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Finally my life long journey to the Olympic Games
is about to begin. The time between the Telstra
Olympic Team Selection Trials and the eve of departure
for the Games has flown by and to think I’m
only three-and-a-half weeks away from the biggest
swimming carnival of my life - the worlds ultimate
sporting event.
Before I knew it after the trials,
I was back into a training routine at Nunawading
that I thrive on and trying to juggle it with my
outside commitments. The media attention I received
has been fantastic; I’m really stoked to be
getting some recognition after all my hard work
and years of sacrifice.
I lay in bed at night thinking about
what has changed from other years and the only real
answer I can come up with is that I have been dedicated
to the cause.
In the lead up to the Trials I treated
it like a “do or die” step in my life.
I left no stone unturned in my preparation, both
in the pool and in the gym.
I definitely have to thank Endless
Spas and Australian Swimming, as without a regular
income I would not have been able to focus solely
on training and recovery and that has been a major
factor in my faster performances in the pool.
Not having something on every day,
gave me more time to relax rest and recover from
each training session. It gave me more energy in
each session and if I’m not giving 100 percent
in every session, I can really notice the difference
in my times and technique.
By being ready to swim as fast as
I can every day has physically and mentally prepared
me to know I can once again, swim faster than I
have ever swum before.
And I want to let you in on a little
secret before I start my daily diary notes from
the Australian team camp in Germany and during the
Olympic Games.
The weekend before I left was spent
celebrating where I had come from and where I was
heading. Acknowledging the Olympic dream and being
proud that the moment to leave had arrived.
On Friday July 23 and Saturday July
24, I swam my last, hard, max efforts to end the
Australian training sessions on a great note.
On Friday, I clocked 1:06.0 for a
short course 100m breaststroke (just outside the
world record) and a 2:13 for the 200 individual
medley.
The next day at 6.30am I swam 1:09.02
in a long course 100m breaststroke time trial without
the Speedo Fast Skin suit and at 6:55am when I suited
up, I clocked a 30.71 (on coach Mark Thompson’s
stop watch) and 30.80 (on coach Grant Watson’s
stop watch) – an unofficial Australian record,
beating my own National record of 30.91 and just
0.22 outside Zo0e Baker’s world record.
The entire Nunawading squads stopped
and it felt like every breath I took it was the
Olympic final. The cheering from all the kids was
amazing and my stroke felt strong and fast, although
I was really fatigued.
I was pumped with my swims and really
ready to enjoy the official farewell pancake morning
over at the Nunawading clubrooms.
It was time to tell everyone about
my preparation and thank them for their support
and show them the one item that was the highlight
of my whole Olympic preparation – the Olympic
torch, which I carried around the MCG - what a buzz
to receive that torch from the legendary Herb Elliott.
I was now ready
to start the final days in Melbourne, pack my bags
and get ready for the trip of my life time –
I’m going to the
Olympic Games!
July 28
We departed out
of Melbourne with a big hug and few tears with Jared
(my boyfriend) after attending the Telstra Hero
Message launch. All the build up and emotion to
get ready for the Olympics was starting to make
me realise that the trip of a life time was starting
to become a reality – I was actually getting
on plane to go to the Olympic Games in Athens. We
received a pleasant surprise when all the Melbourne
based swimmers were upgraded to business class for
the flight to Singapore where we caught up with
the rest of the swim team on route to our training
camp in Sindelfingen via Frankfurt.
July 29
Arrived in Sindelfingen,
a quite little town in the south of Germany and
it was exactly what I needed after the big build
up at home. A place to start our taper where there
were no distractions. A place to train, eat, go
to the gym, sleep, relax, read, listen to music,
watch DVDs and get my body ready for what lay ahead
– our biggest meet with our strongest team
ever. It was also the start of a month with my “best
roomie” Elka Graham.
July 30
It was important
to settle into a normal sleeping pattern and I actually
struggled a bit with the change in time zone. I
trained outdoors for the first time in months to
get me ready for the Olympic Pool in Athens with
no roof.
July 31
We trained in the
morning and Elka and I headed out to the local shopping
Mall and we had a great afternoon together, shopping,
trying on clothes and looking at all kinds of stuff.
We purchased a few items to add that German touch
to our wardrobe. Also managed a Gelati and of course
the daily bottle of Pepsi
August 1
Training is going
really well and it’s great to have my own
coach from Nunawading, Mark Thompson, on the team
and also our training group, Elka, Melissa Morgan
and Michelle Engelsman – we all get on so
well together. We are having a really good time
and making the most of every day. It is now only
one week until we arrive in Athens and enter the
Olympic Village. I’m getting so excited. In
the evening the Australian team hosted a special
reception to thank the mayor of Sindelfingen. But
in the afternoon we had to get our dry cleaning
back and our official Australian Swim Team striped
shirts had shrunk and lost colour and my white singlet
had turned grey, but it’s all good, we’re
having a really good time and making the most of
every day.
