Ashleigh Werner Interview
Another exciting interview is coming your way today as we chat with Australian bobsleigh pilot Ashleigh Warner about her amazing career and how she is tracking ahead of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. We learn from Ash the unique way she got into the sport of bobsleigh and just how close she was to making the Olympics in another sport. We also learn more about the transition from being a brakewoman to a driver and how that has helped her driving in the sport, which types of tracks she prefers as well as just how the disappointment of being cut from the PyeongChang Olympics at the last moment has spurred her on towards her goal of 2022. We also learn which fellow Australian athlete she’d like to swap places with for a day and discover what her dad might say about her on Channel 7 next year should she come away with an Olympic medal. It’s one fun chat that you definitely won’t want to miss!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: It is Off The Podium, An Olympics Podcast, coming to you again today for episode 127. Why not put the count on it there? Another interview and one that I have been so looking forward to bringing you today. I've talked this one up a lot over the last few weeks, and I am thrilled and pumped and excited that finally you get to hear this today. Ashleigh Werner, an Australian bobsledder, a fantastic chat. You're going to love every single second of this one. Recorded this one several weeks ago, just before Tokyo happened, so it was sort of at a point where we could have aired it before Tokyo, but we wanted to focus on the Summer Olympics. We thought we'd save this one after Tokyo so we can kind of do our cross interview platforms we're doing between the Winter and the Summer Olympics after Tokyo and in the lead up to Beijing. But this interview, you will love it. Ashleigh is a fantastic storyteller. She really, really goes into so much detail about her career, where she's at, and it's just a lot of fun. I don't even want to give you much of a preview ahead of this one because I don't want to spoil it in any capacity. Just be warned, there is singing in this interview, and not just from Ash. I may sing in this interview too, you have been warned. Without further ado, here is our chat with Australian bobsledder, Ashleigh Werner.
BEN WATERWORTH: Couple of months back on Off The Podium, we had our first taste of an Australian bobsledder, in Brianna Walker, talking to her about her current form and her hopes ahead of Beijing 2022, particularly in that of the mono-bob. And during that interview, we spoke to her a little bit about what happened in Pyeongchang, the fact that she was basically an Olympian, she was an Olympian, and then unfortunately, her and her teammate got cut right at the last minute. Her teammate is joining me on the line now to not only speak about those experiences, but the experiences in leading up to what will be her first Olympics in about six or so months time, and very exciting times for her in the lead up to Beijing 2022. I do, of course, speak of the one, the only Miss Ashleigh Warner, Ash. Welcome to Off The Podium. It's a pleasure to have you on the show today.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's very, very exciting because we live in a unique period of time right now where we have one Olympics and then basically another Olympics within the space of six months. So as soon as we've essentially gone, oh, cool, Tokyo was great. We're now like, cool, stuff those guys. We're on to Beijing. So for you, I guess, you know, it's almost been a normal time period. You haven't had that extra year as some of people have, but can you believe that we're, you know, six, seven months away from, I guess, this big goal that you've been aiming towards since the disappointment of Pyeongchang?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I cannot believe it, to be fair. I've been looking forward to this since I was four years old. So it seems like an even longer time, but I was saying the other day that I think only athletes and PhD students will really actually realise how long and simultaneously short four years is. And yeah, it seems like it's just come up like yesterday. And with the postponement of the summer games, everyone forgot that we were here too. So it's definitely been a little weird.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I mean, it's kind of unique because I remember when they did the one year to go earlier this year for Beijing, the AOC kind of posted a lot of social media. I think there was a Channel 7 even did sort of like a preview thing, which it was kind of odd because there was still so much focus on Tokyo. And that's never usually the case, is it? Because by the time there's one year to go for a winter games, the summer games were, you know, six months prior. So it is kind of unique. Do you feel it's kind of almost taken a bit of a shine off the winter athletes, because everyone's still been focusing on the damn summer Olympics?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'm kind of hoping it's gonna do the opposite, to be honest. I think coming, obviously, coming from a summer nation where everyone's super excited about the summer games, and then people kind of forget two years later there's a winter, maybe, just maybe, the fact that they're like six months apart will mean that the hype continues all the way through from the summer games to the winter games. So I mean, I'm an optimist. So I'm really hoping it's gonna work in our favour here.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, you and I are sort of, I think, a little bit too young to remember the days when it was a common thing that there was usually six months between the Olympics, obviously, back when the winter games were in the same year as the summer Olympics, you did literally always have like six months between them, but the winters came first. So it's kind of a lot of our old schoolers are probably going, ah, this is what we used to do back, you know, 1992 and before that. But it's exciting though, like Olympic fans. I mean, it's just, you know, you get two Olympic games in the space of six months. You'd have to wait around 18 months between a summer and the better ones, the winter ones, of course, as we all know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I don't know if I'm allowed to agree.
BEN WATERWORTH: Go for it, come on. You've got permission on this show. I don't see anything. This is a purely audio essentially.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: You cannot see me nodding right now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I'd love to hear a little bit more about kind of the path into bobsleigh, Ash, because you tried a myriad of different sports, obviously growing up, and I'm guessing that was a goal of the Olympics. And I know you sort of tried your hand a lot at rugby sevens and kind of, I saw an older interview with you where you were setting your goal towards Rio. So obviously that was a path that you were looking to take. So how do you go from on the cusp of maybe looking towards a Rio 2016 bid, a bid that you would have maybe had a medal if you had to made that team, versus to all of a sudden, I'm gonna be a bobsleigh, a bobslayer. That's correct, right? I got that right?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: That is my preferred term, yes, I think it sounds way cooler. Yeah, I was playing rugby for a while. I was kind of like a touch football player, but I was sort of slightly like too big to be, I mean, I wasn't too big to be a touch football player, but like, excuse the term, I was built like a brick shithouse. And that was kind of why I got into seven. Someone saw me and was like, oh, you look like your body was built for contact sport. And I didn't know if that was a compliment or not. So I was like, okay, I'll give it a go. And I rocked up to sevens and kind of got really involved in the sevens and fifties life. Loved it, really loved it. And that was the goal for a long time. And then honestly, it happened completely by accident. A friend of mine who was also playing rugby at the time, messaged me, we had a weekend off sports. And she was like, hey, let's go do some more training. And we rocked up to bobsled testing. We thought we were just testing data, because we got told that they were looking to kind of change the standards for the Australian team, and they needed athletes. So we went along and it turned out that they were Australian trials. And they said that I would make a great fit. And I was like, oh, I don't know. You know, like I called my mum and my dad and I told them and they didn't believe me, which is fair, because I didn't really believe me, to be honest. And they said, yeah, we leave in three weeks. You got to make a decision now. And I believe in everything happening for a reason. And I believe in opportunities coming when they do. And at the time, I think I was kind of like just on the cusp of being a bit too old for sevens. And so I just I said, like, what's the worst that can happen? And I took it, took the opportunity.
BEN WATERWORTH: So what sort of year was this? And kind of like, you know, that's how you felt you're a bit too old for sevens. Were you sort of on path to maybe make an Olympic team for Australia, or was that kind of where this sort of switch came from? Because you thought, well, okay, maybe I'm not going to quite get there.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I've just been nominated for the Aussie Uni team. So this would have been towards the back end of 2016. So my goal actually was Tokyo. And I remember one day at a dinner, I walked up to the Australian coach and I said, I'm going to be in your Tokyo squad. And he was like, I look forward to seeing you there. So I was young hope convinced, but at the time I was like 22, 23. And I think at the time they're looking for sort of 16, 17, 18 year olds that could go through two Olympic quads and they could have that consistency. And yeah, I guess I was just kind of on that fringe age. I never liked to admit that, but I was young for bobsled. So they were like, hey, come here, you got like 20 years in this sport.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was like, okay, give it a crack. In all realism though, had you said no to the bobsled and stuck with the rugby sevens, do you realistically think that based on outside of the age factor that, you know, you right now could be days away from going to Tokyo? Do you realistically think you could have made that team?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: You know, I don't know. I think at the time, probably, probably not. I think if I had the mentality and the work ethic that I have now back then, 100%, but I'm a completely different athlete now to how I was back then. And I think for my sanity sake, it's easier to say probably not, and that I definitely made the right decision. So yeah, I'm gonna stick with that. But probably not.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good answer. All right. So, you know, I mean, we are, just to kind of date this, we're releasing this after Tokyo, but we're recording this before Tokyo. So to kind of say what I'm about to say, this might not make sense if all of a sudden we're celebrating back to back gold, but yeah, screw them. They don't need to win a medal. Don't make Ash feel worse. Yeah, all the best girls. You know, go on, back to back gold in Tokyo. Kill it. How, I mean, outside of the obvious question, I'm sure you get 101 people ask you of the exposure to bobsled probably been watching Cool Runnings. How familiar were you with the sport outside of a movie? I mean, had you seen it at the Olympics? Had this been something that you had had experience or knew people sort of that had done this? Or was this just case of, oh yeah, you know, I might start having a lucky egg and start singing songs to make money to go to the Olympics.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yep. I definitely considered the latter, but I, you know, obviously being a woman in sport, love Yana Pittman. And so I knew of her journey. And I actually remember in 2014, I was on a camp at the time and we were watching the Bodsled because Yana was in it, of course. And I remember saying to a friend, my God, that sport is so stupid. And then here I am. But other than that, that like one comment and watching Cool Runnings every year, because no joke, it actually is my mum's favourite movie. Yep. Yeah. Absolutely right. Like she knew. Other than that, I didn't even know what a sled looked like.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is, it's so fascinating. I mean, I guess what resonates about, in all seriousness, a movie like Cool Runnings is kind of seeing sort of these guys out of their comfort zone do a sport like this, because, you know, I'm sure if we've got any of our, you know, Germans or Canadians or Italians, our Swiss listeners going, oh, Bob said, you know, that's just, I'd do that on a Tuesday night. Like, you know, it's a complete opposite for a country like Australia. So it's always unique hearing this journey. And Yana Pitman, yeah, great example. Obviously they got a lot of press back in 2014 when she kind of made that switch. And I mean, I guess that kind of helps to inspire certain people with that because I'm not sure sort of how a big name like that switching to a sport like bobsled maybe puts a bit more eyes on it. So someone like yourself who obviously remember watched that or maybe some of the other athletes who are involved in the sport go, oh, cool, well, Yana can do it. Then I can do it too.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it is crazy. I spent a lot of time in Lake Placid in upstate New York. And one season, I was doing some volunteer work there. And my volunteer work was coaching the junior Bob and their eight year olds, eight year old in a Bob sled and on a loose sled and on a skeleton sled. And I remember talking to the parents and I was like, my goodness, like, you guys not fear death? And the parents are like, no, it's the worst that could happen. They just end up in hospital with a concussion. And you're like, right, okay, there's a very big difference between winter sport parents and summer sport parents. Cause I feel like my parents would have just been, my parents had a problem with me playing rugby. So let alone this at the age of eight, but yeah, it's crazy, the difference.
