great for sport now that it's
if from an entertainment point of view and from a
consumption point of view where people are watching, it's still
such an unknown. You know, if you're watching Netflix, if
you're watching a movie, if you're watching a series, whatever
it might be, you kind of know what's going to happen,
but in sport still so unpredictable, which I think is
great for keeping people fit and active and keeping it
(26:48):
front of mind. Everyone loves watching it because there is
still so much unknown.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
You're a black belt in judo. How does the discipline
aspect of that assist you and protect How did it
assist you when you took over the management of the
Olympic team.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I started judo when I went to Japan in my
final year at school. I took a year out of
school and when it did a program similar to an
AFS and I was living in Japan and rying wasn't
really an option. Rugby wasn't either, but the school was
that was very, very good at judo, so I became
heavily involved in there and involved at the same level
(27:27):
you might do as I did with any of the
other sports, just hours and hours and hours and after
school and camps and trips, and at the end of
the year you get to a point where you've got
to a reasonable level. When I came back to New Zealand,
I got really involved with rying again, and it was
probably not the environment I had in Japan with judo,
(27:49):
where you've just got so many athletes around you all
the time, and judo is their thing. So I didn't
pursue judo as a sport so much when I came back,
but I I always loved what it taught me. At
some of the hardest training I've ever done Murray, it
was really really hard. Three hours of wrestling standing and
then on the ground you're absolutely exhausted. So I think
(28:11):
I got some good physicality from that. But the thing
I enjoyed, too was the nimbleness of what judo taught you.
Taught you to be agile, it taught you to be nimble,
It taught you to have good balance. People that know
me well probably wouldn't think I carry many of those attributes,
but I'm probably a lot better off than I would
have been if I hadn't done judo. And I really
enjoyed the balance and the athleticism that it encouraged. And
(28:35):
it gives you some confidence too. It's always good to
know that you've got a few skill sets there if
you need them one day.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Well, talking skill sets with all this background that you
had as a competitor, how much of the success that
you had is Chef de mission in twenty sixteen and
twenty twenty two. How much do you put down to
your background.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Inevitably you're well prepared for a role like that because
you've been through the system.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
In saying that, I probably felt like I was halfway there.
There's still so.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Much from an organization point of view that you don't
know and understand. Even all the three letter acronyms that
they have at the Olympic Games, Oh my gosh, it's
a whole other dictionary in itself, trying to understand all
the different terms and things that are required to run
a team.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
But the.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Privilege of being in the Olympic team as Chef de
Mission Murray was the people. There were so many amazing
people there that preceded my time. Jake Wilkins, Ashley Abbott,
Kiaren Smith, Mike Stanley. The list goes on of cause
offense by not mentioning everyone who was in the team.
But there were some remarkable people in the team, and
(29:53):
I was very I felt very privileged to come in
and be a part of a system I'd created, and
you try and you're one or two percent of whatever
it might be. But they were great leaders in New
Zealand sport, They really were, and they did amazing things.
And so if you look at the teams and saying,
as you sort of kindly suggested, well done, Rob, what
made it go so well? I'd say it was the
(30:13):
people I was lucky to be with. They did great
work and a lot of things there well before my time,
and it made it a very happy environment to be
and I do I'm very fond of the Olympic Committee.
It's something dear to my heart. I think they're a
wonderful group of people that are so athletic focused. They're
really intent on doing everything they can to help athletes,
(30:36):
and I love that culture. It really resonated with me
and hopefully, in my small way, I was able to
add value.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Twenty and sixteen, New Zealand got to record eighteen medals
and eleven of them were for women. What were the
highlights of the nineteen, sorry, the twenty sixteen Olympics for you?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Sometimes, as chief the mission, you take a bit of perspective,
perspective on things, Mara, and the results were fantastic. I
won't pull anything away from that at all, But as
chef of Mission, your number one role, as raw as
it can be and as blunt as it sounds, is
to get everyone there and back safely.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
And you're go into a part of the world which
has risk.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
It was well known as well documented, so look genuinely,
as with Tokyo and COVID, you're very relieved to have
got everyone there and back safely. It's your number one
priority is to look after everyone. So that was a
high point for me. I think in Rio and Tokyo games.
But in Rio where we turned up and the village
(31:38):
wasn't what we had maybe hoped to have expected, there
was still a feair bit of work to do and
it's how our team came together as a group of
New Zealanders. We got on as an organizing team and
just got the job done. We had a week before
the whole team arrived and as a group of coaches
and managers and organizers we had to work incredibly hard.
(31:59):
That was a high point for me, and it's one
of those ones that might not sound like much, but
those that were involved in those that may reflect on
that time will be very proud of what we achieved
as a small group to get our team in the
best possible position to achieve the results that you talked about.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Twenty twenty two, the record was broken. Twenty medals, seven
of them goals, six silver, seven bronze. It's a games
that we just will never forget. Things happened for us,
didn't it.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
It was a fascinating games. It was obviously laid with
COVID and.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
You just don't know was what was around the corner,
and you put so much time and effort into getting
there and getting set up. And what was fascinating for me, Maury,
was everything almost became so much easier once you had
all those things set up because there was no team ceremony,
there was no after match activity because the COVID people
(33:01):
know it went home straight away.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You so much.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
The Olympics got trimmed down to its bare minimum. So
although it was very busy in the lead up and
a lot of work planning on how we're going to
get in and and look after ourselves with with the
COVID that was with the COVID problem at the time
it worked. It was a pretty smooth games in that
regard and the results themselves, Hey, some highlights and in
bizarre moments and time Murray, that was remarkable to be
(33:28):
there at the rowing course and watch the men's eight
when gold and the girls win silver and you're standing
there taking a photo of them at the end, and
you're the only person in the It's you and them
because there's no one else.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
There, and you know it was it was. It was bizarre.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
It really was almost apocalyptic at times when you look
down the course and you saw these incredible results happening,
even in the athletics stadium and in some of these
amazing athletes, but no one there. A very strange feeling.
But in some ways, I think it made the team dynamic,
really strong. People didn't have their families there that they
have their friends, So I think our team became tighter
(34:08):
than it's ever been because we wear each other's support.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Gold Sport presents Murray Digga's sporting lives with Callaway.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Let's focus on Paris for a moment or two. What
do you anticipating will happen for our team at Paris?
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Look at that in a number of ways, I guess
the results would be one of the things that people
would ask about. We have had a really good run
as a nation at the Olympics. We have improved over
consecutive games, over a number of games.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Now that can't go on forever. I hope it does.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
I wish it it well, but it is a big
ask and inevitably with different people coming and going in
different retirements and things like that, we do have a
very talented team going. It's amazing, how you know when
one person retires. There's in sports like cycling and rugby
sevens and rowing, there's these really amazing athletes that are.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Coming through all the time.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So I think we stand a really good chance across
a number of our sports of repeating the success that
we've had in the past. I think the games will
be spectacular. We all enjoy from time to time watching
the Till de France and the incredible scenery of those
of that area, and I think we'll see that in
Paris too. There's some really historic areas that are being
(35:32):
used for games venues, and I think that'll be fascinating
for everyone to watch and to reflect on some of
the history of what's been at those venues over time,
and have the Olympic show front and center for that period.
