Shirvington was a semi-finalist, as well as a 200m quarter finalist at the same games.

FAKE TURF DEBATE RAGES AT ANDERSON PARK

HARBOUR WALK PLAN MAY BE BLOCKED

It was one of the highlights (“Some would say that - others might say I didn’t fulfil my potential at those games”) of a career that also saw the athlete represent his country in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, alongside numerous competitions nationally. In Kuala Lumpur, his skin-hugging Lycra attire, which left little to the imagination, caused as much of a furore as his sporting success. And Australia loved him for it.

Now, aged 40, Shirvington — who held the Australian 100m sprint title from 1998-2002 - looks back on those days with a combination of nostalgia and relief — relief that he doesn’t have to maintain such a rigorous training schedule, but longing for the camaraderie and travel. “I don’t miss the pressures and expectations and I don’t miss the competition. Well, I do a little bit. The things I probably miss the most are the by-products of the training: feeling strong, and healthy and fit.

“I certainly miss the camaraderie of training with a group, and the travel - although family are the benefit of being at home,” he said.

Shirvington, who moved to Mosman when he returned from London in 2008 (“Mosman is amazing — I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else”), is now a TV presenter for Fox Sports and father of three. Daughters Sienna and Winter are 12 and 10 respectively, and son Lincoln is just one — which is a physical challenge in itself.

“It’s definitely a commitment and we’re tired, but we knew that was coming and we are loving it. What we really are doing are enjoying those milestones and not rushing them, whereas when we were younger and in our 20s with the girls, we sort of felt we were missing out on other things, but now we think, ‘No, we’re not’,” he said. “There’s less guilt third time around. You’re lying in bed and you hear a noise and you think, ‘Ahh, it’s OK, he’ll be fine’ and of course there he is in the morning, and he’s fine.”

Workouts these days have to fit in with the kids. “I run and do F45. I try to jam as much cross training into my week as I can - it’s the most beneficial because I get a bit of strength, a bit of cardio and a bit of functional movement. Other than that, I try to get involved with the kids,” he said. “If they’re playing tennis against the wall, I’ll suggest we have a rally together, or if they’re kicking a ball around, I’ll go out and do it with them. I took the girls to a trampoline place, and I put my heart monitor on just to see what kind of workout I’d get from it, and my heart rate didn’t drop below 160-170 (bpm) the whole time. At one point it got up to 180.”

As you might expect, Shirvington is keen to encourage his kids to stay active. He was a sporty child himself and describes himself as “naturally athletic”, but admits his Olympic potential wasn’t evident immediately. “I wasn’t a prodigy — I just wasn’t one of those kids. I didn’t start training properly until I was about 17, and that was a result of Mum saying, ‘Imagine what you could do if you trained’. She was saying that for about five years, probably. So that definitely changed things — going from nothing to training five days a week. That also offered me instant gratification because I proved so much.

His first big breakthrough competition was at the All Schools Championships, aged 17. “I won the 100m and 200m, and I thought, ‘You know what, this is probably my thing’,” he said. “Then, coming in to my final year I qualified for the Australian team in the World Juniors (Championships), and that was when I started really having to figure out how to balance the training and the study.

“That was probably when it all changed — it was a by-product of investing in some training. I considered the fact I could probably go to the Olympics some day - maybe, who knows.”

For all of the encouragement from Dad, Shirvington’s kids are active by nature as well as nurture. Both girls play team sports at their school, Queenwood (Winter is a talented tennis player with a strong competitive streak), and Lincoln is already a chip off the old block. “He is very strong in the legs, very physical — he’s already running and jumping. He is into everything. He definitely has a few elements of me,” Shirvington said.

So does he secretly hope at least one of them will follow him with a career as a professional sportsperson? Not at all — especially given the girls are proving to be creative like their mother, Shirvington’s author wife Jessica. “I don’t have a secret aspiration for them. There’s a lot of challenges that come with being a professional athlete. I just want them to be well-rounded kids, and to benefit from the positive attitude that comes with being physical,” he said.

Shirvington applies this mantra to his own life. The family spends a lot of time outdoors in Mosman — swimming at Balmoral, enjoying harbour walks or hanging out at Memory Park (where he took his girls as toddlers 10 years ago) with Lincoln. “I want to get the most out of life. Like going skiing (the family was in Whistler at Christmas) — if I’m not physically fit I won’t get the most out of it. If I can stay strong and fit, I can really enjoy those moments of luxury as well,” he said.

“I am definitely not as fit as I used to be, definitely not as strong and definitely don’t look as good as I used to. That’s partly ageing, but I trained six hours a day every day for 12 years, so you tend to create a body shape that’s hard to maintain when you’re doing that.”

Cue his new role as an ambassador for Bodiology, a vitamin, mineral and protein powder designed to support joints, bones and muscles in people aged 30-plus. “Partnerships have come up in the past and some I get on board with and others I’m a bit reluctant. But Bodiology was one which surprised me, because it made me think about turning 40 and the requirements of my body. It made me realise that I’m not going to be a bulletproof former athlete forever and that I actually might need a bit of support,” he said. “I’ve always had some form of supplementation throughout my life and part of that was so I could perform my best as an athlete, but now it’s to perform my best on a daily basis. I’ve been using it for about four months and I’m feeling really good.”

Perhaps those peak-fitness Lycra days aren’t too far behind him, after all. So - and we have to ask - does he still have the famous outfit stashed away for nostalgia?

“I think I do somewhere,” he laughed. “I packed it away somewhere. Look, it’s part of my story, I guess. I don’t think about it too much, but it definitely brought some attention.

“My best mate is always on my shoulder when we’re out and someone brings it up. He’s like, ‘The camera puts on 10lb’. He still says it, and it was 20 years ago. It still gets a laugh.”

Bodiology is available at Chemist Warehouse and Woolworths.