BEN WATERWORTH: So what was their reaction then when they realised how serious you were? When, you know, you obviously seem to give a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden they're like, no, mum, dad, I am dead serious. I am going to be a bobsledder.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, well, I think my mum was really excited that I wasn't going to be doing rugby anymore. She saw me get sat on once in a game and that was like it for her. And my dad is just super excited about sport in general. So he was like, yeah, like, woo, no idea what this means, but we're going to do it. Like you've got this. And I think the best and worst shock, I mean, I told my friends, none of my friends were surprised, which kind of took the fun out of telling people that I was going to a sport like bobsled. Everyone was like, yeah, that's something you would do. That sounds like you. And I was like, oh, but then when I got there, and then like two weeks after we got there, I was in a crash in my first day in a two-man sled, and I broke both my shoulders and I had to call my mum and be like, hey, two slings, woo. And she was like, oh, I miss rugby.
BEN WATERWORTH: Getting sit on, that's fine, you know, cut the broken bones.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'm like, hindsight, hindsight, rugby, high-speed car crash.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because we talked to Hannah Campbell Pegg recently about luge. It's one of these sports, well, I guess anything like luge, skeleton and bobsled. I mean, you know, from an outsider's perspective to someone like me, it's just like, oh, you just you just get in a sled, you push off and you just go for the ride. But obviously, there's a there's a lot more to it. I know Roy and HG kind of did wonders for that about 20 years ago and just kind of making fun of it. But I mean, is that when your first time you're in a sled, like, is that all of a sudden, I don't know if you had that perception before you got in one and then all of a sudden you realise when you got a couple of broken bones that maybe this is a little bit harder and a little bit more difficult than simply just having a bit of a fast start and having a good old fun time on an afternoon.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, pretty much. I remember our first day seeing because we we actually, Brie and I, we started in monobobs in our first ever season. They used to use it as a training tool before it was an Olympic discipline. And we're at Whistler, which is the fastest track in the world. And we went off start three, which was like corner seven. They start you lower down when you're learning, so it's not as fast. And you kind of get a feel for a bit of speed and how to drive the sled and what's happening. And I remember I was sitting in there and I had my helmet on. The guys about to push me off and I said, wait, wait, wait. How how fast are we going to go? And he's like, oh, about 100 kilometres an hour. And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah, yeah, and I go, how do I steer? He's like, left goes left, right goes right. He pushed me off. And I was like, oh, that's that's your introduction to the sport. Go for it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Literally, cool running. So they push him up. We're not sledding yet, coach. Yes, we are. Just pushes him off.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: It's the best way to do it. You're like, you know what? You have no idea what what fear is until you're about to go. And then you're going and you can't stop. And you're like, oh, well, better drive it. That's how you learn.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because the thing is, it's like, I mean, I'm a big Formula One fan. So kind of, you know, steering, I look at that. So it's kind of like, you know, but there's a difference because when you're in a car, you've got more control over it. You know, you've got corners, you've got speed, you've got straights, all that sort of stuff with a bobsled. Sure, you can steer it, but you're still also, I guess, at the mercy of the track, because it's not like you can really make a decision to go, OK, I'm not going to go into this corner. I'm going to break and go off the course, is it like you're kind of as soon as you push down, you're just in the laps of the bobsled gods, essentially, aren't you?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Fun fact, before every run, I always say a little prayer to the bobsled gods. But I tell you, there is my number one cardinal rule is respect the track. I think it's like this weird mix between horse riding and Formula One, because, you know, horse riding, you're at the mercy of the horse and you can guide it and you can tell it where you want it to go. But at the end of the day, it's going to go where it wants to go. And in Formula One, the same thing, it's like high speed, quick reaction, you've got to kind of read the lay of the land. We've just kind of got that like third dimension of going on a wall. So it's like this really cool mix between like two epic sports. And I love Formula One as well. I started getting into it because I found it really similar to the way bobsled and bobsled teams are run.
BEN WATERWORTH: So like I claim I'm studying when I watch Formula One, but we'll have to ask Ash, who's your team? Who's your team and driver? It might not judge you very hardly early on.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I know. Look, I flip flop a lot and you never know how far this podcast could reach. But like, there is a joke in our team that I'm a massive Daniel Ricciardo fan.
BEN WATERWORTH: Like natural.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I all the time. I'm just like, he's the one person that I want to meet. I want to get him in a bobsled. I want to get in a Formula One car.
BEN WATERWORTH: He'd do it. I could see him getting in a bobsled straight away. He would just love it.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, we need to link this up. I'm desperate for it. You know, I'm a bobsled driver. He's a Formula One driver. I think we should do like a little switcheroo.
BEN WATERWORTH: You've got similar energy. I'm seeing this already. Like you kind of got this just passion and outgoing that just seems like, you know, that you guys would just fit perfectly. Like stick you in a McLaren, put him in a bobsled. It would work.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: That's like, that's the biggest compliment you can ever give another Australian, right? Like, you got Daniel Ricciardo energy. So yeah, I think I'm like a driver. I'm less of a team and I'm more of like, I support the drivers, I think. But yeah, he's he's got to be my number one.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm just going to move my head slightly to that way and you can see probably that cap in the background to say who I support and we don't really talk about how we're not doing too well for old Ferrari. But no, I'm big Ricciardo fan of course.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Beautiful cars though, beautiful cars.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, I mean, growing up Schumacher Ferrari, I mean, you know, you couldn't avoid it, right? So it was just, it was a natural fit. When you do this journey, you get more into the sport. Now, you, I believe, started as a brake woman. So like, how do you choose? Like, you know, Bree, does she just push you out of the way and I screw you, Ash? I want to be a driver, I'll be the brake woman. Or like, is it a case of, no, I'm shit at driving. I would prefer to apply the brakes.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I think at the time when we both first started, Bree was a really naturally good driver. She just had the hands for it. And I don't know if you can tell by my energy, I'm kind of sometimes I'm a little bit like reckless. Let's go. And at the time, like because I had no idea what was going on, I found it really hard to kind of put the context together and drive. So in our first season, or in our second season, I guess, Olympic year in 2018, we kind of sat down, had a conversation and I said, look, you're good at this. And I love being a brakeman. I love working on the sled. I like to think I'm mechanically minded. There are probably a few people in my life that would disagree, but I loved working on the sled. And I just enjoyed the aspect of being a brakewoman. So I was like, I'm happy to push you and see what happens. And then obviously after everything in 2018, we had another conversation and we both really wanted to grow the sport in our country. And the best way to do that was going to be to just have more drivers. So I said, I'll give it a crack. I didn't know at the time if I wanted to stay in bobsled or kind of go back to rugby. I was sort of trying to feel that out a little bit. So I said, I'd do a driving camp. I went to Lake Placid, did a driving camp. My first day down the track, I'm like, okay, I need a sled. I need runners. I need a team. This is my jam. This is my spot. And honestly, being a break from for two years had just put me in the best possible position to be a driver because I knew. Well, if you know the tracks with your head between your legs, you're going to know them when you're looking at them. So essentially, I just learned so much in the back seat that when I started driving it, it honestly just came so naturally to me.