I think it'll be in amazing games, and Paris being
the incredible city that it is, will really really add
to that.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
A quick comment on a number of things that have changed,
drug testing and the education of athletes. Are you comfortable
with what's happening.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
I'm really comfortable with what we're doing in New Zealand.
I can't speak internationally. I do feel that drug free
sport in New Zealand do an incredible job. In New Zealand,
we're all incredibly supportive of what they're doing. I've been
around the world as an athlete, and I've raised in
a lot of different events, and I've been tested by many,
many different systems, and I do feel drug free sport
in New Zealand is right at the top of our
(36:22):
best practice in gold medal standards, So I would pay
there might be the idiot in New Zealand that's doing
something murray. I don't know if there is, but I'd
eat my hat. If there's a systematic doping program going
on in any sport, I think we'd all know that
there's too much. We're all too close to each other
and we know each other too well. And integrity is
(36:44):
an incredibly important thing for New Zealanders and for our
New Zealand team. It was one of our key Olympic
values was integrity. And you can think about it for
doping and so on.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
But for us, it almost starts with the small stuff.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
It's the little things that matter, is like accreditation at
the Olympics and being able to sneak in and out
of venues when you know you shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Those the important things that matter. So I think New Zealanders.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Pride themselves in integrity and that's a really important piece. Internationally. Hey,
obviously there's you know, there's some mayhem going on, and
I think New Zealand's possession on that. The best gains
we can make is to can continue to advocate and
be really strong for drug free sport and increasing the
(37:28):
difficulty of those that choose to take the wrong path.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Mental health of athletes does it psychologists or a psychiatrist
travel with the team.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
They do.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
We have a number of psychologists that go with the team.
It's something that I felt really strongly about when I
was Chief a mission and in my time there we
increase the number of psychologists we had in the team.
There are some remarkable people in New Zealand and I
think if I know Mario, it's it's very much like
any other part of training or development for an athlete.
(38:02):
You've got your nutritionist, you've got your physiologist. You've got
your recovery people, you've got a psychologist. It's just part
of the full picture. And as much as anyone might
discount it and say, you know, take a concrete pillar,
whatever it might have been forty or fifty years ago,
when you line up and you're at the cold face,
that feels like the biggest variable that there is is
(38:23):
your frame of mind.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And the state of how you're going to approach it.
So you can train as hard as you want.
Speaker 4 (38:28):
But I don't think there'd be an athlete anywhere in
the world that wouldn't line up in Olympic final and
confess to how important their frame of mind is for
their performance.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Social media, I know what I'd be doing with ice
shift of mission. You're not turning that them thing on well.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
What did you do?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
What do they do? Because I haven't seen a lot
of social media which is pleasant or constructive.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
That's obviously something that each athlete goes through with their
own your own process.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
I think what my belief would be, and I can't
speak on behalf of everyone is. You know, the more
simple you can make it, the more you can focus
on the process and not the outcome, and the less
distractions the better, and so social media does have its
risks in that regard if it's done done badly. But
like anything in life, Marray, things can be done well
or done badly, and and done the right way, it
(39:24):
can be really really positive for a team in terms
of how they tell that story and how that shared
with in this case with New Zealanders. What I found
really interesting in my time a Sift to mission was
just how quickly news get gets out there. Often you're
finding out about incidents before you'd had any sort of
official briefing or report. It was actually already out there
(39:47):
in public, so you were finding yourself having to be
quite reactive to things, which was Yeah, it was an
interesting development over a short period of time. But I
think done in the right way, by the right people,
it can be an incredibly positive thing for a team.
But yeah, if you're slagging off your opposition and throwing darts,
it's probably not so not so positive.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
So I'm sure athletes are well prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Rob It's difficult to step out of the public figure
and you have a little bit, but tell me what
business are you in now.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
I've had a few things keeping me busy since my
time in Sport Murray. I was very involved to cheft
a mission for the eight odd years after the Image
Team New Zealand, so that that has a time commitment
and I did two Olympics and two com Off Games.
Our families for men Sonya is a really really big
(40:40):
part of our every day. So three kids, Sophie, Hayden
and Maddie, and we've been really committed as parents and
we love being together as a family. So we've enjoyed
navigating life together and the different and fun things that
come along with that.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
In terms of my day to day work, I came
out of my.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
Time in Sport and I'd actually been doing a lot
of work for charities the Valojome and Cambridge been one
the Cycleway and then also a bit of work for
Halberg and found myself actually working full time as a
volunteer for the organizations large as a volunteer and thinking
how I really enjoy this work, but I've got to
somehow feed the family. So off the back of that,
(41:22):
I started my own company which has been going for
around ten years now. In a simple way of describing
what we do as we joined business and charity, so
we do a lot of work across school sports charities,
not for profits. We just love to help murray. There's
some twenty eight thousand ridge to charities in New Zealand
and they all rely heavily on government gaming community funding
a lot of them. So we love the social outcomes
(41:43):
they achieve and for us it's really rewarding to just
to bring them together with good businesses that have got
that social responsibility and wanting.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
To shift the dial.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Give us an example, So.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
We have we've got a number of projects going.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
Okay, just to think of one in particular, we're doing
a work doing a lot of work at the moment
with a company called ZDMA and they are a tertiary
provider and they are putting funding into schools throughout South
Auckland for kids that would otherwise not be involved in sport.
Another one would be a Polo Projects. They are a
(42:21):
construction company and they do some really big work right
throughout New Zealand. Again they are putting really significant funding
into schools to pay for shoes on feet and kids
been able to get to tournament and be involved in
the areas that otherwise wouldn't be. So we look after
those projects and we make sure that they have good
(42:43):
reporting and accountability around them, that they actually achieve something socially.
And yeah, it's a real privilege to be working with
companies like NZDMA and Apollo Projects and Celtics and Bailey's
and lots of others to actually help kids that come
from under privileged situations and get to do sport and
be involved and otherwise they.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Might not be.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
How do people contact you?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Oh, well, that's a good question, Murray Gosh, I wasn't
expecting I'm.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Going to give you a pitch opportunity.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
But look, we're online, we're around.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
That's the company is very originally called Woodell, so one
day I might get crowded and come.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Up with a different name. It's distinctive because of that.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
And yeah, we just go on the web and look
up Withdell.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Yeah that's it Wedell dot m Z. You'll find us.
