Brad Hore Interview
It's time to return to boxing once again as we chat with two-time Australian Olympic Boxer Brad Hore about his amazing career! We learn from Brad about his unique debut Olympic experience in Sydney and just why it had such an affect on him that he was unable to even watch the Olympics until recently. We also learn more about how he was able to walk away from his experiences in Athens as a better person and just why it was the best match of his entire career. Added to this we learn more about his incredible work for the Olympics outside the ring and what sport we could see him make a sneaky comeback in for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. It's one great interview that you 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 once again for another athlete interview. And today I'm so excited for our guest. We're returning to the sport of boxing. Brad Hore, two-time Olympic boxer, competed in Sydney and in Athens. And an incredible story about his Olympic journey, particularly his experiences at the Sydney Olympics. I'm not going to spoil this, but Brad had a very interesting time at the Sydney Olympics, one that he doesn't really look back on too fondly. And until very recently, kind of affected him even being able to watch the Olympics. He admits in this interview that it took him some time before he could even stomach watching an Olympic Games based on what happened to him in Sydney. So it's a very unique story about kind of what happened there and just kind of some of the cons of the sport of boxing and sort of how things are out of an athlete's control. So it's a very fascinating chat and outside of his athletic career, talks a lot about sort of the pride that comes from being an Indigenous athlete in Australia and obviously the recent seeing Paddy Mills as a flag bearer and everything that Paddy's sort of doing for Indigenous athletes out there. And just in general, how the Tokyo Olympics embraced Indigenous culture like nowhere else had ever done before in any other Olympic team. So great chat here with Brad. You're gonna learn a lot in terms of his career and everything else in between. So here's our chat with two-time Olympic boxer Brad Hore.
BEN WATERWORTH: Very excited for our next guest today on Off The Podium as we return to the sport of boxing. Our first male boxer today on the show competed at the Sydney and Athens Olympics and a great career in the sport. And I'm so excited to learn about his journey and everything else he's been up to and the sport of boxing too, because as long term listeners to this show will know, I've got a bit of a bit of an affinity for the sport. And I'm always excited to learn more from the people who are involved in it. Brad Hore is with us today. Brad, first of all, thank you for joining us on Off The Podium. It's a pleasure to speak with you today.
BRAD HORE: Thanks for having us. And I'm excited to be a part of the show. So thank you.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's exciting because, I will say, I've never had any experience in boxing. It was a sport that kind of paid attention to over the years. But I was lucky enough to work at a job at the Commonwealth Games in sort of the media area, and I got appointed to boxing. So I was the mixed zone group leader. I basically ferried you guys off the mat to make sure you got interviewed, all that kind of fun stuff, and obviously was there for the entire tournament, watched every single bout, thought I was a bit of an expert by day four, day five, of course, and loved every single minute of it. It was just, it was fun. It was energetic. It was great. I mean, do you sort of find when you talk to people who maybe discovered the sport, like someone like me, who maybe never been to an event, that's kind of, that's the energy, that's the excitement of the sport that you can get by just experiencing it in person?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I think you need to experience it by person. You know, the, it is a love-hate relationship also. But just what the athletes go through, really, you know, it's exciting. And sometimes when you're watching a fight, you might be thinking someone else is winning. And then when you, you know, that they have the decision that might go the other way, it's a, it is one of them sports that you need to put all of it in. It's a selfish sport. And you know, I think once you see it live, you just get addicted to it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Was it something that you always wanted to do, Brad, like sort of growing up? Was it something you kind of fell into? I mean, how did kind of the boxing journey start?
BRAD HORE: Um, yeah, dad sort of, I used to play rugby league and dad, um, you know, I was small and stuff like that. And I just needed to build my confidence up. So dad gave me the option of, um, uh, boxing, taekwondo, karate. Um, and I chose, uh, boxing. And then I went down to my local PCYC, which was in Parramatta in Sydney, back many, many moons ago.
BEN WATERWORTH: And was it then sort of when you got more heavily involved in the sport, that an Olympics was a goal? I mean, had you kind of grown up watching the Olympics and kind of thinking this would be a cool thing to sort of experience one day?
BRAD HORE: Um, I started in 93 and I remember watching the boys fight, um, because there was no women boxing at the Olympics then. But I remember watching, um, some very good, good boxers back then at the 96 Olympic Games. And that was Robbie Peasen and Hussain Hussain, um, you know, and I watched them and, and always thought in my head, I'd be, I'd love to, you know, reach this high, you know, of, of what it was. And my first Olympics, it came pretty quick. I didn't really know what the Olympics was until I really got in the village. But, um, you know, I was still pretty young then, but, um, just to watch them fight at Atlanta, I sort of gave it another bit of a spark. But like I said, I sort of fell into it as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's also pretty interesting that you started 93 the year that Sydney are awarded the Olympics. So it kind of almost seems like destiny in a weird way.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I remember, um, I remember staying up late watching that, actually. So, um, or early in the morning, one of the two. But it was, it was nighttime anyway, like early morning or night. But, um, you know, I still, like I said, I still didn't know what the Olympics was until I really, I went to Sydney Olympics and like, even though I qualified, I didn't really know how big the, the village was, how many countries were representing, like just, you know, it's huge when you get in there.
BEN WATERWORTH: And how sort of was the scene kind of in boxing sort of between that period, say Atlanta, when you're on the cusp of your first Olympics, do you have some of those guys that you're watching in Atlanta are able to, you know, learn from, maybe even fight against kind of, and sort of get a bit of help maybe leading into a first Olympic appearance?
BRAD HORE: The first one, like I used to watch Robert Pied in a fair bit, you know, just his style and his weight, his weight was around mine, but I've seen the same on him, but he was my weight. And heading into my first Olympics, I ended up training out of that gym at Bankstown under his brother for a little bit, you know, and I did some sparring sessions with him, but both of them turned professional before then, so they were professional and I was still an amateur. Just the experience to be in the ring with them is unbelievable. You learn so much, but definitely they teach you a lot of things and they want you to do your best. And we still speak to each other now, you know, I speak to Hussain's brother on Instagram a fair bit or, you know, just and he brings up a lot of old photos when he was a young kid fighting, and it sort of gives you that memory, you know, I started when I was 10. And I think my first amateur fight was at Canterbury Banks down where these two kids were pretty well known in the boxing game already.
BEN WATERWORTH: In terms of when you're starting out as a boxer, obviously, it's kind of one of the few sports, I guess, left at the Olympics where you're an amateur, you can't be a professional boxer. I mean, do many boxers just go straight to the root of, I want to be a professional boxer one day, does it kind of have to work that you've got to go through those amateur ranks? You've got to go to Olympics and things like that before somebody will even classify you as a professional based on how you've gone in the amateur career.
BRAD HORE: I don't think so now. Even with the boxing, you can turn professional and then come back into the amateurs. They've sort of let that rule, and that rule has been in since the Rio Olympics. I know a few of the boxers watching the Tokyo Games, there was a few people that were professional and come back. There's a certain amount of fights that you can have to go back in. But I think the rules change again, where they've opened it up a little bit more. But I think for a professional come back to the amateurs now, like you're doing a 10 or 12 round fight and coming back to a three round fight at the Olympics. That might be just the speedness and the short, sharp boxing skills or what you need to do might not be in their favour.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think of a sport like wrestling at the Olympics, I mean, much different to the WWE. Please, no WWE wrestlers listening to this hurt me when I say this, but one's real, one's fake. I won't say which. But people hear the word wrestling and they associate it straight away with WWE, they don't associate with Olympic wrestling. Is that when it comes to say amateur boxing, when you think about boxing, a lot of people are thinking of Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, these sort of people, the glitz and glamour of Vegas. Is that a positive to try and get people into the amateur ranks and go up? Or do you think there needs to be more done for the amateur side of things to advertise that it's not all just the Vegas fights and things like that?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I think we need to do a lot more with the amateur boxes to keep them in the amateur game as well. You know, overseas do it really, really well. Where they're, you know, they get looked after pretty good. And the amateur boxing is bigger overseas than what is here in Australia. You know, the US, definitely Ireland and England are looking after the younger athletes with the amateur game. And trying to keep them as an amateur as long as they can. I think with Australians, we just, you know, we're a country that's so far away, and we need to go overseas to get this experience. I think we need to look after our younger athletes coming up and to try to keep them in the game longer.