BEN WATERWORTH: You literally went from that to be a backseat driver. Technically, you kind of, you know, switched over and then that works outside of the obvious answer to this question of you apply the brakes. What else is the role of the brakeman brake woman sort of, you know, outside of the push start? Are you just ballast? Are you just literally there for the ride? I mean, can you, are you doing anything? Do you have to kind of focus on when you have to brake and know your point when you've got to apply them?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, look, I got to admit as a driver, unfortunately, we get all the credit and I can 100% tell you that all I do is drive that thing to the bottom. Yes, it's an important part of it, but like my brakeman, my teammates, they deserve way more of the credit and they honestly deserve all the credit because firstly, and most importantly, they have to put up with me. And I think when I'm on season, I can be a little bit anxious because their lives are in my hands. And I want to do the best I can do and driving can be quite difficult and challenging. But most importantly, they're in charge of the push start. And the sport is a third push, a third drive and a third equipment. But you can't out drive a slow push. So I could be the best driver in the world. But if we push last, it's very hard for us to win a gold medal. So first and foremost, the push is mostly the brakeman. Secondly, the brakeman are in charge of the sled. So before we slide, I'll go for a walk, have a look at the ice conditions, kind of talk to my coach about the drive, my lines, everything. And essentially, the brakeman are there making sure the sled, everything is where it needs to be. The sled's in tip top condition. The runners are on, the right runners are on. Everything's polished, everything's tightened, ready to go. And then when I get back up to the top, I know that the sled's taken care of. I know I've got the drive taken care of. They're warming up, they're going to do their job and I've got my job. And yeah, and then we go. So I reckon, honestly, they have the most important job.
BEN WATERWORTH: The drive is just basically the prima donna. They get all the glory. They just kind of like, you know. Yeah, exactly. You're the one that's, I mean, again, cool runnings. Dereese, you know, like, I mean, he gets all the glory, right? You know, I saw what Junior did. Like, come on, Junior's up there. He provided the money, like, you know, Junior, come on.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Exactly. And honestly, like, there's so many intricacies that go into being a brakeman. Like, firstly, you have to know exactly where you are in the corners without looking. They do have to know when to pull the brakes. And that's really hard if you have no idea where you are. And not only that, but my best piece of feedback comes from my brakeman. You know, sometimes I'll be like, oh yeah, that was an epic run. And then my teammate's like, what the hell, man, you hit every wall. And I'm like, no, I didn't. And so they can provide feedback that maybe I might not have realised, or maybe, you know, the back skidded out and we tapped on the right, but I don't feel that from the front. So I can say, hey, I think we were like, you know, we're a bit sideways through this corner, and maybe that's where we lost some time. And you're like, oh, that's really good feedback. I had no idea. So I think it's such an undervalued position for everything they do.
BEN WATERWORTH: And in terms of that switching then from brakeman to driver, I can imagine then that what you're saying about that feedback, how important that is, that would help you as a driver, because, you know, I think, as Hannah mentioned, that there's, what, 17 tracks in the world, so I'm sure you know these tracks pretty well. So therefore, your time as a brakeman, you've gotten to learn them on that aspect, and now you can transfer that into your skills as a driver.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And first and foremost, I love Hannah. She's an absolute legend. She's a very good friend and mentor of mine, so trust everything she says. But yeah, absolutely. And it was that, essentially that like, that feel that I developed in the back of the brakeman, that then just meant when I was controlling the sled, it just made sense to me. I can't even explain it. It's just like an extension of me.
BEN WATERWORTH: I love it. I'm just thinking actually, you know, the question about, you know, are you just ballast basically, but I can't imagine the foreman, that the second and third middle man, I mean, what the hell do they do? They're literally along for a ride, right? Like, you know, get a good push start and just get a free ride down the bottom. How about doing a middle? Sweet. What did you do? You push at the start. I'm not trying to bag out your sport at all, Ash, but I mean, you know, I just don't know. What do those two people do in that bobsled?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, you know, I think my favourite story actually is one time when I was breakman. And I think it's really funny because there's a moment, if you haven't come off a corner quite right, and like you're maybe teetering on the edge of tipping, or like if you're about to crash, there's a moment where everything's really quiet. And as a breakman, you know, right? Because being in a bobsled is so loud. It just sounds like you're in a washing machine or dryer. And then if there's quiet, you're like, oh, this is nice. You're like, oh, like, oh no, we're going down. And so I remember there was like one moment where I was like, oh, feeling a little bit quiet here. And I just like knocked my shoulder on the other side of the sled. And it just was enough of the weight distribution to like set us right. And so I can only imagine them in a format. And if they're all coordinated enough with their movements, then it should be enough to keep them. I don't know.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm just picturing them to practise that. Did you and Bree just kind of get in the bathtub and kind of do what they're doing? For running, so like practise kind of, you know, just.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I mean, look, the movie is a documentary, right?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, of course. I mean, I believe, can you see movie posters behind me? Clearly, my whole life is movies. It's movies and Olympics, and I swear Olympic movies are true. I mean, I watched The Mighty Ducks. That's how I learned hockey, right? I mean, the knuckle puck's a real thing in NHL all the time. Yep.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah. And one day we accidentally watched Eddie the Eagle, and all of a sudden we rocked up like in speed suit. And we're like, wait a second. I think we messed this up. Oh no.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes. And Hugh Jackman was just there, of course, I can imagine.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I mean, daily. That is my dream, just for him to rock up at a bumpside track and tell me how to drive a bump. But I'd be like, look, dude, I see nothing wrong with this.
BEN WATERWORTH: Hugh Jackman and Daniel Ricciardo are big listeners to our show, Ash. So I mean, you know, you're just massive listeners. I mean, gosh, they can't stop.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'm just hitting the market here.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're talking, you really are. Wow. It's like we've organised this. I don't want to dwell too much on 2018, because we obviously talked to Brie about it. And I know it's something you've talked a lot about. But I mean, once all that happened and you kind of, you know, got over that initial disappointment and that, was there that kind of real sense that, OK, 2022, this is going to happen? You know, you sort of you'd set yourself a long goal to get to the Olympics. But I mean, were there moments where it was just like, fuck this, I'm going to do this, I'm pushing towards this and put it behind you and just focus on that goal to become an actual Olympian where you walk out into the stadium and can compete for your country rather than get it taken away from you on the on the last minute?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, I think it's honestly been a really love hate relationship that I have with 2018. I mean, I've said this before, I think. I mean, yeah, I don't know what would have happened if we if we had gone. But I've learned so much from everything that's happened since that I wouldn't be the person that I am now and I wouldn't be the athlete that I am now. And I love the athlete I am now. So I think but it's been a long time to kind of get to that peacefulness from from what happened I think for two years I was kind of leading my life like no, I have to do this just to show everyone that we deserve to be there. And I think it made it really difficult because I was basing essentially my validation on how I was going on results to kind of prove that I deserve that rather than on becoming the best athlete that I could be. And sort of as soon as I let go of that pressure for myself to like, OK, you don't need to you know, you don't need to aim for goals. You need to, you know, rock up to the track and understand the temperature and how the temperature affects the ice. You need to rock up to the track and know exactly how you're going to drive. You need to know what your focus is for the day. You need to be lifting the most that you can, pushing the fastest you can, running the fastest you can, interacting the best with your teammate and being the best leader that you can be. And then the results will come from that. And it's been a very, very long journey to there. And then all of a sudden I woke up this year and I was like, holy shit, it's a year away and I'm not done learning yet. So I think it's been 100% for the first two years of this quad. It was all focusing on 2022. And then as soon as I sort of let that focus, I mean, let me be 100% clear that that focus has never changed. It's always been the goal. When I focus on my development as an athlete and then respected that the goal would come as a result of that, my entire personality almost changed, my training ethic, everything, the way I handle disappointment and hurdles and successes as well, all of that changed as a result.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I can imagine too that given, I mean, it was a very quick turnaround, it sounds, from basically when you go to a bobsled trial to basically becoming an Olympian. So in the space of a very short period of time, obviously with an additional four years, you can hone that a little bit more. And obviously you've switched from brake woman to driver. We've got monobob happening as well, something which you're saying about how you were training. And obviously we talked a lot to Bree about that as well. So kind of, it's almost like the disappointment happens, but in a way it's almost like, well, okay, it didn't happen, but I've got this extra opportunity to become a better person psychologically, physically. And you've also got a new event, which potentially makes it more interesting if that's something that you, I don't know, if you're a mono-bob specialist or a two-woman specialist, whether you prefer one over the other.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, it's, I think, I don't know, I like to think that at the time I was doing the best I can, but when I look back on it, if I'm completely honest with myself, and now apparently Hugh Jackman and Daniel Ricciardo as well, I don't think I handled it. I don't think I dealt with it very well. But I think now I'm in the best possible place I could be. And yeah, it is a quick turnaround to think that you could join the sport in 2016 and then be an Olympian in 2018. And I think at the time, I was like, well, obviously, this is reality. And now I look back and I'm like, oh, come on, you silly bugger. Let's be real, people train their entire lives. And I think now what it has changed is my hunger. I don't just want to go to the Olympics. I want to win a medal at an Olympics. And that mindset shift has come from missing out. Cause I was like, why was I setting such a low bar for myself? Like I need to be aiming higher and pushing myself and expecting more from myself, because then I will achieve more.