And yeah, we we just love to help.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
We enjoy working with all these organizations and achieving a
good outcome for sponsors. Sponsorship is our bau really, but
doing in a way that helps helps people that it
might otherwise miss out.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Final question, and it's probably the most important one for
you and for people listening, especially if they've got kids
on you as a medallist. You're a hero, you're a
gold medalist, and well, you know, the record's unbelievable. You've
got three kids, How do they survive and how do
(44:12):
you help them get through? Because I have a theory
that sometimes it's more difficult for the kids of successful
families than the kids who haven't got success. So how
do you make sure your kids are involved in a
lot of things? But expectations aren't too high?
Speaker 3 (44:33):
It's saying it's a good question, Murray.
Speaker 4 (44:36):
I think as a parent, you're always asking yourself what
you can do and how you can do it better.
Are you over parenting? Are you underparenting? Are you doing
the right thing? Sonya and I have different parenting styles.
I'm probably the father that likes to get them involved
in every single possible thing and have them up in
the morning and up later. And Sonya is incredibly caring
(44:59):
in the but she shares a lot of those same values.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Around what required, what's required for success.
Speaker 4 (45:05):
I think for us, Murray, we were really we really
care about the kids being happy, and sport has so
many positive attributes to it. Forget about winning, forget about
where you come like the fact that you're with your
team or you're with people his company you enjoy, you
get the endorphins and running around.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
You might get a badge from being in the school team,
or there's so.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
Many positive values you learned, teamwork, quality, training together, how
to get on with others. Those are things we've really
enjoyed seeing our kids get and benefit from in sport,
and so know where they finish as is irrelement really
compared to how they turn out as people. And suddenly
does a huge amount of coaching for the local school
(45:52):
at Saint Peter's and Cambridge, and I've got a really
big number of kids and i know what she enjoys
out of it more than anything else, is helping shape
people be be better people or just be their very
best selves.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
And that's the most rewarding part of sport, Maria is
with our kids has been that.
Speaker 4 (46:10):
You know, we've we've got They've all done well in
different ways and had success, but who they are as
people as number one priority for us. And if sport
plays a role on that, that's great, but them being
good people comes above everything else.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
I'd rather be taught by Sonia than by you. I've
always had you know.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
She's certainly a better hurdler than I am. Confessed Rob.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
It's an absolute privilege to have you on this program
and the insights that you have shared are wide and
I thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
It's been really nice chanting again and yeah, lovely lovely
to reconnect and thank you very much for for having
me involved.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
It's nice to be asked.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
That's the former Olympic rower Rob Woodell, and we wish
all our athletes all the best for the upcoming games
in Paris. That's another episode of Murraydeka's Sporting Lives, brought
to you by Callaway. If you've enjoyed this episode, please
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your
podcasts and we'll be back first Thursday of next month
(47:28):
on Murraydeker's Sporting Lives
Gold Sport presents Murray Deeker's Sporting Lives with Calloway, the
leading manufacturer of premium golf clubs, balls and accessories worldwide.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi Murray Deeca here, Welcome to Season two of my podcast,
Murray Deeka's Sporting Lives. During my career, I've spent over
forty years interviewing the biggest names in sport, and I'm
thrilled to bring you this podcast talking to sporting legends
and giving you a look into their world, to hear
their memories, their stories and some opinion too. Well, it's
(00:35):
only a couple of weeks to go before the Paris Olympics,
so it's only fitting that we chat to one of
our Olympic grapes.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Let's get to it. Gold Sport Presents Murray Deeka's Sporting
Lives with Callaway.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Rob Wodell has just about done it all. An Olympic
gold medal in the single skull, two World Championships in
the same event. A grinder on Team New Zealand for
thirteen years, a black belt in judo provincial rugby with
wy Kado and Chef Di. Mission for the New Zealand
(01:11):
Olympic team in twenty and sixteen and twenty twenty two.
Add to that heart surgery in two thousand and nine,
an honors degree in business, and three times winner of
the Hellberg Supreme Award. I'm actually worn out reading it out.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Congratulations on what already has been a fantastic career. What
do you look back on with the most pride?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Well, thanks, Mary, nice to be chatting again. It's been
ben awas, that's we've done interview. So lovely to connect
with you again and appreciate those kind words. Look to
your question of what do I look back on the
myst pride, I guess I've been I have been really
prosed to be involved with.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
A wide range of interests.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You've highlighted them, and they all have They're also unique
and it's a bit of a politically correct answer, but
I guess at the height of it, it's hard to
go past the what happened at Sydney for me and
winning Olympic gold medal. That is a career highlight. But
I guess right throughout my time in sport, I've always
(02:22):
done everything I possibly can. I've done my very best,
So I look back at a huge amount of pride
at things like team New Zealand and things the short
amount of time I played rugby and things like that.
I didn't always achieve what I wanted, but I do
walk away with a huge sense of pride that I
did everything I possibly could.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And I'd love to do it all again. It went
by far too quickly.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
It's a bit unfair really, because you do look back
and think, oh, I could have done this a bit differently,
or that a bit better. But that's that's the benefit
of hindsight, isn't it. But it was a busy twenty
years competing and then I've been lucky to be involved
with the Olympic Committee formerly a chief Mission, and then
other community of business interests as well, so I've done
(03:04):
things I'm very passionate about and very interested in.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Take us back to Sydney two thousand where you won gold.
How hard was your preparation for that event and was
that your peak as a rower?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yes, it was very, very hard preparation.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
My coach was Richard Tonks and the system for Nez
rowing at the time was a system where you didn't
go and hoping you wento knowing you you're going through well.
I think that is real strength that has endured to
this day that the teams can do produce repeatable success.
(03:43):
And I think if you're looking at their performances and
various Olympic Games and World champs and thinking, hey, what's
that magic wand how do they keep doing what they're doing,
I think you'd find work. I think would be right
at the top of it of the food chain there.
The rowing teams do train really hard in New Zealand.
They've got good system where they trained together and they
measure of each other all the time, so.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
There's there's no hiding. And I felt like that for
my program.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I felt like I had some really good years building
up to Sydney.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It was probably a big crossroads for me. It was
my if I.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
If I wasn't going to do it at Sydney, when
was I ever kind to do it. I had had
the right training, I had the right preparation. I was
the best age for it. And you realize that first
is one direction in your life and seconds as a
very different direction. So look, I went and incredibly well prepared.
I didn't know where I was going to win, but
I knew I was really fast. The training under Richard
(04:38):
Tonks was hard. Richard does, and it's traditionally known for
for his his work ethic, with his cruise, and in
some ways racing was a bit easier than what you've
been through training, so you you're well prepared mentally for
what was coming your way. And the race itself was
(04:59):
was a uni I needed every bit of preparation I
could get because it was a particularly hard race.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
To win the final at the Sydney Olympics, well, it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Was fascinating because that came down to a battle between
you and Muller, and he had beaten you previously at
an event in Europe the time this time, though, you
beat him by eight lengths. Now that's an absolute hiding.