BEN WATERWORTH: Before you made that Olympic team in 2000, you talk about sort of going overseas, things like that. Had you had much experience? Like, had you, you know, what was your first international sort of taste and sort of making it a team or was it the Olympics? Was that your first ever international team?
BRAD HORE: No, my first team was 99 Oceanas in Tahiti. That was my first Australian side. I was in the B side then as well. We took two sides over there. I was in the B side and I ended up getting silver then. So, you know, I was pretty happy with the silver. And then the next year was when it was pretty... You had to knuckle down then, I think. I think I only realised around then. You know, I probably still wasn't even looking at the Olympics back then as well in 99. I was only a year away, but how fast it come around. And, you know, when I'm meeting up with them, the same fella that beat me over in Tahiti ended up beating him. And then, yeah, we had our Oceanas in Sydney down in Canberra and then went from there and had to win gold there.
BEN WATERWORTH: And what's that moment like then, when you're thinking maybe that the Olympics, you know, isn't a possibility, but you sort of, you qualify. I mean, you're kind of mentioning about how you didn't really sort of realise what the Olympics were, but is it kind of little moments like that, where all of a sudden it's like, wow, I'm an Olympian now?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I think I remember qualifying in Canberra and winning the gold and still like, oh yeah, still. But I think the older generation that already knew how big the Olympics were, like your parents, your friends, like your older friends, they knew how big the Olympics was. So when we were sort of like, when I qualified, it's like, oh yeah, we just won another fight, you know. And until, like I said, until I didn't, I ended up travelling a fair bit after that. We had a lot of training overseas and things and meeting up with, you know, competitions, fun with other countries. And you realise that, you know, things are a bit more serious than what they were back home, like with CompSpar and things like that. They really had to grow up pretty quick.
BEN WATERWORTH: And in terms of then, when you, these things are hitting you when you're at the Olympics, I mean, at least in the lead up, given you are from Sydney and kind of the way the city kind of obviously was getting prepared and how much they were getting behind it. I mean, do you sometimes reflect and think that how lucky it was that debut Olympic experience literally came in your backyard, that you got to be in Olympic games in your home city?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, it's pretty pretty stoke. I live 20 minutes away from the Olympic village. Wow. Like when we got announced, when it was when we got the Olympics, I got to see the stadiums build every weekend. You know, I used to travel to my auntie's house with mum and that, and then you'd look at the stadium getting built and just go, Oh, well, the big stadium there, you know, like, and starting to talk about it and the buzz was sort of getting around. And then all of a sudden you qualify and then you're away training for three months, and then you come back here and you're in that big stadium that you see and get built for years.
BEN WATERWORTH: I can imagine those special moments when you go to your first Oceanics, you know, getting the Australia uniform, things like that. I mean, is it a little bit more of extra special when you get the whole kit, it's got the rings on it, and you know, there's your opening ceremony gear, your formal gear, your competitive gear, like kind of all that sort of stuff that you could just go, wow, this is pretty cool.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, it is pretty overwhelming. You're in there, and all of a sudden, you get bags and bags of just gear. And, you know, you're just trying on gear, and there's heaps of it. And, you know, I've still got some saved and put away, and all my things that I've always treasure, and, you know, my boxing kit is framed and put away, you know, the suitcases, your tuxedo suits, things like that. I think that's pretty special, and, you know, hang on to it. But the rings, they mean a special thing to me, and they always have since I qualified for my first one. And, you know, excited for what's happening for Brisbane, you know. That's how that role played out as well. I was down there when we got named for it in Brisbane, and I was like, wow, this is totally cool because I know what to expect for another home game. So, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Did you do the opening ceremony? Were you lucky enough to kind of experience that?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I was lucky enough to go to the opening ceremony, which was, well, I tell people I still remember it. It was scary, exciting. At the same time, you know, 110,000 people just hanging over that fence there at Sydney Olympics and just cheering. You couldn't hit the streets. We tried to go for a run in the street once, and, you know, you're pulling up, and back then you had to autograph, so you weren't doing selfies or anything like that. You had to stop, yep, here you go, and then run again. So then, you know, you end up running in the village and sort of run and hit the streets. So, yeah, stuff like that I'll never forget.
BEN WATERWORTH: I can, yeah, I just can't imagine that experience, because, I mean, I think that might have been the first time I ever saw my dad cry. I remember watching that as a kid, and he sort of said to me, like, babe, when Australia comes out, I'm probably going to shed a tear and sort of look over. There he is, you know. And still to this day, I'm such an Olympic fan that I always get a bit teary whenever an opening ceremony starts, just because, wow, they're here, the games are here. But as you're saying, 110,000 people, you're walking behind Andrew Gaze, the crowd is going off. Do you kind of get it in your mind, like, hey, if I sneak here, I can wave to mum, or I can get in the camera, like, if I kind of sneak behind Ian Thorpe, there he is, like, quickly sneak behind him, or something like that?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, there was, I think the person we tried to hide behind was Laurie Lawrence back then. He was always on. And, you know, like, people say, no, hang with Laurie, hang with Laurie, he'll get on, he'll get on. And then, yeah, all of a sudden, but I was on the Channel 71 ages ago, and, like, I've been so many back just walking by myself, and just looking in the crowd, just going, wow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I can imagine. And do you, how many of those little yellow kangaroos, because I always remember those little yellow boxing kangaroos that were such a thing in Sydney. Do you, when you get your kit, do you get, like, 50,000 of them to hand out?
BRAD HORE: Oh, we get a fair few. Oh, we got to stack a bag full of them so we could throw them out to the crowd. Actually, I found one the other year. Last year, when it was the 20-year anniversary for Sydney. You know, so we got to pack a whole bag that we had on our, you know, got to carry into the village and out to the Arabian Ceremony. We used to, we allowed to throw them into the crowd. So, you know, we were a few held on to them. So, yeah, we got that. There was a special light that we had around our wrists too that when you moved, it would flash. So, I've got that somewhere as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice. I seem to remember Roy and HG destroying a bunch of them on The Dream. I think they just got a whole bunch of them and ripped the kangaroo heads off, didn't they?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I think, I don't know if we were on The Dream. We might have been on The Dream that time too. We were on The Dream. Also on Channel V back in the day with... I forget who, I don't know, is it Andy?
BEN WATERWORTH: It was Andy G. And that's when James Matheson started too, wasn't it?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, that was both of them together. Yeah. We were on that show as well. So it wasn't too long when that all started, the old Channel V and Fox Studios down at Sydney as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, gosh, that's... Wow, I remember all that. I mean, it must have been like... Because Roy and HG were just such a hot ticket, right? Like, people were fighting to get it with Be A Guest, of course, but also to get in the crowd. Like, how did you go about it? Did you just have to beg people, get a ticket, and bump into Roy and HG in the halls of Channel 7?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I don't even know how it happened. We were just lucky enough to get called and have an interview with them. But even, I remember them, they came into the Athens Olympics, and we had photos of them in there. But I don't even know how it happened, but we ended up singing some song they made up and they were singing together. And someone sent me a photo of that, too, like not too long ago. Some old school photos that have come out, you just go, yeah, some pretty cool times back then.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, crazy. Obviously, though, you get to the Olympics, doesn't quite go to plan. Tell us what happened, because this is a unique story about how you didn't really even get to compete at the Olympics.
