Jane Saville Interview
An amazing interview is coming your way today as we speak with legendary four-time Olympic Race Walker from Australia Jane Saville about her incredible Olympic experiences and amazing career! We find out from Jane just how & why she got into the sport and what it was that set her on a path to her four Olympic experiences. We also learn about her experiences as an 'Olympic tourist' during her debut Olympics in 1996, and why her result at those Games spurred her on towards her future successes. We also learn whether it's frustrating to have her career defined by THAT moment in Sydney, as well as just why her first ever Commonwealth Games in 1994 was so life changing. It's an insightful and incredible chat 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 today for another interview, an amazing interview I have for you today. Four-time Australian Olympic race walker Jane Saville, a legend of the sport in Australia, and somebody who, of course, pretty much everybody out there remembers with a certain moment at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, only metres away from becoming an Olympic gold medallist, tragically disqualified as she was entering into the stadium. Everybody remembers that moment as a defining image of the Sydney Olympics. But outside of that one moment, as you're going to learn in this great chat, it's far more than just one simple disqualification in her career. Went on to win a bronze medal at the Athens Olympic in the 20-kilometre race walk. A four-time Olympian, as I said, started back in Atlanta, went all the way through to Beijing. Three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, including carrying the flag into the MCG as Australia's flag bearer during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. An amazing career, which, as I just mentioned, often defined by one moment, and there's a whole lot more to Jane's incredible career than just one simple moment. And we discussed that with Jane, whether or not it's frustrating or not that her entire career is really defined by what happened in Sydney versus all the incredible successes that she had around it. A fascinating chat here, one that I know you are going to enjoy. So sit back, relax, and listen to our chat with Australian four-time Olympic race walker Jane Saville.
BEN WATERWORTH: So excited to have our next guest here on Off The Podium today. She is a four time Olympian, an Olympic bronze medallist, a three times Commonwealth Games gold medallist. And when you think of race walking in Australia, one of the utter utter legends of the sport, I do of course speak of the one, the only, Ms. Jane Saville. Jane, welcome to Off The Podium. It's a pleasure to speak with you today.
JANE SAVILLE: Thanks for having me on, Ben.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's so exciting, because I will say this, I was saving this till I was on air. We, about a couple of years ago here on Off The Podium, we ran a series of interviews that I had done on a former radio show of mine, a decade or so ago in Hobart, that we spoke to a bunch of Olympians and all that sort of stuff back in the day. You are one of the people that I interviewed, I think it was about 2009 that it was in my sort of very young radio days. So you sort of been on this show before in a weird way, but that was that was dumb been asking stupid questions. I've grown up now, I think so.
JANE SAVILLE: We've all grown up. So yes, we've all matured.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'd like to think so. I'd hope so. But the standout for that interview, actually, it was funny. So we used to have a campaign back then about getting Hobart the Olympics in 2020. It was 2009, 2020 seems so far away. And we basically, I think, went on a tangent, asking you to come back out of retirement to compete in 2020. And you were like, sure, if you can guarantee me the gold medal, I'll only be, what, 45 by then. So how'd that go? Did that happen? We couldn't quite give you the gold medal, unfortunately. We didn't get the game, sadly, Jane.
JANE SAVILLE: Well, no, it's probably a good thing. Although everyone would have loved to have gone to Tasmania. It's a COVID free zone. Yeah, but I think all the cities that were bidding at that time for that one are quite happy that they didn't get it. And my body wouldn't have made it to 2020. I can tell you that now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just needed to get sort of that long winded response to that question from 12 years ago to see how that went. But I mean, as I just sort of mentioned in the introduction, I mean, I think of racewalkers in this country, your name automatically comes up. It's just such an amazing, amazing career. And we always love speaking to racewalkers on this show because it's such a unique and fascinating sport, Jane. It's just one of these sports that just is weirdly entertaining that you forget until you watch the Olympics. Like, hey, I love this sport.
JANE SAVILLE: Olympics, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Why don't we do more of it? I mean, how do you get involved in racewalking? How is this something that kind of set your career on the path that it did?
JANE SAVILLE: Well, I think like a lot of kids in Australia and a lot of kids in the Australian athletics team, they started in middle athletics when they were younger. And that's just how I started and participating in all the events. And I was better at the distance events and the racewalking. And yeah, when you win medals in certain things, you always like to continue in that sort of event. So yeah, I just stuck with it. I was always better at it. But I didn't focus on racewalking until I was a lot older. As my only sport, I swam competitively. I did surf life saving. And then when I was 21, I had the opportunity to train and focus completely on racewalking and try and make the Olympics in 1996. And so I thought, you know, that would be an amazing thing to do. And so I really trained hard and focused solely on racewalking as my sport. And I made that team. So no medals and no great placings, but it was a truly amazing experience and sort of fed that hunger that this is what I want to do. And I met some amazing people and was part of, you know, the Australian team, the village and all that sort of thing. It keeps you motivated for the next four years. And I really wanted to do better and improve on my placings and things like that. So it sort of lit the fire in me that, yes, this is what I want to do.
BEN WATERWORTH: Was it always an ambition to go to an Olympics? Was this something sort of growing up in all the sports you were doing that kind of it was a driver to represent Australia in some sport at the Olympic Games?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, look, I think as a kid, being a really active kid, and I was very fortunate that my parents took my sister and I, my sister is four years younger than me, to every sport possible that we wanted to play. And if we didn't like it, we'd stop. You know, there was one time I was in the car and I was crying and my mum said, what's wrong? And I said, I don't want to do that dancing anymore. And she said, fine, one off the list, we don't have to do that anymore. And so I remember seeing the Olympics in Moscow and watching Michelle Ford win a gold medal. And I thought, wow, that's pretty cool. And but, you know, as a kid, there's these dreams that you have, but you don't really understand how you get to those dreams and how much tough and hard work it is and physically and emotionally to be an elite athlete. So, yeah, sure, I had dreams. I would have loved to have been a swimmer, but I just didn't have that talent. I love swimming. And as I said, I love sports. So you have that dream. I think lots of kids in Australia, we grow up playing sport. Everyone plays sport at some stage. And it's sort of in our culture to do sport, participate. And I think even living in Spain now, I see the culture. It's a very different culture. And being a woman, it's a different culture as well. They're sort of maturing late with getting women into sport. We had women winning gold medals at the Olympics 100 years ago. So it wasn't something different for me to see a woman on the podium at the Olympic Games or having role models. My favourite athlete when I was younger, even though she was way past, it was Dawn Fraser, winning all those gold medals. And I remember watching the movie Dawn over and over again, thinking, wow, she's an amazing person. And I never really thought that she was the role model, but she was. I never thought in those terms. But now as an adult, I look back and think, I had these role models in different sports. And growing up in race walking, I had Kerry Saxby, who was a trailblazer in our events. So there were these people that had done it. And so it wasn't sort of a far-fetched dream. It was something that you could achieve. I think I never thought you've got these dreams as kids. And I'd love to do that. And there's people that have done it. So you can see that it's achievable.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I was going to ask about the race walking scene in Australia at that point. Obviously, you mentioned Kerry there, obviously, everything that she was achieving around about that point. But what was it generally like? How was race walking perceived when you got into it? Obviously, it's much different today with the success that we've had in the sport over the last 20 years. But prior to that, I believe we'd only won one Olympic medal and had been a long time in between drinks. So how was it at that period?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, look, there were still lots of people doing it and participating, but there weren't the champions there. And obviously, as I said, I mentioned Kerry. During my teenage years, she was breaking world records nearly every time she stepped on the track. And there were times there that I was part of the race, and I was excited just to get lapped once on the track by her. And so there was a really great group during my teenage years that trained down at the AIS in Canberra under Craig Hilliard. And Kerry Saksby was one of them. Nick O'Hearn was one of them. Simon Baker was one of them. And they had a really great training group, and they had a perfect environment to be an elite athlete in Canberra. The AIS back then was an amazing institution, and it really helped Australian elite athletes. So, you know, it certainly was growing. And especially for a young kid like me, I could see Kerry Saksby. And all these people were coming to athletics meets to watch Kerry Saksby break a world record. And she was really the name for athletics back then and bringing people in the gates. So, you know, it was a pretty exciting time. And that led to her, you know, obviously she had the world records and she won medals at World Indoors and things like that. So, you know, it really put us on the map as far as Australian terms had gone. And we had that group coming through. So, you know, it's sort of built a... It was a great building block for the future for a young kid like me.