So what did you learn from the defeat a couple
of weeks before the Olympics or how many weeks.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
It was, that no one sort of sees all the
cards are on the table until the Olympic final, that
the winning margin was.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Less than that than the eight lengths.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
But I think with Zeno, he was a remarkable athlete
and he was a bit of a hero of mine
because and still is. He's a lovely guy. We keep
in touch to this day. And he had won the
nineteen ninety six Olympics. He had come through the years
before when I was young and trying to break into
the single skull, and here was this guy breaking world
(05:57):
records and setting the field of light. And he's a
really likable guy too, and so to a certain extent,
you just don't know what he's going to do until
you're in the final. You can have a race a
month before, you can have a race a week before,
the year before. Really, the Olympics is the big one.
It's the one every four years, and that's when you
know everyone's doing everything they possibly can. So Zeno in
(06:19):
nineteen ninety six had produced an exceptional sprint in the
finish when he went on to win the Olympic gold
medal at the Atlanta Olympics. So look, there was always
a concern for me. You don't know if there's something
going to come out from nowhere. But all you can
do is do your absolute very best. And the race unfolded,
I won't say unexpectedly, but Zeno through everything he could
(06:43):
at me in the field, through the middle of the
race with a really really fast pace, and you're in
a semi conscious frame of mind. Mari and I do
remember thinking about those thirds of the way down the course. Hey,
this pace is unsustainable. One of us is going to
one of us is going to pop. It's just who
goes first. And I think I was proud of anything
(07:04):
that day. It was my state of mind because it
wasn't emotional. It wasn't oh no, I'm behind, because I
was behind till the last sort of four hundred meters,
and it was more more, this is just what needs
to be done. And I think for any athlete that
is the one oh one of high performance sport. If
you can focus on the process not the outcome, that
really is the holy grail. You're not worried about the pressure,
(07:25):
You're not worried about the anxiety, You're not worried about
the people watching. You're just worried about sculling beautifully or
throwing a ball as far as you can or cycling
as fast as you can. And so I was proud
of my frame of mind on that day.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Do you I've heard that statement a lot of times.
Rob focus on the process, not the outcome. Damn hard
to do, particularly in golf.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Mate, I definitely have a massive in Gulf.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I can tell you that I wish I had, but
maybe I think these things do come down to time,
and it's the same mentally. You know, you prepare your
body physically every day and you get adaptation from that.
You get more capillaries, you get more blood flow, you
get more oxygen.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And the mind's exactly the same.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
If what you put into your mind every day has
a big as a big determinant on the final outcome.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
The two World Championships that you won in nineteen ninety
eight and nineteen ninety nine, were they harder to win
than the Olympics.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
No, the Olympics was the hardest race for sure, and
probably because of that point I made before that everything
everyone puts everything on the table, that it's just acts
of desperation to do everything you can to win World champs.
There's always that sort of mentality of hey, you know,
I've got next year, I've got the Olympics. The racers
themselves in those two years were I won't say easier,
(08:40):
because are still hard races. But when I first won
in nineteen ninety eight, it was a surprise for me
to win. I had been racing those guys all season
that the top echelon of single scolars in the world,
and there was a particularly rough day, and hey, I hope,
I hoped and dreamed I might get a medal, but
I was very pleased to get the gold, and then
belief sets in. And the following year I broke the
(09:02):
world record, which was a hell of a hell of
a highlight for me in Sint Catherines. I really enjoyed that.
In Canada, that was a real, really enjoyable regretter. So
that had a five second margin and I was comfortable
all the way. So No, Sydney was definitely the hardest
race and there wasn't much left in the tank after that,
after those two thousand meters.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Did the Olympic wind change your life?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yes, it does it.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
It is a reality that, as I said before, first
is one direction in your life and second is a
different one. And as much as you talk about focusing
on the process and not the outcome, theme is unavoidable.
You're going there because you believe you can achieve the ultimate.
You're incredibly proud to represent your family and your friends,
and you're always going to do your best, but you
(09:47):
want to walk away with the best result.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
You can achieve.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
So it is I guess, on a couple of fronts,
something you take a lot of satisfaction from For me,
it was a really proud just for family and friends
and for all of New Zealand, because as an athlete,
it feels like what you do is quite selfish. You're
always training in the singles, calling, for example, by yourself.
(10:12):
You're out there, you're hungry, you're tired, you're generally not
for much conversation. You're the closer that your food and
your bed and your gym and the water can all
be together, the better, really, and so so then when
you can can show and share this with everyone, it
was very special for me.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
My late father was there as well and.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
The rest of my family and being able to share
that for me with them was just the and all
of New Zealand was a huge life highlight. And I
think you find that's why most athletes do it for
New Zealanders that are so proud to represent the country,
and it's such an incredible thing to share that with
the nation.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
When you do have that success.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I realized what a huge change it was for you.
You probably won't remember this, but I remember that what
happened at the airport and you were just about mobbed.
You know, I'm standing there elbowing people out of the
way to get something from you, talks heavy. Your wife
was there, fortunately, and you know immediately you'd become a hero.
(11:08):
I don't know how long that lasts for, but you're
a public figure from there on in and in your case,
because it was the sole gold at Sydney, it seemed
to me to be even bigger than that.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
You feel it, thanks Mary, It is. It is very
humbling how that success plays out. You get invited to
a hold.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Of things you never used to get invited to, and
some of them pretty pretty fun. And I think for me,
it's the unique stuff that a lot of people will
remember where they were and what they were doing at
that particular moment in time. You know, there was a
there's a group of people there that were watching that
race on that day, and you'll bump into the lad
in life and they'll say things like, hail standing at
(11:49):
at the supermarket next to the bananas and the aisle,
and I saw you up on the screen and it's
like you were there with them, she sort of. It's
like you shared that special moment in time. So it's
really humbling to have that, and I guess you know,
time moves on and you always take that huge sense
of pride with you, but you know, new, new and
(12:10):
amazing people come along and do even better things, and
it's incredible what some of our athletes are doing now.
And to a certain extent, unless your names up in
lights all the time, you fade off a little bit
into obscurity. To a point the other day where I
had to speak to a group of young kids and
I was supposed to do a presentation to them, but
(12:30):
no one had introduced me, so I had to get
up and introduce myself. And it was actually quite strange
having to explain a long time ago I'd rode in
a race I'd want to go bettle and the kid's
eyes were sort of oh, you could tell they hadn't
they didn't know anything about it, which is fine, that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Why did you switch from from doing the rowing when
you're almost at your peek to going to sailing on
Team New Zealand and to thousand and three?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
For reasons, Mary I was.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I was captured by and captivated by that, that that
dream of defending the countries on and being out on
the black boats. There's a lot of things that attract
people to sport, and that was one of the things
for was the excitement of being involved in a team
and being involved in Team New Zealand, and I'd spent
years been in an individual so the idea of doing
(13:26):
something as a team was had a really positive outlook.
