Sally Fitzgibbons on Olympic Games, Pipeline and how she keeps fit during the pandemic

Sally Fitzgibbons has shown off a stunning pandemic lockdown body as she eyes off a bumper 2021. See the Photos.

Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons, appearing in the comeback issue of Australian Women's Health magazine. Picture: Steve Baccon

A super-fit, Cathy Freeman-inspired Sally Fitzgibbons has emerged from the pandemic shutdown refreshed and ready to hit the waves in what shapes as a historic year for surfing.

Speaking from the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, Fitzgibbons tells the comeback edition of Women’s Health magazine about surfing the world famous Pipeline for the first time, her improvised fitness routine while she’s on tour, preparing for the Olympics and how the COVID-19 break will extend her career.

Aspiring Olympian Sally Fitzgibbons. Picture: Adam Head

The rescheduled Tokyo Games, where surfing is making its debut, is a major diary date on Fitzgibbons’ calendar, and something she’s been dreaming of since cheering on Freeman to victory in the 400m in Sydney in 2000. 

“Yes, I was totally there!” Fitzgibbons tells Women’s Health. “I was 10 years old. We were in the last row from the very top – so like Google Maps looking down – and I was hanging off the top beam and the whole stadium was shaking. 

“I had my lucky hat and I said to my mum, ‘Cathy will sign it, won’t she?’ and she was like, ‘Ah, she’s pretty busy’ [laughs] and I cried on the way home. 

“Then, in 2018, [Cathy] came to talk to us to get us prepped for the Olympics. I asked her, ‘Can you sign my hat?’ and I just bawled.

Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons, appearing in the comeback issue of Australian Women's Health magazine. Picture: Steve Baccon

“Fitzgibbons, 30, ticked off one of her bucket list items, when a local shark attack forced the final rounds of the women’s tour event, for the first time, at Pipeline on O’ahu’s famous North Shore. 

“It was such an awesome opportunity. It was quite hectic, like cram study, but it forced us to learn really quickly,” Fitzgibbons said of one of the most dangerous surf breaks on earth.

“Literally I went from thinking, ‘Where do I paddle out, I’ve never seen this before’ to – by the end of the week – feeling comfortable to be out there. It’s not like any other wave I’ve surfed in an event, so I’m hoping we get to go back there.

“It was just a thrill to surf there.”

When the coronavirus brought the World Surf League to a halt, Fitzgibbons spent her extended downtime at home in Gerroa on the NSW south coast.

It was the longest break she’s enjoyed in her 15-year career, but something she believes will extend her career. 

Women’s Health magazine, with Sally Fitzgibbons gracing the cover, comes out on Thursday, February 11. Picture: Steve Baccon

“I was pretty much reliving my grom days,” she told the mag. “I thought, ‘I’ve got a bit of time, there are these manoeuvres I’ve wanted to try; now’s my time to fall off and faceplant and just try’. There’s still so much to learn on my surfboard.

“I got to spend an extended amount of time with my mum and dad at home, too, which was really cool, because normally we’re away for 10 months of the year. We’ve travelled non-stop for 15 years probably and I think my body just needed time to sleep and wake up in the same spot and eat the same food. 

“I actually think that [time] will prolong my career in a sense. It was like a halfway mark for me.”

She’s now ready to get back on tour, where she has to find new and inventive ways to keep up her supreme fitness due to quarantine restrictions.

Just like on the surfboard, Sally Fitzgibbons has to improvise when it comes to keeping fit during COVID-19 quarantine. Picture: Steve Baccon/Women’s Health magazine

“Being a surfer and on the road, you have to be so adaptable. Like right now, we can’t actually go into the gyms because of the Covid bubble [created] for us to compete, so it’s like ‘what can I use to throw some weight around?’ And you just fill up a bunch of water bottles in a bag, and you can get a 15kg weight right there. And then you might go for a walk or run and do some burpees, push-ups and a set using a tree.”

*Women’s Health goes on sale Thursday