BEN WATERWORTH: And how was she in terms of, you know, when you could... Could you talk to her? Could you get some advice from her? Was she sort of that type of person to kind of lean on a lot?
JANE SAVILLE: Absolutely. Yeah. Look, Kerry, amazing athlete, just... And so laid back, so down to earth, really, really typically Australian. And I remember an interview she did. It was at the, I think, the World Indoors in Budapest. And Bruce McEvaney was saying, said to her, Kerry, do you get nervous? And she turned to him, she said, oh, shit, yeah. And in really Australian accent. And we were all laughing. That's just Kerry. You know, she was so natural and so typically Australian. And you could relate to her. And, you know, she was a great role model. But also in the end, we trained together for a number of years. And she was sort of coming towards the end of her career. And I sort of we were talking, I was talking to my sister about her the other day. And we just we said she was an amazing athlete. It's sort of a shame that she didn't come later on. She was a pioneer because she she she could have done so much more, had race walking, been in the Olympics earlier and things like that, that it had fully grown as a sport. And, you know, she did very well and as a young kid coming through to follow literally in her footsteps. You know, it was it was certainly an honour. And she drove us all to be better. And you could see that we could be the best in the world. And to step on the starting line against her, but also as part of the team in an Australian team was certainly an honour.
BEN WATERWORTH: When you first got involved, I believe that sort of the distance for women was 10 kilometres, not 20 kilometres, obviously, in 92 for the first time in the Olympics in Atlanta as 10 kilometres. What is, besides the fact that 20 kilometres is 10 kilometres longer, when it comes to sort of training for a 10 and a 20k, I mean, is there much of a difference? And what was it that kind of increased it to the 20k, where the competitors against the shorter distance wanted a longer distance? I mean, kind of what was the driving factor for it being doubled in distance?
JANE SAVILLE: I have no idea, to be honest. I just remember being training, I was at the Institute at the time training at the Institute of Sport and Canberra, and we're in the gym, and one of the coaches said, oh, they're going to change it to 20kms. And I was only young, I think I was down there for a camp or something. I wasn't actually living there at the time. And I said, are you kidding me? I'll quit. There's no way I want to race 20kms. It's ridiculous. And so at that time as a junior, I only had to race 5kms. So an under 20 athlete only had to do 5kms, which was, you know, for me, it's still a long way to train for. You know, it's a 25 minute race or 23 minute race. So I think it was more the officials trying to make it even with the men and the women because the men race 20kms and 50kms, which I understand in a way. But I don't think it actually helped race walking in the long run because you have to do so much more training for 20kms as opposed to 10kms. And it's not, unfortunately, it's not a sport that you can earn a lot of money. So a lot of athletes, especially so in Australia, maybe not, for example, the Italians, they have their sports club or the police force or the army, and they get paid to be athletes, a lot of them. Whereas we don't have that in Australia. So a lot of the time you're working to support yourself. I was lucky for a few years I had the Australian Institute of Sport, and we've got local academies of sport and things like that. But when you're trying to live, and you know how expensive Australia is, you're trying to live and train and be an elite athlete, if they double your distance, that's a lot more hours of training that you have to do and commit to that. So I understand in a way technically for the technique that the women were getting really fast at 10 kilometres, and it's very difficult to judge when they go so fast. So I think there was a number of factors in there. But in the long run, I'm not sure if it's helped the event develop. And because as the juniors now, as a junior athlete, the juniors have to do 10,000 metres on the track, 10 kilometres. And I can tell you now, if I had to do that, I doubt that I would have survived the teenage years doing it because it's a long way to train for. And I don't think it's conducive to developing athletes, keeping athletes in the sport of athletics or in the event of race walking.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because I can imagine, too, and we've talked to several athletes about this, similar to, say, a marathon runner, where you're not running a marathon every week. You're going to peak your body to perform in a certain event. And when you increase that distance, as you're saying, with that training, while you might be able to do a certain amount of 10Ks in a year versus a 20K a year, it changes that completely. So I can imagine that, too, is a difficult thing to get your body into peak form ahead of, say, a Commonwealth Games or an Olympic Games.
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You've got these set times where you want to peak, and you can only do that certain times of the year and a maximum number of times in the year. So you've got to plan for that, and you want to do it around the big competitions, where, you know, the accolades are higher. So yeah, it certainly makes it difficult. And, you know, we compare to a marathon runner, but the good thing about a marathon runner is most of them don't go from junior straight to a marathon running career. They start, they get into the longer distance, start doing 10Ks and things like that, and then they step up later on to a marathon. So they've got that base building. Whereas in race walking, you sort of can't really, you don't have that base where you can just focus on the shorter distances for a while. You've got to step up almost straight away. So going from a junior, you started an under 20 athlete, you're training for 10Km, which is a long way for a junior. And then the next year, you've got to step up and do a 20Km as an open athlete. So in Europe, they have under 23 championships, but even so, they're still 20Km, I think. So it's still difficult, you know, and it's hard on your body. Any sport at the elite level is difficult on your body, but something that's so many hours on walking, it's much better for you than running, because it's not such high impact, but you've still got that wear and tear on your body.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is it a sport when it comes to training? Say you're going out and doing a 10Km, given that the majority of races you're on the streets, you're not really going around 10Km, around a track. Is it better to train and just walk on roads and do that rather than going to your local track and just doing the 10Km around that? Because it's better, that's the technique, that's what you're doing in competitions.
JANE SAVILLE: I think just going around the track and doing a 10Km is like 25 laps around the track. One thing is boring as well. But it's not good for your body to keep going round and round and round, sort of you seem to lean. And so physically, it's not good for your body. Mentally, it's not good for you either to do that. Towards the end of my career, I very rarely touch the track. And even, yeah, most of it was done on the roads. Even if I did short repetitions, 400 repetitions, a lot of it was on the road. I didn't particularly enjoy the track that much. Sometimes I do it for a break of scenery, just a change of scenery. But yeah, I think if you can get out on the road. The other thing is if you've got a safe neighbourhood or a safe environment to train. That was when I was in Europe, a lot of the time, I was trained by myself. So I always had to, a lot of the time it was on roads. I found a bike path here that was, you know, seven kilometres long. But if you buy yourself, you've got to carry your drinks and things like that. So, you know, you've got to find a safe environment that you're not going to get hit by cars. And so I know some athletes in certain countries, that they don't have safe environments. So they do a lot of their training on the track. So you can sort of, you can do your laps around the track and then go the opposite way and do different things like that. But it's still a lot of pressure on your body on the track. And yeah, I just found it really, really monotonous.
BEN WATERWORTH: You mentioned about sort of getting that chance to say, somebody says, hey, you could go towards an Olympic Games, you know, Atlanta, the goal there. Around obviously 93, Sydney gets the Olympics, of course. I doubt I mentioned a certain thing that happened at Sydney, Jane. I'm sure you were expecting that. But do you remember sort of that moment when Australia, when Sydney got the Olympics? And was that sort of around when you had been told that, hey, Atlanta is a possibility? And did that then spur you on to think, hey, well, you know, it goes well in Atlanta that I could go on to compete in a home Olympics in seven years' time?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, for sure. Look, I remember Sydney when they announced it. There was a big party actually out at the homebush at the site. I think it was like three o'clock in the morning. They did the announcement. It was Sydney time. And I had a scholarship, MLC, back then, which I think now is Lend Lease. They gave out sports scholarships for young up-and-coming athletes. So I received a scholarship for a number of years. And they had a big party because Lend Lease was part of one of the companies that was building some of the infrastructure out there. So they had a big party that night for the announcement on the site of the stadium. So I drove out there. I think it was about one o'clock in the morning for this big party, and it was announced. And it was like everyone was on a high. It was amazing. It was really just something you could never experience. Everyone was just so excited that we had the Olympic Games. And so obviously, yeah, it was there. But I also, by that stage, wasn't sure. I wanted to go to the Olympics, but I was still young. I was only, I think, 18, 19 at the time. And I was starting to realise this is pretty tough to do it, and a lot of sacrifices needed to be made. And I wasn't really mature enough to say, yes, that's my goal. Sure, it was all easy to say, yeah, I'd love to go to the Olympics, but the reality of it is a different thing. So yeah, I had that at the back of my mind, but still wasn't fully committed then that that's exactly what I wanted to do.