I also felt like it achieved everything I wanted to
and running I felt.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Hey, of.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Have passed the test, I got one hundred percent. You
do I start studying for it again tomorrow and said
in four years time. So I didn't have the same
appeal as as as as taking on a new and
exciting challenge, So so I popped both hands up, and
I guess, looking back in hindsight, I was pretty naive
about what was required. There was a there was a
huge amount of sailing experience required, of which I had
(13:59):
done and so those first four years for me were
fent fascinating learning curve and I look back on those
those times as very happy times. They you know, my
time at TIM New Zealand was a really enjoyable part
of all of our lives, our families lives, and you
make lifelong friendships. You go to battle with a group
of mates and you do everything you can and those
(14:21):
friendships last forever, so that it was a fascinating sort
of thirteen years to be involved with in rich tem
New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Were you on board that boat when it d marshed
did in the wide matter?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yes, it was scary.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I was on board right from after just after two
thousand all the way through to twenty thirteen in San
fran on all those races, and so you went from
one extreme to the other where you're on these big,
heavy monohull boats with twenty ton of lead strapped to
the bottom of them top speed of eighteen knots, to
(14:56):
these incredibly fast falling dynamic catamarans, which had a top
speed we hit in San Francisco was just under fifty
three knots. So quite a contrast. And the boats were
scary in different ways. I guess the old generation, you
might call it the Sir Peter Blake generation five, is
how a lot of New Zealanders will remember it.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
They were frightening because of the load.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
There was so much load because you had so much
tension between this mast and the keel tower. The keel
toa had twenty ton of leaders ballaced and the mass
was some thirty five meters high and the boat's just
trying to tear itself to bits. So the loads were huge,
the loads on the spinnakers, the loads on the on
the on the middle of the boat. But the boats
are incredible to race because they were very traditional sailing boats.
(15:39):
You had a bowman, a mid bouman, a massman, a pitman,
you had trimmers, you had grinders, and it was a
real fascinating exercise and teamwork. You had to do every
part of your job perfectly right along the chain to
go well. And then, of course the boats have evolved
now to these incredibly fast foiling, dynamic catamarines which continued
(16:01):
to go faster and faster, and they were equally as
exciting and interesting in different ways. And my final campaign
was in San Francisco twenty thirteen. So unfortunately I never
won the America's Cup. I did three finals, but yeah,
pretty it's a great outcome that we still hold the
America's Cup, and I'm really proud that we do. That's
what I did it for is I wanted to see
(16:22):
New Zealand win, and I'm very pleased that we did.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Eventually.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
One of the most interesting parts of this is the
fact that there was a dramatic change in your body
from rowing to grinding and back to rowing. How challenging
was that? And what's harder the weight gain for grinding
or the weight loss for rowing.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Christ and I got from a sport that was all
about endurance, Arthur Lydiad's style training miles make champions and
you're sort of doing five or six hours of anaerobic
activity a day. And yeah, my way to Sydney, I
think it was around one hundred and one kilograms, and
then I decided hanging a involved to New Zealand, and
within a short space of time I was bordering on
(17:07):
one hundred and thirty kilograms, So huge, huge change in
body shape, one's fitness, one's strength.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's as simple as that.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So you change your body type, you change your training
quite dramatically, and I got a I put on that
weight pretty easily, mainly because with rowing you're so suppressed,
your body so depleted a lot of the time, and
so if you just stop all that aerobic training and
you train hard in the gym and you eat the
(17:34):
right food, you do put on the weight. So the
weight came on pretty easily. It was those boats are
all about ballast. They're about strength and the catamarans. A
couple of years later, we're much more about fitness and
speed and strength and endurance. So I probably got to
a better weight. But I did come back and have
(17:57):
another attempt at Rowhing in two thousand and eight and
I had to lose all that weight again, so that
was a real challenge and I never really got right
down to the weight I was Sidney. I still was
always carrying a couple of kilos, but that may have
changed over time. It was a very short short amount
of time that I tried to come back and claim
that Olympic.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Spot Gold Sport presents Murray Digger's sporting lives with Callaway.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
You mentioned you did three campaigns with Team New Zealand.
We know the old saying that you learn more from
defeats than from victories. What did you take out of
those three campaigns that helped you become such a successful
Chef de mission thanks to.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
The kind words.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I'd look back on Pobby, my time in the Olympic
Committee and also Team New Zealand, and I think of
this one word that.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Sticks out for me. It's the people.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
It's the people that you're with, good people in your
team leads to goodnessers and least the good outcomes. And
in both cases that the teams, both the Olympic Committee
and with Emirates Team New Zealand had had some incredible people.
I always marveled when I looked around it at who
was assembled. With the America's Cup, you had the very
best in New Zealand doing doing everything they possibly could
(19:17):
to win. And when you get one hundred people in
a team like that, the collective outcome of what you
produce is so much greater than what you might do individually.
And the thing you love about being in a team
like that, much like the Olympic team, is every single
person wants to be there. They don't go home. You
know when they can, they go home and the job's done,
and there's a real mentality that permeates through the whole
(19:40):
team that you're just doing everything possible. So I enjoyed
that in both teams, and they were. You take lessons
from both. I think I've admired with with Emorts Team
New Zealand, the tenacity of the team, how it's endured
over so many years, and it's it's doggedness to to
(20:00):
hang in there and to survive and you know, and
with under Grant's leadership to keep assembling great teams of people,
and then with the Olympic Committee, I guess the some
I was fortunate, with my background in sport to have
a lot of lessons that had come from my time
competing that I was able to understand and use in the.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Role of shift a mission.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
So yeah, they were different in different ways, but like
anything in life, you just keep learning and developing.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Right Indeed, now we're meant to be focusing on the Olympics,
but I do want to pick up on Dalton because
he's a controversial figure that you clearly rate him big time.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I sailed with Doults for a number of years and.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
You raised the point that he's been a polarizing figure
with in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I personal have a huge amount of respect for Grant.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I think what he's done is remarkable. I think what
Team is Yell have done is is a wonderful thing.