BEN WATERWORTH: I love hearing these sort of stories about, yeah, within two years become an Olympian. So I'm just looking ahead to Paris 2024. I don't know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, man, you're almost there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Sport climbing. I mean, I could, I could climb a wall. Yeah, exactly.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Break dancing is a thing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, I could really work on that. Yeah, surfing, sure, I can surf the internet. Sure, I can surf a wave. I don't know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Well, you never know till you try.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly, exactly.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So.
BEN WATERWORTH: So, yeah, fingers crossed that it's.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We could work out a training program for you. Like I'm here for you for helping people.
BEN WATERWORTH: Thank you, thank you. Other than that, I'll just become the second middleman in the Australian men's bobsled team. Again, they don't do anything, right?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh my gosh, you know what we should do? Sorry, I just thought of this. We should petition for the next competitive sport in the Olympics to be competitive eating.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh yes, God, I mean, yes.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Really open it up for everybody and anybody.
BEN WATERWORTH: Seriously, no disrespect to our break dancers listening, but if break dancing can become an Olympic sport, competitive eating can become an Olympic sport. I mean, come on, my friends at high school used to break dance while I was eating watching them. I mean, it's not fair that they get a chance and I don't. So come on.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I completely equal opportunity for all, right?
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly right. We live in the age of equality. So everybody deserves a chance. Quoters, all this kind of stuff. Come on, give us a chance, people. Like just, that's where I-
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We'll start that petition now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and Hugh Jackman and Daniel Ricciardo get on board. Tweet it out after you- Listen to this interview, basically.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: But make sure you tweet me first.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Then we go for that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, okay, that works. All right. Hugh, if you know Natalie Portman, I know you're Wolverine and she's like Thor's, I don't know what's her new title in the Mrs. Thor. I don't know what she is in the- Whatever, if you know Natalie Portman, you can tweet me. I was going somewhere with that, apparently. So what's the process then in terms of qualification for Beijing, sort of, you know, where we are right now? I'm guessing you've got a bit of time off right now, you know, getting a summer in the Northern Hemisphere. I mean, sort of, if you're not having time off, sorry for offending, but what is the process now? Like how do you qualify for Beijing?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Time off, I don't even know what that means.
BEN WATERWORTH: Sorry. Time off, yes.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We got one week between season and back to off season training. I think, you know, now this period between being on ice is when we make the most physical gains. So actually we have the most training now. And then once we get on season, it's like, it's managing that and maintaining that. And then also adding in sliding to your training. So at the moment, like my gym is getting an absolute workout. But yeah, so my team and I, we will be heading away in early August just to get to get any kind of on ice training that we can. And then our racing season begins in November and we'll be racing up until kind of mid-January. I think the cutoff for points is the 16th of January. And then we kind of wait to see what happens with our points. And then it will be all based on points basically. So we are, yeah, our points are based on the mono and two women combined. And yeah, based on world rankings, then we find out if we'll be going to the Olympics in February. It's a quick turnaround there as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: That close. That's crazy.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So like a two week, three week turnaround.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's, that's fascinating because I can imagine that, you know, that must be hard. That must be really hard to kind of have that, you know, obviously, based on your performance in that. And obviously, if you're doing well, then you kind of, I guess, would know. But I mean, I can't imagine that that's a fun little process if you're kind of on the cusp there of the points and that and you've got like two races to go and you're three weeks on the Olympics. I mean, gosh, that must be, that must be very interesting.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, especially if you look back at 2018, and we had that that kind of turnaround, and we were fighting the decision up until the very last day that we could have. We didn't know if we should go home and, you know, we were told to kind of stay in Europe because if we won, we could be on a plane to Pyeongchang. But if we were coming home to Australia and we were in air in transit and they couldn't contact us, that would be too late. So you're kind of like waiting around. And then, you know, now with COVID, we have that two week quarantine. So if you're stuck back in Australia by yourself in quarantine, like it's a really tricky process, really quite nerve wracking when that time does come. Absolutely.
BEN WATERWORTH: So how many athletes then qualify and sort of how many are you competing? So like, do you have to hit the top 20? Do you have to hit the top like 30? I mean, kind of what is that goal where you know that if, say, you're 12th out of 30 with three to go, you've got a pretty good chance.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, so we, for women, will send 20 sleds for both disciplines. And we're still figuring out, like, how it works with the combined ranking system. But basically, essentially, like, three nations will send two sleds. And then you kind of work backwards from there, a couple nations will send two sleds, and then everyone else will send one sled. And then based on the quota allocation, that's how you'll know. So essentially, we could qualify two women's sleds, and that's our goal. We need to beat the next couple of nations that have two sleds. And I think that's sort of where our focus is at at the moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: So it's not a regional base. I know Hannah sort of talked with Luge, it was kind of a bit regional basis. So like, you know, Germany's got like 300 Luge competitors, and they can only send like two or three, whereas Australia, you've got a good chance if you're the only one. So it's kind of, it's not quite that way.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, so I mean, like Germany could only send max, send maximum three sleds. Any nation, the max that they can send will be three sleds. So kind of once those get taken out of the equation, then everyone else moves up the list, and essentially you cleanse the list until you've got your athletes that are ready for the game.
BEN WATERWORTH: So is your focus the the two men, sorry, is it politically correct to say two men when it's women? Or do I say two women? Like, how does that work?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: It's technically called women's, like women's bobsleigh and then we have mono.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because of course, there's no four. Yeah, OK, got it. So these are women. So, OK, is your focus the two or the mono?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: My focus is both this year. I'm going to need both to be competitive because our points are combined. So the idea if you do well in both, then you're maximising your points and your opportunity.
BEN WATERWORTH: And who, tell us about your break woman. I mean, give her a plug and kind of, you know, how she, you know, do you guys sort of train at the same time? Do you kind of, you know, how does that work to make sure that you are, I guess, comradery with each other is going well in the lead up to the season?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, so we're still revising our team at the moment. We are going to be heading away soon and we'll be kind of testing equipment, testing athletes throughout the whole season. For me, I mean, I did bring in an amazing athlete in tier clear to me last year who is, you know, CrossFit legend and, and Com Games and Olympic weightlifting as well. And she's been a phenomenal addition to the team and phenomenal resource. Her and Shane, her husband for me as well, just for seeing how everything works at a high level. And I credit them a lot to my mentality and I have to credit my coach back here as well with a huge part of that as well. But in terms of my team, so I've got, yeah, we're going into our team selection at the moment, so I don't know if I could give any more away. But I will say that my athletes are just spectacular. And I think the thing that we look for is obviously the power and the speed in the lifting and in sprinting and in the pushing, but also your team camaraderie is huge in this sport. We travel for so long together and you're living, they are your family and this is the family you get to choose. You better make it a good one. But even in so further to that, if I'm standing at the top of the track, I can sense how my broken is feeling. And so it's also got to be people that you not only get along with and respect but also that help you have the confidence to be a good driver and that I can give the confidence for them to be an absolute beast as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: And is there much like pump up going on between the two of you? Because I can imagine that it is, you know, as you're saying, you can feel how they're feeling. So, I mean, do you have like rituals? Do you pump up some tunes? Do you put on the beats by Dre and kind of do it in your own head? Like, I mean, how is that pump up mentality when you're at the top of the course and you're psyched, you're ready to go, the adrenaline is pumping.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: It's electric. I love it. It's awesome. It's been very different from when I was a brakeman to being a driver, because there's the added aspect of having to, having to focus on the actual drive ahead of me. I'm a bit of a weird driver. Like I think I said that. And then I thought about it for a second. I was like, no, I'm a weird driver because to me, every track has its own rhythm. And so what I do is I match the rhythm of the track to a song in my playlist. And so I'll be like, we'll do our warm up. We'll chat. We'll laugh. We'll have fun. And then 10 minutes before it's my turn to slide, whether it's in a race or if it's in training, I'll put that song, the track song on. And I just do my visualisation, my mind runs for 10 minutes straight. And then we have like our little ritual with some handshakes and some positive affirmations. And then my break will go down. And then I'll come down a little bit after. And the whole time I'm just focusing on the rhythm of the track. And then we get to the start block. We have a little ritual there as well with our handshake. And then we get ready to go. And then the whole way down, I'm kind of just like almost singing that song and feeling that rhythm to myself. And it honestly, it just, it just, it helps. It just works.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, I mean, again, similarities to Daniel Ricciardo. He's one on the grid. He puts his tunes on and kind of pumps himself up. So again, it's a connection there. I mean, do you, can you share with us any of the tracks? Like you mentioned Whistler before or sort of like Placid. Like what are the certain songs for each of the certain tracks?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: All right, let's say I'm grabbing my phone here.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, here we go.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I've got a playlist.
BEN WATERWORTH: Any Germans, Canadians, anyone listening, just tune out now. You don't need to hear this.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, you guys can just turn it off. Daniel Ocado, if you have any suggestions, please let me know. You can Instagram me, WhatsApp, like it's fine. We'll set this up. But yeah, so I'm trying to think. Okay, so for Lake Placid, which is where I learnt to drive. Actually, this whole ritual started in Lake Placid because Lake Placid is one of the hardest tracks in the world. And here I was, like learning to drive. I was like, okay, let's try not to die. And so I would listen to a song because when I was singing the song, I wasn't nervous.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right, yes.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And then it kind of just like worked a little bit. And then I went to another track and I was like, oh damn, this is a really good theory. And then it kind of just stuck. So for Lake Placid, my song is Body by Loud Luxury and Brando. Do I need to play it or are we visualising this?
