Journey of an Olympian. Chapter 36

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Chapter Thirty-Six: Onwards and upwards… and off to a Training Camp at the AIS in Canberra

Fortunately, our ‘drug scandal’ quietened down over the Christmas break and as the new year started I knuckled down with training for the Commonwealth Games which were being held in March 2006.

Early in 2006, Fox Sports did a story on me which was fun. They followed me around, filming me at training and at home. They also interviewed me from the office at work. I always look back at the interviews and cringe – this one is no different.

Thankfully the full team was formally announced on 7th February, just in time for the Australian team to attend a two week pre-Games training camp in early March. This time our camp was held at the AIS in Canberra. It was a great opportunity to shape up and get focussed, with ‘twice a day’ training and no home or work distractions.

Training facility at the AIS

My strength was improving and I was getting closer but was not quite at my pre-baby best yet. The Snatch was almost up there, I was back to around 82kg and doing some PB hang snatches in training. However, my Cleans and Squats were still a bit down, despite the intense strength building program I had been on, which even included squatting with chains on the bar. I really wanted that 100kg Clean & Jerk again and came so close in training … I was sure I would get it at the competition, on March 18th, with some adrenalin and home crowd to spur me on.

Supers getting assistance with stretching

We started most days with a team walk around the AIS in the cooler Canberra morning air, followed by some stretching, before we had breakfast (the Supers needed some assistance with their stretches). Actually two group walk options were offered: a slow leisurely walk or faster paced walk. Not being a morning person I chose the leisurely group! As much as I hated mornings, this was a good opportunity for the team to bond and we usually ended up having a good chat along the way and laughing at something or someone.

Then we generally all ate breakfast together, before getting ready for our morning training session.

Just like other training camps, our training session was usually serious until we finished, especially if it was a heavy session. Even though everyone was on different programs, everyone would attend and start at the same time and if you finished earlier than the others you would hang around watching the others train until the last person finished.

In between training sessions and meals, we would have some down time for relaxing and recovery. Joining us on the camp, we were fortunate to have a team doctor (“Doc Mitchell”) and sports masseur (Anthony), to help keep any niggling injuries at bay and assist with recovery after our intense training sessions – the massages really helped with my recurring back problem. Also assisting us with recovery, we had access to the sauna, spa and freezing cold plunge pool. There was even the odd game of football during our down time.

All in all, the AIS was a great venue for our training camp, providing excellent facilities for sleeping, eating, training and recovery.

We received most of our team uniform at this camp, and just like camps before previous Games we excitedly unpacked and tried things on. We weren’t very keen on the lifting suits fit – they hadn’t been cut/designed right for women – we had quite a laugh trying those on. It was eventually decided the womens’ suits had to all go back for readjustments.

Although we had some fun, I felt the team dynamics were different for these Games. I was now one of the oldest on the team. The rest of the girls were all much younger than me, some more than 10 years younger. I felt like the team mother and a little bit like an outsider at times. I was bunking in with Nadeene from NSW, and got along well with Deb and Amanda since I had travelled and competed with them both at international level before. We seemed to spend a lot of our time laughing – they were good fun. But I missed some of my old weightlifting buddies who had disappeared from the scene, like Michelle, Meagan, Caroline and Saree. Also, unfortunately there was something weird going on between me and Jacquie, the other 58kg lifter selected – I think it was caused by rivalry, as she was really wanting to beat me. It was a bit of a shame as I thought we had become friendly up until the camp and overnight I felt she was really distancing herself from me. There was an atmosphere I could sense, which I felt she had created. Then again, perhaps she just didn’t like me.

Of course, I missed Brandon (now two years old) terribly and felt incredibly guilty leaving him for two weeks to go to Canberra. I’m not sure if he knew or understood what was going on. Fortunately his Nanny and Granddad flew out from England to spend some time with him and give his Dad, Steve, a bit of extra support. Steve would normally have been able to handle things on his own except he was recovering from knee surgery at the time (not good timing).

Another worry on my mind was news on the eve of the camp my mum was diagnosed with skin cancer on her nose. She was really feeling down about the whole thing, wondering if they would be able to remove it all and whether she would lose her nose in the process. Fortunately it was a good outcome on both fronts.

The drug scandal unfortunately did reignite… one of the lifters who was selected was being investigated for her role in the supplements distribution and was later cleared but it wasn’t very pleasant for her.

To make matters even worse, after we left the AIS for the athletes village in Melbourne someone leaked to the media a story about drug paraphernalia being found in the weightlifters rooms after we left. What didn’t hit the story was the fact that the so called “paraphernalia” turned out to be a Colgate syringe of teeth whitening gel and some vitamin B injections which had been disposed of in a sharps container. You can see why we might feel bitter about this topic and skeptical about the accuracy of media reporting.

Coming up next – Chapter 37: Arrival at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games