Hamish McLachlan: Sally Fitzgibbons getting set to surf in on Olympic gold
A self-confessed sport obsessive, dynamic pro surfer Sally Fitzgibbons talks to Hamish McLachlan about her next big hope to check the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games off her list.
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Sally Fitzgibbons was a dual Olympic Youth gold medallist on the track. She represented New South Wales in five sports by the time she was 15. She’s a three-time surfing world champion runner-up. An author. A Cats fan. An absolute ripper. We spoke about fear, hot chips, surfing in the Olympics, sharks, beating the bus home and learning things out as you go.
HM: You represented NSW in five sports by the time you were 15 — that’s impressive!
SF: I just loved the feeling that sports gave me — all of them, so I played them all! I loved to run so I ended up doing cross country and then eventually middle distance on the track. Touch footy and soccer — I loved my soccer, and there was the surfing. If I wasn’t active, I wasn’t at my happiest.
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HM: It’s not too big a stretch to say you’re a sports obsessive?
SF: I love everything about sport and what it brings out in people
— those that watch, and those that play. It’s what I love doing, and it’s what I love to immerse myself in if I’m not involved by just watching and letting it make me feel so much. These days I know a lot of athletes competing around the world so I feel like I am on their journey too. You know when you’re into a TV series and you’re just hooked, and you can’t wait to go home to watch an episode — it’s like that for me with sport, but it just never ends. Sport is a place that makes me feel at home. To watch and be a part
of sport, the movement and the physical side of things, it’s like
going to Disneyland for me!
HM: You taught Martina Navratilova and Adam Scott to surf, and you spent some time with Federer over the break while you were rehabilitating?
SF: There’s a few of them that have taken up surfing. I even took Lingy (Cameron Ling) surfing back in the day, and a few of my favourite Catters! For me, to be able to share my sport but then also get the respect back from some of the world’s best athletes — that’s really cool. I love connecting with these greats and seeing what their values are and how they overcome significant injuries. I love learning from them. With knowledge comes calmness for me. I have some lofty goals left, and looking at things through another lens might help me find that little missing piece of the puzzle.
HM: What did you learn from Roger?
SF: I think he showed me the importance of patience, and how much you can gain from any scenario — injured or healthy, winning or losing. A lot of people will say, “Oh, that’s unlucky, you’re not in the water, life must be terrible” but Roger showed me that everything is an opportunity. If you are injured, give it a little extra time and harness the energy and allow yourself to come back to the sport feeling youthful and fresh and inspired. He’s always got that playful element and is big on always making it fun. Life should be fun.
HM: He’s still — seemingly — absolutely in love with his sport. Are you?
SF: I’m going into my 11th season on the world tour and it feels like my first.
HM: Just going back a little: Did you race the bus home from school?
SF: (laughs) I did. I’m from a little country town, so I wasn’t racing it through heavy or dangerous traffic or anything. We were the last bus stop from school, about 5km away, and it used to take the bus half an hour from school to my stop. One day I was like, “I reckon I can beat it to the last stop”. So I’d throw my bag on the bus, and then I’d run as fast as I could to make my stop before the bus left with my schoolbag and homework!
HM: Did you always beat it?
SF: The first couple of runs I missed it, but as I progressed and increased my threshold, I’d be able to make it and even do a couple of laps at home!
HM: Three older brothers — is that why you were highly competitive, or would you have been anyway?
SF: It was definitely to do with my environment. We competed over everything! To get to the dinner table, to get to the food … they were always trying to be first. There were soccer balls, footys, learning how to catch and kick. Marty (Dad) would take us to games on the weekend, and then if there was late-night sport, he would wake me up and we’d watch any of the stuff happening in Europe like Wimbledon, so there were many late nights. It was all about that environment, and I guess I was always on that same frequency!
HM: Didn’t you say to your parents when you were about eight: “I’m going to be a world champion or an Olympic gold medallist!”
SF: Yeah, that was the plan! When I went down the surfing avenue, I thought I’d never be able to achieve Olympic gold, but lo and behold,
all these years later we’ll have the opportunity.
HM: You’ve always been competitive and always had a desire for more. Ian Hatfield was your track coach — he used to call you ‘The One More?’
SF: (laughs) Hattie — the legend — yeah. There was a lot of heart in that squad and in that environment, and I kind of credit those days to what comes out in me on tour. Back in the day he’d say, “That’s it, we’re calling it a day”, and I’d say, “Just one more … I’ve got one more in me!”
HM: How does the conversation go when deciding which sport you’re going to choose?
SF: There wasn’t a formal moment. Different sports just started winning over the others, and then individual sport trumped team sports because they wouldn’t accept it if you didn’t show up to practice, and I was still doing the individual sports, so I thought it just seemed easier to keep to my own timetables.
HM: Your parents are both teachers, but you all agreed after being Year 10 dux that you’d leave school and pursue surfing. As a 17-year-old, you win the World Surf League Qualifying Series — the youngest ever and fastest ever to do it.
SF: It was different back then — there were no online courses and no online teachers so it was all too hard to do while I tried to be a pro surfer. I’d been at school for all those years and applied myself to get some great results in year 10, but while I was overseas it became too challenging.
I just felt like I was learning and growing enough in the pro surfing world. I thought I could go back and study if I needed to, but the opportunity I had at the time wasn’t going to come around again.