BRAD HORE: My first Olympics was not my favourite at all. I wouldn't say not my favourite, it just wasn't meant to be, but it made me the person who I am today. It made me a stronger athlete, and it just had to plan out how it was. So I qualified for the Sydney Olympics probably at the start of the year of 2000. And like I said, we went overseas for a long time. It probably was winter, because I remember Canberra being pretty cold. So it might have been about April we qualified, and then we trained till September overseas. And I was a light fireweight then, so I was 48 kilos back then. And I was 17 when I first qualified for my first Olympics. And just the training was different. I ended up having a growth spurt, putting on a little bit more muscle than what I usually would when I was training at home with my proper coach or my coach. And I knew I sort of had some troubles when we were in the US, and that was our second last overseas camp before we had to come back home to Sydney and Australia and to the village. We went to the US and then to New Meir to finish off some last bit of competitions, but I was struggling a bit in America. Every day, we had to make a... or had to weigh in every day just at training to keep us under wraps, but I remember we had to be about half a kilo over our fighting weight before we went to the next place, and I was struggling a bit then. You know, otherwise we couldn't go to breakfast or something or other, so I had to make it anyway. And I knew I was having some trouble then, and that went on from there. Then I went over to the last bit of training camp, which was in New Meir, and still struggling a little bit. And then when I finally got into the village, it just wasn't moving at all. My weight just wasn't budging. And, you know, I was sneaking out of the village and heading back home to do some late night runs and stuff like that. And just doing my best to get rid of it, really. And then unfortunately, I failed to make weight, and I weighed in at 48.3 kilos. And got disqualified before I was allowed to fight, really, before the games. I was on the same night of the opening ceremony.
BEN WATERWORTH: So.3 of a kilo.
BRAD HORE: Yeah,. 3. Probably the weight of them little yellow kangaroos we were talking about before. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: And that happened on the night. So was that before or after the opening ceremony?
BRAD HORE: That was before the opening ceremony. So it was the morning of. So what they do is we weighed in the morning of the the opening ceremony, and then that would put you into the draw. And then you would find out who you would fight from that. And then, you know, the next day, you'd competition. They knew what weights were fighting on the next day of the competition. So if I had to fight the next day and I made weight, then I probably would not have gone to the opening ceremony. So, you know, that's how it was. I remember seeing the doctor in there, actually. And he said, How are you feeling? And I remember just going, I'm just feeling sick. I just feel tired. I don't have energy. I wasn't eating probably that last week as well. Like not much anyway. And I knew it was going to be very tough to make it. I remember sharing the sauna with James Swan, who was our featherweight. And he knew that I was struggling, and he ended up going in and telling the coaches that, no, he's had enough. He's not looking good. And unfortunately, that's what happened at Sydney. So not the best Olympics as a kid, as a 17-year-old or 18-year-old when the game started. And being a local boy too, only 20 minutes down the road was not the best Olympics now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I can imagine then, going back to what you're saying about the experience of the opening ceremony, to know that you're not actually then going to be competing must be, again, a weird amount of emotions. That you're kind of in this moment, you're celebrating, you know, walking to an Olympic stadium having a unique moment, but knowing that you're actually not even going to be, unfortunately, able to compete.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, not competing, not knowing if I was allowed to stay in the village was another one. A lot happened there where, you know, not with our teammates or anything, but I know myself and the head coach didn't talk to each other for a very, very long time. We didn't speak to each other till 2004. And I qualified for the Commonwealth Games at a different weight as well, and he was our head coach as well, and he didn't talk to me at all throughout that whole camp.
BEN WATERWORTH: Why? Is it just because he blamed you?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I was an embarrassment to the sport.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow.
BRAD HORE: But then, you know, Athens was a totally different game to Sydney, which made me stronger. I changed the way I thought from being from the Sydney Olympics. I had a point to prove, and I used that as my motivation, and the best motivation I've ever had was to prove people wrong, and I still do it today. When I qualified for the Athens Olympics, I think me and Coach Bodo, we ended up having a talk, and sorting everything out, and apologised, he apologised, and we talk when we catch up now.
BEN WATERWORTH: So in terms of then, you go up a weight division, does that just come down to simply the fact of you don't want to have those struggles again, you don't want to be disqualified for that, or is it more of a, this is how my body is going to be, this is better for me, kind of, how does that decision come about?
BRAD HORE: Just ended up going up a weight division to the 51 class, which was flyweight. And that's where I did all my best boxing. I grew into my body a little bit better, and, you know, I took a lot of time off after the Sydney Olympics, you know, the depression kicked in, like people telling me, oh yeah, how couldn't you make weight? You should have made weight, stuff like that. It was one of those things where I couldn't do anything about it. So I used that as motivation to prove people wrong. And what I did was I would say to everyone, I will come back for the Commonwealth Games trials at 51 kilos, and I'll win it and prove you're all wrong. And, you know, when I went to the Commonwealth Games, it wasn't to try a winner medal or anything like that. I just wanted to be on that team at a different weight. And like I said, to prove people wrong and to tell people that I'm still able to compete at an international level at a different weight.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which then must feel pretty special when you hear that opening bell go of your first bout then at the Commonwealth Games. As you said, that journey, there you are, and you've done exactly what you set out to achieve.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, it's always good, but I think that the best feeling was making weight at Athens was that whole different experience. But even like going into the village was a total different mindset than what I was when I went to Sydney. Sydney, I didn't know anything about how big the Olympics was. You get excited about everything. But when I went to Athens was no, I know where everything is. You know how the dining hall was. You know what else is in the village like the games room to keep you occupied, what the buses do, stuff like that. The athletes' hub, the Australian hub. Just little things like that changed. And I had my focus on, all right, I'm here for business at a different weight and to enjoy my Olympic experience.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was going to ask in terms of that, that I can imagine now that, you know, going back to what you were saying about Sydney, you kind of, you know, maybe wasn't aware of all that, but now second Olympics, you make the weight, you know, you get to compete, but just soaking in everything from seeing the Olympic rings everywhere, just kind of, you know, all those sort of moments that I can imagine makes being an Olympian so unique.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, just walking into the village was totally different. You know, I remember just going through the security straight up, just going, oh yeah, yeah, I deserve to be here. You know, the Olympics rings again, the layout was very similar. I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to make, that I wasn't going to fail to make weight this time. I made sure that everything was done right, at the peak at the right time. I remember jumping on, I was on weight before I went to bed that night. Woke up, we went to our first weigh-in to get the draw. And that's, you know, when the media started ringing straight away, straight after I got off the scales, the media rang straight away. And the first question they asked was, did you make weight? I just said, I made weight the night before. I told you I was going to make it. All right, you've had your four years of saying this all the time. How's my weight done? All right, we can change it now. Let's talk about some positive stuff and concentrate on what we're here for.
BEN WATERWORTH: And then, do you take everything that you're saying and kind of go into that first bout? I mean, what was your confidence levels like? Did you go into that going, right, all behind me now, I can meddle. This is my goal. I'm going to go and go get some jewellery.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I think the Athens fight was a fight that we could have won. You know, on the school class, it was a little bit different than what you could really watch, really. But out of all of it, that fight was probably... When people ask, what was your favourite fight? I always say the Athens Olympics fight. And then they ask, why? You lost that one? I said, no, I learnt so much then. And, you know, I didn't call myself an Olympian until I went to Athens. So that fight there, to me, was just something special. Everything about it was whole special. The whole Olympics was special. You know, the fight, you know, I fought Ron Seiler from the USA, who was a bronze world champion that year, and put up a good fight against him. And I remember we used to have... Oh, we had to do video analysis after the fight, just to go over it, like if you won or lost with the head coach. And that's when we made our peace together. He goes, Horry, we don't need to talk about this. He goes, I thought you fought beautiful. You really gave it your all, and I'm very proud of you. And that was it. And that then just is so much, you know, hate between us both, I guess. Well, hate's probably not the right word, but yeah, the tension between us.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I love hearing stories like that because kind of as you mentioned, the first perception is you lost. How can you take that experience away? You know, your Olympic journey is basically over in three minutes, however it works. But what makes the Olympics so special and makes it a tournament like that is when you hear kind of stories like that, when you can still leave and kind of feel satisfied. And of course you would like to win, but like you still, you come out of it feeling much more than, you know, a simple victory might give you.