And the fact that we hold the America's Cup. He
is incredibly determined. He has done everything he possibly can
right from day one to win and hold on to
the America's Cup. And I think that there's plenty of
(21:17):
criticism out there, but it's a big question to ask
yourself if you think you can do a better job
or that if you can raise the funds, And obviously
there is some conjecture about that. But Grant has done
a remarkable job of holding the team together with the
funding because it's not a small exercise to raise that
amount of money to have a team. And yeah, I
(21:40):
certainly applaud him for the determination he's had to hold
the team together and to ultimately have won the America's Cup.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Now, in the middle of your sailing and your adventures
with Team New Zealand, you made a comeback and rowing
and we will never forget it because it featured a
head to head battle between yourself for Mahe Drysdale for
the single skull position ridiculous rule that the Olympics have
that only one person can go. Now, you'd beaten him
(22:09):
in the fine in the regionals, but selector said they
were going to have a best of three and you
were one all going into the third decisive race, which
he won. What we didn't know was you had a
heart problem. In the middle of that third race. You
just couldn't keep going. Tell me about this because we
(22:29):
all watched it. Everybody was glued to this because here's
two heroes going head to head, somewhat like we're going
to see at the Olympics between Carrington and Fisher.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
I would suggest, all right, So look, I decided I
was going to come back and compete and rating again
wasn't something I decided spur of the moment. I did
think about it that he is leading up to it,
but I was quite constrained that I was still with
Team New Zealand and sailing with the America's Cup, and
so when that finished, I had six months to then
come back.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And try and regain the spot.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
So I had to lose twenty five odd kilograms and
learn how to scull again. It was a big ask,
and on top of that, try and beat the guy
who had claimed the world record in the meantime, So
it was a big ask. I will reflect on that
time and say it was one of the most exciting
times I've had in sport.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
I loved it.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
I loved every day, I loved every moment. It was
such a challenge. I think maybe in some ways that
the bigger the challenge, the more exciting it is. And
I got everything. I possibly coult out of myself. I
reset my PBS and broke the world record on the
rwing machine and tried to take things to another level. Yeah, Unfortunately,
as history would have it, I didn't win the trial
(23:45):
for the Olympics. And in the final race of that series, yes,
I did have an episode of what they call actual fribulation.
It wasn't a new problem for me. I had had
it for many years. It's something I battled with and
tried to keep under control. And I guess that point
to people within rowing would have known that I had
(24:07):
that problem, but it's not something you want to talk
about too publicly. It's a medical thing and no one
really likes to make excuses. And I think probably that
was one of the hardest things from that race is
if you break your arm and you've got a bone
sticking out of your skin, you can point to it
and you can say, well, this is why I had
to stop growing, because I've got a bone sticking out
of my arm.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
But when it's the heart, it's less visible.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
So people can't see the problem that you had, and
that takes People may have a different view when they
reflect on the result from why it happened, but It
was a very real thing for me. I battled with
it through my whole rowing career. Ultimately I ended up
having heart surgery. I had it in two thousand and nine,
(24:48):
and the reason for having it probably later rather than
earlier in my own career is it was still a
developing process. It's quite an evasive thing to go into
your heart and to have surgery the way that they
do it. We've got some incredible people in New Zealand
that do that now. I was lucky to have doctor
Martin Styles at Waiketo who did my surgery for me
(25:09):
locally and touch what.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I lead a very happy, healthy, normal life.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Now, but it prior to that surgery, it was certainly
a problem and unfortunately became.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
So in that race that you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You're fascinating that you look back with that, you know,
and it's exciting, and I think the Fisher Carrington thing
is going to be brilliant because you know you were
talking before, nobody knows what's going to happen in the
final of an Olympics, and they're both obviously going to
be in the final, but who's going to do what race?
You'll be watching that one closely, wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You now, I absolutely will be in some other fascinating
matchups too, not just within New Zealand, but you know
Ainger Brits and Josh Kerr for the fifteen hundred. That's
going to be a grudge match. And I think your
point there about the Bay in the final. I hope
they both are, but both athletes. I know. We'll be
very much looking at it one step at a time.
You've got to win the finally got to be in
(26:04):
the final. And every sports has had different roles Trithon,
You've been able to have multiple athletes from one country,
Athletics sometimes the same. Unfortunately, when I was competing and rowing,
there was only one single skull spot and I didn't
end up securing it that year. But that's the beauty
of sport, right is it's about as basic and.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Raw is it raw as it gets.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
And I think it's great for sport now that it's
if from an entertainment point of view and from a
consumption point of view where people are watching, it's still
such an unknown. You know, if you're watching Netflix, if
you're watching a movie, if you're watching a series, whatever
it might be, you kind of know what's going to happen,
but in sport still so unpredictable, which I think is
great for keeping people fit and active and keeping it
(26:48):
front of mind. Everyone loves watching it because there is
still so much unknown.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
You're a black belt in judo. How does the discipline
aspect of that assist you and protect How did it
assist you when you took over the management of the
Olympic team.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I started judo when I went to Japan in my
final year at school. I took a year out of
school and when it did a program similar to an
AFS and I was living in Japan and rying wasn't
really an option. Rugby wasn't either, but the school was
that was very, very good at judo, so I became
heavily involved in there and involved at the same level
(27:27):
you might do as I did with any of the
other sports, just hours and hours and hours and after
school and camps and trips, and at the end of
the year you get to a point where you've got
to a reasonable level. When I came back to New Zealand,
I got really involved with rying again, and it was
probably not the environment I had in Japan with judo,
(27:49):
where you've just got so many athletes around you all
the time, and judo is their thing. So I didn't
pursue judo as a sport so much when I came back,
but I I always loved what it taught me. At
some of the hardest training I've ever done Murray, it
was really really hard. Three hours of wrestling standing and
then on the ground you're absolutely exhausted. So I think
(28:11):
I got some good physicality from that. But the thing
I enjoyed, too was the nimbleness of what judo taught you.
Taught you to be agile, it taught you to be nimble,
It taught you to have good balance. People that know
me well probably wouldn't think I carry many of those attributes,
but I'm probably a lot better off than I would
have been if I hadn't done judo. And I really
enjoyed the balance and the athleticism that it encouraged. And
(28:35):
it gives you some confidence too. It's always good to
know that you've got a few skill sets there if
you need them one day.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Well, talking skill sets with all this background that you
had as a competitor, how much of the success that
you had is Chef de mission in twenty sixteen and
twenty twenty two. How much do you put down to
your background.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Inevitably you're well prepared for a role like that because
you've been through the system.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
In saying that, I probably felt like I was halfway there.
There's still so.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Much from an organization point of view that you don't
know and understand. Even all the three letter acronyms that
they have at the Olympic Games, Oh my gosh, it's
a whole other dictionary in itself, trying to understand all
the different terms and things that are required to run
a team.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
But the.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Privilege of being in the Olympic team as Chef de
Mission Murray was the people. There were so many amazing
people there that preceded my time. Jake Wilkins, Ashley Abbott,
Kiaren Smith, Mike Stanley. The list goes on of cause
offense by not mentioning everyone who was in the team.