BEN WATERWORTH: Look, you can play it if you want to. Why not? Let's help our listeners out here.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Can you hear that?
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh yeah. I know that song.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah. So this is my Lake Placid song.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I want to stop singing. I'm trying not to right now.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's one of those songs. It's kind of like you say it. I'm like, I don't know that you hear it. Yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah. Because you couldn't stop hearing it back in 2019. It was everywhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And yeah, so that's my song for Lake Placid because it's like upbeat and it's like a little bit chippy choppy. And that's kind of what that's that's not a word. I made it up. But that's kind of like what Lake Placid is to me. And so it's funny because if I'm in the gym here or if I'm just around or I'm clubbing because, you know, we go clubbing so often in COVID. That was sarcasm in case anyone didn't.
BEN WATERWORTH: She's the cause of the city, the outbreak right now. We've discovered it.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I don't think I've been to a club. Anyway, if I hear one of these songs, I automatically start doing my visualisation, my mind run. And it's really awkward in some times. Like I'm about to go for a really heavy lift or something.
BEN WATERWORTH: And then the song comes in and I'm like, in corner one, I just want to see you on the dance floor now because it's kind of like, you know, I thought I had bad dancers, but you've got these cool like sort of mixture between bad and weird and just slightly interesting.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Like, oh, man, it goes off. It goes off. My mind runs go off.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Wow.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: But yeah, so that's kind of like what I love and it's really hard. Sometimes like I'll go to a new track and I'll just get the rhythm straight away and it all makes sense and I can pick the song straight away. And then other times I have to work a little bit harder, so it's a process.
BEN WATERWORTH: Have you have you tested or gone down the track at Beijing yet or, you know, at least if you haven't kind of seen what they're trying to do with it and maybe have you thought about some songs that you could maybe use for the Olympics?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So I haven't stepped foot on it yet, but I have watched a lot of the video footage. It seems like an epic track. I cannot wait to hopefully drive it. It honestly looks like my jam. But it's hard to like see it and then feel it. They're two different things. So I can hypothesise that then I also don't want to hypothesise with the wrong song, right? Then that'll mess you up to try and change it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, well, you got to let us know as soon as you do, because I guarantee during those Olympics, we will play it once you win the gold.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So, you know, 100%.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, we'll just we'll just we'll put it out there. Just on sort of a track, like, is there a certain style of track now as a driver that that you prefer? Like, I mean, a faster track, a more technical track kind of, you know, what is sort of your preference in your driving style?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I like complicated inside bobsled and outside bobsled, apparently. But I love complicated tracks, but I am my mum's going on the right side for that, actually. Yeah, no, but but I like I love driving. I love busy tracks. So for me, if there's a lot to do, sometimes I know that that can make some drivers really nervous. But I'm like, heck yeah. The more there is to do, the more I'm all about going to that track. So driving's definitely been my strong point. And so any track where I get to really highlight that that skill of mine, I love.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're talking about the team selection and everything that's coming up. How many women actually go into that selection process? So I mean, you know, like you're sending like a team of 20, and then you'll choose a certain amount from that or kind of like how many are going to be chosen from.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So my team, we've got myself and three brakemen going over and we'll be selecting two for our racing season. And then from that, you've got the pool of my team and Bree's team as well. And so, you know, if and when we qualify two sleds, then we'll only take three brakemen out of that pool of four.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right. And Australia, if I'm not mistaken, has never qualified two sleds at the one Olympics in female. Is that correct?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, for women. Yeah, they qualified two for men, I think, in Whistler in 2010, but not for women, as far as I'm aware.
BEN WATERWORTH: And then if you qualify, sorry, when you qualify two, I mean, does it then get designated that whoever is a high ranked team is, say, Australia one, and then who is a lower ranked team? Is that how it simply works or is it based on rankings or is it just you flip a coin and go, I'm number one, you're number two?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We're actually not quite sure at the moment. We're waiting for our selection criteria to come out as well. So I will keep you updated on that when I know.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good. All right. I'm glad that you will. Another thing, I know you listened to my chat with Brie and I sort of gave her this little notion. First of all, I'll ask you, do you name your sleds? Is this something that you do when you compete?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yes, I do.
BEN WATERWORTH: I definitely do. And what's the criteria here, Ash? I'm just trying to get in here. Because again, as I said to Brie, I would, I mean, a sled called Ben, because again, crosses the line, winning a medal. I'm never going to win a medal myself probably until the competitive eating. So I mean, you know, you're winning a gold, you can gladly say, well, you know, Ben got me there and I will gladly take that.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, yeah, okay. So typically in our team, so one of my first brakemen, my first brakeman when I moved to a driver, she was a sailor. And she always told me that vessels are women. So we might be able to make an exception. Like we can definitely talk through this, but typically, at least in my team, we've always kind of stuck with women's names. Yeah, okay, I'm feeling the Latin vibe. I like it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Something along those lines.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We can, yeah, we'll look into it. We've typically, we've typically, we've gone, we had a, we had a Sharon first, so we could, with a Shazza, Shaz Dog.
BEN WATERWORTH: Shazza, yep.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: That was, that was my first, my first sledge. It was decked out in Australian colours, so it made sense. Yep. And we've kind of just been tabling some names and we're about to kind of get a new sledge for this season. So we'll definitely have to look into this naming right situation.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I mean, it could be like, you know, like a stadium, like Marvel Stadium. You could sell it to a sponsor maybe, you know, like have Marvel sledge or something, you know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Not a bad idea.
BEN WATERWORTH: Macca's sledge, the reject shop sledge. I mean, maybe not the reject shop, it's probably a bad idea, but you never know. Like they could, I think they're going out of business out there, so they might need some, you know, influx out there, but it can be feminine. I mean, I don't know, I'm somewhat feminine. It's 2021.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: My boyfriend's name is Ben as well, so I could like hit two birds with one stone, you know?
BEN WATERWORTH: Like, you tell him it's about him, just be like, I love you so much, I'm gonna name my sled after you. But he's like, no, it's that guy that I did that interview with, because like, I feel sorry for him.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'll never know, I'll never know until he listens to this podcast, he's like, baby, lie to me.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, it's a dual purpose name. It's very open-ended, it can do that. I also love hearing, I know we talked a bit to Bree about the training aspect of the sport. I mean, you know, when it comes to your training regime, do you have something specific that, you know, you've got a routine at the moment that you work on? Does that kind of amp up towards a major competition season? Or does it really depend on how you're feeling on any given day?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, no, I have a mastermind behind that, that he does not tell me what I'm going to do, because he just wants it all to be a fantastic, phenomenal surprise when I get into the gym every morning. But I work with a coach here, his name Joltson. He was a Hungarian bobsledder back in the day. So it's amazing working with someone that knows the sport inside and out, because I think people, when people look at bobsledders, they don't really know the intricacies that are involved. And everyone wants to make you fast, but as a bobsledder, you don't necessarily need to be fast, you need to be powerful, and they're two different training types. And yeah, I mentioned him a little bit earlier, but he's been such a huge catalyst for me with my training mentally, physically. I cannot thank him enough for the athlete that he's made me, but he is an absolute demon in the gym. Like, oh my gosh. Like, I rock up, I look at my program and I'm like, no, no, but seriously, like, this is a joke. He's like, you better start now, if you want to finish in three hours, and then by the end of it, I'm crying and like on the floor in the fetal position. And he's like, good session, like high fives me. And I'm like crying, like a shell of a human. But I love it. Like, I love my off season training. I've never felt so powerful, so strong and so fast in my life. And I have a lot to credit to him. And then I also have another coach, his name is Duncan. And he was, he's Australia's fastest breakman. He was a breakman in 2010 and 2014. And he built a push sled. And so I rock up kind of once a week, twice a week with him. And we do a lot of pushing. We have a sled on wheels that we just practise the kind of hip motion and the movements around there. And I, yeah, I can't thank him enough either. And I'm just, I'm very blessed with the coaches and the support that I have in my life, 100%. The training is amazing.
BEN WATERWORTH: In terms of diet, is that something too, that needs to be managed as well? Or again, it just depends on how you're feeling each day.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: My gosh, but I tell you body weight and women's sport is a conversation. We, because the women's weight for bobsled is quite low. We have a weight limit for crew plus sled, which is 330 kilos, which sounds like a lot, but our sled weighs 170. So you can essentially have 280 kilo women. But that's not a lot of muscle for tall girls. So I think for the first four years of my bobsled career, I was constantly trying to lose weight. And then I went vegan for a little bit and lost a lot of weight. And now I'm trying to put on weight. So, I mean, I enjoy my baking. I love cooking and I've been baking a storm up in lockdown at the moment. So I think I've got like two of the kilos back on that I lost, but we're trying to work there slowly.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I mean, this is, I love finding this out from athletes because you and I were talking a little bit out, a little bit off air about kind of diets. And yeah, I remember I mentioned to you about how we had Andy Jung on just before Pyeongchang and he mentioned his love of McDonald's. So it's kind of, you know, makes people like me feel a little bit okay that if I'm taking a Big Mac, but well, Olympians do it, it's okay.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So balance man, balance is everything. I'm telling you that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, as I said, base my life on movies and Olympians. That's what I'm controlled by, you know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I mean, what better two things to base your life on? If I do say so myself, I may do the five.
