Aussie Olympic legend Leisel Jones ‘felt nothing’ when she won gold in Athens

Olympic legend Leisel Jones has admitted she ‘felt nothing’ when she won her first gold medal 18 years in the past, with the Aussie celebrity opening up on the ‘poisonous’ tradition in the swimming staff earlier than she retired.

Jones introduced herself to the Australian public in 2000 when she was named in the staff for the Sydney Olympics on the age of 15 and have become the primary Aussie swimmer to compete at 4 separate Games when she went to London in 2012. 

The 36-year-old was tipped to succeed in the summit of her sport from a younger age and delivered in Athens, taking gold in the ladies’s 4×100 metre medley relay, earlier than successful gold once more in Beijing in the ladies’s 100m breaststroke. 

Leisel Jones admits she felt underwhelmed following her Olympic gold triumph in Athens

However, in a shocking revelation, Jones says she ‘felt nothing’ when she was stood atop the rostrum and handed a prize each athlete desires of. 

‘It is simply so underwhelming,’ she stated on LiSTNR’s A Life of Greatness – with Sarah Grynberg. ‘We have so many expectations of what it’s going to really feel like. We suppose we’re going to really feel fulfilled when this occurs or when I get married I’ll really feel like this, when I’ve youngsters I’ll really feel like this and when it does not reside as much as that expectation we really feel dissatisfied. 

‘I believed I would love myself extra, I believed different folks would love me extra if I won a gold medal however none of that’s true. It simply means you may have one other piece of silverware in the cabinet that you’re going to by no means have a look at once more. 

‘Looking again on my profession, I treasure my friendships that I’ve, the reminiscences that I’ve so vividly, the laughing and the within jokes that we had. I bear in mind these issues so vividly however successful an Olympic gold medal, I do not bear in mind any of it.’ 

Jones additionally opened up on the poisonous tradition surrounding the swim staff as she approached the tip of her profession. The breaststroke champion claims that the rise of social media and endorsement offers noticed a extra individualistic mindset amongst her teammates. 

‘This was most likely a collective the place the generations have been altering. I used to be coming in the direction of the tip of my profession, folks had come via that period the place we needed to work so exhausting, we needed to battle our means onto the staff. We needed to have sure traits the place we cared for our teammates, we needed to look out for everybody,.

She says she didn’t really feel fulfilled after taking gold in the ladies’s 4x100m medley relay

‘But then somebody like me who’s then 27 on their final staff in London, the era had modified and I couldn’t sustain with that. I used to be making an attempt to information and assist younger athletes coming via who have been like “we don’t care, we do it differently to you, it’s not that way anymore.”

‘Social media was a giant factor that modified via that point, I bear in mind in 2008 the iPhones popping out, the social media was altering all the pieces, was altering how we interacted.  

‘We did not have that in 2004, the panorama was altering and I did not actually sustain with it. It was so exhausting to be a part of a era that was utterly completely different. I felt like I used to be being pushed out of that era.’

Jones opened up on the ‘poisonous’ tradition in the staff in the direction of the tip of her glittering profession

Jones additionally shocked host Grynberg when she revealed that she had no grownup chaperone when she first reached the senior staff on the age of 14. 

‘No minder. Nothing. I simply figured it out as I went alongside. It’s simply loopy is not it, I have a look at 14 yr olds now and say “is someone looking after you? are you allowed to be walking around unchaperoned?”

‘I actually was, I had folks searching for me, the senior folks on the staff would look out for me however I simply winged all the pieces. 

‘[I was] simply making an attempt to determine myself, making an attempt to determine feelings, making an attempt to determine puberty, all these little issues that you just try to work out about your self however I used to be doing it on the Olympic video games, it was simply weird.’