THE BIG Q&A: Australian swimmer Jack McLoughlin
The Australian Swim Team put the finishing touches on their preparation for the FINA world championships. Commonwealth Games champion Jack McLoughlin opened up about his career, influence of coaches, and what’s next.
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The Australian Dolphins Swim Team put their finishing touches on their preparation for the FINA world championships in Gwangju, South Korea, when they made the Tobruk Memorial Pool in Cairns their base in the past fortnight.
Commonwealth Games champion Jack McLoughlin opened up about his career, influence of coaches, and what’s next.
NATURAL PROGRESSION
Q: Thanks for taking out the time to chat, Jack. You’ve been to an Olympics and Commonwealth Games, but were you a natural swimmer when you were young?
A: I think it was natural.
Mum, she didn’t swim competitively but she was pretty good for her school.
Growing up in Brisbane, it’s one of those things where you just have to learn how to swim.
Mum was very passionate about getting me and my sister into learning to swim.
I was that kid, at the beach I would just run in like a maniac three-year-old and just dive straight in.
Mum was pretty quick on getting me to learn how to swim so she had that confidence in me doing reckless things.
I learned to swim, progressed through the levels.
Q: So when did it change from swimming for fun to ‘hang on, I’m actually pretty good at this’?
A: I would’ve been 12 when I made my first nationals. I went through Queensland School Sport at about 10 or 11 and it was still fun.
I remember being 10 and competing for QSS at nationals and we had a 4x50 relay. All of my mates decided for our warm up we’d play a game of handball. I was like, ‘yeah this is pretty serious’.
Ever since then, I’ve been doing proper warm-ups and all that stuff.
BUSY SCHEDULE LOOMS
Q: You’re in the preparation stages of world champs with Tokyo around the corner. What is your outlook for the next 12 months?
A: It’s definitely all out for worlds, but it’s as a stepping stone to Tokyo. I’m trying to get my best possible races done in the next four or five weeks.
I want to be the best I can and take the confidence to Tokyo, I want to practice racing against the best in the world.
I’ll be going full out, have a two or three week break then get into the Tokyo training block. This is really important, if you get the confidence from here you can get on to bigger things at Tokyo.
You learn so much at these competitions.
Q: There’s some stories out there that say you’ll step back from the 1500m …
A: I’m definitely doing the 1500m.
I told media I was focusing on the 400 and 800. People take stuff their own way.
The 1500m is where it all started, I do a lot of training for the 1500m because I think it’s such a good event for fitness in the 400 and 800.
I definitely will be doing it and training for it. It’s always the last event so it will never affect my other events.
JACK’S SUPERB COACHING DUO
Q: Tell me about the influence of your career from your two coaches in Matt Brown and Vince Raleigh, and what influence do they still have on your career?
A: Funnily enough, when I learned to swim at Nudgee when I was three, Vince was the head coach there.
His wife ran the program. They moved on, Matt came in and when I was about 11 I was in Matt’s squad. It was pretty funny.
They’re the only two coaches I’ve had.
Matt, I owe so much to him. He taught me how to be a professional athlete. There’s so many things.
There’s a big thing in swimming that you do well in your age, and there’s a big step up from going to win a 16-17 year old to racing opens, where everyone’s age varies.
When you’re 16, you’re racing all of these big boys and it’s a big mental game.
I remember I had my first chance to win an age gold medal at 18, and Matt, he just kept asking ‘do you want to be an age group champion or an Olympian one day?’.
Of course I said Olympian. He said we won’t be tapering for this, but we’re tapering for 2012 Olympic trials.
I didn’t win as I wasn’t rested or anything, and I was gutted at the time, but he taught me how to race the bigger guys, how not to be scared of who you’re racing, it’s always your own race.
His mental attitude really toughened me up, and I owe a lot to him today about how tough I am in the water.
Vince, he’s a mastermind of swimming, he knows so much about it. He gains knowledge from every aspect of life, and people around him.
There’s so many sets we do from coaches all around the world.
I went from a 15:16 swimmer and within a year I went down to 14:48 and made the Olympic team.