BRAD HORE: Yes, that's why that. And, you know, it's totally hard. Like you see these countries overseas and, you know, European countries, your really, really tough countries that use boxing to get out of their countries so they can live a better life in other countries, you know. We're pretty lucky here in Australia. We live in one of the best countries or the best country in the world, and, you know, we can always come back to something. You know, it's a sport. You got to love it. And what I achieved that day and how much pressure I had on myself for four years was the best feeling in the world. And to call myself an Olympian finally then was something special to me. Now I call myself a dual Olympian, which, you know, what happened to me was meant to be. It's made me stronger of who I am today. And I don't... You know, I used to get really, really depressed about it every now and then, or I used to get depressed about when the Olympic year used to come around. Tokyo was the first Olympics where, like, I've sat down and watched the whole Olympics for two weeks.
BEN WATERWORTH: How did you find it, kind of, now that you, I guess, in some way have put those demons to rest?
BRAD HORE: Oh, I love it. Like, mate, I'm still, you know, you got that whole two weeks of the Olympics, and then you got, you know, two weeks break, and then you got the Paralympics on it. You know, it's... You know what's going on with them athletes, and it's unbelievable. Like, I can watch anything, and I would support anything that's got something to do with the Olympics, and me doing some work with the Olympics is one of the proudest moments now. Like, I think I do more... I feel more of an Olympian of what I'm doing now than what I was when I was fighting. You know, supporting, doing my work with the Olympics, going out to these schools and talking about my career, and hopefully I can inspire one person to be an athlete or to dream big and go for their goals and don't let anyone knock you back, really.
BEN WATERWORTH: And is that something that you approach the AOC? Does the AOC approach you? I mean, is it kind of like an Olympics club that you kind of all hang out and then all of a sudden you got somebody approaching you going like, hey, would you like to take on this role?
BRAD HORE: We got like, there's like Olympic Unleashed program that's out and we go out to the schools, you know, past Olympians and then Olympians that have retired and then Olympians that are still going through their journey and you get to go out to the schools and tell your story and hang out with the kids. And I think it just gives you that buzz again of being Olympian, really, you just go out and go, oh, this is cool, this is what I miss, you know. You know, and seeing kids' faces is, you know, the biggest smiles on their faces and, you know, they probably don't even know who you are or anything like that. But it's, you know, we're there to inspire young kids and hopefully who can be Olympians later on, you know. It's that, it's, I wouldn't say there's like an Olympian club thing, but we do love to get together and share the same stories, the ups and downs, the roadmaps that we like use and the speed bumps. And it's a special feeling. It's hard to say, you know, like when the Olympics on your Texan or your Olympic mates, and you're just going, oh, did you see that? How cool was that? They give you, you're watching the opening ceremony that night, and you're just getting your cold shivers because you know what it's like.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, you chose a good one for boxing to tune in with what Harry did, obviously, kind of breaking the drought.
BRAD HORE: And that's unbelievable what he's done. And I don't think he, I hope he realises how, what he's done for amateur boxing. It's not that he's just one of bronze medal, but the funding that he's going to get to help these young athletes, you know, and to help them for the next three Olympics, and Brisbane's included in that. So hopefully we get some more medals, and that's what we wanted to do. And he was able to do it, which was excellent.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which what I found working at the Commonwealth Games and getting to know some of these athletes, I was obviously very familiar with Harriet having won the gold on the Gold Coast, someone like Skye Nicholson, you know, even witnessing Caitlin Parker's sort of journey and seeing that emotion of her not winning the gold just like right there in front of me, like come off the mat, and there she is just breaking down and just seeing what it means to these athletes and the emotion. And obviously we saw that with Skye sort of losing in Tokyo. It's just those moments for a sport like boxing, which some people might just go, it's just people punching each other, that's all it is. But there's so, like with every sport at the Olympics, there's so much more to it around those journeys. And Harry and Skye, like they were two of the faces of the Olympics, I think, based on kind of one's success and one's kind of tragedy. So it's kind of, it's amazing how certain things like that can really put people onto a sport.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, you've got, what is it? You've got nine minutes. Nine minutes for the mail. I think the girls, they might have done it, they do three, three. They might do three, three. But you've got nine minutes. And if you don't peak at the right time or put in that performance, it's a sport where we don't have teammates. So we're having a bad day and we're playing rugby nines or we're playing the hockey, and you have a bad day, you've got the rest of your team to pick you up and hopefully cover you. We're here. We've got nine minutes. We've got three minutes in the ring trying to work out another opponent, and hopefully we've done our homework on them with videos that we've seen or tournaments that we've brought each other at. And then you've got that one minute with your coach to try to come up with another plan if that plan is not working. The highs and lows of boxing is pretty shit. You're going to year on a roller coaster ride all the time. But the best thing about it is it's addictive, and you've got to get out there, and you've got to want to win, and you've got to want to do it, because if you don't want to do it, then you're going to get hurt in the boxing ring as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: And the best thing too, isn't it? If you've got an opponent that's pissing you off, you're allowed to punch them.
BRAD HORE: Yes, that's right. So if you don't like him at other tournaments, you can give it to him and stuff like that. So it's a tough sport, and you've got to watch your weight and watch what you're eating and your fluid intake. And the toughest thing is, what Harry and all that had to do was they fight, they had a rest day, and then they got to fight again. So you've got to keep that weight for two weeks. And it can be pretty... It's tough, you know, like you've got a dining hall that's the size of two football fields, and you can eat whatever the hell you want. It might have maccas in it, it might have, you know... And it's all free, you know, ice creams, you name it, it's got it in there. It's unbelievable. And, you know, it is a tough sport.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is that a positive of going out in the first round in an Olympics that you can kind of just have a couple weeks off in the village and just binge all the maccas and the ice cream?
BRAD HORE: It was OK for me because, you know, we were allowed to stay at the village for the two weeks. So I feel sorry for these Tokyo athletes where they had to leave within the first 48 hours to get back in the quarantine. I don't believe that I would have been able to do quarantine. I think it would have been a very hard thing to do. And I think the support of what Australians did for them and doing their best to cheer them up, like I felt for Skye Nicholson, who was like a favourite to win a medal, and then for her to leave the village and then to sit in hotel quarantine by herself. Yeah, it's pretty tough, I think. You know, I think I could have done better. The judges probably ripped me off. But the best thing about it only makes them stronger. She's hungry now. She's only got three more years till Paris, and then she got one more year till Birmingham as a Commonwealth Games, and she could double up and win a gold medal. I think her boxing is so good. I like watching her fight. And, you know, she might have to change a few things. But what she's done for female boxing is unbelievable, her and Caitlin, you know, and that team at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. Women's boxing is on the rise, and that hasn't been just from this year. This has been a long time coming. Some of the girls overseas are unbelievable. And to have Caitlin up there, to have Skye up there in that top, you could probably say top five is good. And you've just got to be hungry and stay up there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, I mean, one of the many unique aspects of boxing too, it's that moment when you're at the end and you're waiting to be declared the winner. Particularly when you're so confident that you haven't, and there's just that low that comes when your arms aren't getting raised. I mean, it's not like a game of rugby where you know the clock runs out and you haven't got the points on the board. You're not going to lose. I mean, it's such the emotional aspect of it too. I can imagine standing there thinking you've won, and then, fuck, I haven't won.
BRAD HORE: Well, yeah, you had to just look at Skye's fight. You know, I thought that she won. She thought she won. And probably all of Australia thought she won. And then it went on to, you know, the English lady, and she ended up walking away with a silver medal, the English lady, and that could have been Skye. I think that would piss me off more, would be if someone went on to win that gold. That happened to me at the Commonwealth Games in 06, you know, and I was favourite to win a gold medal there, and Don Broaddus was the other favourite, and we drew each other in the second round. And, you know, you get shitty about it, but me and him, we're very good mates now. He ended up coming out here to Australia to train, and I remember the first sparring session, we had a sparring session. We were club mates, he wanted to train out of our gym, and we punched shit out of each other for six rounds. It was just like a thing to just say, yep, righto, clean slate now, all good. You got me at the games, but yeah, I just had to get you back then.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, wow. What was that experience like? I mean, obviously, your Commonwealth Games isn't an Olympics, but it's still a home Commonwealth Games. So, I mean, again, you know, experiences around that, stepping out onto that mat with the home crowd in your corner. I mean, you know, what was that like?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I was pretty lucky. So, yeah, the Sydney Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games has been a home one. And it's just that buzz. It's just the same feeling everywhere, meeting the same, not the same athlete, new sports come in, but you just, you're still hanging around the best of the best in Australia. And with that, that's, and like I said, you're walking around hitting the streets and people want to say hello, take photos and things like that. And yeah, it's pretty good.
