Tokyo Olympics 2021: Cate Campbell’s ruthless preparation to break individual gold medal hoodoo

In an exclusive interview, Cate Campbell tells us that reflecting on what went wrong in Rio could kill her chances in Tokyo as she prepares to shake her personal hoodoo.

When Cate Campbell walks out on the pool deck on Friday for the 100m freestyle final at the Tokyo Olympics, the last thing she will be thinking about is Rio.

Australia’s sprint queen doesn’t need reminding about what happened at the last Olympics when she went into the final as the overwhelming favourite only to miss out on a medal.

She has already dealt with that disappointment and while she knows everyone else will hark back to what happened in 2016, she won’t be giving it a second thought.

That’s not coincidental though. That’s a deliberate and calculated strategy to block out any negative thoughts from creeping into her head.

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In a race where the difference between winning and losing will be decided by the tiniest of margins, the Australian flag bearer knows that reflecting on what went wrong in Rio could kill her chances of winning in Tokyo.

She got out of the pool in Brazil and labelled her race “the biggest choke in Olympic history’.

So she has spent the past five years fine tuning a detailed race day plan which she hopes will deliver the elusive individual Olympic gold medal everyone thought was hers for the taking in Brazil.

“At every point where your brain is screaming at you, “danger, danger, remember what happened last time, this is horrible,” you’ve got to have good feelings to fill in those gaps,” Campbell said.

“So at every point, my attention is going to be on what I’m doing at the time as opposed to catastrophising what could possibly happen.”

Cate Campbell has a Rafael Nadal-like routine. Picture: Adam Head

That’s easier said than done but to keep her mind clear, Campbell has developed an intimate routine that starts from the moment she arrives at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre, about two hours before the finals commence at 11:30 AEST.

As soon as she gets to the pool, Campbell will put on her headphones and begin doing her usual dryland stretches and some yoga before diving in the water for her warm-up, exactly one hour and 10 minutes before her race.

Campbell’s warm up is the only thing that doesn’t follow a strict pattern.

“I’m quite deliberate about everything I do, except that,” she said. ‘I just go with the flow a bit.”

Cate Campbell has a strict pre-race routine. Pics Adam Head

Everything else follows a pre determined pattern. As soon as she gets out of the water and dries herself off, Campbell snaps straight into race mode, putting her headphones back on and listens to her playlist, that includes Lady Powers by Vera Blue, a Slumberjack Remix, as well as rap and heavy metal.

“They’re all songs that I would never listen to under any other circumstances,” she said.

“I am a pretty meek, mild mannered person, but it’s almost like putting on a suit of armour, like I’m stepping into an avatar.

“It’s like I’m giving myself permission to be big and be bold and just to take on this challenge that I’ve chosen for myself.

“Essentially, I don’t have to be polite. I don’t have to be small. I don’t have to be nice to people.

“It’s not that I’m rude, but I no longer consider other people in that process.”

Campbell keeps to herself and her thumping music while getting changed into her green and gold Australian swim suit, before being summoned to the call room, where all the finalists assemble ahead of the race.

She will greet her other competitors but 10 minutes before the start she puts her game day face back on, controlling her breathing and visualising everything she plans to do in the race.

“Then when my name comes up, I walk out. My eyes are down, I’ll raise a hand to acknowledge that I’m walking out, but I don’t look up, I don’t acknowledge anyone, I don’t wave at the camera. I just turn and walk to my lane.

“I get changed then stand behind my block, always on the left side, then I lean down and splash some water on myself, then I turn with my hands on my hip to face the block. I take three deep breaths.

“When they blow the whistle to climb up, I take one look above, then I put my left foot on the block first, then step up.

“When I bend down to “take marks”, I slowly exhale as my hands touch the blocks, then I inhale when the starter says “set”, then exhale again for the “go”.

Emma McKeon will be Cate Campbell’s closest rival. Picture: Fransois-Xavier MARIT/AFP

“Everything is planned so that I always have something to focus my attention on. If I ever find my mind wandering to potential outcomes, good or bad or otherwise, this brings me back to what I need to focus on: the execution of a good race.”

In many ways, the race is the easiest part for Campbell, taking less than 53 seconds to complete.

Campbell has swum so many big races that from the moment she dives off the block, her mind switches to autopilot and she lets her body just take over.

She will do four underwater kicks at the start and take 32 strokes to complete the opening lap, in just under 25 seconds.

She will take another four kicks off the wall for the closing lap, and another 36 or 37 strokes to get home in about 27 seconds.

“You kind of know if you’re swimming a good race because it‘s almost an out of body experience where your brain just sort of switches off and your body does what it’s literally been programmed to do,” Campbell said.

“All our training is done at specific stroke rates so if I’m telling myself anything it’s just things like “bring in the legs, be tough, keep pushing to the wall, keep your head down.’”

Her final act is the one she can’t control, when she will turn to the scoreboard and take off her goggles to see where she finished after getting her hands on the wall.

By their nature, freestyle sprints involve a slice of fortune because the margins are so tight, and Campbell will be hoping luck is on her side this time

Redemption: Why things are different for Cate in Tokyo

Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell are both through to the women’s 100m freestyle final at the Tokyo Olympics.

McKeon is the fastest qualifier after winning her semi final in 52.32 seconds, even though she eased down approaching the wall to conserve her energy for the 4x200m freestyle relay later today.

“Pretty happy with that,” Campbell said. “Hopefully get me through in a good place.

“These Games I have tried to take a step back and enjoy it.

“Kind of like I did in the first Games of 2008; really soak up every moment because it is a privilege and you often lose sight of that.”

She will start as a strong favourite to win the gold medal.

Campbell was third fastest overall after finishing second in her heat in 52.71, also without going full throttle.

“Pretty happy with that,” Campbell said. “Hopefully get me through in a good place.

“These Games I have tried to take a step back and enjoy it.

“Kind of like I did in the first Games of 2008; really soak up every moment because it is a privilege and you often lose sight of that.”

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, runner up to Ariarne Titmus in the 200m, was second overall with world record holder Sarah Sjoestrom fourth and the defending champion Penny Oleksiak fifth.

Originally published as Tokyo Olympics 2021: Cate Campbell’s ruthless preparation to break individual gold medal hoodoo