Charlotte Caslick Interview
Another big interview to come your way today as we chat with Australian Rio 2016 gold medallist from rugby 7s Charlotte Caslick about her amazing career and her hopes moving into the Tokyo Olympics! We find out about her unique path into the sport of rugby 7s, just how incredible her time at the games was and just how she is handling the current pandemic as she hopes to back up her gold at the next games with another one! It's a fun chat 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, as we continue our interview series with Olympians past and present, and some that aren't even Olympians, that are going to be Olympians, and everything else in between. We had an Olympic gold medallist last week on with Jamie Soleil. We've got another Olympic gold medallist on today in the form of Rugby Sevens gold medallist Charlotte Caslick, of course, was a member of the successful women's side that won the inaugural Rugby Sevens women's gold medal in Rio. And a great chat here with Charlotte, learning a lot about how she got into rugby, how she trains and everything else in between. It is a fun chat here that will keep you very much entertained during your time listening to it. Without further ado, here is our interview with Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick.
BEN WATERWORTH: We are continuing on our interview series here on Off The Podium with Olympians past and present. And we're very excited today for our next guest. The first taste of rugby sevens we've ever had on this show. We have with us today an Olympic gold medallist from Rio, a key member of the Australian rugby seven side that won gold in Rio. And reading through her career stats and looking at everything she's achieved, I feel like I need to also add not only Olympic gold medallist, but the best rugby sevens player in the world. I think that is up there with Olympic gold medallist as well. I do of course speak of the one, the only Charlotte Caslick. Charlotte, first of all, worked off the podium. It's a pleasure to have you on the show today.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Thank you so much for having me.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's, I mean, again, looking at your resume, your career stats here, it really is incredible. What sounds better, best player in the world or Olympic gold medallist? I mean, which one of those you kind of go, yeah, okay, I'm more proud of one of those over the other.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I'm probably more comfortable with Olympic gold medallist, if I'm being honest. Best player in the world sometimes sits a bit funny with me. I guess it's hard to feel that about yourself in a way, especially when I've got such a great team around me, and I probably wouldn't classify myself as that. So yeah, I think Olympic gold medallist for sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: Something that you can never have taken away from you. It's obviously an amazing thing to have that part of your name. But I love reading about so many of you and your teammates and everything, sort of how you got into the sport, how you even ended up in Rio, because you didn't really start with rugby, did you? You kind of played a lot of different sports, and it's sort of a letter in the mail basically, and you are eventually going to become an Olympian. I mean, tell us a little bit about how all that worked and how all that came about.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, so there was, I obviously did a lot of sports growing up, but touch football became my main sport, I guess, from when I was about 13. So I played for the Australian Women's Open Team in touch football when I was 16, and then we were at a tournament for that, against playing against New Zealand, and a few of us received letters in the mail from the Australian Rugby Union asking us to come to a training camp. They explained that Sevens was an Olympic sport and they were trying to just scout some players to build up the program, and they were trying girls from all different sports. So we had like netballers, girls from athletics, basketball, and then obviously our touch girls. But I think for us, because it's not the same, but obviously the skill set is very similar, so there was a lot of things we could take out of touch football and bring that towards rugby.
BEN WATERWORTH: When you get that letter and kind of see the words Olympics, you know, kind of we're looking for these people to eventually go towards the Olympics. Was that something that you kind of always aspire to was as somebody who played a lot of sports, was Olympics something that you thought you'd like to achieve? And this kind of gave you a ticket to potentially achieve that?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, definitely. I played hockey since I was five, and I was a massive hockey bruise fan. And I guess when I was five, that was like their golden era, and they were almost unstoppable. So I kind of thought that was my path when I was really little. And then I did a lot of athletics and competed for Queensland and read at Nationals since I was 10, and became obsessed with Cathy Freeman and kind of thought maybe athletics was my thing. And then I used to get really, really nervous with athletics, so I don't know if it was just because it was individual or, yeah, I'd put a lot of pressure on myself. And then I found when I played touch, I just felt comfortable and I always had so much fun doing it. So yeah, when I was about 13, I kind of gave away my Olympic dream to pursue touch football at the time, which looking back on is pretty random because touch couldn't offer me what other sports could. But I guess in a way, it led me to rugby seven. So it was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.
BEN WATERWORTH: Meant to be. It kind of seemed like it was sort of written in the stars almost like that. What drew you into touch football when you started playing that?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Um, I think the social aspect of it, definitely. Like, I loved hanging out with my friends. And there's just something about touch that's just really fun. And we spend hours and hours training on Sundays and spent so much time doing it and travelling all around Australia together. And yeah, I think we all just became such good friends that I had such a great time doing it. And the skill set came really naturally to me. And I just felt like I was at home every time I was playing touch. So yeah, I think when things come naturally to you, it makes it a lot more enjoyable.
