Cate Campbell reveals hurt from Olympic Games disappointment

Olympic gold medallist Cate Campbell has spoken about her Rio Games flop, saying she felt betrayed by her chosen sport.

Cate Campbell has spoken about her Rio Olympics disappointment. Picture: Alex Coppel

Cate Campbell fully expected to see her prized world record in the 100m freestyle broken during the world championships in Budapest this week.

Her Swedish rival Sarah Sjostrom just missed Campbell’s year-old world record (52.06sec) in France last month, clocking 52.08 sec, so the Australian was not surprised to see her set a new world record (51.71sec) leading off her country’s 4x100m freestyle relay last night.

Campbell wasn’t in the pool at the time, having decided to skip these world titles as part of her recovery from her Rio Olympic flop in her pet event, but she was in the grandstand as part of the Seven Network’s coverage of the event.

“She (Sjostrom) is an incredible competitor, watching her swim is like poetry in motion and she is fit and strong and if I want to be the best, and ultimately I am a competitive person and I do want to be the best, that will be the standard I have to get to,’’ the 25-year-old Queenslander said.

Campbell never really had the chance to celebrate attaining one of the pinnacles of her sport because she achieved it just weeks before the Rio Olympics and that was her priority.

But she does not begrudge the Swede her moment now.

There is immense respect between the pair. Olympic bronze medallist Sjostrom was one of the caring rivals who helped a shattered Campbell out of the pool after all her dreams turned to dust in the 100m final in Rio.

Yesterday, the Australian speedster revealed that she felt as if her sport had betrayed her in that moment, and that her relationship with it had been torn apart.

“The way that I would describe my feelings is that it hurt me,’’ she said.

“It hurt me deeply in the way that if you are in a relationship with someone. Swimming let me down.

“It’s strange, because it was 100 per cent me (at fault) and I was in control, but I felt like I had given so much of myself to this thing and it had just really let me down and I was feeling really hurt by it.

“It was almost like I needed to come around. I was still in love with it, I didn’t want to give it up, but I knew that things had to change. I knew I couldn’t be focused 100 per cent, 100 per cent of the time, that’s an unrealistic expectation to have of anybody towards anything and that’s how I had been for the last four years.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom at the FINA World Championships. Picture: AFP

“I knew I needed to take a break and make some changes but I think that after Rio I was deeply hurt by what I felt swimming had done to me or how much it had let me down. I know it’s weird, but emotions…

“It was like, you’ve let me down and I don’t know if I can forgive you, but emotions are irrational, okay. I didn’t have any control over it.’’

“I think I just needed to come back and realise we can make changes and we can move forward and it’s going to look different for a couple of years but I do want to get back to being really good and racing and mixing among the best.’’

For six weeks after Rio, she didn’t know if she could come back from such a devastating blow, but she revealed that it took just one casual swim to convince her that she could recover and return to the sport.

“I hadn’t been in the water at all, I had no desire to,’’ she recalled.

“I was bitter and I was angry and I was frustrated and I was scared and I knew I wanted to make changes in my life but I didn’t know how drastic the changes needed to be and I probably needed that first swim to put everything back in perspective and put all of those demons to rest.

“I dove in the water (at the Valley Pool in Brisbane where she trains) and it was just like, I’m back, I’m home, I can do this.’’

“I just dove in and just glided. I didn’t need to take a stroke, I didn’t need to do a kick, I just knew and my body remembered.

Campbell has opened up about her troubled Olympics campaign. Picture: Alex Coppel

“I was like “Am I going to forget? It’s a long way to start right back at the beginning and build up. Am I going to be able to do this? And I knew as soon as I dived in that it was what I was born to do. It’s my great love and my great talent and my great passion, and it would be a shame to give it up over 100m.’’

That moment lasted for just seconds but it began her healing process.

As part of her “therapy’’ for overcoming such a traumatic experience, Campbell has taken a step back from elite swimming this year. She continues to train at a lower level so she can return for next year’s home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast but she has consciously tried to restore balance in her life, to realise that swimming is not everything.

She has returned to university, joined the Athletes Commission of the Australian Olympic Committee and taken up outdoor activities like hiking and sailing previously denied to her because of her focus on swimming.

“I think I was able to take a step back and explore other areas of life and also listen to the friends and family around me who were saying “You’ve actually done a good job. Look at all these things that you have achieved’’ and I listened to people for once, which is not really my forte.’’

Campbell has had to be reminded that she does have two gold medals, a silver and two bronze, for a tally of five Olympic medals from her three Games, so one poor race should not define her.

She has still not watched video of the Rio Olympic final. She joked that that would be the final stage of the healing process.

She will return to competition when the World Cup series begins after the world championships.

Bronte and Cate Campbell during the Australian Swimming Championships in April. Picture: Getty