BEN WATERWORTH: To age myself, I was six when it was announced. I remember going into the lounge room as a little boy and like seeing the Today Show or whatever it was, and they were all celebrating. And I think I remember turning to my parents like, what's this, Mum? Like, what's this, Dad? Because I'd watched a bit of Barcelona. It's the first Olympics I ever remember watching. But kind of then it just really cottoned on that, hey, this Olympics is a pretty big deal. It kind of sits you as a six-year-old. It's interesting to look back at that and obviously see Brisbane just getting the Olympics, a little bit different circumstances, of course. Still celebration there, but it's not the same as it was when Sydney got it. But I mean, it's a unique thing to experience in your home country, isn't it, to witness the celebration that getting an Olympics has.
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, I think especially back then, the competition was so rife. And yeah, we were just so proud. And I say to my kids, because the announcement was made by Juan Antonio Samaranch in Spanish. So I showed my kids and they laughed the way he said Sydney, because he says it the way they say Sydney with the Spanish accent. And so everybody remembers that the word and the winner is Sydney. And so my kids laughed at that, saying, wow. And so when Brisbane did get named as the host in 2022, I was counting my years. I was like, oh, it's amazing because I think Brisbane will do an amazing job, that area there, and they've got a lot of infrastructure. It'll be a really great Olympics. But it's sort of really sad that they didn't get that, I don't know, atmosphere that we had for Sydney, the proper announcement. So it's a very different atmosphere that they didn't get to have that announcement. But in saying that, I think, you know, it's the way the Olympics are sort of going at the moment. There's some issues there. So I think the good thing for the Olympic Games and the IOC is that they've got someone like Australia that they can rely on to put together an amazing Games. And the Commonwealth Games were up there a few years ago on the Gold Coast. And it's just a perfect environment up there. You can do pretty much any sport up there. And yeah, it's really exciting. My kids would talk. Do you think I can go, Mum? My kids would say, do you think I could make it? So, you know, it sort of inspired them a little bit, whether they go as spectators or as an athlete. We don't care. It should be a really truly experience.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, for sure. Well, just on the Commonwealth Games, I wanted to actually just touch on the Commonwealth Games before we get to your Olympic experiences. I mean, you went on to compete in four Commonwealth Games, three of them gold medallists at obviously a flag bearer too at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, a special moment. But do you remember that the very first one in Victoria in 94? You and I were just talking a little bit off air. I obviously just recently was living in Victoria, you know, great city. And I was doing some stories over there when I was living there about kind of doing a retrospective of the games. And it's still a thing they hold very close to their heart that they hosted those Commonwealth Games. Was that like, was that your first major international competition too? And like, do you remember kind of everything around that?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, look, Victoria was my first major, yeah, my major senior team, pretty much, especially because being a multi-sport competition, it wasn't just athletics, it wasn't just a race-walking competition. And it was, it just blew me away, the village, the opening ceremony, just things like the dining hall. I actually met my husband in the dining hall of the Commonwealth Games in 1994. Kids often ask me that, they're like, what?
BEN WATERWORTH: Where?
JANE SAVILLE: How? Yeah, we both like food, so we seem to hang out.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was going to ask, you're on the topic now, how did it happen? Was it like love over breadstick or something like that?
JANE SAVILLE: We just spent too much time in the dining hall. It was sort of a social thing there to hang out in the dining hall after dinner and just meeting other people. One of the physios that, actually I was sitting with Kerry when I met him as well, and one of the physios knew Kerry, and then Matt was sitting there, and so we just got introduced. And then funny, we saw them out, because the cyclists were a pretty wild bunch of people. And then at the closing ceremony, I saw this bike streak across the closing ceremony, and it was a bike that Matt had bought at a second hand or a shop, or no, he bought it at a garage sale near the village, and the boys had bought it and sprayed it. And then one of the New Zealand guys had taken the bike off and ridden across the closing ceremony of the track, and Matt was sprinting after him. So yeah, it was, you know, some memories from that as a young, I was 19 back then. So it was really, and I think it was a great stepping stone because the Commonwealth Games for us was really serious, but it's not the Olympic Games. So you've got that step up, that you've got this multi-sport competition that's really important, but it's not the Olympic Games. So you get to experience all the same things. And I think being in such an environment as Victoria, it's a small island there, and they really got behind it. The locals just loved it. And I think that's what makes games. Some of these big cities, people are sort of, they like the games, whether it be Commonwealths or Olympics, but they don't fully support it. And I think some of these smaller areas really just get right behind it and enjoy the fact that their city is the centrepiece of the games.
BEN WATERWORTH: You get to experience some very unique Commonwealth games. I mean, Kuala Lumpur, the only, well, at that time, the first Asian freaking hot city. I've been to Kuala Lumpur. I can't imagine what that's like walking there.
JANE SAVILLE: And yeah, I remember we did lots of heat acclimatisation before 98 because it was just so humid there. And saying that, you know, that was truly amazing as well. I remember being in Kuala Lumpur is a big city. And I remember the day after my race, because it was the first time I'd ever beaten Kerry Saxby at that race as well. It was like, you know, I went into it and I'd had a new coach that year, the AIS, and I couldn't believe I was winning. I passed her and I'm going to win this. Like, wow, I'm going to beat my idol. I was like in shock. And so, you know, it was, I remember the next day going to some shops and these people were, the workers in the shops, the locals were congratulating me and showing me the newspaper and saying, you know, we met you and things like that. So it was, you know, just, I think the Commonwealth Games holds a really close, I think for me emotionally and as a place that I first made my, I suppose, my jump to winning a medal at a major games, but also it was my first games back in 94. So emotionally, it holds a really good place in my heart. And I really enjoyed, you know, the Commonwealth Games. And it's hard because here I had to go to my kid's school on Olympic Day, and I was explaining to them, I've got a video, and it's me carrying the flag at the Commonwealth Games and me winning the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and obviously the Olympics. And so trying to explain the Commonwealth Games what it is, and they sort of don't understand, trying to explain that we're sort of part of the Commonwealth, and the Queen is our Queen, but we're different countries. And so, yeah, for us, it's really big. And it just explains to my kids, they sort of, they've grown up in Spain. So it's a very different thing for them to understand.
BEN WATERWORTH: What is that experience like walking into the MCG, 100,000 people carrying your flag at a major sporting event? I mean, can you even put that into words?