BEN WATERWORTH: So with that, then, when you try out for rugby sevens, did that feeling transition across to rugby sevens when you first tried it out?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: When I had the ball, yes. When I had to defend, no. So, yeah, the defensive side of it just took a little bit of time to adjust and get my head around the fact that I was playing a contact sport and I just took a lot more work than I probably thought at the start. But yeah, now I love contact sessions. They're almost one of my favourite days of the week is when we do contact. So things have definitely changed since I started when I was 17.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because I can imagine for all of you who had been invited from Touch Football, it's sort of, yeah, that's the number one rule of Touch Football almost isn't it? Like don't tackle, you can only touch. But if somebody like coming from basketball, which, OK, is not as physical as rugby is, but it's more physical than touch in a way, so I'm sure that, you know, there's a bunch of Touch Football girls there all of a sudden, like, oh, what I can tackle? This is weird. And you got basketball players, and I was like, oh, yeah, come on, get, you know, get a bit rough. Come on, this is what the sport's about.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, sort of. I used to laugh a lot. Like I would constantly be giggling. And I think it was just because I felt really awkward and uncomfortable. And then, yeah, I don't know, it probably, like it took me ages to sort of get my head around it. But at the same time, I guess the fact that there was a group of us that sort of were making the transition at a similar time, it probably made it easier because we had people to practise with. And the rugby girls were also really great with me. You know, they spend some extra time helping me and giving me little bits of guidance every now and then. So, yeah, I was definitely lucky that I had good people around me at the time.
BEN WATERWORTH: How was the sport sort of before the Olympics, you know, in terms of participation numbers? How was the Australian team at that point before it actually became an Olympic sport?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, it was definitely growing at this stage. We'd obviously won the World Series the season before for the first time. And New Zealand had always been the best to that point. So obviously, everything that New Zealand is good at, we try and compete with them. And we love that rivalry that we have with them. So it definitely was growing. But yeah, once we won the gold medal in Rio, the numbers just skyrocketed. And there was girls and programs getting set up all over the country and programs for younger girls as well, which I think was probably the main thing. There was the opportunity for girls to play at 12, 14, 16, 18, rather than previously in Australia. Once you got to 12, you could no longer play contact sports until you turned 18. So I think that was probably the main thing. It's just the schools getting behind it post Rio.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because, I mean, women's sport has just taken off so much in the last year, decade. Like, I mean, you know, where we are today to where we were, no doubt, when you even probably started trying out for rugby sevens. I mean, it just keeps growing and growing every single year. And I can imagine that, you know, the prospect of an Olympics is one thing, you know, representing your country, something you've done in touch football. But just kind of combining all those aspects, trying out this new sport and everything. How long did it take you, do you feel, to fully adapt to the differences between touch football and rugby? And at what point did you kind of think, OK, this is my sport now, not touch football?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I think the opportunity that rugby was giving me made it a really easy choice for me to swap over. Like, I love touch, and I'm so grateful for the opportunities and the friends and the skill set that it gave me to then develop into the rugby player I am now. But the opportunities, I guess, in rugby are just so much greater. When I turned 18, I got to travel to my first World Cup in Russia. And then I was travelling all over the world with this really fun group of girls. And I think that kind of was the point where I was like, oh, yeah, this is definitely what I want to be doing for as long as possible.
BEN WATERWORTH: How quickly did it take for you to make the national side in terms of, you know, you get that sort of invitation? I mean, were you quick to adapt? Did they like what they saw straight away? Did it take you a while to kind of build up enough so you were then getting selected for Australia?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, it was quite a quick transition. I would have got the letter when I was 16, and then came in and out to a few training camps within that next year. And then I played at the Youth Olympics when I was 17. So that was in Sydney, and we had like a really awesome team. There was maybe three of us, I think, that went on to Rio Olympics. And that was pretty cool to be able to say that we did both of those together. But yeah, and then 18 was when I made my debut for the Open Women's teams.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is an amazing feeling, no doubt. I mean, as I said, you sort of represented Australia, of course, in touch. But is there something different when it comes to kind of this is a sport again that you never thought you'd be playing, I can imagine. And here you are sort of achieving that, you know, the peak of any sport, of course, is to represent your country, and you had achieved that.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, it was pretty crazy, I guess, how fast it all kind of happened. But I kind of went through it with the same group of girls that I've been playing touch with. So in a way, it was similar, in the sense that I knew the girls, and I had that like cool group of friends around me still. It was probably a little bit more daunting. My debut tournament was actually at Twickenham. We played on like the backfield to start with. And I was sort of like coming on and off the bench and whatever. And then the grand final was in Twickenham Stadium in front of thousands and thousands of screaming English as we played England in that final. To go from playing touch football, which is pretty much an Australian and New Zealand dominant sport, to then being on the other side of the world in one of the most famous stadiums there is, was like a definite change. But at the same time, it's exciting. I think I love that aspect of it, and it kind of makes you hungry to hopefully get to play in front of crowds like that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is a great thing about rugby sevens is because rugby, as many Australians know, is kind of only selective. You might only have eight to ten countries in the world that sort of play it, and even then a very small handful that I guess are very competitive. But the great thing about sevens, of course, is it's opened up so many doors to many other countries. Me living in Canada right now, I didn't actually realise how big rugby has become in Canada and how good Canada are in rugby sevens in both men and women. Other countries as well, the US, a non-usual rugby country, they're good. All these other countries, Fiji, of course, winning the gold medal for the men. It kind of does, I guess, not only open up these doors for these countries, but for you as a competitor as well, Charlotte, you get to go to England, you get to go to Canada, you get to go to places that you might not be visiting if you had stuck with touch football as well.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, for sure. I think Sevens is obviously, yeah, has that aspect. And I think the way that it's played and the excitement factor that it brings is so appealing for crowds. And yeah, I think that's obviously why that we get to play all over the world. But yeah, I've been to some pretty cool countries and almost every continent in the world since I started playing. And yeah, I've met lots of friends and stuff from other teams and other countries. And it's a really probably one of the only sports, I think, that you all travel to a place, stay in the same hotel with the people you're about to play against. So you sort of have like a weird dynamic of on the field, we're not friends, but then we spend a lot of time in hotels together throughout the year. So, yeah, it's definitely a special sport. And yeah, we're very lucky, I think.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you keep like a scratch map, like, you know, and kind of scratch off the countries that you visit along the way?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: No, I don't. But I think my mum has one. So she comes to watch me and said, so they can scratch it off for me. But yeah, I think I should definitely maybe invest in one.
