Bronte offers long-distance love tips ahead of Campbell sisters’ move to Sydney

SWIMMER Cate Campbell will have to get used to a long-distance romance when she and sister Bronte move from Brisbane to Sydney early next year – but she won’t have far to look for pointers.

SWIMMER Cate Campbell will have to get used to a long-distance romance when she and sister Bronte move from Brisbane to Sydney early next year – but she won’t have far to look for pointers.

“Bronte has been giving me all the tips,” Cate says with a laugh.

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In a reversal of situations, Bronte, 24, has been dating Sydney-based businessman Benfield Lainchbury, 29, for two years.

Cate, 26, and Brisbane geologist Adam Kerr, 27, have been together for the past nine months.

“It’s not that bad,” says Bronte about the commute. “Sometimes the flight only takes an hour.”

The disruption to their love lives is just one of many upheavals that swimming’s fastest siblings will have to deal with when they follow their long-time coach Simon Cusack down south in January.

Even so, chatting over a cappuccino at one of their favourite meeting spots – the Rabbit Hole Cafe in Seven Hills, roughly halfway between Cate’s home at Morningside and Bronte’s at Coorparoo – they are totally at ease with the move and excited about the prospects.

Leaving family, friends and Queensland Swimming support staff after years of phenomenal success at Olympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games would seem a huge decision, but according to Cate, it was a no-brainer.

“Simon actually spoke to me immediately after he’d had the phone call and said, ‘Cate, I’ve been offered this but I won’t take it if you feel you couldn’t move to Sydney.’ I said, ‘don’t be ridiculous Simon, of course you have to take it’.”

Bronte Campbell with her boyfriend Benfield Lainchbury

Cusack and his squad will work out of the prestigious Pymble Ladies College on Sydney’s leafy North Shore, with the Campbells planning to rent accommodation close by.

They intend to live separately, which raises the question: Did they consider that this might have been a good opportunity for them to go their own ways, with one staying in Brisbane, and creating an identity as Cate or Bronte Campbell, rather than “The Campbell Sisters”?

There are two answers to that, says Bronte. Firstly, after 17 years with Cusack “there is no way” either of them would leave the coach who made them the swimmers they are.

And second, why should they?

“This is what works for both of us,” she says. “If you’re making a purely business decision, having the next best person in the world training next to you every day is a huge advantage, quite apart from on a personal level not wanting to go our own ways.

“Look, we’ve been asked so much about sibling rivalry. Oh my God, if we get asked about that one more time … it’s really not a big deal. I understand why it seems like a big deal to other people, but at some point, move on. It’s old news now.”

So let’s put it another way. Have either of you ever wished the other one had taken up butterfly or backstroke, or anything other than freestyle?

“We didn’t both start doing freestyle. Cate was a breaststroker, I did backstroke. Like young swimmers do, we tried different things until we found what we were good at,” Bronte says.

“It was actually a hip injury that forced Cate to stop breaststroke so it could have been a completely different story but I also think that if both of us weren’t doing freestyle neither of us would be as good at it as we are.”

Cate Campbell with partner Adam Kerr

They both believe the change of scenery and mentoring role to a new generation of swimmers in success-starved NSW will be a major boost to their preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Cate even suggests it could add a year or two to her career.

So what will they miss most about Queensland?

Bronte: “The weather.”

Cate: “I’m going to miss the people. One hundred per cent, my friends and family but also the great support network we have within the swimming world. Physios, our massage team, sports scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, pilates … I really can’t sing their praises highly enough and it will be hard to say goodbye to them. It’s been a privilege to be on this journey with them. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

There is no question that they too will be missed.

As they get up to leave the cafe, waitress Emma Langfield, 18, asks shyly if she might have a photo taken with them.

“Sure,” they say in unison, and chat warmly with her for five minutes before leaving.

Ms Langfield is almost speechless.

“I can’t believe it,” she says. ”I’ve always loved them. They’re so talented and so nice when you see them interviewed. Look at me, I’m shaking.”

Stay calm Emma, the Rabbit Hole hasn’t seen the last of at least one of the Campbells.

My last question to Cate is, “will you be selling your house when you move south?”

“Oh no,” she says emphatically. “I love it here. Queensland is my home. This is where I’ll always end up.”

Bronte and Cate Campbell are moving from Brisbane to Sydney. Picture: Adam Head