August 2
Today was my last
gym session. I feel strong and ready to swim faster
than ever. My gym coach Simon Moule has done a great
job and I owe him heaps. We had a women’s
team meeting which was a great get together and
our six previous Olympians spoke about their experiences
and how the whole team could learn from some of
the mistakes they had made. The coaches spoke about
how far we had all come in four years and how we
all deserved to be part of this team.
August 3
Tonight we had the team trivia night,
which was a lot of fun.
We were all put
into groups of eight but there was a big surprise
at the end of the night. A DVD was put on as a tribute
to five swimmers who have been part of the Australian
Swimming Team for ten years Petria Thomas, Adam
Pine, Sarah Ryan, Michael Klim and I. The presentation
was fantastic and I had a tear in my eye looking
at the footage from the 1994 Commonwealth Games
when I was just 16. The team gave us a standing
ovation and I was so overwhelmed that we had been
recognised.
August 4
I woke up so happy
after last night’s tribute. It was a wonderful
moment and once again a proud feeling of being part
of the Olympic team I went training and felt much
better. My stroke was back on track and I am finally
starting to feel like I’m tapering.
August 5
Tonight we had a
full team meeting and our psychologist Clarke Perry
spoke to us about how we were about to enter the
circus and no mater how many distractions the circus
provided we needed to focus on what we were going
there to do and that was to swim as fast as we could.
This team is really special and everyone gets on
really well. When you can create a happy, relaxed
environment that everyone enjoys being part of great
swims, medals, PBs and team success is inevitable.
August 6
Throughout this
week I have asked everyone on the team to sign a
special book for our head coach Leigh Nugent. The
night before I left Melbourne his wife Karen had
brought it around so I could get everyone to sign
it a special memento that could stay in the Nugent
family for generations making sure 70 people all
completed the task was something I really wanted
to do to say thank you. Tonight we had Olympic Rookies
night which was Karaoke and it was so much fun.
We dressed up, tried to sign, danced
around, and made fools of ourselves.
August 7
After training,
the whole team went on an outing to a small German
town and we shopped, took photos and ate in a wonderful
café. I took in the scenery and really enjoyed
being in another country.
Sometimes you have
to pinch yourself to realize how lucky you is to
be a part of this team, touring the world and seeing
so many great places.
August 8
Today I had a good
chat to our former head coach and team mentor Don
Talbot who told me not to get psyched out by the
fact I’m going to the Olympic Games he said
to me “Don’t get scared of who you are
racing, you can beat them all, be in there for a
medal if I believe I can”. It was great to
see that he believed in me. Don was right I know
I’ve got what it takes, my body is in the
best shape it has ever been in and I can feel that
and see that in and out of the water. That afternoon
I swam a 100 time trial eight days out from when
I race. I clocked a 1:07.47 and it hurt like hell
over the last 25 metres. I still have lots of rest
to come but now I know I am on track for an Olympic
medal. We received our Olympic team travel shirts
at a team dinner and then packed my bags. We leave
for Athens tomorrow.
August 9
The alarm went off
at 5:15am and the Sindelfingen training camp was
over and the day had arrived that we would enter
the Olympic village. I couldn’t believe at
26 I was finally entering a world I had been dreaming
of my whole life. Australian Swimming had arranged
for a charter flight to take us directly from Stuttgart
directly into Athens. We got through Customs, received
our accreditation which was my pass to the Olympics,
collected our bags and had lots of photos taken
with what was going to be our Olympic Gold Pass
for the next three weeks. When we left the airport
in two buses it seemed like there was over 100 cameramen
and television crews lining the streets just to
get a glimpse of the Aussie swim team. We all felt
like superstars. Before we knew it we had arrived
into the village and sharing our apartment were
Petria Thomas, Linda Mackenzie, Libby Lenton, Marieke
Guehrer, Elka Graham and “the Chook”.
Next stop was team
outfitting and we were given trolleys and went around
collecting our gear from Woolmark and Nike. We tried
on everything and swapped for bigger and smaller
sizes I actually swapped shorts with Leisel and
then our bags were packed for us full of 100’s
of different items of clothing. It was just fantastic.
We headed back to the village for lunch and then
off to the pool for training. It was great to finally
have all my Olympic team gear, a very proud moment.