BEN WATERWORTH: Was there an opportunity to go to Beijing? Did you sort of continue after that and try and try and qualify?
BRAD HORE: Well, I wanted to be the first Aussie boxer to do three Olympics. And what happened, I was at the qualifications, the first round of qualifications. And I had a, it was pretty funny. I made weights pretty easy in October. November, I mean, November was the Australian title, which was one of the qualifiers that I needed to win to go to the Oceania. And I was sitting there and wasn't feeling too good. I struggled to make weight there. But I don't know why I struggled to make weight at the Aussie titles. But yeah, I ended up having an inflammation on the heart. And that was called something they call pericarditis or something like that. And yeah, I got rushed to hospital the night, the day before I had the fight actually. And I got ruled out of the Beijing Games there. And I put an application in to challenge the winner of that. And as I was training for it, the heart still wasn't, I was still getting them symptoms where it just, yeah, I feel a bit shitty and yeah, your beat would go out of whack a little bit. So I ended up, yeah, pulling out of that. And then that was sort of, you know, waited another couple of years, and then I turned professional in 2012.
BEN WATERWORTH: How does that decision come about then? Is it just a case of now is the time to turn pro, kind of, you know, make some money out of this, or is it kind of like realistically I'm not going to be able to compete? What decision goes through a boxer's mind to turn pro?
BRAD HORE: I didn't really want to do it for the money. I just want to feel the different experiences, really. It was, you know, I didn't make any money. I had been a professional. Just a different atmosphere, I guess. Walking in that ring alone again. Like I said, it's a lonely, lonely sport. To just train, really, that excitement of the training, the ups and downs, and why am I doing it for? But it was a bit different. You had a 12-week training camp, and then you fight and have a rest, and you can go again if you want. But the atmosphere was always the same, but just a little bit different, not wearing a headgear or not wearing a singlet like you would at the Olympics or Commonwealth Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: Does it make much difference, like being shirtless versus wearing a singlet? Like, is it more freeing? Like, can you kind of get into it a bit more?
BRAD HORE: I think I'd probably prefer to wear a singlet, just something on. But just a little bit different with no headgear, really. You just got to be careful you don't clash heads, or the gloves are different, the gloves are smaller. You know, the bandages back then were different. You could, you know, strap in tape and stuff like that to bulk them up a little bit.
BEN WATERWORTH: And given it's longer, I can imagine the endurance is a little bit more important in professional rather than the amateur?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, it's totally different. So you got to just slow down with your technique as well, and build it up, and try to peak at the right time as like in rounds. Like, what do you want? Like, say you're doing a 10 round, you probably want to go hard for four rounds or something, have a round off and then try to come back and go again, slowly build it up, but work on it. Like as an amateur, our scoring was totally different to, you know, the Comm Games in 2018 or the Olympics, the last couple of them where it was like fast. In and out, scoring was really high. Like, you know, I think my Olympic game, one at Athens, the score was like 34-18. Like, you wouldn't see that now. It's like a 10-9 system like they do in the professionals.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, if I'm not mistaken, you tried after the professional, you tried to then come back to the Commonwealth Games in 2018, did you not? So how does, you mentioned before that the rules sort of changed, that you can kind of go back to amateur. So kind of how does that work and how close did you come to making the Commonwealth Games in 2018?
BRAD HORE: So I've put in, once I heard in Rio that you could come back, I sort of had a thought about it and went, oh, right, I only had two weeks to sort of hurry up. So I went to, all I had to do was really write a declaration to Queensland Boxing, the amateur boxing in Queensland. And I got approved. And I had less than 10 professional fights, which was one of the things as well. I had two weeks of training. And I went to the Queensland State Title and ended up winning that. And then I wanted to win that or come first or second, make the final, I made the final. And that was going to give me an extra four or five weeks of training so I could go to the Australian Title in Sydney. And that was the last qualification for the Commonwealth Games. And what happened was I ended up making the Queensland team. We went down to Sydney. And when I was about the fight, there was a little bit of shit going on before it because they were saying, no, you won't be able to fight. And I remember when I went to the first weigh-in, they didn't have my name down on the registration. And I said, well, I'm here to fight. I've done everything right. I want to weigh in. And I said, yep, right. So I weighed in. Anyway, the draw came out. And I remember going upstairs, and it was the night of the fight. And I was probably about midway through, like we had the women's boxing first, and I was on. And then I remember I was about to have my hand wraps on, and I was about to go down to get clubbed up. And when I went down there, a guy from combat sport might have come in, and he said, no, Brad, you're not allowed to fight. And I said, well, that's wrong, because we're allowed, and we've done everything right. He goes, let me just put you last out, and we'll sort it all out. I think they put me last out so I couldn't protest. And I wasn't able to fight.
BEN WATERWORTH: For what, though? Like, what was the reason?
BRAD HORE: The rule, they had a rule where in New South Wales, they had a rule where New South Wales had a different rule to Queensland where professional athletes weren't allowed to go back to amateurs, which was wrong because IABA, who run the whole boxing internationally, brought this rule in where you could. So I don't know how a state in New South Wales could disqualify you from or overrule an international rule.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because it sounds like if the qualifying tournament then was still in Queensland, that it wouldn't be a problem. Or Victoria or Tasmania, where maybe it's recognised or something.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, Victoria and South Australia, I was fine. You know, it is what it was. I left it at that.
BEN WATERWORTH: So you couldn't protest or there wasn't sort of grounds for appeal?
BRAD HORE: They put me in, you know, last. So, you know, if I had to fight when I had to fight, when I was on the schedule, I would have got the whole Queensland boxing team in there, and we would have sat in the ring until something happened. But they made me laugh, and I thought they were going to do the right thing and let me fight, which they didn't. And I just left out of that. And actually, I wasn't really too worried, you know. It is what it is. And, you know, I was lucky enough to, you know, that year I had my son. So, you know, that was a whole new life anyway, a change anyway for me.
BEN WATERWORTH: And was that then, was that the end? You hung up the gloves after that, or are you still kind of going? Is there potential for more comebacks?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I've had more comebacks than Johnny Farnham. But no, I was supposed to fight this year in June. I went back to professional and challenged the Australian title holder, Mark Sleeds, down at Melbourne. And, you know, I was training for that. And I did a whole training camp, 12 weeks, hard, strict diet, strict everything. I got back down to weight where I was when I was an athlete myself, like a full-time athlete. And then COVID hit, which cancelled that. And ever since then, yeah, I haven't been into boxing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, there's still time for Paris Brad to break that record of three-time Olympian. Come on, three years.
BRAD HORE: But no, after seeing him at Tokyo, there's some good skill going around. You know, I think my time is done, and like I said, I'm a proud, prouder Olympian of what I'm doing now with the community and what I was actually being an athlete.
BEN WATERWORTH: You've been speaking of being proud, very proud sort of Indigenous athlete, kind of, you know, everything along those lines. What's that like seeing Paddy Mills carry that flag out? You know, the first Australian Indigenous athlete to carry that flag kind of just, I mean, is that a very special moment that kind of see that we've come that far now? That, you know, this is something that can be finally bestowed something that should have been probably done a very long time ago.