BEN WATERWORTH: And Daniel Ricciardo and Formula One. You know, it's all life goals, essentially, from the front end.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Ticking them, ticking them off.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now we like to close off our interviews, Ash. We have a bit of a fun little question and answer thing here. I believe we did this with Breaks. I remember having a conversation with her about her love of the Essendon Bombers and did hold that against her. Are you an Essendon supporter or a different code of football that you follow given you come from a rugby background?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Rugby league. I'm a rugby league fan.
BEN WATERWORTH: So who's your team then in the rugby league?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: One and only Rabbit O's.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's not too bad. All right, I'm a Sharks guy. So, you know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We're not all perfect, look, you're short.
BEN WATERWORTH: I lost you. Well, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Ricciardo just stopped listening, I think. But so these are based off the Team Canada. They do this questionnaire ahead of the games. And again, at the time of recording this is pre-Tokyo. So hopefully by the time people are listening to this, they've had a good old time listening to us read these ones during the Tokyo games from the Tokyo athletes. I found a Bob Sletter. Alicia Rizzling is her name, Canadian. Do you know Alicia? Are you friends with her? Do you know, you hung out with her at all or?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I haven't had a lot to do with her, but I do know her, yeah, absolutely.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, good, right. Well, you might know some of her answers. You're not guessing her answers, you're coming up with your own answers. But I guess bonus points if you want to get her answers. So, your favourite ever Olympic moment?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, there's so many to choose from. I mean, I want to say Cathy Freeman, but I feel like everyone says Cathy Freeman. But I got to stick with it.
BEN WATERWORTH: There's a reason behind it.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, absolutely. I'll keep thinking about it. Yeah, I think that's got to be like one of the greatest of all time. But, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: My goal on this show, given our love of the legendary Dale Begg Smith, is that somebody is going to flat out go Dale Begg Smith winning gold in Turin in 2006. I just want, I don't even think even Brett Cox when she was on this show didn't even answer that. And she's a mogul. So, you know, I mean, come on, Brett, come on.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: You know what's so weird? My brain instantly was like winter first, and then it got confused with summer. And then I was not confused, but I was like, oh my God, there's so many Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Backtrack, Bradbury, come on, Bradbury. We all know where we left the Bradbury.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Well, actually, fun fact, there was a, so I trained at the Institute of Sport, and as a joke, like whenever any other athlete complains about their training, I always say, well, you know, like, you're interested in bobsled because it's notorious. Everyone thinks that the training that we do looks absolutely horrific, and it is. And so it's like a common joke now to me, at least. But anyway, so there's one girl, she was a water polo athlete, and I was like, hey, you want to come to bobsled? Because she was like, oh my God, with chlorine. And she goes, oh, you know, I actually went to sport runs with my family. And I was like, no way, how? And she's like, oh, my uncle is Stephen Bradbury. That is wasted family history. Come on.
BEN WATERWORTH: How do you not just drop that into every conversation? Uncle Stephen Bradbury, come on.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Right, right. I was like, man, I've been training in the same gym on the same day at the same time as you for like two months now, and that's the first time. You know I'm a winter athlete for the first time. You drop that shit. Come on, dude, be better, be better.
BEN WATERWORTH: You want to know the geekiness that I have for anything Olympic? I went to Salt Lake City and I watched a Utah jazz game. I was more excited to be in the same building that Stephen Bradbury won his gold medal in rather than watching the NBA. I was like, this is where Bradbury won gold.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: You're like taking photos with the ice and the players are like, do you want us to get in?
BEN WATERWORTH: My friend is literally like, we're here to watch the jazz. I'm like, screw the jazz. Australian Olympic history happened in this building. Like, what is wrong with you?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Absolutely, Hen. Oh, actually, you know what though? Have you seen the movie Miracle?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, absolutely, yes.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: That's also an amazing Olympic moment. And I was just thinking of another one. There was, it's super random, really left field. In the Youth Olympics, is that still allowed as well?
BEN WATERWORTH: Of course, absolutely, it's still allowed.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Fantastic. I feel really bad I had to answer. At the Youth Olympics, there was a Colombian weightlifter. Right. And she won gold, and there's this amazing photo of her like crying after she just won because her grandmother, I think, had passed away like the week before. And so she just won a gold medal, and she had a abuela, like, yeah, grandmother written on her hand or on a part of her body, and she was just crying and she won a medal. And like, oh, I lost my grandfather last year, and he was so, so into my bombsled that like that just hit home for me. So that's also going to be an amazing Olympic moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: I like these ones, like, you know, it's all well and good, the Cathy Freemans and all that sort of stuff. Absolutely. But yeah, I mean, what makes the Olympics so fantastic is, you know, you mentioned obviously Eddie the Eagle, we've talked about the Jamaican bobsled team, you know, movies are not, these are obviously inspirational moments. Sydney, we remember Eric the Eel, you know, things like that, you know, kind of all these little moments. Oh yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: That was a good one.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Bring back Roy and HG too. I just want to say, bring back Roy and HG so they can, you know, point these moments out more too. So Roy and HG, I'm sure you're listening. We're very similar shows. You know, get, get on that plane to Beijing. You got, you still got time to book your tickets. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Sly, because then I would save so much money going away for bobsled season.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes. But would you have to carry your bobsled though? Like is that the catch 22?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: No, no, it's already there, but I'd have to carry my suitcases, but like I could take breaks, like hot countries, you know, I think. I'm pretty sure that's how it works.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm sure if you could fly, there might be some dispensary. I'm sure Superman doesn't get weighed down by a couple of suitcases if he's got to go and hold it once, you know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah. Exactly. I have a lot of friends overseas as well, and I'd really like to see them. I haven't seen them because of COVID in a while, so it'd be nice to just, and then I don't have to fill out a travel exemption form either.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never heard of COVID, don't know what that is. We sort of touched on this a few times, so I don't know if you've got one that you want to choose from. What is your favourite sports movie?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I feel like I would be doing the whole, I don't know if I'd be doing the whole Bobseid community disservice by not saying cool running, but that's in a league of its own, so we're gonna leave that one. I do love Miracle, considering that my Bobseid home is Lake Placid. That has a special heart. I was training in that hockey arena. That was where I was training for a long time. I also do love Eddie the Eagle, because I know we've mentioned this a few times, but my first Bobseid coach's dad was actually the inspiration for Hugh Jackman's character.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, so you do have a connection to Hugh Jackman.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Technically, apparently Hugh Jackman contacted him once to talk about the movie.
BEN WATERWORTH: There you go, you're in.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And yeah, well, this is what I'm thinking. Now that I know.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ash, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'll be honest and say that I have interviewed and had my photo taken with Daniel Ricciardo. So I'm just saying right now, you're so connected with people, right?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh my gosh, man. We gotta do a swap of our phone book. I don't have Hugh Jackman in my phone book. In my mind, I'm like, look, you get Daniel Ricciardo first, then we'll sort around the rest of it. I can make this happen. But yeah, I think it's such a hard, I love Miracle. Miracle just gets me every time. And I love Andy the Eagle. And weirdly enough, I did not plan for them to be two winter movies. It just happened that way.
BEN WATERWORTH: One of our sister shows is a movie podcast, and we often do themed months. And in the lead up to Pyeongchang, we did a winter Olympic month. So we covered Cool Runnings, Miracle, Andy the Eagle and I, Tonya. So yeah, it's kind of, it all fit in very, very well. Does that mean that you become a bit of a hockey fan? Do you follow the NHL? So who's your team there?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I don't follow it as much as I would like, but the Vancouver Canucks definitely have a space in my heart. Actually, it's a funny story. Brie and I went to a Canucks game in our first year together in the sport, and our car got broken into in the car park, and they stole our luggage. Yeah, so we were like, okay, well, I mean, the game was good, but was it that good? I don't know, but I do love, I love watching hockey.
BEN WATERWORTH: I lived in Victoria, so I was kind of very exposed to the Canucks level of fans, which was always interesting.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Next level, hey.