BEN WATERWORTH: That would be a good idea, I think. Do you know off the top of your head how many countries you've ended up visiting?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: It would be over 20, I would say, but I'm not, I don't know a number. But yeah, there's a lot.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you mentioned that excitement level, because again, for maybe a lot of our non-Australian listeners, kind of, they might not be aware that, you know, depending on really the state you live in Australia, it will be, you'll have a differing opinion on rugby, because, you know, we kind of have a bit of a divide over what code of football you like. I grew up in Tasmania, so rugby clearly wasn't the biggest sport for me. I've always sort of liked rugby, but not as much as I've enjoyed Australian football. But one thing that I remember watching Rio, which was really my first taste of watching rugby sevens, was like, holy crap, this is like rugby on speed, and this is just so, so entertaining. And I was hooked to every single minute of watching it. Do you find a lot of people will say that to you when they see you play or watch it? Because again, people who maybe think rugby boring, but then they see rugby sevens and they realise, well, this is a completely different game to what I'm used to as rugby.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, I think so. And I think the way that myself and the girls play as well, like so expansive and our skill set usually surprises people at like how well we move the ball and obviously the speed of it. And I think when people come watch us live as well, it's like another adds like another dimension to it. And they again say like, Oh, my God, like we didn't realise like in person, like how much faster it is and how you always like all moving off the ball and like how big the field is still and all of those things. But yeah, I think for I found sevens become really popular in country towns as well that don't necessarily have the numbers to field a 15 aside rugby team, but they could get seven girls together to play rugby sevens. So yeah, I found that it's been like really quite popular in those smaller towns as well. And they really sort of jumped on board the sevens bandwagon.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is there much and I'm not sure if it's the same in women's as it maybe would be with the men's, but is there much kind of pressure or desire once you're in sevens to maybe then go for sort of the full 15? So like, for example, with the men, like they maybe, you know, all that the temptation of playing for the Wallabies and going to the Rugby World Cup is, is there much going on in that sort of in women's? And do many people kind of switch between the two? Or do you kind of have to make a decision which one you're going to want to play?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: We have got a few girls that play both like every time the World Cup comes around, they dedicate those few months to the of the year towards the 15 aside format. But I think I found that the seven aside game out of all contact sport at the moment in Australia, like we're sort of leading the way and it attracts such high quality athletes. And I guess we're probably like the most professional outfit that we have for contact sport at the moment. So, yeah, I've definitely found that I haven't really been tempted to play 15s yet. But there is a World Cup next year after the Olympics now. So I guess that kind of might change some of the girls' minds around what they're going to do and if they can do both or if they're going to have to choose. I know some of the girls in the French team have chosen to do the World Cup rather than keep training for the Olympics. So yeah, I think it's sort of a personal decision. But for me, sevens is definitely where I see myself.
BEN WATERWORTH: In New Zealand, is it not the Women's Rugby World Cup, I believe?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, yeah, it is.
BEN WATERWORTH: So I mean, that's kind of also probably, you know, it's not that far away from Australia, of course. So clearly, you know, there's that kind of it's almost like a home tournament. And I mean, I guess does that where you sort of you're saying you're weighing it up. Obviously, Olympics is your focus, the sevens is your focus. But would it be something that maybe you look back on your career to say that I played at a World Cup that is kind of maybe tempting you to at least give it a crack one day?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, I think so. Like, I think it's obviously a pretty cool spectacle to be a part of. And being in New Zealand and New Zealand at a World Cup would be pretty cool. At the moment, I'm sort of more focusing on sevens. And I guess I'll see where I'm at post-Tokyo next year, and whether or not I need a break or if I want to keep training for it. So I'm definitely not saying no to it, but I think I'll probably have to just reassess where I'm at post-Tokyo because I know after Rio, I kind of kept going ahead like full guns blazing and found the next year quite draining. And I think I didn't take enough time post-Rio to sort of, I guess, really let myself feel like all the emotions that were involved in Rio and the highs and lows of it. And we kind of just like got home and there was so much to do and we wanted to see everyone. And yeah, it kind of takes its toll on you a little bit.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you remember that moment when you were officially announced as going to Rio when you knew you were 100% going to Rio and what that feeling was like?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, I do. We had meetings with our head coach, Tim Walsh, at the time. He told me I was selected. And then I got to the car and I rang my parents and my brothers and they were all kind of like, Oh yeah, you're going. We all knew you were going. And I was like, Yeah, but not until now. It's not just because obviously I had played in every World Series for the last four years or five years, whatever it was leading into it. But yeah, it just it did still feel different. It wasn't like it was getting selected for a normal World Series. It was still really special.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is there a level of caution in your mind from that moment? You know, you're going to when you eventually walk on that pitch that first day in Rio, because I can imagine that it's a great feeling. You know, you go into the Olympics, but the last thing you want to do is kind of go out in a training field and injure yourself and realise that you're not going anymore. I mean, does that weigh in your mind? Or do you just as an athlete, you just have to completely put that in the back of your mind and just go on as normal?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I think every now and then it possibly does, but at the same time, yeah, like once you start playing and training, you kind of forget about everything else and just focus on what you're doing. But we had one of my teammates, Gemma Etheridge, she tore her ACL. I think it would have been 14 weeks out from Rio. She opted to get the last surgery, which obviously speeds the recovery. And she ended up making the team and coming to Rio, which was like an incredible story. And yeah, like it was very inspiring to watch her go through that. But I guess you kind of just can never really know, especially in contact sport, what's going to happen next. But you just got to train hard and hope your body, you know, doesn't have any freak accidents, I guess, happen.