But there were some remarkable people in the team, and
(29:53):
I was very I felt very privileged to come in
and be a part of a system I'd created, and
you try and you're one or two percent of whatever
it might be. But they were great leaders in New
Zealand sport, They really were, and they did amazing things.
And so if you look at the teams and saying,
as you sort of kindly suggested, well done, Rob, what
made it go so well? I'd say it was the
(30:13):
people I was lucky to be with. They did great
work and a lot of things there well before my time,
and it made it a very happy environment to be
and I do I'm very fond of the Olympic Committee.
It's something dear to my heart. I think they're a
wonderful group of people that are so athletic focused. They're
really intent on doing everything they can to help athletes,
(30:36):
and I love that culture. It really resonated with me
and hopefully, in my small way, I was able to
add value.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Twenty and sixteen, New Zealand got to record eighteen medals
and eleven of them were for women. What were the
highlights of the nineteen, sorry, the twenty sixteen Olympics for you?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Sometimes, as chief the mission, you take a bit of perspective,
perspective on things, Mara, and the results were fantastic. I
won't pull anything away from that at all, But as
chef of Mission, your number one role, as raw as
it can be and as blunt as it sounds, is
to get everyone there and back safely.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
And you're go into a part of the world which
has risk.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
It was well known as well documented, so look genuinely,
as with Tokyo and COVID, you're very relieved to have
got everyone there and back safely. It's your number one
priority is to look after everyone. So that was a
high point for me. I think in Rio and Tokyo games.
But in Rio where we turned up and the village
(31:38):
wasn't what we had maybe hoped to have expected, there
was still a feair bit of work to do and
it's how our team came together as a group of
New Zealanders. We got on as an organizing team and
just got the job done. We had a week before
the whole team arrived and as a group of coaches
and managers and organizers we had to work incredibly hard.
(31:59):
That was a high point for me, and it's one
of those ones that might not sound like much, but
those that were involved in those that may reflect on
that time will be very proud of what we achieved
as a small group to get our team in the
best possible position to achieve the results that you talked about.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Twenty twenty two, the record was broken. Twenty medals, seven
of them goals, six silver, seven bronze. It's a games
that we just will never forget. Things happened for us,
didn't it.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
It was a fascinating games. It was obviously laid with
COVID and.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
You just don't know was what was around the corner,
and you put so much time and effort into getting
there and getting set up. And what was fascinating for me, Maury,
was everything almost became so much easier once you had
all those things set up because there was no team ceremony,
there was no after match activity because the COVID people
(33:01):
know it went home straight away.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You so much.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
The Olympics got trimmed down to its bare minimum. So
although it was very busy in the lead up and
a lot of work planning on how we're going to
get in and and look after ourselves with with the
COVID that was with the COVID problem at the time
it worked. It was a pretty smooth games in that
regard and the results themselves, Hey, some highlights and in
bizarre moments and time Murray, that was remarkable to be
(33:28):
there at the rowing course and watch the men's eight
when gold and the girls win silver and you're standing
there taking a photo of them at the end, and
you're the only person in the It's you and them
because there's no one else.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
There, and you know it was it was. It was bizarre.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
It really was almost apocalyptic at times when you look
down the course and you saw these incredible results happening,
even in the athletics stadium and in some of these
amazing athletes, but no one there. A very strange feeling.
But in some ways, I think it made the team dynamic,
really strong. People didn't have their families there that they
have their friends, So I think our team became tighter
(34:08):
than it's ever been because we wear each other's support.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Gold Sport presents Murray Digga's sporting lives with Callaway.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Let's focus on Paris for a moment or two. What
do you anticipating will happen for our team at Paris?
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Look at that in a number of ways, I guess
the results would be one of the things that people
would ask about. We have had a really good run
as a nation at the Olympics. We have improved over
consecutive games, over a number of games.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Now that can't go on forever. I hope it does.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
I wish it it well, but it is a big
ask and inevitably with different people coming and going in
different retirements and things like that, we do have a
very talented team going. It's amazing, how you know when
one person retires. There's in sports like cycling and rugby
sevens and rowing, there's these really amazing athletes that are.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Coming through all the time.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So I think we stand a really good chance across
a number of our sports of repeating the success that
we've had in the past. I think the games will
be spectacular. We all enjoy from time to time watching
the Till de France and the incredible scenery of those
of that area, and I think we'll see that in
Paris too. There's some really historic areas that are being
(35:32):
used for games venues, and I think that'll be fascinating
for everyone to watch and to reflect on some of
the history of what's been at those venues over time,
and have the Olympic show front and center for that period.
I think it'll be in amazing games, and Paris being
the incredible city that it is, will really really add
to that.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
A quick comment on a number of things that have changed,
drug testing and the education of athletes. Are you comfortable
with what's happening.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
I'm really comfortable with what we're doing in New Zealand.
I can't speak internationally. I do feel that drug free
sport in New Zealand do an incredible job. In New Zealand,
we're all incredibly supportive of what they're doing. I've been
around the world as an athlete, and I've raised in
a lot of different events, and I've been tested by many,
many different systems, and I do feel drug free sport
in New Zealand is right at the top of our
(36:22):
best practice in gold medal standards, So I would pay
there might be the idiot in New Zealand that's doing
something murray. I don't know if there is, but I'd
eat my hat. If there's a systematic doping program going
on in any sport, I think we'd all know that
there's too much. We're all too close to each other
and we know each other too well. And integrity is
(36:44):
an incredibly important thing for New Zealanders and for our
New Zealand team. It was one of our key Olympic
values was integrity. And you can think about it for
doping and so on.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
But for us, it almost starts with the small stuff.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
It's the little things that matter, is like accreditation at
the Olympics and being able to sneak in and out
of venues when you know you shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Those the important things that matter. So I think New Zealanders.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Pride themselves in integrity and that's a really important piece. Internationally. Hey,
obviously there's you know, there's some mayhem going on, and
I think New Zealand's possession on that. The best gains
we can make is to can continue to advocate and
be really strong for drug free sport and increasing the
(37:28):
difficulty of those that choose to take the wrong path.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Mental health of athletes does it psychologists or a psychiatrist
travel with the team.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
They do.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
We have a number of psychologists that go with the team.
It's something that I felt really strongly about when I
was Chief a mission and in my time there we
increase the number of psychologists we had in the team.
There are some remarkable people in New Zealand and I
think if I know Mario, it's it's very much like
any other part of training or development for an athlete.
(38:02):
You've got your nutritionist, you've got your physiologist. You've got
your recovery people, you've got a psychologist. It's just part
of the full picture. And as much as anyone might
discount it and say, you know, take a concrete pillar,
whatever it might have been forty or fifty years ago,
when you line up and you're at the cold face,
that feels like the biggest variable that there is is
(38:23):
your frame of mind.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And the state of how you're going to approach it.
So you can train as hard as you want.