BRAD HORE: I think how they picked him or when they picked him, I thought that was the smartest thing. Or in the proudest moment, like what he's done for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes, or not even athletes, just community. He's an inspiration. He's a role model. And to see him walk out there and being the first Indigenous, you know, flag bearer was pretty special. And, you know, I've heard some stories. You know, I'm on the Olympic Indigenous Advisory Committee. And with that, we, you know, we did so much behind the scenes for the village. You know, there was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in the village. The first time that's ever happened. There was a map of Australia with all the different tribes and athletes would go up and put a pin there and say, hey, I'm from this land. Instead of like it being like Newcastle, it's got a land, you know, or Kempsey where I'm from down New South Wales and say, no, I'm Dunguddy, you know. Stuff like that, you know, a shirt. I've never had a shirt at the Olympics. I've seen Indigenous design. And that was from Paul Fleming. He was a boxer in LA. You know, there was a towel. There was a bandana for your head. That paddy still wears around there. The flags, the three flags hanging up. We've never been allowed to have flags hanging up, like Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander flag in the village. All these little things is a big step forward. You know, and I remember someone was telling me, Kyle VanCot, we had a, you know, the hurdler that's, you know, from Sydney, Atlanta. He was our, like a liaison, not liaisons, also like a Indigenous. He was the athlete in there where, if there was any young Indigenous, to learn a bit more about our culture or for our mob to feel a lot comfortable in there. And he was the man to go see or speak to, you know, just to feel that you're at home. And he was telling me that, Patty, the boomers were supposed to get in at 8 o'clock at night into the village. And they were all wrecked. They come from LA, from Vegas, and they were wrecked. And they ended up getting in once they passed security, once they passed all their COVID stuff and paperwork and stuff like that. Kyle ended up waiting up for them, and they got in at 2 a.m. And then Patty said he's each wrecked. But Patty pulled in the side and he goes, mate, I'll go through that a hundred times more because of what I've just seen in the village. And that was the Aboriginal art, the Indigenous, the Aboriginal art, the Torres Strait Islander art, the map of Australia, the flags. It was bringing the nation together, and that's something that we haven't had. We've seen it with the Matildas. They're having the flag out there. That wasn't just because of Sam Kerr. That was because she's supporting her Indigenous teammates. And they're all proud. And I think it's a big step forward. The skateboarders didn't have a uniform, a skating uniform. And they went up and asked Cole, because he was our, the Indigenous, I can't think of the word, but the officer sort of thing there. And they said, like, that was a young poppy and a couple of the guys, the young people who won gold. And they didn't have like a proper uniform, but they asked if they could wear the Indigenous shirt. It's like, mate, that stuff there just gives you chills. Yeah. Yeah, it's a big step forward. And we hope we can see more Olympics to come and things like that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Come a long, long way since 1994 when Cathy Freeman gets ripped a new one for carrying the flag at the Commonwealth Games. That's incredible to kind of hear that. I mean, do you then hope, like, when you go to the schools and you're kind of involved in what you're doing, do you sort of use that as kind of like a message and kind of talk a lot more about sort of, you know, what it means to be an Indigenous athlete? And maybe if you've got some Indigenous children at the school, that can kind of spur them on a little bit too?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, 100% with that. And, you know, they've got to be comfortable to leave their country or wherever they're from, like their mob. But there's only 60 Indigenous known Olympians out of 4,400, I'm guessing. I'm not sure, you know, the numbers are about 400 and something that went to Tokyo, but there's only 60 known Indigenous Olympians out of there. So it's not a very big number. So, you know, we've got to do that job now to inspire younger Indigenous athletes or, you know, kids to make the games and be proud of who they are. And Paddy's certainly done that, you know. What he's done to that boomers culture is unbelievable. You know, he started this thing where they're getting all the old boomers together and present them with a hat, you know, and their number and bringing back the old school shirts and mixing together. Like, that there is just, you know, that's pretty awesome to see that what he's doing there is, you know, just trying to work with everyone together. And he's done that with the boomers.
BEN WATERWORTH: And it's kind of, it's great to see that in any sport when they're able to do that, because, I mean, I don't know if this is true or not, but I know obviously, like, the Australian cricket team had done that for a while. And you're seeing that with so many Olympians, like the Hockey Roos, the Kookaburras would be saying like, Hockey Roo number 127. And I just love kind of seeing that. And it's kind of great that Patty's able to do that, because we all remember, you know, Andrew Gaze's emotional speech and kind of talking about that culture and what it means. And it's just, it's great to be able to see kind of a sport bond together and, you know, the moment of winning a bronze, but mixed with everything that kind of, Patty's obviously, you know, yeah, really sparing.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, and Patty, and the best thing about the whole, his whole teammates were on board with it. You know, not one didn't want to. And that's pretty cool, you know, and yeah, Patty's done a lot. He probably don't realise how much he's done, but, you know, like even him now, he's up there at Torres Strait with his family doing his tour. He's seen his family, his mob just trying to stir someone up.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's very popular. I've seen him on social media. He's, you know, very popular up there.
BRAD HORE: And that's from a small little community up there. And to be, you know, he's living in the US. He's playing in the NBA.
BEN WATERWORTH: Probably won the Cubs for another championship, right? Just joined the Nets.
BRAD HORE: It's all right. Yeah. So, you know, another ring. And, you know, but he's done awesome. He's, you know, like, I was pretty lucky. I was being an athlete. I had Kathy, I had Nova Ferris, I had Kyle Vance, I had Patrick Johnson, who I always looked up to. And I tell them all the time. I see Kyle and I go, man, I just, you know, I still get starstruck just sitting there talking to him. And, you know, we come up ways of how we can inspire younger indigenous athletes or younger indigenous kids. And just give them a go.
BEN WATERWORTH: We're going to close off with a series of sort of fun get to know questions in just a sec, Brad. But I mean, just on that topic, staring behind you right now, amazing piece of artwork of yours. I mean, I'd love to learn a little bit more about kind of what got you into the art side of things and tell our listeners about sort of where can they check this out and sort of, you know, help support the great art that you're producing.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I've got an art page now, website, just bradhoreart.com.au. And, you know, the piece behind me is something that I've called sports support. And, you know, that's your closest Nick group that people don't really know about behind you. And, you know, your ups and downs. That's all the tracks that are going through there and your allied health helping you, your physios, your doctors, all stuff that you don't see behind the scenes. And that's what that painting is there. And I've done some face masks and Patty Mills was wearing one of them in the village. I was shocked that he had one of them on in the village. I've done some art and the only reason why I did that was because I lost my father two years ago. And I came home when COVID first hit and brought home about four canvases and walked outside. And I remember my partner sitting there and she just said, what are you doing? So I'm just about to start some painting and everyone sort of laughed and just sort of took off. You know, now it's something that I like doing and she's a big supporter of it, you know, and she helped me through a lot with my sports and everything like that, and especially the art side of things as well. And, you know, I'm very thankful to have her by my side and to sort of just another little journey, really. She's there, she's a supporter and she's always been a supporter and, yeah, I'm very lucky.
BEN WATERWORTH: And is it something that kind of moving forward, you just... it takes over a little bit more, the inspiration kind of hits, like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And kind of the more and more you do it, the more and more you love it and hope to, I don't know, like, kind of what do you hope to kind of get out of it moving forward?
BRAD HORE: I'd love to design some jerseys for some, you know, football teams or anything like that. You know, I've done a couple of Olympic paintings now, which is what my sort of stuff. I've got one where I've got one of the 52 indigenous known Olympians before, you know, I did that before. I didn't do it before, but that was before, you know, the last Olympics started in Tokyo, where we've now gone up to 60. But, you know, that I did a painting there of the Brisbane Olympic Games, Brisbane 32, 2032. And it's just something that I like to do and it relaxes me. It's good for my mental health. And, you know, I like to do a couple of hours a day if I can. But, you know, some days I could be on a Saturday, I could be there all day.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic, fantastic. Well, I've got to say, you talked about sort of when the Olympics on, watching Tokyo, getting back into it, kind of that. We're obviously very close to Beijing. Are you a winter fan? Is there something you can get behind? And actually, I don't know if you know this, but have there ever been any indigenous winter athletes at all?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, we've had one. That was 2018. Not sure where that was. Yeah, like, I've even had the thought in my head, like, if that first indigenous Olympian wasn't there for the winter games, I was thinking about throwing something on and giving it a go, just to, you know, I reckon I'll be all right at curling.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'll join you, Brad, because I tell you what, I want to be the first Tasmanian winter Olympian. So hey, you can be...