BEN WATERWORTH: Can you explain a little bit about your position on the team, Charlotte, and kind of, you know, for some, maybe some of our non-rugby fans out there, what exactly your role is when you are playing in rugby sevens?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yep, so I play half back at the moment. So I feed the ball into scrums and I throw the ball into lineouts, which is a little bit different from the 15-a-side code, where the hooker does that. I sweep usually in defence, so I'm behind the defensive line, sort of like a mini fallback. And then I guess, like, my role is sort of, like I'm a ball player and distributor, but I also get to carry the ball a fair bit. So I was lucky I had Alicia Quirk, who was my 5'8, and she is a very good passer of the ball, so she kind of opened up a lot of space so I could have the ability to run. But yeah, I think I'm sort of quite well-rounded, I guess. Like I can carry the ball into contact and also ball play for other players outside me.
BEN WATERWORTH: What's a better feeling when you get the ball, go on a nice run, score a try, or when you land a perfect tackle and prevent maybe the opposite from happening?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I think maybe preventing, like making a tackle and preventing a try would probably be more, you probably get more of a rush out of it. I'm not sure if that's because it's something that I'm not as good at or like wasn't as good at previously. So it's like I know I've worked really hard to get to the point of being able to make that tackle. It doesn't come as naturally, I guess, to me as what running with the ball did. And I think even like when you're on a team, if one of your teammates makes a tri-saving tackle, you all kind of get this really big lift on it. And you're kind of like, oh, God, like she just saved us there. Like we all have to lift and repay her in a way.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because with Rugby Sevens too, I could imagine in terms of, you know, training, gym work and everything like that. Whereas, say, the 15s, you know, it's a lot of heavy focus, of course, on the upper body, the strength. Sevens is a lot more of a faster version of it. So is it more about the balance of mixing that strength when you come into a tackle versus the need for that really quick play, which you maybe obviously have in 15s, but not as much. It's not quite as fast as Sevens.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, we definitely probably focus more on speed and power. So not necessarily lifting really, really heavy weights, but trying to lift weights fast or doing movements that help us be more powerful. So obviously trying to break tackles. If we're powerful through contact, it will hopefully help that. And then going into tackles as well, just having that power into them. So yeah, it definitely is a bit of a balance. Obviously, we have to be really fit as well. So that endurance is really important. But then you don't want to do too much of that and lose sort of like your high end speed. So I guess we probably like, I'm probably more like speed endurance based. And then you have like our wingers like Elliot Green, who focused a lot more on just like pure speed. And then there's people like me that can run for her. And she just let her kind of do the big game and hopefully win us games.
BEN WATERWORTH: With the experience in Rio, your schedule, obviously, you basically were on there day one and kind of over and done with within three days. But does that mean then that you didn't get to experience the joys of the opening ceremony, things like that? Were you kind of just watching that back from the village because you had to get up early the next morning?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, we didn't go to the opening ceremony. The boys went because they started day four, but yeah, we were just at home relaxing. It was a little bit sad, I guess, but we were kind of like so excited to be playing the next day that it didn't really bother me. I was pretty happy just hanging out at home. And then I think the boys, because obviously Australia's A, they got to go out first, and then they got home relatively early anyway. But if you're in Zimbabwe or something, you've got to be waiting there a little bit before you get out.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, I can imagine that disappointment, but as you said, kind of that focus. But I mean, that's obviously like a huge part of the Olympic experience. If you were like completely like, no, I want to have this experience, can you kind of go against team auditors? Because you're a team, it's sort of the decision is made as a team, and you sort of you're stuck with it, even if you staunchly want to do it.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, pretty much. You just do what the team is doing. And I think our coaching staff might have made the decision, maybe with our leadership group. I'm not sure. But yeah, no one really questioned it. Some of us are pretty lazy, so I think we didn't really mind that we wouldn't have to be standing on our feet all night. And being out and watched on TV is not as good, but we still got to see what was going on. And yeah, I think a few of the girls were very happy that they didn't have to be standing up all night, that's for sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because I guess on the flip side of it, surely your program is over very quickly. You don't get to experience a lot of the fun and everything of the Olympic Village atmosphere beforehand, because you're probably so focused. But I guess on the flip side, because it's so quickly, your games are done, so you can really let your hair down kind of after day three, unless the other athletes are maybe competing on day 16 and they've got to wait all that time. So that's, I guess, one positive of the Olympic experience. You had 13, 14 days of just living it up as a gold medallist.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, it was awesome. We finished day three, obviously won, so that made it even better. And then we just went and watched as much sport as we could and tried to support as many of the other athletes as possible. And yeah, we were, we got to do so many fun things. And I think we were definitely lucky in the sense that, you know, I had some swimmers that were friends of mine that weren't swimming for like another week after we finished. And yeah, so I think we were lucky that we got to really enjoy that whole experience. And I think I definitely wouldn't have changed that if I could.