BEN WATERWORTH: I cheat and go for two teams. I'm a Flames and a Ducks supporter. So, you know, I had to have a Canadian and American team. So it kind of, it balances. And Mighty Ducks, you have to go for the Ducks, right? You grow up on those. You know, it's just natural. Now on this form, they've got the section here where the athlete draws a picture of themselves. Now we always say, obviously don't, but I would love to give homework to somebody once. If you want to draw a picture of yourself, Ash, then send it to us. We will put it on our social media. So, oh, she's coming for it right now. Look at this.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, I'm gonna write this down as a note to myself. I'm gonna have to do myself some justice. Oh, yeah, my dad's nickname for me is Pooh Bear, because I used to love Winnie the Pooh as a kid. Can't believe I just said that on air.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, no, it's all right. I just embarrassed you first by you pulling it out straight away. I wouldn't be a good at my job if all of a sudden I'm like, oh, no, I'm not going to observe the fact that she's using a Winnie the Pooh pen.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, totally didn't even notice that, forgot I was on video as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just wait till we start releasing the video interviews down the track when we get you on After Beijing. Your, while you're writing that, I'll ask you, what is your funniest childhood memory?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Many of me walking and crawling into door frames. I don't navigate doors very well. I'm not sure why, it's never been a strong suit of mine, and my dad will frequently make comment of it to every person he meets.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right, okay, so I can just see it. Channel 7 are interviewing your family after winning the gold. You know, they love it. Channel 7 go just moist in the nether regions for interviewing every person's family and friends. So your dad is automatically gonna be like, oh, when my daughter did this, bang doors, doors, and she loves winning the poo.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: My dad will say, I don't know how she made it into the sledge, can't even walk through a damn door frame. That's exactly what he would say. And I remember when we were in, because my team and I, we went to Pyeongchang in South Korea for the last season during COVID. That was really the only place that we could get to. And I was all ready to go. We're about to get ready for our race. And so I've got my helmet on. I've got like my peppermint oil going. I've got that look in my eye where you're really focused. And I've done all my mind runs and I was about to walk outside because it was like minus 30 degrees. So I was just chilling inside. And I'm like, fuck yeah, got this. Walked out, pushed the door. Someone had like drilled a lock into the other side of the door. So it goes boom and hits me straight back in the face.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And everyone saw it, everyone laughed.
BEN WATERWORTH: They're really revealing interviews these. Like I really like these. Like again, like people watch Channel 7 and they're like, oh, we get to know so much about, no, you don't. You don't learn this on Channel 7, you know? Like, it's just, you know. I feel like we need to start giving words to our guests ahead of Olympics so that they can drop like some secret word when being interviewed by Channel 7 to just try and like, I don't know. Like, I'll think of something. I'll have to do that because I think it would just be funny if I was in the middle of an interview, just like, yeah, no, we're really pumped, really excited. Don't want to feel like a Wally burger, but we're gonna do well. We're gonna go out there. When I worked at the Commonwealth Games, we all had to like do like these radio messages and that sort of stuff. And each day in our meetings, we would come up with the word of the day. And they're like, I guarantee you, you can't use this word. And this is like official, Commonwealth Games channels that have been heard by all different HQ somewhere on the Gold Coast. And you'd come up with the word. Today's word is dandelion. And you're just like, you'd work out. So this athlete, yeah, he's been a bit of a dandelion. We need someone here quick. So yeah, there you go. Wally burger. Wally burger is your word, Ash.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'm gonna play the Winnie the Pooh pen again. You know what? I really think that being Australian has its perks because I feel like you could literally say any kind of noun and use it as an adjective. And people will be like, it's just Australian slang.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And you're like, yeah, that would be in such a snickerdoodle today. And someone's like, oh, that makes sense.
BEN WATERWORTH: And you're like, what?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: It's the really good perk of being an Australian in winter sport. No one questions any of the weird shit you say.
BEN WATERWORTH: No one gets it. Also, if you can't call the sled Ben, Wally burger is another good name actually. You sort of answered this kind of because you mentioned how you've got different songs or different tracks. So your favourite pump up song, is that just track dependent or do you have like a go-to track, say you're in the gym and that's kind of automatically, boom, I'm there.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Ooh, I have a playlist. I have a playlist for like when I'm warming up on tour and a playlist for when I like need some vibe. Actually, I have a playlist called vibes with like that emoji that looks like a red, like what's this word I'm looking for, the light thing. And let me try and find like, what's a good jam on that?
BEN WATERWORTH: I really love the fact that this is just like actual props to an interview. Like this is just a simple case of just, I'm gonna answer. I'm gonna get everything involved here.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I got to back up at whatever I say. So my jam at the moment is a song called Gravity by DJ Fresh and Ella Aya.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you want to give us a bit of a play?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, yeah, why not?
BEN WATERWORTH: They're losing all the royalties on this show, but who cares? We're repopping our stuff already. Yep. Yep.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And I was going into the false setter there and really nobody.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was going to say, keep going, you know?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: My singing days are behind me.
BEN WATERWORTH: First person to sing on the show. Like this is just, we're creating a bunch of person Off The Podium today. What is the most recent TV show that you binge watched?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We got two. I got two because I binge watched them in the same day. Cool. The first one is Unorthodox. I'm Jewish and I had been trying to explain a bit of Judaism to my boyfriend. And I was like, you know what? You gotta watch this. And Unorthodox, for those that don't know, is this crazy, amazing, true, or based on a true story, of an ultra, ultra religious woman that, I don't wanna give anything away, but she flees her community. And it's an amazing show on Netflix. Unbelievable. And we love that. It brought up so many interesting conversations about my Judaism and how I practise my Judaism, which is a very important part of me. And then on the complete other side, we also watched this show called Love On The Spectrum, which is also on Netflix. And it's about people with autism that find love and are looking for love. And it is just amazing. Like I was in tears. My boyfriend was in tears. We're both just like holding each other, crying about how beautiful this show is. And yeah, that's also.
BEN WATERWORTH: Learning a lot about each other and learning a lot about all that.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I can highly recommend both of them for whatever mood you're in, choose it.
BEN WATERWORTH: And just on that note, Benz will cry at Netflix. That is also, I can back that up from friends. Yeah, more homework for you, actually. This is another drawing thing. It's not only to draw a picture of yourself, it's now draw a picture of your teammates. I've actually not seen this one before. So maybe we can draw a picture of Brie or that, you know, and we can cross over our guests on this show. That would be interesting.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I mean, look, I feel like I'm gonna draw a general picture of like a bobsledder. And for you, this is kind of gonna be it. Oh, actually, like real big muscles there too. And then like the bum, because bobsled bum is a thing, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, I will get a screenshot of the video of that to share it on social media, or feel free to, you know, send it through, but yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Just with some hair too.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep, okay, I like it. It's very like, you should become an artist. It's realistic.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'll continue working on it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, there will be one more drama. I'll get to that. What is your least favourite food? Not your favourite, your least favourite food.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I am, I really don't like durian. Like the fruit.
BEN WATERWORTH: The smell is a four.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: The smell is the taste, it's the texture. I literally cannot swallow it. I've tried, can't do it. And I'm also kind of like, I have a sensitivity to red onion.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right. Just red onion.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'm allergic to blue cheese. Yeah, just red onion, raw red onion.
BEN WATERWORTH: And allergic to blue cheese.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Not the worst thing you could be allergic to. Let's be honest.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: No, I mean, I'm not a fan of it either, to be honest. I feel like my body was like, you don't like it. So now you don't have to eat it.
BEN WATERWORTH: If you just said cheese, I would be very sad for you. But I mean, blue cheese.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, no, no, no, God, God, no, please. That's like a main food group to my life.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, that's all I eat, you know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I know, I'm with you.
BEN WATERWORTH: If you weren't an athlete, what would you be?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So I actually work as a consultant. Well, I work in management consulting with a company called Accenture, which is a global consulting firm. And I think, actually, because I was going to say, I'm really interested in going into culture and leadership consulting because my time with team sport has really shaped the way I look at, like, team function and what makes a good and high-functioning team. But that's come from being an athlete. So I don't know. But maybe, I don't know why I was going to say a doctor, maybe because I've been watching a lot of doctor TV shows lately. Actually, I really wanted to be a forensic scientist or a marine biologist.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, yes.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: But then I have a fear of deep water, so marine biology is difficult.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, that probably wouldn't help there with that. Might be a bit of a barrier. Yeah. I can imagine. No, no.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: We believe in like, I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm sitting here in Sydney right now, freezing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now, okay, I got to pull you up on this Ash, I'm in Hobart, what's freezing to somebody in Sydney? Like, is it like 12 degrees, 13 degrees?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Look, today, today, it got out of the sun, like tonight, like when we started this chat, I was shaking. It was probably like, well, like maybe like six to eight degrees, which is so embarrassing because on tour, that's like summer.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, it's not too bad for Sydney, like, you know, that's that's cold. I think it's about three degrees here at the moment, but, you know.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Sydney is just like a damp cold.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. I lived in Brisbane for a winter and they complain when it got below 20. Oh, it's so cold. I better get the jacket out. It's like, yeah, we don't count that, though. No, they're strange people as Queenslanders. Hello to all our Queenslanders listening. Where is your favourite vacation spot? I have not been on a holiday so long.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I mean, a long, long time ago, before I travelled for sports and when I actually was able to take time off and go travelling, I love Fiji. I really love Fiji. But I'm also not a huge believer in going back somewhere that I've been to. So I think, actually, you know what, Fiji was amazing because it's like that resort summer, sun thing. I love Ireland, love, love Ireland, and I love Hungary as well. I'm part Hungarian, so I just felt the jam there. I love Budapest. And I really, really, more than anything, want to go back to Central, I want to go to Central America and I want to go back to South America because I did exchange in Chile for six months and loved it. Actually, that would also be an amazing holiday destination, also Israel, sorry, anyone taking note, Israel, Chile, Hungary, Ireland, amazing places.