Speaker 4 (38:28):
But I don't think there'd be an athlete anywhere in
the world that wouldn't line up in Olympic final and
confess to how important their frame of mind is for
their performance.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Social media, I know what I'd be doing with ice
shift of mission. You're not turning that them thing on well.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
What did you do?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
What do they do? Because I haven't seen a lot
of social media which is pleasant or constructive.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
That's obviously something that each athlete goes through with their
own your own process.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
I think what my belief would be, and I can't
speak on behalf of everyone is. You know, the more
simple you can make it, the more you can focus
on the process and not the outcome, and the less
distractions the better, and so social media does have its
risks in that regard if it's done done badly. But
like anything in life, Marray, things can be done well
or done badly, and and done the right way, it
(39:24):
can be really really positive for a team in terms
of how they tell that story and how that shared
with in this case with New Zealanders. What I found
really interesting in my time a Sift to mission was
just how quickly news get gets out there. Often you're
finding out about incidents before you'd had any sort of
official briefing or report. It was actually already out there
(39:47):
in public, so you were finding yourself having to be
quite reactive to things, which was Yeah, it was an
interesting development over a short period of time. But I
think done in the right way, by the right people,
it can be an incredibly positive thing for a team.
But yeah, if you're slagging off your opposition and throwing darts,
it's probably not so not so positive.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
So I'm sure athletes are well prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Rob It's difficult to step out of the public figure
and you have a little bit, but tell me what
business are you in now.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
I've had a few things keeping me busy since my
time in Sport Murray. I was very involved to cheft
a mission for the eight odd years after the Image
Team New Zealand, so that that has a time commitment
and I did two Olympics and two com Off Games.
Our families for men Sonya is a really really big
(40:40):
part of our every day. So three kids, Sophie, Hayden
and Maddie, and we've been really committed as parents and
we love being together as a family. So we've enjoyed
navigating life together and the different and fun things that
come along with that.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
In terms of my day to day work, I came
out of my.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
Time in Sport and I'd actually been doing a lot
of work for charities the Valojome and Cambridge been one
the Cycleway and then also a bit of work for
Halberg and found myself actually working full time as a
volunteer for the organizations large as a volunteer and thinking
how I really enjoy this work, but I've got to
somehow feed the family. So off the back of that,
(41:22):
I started my own company which has been going for
around ten years now. In a simple way of describing
what we do as we joined business and charity, so
we do a lot of work across school sports charities,
not for profits. We just love to help murray. There's
some twenty eight thousand ridge to charities in New Zealand
and they all rely heavily on government gaming community funding
a lot of them. So we love the social outcomes
(41:43):
they achieve and for us it's really rewarding to just
to bring them together with good businesses that have got
that social responsibility and wanting.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
To shift the dial.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Give us an example, So.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
We have we've got a number of projects going.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
Okay, just to think of one in particular, we're doing
a work doing a lot of work at the moment
with a company called ZDMA and they are a tertiary
provider and they are putting funding into schools throughout South
Auckland for kids that would otherwise not be involved in sport.
Another one would be a Polo Projects. They are a
(42:21):
construction company and they do some really big work right
throughout New Zealand. Again they are putting really significant funding
into schools to pay for shoes on feet and kids
been able to get to tournament and be involved in
the areas that otherwise wouldn't be. So we look after
those projects and we make sure that they have good
(42:43):
reporting and accountability around them, that they actually achieve something socially.
And yeah, it's a real privilege to be working with
companies like NZDMA and Apollo Projects and Celtics and Bailey's
and lots of others to actually help kids that come
from under privileged situations and get to do sport and
be involved and otherwise they.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Might not be.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
How do people contact you?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Oh, well, that's a good question, Murray Gosh, I wasn't
expecting I'm.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Going to give you a pitch opportunity.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
But look, we're online, we're around.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
That's the company is very originally called Woodell, so one
day I might get crowded and come.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Up with a different name. It's distinctive because of that.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
And yeah, we just go on the web and look
up Withdell.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Yeah that's it Wedell dot m Z. You'll find us.
And yeah, we we just love to help.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
We enjoy working with all these organizations and achieving a
good outcome for sponsors. Sponsorship is our bau really, but
doing in a way that helps helps people that it
might otherwise miss out.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Final question, and it's probably the most important one for
you and for people listening, especially if they've got kids
on you as a medallist. You're a hero, you're a
gold medalist, and well, you know, the record's unbelievable. You've
got three kids, How do they survive and how do
(44:12):
you help them get through? Because I have a theory
that sometimes it's more difficult for the kids of successful
families than the kids who haven't got success. So how
do you make sure your kids are involved in a
lot of things? But expectations aren't too high?
Speaker 3 (44:33):
It's saying it's a good question, Murray.
Speaker 4 (44:36):
I think as a parent, you're always asking yourself what
you can do and how you can do it better.
Are you over parenting? Are you underparenting? Are you doing
the right thing? Sonya and I have different parenting styles.
I'm probably the father that likes to get them involved
in every single possible thing and have them up in
the morning and up later. And Sonya is incredibly caring
(44:59):
in the but she shares a lot of those same values.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Around what required, what's required for success.
Speaker 4 (45:05):
I think for us, Murray, we were really we really
care about the kids being happy, and sport has so
many positive attributes to it. Forget about winning, forget about
where you come like the fact that you're with your
team or you're with people his company you enjoy, you
get the endorphins and running around.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
You might get a badge from being in the school team,
or there's so.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
Many positive values you learned, teamwork, quality, training together, how
to get on with others. Those are things we've really
enjoyed seeing our kids get and benefit from in sport,
and so know where they finish as is irrelement really
compared to how they turn out as people. And suddenly
does a huge amount of coaching for the local school
(45:52):
at Saint Peter's and Cambridge, and I've got a really
big number of kids and i know what she enjoys
out of it more than anything else, is helping shape
people be be better people or just be their very
best selves.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
And that's the most rewarding part of sport, Maria is
with our kids has been that.
Speaker 4 (46:10):
You know, we've we've got They've all done well in
different ways and had success, but who they are as
people as number one priority for us. And if sport
plays a role on that, that's great, but them being
good people comes above everything else.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
I'd rather be taught by Sonia than by you. I've
always had you know.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
She's certainly a better hurdler than I am. Confessed Rob.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
It's an absolute privilege to have you on this program
and the insights that you have shared are wide and
I thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
It's been really nice chanting again and yeah, lovely lovely
to reconnect and thank you very much for for having
me involved.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
It's nice to be asked.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
That's the former Olympic rower Rob Woodell, and we wish
all our athletes all the best for the upcoming games
in Paris. That's another episode of Murraydeka's Sporting Lives, brought
to you by Callaway. If you've enjoyed this episode, please
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your
podcasts and we'll be back first Thursday of next month
(47:28):
on Murraydeker's Sporting Lives
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