BEN WATERWORTH: The whole experience, of course, of winning a gold medal, incredible. But I mean, I guess you guys just dominated the competition. I mean, one draw aside, completely undefeated, beat New Zealand in the gold medal match. I mean, you guys went in as a favourite. Is there pressure going in in that kind of level, or do you just kind of treat it like any other tournament and kind of forget that this is the Olympics? It's slightly different.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, for me, I didn't feel like I had that much pressure. I would have put a lot of... like I put pressure on myself, I guess, to perform, but I didn't feel any external pressure coming my way. I'm not really sure why. I think I was just sort of... we were so well prepared, and we had like almost this belief that no matter what, we were gonna win. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, because we obviously would have been absolutely devastated if we didn't. But yeah, I just felt there was this sort of aura around the group that we just had this really strong belief that we were gonna win, and we were prepared, and we sort of were just like following a process throughout the whole week leading in, and then obviously throughout the tournament. So yeah, I don't know. It feels weird to say that, but for some reason, I felt really like comfortable and in a really good place going into it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Did it make it that little bit extra special that it was New Zealand that you beat in the final to win the gold?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, I think so. I guess if we didn't get to play them throughout the tournament, we would have been disappointed because we always sort of benchmark ourselves against them, and they probably do the same. It's a special rivalry, I guess, that we've got with them that's been developing over a really long time, I guess forever, within Australia and New Zealand. But even for us in sevens, I think it's obviously developed over the last few years. So yeah, it was really nice to beat them.
BEN WATERWORTH: And that whole time frame from the final whistle to getting that medal around your neck, how would you describe that to people? Because there mustn't be a feeling like that in the world for an athlete, besides the fact that you are realising that this is it. You're an Olympic gold medallist. I mean, how can you describe that feeling to somebody who's never like me, never going to experience it?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Um, I kind of don't remember, which is weird. It's sort of a big blur, like from the final whistle till probably like we got our medals, is sort of just like this big blur of I'm not really sure of the timeline and what things were happening. And we obviously walked off and media was there and they were so excited and like AOC staff and other athletes. And like I checked my phone and I had millions of messages from people. And there was probably a sense of relief, I think, because we obviously had that expectation that we were going there to win. So to be honest, that was almost relieving, the fact that we actually did it. But at the same time, I think once we won our semifinal against Canada, we kind of were all like, oh, wow, like we're Olympic medallists, no matter what happens. So we were going into the final in a really good place, I think, of the fact that we were just so pumped that we were there and just sort of wanted to go out and enjoy the whole experience. But yeah, after the whistle, I just like don't really remember. I feel a big blur of happiness and joy and we're singing and crying and yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: You get a nice little piece of gold jewellery at the end of it to sort of remind you of that. What I mean, what did you do with the medal? Did you just wear it basically nonstop forever? Kind of like how long did it take for you to finally remove that from around your neck?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I'm really weird with medals. I don't really like wearing them. So it was kind of like when I get them, I take them off, but I think there's one medal I did keep on for a little bit longer. But once I got back to Australia, it was sort of more like trying to make sure it didn't get lost. And everyone, all my friends and family and everyone was trying it on. And I'd go to school visits and get passed around a couple of hundred kids. And you'd just be hoping that it would return to me at some point.
