Alisa Camplin to juggle baby with covering Winter Olympics

WINTER Olympics golden girl Alisa Camplin reveals how she will juggle motherhood with TV duty to bring viewers the best of the Sochi Games.

WHILE Aussie athletes hurl themselves off frozen mountains in pursuit of Olympic glory, aerial champ Alisa Camplin is undertaking her own extreme event.

Alisa Camplin's literally juggling her role as Network Ten's special commentator for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, and three-month-old baby Florence.

At her photo shoot, Camplin performs a super-quick change, feeds baby Florence, and inhales some lunch herself during an interview for her first media gig since the birth.

``I'm doing my research and reading whilst feeding,'' she says. "(Florence) has already seen a lot of Euro sport.

"My mind is all over the place, but it's actually a nice reprieve for me to be thinking about sport because I do `baby' all day.

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For the rest of us, the Winter Games are a cool reprieve from long days spent staring at blue tennis courts and the green grass of cricket.

The winter sports are certainly more scenic than the summer equivalent, but that's only half the appeal for this former-Olympian.

"Every sport has an element of danger, that's what makes the Winter Olympics so cool," says Camplin.

"If you fall, you hurt yourself."

Sochi Winter Olympics on TV: XXII Olympic Winter Games, live daily from FRIDAY (Feb 7) on TEN, ONE and tenplay; FRIDAY, 11PM - Countdown to Opening Ceremony (expected 3am Saturday); SATURDAY 6PM - Day one competition previews, Opening ceremony highlights; SATURDAY 7.30PM, Live events coverage begin.

She should know. In addition to earning Olympic gold and bronze medals in her sporting career, Camplin copped a broken collarbone, broken hand, separated shoulder, fractured ankles, torn Achilles tendon, had a knee reconstruction, and several concussions.

So she's happy watching from the relative safety of the studio in Melbourne, while Australia's hopefuls, including Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin, Lydia Lassila and Torah Bright, head to Russia.

"I was really comfortable when I closed the door on my own sporting career," she says.

"I was 31 and I was eager to invest in my career and my relationship before becoming a mum, so I felt really satisfied when I finished. So when I did the commentary in 2010 (Vancouver) it was almost as exhilarating as being part of it."

"I get quite emotional watching now. I really feel the highs and lows, whereas as an athlete I was very tempered, so controlled. It's almost like the world was monochrome then and now it's colour."

News_Image_File: Juggling a new baby with commentary ... former Winter Olympic gold medal winner Alisa Camplin.

It's more than a decade since Camplin won her first Olympic medal in Salt Lake City. These days, athletes face a fresh set of challenges and distractions, such as social media. Camplin says athletes should question their motivation for staying online at a time when all their concentration is needed.

"Personally, I would rather minimise the uncontrollable (elements), and Twitter invites the uncontrollable," she says.

"I would discount it if I had been an athlete in this era. But it's not for me to say why they invite distraction. Some of them need it. I would suggest the athletes should really talk to their coaches about it. You put in so much effort to control every other element. Why leave one hanging out there?"

News_Image_File: Beauty and the beasts ... H.G. Nelson join hosts Stephen Quartermain and Alisa Camplin on the panel for Sochi Tonight on Channel Ten.

Security is the other spectre hanging over the Games. Despite an unprecedented spend by the Russian government; the situation is being carefully monitored after recent bombings in nearby Volgograd, and threats to target the games. Snowboarder Torah Bright has said that if she has any security concerns, she will pull the pin. But Camplin trusts the AOC's judgment 100 per cent.

"I think it's each to their own," she says. "Torah's been to an Olympics and won an Olympic gold medal. Some of these other athletes, it's their first Olympics. Chumpy Pullin, he's so desperate to get that gold medal; it's the only thing he hasn't got yet. People will prioritise things based on where they are at in their own life.

"There's ways to be safer. Don't go to the opening ceremony if you're worried. Just turn up for your event. But I can assure you the safest place in Russia is going to be in the village.

"No host nation wants a disaster at their Olympics; they've been looking forward to this. Their last games was Moscow in 1980 that half the world boycotted. They want this to be an amazing statement about their country. They'll put everything they have into making it safe."

Although Camplin's full attention is focused on events like bobsleigh, luge and skeleton, she is not letting her extra commitments slide. She and husband Oliver Warner set a hefty fundraising goal of $75,000 by March this year, for Finnan's Gift - a fund commemorating their son, who died of a congenital heart condition at only 10 days old in 2011. They hope to buy two pieces of equipment for the Royal Children's Hospital cardiology department.

"It's going really well; we're almost at $60,000," Camplin says.

"I can see we might get there. It's a big year for us, with Florence. Every time we look at her we're reminded of how special little babies are. How amazing it is to have her at home with us."

News_Rich_Media: The Olympics start in just over a week, and sports seems to be the last thing on anyone's mind. Sharon Terlep reports. Photo: AP.

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