I could only swim a 1500m really and three years later I’m in the 4x200, 400m and 800m as well.
GRAND PLAN FOR 1500M PAYS OFF
Q: When did you undergo that transition from middle to long distance swimming? Was that about the time you started training under Vince?
A: Matt Brown moved to Melbourne and I had school and uni in Brisbane so I sat down with Vince and he told me that, looking at my times and the work I was doing, he said if what I’m telling him is true, if I do the actual work that needs to be done for the 1500m then my time should come down and that’s my Olympic shot for Rio. I told him I’m prepared to do whatever it takes and it went from there.
Q: Whatever it takes includes the metronome, which you listened to at all hours to get the cadence. Are you persisting with the metronome nowadays?
A: (Laughs) Not as much as I’ve gotten quite good at it. If I do 100s at 1500 pace, I try to keep my stroke rate, so that metronome pace. Vince or another coach will get my stroke rate and I can if I’m a bit fast or a bit slow. I’ve gotten quite good at it now so I can just tell.
HOME GAMES WAS A DREAM
Q: Last year you got to compete at the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast. What was it like enjoying success on home turf?
A: It was huge. I remember when I went to Rio …
When you’re growing up, everyone thinks about how sick it would be to go to world champs in other parts of the world.
When we went to Rio, my first experience of an Olympic Games was a Brazilian got up and he won a heat and the crowd just went berserk for him.
I just sat there and thought ‘holy crap this is amazing’. Imagine if he won a medal.
It was sad they didn’t get a swimming gold medal but I feel the stadium would’ve erupted if it did and I thought it was awesome to have a home Games.
It wasn’t until we stepped out at the Gold Coast that I got it all.
I was the first event in the 400m free and the heats, they were just going insane.
I was so stoked, the crowd was insane. I won my heat, and the last 50m I could hear the roar because I was winning and I was amazed.
That’s when I thought this was awesome.
When I won the 1500m, the last lap I was just seeing everyone getting up and cheering me on. It was an unreal experience and I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.
UNWINDING ESSENTIAL
Q: You do so much training and dedicate so much time to your craft, what do you do to unwind or switch off?
A: I play video games, go to the movies with my girlfriend and just spend time with her. They’re my three things. She’s my outlet from swimming which is really good. When I’m not with her I’ll be playing video games with my mates, which I still love even though I’m 24. It’s my way to unwind. I also do structural and civil engineering at uni. It is my break at the moment but I was pretty busy last semester trying to do engineering and swim at a high level.
Q: What’s your video game of choice at the moment?
A: League of Legends at the moment, that’s my go-to. I’m more like PvP, and competitive – it’s probably to do with my competitive nature.
Q: What’s the diet look like for someone who is a long distance swimmer and competes at the level you do?
A: A lot of carbs, I eat a lot of carbs. Rice and pasta in pretty much every meal I have.
I’m lucky, it’s about eating enough that I have the energy to sustain my training. I don’t have to be too careful with what I eat – I am careful, but I don’t have to be too particular.
As long as I’m eating enough and getting enough carbs to keep my training levels up, that’s the way I look at my diet.
NEW LEAGUE PROMISES PLENTY
Q: The ISL — International Swimming League — you’re in the New York team. How did that opportunity come about and what will that look like for you?
A: I got approached by the New York manager, Tina Andrew, and she said she was interested in me.
I don’t know much about it at the moment, I’ve just been getting through uni and getting ready for worlds.
I’m going in and I’m just excited to race these guys and have this different format.
I think it’s an exciting time for swimmers, it’s just another good opportunity to race against the best swimmers from the rest of the world.
Their stand on doping is really good as well. I’m not really in it for the money – if you’re in swimming for the money, you’re probably in the wrong sport – I do it for the experience.
I love meeting new people, new friends, and that’s one of the things I love about swimming.
You meet a lot of new people from all over the world, and you make good bonds.
I’ll race for New York Breakers but I’ll be training in Brisbane and head over to each of the meets.
Originally published as THE BIG Q&A: Australian swimmer Jack McLoughlin
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