Cate Campbell speaks to Crash Craddock for the Sunday Session

Cate Campbell has been tested at every turn in her career. Whether it’s escaping a hippo in Malawi or taking on her sister at the Olympics, she’s tackled every challenge that has come her way. She speaks to ROBERT CRADDOCK about her career.

Cate and Bronte Campbell. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Pool star Cate Campbell is one of Australia’s finest and most enduring swim stars but her journey has provided plenty of character-testing moments.

Off to next month’s world championships as favourite for the 100m, the 27-year-old two time Olympic gold medallist is on course to make a fourth Olympic Games next year in Tokyo.

Cate Campbell is the favourite in the 100m at the world championships. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Today she talks about a brush with a man-eating hippo when growing up in Malawi in Africa, the joy of being a Queensland Origin supporter living in Sydney after a Maroon triumph, how swimming almost broke her heart in the Rio Games and why the 100m is the trickiest race of all.

How’s life in Sydney as a Queensland State of Origin supporter?

I have my jersey and it gets worn to the local cafe on game days. I have to feel the hatred just a little bit. I even wore it to the cafe the day after the first game just to feel the wrath. It is interesting looking at the front and back pages down here. They look very different to the ones in Brisbane.

Cate Campbell in 2005.

Was it true you were once stalked by a hippo when swimming in Malawi?

We used to go out in a tinny and jump over the side when we got bored with fishing. There had been a rogue hippo in the area and as we were swimming we heard this phssssst. It had already taken two villagers. I swam so quickly back to the boat I reckon I set a world record even though I was eight-years-old.

You were home-schooled in Malawi - what was that like?

Mum home schooled us and we followed an American curriculum and learnt a lot about the American civil war. We had lessons in the morning and then we could go and play and we lived on a big property with lots of pets and we’d go and collect the chickens eggs and mum would host swimming lessons in our backyard pool.

Did you have a television?

Yes but I thought it only had rugby because dad would watch the Wallabies play the Springboks and we had a small collection of videos and would watch one a week.

Campbell celebrating her 15th birthday in 2007 15yrs birthday after winning the Womens 50m Freestyle in Monaco. Picture: Steve Pohlner

In 2015 you said you read Michael Phelps book and it changed your thoughts on body image. How did that change you?

I struggled a little bit with body image around 2010 when I got really sick and was pulled off the national team. You are in your swimmers and there is a lot of talk about body image on the pool deck all the time. I was lucky in my family there was never a discussion about weight and size. In saying that swimming can be very critical and after reading Michael Phelps thoughts on his body and technique I decided to transform how I viewed my body. I want to see how strong I could get it and see what I could get it to do. Your body can do amazing things once you stop worrying what it looks like.

People think you can sprint the 100m flat out like Usain Bolt but that’s not right is it? The great challenge seems to be keeping a spoonful of petrol for lap two?

It is the trickiest race. That is why it is the blue ribbon event. It is the one people want to watch, the one with the most upsets, the most heartbreak. Usain Bolt runs 10 seconds. I race for 52 seconds. There is a big difference. The difference between doing a 52.1s and 52.8s is the difference between qualifying and not qualifying for an Olympic team. It’s one extra stroke on the way out. Your margin for error is so small. Once you have over-raced or taken that extra stroke there is no comeback. That is when you see people die.

Cate Campbell (second from left) with sisters Jessica, Abigail and Bronte in 2008.

You were shattered after the Rio Olympics (when you were favourite for the 100m and finished sixth) but months later you wrote a fascinating column where you stripped bare your emotions and said no-one could be harsher on you than you had been on yourself. Tell me about that?

Swimming is a sport which can break your heart because you can pour so much of yourself into it so when it does not work out you feel it has let you down in some way. I had been coming to terms with it for a while because a lot of the things I had prided myself on I had not achieved. I had written little pieces on that. Sitting on planes I would write little things about how I was feeling. Then I was asked to write a story but was given no specific topic so I chose that.

Was the column a matter of you letting go of your emotions?

I 100% wanted to accept responsibility for my performances but I wanted to let people know it can be quite tough. Before that I had never fired back at criticisms levelled at me. Once I wrote it I was not emotional. I just put it out there. Other people became emotional about it but my emotions had moved on.

The Rio Olympics in 2016 was a tough one for Campbell. Piture: Alex Coppel

You had time off and then you go back and face the black line again. How did you cope with that? Was it initially a happy experience or a chore?

This will sound weird but there is this moment when you are standing on the side of the pool and the worst part of swimming session is getting wet. But there is this really beautiful moment when you dive in the water as you fully submerge and get that transfer of speed you get for zero effort and everything goes quiet ... I just know that is where I belong. Every moment I dive in and I just glide. After a took a lot of time out of the water after 2016 I came back just to do a training session and had not even gone swimming in the sea. I remember diving in and with that first dive I knew I was not done with the sport. I still love it in a strange way.

How far do you reckon you have swum in the pool - around the world maybe?

I have never worked it out but I think Grant Hackett worked out he has swum around the world. I have not done the kilometres he has done. But let’s say 40km a week for 48 weeks a year times 12 years (23,040kms - just more than half a lap of the world).

The rivalry between the Campbell sisters is a strong one. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Your rivalry with Bronte is extraordinary. How did you feel at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast when she pipped you in the 100m?

It’s a tough balancing act. I am not going to stand here and say I did not want to win. When an elite athlete steps on the blocks they want to win. However if I am not going to win I would rather Bronte won and it is possible to feel two things at the one time. Being happy for her is better than just disappointment. It’s complex and its unique but I can say with absolute certainty I am the athlete I am today because Bronte pushes me in training. We race every day.

How have you found living in Sydney. Is there anything you have had trouble adjusting to?

Sydney is a very busy city filled with very busy people but I have so enjoyed mentoring some of the younger swimmers which I have been in contact with.