Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast · Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast

The Shannon Rollason Podcast Episode 98 - With Kirsten Thomson

·1 hr 30 min·5 clips

Thomson describes going from an Olympic medal to year 11 maths class after Sydney 2000.

1. Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast Episode 98 features Shannon Rollason, Robbie Cox, and Kirsten Thomson discussing NSW Swimming and her career. 2. Kirsten Thomson is the CEO of New South Wales Swimming and an Olympian, which is why her views on coaching recognition and athlete support matter. 3. The episode asks what Thomson learned as a swimmer, how she moved into leadership, and why recognition matters in swimming. 4. Thomson says Greg Hodge saw her win a school carnival 50 freestyle and invited her into a new Sutherland squad. 5. She names the program as three mornings a week for one hour and says it became the start of her pathway. 6. She recalls her first proper race in Kiama, in the girls' 10 years 50 meter butterfly. 7. Thomson says she was 13 at the 1997 national age championships when she won the 50, 100, 200, and 400 freestyle. 8. She says that meet came as Greg Hodge moved to the Institute Program and Doug arrived with Christina Thorpe, Ian Thorpe, and Daniel Woods. 9. Thomson says that period was when she started taking swimming seriously and wanted to be on the same national teams as those athletes. 10. She describes Sydney 2000 as a home Games with a crowd of about 110,000 in the opening ceremony stadium. 11. Thomson says she was 16, had confidence rather than nerves, and could not remember much of the race because of the adrenaline. 12. She says Susie O'Neill was her sporting hero and that racing with Susie, Gian Rooney, and Petria Thomas felt like a perfect introduction. 13. Thomson explains that she thought athletes should attend opening ceremonies if the event would not hurt performance. 14. She says her own rule in Sydney was that competitors in the first four days could not attend, while she raced on day five. 15. Thomson says the return from winning an Olympic medal to sitting in year 11 maths class felt bizarre. 16. She recalls later being with Thorpey at the hockey and at the track and field, then watching Cathy Freeman's 400 from a corporate box with Chelsea Clinton. 17. Thomson says the White House story became possible because Chelsea Clinton invited them to call her there. 18. She says the result was a private jet from New York to Washington and photos with Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. 19. The episode keeps a conversational, anecdotal tone, with Robbie and Shannon asking follow-up questions and Thomson answering in a steady interview format. 20. People interested in Australian swimming history and athlete pathways will get the most from this episode, while listeners wanting fast analysis only may skip it.

As heard by us

A candid swim chat about reset, coaching change, and learning how to win.

This lands in the useful middle ground where swimming history becomes a practical lesson in form, coaching, and confidence. It moves from a pretty ordinary 2001, to the blunt advice to pick the cap up and figure out how to win, and then to the switch to Sato when the old…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a swimmer's honest turn from flat form to real progress after a coach change.

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