August 10
Five days until
I race. I had a swim this morning and felt great.
I can’t believe how quick our journey to this
point has been. I am only days away from the moment
I have been waiting for all my life. I felt no different
than normal, just full of confidence that I had
built inside me for the last twelve months I knew
I had done everything possible and I’m ready.
No nerves or excitement just an inner peace that
I was content with. Nothing else could be done it
was now a case of mind over matter.
August 11
My full day of rest
so I decorated our apartment and my room with Aussie
flags, streamers, balloons, motivational quotes,
photos and messages and cards from home. I had a
massage, explored the village and checked my emails.
August 12
Had a great sleep
last night and did some fast 50’s in the competition
pool. Tonight Roy and HG from the Olympic Dream
visited the village. We had an Aussie team get together
and a Greek barbecue. I would have preferred steak,
snags, onions and a few prawns but still enjoyed
the Greek food with two great Australian comedians.
August 13
The day of the opening
ceremony, but for me it meant a light swim and the
traditional shave down, but no marching. I waved
to everyone who was off to the big parade, including
my coach and my dad. I’m sure they were going
to have a great night. It was something I had planned
to miss for a long time. I wanted an Olympic medal
real bad and I used that time to rest. I watched
the Aussies enter the stadium what an awesome moment,
and then I hit the sack.
August 14
Day one of swimming competition
and it was a thrill to watch my teammates race and
for me to get used to the competition set up.
I had a light swim
before starting my visualisation of swimming fast.
We cheered Ian and Grant on to our first Gold and
Silver in the 400m freestyle and we all stayed on
to watch the women’s 4x100m relay win Olympic
Gold in a new world record. What an amazing moment
for the sport of swimming and for Australian women’s
sport.
It may have taken
years to build up the women’s team but it
was well worth it. I felt so proud to be a woman,
an Aussie woman. I’m glad my mum was there
to see such a fairytale swim by the women’s
team. I have a really good feeling that our girls
can really shine this week.
It was time to calm down, relax
and chill out from the great high we had just experienced.
Tomorrow I would make my Olympic debut.
August 15
This is it my first race of the
Games. I had a great sleep and I was up at 7:40am
for a shower and off to breakfast in the Dining
Hall with Linda Mackenzie. Cereal, juice, toast
and I added a coffee for a bit of spark –
my first in weeks and not as good as our new coffee
machine at home, but it did the job.
We jumped a bus; I plugged my I
Pod in and listened to some R & B the whole
way to the pool. I then stretched and went to the
toilet three times. I warmed up with a 400m freestyle
easy, 5x100m freestyle/IM hard pace, opening up
all my systems, the 200m drill, 4x50m build (two
speed drill, explode 4-5 strokes, 2x25s dive –
times: 14.9, 14.2).
My warm up for my Olympic debut
was over and it was time to suit up and get ready.
I was in the first seeded heat in
lane four.
I wanted to set
a good pace that the girls could chase in the following
heats. I felt great from the dive. Twenty strokes
for the first lap and then 22 and half the second
– 32.0 seconds split and 35.3 coming home
for a 1:07.31, a nice comfortable heat swim. I was
glad it was over and the taper had worked and now
I could focus on technique for my semi-final and
final. I did an interview with Kieren Perkins for
Channel Seven and then wound around the mixed zone
and spoke to the waiting Australian media. I told
them the atmosphere was electric and the pool was
so blue and the sun so bright. I saw myself on the
big screen and I couldn’t believe it was me.
I had just won my heat at the Olympics and it was
great. I wanted more of this feeling. I swam down
and had a rub.
The afternoon went
pretty quickly. I had my routine sleep and went
to our team meeting before preparing for the semi-final
that night. I arrived at the pool, stretched, dived
in for my warm up and I have to admit, I felt like
crap.
That afternoon the wind had picked
up and things started to mess with my head.
Tried to be positive
about the wind and the storm forecast but deep down
I was concerned about how it would affect my performance.
I had changed my stroke but it wasn’t
that low that I could dodge the wind.
I didn’t want it to, but
it was playing on my mind.
No matter
what level you swim at or compete in sport, negative
thoughts do come into play and Sunday the 15th of
August 2004 they were overtaking the positive ones.
My 100s in warm
up which I use to open up my system felt terrible
and were five seconds slower than the morning times.
My stroke wasn’t coming as
easy.
I had gone from
feeling fantastic in the heats, swimming in the
sun, perfect outdoor conditions to the opposite
in the evening – cold, cloudy, dark, windy.