BEN WATERWORTH: It might be something that's kind of in the school kids' bag, it might be a little bit noticeable, like Jimmy wants that Olympic gold medal, is that yours? Yeah, and also too, when it comes to that, I mean, that must be the joy of it as well, like going to schools, getting to share that moment kind of with other people. Because I mean, I don't know if you ever had that experience at all growing up, Charlotte, when you maybe got to have a visit from an athlete or an Olympian who got that opportunity to kind of see one. Because it is something that sticks with kids for a long time when you kind of, hey, mum, I held an Olympic gold medal today or something like that, or you've got a photo with something around your neck. And who knows, like something like that, a visit, you know, you could be inspiring someone at a school. And in 10, 20 years time, they're replicating what you did and winning a gold medal for Australia.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, I think that's definitely been my favourite part about it. And I think in a way we've sort of led like a women in sport movement through contact sport. And I think that's been really special as well, just being at the forefront of showing young girls that you can still be a girl and you can still play contact sport that when I was younger wasn't exactly socially accepted. So I think that's been really cool. But yeah, I think when I do get messages from kids and they dress up as me on book week, where they dress up as something at school or they've got photos of me on their walls, and just seeing how much it does means them to take a couple of minutes out of my time to just say hello and take a photo, let them hold my medal. It seems like not a big deal to me, but to them, I think it does really make a difference. Well, I hope it does anyway.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's great hearing that. It's just little things like that that I'm sure just make it all so worth it. You know, really great to hear that. What did you do with the medal? Is the medal on display? Is it kind of in the sock drawer? What do you do with it now?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, it's just in one of my drawers at home at the moment. One day I will get it framed, I guess, with one of my jerseys or something. But at the moment, I think I just like having it accessible. And so when I do see kids or if I do go to a school visit, they can touch it and wear it and get something out of it rather than just having it sitting on a wall somewhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: The one thing I always like to find out from medallists on this show, Charlotte, is have you ever tried to get free stuff with it? Have you walked into Maccas with it around your neck and gone, hey, Olympic gold medallist, give me a Big Mac, or gone down to Kmart and say, hey, I really want that table. Have you tried something with it?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I haven't, but I think one of my brothers might have worn it out in a nightclub once and thought that maybe we'd get some free drinks or something. But I think we were unsuccessful.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, damn. Did he at least get some phone numbers from some people or something? Like, hey, I'm an Olympic gold medallist. That would work. I don't see why that wouldn't work. I'd be intrigued. I'd be going up to kind of chat with that. Obviously, with the current situation, I mean, right now, we shouldn't be talking to you. You should be getting prepared for Tokyo, kind of there, ready to go, obviously, being delayed. Just before that was all sort of postponed and kind of everything like that, what was the mindset like from you? Were you hoping it was going to get postponed? Were you kind of still in game mode, expecting it to go ahead? What was that whole period like before it was officially postponed?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: We kind of went through a phase of thinking coronavirus wasn't a big deal for a bit. And then it started to get very real. And I think we kind of just accepted the reality of it and that it was very unlikely that it was going to go ahead even before it was announced. I guess there's like a few, like some of the negatives that would come out of it is some of the older girls that were looking to retire post-Tokyo this year. Obviously, they'll hope to be there next year, but they're not sure if they can stay on. And they had plans to start families or to like move away and start the next phase of their life. So I guess not having them around next year, like the possibility of that's a bit sad and disappointing. But then we also have such a strong group of young girls coming through. And I think that they will really benefit from the extra year of preparation. And so I think as a team, we might be stronger next year due to the fact that we do have this really good group of young girls coming through, but they were just quite inexperienced still. But next year, they'll have that extra 12 months of training and that extra 12 months of hopefully some games if we do get to play before then under their belt. So yeah, I think there's definitely a lot of positives that we can take out of the fact that it was postponed.
BEN WATERWORTH: And what's the situation like for you now, Charlotte? I mean, are you able to train right now? Does it depend on what state you're in? What's happening with anything at this moment?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: We've obviously been quite lucky in Australia that they have contained the virus pretty well. Victoria's obviously just had another outbreak, and they've gone back into lockdown, but the rest of Australia is still doing quite a good job. So yeah, we've been back training for maybe two months now or six weeks as a group. So yeah, we're still sort of ticking along and getting a lot of training in together. We're based in Sydney. We've also kind of... I've got a farm up in Queensland, so I've spent a little bit of time going back and forth there. Some days, it's hard to be motivated when you're, like, I guess on Friday, we were meant to be on the plane to Tokyo, and we were just in Sydney. That we had been doing for the last six weeks. But so I guess on days like that, you kind of get a little bit down, and then it's hard to find the motivation to train for something that we're not really sure, or like we're not sure when we'll play again. We're not sure if Tokyo is going to definitely go ahead, and there's a lot of uncertainty around that. But I think at the same time, we're very lucky that we're in a country that's kept it so well contained, and we do have the ability to keep training because I know a lot of teams around the world don't have that luxury at the moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: Obviously, the goal, of course, is back to back. No doubt next year, Charlotte, I mean, is that something that you guys are just so focused on and think that you will achieve?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, definitely. I think everyone wants to go to the Olympics, and you want to win. And every game we play, we go out there to win. So definitely, I think the young girls have a little bit of a way to go, to get that belief in themselves. But for us as a team, I think we just need to start winning on the World Series again. And I think winning is something you can kind of learn in a way. And there's some girls in our group that probably haven't learned that yet. So I think, yeah, our first point for us is to really set our mark, I guess, on the World Series when it kicks back off, and try and win a few of those leading tournaments before we get there so that we can have that belief in ourselves once we're there.
BEN WATERWORTH: We're definitely going to be watching. And I tell you one thing, I'm really looking forward to watching it again at the Olympics, because as I said, I loved it. I was glued to it during RIA. It was fantastic. Charlotte, we always sort of end off these chats with a few quickfire questions. These are based on a Team Canada questionnaire they put to some of their Rio athletes. Bit of fun learning a little bit more about you. And I hope there's at least one or two questions in here that maybe you've never been asked before. That's kind of always my goal to see. So we'll find out. I'm going to start off with, might be an easy one, might be a hard one. I don't know. Who to you is the greatest Olympian of all time?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Oh, that is a hard one. I'm probably, I feel like you can't really go past like Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe, the ones that have won a bazillion medals. But I think Cathy Freeman is probably up there with one of Australia's greatest of all time. Just the amount of pressure that she had on her shoulders in the 2000 Olympics to win that medal. And she just did it so gracefully. And you couldn't even tell that she just didn't seem rattled whatsoever. And I think she literally was carrying the weight of a nation on her that day. And she just did it. And yeah, I think that's the most inspiring things I've ever watched.