JANE SAVILLE: No, to be honest. And do you know, I've never been to the MCG before. So the first time I went was, I think, just before the opening ceremony, we just had to go and practise. I was with Adam Pine. He was saying the Athlete's Vow. And so we went and just practised a little sort of rehearsal. And so, you know, it's the Holy Grail of sport in Australia. And I'm saying that as a Sydney cider and New South Welsh woman, and, you know, we can't stand the Victoria. But they did an amazing job. They love their sport. It is the centre of sport in Australia. And I have to say that, unfortunately, for us in New South Wales, we have to admit that. And the Commonwealth Games down there, to walk in, carrying the Australian flag, all these hundred thousand crazy fans just cheering for us. And at the time, I didn't realise it. I'm thinking, wow, this is the MCG of all things. You know, wow. And I'm carrying the flag. And I look back now, it's 15 years later, and just think, wow, what an experience. How proud am I about that? And my sister, we weren't planning on going to the opening ceremony, because during the Olympics, I didn't go to the opening ceremony in Athens because the athletics is usually on the last part of the program. The Olympic Games goes for two weeks. And so I don't even think in Manchester, at the Commonwealth Games, I went to the opening either. I can't remember because I was just training. Usually athletics is the back half. So you don't want to go into the village too early because you can get really tired. It's a really exciting, frenetic sort of place, and you can actually get quite tired of it. And by the time you race, you don't want to be tired. So I went to the Sydney Games because obviously it was in Sydney to the opening ceremony in Atlanta as well. But the later parts of my career, I didn't go to the opening ceremonies for the major event. And so I didn't plan on going to the opening ceremony. I was just going to stay in Sydney. And then when I had to go down to the announcement, I'm thinking, oh, wow, they asked me to go for the announcement. Maybe I've got a role here somewhere. I don't know. And then when I got named, and my sister was in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne as well. She was racing the walk. And she wasn't going either. So we had to try and get the Commonwealth Games Association to organise a flight for both of us to make sure we got to the opening ceremony.
BEN WATERWORTH: Pretty good you were there then for it. I would have been a bit awkward if you had been like, nah, don't need to go. Jane, we really want you to be. Just maybe you should be there. I read a very fascinating stat here. In all but one of the 18 Commonwealth Games, the Australian flag bearer has always gone on to win a gold medal. That's a fascinating stat. There you go.
JANE SAVILLE: Gosh, I'm glad I didn't know that beforehand. My disqualifications and everything, that's pretty impressive.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, because I think of the Olympics, it's kind of the opposite, I think, from memory. Was Cathy the... Oh, she wasn't flag bearer, of course, she was torch.
JANE SAVILLE: She lit the flame, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, there was a stat I read recently about the Olympic one for Australia that it wasn't that successful. I mean, Kate obviously got a gold in Tokyo, and Patty got a bronze, but yeah, I don't know. But that's a fascinating stat. There you go. Yeah, you don't want to know that beforehand, all the pressure on that one.
JANE SAVILLE: I don't want it, I don't want it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Going through that. I always love when we have, I guess, on the show to kind of just hear about those Olympic experiences kind of, you know, outside of the competing, just kind of you're talking about things like the village, the opening ceremony, just that sort of stuff. Do you remember in Atlanta kind of just those moments did you sort of soak it up, kind of just realise that you're an Olympian at this point and kind of just take it all in and sort of your first game?
JANE SAVILLE: Absolutely. I was an Olympic tourist, I tell you. I loved it. It was, you know, we stayed at the university there in Atlanta. I don't know whether it was Georgia Tech, I can't remember, but it was a huge campus. It was enormous. You had to get a bus to go around. There was like five McDonald's on site as well as the village, the dining, main dining hall, the village main dining hall. And so, you know, it was just, it really blew me away. And the accommodation, per se, wasn't that great. We're in dorms. It was pretty old fashioned. But just to be part of it all, and, you know, there's so many things. I remember sitting in the dining hall, and all of a sudden, there's this rush of people, and it's crazy. And I was like, what's going on here? And it was Muhammad Ali in the dining hall. And all these people were just like, and it's sort of, you know, you think you're in this village, and there's all these elite athletes, these famous athletes. And I actually feel sorry for the more famous athletes, because a lot of the time, a lot of the other athletes are asking for autographs while they're trying to eat their dinner, or can I have a quick photo with you, and stuff like that. And I actually understand why some athletes don't want to go to the village and be part of it, because they just want to focus on their event, especially being high-profile Olympians. So, you know, I remember Atlanta was just... We went and watched the women's hockey gold medal. That was after it finished. And then we were so pumped up after that, because Laurie Lawrence was part of the team, and he's an amazing coach, but it was also an amazing motivator. And he was there at the hockey, and he said, right, we're getting on a bus. None of us have got tickets, but we're going to go to the Australian men's basketball teams playing the dream team. We're all going. And athletes can get into sports, but you need special athlete tickets. As well as your pass, you need a ticket. And in the end, we got on this bus, and we just stormed the security. We just ran. Laurie Lawrence leading the way. He ran through. He couldn't do it now. It would be, you know, they'd have guns on you, even though we were athletes, and we're all in Australian uniforms. So we went to the basketball straight away, and I think I've got a photo of the scoreboard, and we were leading in the first quarter, I think. And so, you know, we were cheering, and the underdogs are playing the dream team. And, you know, those experiences really, really stick with you. And then there's the other experiences. I was sitting in the... So there was a smaller dining hall right across from our accommodation, the Australian accommodation, and I remember sitting there with Shane Kelly. And I didn't really know him, but he'd sat down, and I think I was with Kerry at the time as well, and some cyclists knew Kerry, so we were all just talking. And we were talking about the events, and they said, oh, when are you competing? We said two days, and he said, oh, I wish I could have my event again. And I knew why, and he said, oh, because I fucked it up.
BEN WATERWORTH: The famous foot slip, right? Yeah.
JANE SAVILLE: You know, and I just sat there and looked at it, and I just thought, you poor bastard, you know, that would just be horrific coming in as, you know, the red hot favourite. And we were only talking about that the other day with my kids, because my son's, my eldest son's getting into a bit of cycling, and we were telling him about it, you know. And that's all the, that's the highs and the lows and the drama and the excitement of the Olympic Games. And I think that's what makes it so amazing that these people come in as these red hot favourites or these unknowns, and they come in and win, and they come from nowhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: There's always those moments though. There's always sort of those ones where, and it's also, there's obviously, as you would know very well Jane, there's always that one sort of heartbreaking moment that people remember. And I remember from Atlanta, it was Shane Kelly. I remember just everything around that. And then say, I remember, I mean, slightly different, but I remember in Athens was it, I mean, the rowing with the lay down Sally fiasco and kind of all that kind of stuff that happened there. That becomes a bigger news story than some of it. I guarantee you, people think of Athens, more people probably remember that than half of our gold medallists from Athens.
JANE SAVILLE: Absolutely.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's crazy, isn't it?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah. But that's the drama of the Olympic Games. And I remember Athens as well was Paula Radcliffe, the marathon runner. She was the hot favourite for the marathon. And she had a shocker. And, you know, it's just that's what it's all about. But it's hard to be an athlete because it comes around once every four years. It's not every year. It's once every four years. And to come around and be at the top of your game on that particular day or during that particular week every four years is and so for people to win one gold medal or one medal is amazing. But for people to do it throughout two or three Olympics, it just blows me away because it's so difficult. It's really you can't explain to people. And to not even get, you know, there's people out there with tons of medals and they sort of people don't even know who they are. And I think these people should be almost gods to dedicate so much of their time and to be so successful over a longer period of time. It's not easy, you know, to physically and mentally prepare yourself for that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you remember we had Kerry Pothast on recently and we, I think she was our first Atlanta athlete we'd had. And I spoke to her a little bit about this, but just getting your thoughts on it, Jane, I believe about two days before your event was the bombing. I mean, do you remember sort of everything around? Was there confusion not knowing whether or not your event's going to go ahead? I mean, kind of what was that period like after the bombing?
JANE SAVILLE: No, I don't think there was confusion. I don't think I ever doubted that the event was going to go ahead. I think it was just shocked that it would happen. Everyone was just in shock. We woke up that next morning. Yeah. And because there was a number of Australians at the Centennial Park where it happened. It was a big area. It was amazing. And it was quite close to the Olympic Village. It wasn't that far from the village. No, it was just, I suppose, when you look back and you look back at the Olympics and the sadness of Munich as well, there's things that happen. And security, that was probably one of the biggest things. My first Olympics was the security, just the shock of the security. And you can get into certain places you can't. And it's got more difficult, more difficult as time's gone on. The security's increased. But I think that for me, America being my first games in Atlanta, the security was always high. And it was increased after the bombing. And so you just had to be careful. And I think, but I never felt nervous that they weren't going to hold my van. Yeah, not really. I think that I was in, you know, the Olympic bubble. I was just like, you know, wow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Your head's in his own right? Yeah. Which you go on to finish 26 in Atlanta. Did you go into that with a goal? Like, was it a time goal, a position goal, or was it just first Olympics, just do what you can?