HM: In your rookie season — at 18 — you finished 5th in the world!
SF: At the time, you think of it as a missed opportunity, but there was so much that I gained from finishing top 5. I’d created a platform for myself to compete at the highest level. At 18 I did see it as a missed opportunity, but as you reflect on it, you realise it’s pretty special.
HM: And the following three years you finished surfing world champion runner-up.
SF: A lot of people will think that’s disappointing — and that I’d failed and that I hadn’t made it, but I don’t feel like that at all. I feel like I’ve made it in so many ways. I’m still here 11 years later, I’m fresh, and I’m not going anywhere.
HM: You won Bells back to back in 2011 and 2012. Is that as good as it can be for an Aussie surfer?
SF: If you can take a step back and have a look at your own little story book — sometimes you can actually blow yourself away and really smile. I had all these second places and I was anxious — I was getting close
to something that was really meaningful to me but hadn’t nailed it, but at Bells, the planets aligned. The road to the final had the top 3 in the world with Steph (Gilmore) and Carrisa (Moore) and I. Winning meant a lot — it was a real milestone. Bells has got that special feeling, and for me it’s the Wimbledon of surfing. I’m lifting something that’s been lifted by my favourite surfers, people that have left a mark on surfing that
I watched. Now I was lifting it!
HM: Awesome. Are you up at 5am every day?
SF: Always! I don’t sleep much — there is so much to do! When I was growing up I’d be up at 4.30-5am and away I go. I always wanted to do all of this stuff before school started, be Rocky, do chin ups on the tree, run around Gerroa, have a surf, box, I’d do everything! I loved that feeling of hopping on the school bus, or riding my bike to school, and sitting at a desk ready to learn. I’d already been out in the ocean, running up hills, and my mind was ready for the day.
HM: Tell me about the hot chips bet.
SF: Ha — I can’t believe you know that. I’m in the middle of an 18-year hot chip drought. When I was 10, my brothers said when we were having hot chips after our weekend surf that I couldn’t go a week without them. I told them I could go months, so they upped the bet to six months. If I broke it I’d have to wax their boards and make them food whenever they wanted anything, so I’ve never eaten another hot chip since!
HM: Is that the biggest sacrifice you’ve ever made in your life?
SF: (laughs) There’s no bigger, is there!
HM: What one characteristic can a surfer not afford to have?
SF: You can’t afford to have a big ego, and you can’t be a control freak. The wave you’re riding started a long time ago over on the other side of the world! It’s already on course, and it’s not changing its course — don’t think you can control it. It’ll control you if you do.
HM: Mick Fanning. Better surfer or better bloke?
SF: World champion surfer … but even better bloke, especially in his new role as a mentor. He’s shared so much, in terms of the things he’s learnt, with me. I’ve seen a lot of athletes when they retire, they move on and they don’t want to see the pool or the field, but he’s just as keen as ever to embrace surfing and help us achieve our dreams. I think he’s such a champion in all respects.
HM: Are you aware, or scared, of sharks in the water?
SF: I’m aware of the ecosystem I’m in. It’s not a fear, but if you’re in tune with nature and you’re seeing big schools of bait balls, and then birds diving in, you know what might be about so you act accordingly. But I feel the ocean’s my office, and nature’s my business partner, and I hope I’m aware of what that all means.
HM: You get to choose your own jersey number on the tour, don’t you?
SF: Yeah, we do.
HM: And 89 is significant, right?
SF: A lot of people think it’s my birth year, but it was for my Pop. He passed when he was 89. Grandpa Fitz owned a farm. He was such a brilliant man. You never heard him complain, whinge or look down on the world. He just would get himself up, walk buckets down to the animals and feed until he couldn’t walk anymore. His work ethic was out of this world. He had a pretty big impact on me. He was a man of few words, and that’s what I feel
I represent in a sporting sense.
HM: Lots of injuries — have you ever been really scared in the surf, from the size of it all?
SF: Constantly, and I welcome it.
It often means a great opportunity has arrived and if you can manage your fear, you might be able to do something really significant, and I love that. It’s trying to meet and conquer the pressure and the environment to see what’s on the other side. Even though you think, “Woah, this is pretty scary — this could go horribly wrong”, it’s the best feeling ever. I used to question myself when I was younger. I’d wonder if I was capable of dealing with it. Now it’s like, “OK — let’s go, whatever is on the other side, I’ll be able to deal with it”. That comes from training and building up your own belief through doing the work, I guess.
HM: Can you believe that you’re going to be — fingers crossed — representing Australia in the Olympics in surfing next year?
SF: It’s become normal, but the energy behind that is very significant in my life. The prospect of it, and the fact that there are so many strong Aussies. I think for me there’s value in it even becoming an opportunity. I’ve already gained so much in being in the squad. I understand now about that four-year cycle, that build-up, and it feels different but very special.
HM: Last one. What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew 15 years ago?
SF: You know, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t have wanted to know it, because it would have been like spoiling my favourite TV show, or favourite book. I don’t want to know the ending, because the surprise is where it’s at! Let me find it out on my own.
HM: Good luck this year, and I’d love to see a world championship, or an Olympic gold medal around your neck soon.
SF: I’m ready! Thanks, Hamish.
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