BEN WATERWORTH: For sure. Did you, when you were in the village, do you see Michael Phelps? Do you kind of, do you go around sort of spotting athletes like Phelps or the same bolt kind of see like, oh, there they are.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah, we definitely were. We were like fangirling the whole time. Rafa Nadal was sort of like, he must have been on a similar training schedule to us. So we kind of crossed paths with him a lot, getting on buses. And it was exciting every single time, like day 10, it's still exciting.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you work out the courage? Like, hey, Rafa, you know, can I get a selfie?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: No, I didn't actually. He's like very focused.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: 14 girls running up to him.
BEN WATERWORTH: Sure, he's probably used to it. I think it was, I don't know if it was Rio or, I must have been in London. I remember Stephanie Rice fangirling out over Kobe Bryant and kind of like there was a whole Australian media picked up like, oh, Stephanie Rice with Kobe Bryant. And, you know, he's sort of like, yeah, I would be like that. I would be in that village, you know, trying to be focused on it. But like, holy crap, there's Serena Williams or, you know, it's the same bolt. Like, I'm just, I'm in the like, selfie, take a picture with me. Terrible, terrible at my job. What were the first Olympics you remember watching?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Probably Bits and Pieces of 2000, obviously being in Australia. I remember all the mascots and we had lunch boxes and stuff with the mascots on them and the hype around it. So, yeah, probably 2000.
BEN WATERWORTH: And then, Sid Mille Nolli? Was that what their names were? The Kukaburra, the Kidner and the... What was the other one? Kukaburra, Kidner... Platypus. Yes, thank you. Gosh, I had them on all my books and everything too. God, yeah, no, they were great. I don't know if you'd probably be too young to remember when Roy and HG had Fatso, the fat ass wombat, kind of as the bonus mascot, which I think people liked better. Good times. If you could be any superhero, Charlotte, who would you be?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Um, I think I love Harley Quinn, but I think she's a villain.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, yeah, I mean, well, that's an answer. That's, you know, villains are cool, right? You know, super villain. I accept that as an answer. Everyone wants to be Margot Robbie. I want to be Margot Robbie, you know, that's yeah, absolutely. What's your favourite ice cream flavour?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Probably Hokey Pokey from Baskin Robbins.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, good old, the crunch bit. That's like the best part of ice cream like that. If you were a baseball player, what would your walk up music be?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Oh, God. I don't think I've ever watched a game of baseball, so I'm not really sure what I'm meant to be picturing here.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think we could kind of change. Swimmers now kind of have that entrance where they've got the headphones on and like the Jedi robe. It's kind of like pump up music to get you in the zone.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Well, I listen to a lot of country music and like folk music, so it's not really pump up, but I find that it kind of like calms me down. So probably something like that. I'm obsessed with Zach Bryan at the moment, so I'd probably be playing him.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is there much of that in Rugby Sevens? Like sort of like I know a lot of team sportsmen kind of like you're on the bus and kind of you're going to the venue, you've got the headphones in, you kind of you're in your zone. Does that happen with your team when you're on the way to a pitch?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yes, sort of, but we have like a communal speaker that we use more. So we kind of get like a playlist that everyone has a little bit of input into and find a few songs that everyone really likes. Like before Rio, it was Chicken Fried by Zach Brown Band. We'd sing every time before we'd run out to play.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: So, yeah, they're not really conventional songs you'd pick to pump people up, but just stuff that everyone likes. Yeah, it works.
BEN WATERWORTH: You won a gold medal. So I mean, I think kind of, you know, thanks Zach Brown Band. You know, you send them a thank you tweet or something like that. What is the best nickname you've ever been called?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: All of my nicknames are pretty standard. I just get like Charlie, Char. My boy or my fiance calls me Chaba. It's probably not. Exactly not.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, I don't know how that one comes across, but okay. Do you have one equally for him then that kind of matches that?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Oh, not really. I don't know where it sort of came from. I think it was sort of like Charlotte cross Baba equal Chaba. And when I was little, I was really chubby. So kind of.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think we've got this trend recently on this show where we're finding these nicknames kind of are based on potentially with yours, personal appearance. And it's sort of people like, yeah, no, they just call me Bucky because I had buck teeth. I'm like, okay, that's just you've stuck with it.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: All right.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fine.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah. Anymore.