JANE SAVILLE: Oh, that was pretty disappointing. I was really nervous beforehand. I was scared. I was scared that I was going to come last. And I trained really hard, but I just, I don't know, I was sort of, yeah. There was no time because it was going to be a hot race. It was hot. So there was no goal for time. I would have really liked top 16 at my first Olympics. And to get 26 is pretty average. And my race wasn't great, but it is what it is. And you just sort of move on. And I never, to be honest, even then, I never saw myself as a person, as an athlete that would ever medal at an Olympic Games. I thought I would just be, you know, if one day I could get a top 10, that would be great. But top 16 in Atlanta was the aim, and I didn't achieve that. So that was disappointing. But in saying that, it sort of spurred me on to be better.
BEN WATERWORTH: So, well, I was going to ask, does it spur you on? You've had that experience under your belt now, so I guess you can go into the next cycle, aiming towards the next Olympics, the home Olympics, and kind of pushing towards that. Do you remember then going into Sydney with that notion of thinking you might not be an athlete who can medal, but did anything change in that period then when you got to Sydney and kind of maybe the buzz of Sydney and everything around it, kind of that kind of spurred you on to, hey, this is what I'm going to aim to achieve for?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, definitely. There were big changes in my life as an athlete between 1996 and 2000. I moved to the Institute full time after the Olympics in 96. And at the end of 97, we got a new coach, a European coach, a German coach that really instilled... I had a good work ethic, but also instilled the belief that this is what we do, and he had success as an athlete, and he had a good training program. And so going into 98, I beat Kerry Sacks at the Commonwealth Games. And I was always hoping just to get a medal there. I was hoping for a bronze at Commonwealth Games in 98 in Kuala Lumpur, because there was a Malaysian girl that was really good, and I thought if I could just grab this bronze. So to pass Kerry in the last couple of kilometres of the race, it just blew me away. So I'm thinking, wow, is this a fluke? Who knows? I've got the medal, so it doesn't matter. But then the next year, I raced really well, and I got seventh at the World Championship. So I'm thinking, wow, you know, Sydney's, it could be that maybe I get a medal, or definitely a top eight is a possibility. So and I'd stepped up my training a lot and became even more dedicated, more committed to diet and extra training things. So, you know, leading into Sydney, I was actually injured. I'd broken the Australian record in May in Europe. And Kerry and I were sort of lying, and she'd broken the record, then I broke it again. And I broke the Australian record, as I said, and I was really keen to, okay, I've got four or five months to the Olympic Games, and I'm really, this is my games, this is it. And I got injured. So I couldn't actually race walk from sort of June, I think May, June until August. And luckily, the Olympic Games were later, because they're in the Southern Hemisphere, they're in September. So which really helped me because I had to get over this injury. It was my first injury, and I really didn't know what to do, the physios. And I was so fortunate that I was in Canberra, because I had everything at my doorstep, at the AIS, the physios. And I was still working. I was working at the Commonwealth Bank at the time, sort of five hours a day. But in the end, I had to stop work because I had to have so much treatment to try and get over my injury that I didn't have time to train. And so I didn't have time to work, sorry. So I had to work out because I couldn't race walk, my knee was hurting, and it was a really difficult time because being a young person, not understanding injuries that you need to rest, but knowing I had this countdown of so many weeks to the Olympic Games in my hometown, and this is the only time I'm going to ever compete at a Sydney Olympics. And so it was a lot of pressure. And being at the AIS, everyone was so excited for the Olympic Games. And to be honest, that period of time, I couldn't race walk. I was fortunate that I have a swimming background. So I just jumped in the pool and just swam morning and night. And I simulated what I would do race walking, but in the swimming pool. And it was horrible. I just had to do it. I knew that I had to do it, and I was counting down. And it wasn't an excitement to count down. It was like, this nightmare is going to be over. And I remember being in the physio rooms one particular day, and it was six weeks before the day and the time that I would finish the race. And I said, in six weeks, this nightmare is going to be over. I just, you know, I can't wait till it's over. And everyone else was so excited, and I was just so sick of the Olympics by then. I was like, I can't stand it. But what happened was, for all the swimming that I did, I actually came, when I could race walk, it was about seven weeks before the Olympic Games, I could race walk and do proper sessions. I was in really good shape. And I came out with these times, and my coach and the guys that I trained with went to Mexico to do altitude training, and I couldn't go because I couldn't race walk. So I stayed in winter in Canberra, and I hadn't spent a lot of time in Canberra in the winter. And it was freezing and horrible, and trying to train and keep myself motivated. So it was a really difficult time physically, but also mentally. And to come out of that thinking, wow, I've got pretty good shape. And I really, the last six weeks of my preparation, I was doing these incredibly fast times, and my coach came back from Mexico, and he couldn't believe what great shape I was in. So going into Sydney, I had a bit of pressure on myself that I wanted to go well, but it had sort of been alleviated because I was injured. And I remember a journalist ringing me and asking me how I was going. And I said, oh, look, I'm injured. And he sort of then just discounted me. He said, oh, that's a shame. I had you down for a medal maybe. And I went, oh, yeah. And so he really discounted me. And then I thought, stuff you. I'm going to show you, you know. It was sort of a fair bit of time. Yeah. How dare you? Yeah, heartless, heartless. So, you know, there was pressure beforehand. But then actually leading up really close to the Olympic Games, I didn't feel much pressure at all because I had been injured and no one had these expectations on me. I had them on myself. And Matt, who was my fiance at the time, we got married after the Olympics. He had a lot of expectations. He thought I could medal. I sort of wasn't thinking medal. I was thinking maybe top eight. And so, yeah, to get so close was such a... I was really proud of myself.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, what I was going to say with that is, I mean, I love hearing the journey and the emotion and everything because I read an interview, you talking about Sydney, and you had said that everyone always remembers what happens. They remember me getting disqualified. They don't know the journey because we're only fixated on the Olympics every four years. One of my favourite athletes to have read upon and read his autobiography and his story is Stephen Bradbury, a man who is known for one moment for everyone falling over and winning a gold medal. Now, if you read his journey to how he got to that, it's incredible. It's amazing. But people don't realise that. They think about everyone who fell over and he won a gold medal. And so for you, they think about the, you got disqualified just before the stadium and the quote you said, everything along those lines. And that's where I think it's just fascinating to kind of hear you sort of tell that story here now and kind of see that because it is that case, isn't it? And particularly with a sport of race walking, which maybe got put on the map a little bit more after your situation in Sydney, that it weirdly helped, but you've still had this massive journey to get to the one moment that has really defined your career.