That morning I wore a t-shirt but now I had a full
tracksuit and wet weather jacket on.
I did not feel that good and I really
wasn’t nervous.
I started stressing out –
no nerves, no nothing, no excitement, and no anxiety
attacks.
It could have been the local district
meet for all I knew.
I had a can of Red Bull and listened
to some pump up tunes. Still nothing.
I hoped it would come with Thommo’s
pre-race talk or if not in the marshalling area.
I watched semi-final one and Leisel
was awesome, breaking the Olympic record and Sarah
Poewe from Germany also improved on her heat time.
I thought that’s OK, I’ve
already gone 67.3 – I just have to improve
on that.
Walking out for the semi-final
was strange. I still had no pre-race nerves.
The gun went after
the starter had once again held the start, a pattern
we had seen in all the heats, semi-finals and finals.
My start wasn’t
that fast and I panicked with a few short strokes.
I turned second at the 50m mark and I could see
the US girls Amanda Beard and Tara Kirk on the turn
and I panicked again as I was really keen to win
the semi.
My strokes started to rate up and
shorten up.
I wasn’t feeling
comfortable and really felt like I was under a lot
of pressure from both sides of me, especially the
last five metres. I touched the wall to see I hadn’t
won the semi.
Tara won the semi
and I had swum slower than the heat clocking 67.7
– half a second slower and really not what
I was looking for.
On a positive side I had just made
my first Olympic final.
AUGUST 16
The day I
had been waiting for all my life had arrived. I
had a good chat to Petria Thomas about the negativity
I had gone through the previous night and she was
great. Petria was one of my room mates and someone
who I have admired all my career and she had started
out with two gold medals and she told me I had done
the work and to forget about the semi-final and
tonight was going to be my night.
I had a light swim
in the morning, lunch, and a traditional afternoon
pre-race sleep, had a chat to Jared back in Melbourne,
listened to my I Pod the whole way to the pool on
the bus. The warm up felt great, Thommo gave me
my final chat, I went to marshalling, walked out,
the crowd was going off, I looked up at the team,
saw dad looking down and he gave the Hanson family
“cooee” from one side and mum gave it
from the other.
I looked down the
lane, knowing that this was my time to shine. My
confidence was growing with every name being announced,
waiting to wave to the Olympic Games crowd when
Brooke Hanson (Australia) is called.
I cracked my toes, slapped my thighs
and arms to fire them up into action – it’s
time to GO HARD! I said to myself this is it Brooke,
let’s fight these girls to the finish.
My key words were
– strength and power as I again looked at
the blue line of “lucky lane six” the
same lane that Jon Sieben had Duncan Armstrong had
won Olympic gold medals from in 1984 and 1988.
Would this be my lucky lane too?
The first 50m felt
great and I turned and saw the girls to my right,
Tara and Leisel underwater and I though to myself
– this is it, you’ve done a million
backend 50s in this preparation – but this
is the most important one.
I knew I had to
keep it together over the final 20 metres, when
it really started hurting, remembering the key words,
“long and strong” – get to the
wall – I knew I had to do the best finish
of my life.
I turned to the
scoreboard not knowing where I had come, as I couldn’t
line up the names, lanes and finishing positions.
I could see that the other Chinese girl from lane
eight had been disqualified. I was looking up at
the other board thinking I had come sixth –
but I was actually in lane six.
I looked up at the team and dad,
asking, did I get second?
Then I looked at Thommo (smiling)
holding two fingers up saying “second”.
It wasn’t
until I swam under the lane ropes, looking up at
the scoreboard, that I fully realised I had just
won the Olympic silver medal.
All I can remember
is talking to Kieren Perkins for the Channel Seven
broadcast with Leisel and seeing Elka Graham staring
at me through the hessian and we touched hands,
that was a special moment. Elka you’re the
best.
I was then greeted
by the Australian media in the mixed zone with Nicole
Livingstone (the last Victorian woman to win an
individual swimming medal in Barcelona in 1992)
leading the questioning.
Dad, in his role
as an MLO on the Olympic team was waiting and he
gave me a hug and I just kept looking at him in
disbelief and then my brother Kurt, who was in the
mixed zone as a working journalist also gave me
a hug before Thommo and David Wilson (Willow) our
team manager and another Nunawading boy also gave
me the biggest hugs.
I then really enjoyed
my medal presentation, taking my own photo, before
a swim down, drug test, press conference, a photo
shoot with dad, Dave Mason and Kurt in front of
lucky lane six, a teary reunion with mum who gave
me the lucky Aussie scarf, before the security kicked
all the parents out, and then a host of radio interviews
on the way home.