BRAD HORE: Oh, really?
BEN WATERWORTH: I haven't broken it, but like, you'd be the second, and I could be the first Tasmanian... Creating history in curling, there you go.
BRAD HORE: I'll just throw me on one of them broom things, and I'll just sweep. I'll probably fall over a few times, but... You know, I'll get me on the broom.
BEN WATERWORTH: We've got a pair of Charlie and Dean. They're on the cuffs, so they might beat us to it, unfortunately. But they're on the cuffs of qualifying for Basie.
BRAD HORE: Oh, good. And, you know, that's not too far away, too. So, you know, I'll be there watching as much as I can, like I do with any sports or any Olympics. And, you know, I met the boys that were the Bodsled team, the last one, and a great bunch of guys.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, for sure. We've had several of the Bodsled girls on, sort of in the lead up to Beijing, and they're some of our favourite guests. I always produce some great interviews, so we're very much cheering everyone on, not only the Bodsled, but for the winters in Beijing coming up. Now, Brad, we wrap up our interview series of sort of get to know your questions. Now, as we always say in these, they're based on a questionnaire that Team Canada gave their athletes ahead of Rio and Pyeongchang. Unfortunately, they never quizzed a boxer, at least that they published. So I've gone with a wrestler. I've gone combat sport. It's kind of... it's on the same page. So you are allowed to answer yourself for any of these. Otherwise, these are maybe the easiest and dumbest questions you'll ever get asked. Your favourite ever Olympic moment is?
BRAD HORE: It has to be Cathy Freeman. You know, I remember that day pretty good. I was in the Dine Hall at Sydney, and everyone was cheering that day. And that was loud. I couldn't get tickets to go watch it, but I remember being in the Dine Hall and just watching it on the big screen there. And there was a couple from Tokyo Olympics, Logan, the BMX rider, Logan Martin. I thought that was pretty cool what he did. And Harry Garth was a good one. Just proud of him, but the number one out of that was Cathy. What she had to go through at the Sydney Olympics. She had the whole world up against her in Australia, and everyone cheering her on. I had some photos before she snuck off to light it, because we didn't know who was lighting it.
BEN WATERWORTH: I remember during the opening ceremony, they kept showing her on the screen waving. That was when everybody didn't know who was lighting it right. So when she emerges, it's like, wait a minute, she was just like, how did she get changed?
BRAD HORE: She got changed pretty quick and snuck up the back door. And then the flame got stuck halfway up too. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: What were you guys thinking when you're watching that? Because I remember watching it, I think we all thought this was part of the show, but were you guys all like, they're going, this doesn't feel right, something's wrong.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, this doesn't work, this works. Oh, it's back again, it's working.
BEN WATERWORTH: If you could choose any Olympic host city, where would it be?
BRAD HORE: Oh, nah, there's nothing to be to home Olympics, but yeah, that's a tough one. Anywhere in the world, I like to see one in Germany. I didn't mind Germany. Yeah, it was, Germany was a good place to train and things like that, but you know, we got Brisbane coming up here, so Brisbane is going to be the best Olympics going around since 2000. So, you know, we're pretty lucky.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's all right if Sydney gets beaten by Brisbane. Like, I mean, Sydney wouldn't like that with the Queensland-New South Wales rivalry, but I mean, you know, Australians get beaten by Australians, right? In your spare time, I mean, this might be something we just talked about. In your spare time, what do you most like to do?
BRAD HORE: You know, I'm a homebody. You know, mucking around a little fella, being family. You know, I play lawn bowls as well. Painting, yeah. So just something to keep me mind off things. You know, my head races a fair bit.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was going to say lawn bowls. There's your Commonwealth Games ticket back in your return.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I used to play lawn bowls just to keep my head away from the boxing side of things, just to think more.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's a story. See, I want to see that, Brad. I want to see you like, you know, I don't know if Birmingham is possible, but 2026, 2030, the boxer into a lawn bowl. I mean, that's got to be the first time ever done that.
BRAD HORE: There's some good lawn bowls here. I've been playing for a little while now, and there's some good old fellows out there. They're pretty good. You know, I've won a pennant for a club at First Division, but you know, that's pretty good. But I don't know about making the Australian side. Them guys are pretty good.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, there's whispers that the 2026 Comm Games haven't been awarded yet, and there's whispers that Sydney might be throwing in a sneaky bid.
BRAD HORE: Oh, really?
BEN WATERWORTH: There's a bit of inspiration for you five years away. Home Commonwealth Games again. The weirdest instruction a coach ever gave you was?
BRAD HORE: Hit him in the balls.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is that something you then follow or?
BRAD HORE: Well, it's funny, like, yeah, someone's pressuring you all the time and pushing you backwards, and you get a warning first, so just doing what the coach said.
BEN WATERWORTH: So it's not an instant disqualification if you just go for the...
BRAD HORE: No, not if you're the sneaky one, but yeah, you get pulled up, you get a warning.
BEN WATERWORTH: What is a sneaky nut shot? How does that go sneaky?
BRAD HORE: Sneaky nut, yeah, just don't load up too much and this little sneaky nut shot will get him.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, look, if you're going to get disqualified and you just want to go full tilt with the ball...
BRAD HORE: Yeah, if you lose them, you might as well just go full tilt. Yeah, if you need a rest from him pushing you back all the time and you get inside, just a sneaky little nut shot.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're not winning your next bout. You're retiring hurt from the next one. Screw you, mate. Your favourite workout is?
BRAD HORE: Oh...
BEN WATERWORTH: That's an answer. You can answer none of them.
BRAD HORE: I don't mind running. Once I get up to a good fitness where I can run, but yeah, the running, the 5K runs, they're just nice for relaxing sometimes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Was there any agility like Harry, like the ballet or anything like that?
BRAD HORE: No, I didn't do any ballet. But yeah, Walmart was pretty very competitive in the boxing, my boxing teams. We used to play a game of soccer, indoor soccer, and some of them games were pretty brutal. We wouldn't hold back and none of us could play, but yeah, they used to get pretty fiery.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fun, fun. Yeah, I don't think I'd ever want to challenge a boxer to any form of competitive sport. I don't know how I'd go with that. If you could have lunch with any one person, who would it be?
BRAD HORE: Any one person. That's a good one. If I wanted to have lunch with someone, it would probably be Michael Phelps.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, there's a good one.
BRAD HORE: What he's done in the pool, I'd just like to sit there and just listen and his motivation to keep going. I don't know why he was so greedy winning that many medals, but yeah, he's got to be that good.
BEN WATERWORTH: Some people just want one. Yeah, that's it. Did you see him in the village in Athens? Do you kind of do a bit of slotting?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I saw him a little bit, but not like, you know, I think back then, like if it was now and you had your phone and that would be a little bit different than trying to go up there and get an autograph. You know, phone might have been different. Just a quick selfie or something, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's always interesting hearing some of the stories about who you're bumping into and kind of all that sort of stuff. Because, yeah, it must be unique. I mean, Michael Phelps, obviously, it's kind of what he's known for the Olympics, but you think of someone like a Paddy Mills who, you know, like arguably is probably more famous in the US as an NBA player and kind of the Olympics is just a bonus of what he gets to do. So it's kind of an extra level of superstardom, right, isn't it?
BRAD HORE: Yeah, well, I still haven't met Paddy yet. So that's a lie, because I was at the RIS with him, but he wasn't as big as what he was then, you know, and he was a shy boy and, you know, we didn't, you know, we didn't really talk too much to the basketballers back then. But yeah, I felt would be, just what he's done, I'd just like to sit there and just see how he's... How? And then come back, have some time off and come back and then win a couple more goals.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, just, you know, he'll probably surprise everyone, come back for powers and win like another five. Just calm down, share some around. At least Tokyo, a few more people got some medals. Thank you for that. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
BRAD HORE: Probably invisible.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice, that would work well in boxing.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, that as well, yeah. And just so I could hide from people, you know, sometimes to just get a bit over it. Sometimes I'd like to just hide and yeah, probably that.