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, yeah, no, look, absolutely. And we talk about that moment. And I talked to my kids about Bradbury as well. I showed them that during the Olympics. And we talk about it because we were glued to the TV during the Tokyo Olympics. And I said, but guys, they were blown away by the race. I said, watch this, watch what's going to happen. And because they don't really see ice skating very often and the races. And they're like, my goodness, he won. Yeah, I said, but you have to be in that final. If he wasn't good enough to be in that final, he was there with the best in the world. He wouldn't have won. And I think people that don't understand sport at all don't get that. And just to... There is a journey, and every athlete has one. And I think that they need to focus more on those stories because people really don't understand what it's like to be an athlete. And they see these people performing. And as I said before, these people winning medals at three consecutive Olympic Games. And you think, wow, you know, that's great. But you really... It's not just great, it's incredible. It's amazing, it blows my mind that people can do that. Because it's so difficult to not only physically be at your best during those times, but mentally keep yourself motivated. Those days where you're tired, where you can't be bothered, that no one there watches you when you're out training by yourself. Two weeks before Athens, I was training in the orange fields here, near where we live. And I had a terrible session. I was with my sister and was woeful. And I was crying, I threw my heart rate monitor into the orange trees. And Natalie had a bad session as well. And we're just going, what are we doing this for? This is crazy. And there are the times where you need your support network around you. And Matt, my husband then, he was my coach as well. And he was actually competing at the Games in the men's road race. And we rang both, he was coaching both Nat and I. And we rang him, we were all down and out. He's like, you've got to switch off. Just have a night of relaxing. Don't worry about it. You know, and so to do that, sometimes you need that team around you. A lot of the time, you need that team around you to switch off your focus and just relax and get away from it. Other times, you need them to switch on the focus. So you've got to know when to be up and when to be down. And sure, I got the glory of my medals and things like that and success. But I had a lot of people around me, not only my family, but my coaches and friends that would always be there, whether I won or lost. And they were there. I would ring Matt. He was in Europe racing, and I'd ring him at what would be 3 o'clock in the morning, my time. And he'd be there supporting me, saying, keeping me focused, keeping me positive. It's a huge journey, and it's a huge undertaking. And it blows my mind that the success of athletes is not valued as much as it should be, because it's such a difficult task. And then sport teaches you this amazing thing of persistence and to overcome setbacks. And that's a lifelong goal.
BEN WATERWORTH: Two questions I just want to touch on, Sydney, because look, you've been asked them all. There's nothing I can ask you today that's going to be different. But the two quick ones I'll ask on it. Did it surprise you the attention it got and the amount of coverage that it achieved? Because I mentioned before about how certain events are remembered more than some of our gold medallists. Your moment is remembered more than some of our gold medallists. I guarantee you, again, if you quizzed on who were Australia's 16 gold medals in Sydney, they're probably not going to be able to name half of them, but they'll remember your moment. I mean, did it surprise you the amount of attention it got?
JANE SAVILLE: It did, it did, because race walking is not the most high-profile event in the athletics or Olympic programs. So it certainly did. And I always say that, you know, if I'd have won, I would have been one of 17 gold medallists at the Games, and no one will probably remember me. But everybody remembers that poor girl that got disqualified, which was just about to win the gold medal. So, you know, there's a story there. And I think, well, leading up to the Games as well, or leading up to my race, in the men's 20-kilometre walk, there was controversy there as well. So coming down to the finish line, a Mexican, I think it was Bernardo Segura, passed Robert Kosianowski, who was like a legend in our sport. He'd won the 50 kilometres in Athens. And so this was in the 20 kilometres. And the last, I don't know, 400 metres or something, Segura passed Kosianowski. But as he passed him, it may have been the last 100, I can't even remember, he sprinted to the line, he got his third red card. So he was actually disqualified whilst he was on the telephone to the president of Mexico. They have a huge tradition in race walking. So you can imagine that they don't win many gold medals, but they have won them in race walking and medals in race walking. So he's on the phone to the president of Mexico, and the chief judge has come up after the race and said, you've been disqualified, you've got your third red card late. And so the shit hit the fan basically. And the president of Mexico is ringing Juan Antonio Samaranch and asking, what the hell, we're protesting, there was almost riots in Mexico. So that was leading in, my race was after that. So coming down, thinking I'm going to win the gold medal, and then knowing when I get disqualified that everybody's going to be asking. And there's people that don't hold a lot of credibility for race walking. And it is a very subjective event, I understand that completely. And so it put a lot of focus on the event. And even post Sydney, the judging changed. They had to make changes. And even to this day, we still need to make more changes to reduce the subjectivity of the event, bring in technology that they're working on as well. So yeah, it surprised me. But you know what, as someone, one of the dads in the group that I used to train in said, you know, I couldn't believe it. I went down the pub that night and everyone was talking about race walking. And he said, no one ever talks about race walking at the pub. And so, you know, it wasn't for the right reasons, but at least it opened people's eyes up to it. And they saw race walking. Even if it was in a bad light, at least they were talking about it. And I suppose, as people say, not all bad publicity is bad.
BEN WATERWORTH: Did John Howard, by the way, happen to ring up Juan Antonio and protest with their riots on the street in Sydney that were never brought? I feel like, you know, if Mexico is doing it, then Australia should be doing it too.
JANE SAVILLE: Exactly. No, I think we calm them down. I think a lot of people wanted to kill that poor guy that held the red paddle. But at the end of the day, what they didn't realise was that guy that held out the red paddle to me, he was just the messenger. So lots of people were saying, how dare he? But part of the judging process is he's just the messenger to tell. Three other judges on the course actually gave me red cards. So his job at the end of the day is just to remove me from the race. It wasn't actually to give me a red card to disqualify me. So, you know, it hopefully enhanced people's understanding a little bit more of the event. It's not that difficult to understand, but people, I suppose it helped that I could explain and had the opportunity to explain.
BEN WATERWORTH: The other question I want to ask of that, is it frustrating that that is the one thing that people seem to remember from your career that you won multiple Commonwealth Games gold medals, you know, an Olympic medal, a four-time Olympian, all these amazing achievements you've achieved, but that's the one thing that people know you for?
JANE SAVILLE: I suppose not frustrating. It's just part of who I am. It was, and as it's frustrating, not frustrating, but as shocking and heartbreaking as the experience was, as I said, it's all, it's the Olympics, it's sport. And at the end of the day, you've got to put it all in perspective. At the time, I suppose, coming into the Olympics in my hometown, being injured and everything, I don't know, it's sport at the end of the day. We're not saving lives. We're not, you know, it's not a war. I didn't die. It's something that's a privilege to compete at as well. It's a privilege to be able to train and to wear the green and gold. And it's an honour. And so, you know, I think that it was all part of that Olympic experience. And I don't get upset. I love hearing people's stories of where they were and what they wanted to do. And, you know, they threw the remote at the TV and I can't believe it. And even now, I coach kids at just the local athletics club here in Spain. And I don't tell people what I who I am or what I do. They just think that I'm a foreigner and that I'm helping out coaching, blah, blah, blah. And I've got a tattoo, an Olympic tattoo. And so sometimes I see that. And I remember we had a competition and I was helping at the finish line, taking the places and the parents were helping. And they said, Oh, Jane, did you go to the Olympics? I said, Oh, yeah, I went to the Olympics. And I said, Oh, which ones? And so I told them which ones like you went to four Olympics. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I went to four Olympics. And so then they googled me and then they saw the video. And five minutes later, it comes up to me because, Oh, my God, how heartbreaking. And then ten minutes later, he's saying to me, I can't believe it. I'm still in shock. What did you do? You must have been devastated. He's saying to me, you know, and so for people to have that much emotion for something that I was part of, it's not the happiest of times, but it's an emotion that brings out sport and passion for sport. And at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. You watch people play, you watch people, the fans of football become so emotionally invested in games and in sport. And that was no different. And I think sport can really bring people together in that way. And then it has such a powerful, it's such a powerful experience as a spectator.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you mentioned about how people say to you, where were they when that happened to Sydney. To me, it was more about Athens, because I remember going into Athens, and I remember paying attention to see if you were competing and sort of, you know, when your event was on. And I remember you winning the bronze. I remember the emotion. And like I talk a lot about in this show that some of my favourite Olympic moments, you know, yeah, the gold medals are great. The medals are great. But it's when people get so emotionally excited over a bronze medal, finishing fifth, you know, things like that. And just just witnessing you get that medal is just one of my my standout Olympic moments of all time. I mean, again, can you put that into like everything that had happened in that four year period after all the attention? You've got an Olympic medal around your neck. You are always going to be an Olympic medallist. I mean, how how was that moment?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, look, I yeah, it blows me away that I did it, to be honest. And I watched the video and I watched it recently as well because my kids were watching during the Olympics and stuff like that. Yeah, it's something that they can never take away from me and to be part of that. And I'm so proud of myself that I kept fighting to do it because after Sydney, I had a couple of more rough years. I was disqualified again the next year at the World Championships. I was disqualified before the 10 kilometre mark. So I didn't even make it to halfway. And that was when I really thought, do I really want to put myself through this anymore? This is ridiculous. And I made the decision that I didn't want to have any regrets. I didn't want to be one of these people that would have, should have, could have, but never did. And so I thought, well, I'm going to give myself every opportunity to get there. And if I get to score fight again, at least when I'm old and 45 and talking about the Olympics, I could say at least I gave it my best shot. So I think at the end of the day, that's all I wanted to do. And if I won a medal, I won a medal. If I didn't, I didn't. And so going into Athens like that, and I had a good year. I finished fourth at the World Cup of race walking about four or five months beforehand. So I knew I was really strong. And I trained really hard for it. Every session was just focusing on that Olympic Games. Come on, you're tired. Just keep pushing, keep pushing. And it wasn't easy. And I was doing a lot of my training by myself here in Europe. And even we went to a training camp initially. My sister and I, we were trained with a lot of the Italians. We went up to the mountains to train at altitude. And they had their physios, their masseurs, they had their coaches there. They were whinging about being away from home for three weeks, and we'd been away for like three or four months. And my sister was paying to train there, like paying out of her own pocket and things like that. So I think Australians were unique, and we have this fighting spirit. We don't get it easy. And I didn't realise it at the time, maybe, but there were some days when we were training where I'm like, gosh, these guys are pretty soft in some ways. I ended up training with the guy that won the Olympic gold medal in the 20-kilometre walk in Athens, and he went really well. But I really was proud of my sister and I because we were there training by ourselves, and we were pushing every day, and we didn't have this whole support network that was right on site with us all the time. So it made us tougher and made that every day an accomplishment for us.