Dad and I walked
through the Village at around midnight and when
we got back, it was so quite and peaceful. He kissed
me good night, before we ventured off into our rooms.
I still had the laurel wreath on my head and the
medal around my neck.
It was still around
my neck when I woke up the next day. I had to make
sure I wasn’t dreaming.
AUGUST 17
This was a
day of rest and it was time to get my head around
what I had achieved and what lay ahead with the
200m and hopefully the 4x100m medley relay.
AUGUST 18
I felt good in the
heat of the 200m breaststroke and also in the semi-final
and was stoked to make my second Olympic final,
but I have to admit I was stressing over the relay
selection and didn’t get any sleep at all.
AUGUST 19
I had a light swim
in the morning, lunch, a sleep (but very restless)
before going to the team meeting. I ended up eighth
in the final tonight, which I was happy with, but
I was exhausted emotionally. I was told by the medley
relay coach Alan Thompson that I had been chosen
to swim the heat of the relay the next morning,
joining, Giaan Rooney, Jessicah Schipper and Alice
Mills. I still wasn’t out of the running for
the final but to have to get my head and body around
swimming fast in the morning would take some doing.
I was determined to do the best possible job for
the girls and the Australian Olympic Swim team.
We clocked one of the fastest times in history –
the fourth best all time in a heat and I clocked
the fastest ever time by a breaststroker in a relay
heat – 1:07.40. But I knew then that it would
not be good enough for a place in the final.
AUGUST 20
This afternoon they
announced the 4x100m medley relay team at our team
meeting and my name was not read out. The coaches
had gone with Leisel, which must have been an agonising
decision. One way or the other, Australia was going
to have one of the fastest breaststrokers in the
world. Leisel and I have pushed each other race-in-race-out
for four years and that’s why Australian female
breast stroking is so good and it’s why Australian
women’s swimming is so good – it’s
competitive. I was bitterly disappointed that I
did not get that spot, believing that finishing
second in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the
final would earn me that right. And I reckon it’s
only human to feel that way. But it wasn’t
to be and I congratulated Leisel on her selection
and I knew the girls – Giaan, Leisel, Petria
and Jodie would come together for a great swim.
AUGUST 21
This was a special
day, as I had the chance to invite mum and Kurt
into the Olympic Village and show them my room and
shout them to lunch in the Dining Hall. They loved
it. The final night was awesome with Hacky proving
why he is the absolute swimming machine and the
girls came together for a sensational world record
in the relay. I joined my other teammates in the
grandstand and yelled my lungs out for them. But
deep inside I was hurting. It was also the day that
the “Leisel and Brooke” rivalry started
to hot up in the media. Sure we didn’t talk
for a few days and when you are emotionally upset
you can say some things in the heat of the moment
that you later regret. But believe me it is no big
deal and these things happen in sport and you get
over them and move on and that is what we have done.
That night Leisel approached me and we had a big
hug after our team meeting and we are very much
on talking terms again. I have to mention the emotional
speech I gave for Sarah Ryan, Petria Thomas and
Todd Pearson at our final team meeting, after the
swimming. These guys are legends and we are all
going to miss them. It was tears all round.
AUGUST 27 and
28
Now it is time to
party. The pick of the parties was no doubt the
MTV Speedo bash and the Sports Illustrated party
where we really let our hair down.
I got the chance
to meet so many cool people like Danni Minogue,
boxing great Evander Holyfield, the Princess of
Denmark Mary Donaldson (see photo), Michael Phelps
(see photo), my hero Jenny Thompson from the USA
(see photo) and we danced and ate prawns and had
the time of our lives.
AUGUST 29
The night of closing
ceremony and what a blast. I was so excited after
missing the opening ceremony that Elka and I were
so pumped. It was great to walk around the Stadium
with Dad, who has now been to six Olympics but equally
special to see Mum and Kurt in the stands and I
have to thank my good friends Ada Kok (Olympic champion)
and Celia Muir from Speedo International for getting
Mum and Kurt their tickets. It made my night and
was a fitting celebration for the best times of
my life.
Tonight Leisel and
I walked and talked all night and had our photos
taken with all the girls. The night before we had
been out dancing together, having an absolute ball.
I know we are going to keep each other honest over
the next four years – although Leisel, I think
I leave the 200 metres to you and Amanda, these
26-year-old legs are going to concentrate on the
50 and the 100m from here on in.
Finally, thank you
to everyone who has helped me make it possible,
especially everyone at Nunawading, my family, my
sponsors, Australian Swimming and in particular
the Australian Olympic Committee – what a
blast!
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