Susie O’Neill is stepping outside her comfort zone for first time since 1992

Three-time Olympian Susie O’Neill won’t appear at the Olympics for the first time since 1992, with the 50-year-old taking on new adventures and ‘trying to do things that I haven’t done before.’

‘Madame Butterfly’ is flapping her wings, ready to take flight.

For the first time since she debuted as an Australian swimmer in 1992, Susie O’Neill won’t be going to this year’s Olympics.

She’d love to go to Paris but she’s got more pressing things to do: like surfing in Indonesia and Abu Dhabi, sailing around the Greek islands, hiking in Switzerland, cycling in Italy, and even working as a DJ, spinning records at a Brisbane nightclub under the pseudonym Lazy Susan.

“I turned 50 last year, so I’m kind of just trying to do things that I haven’t done before,” she explained.

“I’m not regretting being a swimmer because I love everything that brought, but there were a lot of things I couldn’t do because I was always training,

“So, I’m doing them now, and sort of stepping outside my comfort zone.”

Susie O'Neill broke the 50m butterfly world record for over 50s. Photo: Nova 106.0

No midlife crisis, it means spending more time with her family, even if it means skipping the upcoming Olympics, which have been an intrinsic part of her life for more than three decades.

One of Australia’s all-time greats, O’Neill swam at three Olympics, 1992, 1996 and 2000, winning eight medals, including two gold.

She’s been invited back to each Summer Olympics since, in different roles, first as an member of the International Olympic Committee, then a television commentator and finally as the Australian team’s deputy chef de mission.

But not this time, because after reaching her own half century she’s decided instead to take an overseas holiday with her husband Cliff Fairley and their two university-aged kids.

“It’s not a sob story or anything like that, but as a swimmer you kind of have to start being pretty disciplined and structured from the age of ten and it doesn’t really stop,” she said.

“Now, all of a sudden I don’t really have many set commitments apart from my job so it’s just kind of an exciting time.”

A triple Olympian, Susie O''Neill achieved eight medals in the pool for Australia. Mandatory Picture: Stu Forster/ALLSPORT

O’Neill said she would still watch the Olympics on television and was excited about the prospects of the Australian swim team but just didn’t want to add to the expectations already on them.

“They just look so fit, their body shape seems so different to when I swam and they seem a lot more muscly,” she said.

“They’ve been going really well obviously but they’ve also got a lot of pressure on them too, even more than normal, probably because they went so well in Tokyo.

“I just don’t want to come out and say they’ll do awesome because it’s difficult and I don’t envy them.

“I’m glad that my career is over but I don’t envy their training and I don’t envy them having to compete at the Olympics. I envy them if they win. But it’s difficult to get to that point. There’s a lot of hoops they have to get through.”

O’Neill also looked a model of composure in her swimming days but, like most Olympic competitors, she was battling nerves and self doubt under the surface.

After turning 50, Susie O’Neill is stepping out of her comfort zone, working as a nightclub DJ. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

It has taken O’Neill years to reconcile the ups and downs of her career but she never lost her love of swimming. She still goes for a dip in the pool every morning and holds the 50-years age world record in butterfly.

While more and more swimmers are extending their careers into their 30s, O’Neill says she has no regrets at retiring at 27 and her only advice for the Aussie team going to Paris was to try and enjoy the moment.

“You get in a really crazy mindset when you’re an athlete. Winning is absolutely everything, which I suppose is the good thing that gets you to that point. But it can also be a bad thing, because if it doesn’t happen, then you can be disappointed,” she said.

“I would do things differently now if I was a swimmer. I would have a lot more of a balanced life and I reckon I would see a sports psychologist. I was really anti them when I swam, but I think that would have really helped me a lot to process things and also take away a lot of the nerves and maybe put it into perspective more because at the end of the day it is just sport.”

“Physically, people could swim into their 30s but I wouldn’t have wanted to because it can be just a really, time consuming, life deadening lifestyle.

“For me it took a while to learn a lot of life skills but maybe the ones who are swimming longer are learning the life skills as they go along so they don’t have to start from scratch when they finish.”