BEN WATERWORTH: Does it also, I can imagine, the pressure, like the media, you're like, Jane, you're back. You're going to relive what's happened in Sydney all over again. Do you just have to block that out because like, OK, that was four years ago, move on. This is a new event.
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, look, there's so many things happening at the Olympic Games that, yeah, there wasn't, there was a bit of pressure on me from the media. It wasn't too bad because I didn't win any medals leading up. So 2003 World Championships, I finished 11th. So I still wasn't on the radar as much. And, you know, I was nervous, but the funny thing was I remember warming up. And Matt, as I said, was there for, my husband was there for the cycling. So he had the accreditation to get into cycling, but he didn't have the accreditation for athletics. It was all in the too hard box for the Olympic Committee to work out that he was a coach for athletics, but he was an athlete for cycling and to make sure he had accreditation. So the morning of the race, he just walked into the track with his accreditation, but they weren't checking the little logos, thankfully. So he was able to get into the track. And he relaxed me really well. I had my sister there, so that was really good. We were both competing. And I remember going to the loo before. You've got to go into a call room before the race, and you've got to spend, I think it's half an hour before the race, you've got to be in this area. And so I thought, I'll go to the loo. I went to this porcelain that was on the track, and you've got to flush them with the blue, the handle. And I flushed this toilet, and all this blue stuff just spurted out all over my legs. And I'm just thinking, oh, my God, this is disgusting. I'm hoping it's clean water. I don't even know if it was blue. And I could have lost my shit there and had a bit of a meltdown. But actually, I was surprised myself. I went, oh, well, there we go. Let's go wash my hands and let's move on. We've got the race in half an hour. So I sort of surprised myself thinking, wow, that would sort of probably other times may have spiralled me into a bit of a meltdown and a bit of a freak out, but it didn't. And so I sort of felt a little bit of pressure, but not too much. And even during the race, I was always in the lead pack. And coming out of the stadium, there's a DQ board there that's got your disqualification board with your numbers on it if you've got red cards. The first number up there was 1190. And I'm thinking, oh, shit, I think that's me. I looked at it and went, no. And then I looked down and I'm like, no, that's not me. I'm 1189. And I realised it was my sister that had the red card. And so she had two red cards before, I think, about eight kilometres. So the only, I was sort of thinking, I feel bad for her, but I'm glad it's not me. And she was thinking, well, this is terrible, but at least it's not Jane. We're both thinking similar things.
BEN WATERWORTH: The thing that was also amazing, too, about obviously what happened in Athens. I mean, Nathan got the bronze, what, a couple of days beforehand, breaking the drought. You get the bronze in a couple of days later. Basically, Australia, their medals in the racewalking at every Olympics until Tokyo essentially kind of set out this bit of a bit of a rush going on there for. I mean, do you think it comes down to people paid more attention to it, so more people wanted to get into racewalking because of Sydney? I mean, I'm not trying to say you can take credit for this, but I mean, it obviously put a bit more of attention on the sport than it might have had beforehand.
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, look, I think that it showed that we could do it. And we certainly had a great training group there in Sydney, and Nathan Deeks finished two top eights. Kerry finished, I think, sixth. We had a great group coming through, and we were the younger ones, and Nick O'Hearn was retiring, and he finished top eight too. And so we had a great group before us, and then there was us coming through, Nathan and I, and then after that was Jared Talland and Dane Bird-Smith. They could see that it could be done. And I'm sure that we had something to do with it in the fact that people could see that it was achievable. But also, I think that maybe the powers that be realised that a bit of investment in the event went a long way. And I'm hoping that even though we didn't medal in the event in Tokyo, we still had a Jemima Montag who was top eight, who's an up and coming race walker who certainly has the potential to medal at major championships and certainly got the drive and the form to do that. And there's a couple of other young ones coming through. So I think, you know, once you get that momentum, it's easier to maintain. If you lose a bit of momentum, then it's harder to come back up. But always when you've got role models, it's much easier.
BEN WATERWORTH: We wrap up every interview with a series of questions. I'm actually going to do something different today, Jane. This interview has given me an idea for a trivia thing, which is going to put you on the spot, but I like it. We'll get to that in just a moment. But before I do, just quickly, obviously, you go on to Beijing Final Olympics, and then obviously, ultimately, retirement. I always have to ask our medallists on the show, what do you do with the medal? Do you keep it on display? Is it in the sock drawer? What is done with the medal?
JANE SAVILLE: Well, it used to be my garage, because we lived in Sydney and we moved to Spain, and so I stored it in my garage. But then when I was over here a few years ago, I go to school, so my friend's an English teacher, and she asks me to go to schools and speak in English to kids about my career. And so I show them the video I have of sort of my career highlights and speak to them. And I never had the medal. They said, Oh, where's your medal? So I brought it back with me the last time I came back. So at the moment, it's in a drawer somewhere. It's in the filing cabinet. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Under end for medal or?
JANE SAVILLE: Shubbed underneath, because people steal that sort of stuff. Like, I don't know why anyone would want to steal it.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're going to have to move it now.
JANE SAVILLE: I know. That's all right. I've got secret hiding places, but then I forget where my secret hiding places are. So it happens. So yeah, I don't display it all. I wanted to get my, the laurel wreath that I got in Athens. I wanted to get that frame because I know a friend that got hers, but I've never done it. It's in a storage box in Sydney there in my garage.
BEN WATERWORTH: The other question I'd like to know, I mean, sort of, what have you been up to since retirement? Obviously, you say you're living in Spain now. I mean, kind of, are you still involved in racewalking at all?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, I am. I was on the IAAF Race Walking Committee, which is the IAAF is the International, which is now World Athletics, so they've changed their name, which is the International Body Overseeing Athletics. I was on that committee for about 10 years. I'm still involved. I'm coaching, but just at an introduction level to athletics. I coach little kids at the local club. I'm still involved a little bit. I did become a judge, would you believe, for a few years there? I was an area judge in Oceania. But because I was moved over here, it was sort of difficult to maintain my gradings and to judge. So I'm not an official judge anymore. But yeah, I became a judge. I went over to the dark side.
BEN WATERWORTH: Interesting. Does it make you appreciate it or hate it more?