BEN WATERWORTH: But yeah, well, I guess if you're used to it. If there was a movie to be made about your life, who would you like to play you?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Probably Megan Fox and her Transformer days.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. That's I can see it like there's something in the eyes. I think Charlotte kind of see. Yeah. Good choice. Good choice. No, I like that.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I like it.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's a great match. Good job. This is good casting. Hollywood, listen to this. You know, I don't think Megan Fox has worked in a while, has she, either?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: So for what she's like these days, but hopefully still Transformer was definitely her prime.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, absolutely. I think we all remember her from Transformers. That's for sure. If you weren't an athlete, what would you be?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I don't know, I have a small cattle farm at the moment, and I really enjoy that, but I don't know if I could be a farmer full time, but I do love it and enjoy that lifestyle. But I was studying social work as well for a little bit, so I kind of have a very broad range of things that I'm interested in, and I just would have hoped for something.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm sure there's something, a social working farmer, I don't know how many of them exist out there, but it could be a market for it, you never know. What is your guilty pleasure snack?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I have lots. I love ice cream and chocolate, and then I just like eating good food. I love going out and getting Thai or Japanese or something like that. So yeah, I have a lot of guilty pleasures that I probably should have, but I don't.
BEN WATERWORTH: We won't tell anyone that at all. No one needs to know that ahead of Tokyo. This one's always a tricky question. What is your favourite song lyric?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Probably, I don't really know it off the top of my head, without it playing in the background, but Luke Bryan's Most People Are Good songs. It talks about how in the world, most people are good and mums are saints. I feel like it's really true that we always look for the worst parts of people and the worst things in the world, but when you actually look at it, I think most people are actually really nice and good.
BEN WATERWORTH: I like that. Inspirational. Good. Where is your favourite place in the world to compete?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Definitely at home. I think in Australia, you can't beat it. Playing in a home crowd with family and friends watching, there's nothing better. But other than that, probably Dubai. I've always enjoyed playing there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right. Fantastic. What was the last TV show that you binge watched?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Probably Yellowstone. I would have guessed that. But now it's only coming out once a week, so it's slow going.
BEN WATERWORTH: The old days, once a week for a TV show.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Forward to Monday, though, every week.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good old days, setting the VCR if you missed it. What is your favourite video game?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: I don't play any video games, but I'd probably have to say, I don't even know, Crash Bandicoot or something. That's like old school. But I was probably like 10.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think, I don't know if it's been released yet outside of Japan, but I remember seeing reviews of the Tokyo 2020 official video game, and I do believe Rugby Sevens was in it. So, yeah, exactly. You might be in it. You don't know. There could be a likeness in there of you. Who knows? What is your biggest fear in life?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Oh, that's hard. I don't know. I don't really have very many fears. Probably not. I would probably be if I have children one day and them not being happy.
BEN WATERWORTH: Would you like them to follow in your footsteps and become Olympians or are they entirely up to them?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Entirely up to them. Obviously, it would be pretty cool. I think it would be fun. Watching my parents travel around the world, watching me looks like a good time. So I wouldn't mind getting a chance to do that as well on the spectator's end of the stick. But yeah, I kind of have this dream of wanting one of my sons to play for Queensland and State of Origin. I've told my fiance, because he's from New South Wales, that I refuse to have my child in New South Wales. What a good birth, if it ever happens.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I was going to say, I mean, it would be kind of, you know, growing up in that household, both parents are, you know, Olympic Sevens players. It would kind of, you know, like, oh, well, I'm going to go into State of Origin. And then, well, then you really got the divide going. They could break both your hearts and go and play Australian football. Then you'll, oh, gee, how will that turn out?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: They'll definitely break your grandparents' hearts, that's for sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, for sure. The final question for you today, Charlotte, what is the one thing that you can't live without?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Um, oh, that's so hard. Um, can I say something silly, like water or something?
BEN WATERWORTH: Of course you can. You can say whatever you want. You don't have to say your fiancé, who cares about him?
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Yeah. Um, yeah, let's just go with him.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah, sure. You know, it's the one, yeah, him. All right, sure. Okay, we got it. You know, water. Yeah, fiancé. Sure. Uh, Charlotte, it's been a lot of fun. Really great to learn a lot about, not only in the sport of rugby sevens, hear a lot about your career, and still obviously plenty of great things to come, no doubt, in your future. And as I said, we're going to be glued to our screens, uh, Tokyo next year. I know during Tokyo, not only did I watch it, but when we were covering it on this podcast, we were, we were glued. One of our co-hosts is Canadian. I think he had a cry because you beat them in the semifinal, but who cares? They got a bronze medal. And to them, that's a gold in the Summer Olympics. So they were happy about that. So, uh, we look forward to seeing you bring home another gold next year in Tokyo, and we really appreciate your time here on Off The Podium today.
CHARLOTTE CASLICK: Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
BEN WATERWORTH: And a huge honour to speak with Charlotte there. Lots of fun, and we definitely wish her, of course, all that luck heading into Tokyo next year. Stay tuned for Off The Podium for more interviews coming your way. Hopefully, another one coming your way next week. Stay tuned to see who that will be, if there isn't, and if there's a bit of a gap, then we will at least have some coming your way. And other sporadic points, I guess, in the future, sort of in the lead up to the Tokyo Games. We will at least maybe have some form of episode coming your way. But anyway, at some point, we won't wait a whole year like we did in between our sort of series that we're doing here, and after the Commonwealth Games last year, we will keep you entertained in some form or another. So just stay tuned. The easiest way to stay tuned, of course, is to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to the Podcast Off The Podium podcast service, and that will definitely keep you entertained and informed to make sure that all those episodes are delivered directly to you, of course, all the time. Thanks again to Charlotte. Thanks for tuning in and listening. My name is Ben. This has been Off The Podium, and we'll speak to you next time. Good night.
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