BEN WATERWORTH: I like that one. The best candy in the world is?
BRAD HORE: Can I say chocolate?
BEN WATERWORTH: Of course you can.
BRAD HORE: It's not candy, but yeah, I'm a big chocoholic. You know, I love my chocolate. Do you have a particular favourite?
BEN WATERWORTH: Like is there a go-to?
BRAD HORE: Oh, just plain, plain Cadbury's will do. I just like that, out of the fridge. And I probably eat chocolate nearly every day.
BEN WATERWORTH: I, at the moment, live about a five minute drive from the Cadbury factory here in Tasmania.
BRAD HORE: When I'm down in Tasmania, I'm coming down to visit you and we'll go there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do it. You can't do tours of it anymore, but I think they might still have access to the shop, because the best part of the tour was you got access to the shop, and the shop was where all the broken bits they couldn't sell in supermarkets were there. So you'd be able to buy a five kilo box of dairy milk for like ten bucks. Just things like that. It was pretty epic. Reasons to come to Tasmania. As a kid, your favourite sports team was?
BRAD HORE: I was a Western Suburbs Magpie supporter, the Footy, NRL. You know, I just grew up with mum and dad supporting them, and now I'm a West Tigers because they merged. But yeah, that was my team. Still is, but yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, I always like to hear this from people from Sydney in particular. Do you pay attention to like the AFL, the Swans, or now the Giants, if they're in the finals?
BRAD HORE: No, I watch a lot of, I watch any sport really, you know, like on a weekend, I wake up here at, you know, about five o'clock and I watch the darts or four o'clock or tape the darts and watch it. So I can watch anything. I'm, you know, I've been watching the, I don't know what the sport's called over in America, but the sack thing where they throw.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, NFL, like American football?
BRAD HORE: No, no, like a sack thing and they throw it on a bit of wood.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, yeah, cornhole, cornhole.
BRAD HORE: I was watching that the other day. I don't know why I'm watching it. I don't know how they get their crowds, but you're just watching, this is unbelievable. They're just sitting in the back, thinking of beer and just throwing some sacks.
BEN WATERWORTH: I heard sacks, I'm thinking NFL, but like, I don't know if you've been to like an American football game and they have the whole sort of tailgating culture, and then you're drinking and you're playing cornhole while you're getting ready to go and watch a game. It's a unique culture, but it's fun.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, I can watch anything. Well, whatever I've got, Foxtel and everything like that, I'll watch up at stupid hours and watch stupid sports.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great. That's what I like to hear.
BRAD HORE: Anything.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, on that, what's your favourite sports movie?
BRAD HORE: Remember The Titans.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice, nice movie.
BRAD HORE: You know, just how they both come together, you know, and then, you know, working together after, you know, a whole divide of racism and stuff like that, and to win a championship. You know, I probably know nearly all the words for it, but yeah, I love that movie.
BEN WATERWORTH: I've got to ask a cliché. What's your favourite boxing movie?
BRAD HORE: My favourite boxing movie would be The Hurricane.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice. Good choice. It's kind of, I always like to find out with our athletes, like, you know, often we get athletes where there's not a genuine movie on it, but I mean, boxing is probably the one sport where there's probably more movies than any sport.
BRAD HORE: You know, you got your Rockies and that, but I just love the story of The Hurricane as well, and being locked up for a crime that he didn't do, and how he got out and they gave him back the WBC World Title when he got released.
BEN WATERWORTH: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
BRAD HORE: Anywhere in the world. I didn't really like too many places overseas, only because I love home. You know, I love Darwin, but anywhere in the world, I'll probably move to Canada even though I haven't been there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice, nice.
BRAD HORE: I think it looks pretty relaxed, and it looks pretty similar to us, and yeah, I wouldn't mind that. Not the cold bit of Canada, but yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I just don't know. When I first returned, I was living there until earlier this year. I lived in Victoria and BC, which is kind of the Queensland of Canada. So it's not too bad. And we did get two snow days, but it's rare. I can't hold it. Never snows in Victoria, even though it got two dumps. But yeah, that's where I think people go in Canada when they don't want to face the rest of the country's cold.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, right. I will go there.
BEN WATERWORTH: When you were little, what was one thing you always thought?
BRAD HORE: That always thought.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
BRAD HORE: That's a tough one. I always thought. Like, that's something that wasn't true sometimes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Look, it could be. I mean, the example here that I can give you. So this athlete that we're looking here is Jasmine Yarn, a Canadian wrestler. Her answer, she says, everyone had an identical twin living somewhere in the world. Anytime I was out in public, places like the mall, I was keeping my eyes open for my long lost twin.
BRAD HORE: No, I wouldn't think that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, that's funny.
BRAD HORE: I wouldn't really know what I thought back then.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'll give you an answer that I always like, when people say, I'm hungry. As a kid, you always thought you were hungry.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, well, that's right. My little boy now, he's always hungry. He comes home from daycare and he eats us all out. And we're just going, dude, are they feeding him at daycare? No, they are.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's good. That's good. Now, this is another one. To end this, this is one that you've either got, you've got to go to, or you might not be able to answer. Your favourite joke to tell is?
BRAD HORE: Oh, I don't mind the old dad jokes. You know, at the moment, I've got one is, how did the butcher introduce his wife?
BEN WATERWORTH: How? Tell me.
BRAD HORE: Meet Patty. I love listening to the radio and listening to dad jokes. You know, probably some rudder ones, but yeah, just plain stupid dad jokes.
BEN WATERWORTH: The one I heard recently was, I like telling dad jokes. He laughs a lot. All right.
BRAD HORE: Great.
BEN WATERWORTH: And Brad, I mean, you mentioned your website for art. If people want to follow you, social media or anything else that you want to check out.
BRAD HORE: Yeah, just check. It's just Brad Hore Art. But yeah, the website is bradhoreart.com.au. There is an Instagram page as well. So yeah, you either jump on my personal page or the art page. All good.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic. Brad, it has been an absolute pleasure chatting with you, mate. So much fun learning about your journey and just everything else in between. And I'm saying this. I'm seeing you 2026 Commonwealth Games, Lawn Bowls, and if it doesn't happen, you and I will be on the 2026 Olympic Curling Team. How about that?
BRAD HORE: There you go, mate. Let's keep training. I might have to come down there to get on some ice, but we'll work it out, mate. But thanks for having us and take care down there, matey, and stay safe. Bye.
BEN WATERWORTH: And a massive thanks to Brad there for his time. Just a pleasure to learn about that journey. And wow, Sydney, I can't even imagine what it's like to experience the highs of an opening ceremony, knowing that you're not actually there to compete anymore, that you've been disqualified that morning for being, as he said, probably the weight of a stuffed kangaroo over, and therefore you were not allowed to compete. Such an incredible story. And I really appreciate Brad for his time. And check out his artwork. It really is fantastic. It is really great what he is doing out there, and I highly recommend checking him out and checking all the great art that he's doing. So here's up, and you will be able to see it. In the meantime, we have got plenty more to come, as always. I close off all of these episodes by saying we've got so many great episodes and interviews coming your way. Stay up to date by searching for Off The Podium on social media. That is the easiest way to stay up to date with everything, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Sadly, no TikTok yet, but maybe we're going to bring back the MySpace. I think we talked about that recently, so bring back MySpace. And of course, if you want to stay up to date with the show in terms of subscribing and never missing an episode, search for Off The Podium on all the good podcast channels, all the bad ones too. I always just said the good ones. I'm sure there's some bad ones out there as well that we are on. Off The Podium is what you search. Hit subscribe. That's simple, and you will never miss an episode. You can go back and listen to all the other episodes that we have dropped in the past as well. Thanks again to Brad. Thanks to everybody for tuning in. My name is Ben, this is Off The Podium, and as always, go left.
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