JANE SAVILLE: No, I always appreciated the judges. Yeah, I try and be politically correct here. We need to introduce technology into our event group much more. We need to use that. I'll say that.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's a safe answer. I like that, Jane. Now, usually we sort of wrap it up. We kind of like a get to know you style questionnaire. But you've given me an idea. Well, maybe I gave you the idea. I don't know. I mentioned obviously that some people probably remember your disqualification from Sydney more so than our 16 gold medallists. So let's test your knowledge here. Can you name as many of our 16 gold medallists? Now, I'll give you a hint here. I won't make you name every single member of any of our hockey teams or our relay teams, but even if you can just give me some of the sports, some of the athletes, we'll see how many you can get. I'm going to put you on the spot, Jane.
JANE SAVILLE: No, that's just mean. I'm really dumb at these sort of things. I have no memory of yesterday, let alone 21 years ago. And OK, so there was Thorpey.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep.
JANE SAVILLE: Men's swimming relay team. They beat the Americans. Was it four by one?
BEN WATERWORTH: They won the four by one and four by two.
JANE SAVILLE: So I'll give you a tick two off the list there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep.
JANE SAVILLE: Kathy, of course.
BEN WATERWORTH: Of course. Yep.
JANE SAVILLE: Where are we? Swimming, swimming, swimming. Who else?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, Suzie. Yep. There's also another famous swimming. If you think about an event where you used to love winning gold medals in.
JANE SAVILLE: No, not Kieran. Kieran didn't win.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kieran got silver. Who got the gold?
JANE SAVILLE: Yes, Hackett.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep.
JANE SAVILLE: There you go. What else is there? Kerry Pothass and Natalie Cook. Natalie Cook. That's right. Beach volleyball.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep.
JANE SAVILLE: Goodness me. I am so aware of women's hockey.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, they did.
JANE SAVILLE: I was there. Yes, I was there. Women's hockey. What else did we win? How many were up to about five? I think. Goodness me. I'm having a Barry Cropper here. I've got to go through the sports and work it out. What other sports were there?
BEN WATERWORTH: I think your husband listening would probably be a bit disappointed if you haven't named.
JANE SAVILLE: Gosh, who won in Sydney? He'll be in big trouble. Who won in Sydney? No, Stewie won in Athens. Stewie won the Madison in Athens. Who won in Sydney? Oh, yes, the Madison. The Madison boys won.
BEN WATERWORTH: It was the Madison. Yeah, Brad Aitken and Scott McGroory.
JANE SAVILLE: That's right. Yeah, you would answer these way better than me. I can't remember anything.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm looking at a list to help me here, but I reckon I could probably get at least like 12 of these off the top of my head. There's some that I would struggle with the names, but OK, I'll help you. So sailing, for example, I mean, I would give you bonus points if you can name out. No disrespect to our sailors, but the men's and women's 470 both got it there. Tom King, Mark Turnbull, Jenny Armstrong, Belinda Stowell. One of my favourite memories from Sydney was Simon Fairweather winning the archery.
JANE SAVILLE: Oh, gosh, yes, that was amazing. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep, yep, yep. Equestrian, of course, back when we used to dominate the event. Andrew Hoye, we've just seen go on to his eighth Olympics with Philip Dutton, Matthew Ryan, and Stuart Tinney. You mentioned the hockey, yes. Michael Diamond, back to back gold in the men's draft.
JANE SAVILLE: The shooting, Michael Diamond, yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Shooting. You got all the swimming ones. I'll give you that. You got the beach volleyball. The only two that you missed outside of those are the water polo girls, of course, famous dying seconds against the US. US coach, I think, still yelling. Yep. And Lauren Burns, of course, in the taekwondo.
JANE SAVILLE: Well, she did very well as well. Yeah, well, we didn't even know an Olympic goal. But yeah, see, I told you I'm hopeless. Give me, I don't even remember the Olympics from Tokyo, and that was like three weeks ago, wasn't it?
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'll tell you what, I probably would get more of these 21 years later than I would from, what, 17 that we got in Tokyo. I was, what, 13 during Sydney, just absolutely glued to everything. I had books, I made notebooks and kept stats. So I'm one of those weird people, Jane, that apparently just doesn't grow up from my obsession.
JANE SAVILLE: No, that's, I love it. Well, talking about my husband, he can remember races. He can remember so many things. And I'm like, how do you remember that? I don't remember yesterday. Like, I don't even remember my PBs. I don't remember my personal best. I don't know. Maybe there's something vacant up there in my brain, but I'm really hopeless with memory, you know.
BEN WATERWORTH: As long as you remember your husband and kids' names, you're fine. Yes. That gets you through. You know, that helps there. Jane, before you go, if people want to stay up to date with what you're up to, I mean, social media, website, anything you want to plug?
JANE SAVILLE: Oh, look, my life's not that exciting, to be honest. And I'm really pretty, I'm pretty lax on the social media. I don't really do anything. I'm on Instagram, jsaville74, but there's nothing exciting that I do in my life, you know. We're still in a, like most of the world, we're still living through COVID. So yeah, nothing, you know, I'm just enjoying being a mum. I'm studying and doing a graduate certificate in international sports management. So I'm really enjoying that, which is a bit of a shock to the system to go back to studying after finishing uni like 25 years ago, which is really tough. Yeah, like seriously. And I'm studying Spanish as well because I need that to live here.
BEN WATERWORTH: How is the Spanish? How is it?
JANE SAVILLE: Yeah, I can hold conversations. I coach kids in Spanish. Here in where we live, we've got two languages, Valencian and Spanish. So my kids at school learn both languages. And so a lot of the coaching that we do in athletics is done in Valencian. And sometimes I don't know if it's a Valencian word or a Spanish word. I have to ask them. But I'm focusing on just doing one language at a time. But I need to improve my Spanish, obviously. But yeah, I can get by. We've got some great Spanish friends here that I mix with a lot. And it's good for my brain. It'll prevent me to get from getting Alzheimer's.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's good. That's the main thing. And Jane, it has been an absolute pleasure being able to go over your career and learn a lot more of these stories and everything along those lines. And we definitely appreciate your time here on Off The Podium and look forward to... I'm just going to say, I said this, what, 13, 12 years ago, ahead of the Hobart Olympics. I'm saying this again, coming out of retirement for the Brisbane 2032 Games, because we've officially got another Olympics in the States. There you go.
JANE SAVILLE: I'll be the biggest fan on the side of the road. Thanks so much, Ben. I really appreciate it. And your knowledge is amazing of so many sports.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I won't say I've had a lot of help staring at a screen, but we'll just go with the fact that I'm really smart. So I appreciate that.
JANE SAVILLE: Thank you. I mean, what?
BEN WATERWORTH: Fascinating chat there with Jane, definitely appreciate her time. Amazingly, only her second ever podcast. She had done another podcast recently, and amazing that she doesn't get asked on more podcasts. I talked a little bit to her off air about that fact, and baffles me. She's got so many great stories to tell, but I'm glad that we could be the second podcast that she's on. But a big thanks to Jane for her time, and maybe we need to get some of these Sydney athletes on from Australia to see if their knowledge stands up of the 16 gold medallists from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games that Australia had. Our next chat will be coming your way in a matter of days. As we always say now, we've got so many great interviews coming your way that we obviously don't want to tease and give them away. They are often changing in a bit of a fluid schedule right now, but stay tuned as we continue on multiple episodes a week to keep you entertained in between now and the Beijing Olympics. So you can of course start today with everything that we've got going on in the show. Simply search for Off The Podium on our social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and of course on all the good podcast platforms. Search for Off The Podium, mash that subscribe button, and stay up to date with every single one of these episodes that we've got. You can go back and listen to our past interviews and stay up to date with all the future ones we've got coming and future episodes in the lead up to those Beijing Olympics getting exciting now, getting closer and closer to the Games. Big thanks again to Jane. Big thanks to everyone for listening. This is Off The Podium. My name is Ben, and as always, go left.
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