Harry Garside on life beyond the boxing ring

His dreams have changed

The two-time Olympian opens up to Body+Soul about resilience, fatherhood and life beyond the boxing ring.

After your defeat in Paris, you gave a heart-wrenching interview where you said, “I’m sure the next month or two will be quite challenging… I feel like I’ve let myself down and I’ve let Australia down.” Two months on from that moment, how are you faring?  

A month ago, I was sitting in my car and I was feeling lost. For two decades I got up each day knowing the dream I was chasing, and most of my decisions were based on that ambition. For it to be over like that, it’s like, “What the hell?” It was so quick. For the first time, I had no idea what I was doing and I was feeling quite negative about it. Then I had a weird epiphany. I realised when you lose something, you make space to find something. I went through some pretty heavy stuff last year that was gut-wrenching. I experienced a real hardship. And by comparison, losing a match in boxing is nothing.

Your autobiography, The Good Fight: Boxing, Ballet and Breaking Stereotypes, is out now. What motivated you to write it, and what do you hope readers will take from it?

I realised from a very early age that I have a wild mind. I don’t know how to describe it except to say that my mind is a storm sometimes. It was quite therapeutic to put all my thoughts and feelings down on paper. Although when I started, it was chaos. Working through it and making it more digestible to read was a process, and I’m really happy with the result. If readers learn just one thing about me, I want it to be that I’m a bloody caring human who wants to do good.

You’ve demonstrated resilience time and again throughout your life. It’s also a theme that runs through your book. Would you agree that your sense of resilience has proven to outweigh your fear of failure?

It’s interesting, because I’ve reached a stage where I love failure. I definitely didn’t in the past. I’ve struggled with it. I genuinely enjoy it now because it really does spark something in you. Obviously, no-one would force themselves into failure, especially in such a public arena. But I do know that I become a better person when I experience failure – I grow, I evolve, I reflect more. I ask myself, “What didn’t go good in that? Where did I screw up? What could I have done better, so I can be a better person?” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t create failure. I really wanted to win that Olympic gold medal, but this is another opportunity for me to get better and I really want to level up from that whole experience.

"I realised from a very early age that I have a wild mind."

Boxing has an average retirement age of 35. You’re still a fair way off that, but do you ever think about what life looks like beyond the ring?

There’s definitely a life for me outside of boxing and I’m excited by that. When I was younger, all I wanted to do was box. I’ve just turned 27, so I’m still young, but the closer I get to having kids, which will happen very soon, I imagine in like five years, the more I realise that I love boxing to bits, but being a dad is way more important to me. I’ve spent 20 years chasing this and I won’t give up boxing any time in the immediate future, but I’m very aware I’ve experienced one per cent of the human experience through boxing, and there is 99 per cent of the pie that I’m yet to explore. To be a high-performing athlete, you have to say no to the boys’ trip, you have to not go to the family commitments. You have to make hard choices, and I’m glad I’ve done that, but I’m also excited to explore my future.

Mental health is a cause that Harry Garside is keen to talk more about. Especially among males. Image: Lululemon

In the same interview you also said, “Australia is such a sporting nation, and I’m so sorry, honestly. I feel like a failure right now.” Do you feel there needs to be a discussion around the pressures put on athletes to perform on the national stage by the Aussie media and public?

I’ve thought about this a lot, and I keep coming back to the fact that me and other athletes choose this. I chose this life and this career. There are people out there struggling to put food on the table for their kids and that is real pressure. There are many people in our society that don't choose hardship, but they live it every day. But I get to do what I love and of course there is pressure, and it is very real, but most of the pressure I feel, I’ve put on myself.

When you have a rare day off, how do you like to spend it?

I'm always very active, so I'll definitely be outside in a second. I've become obsessed with bouldering and rock climbing lately. Now that the Olympics are over, I want to get back into surfing. I took a break because I was too scared to get injured but I’m excited to get out in the water and surf again.

Harry Garside in Lululemon's Mens campaign. Image: Lululemon

You give valuable advice throughout your book. Is there someone who has given you lifechanging advice - if so, who is that person and what was the advice?

I think her notion of safe and sound and like an impact and checking in and not prescribing, oh, you'll be okay. And. Yeah, probably. And but then also the rejuvenation. So they entered my life when I was 16 years old, and there wasn't one specific person. There was a number of people who were even older, wiser, more emotionally intelligent. And they gave me just the fact that my. Oh, I have further proof that when I was a kid, it's a mission of mine to start something like myself. The future. So I. Yeah, I'm super grateful for what they told me. And I hope that I can sort of do that in the future for someone else.

Boxing and ballet seem like vastly different worlds. In what ways have you discovered that they complement each other?

There's honestly so many similarities. The discipline and structure in ballet, out of all forms of dance, has got to be the most brutal and strict. It’s honestly ruthless and I kind of love that. I love the militant approach to it. I can't turn it back to the bar. I can’t have chewing gum in my mouth. I can’t backchat the teacher. You must wear certain things. I really like that there’s clear boundaries. And then in terms of actually doing it, from the transferring of the weight to the structure, you have to know where your body is. You have to know what you're doing; you have to remember the steps. These are all things that are very similar to boxing. I'm so grateful I started it, my progression in boxing since starting ballet has been really nice.

What’s next for you?

I don't know and that's the best feeling. I don’t know what I’m finding but for the next twelve months I’m just going to go on that weird and exciting adventure and try and find something. I'm putting no pressure on it. I’m going to try and enjoy life. I'll always try and I'll always box. I love boxing. I don't know if it'll be this year. I'm not sure. If I feel the urge to do it, I’ll do it but there’s no rules at the moment for myself.

Originally published as Harry Garside on life beyond the boxing ring