BEN WATERWORTH: Flight centre, official sponsor, Club Ash.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: They should be 100%. My number one to go to is Mexico.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So I really want to go.
BEN WATERWORTH: There you go. All right. Well, again, with COVID ends, gold medal winning Olympian, lots of endorsement deals, go on a global tour.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Send me to Mexico.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, I'm sure Mexico have a bobsled team, but I mean, if they don't, you can go there and be their coach, maybe.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Why not?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Think big.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. What do people usually describe you as?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Loud, enthusiastic, which I think is sometimes a synonym for loud, but also excited.
BEN WATERWORTH: All good. All good. That works out very, very well. I like to think so. If you could be an Olympian in any other sport besides your own, what would it be?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I mean, rugby sevens, I feel would be an obvious choice, but I feel like hockey would be epic.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is that ice or field? Ice.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Ice hockey would be super, super cool. Yeah, I wish I could try moguls, but I also know I'd probably hurt everybody around.
BEN WATERWORTH: Those knees, my goodness, you must have strong knees in that sport.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: It's terrifying to watch. I think my favourite, we were talking about this before we were on air, but another thing that I love between summer and winter athletes, and I thought of this because I was talking to a mogul skier, is when summer athletes are like track and field athletes are injured, it's like I pulled a hamstring and you're like, oh man, I'm so sorry, that sucks, and you talk to winter athletes and say, oh, I broke my back and had two concussions last year, but like I'm coming back strong and you're like, you're a different breed of people.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's like those memes that they show like an NRL player, like their nose is hanging off their face, they're bleeding and everything, then you've got a soccer player there just like got like a scratch on their knee or something like that, you know, it's just, it's like those ones at all. There are some sports which I would love to just study the heat. Like at what point did somebody go, there's a bunch of lumps on that snow hill. I bet you I could ski in the middle of those really fast and do a jump and then sure you invent it. But then what sort of person goes, I'm going to go out and be a mogul skier. Like I mean, there are just some sports you've got to wonder, you know?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, many of them, many, many of them.
BEN WATERWORTH: And hats off to all of those athletes who do that, because my goodness, you know, like just I'm going to ski down a bunch of lumps down a hill. That's fun. But hey, we've won medals in it, so I shouldn't complain. Your favourite song lyrics, what are your favourite song lyrics?
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, my gosh, so my coach, my amazing demon coach, he has a playlist that he plays in the gym, because his name is Jolt. The playlist is called Zed Force, of course. And there's this amazing song, and it talks about like, I'm trying to, we got to play.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, sorry, sorry, go for it, absolutely. I expected nothing less.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Yeah, you can feel like, you're never gonna make it, you're not good enough, there's a million other people with the same stuff. Yeah, so it's like, you'll never make it, you're not good enough. Yeah, a million other people with the same stuff. And I love that, because he'll play it anytime. He'll play that specific song if I say like, if he says, you know, put more weight on that, I'm like, oh, I don't know if I can do that. And then he'll go and play that song. And it's like, remember everyone that's told you, you're never going to be good enough. And I'm like, oh, yeah, like, fuck that. Yeah, absolutely. And I'll just go and like put more weight on and lift it. So that's like a really good song.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's great those songs, because it's kind of like, I mean, the cliche song, obviously, Lose Yourself by M&M, just the start of that song and you're that dun, dun, dun, you know, you got one shot, one opportunity. You're just like, yeah, okay, I'm pumped. Like, I'm ready to go.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I got it. You're right. I think, yeah, no, I love it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now, the final question, because the last one is another drawing, but I'll get to that. What is your guilty pleasure? Now, I think this is an open end. Usually, I say like your guilty pleasure, food or your guilty pleasure, whatever. This is just guilty pleasure in general.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Okay, I got this. I got this. So, I've started for my recovery, but also like my mental health. I have baths. And to be honest, like, I don't know if I love my baths. I always post them on Instagram because I get like, you know, the bath bombs and the candles going and all that jam. But my super guilty pleasure is usually on a Sunday, because that's like my big bath, my Saturday, sorry, because it's my end of week training bath. I will get like the bath bombs, the salts, the essences. I get the candles going. I'll get my Netflix going. And then I'll have like either a glass of wine or a glass of kombucha, depending how the week's gone. And I'll usually make chocolate coated strawberries and just sit in the bath and like watch Netflix and eat chocolate coated strawberries. Wow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep. You win. That trumps everything. That could be the best answer we've ever had on this show.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Nailed it. Well, I'm competitive. So like, I'm like, hell yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, you win right now. If I had a gold medal to give you, I would give it to you. The other bit of homework here, Ash, is if you were an animal, which would you be? And it says, draw and explain, and Alyssia has drawn a wolf. And it says, because it is a powerful animal, loyal to its pack or confident on its own. And then I love how she's written also, why do you guys keep making me draw? She's getting angry at her own Olympic committee.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: To be honest, we're not super like great drawer. I mean, I don't know why I said that we, as in speaking for all bobsledders, I'm sure there are some secret talents out there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, speak for yourself. I've heard Brie is an amazing artist. I hear she's got some award-winning drawings going out there.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Oh, that's a good call. I mean, if I had to, do you want me to explain, like think about it or draw it?
BEN WATERWORTH: No, I want you to draw it. I expect these photos to come in so we can share in our social media, so that when this goes out, we can be like, look, this is the extent of how committed Ashleigh is to this sort of stuff. So she will be an Olympic gold medallist because she's just so committed to her craft.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: So you're going to get my pictures and be like, well, thank God she's an athlete.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm going to expect to see them on the bobsled. I'm going to expect to see like sort of like a design, you know, or in your helmet.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: You know, I wouldn't do that to anybody else, but I'll definitely try.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know if the AOC like you're mentioning that sweet story before about the Colombian athlete, I'm wanting to see a drawing on your hand, like win the gold medal and you're holding up to the camera. Ben, look at this. This is for you. And again, your boyfriend thinking it's for him. And then we know it's secretly for Off The Podium. So it works both ways.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: He's like, why is there a lion on your head? Is that a secret thing I missed?
BEN WATERWORTH: Remember that one time I called you my lion? Yeah, that was it.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: And he's like, yeah, I'm like, oh, oh, I even know what animal I'm going to be. Oh, yeah, I got this.
BEN WATERWORTH: I love the excitement level. This is this is really good. All right, Ash, it's been so much fun chatting to you, learning a lot about the sport, a lot about yourself. And obviously, best of luck coming up for the remaining months and the season that you're going to get there. We always say it's not a matter of if you make the Olympics or if you win a medal. It's when you make the Olympics and when you win a medal. We may have said that to Bree, but don't tell her you can beat her and win the gold. She can win the silver. It's not that bad.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I'll keep it between us.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, just don't tell her. All right. Just don't tell her.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: I promise. But thank you so much for having me on. That's so much fun. I'm sorry about how much now you know about me and my inability to walk through doorframes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Both our listeners are thrilled. Hugh and Daniel are loving it.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: Daniel Ricciardo is like, I got this. And Hugh Jackman is like, you know, him and I went to the same uni, so we're practically.
BEN WATERWORTH: You really are. You're acting all like Blase like, oh, if Hugh Jackman showed up. I mean, you may as well just text him right now. Like, clearly, you guys are besties.
ASHLEIGH WERNER: OK, I'll just get on it.
BEN WATERWORTH: What a fantastic chat there, a fantastic time. And I told you, it was a great interview. I told you it was one of the best interviews we've had on this show, without a doubt. So big thanks to Ashleigh there for her time, a lot of fun. And we anticipate seeing those drawings as well. We will post them online for you to see just exactly how she has drawn herself along the way. And we of course wish her luck ahead of Beijing, which is getting closer and closer by the minute. And as we keep saying here on Off The Podium, in the lead up to Beijing, we're hoping to bring you an interview or at least an episode every single week in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. And next week we have another interview for you, another athlete who is on hopefully track for her third Olympic Games. I do of course speak of Danielle Scott, Australian freestyle skier, genuine medal hope as well ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Of course one of the most prominent winter Olympians in this country has been the face of the sport of aerials for quite some time. And definitely has got a lot going for her when it comes to the successes she has had. And it's another fun chat as well. You'll learn a lot about her interesting background, how she got from where she did to now where she is into skiing and aerial skiing, her Olympic experiences, and just what new training facilities here in Australia have helped with when it comes to promoting sports such as aerial skiing in Australia, which of course is our most decorated sport when it comes to the Winter Olympics. So tune in for that. It's a lot of fun, you will enjoy our chat with Daniel Scott next week. In the meantime, hit us up on all the social media channels, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, subscribe to us on all the podcast channels as well to stay up to date with all these episodes and leave us some feedback. We'd love to hear what you think of the show. Got any ideas for guests? Is there a particular Olympian you would love us to track down and try and get on the show? We are open to anyone from any sport, from any country. So by all means, shoot us a message and we would love to hear from you. Thanks again to Ash. Thanks again for you listening. We'll be back next week. Thanks for tuning in to Off The Podium and we'll speak to you then.
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