Josie Baff Interview
It's time to get back into snowboarding as we chat with Australia's first ever Winter Youth Olympic Gold Medallist and Beijing Olympics hopeful from the sport of Snowboard Cross Josie Baff about her incredible sport and career so far! We find out how Josie grew up competing in winter sports and how she was able to balance ski racing with snowboarding throughout her junior career. We also find out about her lifelong Olympic aspirations and just what it means to her to be the first ever Australian to win a Winter Youth Olympic Gold Medal. Added to this we find out what TV show she is proud to admit she loves watching and what fashion item she is desperate to be accepted by the public. It's a fun chat that will get you pumped for the Winter Olympics so get to listening and enjoy!
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 Olympian interview in the lead up to Beijing. So excited to chat today to a history making athlete, the first ever Australian to win a Winter Youth Olympic Gold Medal. Josie Baff won Gold in the Snowboard Cross at the Lucerne Olympics in 2020, and on the cusp of making her debut at the non-Youth Olympics in Beijing. You'll hear us talk about in this interview about the correct terminology here of how to describe a Youth Olympics versus a regular Olympics or whatever the correct terminology is. See, it's even difficult right now to say this, but this is a great chat with Josie learning about her career in the sport, choosing between ski racing and snowboarding, inspirations that she was able to have growing up, and her hopes for the future. The time of recording this interview, she was just on the cusp of the World Cup season. And of course, by the time you're listening to this, we will no doubt know whether or not she is on that plane to Beijing or not. So this essentially is an interview done a couple of months ago in the lead up to the Olympics to talk a bit about her career and hopes for Beijing should she be there, of course, as well. So sit back, relax and enjoy our chat with Australian Youth Olympic Gold Medallist Josie Baff.
BEN WATERWORTH: We're getting so close right now to the Beijing Winter Olympics, and we're continuing to talk to athletes involved in a variety of different winter sports that are of course at the Olympics, with Olympic experience and potential Olympic experiences. We get closer to those games, and so thrilled to be able to talk today to an athlete from the sport of Snowboard Cross. We haven't had a Snowboard Cross athlete on in quite some time, actually, so I'm excited to talk about again. And a history-making athlete. This guest today is a groundbreaking moment for Australia in 2020. The first ever Winter Youth Olympic Gold Medal by an Australian when she won the Snowboard Cross at those games. And right on the cusp of making her appearance at the Senior Olympics. I don't want to call them the Normal Olympics. I feel the Senior Olympics. It's a pleasure to welcome to the show Josie Baff. Josie, welcome to Off The Podium. It's a pleasure to have you on the show today.
JOSIE BAFF: Thank you so much for having me. You're most welcome to light.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I was gonna say straight away, like the light goes off. It's like, there you go.
JOSIE BAFF: It knows.
BEN WATERWORTH: It knows to do a dramatic entrance for you as you get introduced there with it. But I mean, do you call it like the normal, the senior Olympics? It's kind of weird to call it like the normal Olympics.
JOSIE BAFF: I got so much shnack for it because in one of my interviews at the Games, at the Youth Olympics, I said, yeah, I'm really excited. Hopefully, I'll make the real Olympics. And I have never lived that down. So I cannot offer any goodbyes on that.
BEN WATERWORTH: The non-Youth Olympics?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I'm like, the Olympics? It's a tough one.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah. That's how the Olympics is just standard, right? Youth Olympics, Olympics. Because even saying the senior Olympics seemed wrong because there's no A, like you can be, we just have 13 year olds win medals in Tokyo. So like, I mean, they should be at the Youth Olympics, but yeah, it's fascinating. But obviously, the time of recording this, you're getting prepared for the World Cup season, getting closer and closer to Beijing. But I mean, how are you feeling right now, just ahead, of course, of this World Cup season and getting closer to your goal of making the Olympics?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of overwhelming when I think about it too much. I'm just kind of going with the flow one step at a time, like one day at a time, and just trying to think of all the things that I do know how to do. And I think back on like the preparation that I had before coming here. And it's significantly better than what I had last year. So I can only be improving, which is promising. But when I think about it too much, I do get a little bit overwhelmed for sure. But I'm really mostly just excited to see what happens and see how everything goes and get some of the anticipation over, because we're leaving for our first World Cup in China, which is the test event. So the course will be pretty similar to the games. And we're leaving in like just under two weeks. So that will be very exciting. But it's definitely a lot.
BEN WATERWORTH: For sure. And how does then the process work for qualification? Because I know it's obviously different for certain winter sports. There's quotas that you've got to achieve, and then you get selected for those quotas. But the Snowboard Across, how does that work during this World Cup season to get you and Belle and the team and everybody to Beijing?
JOSIE BAFF: So you have to be in the top 30 of the girls on the Olympic quota list. And to do that, you have to compete in World Cups and gain points. But I haven't actually looked into what exactly I have to do, because honestly, I'd rather not know, because for me, I'm gonna do my best no matter what. I'm always gonna try my hardest. So I don't wanna put pressure on getting specific results to make it, and I'm just gonna take that pressure off by not knowing, and then finding out what I have.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great, great sort of attitude. So that'll just be a gentle tap on the shoulder and basically be like, Josie, great run today. By the way, you've qualified for the Olympics.
JOSIE BAFF: That's what I'm hoping is gonna happen.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just a gentle, nice little news you'll get there. But I believe you sort of grew up in a very snow-based family, obviously in Jindabine, sort of a good area for it and that. But what was it about snowboard that took your fancy as opposed to say skiing, which I believe you started in?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I started skiing and I still, I love skiing so much. I actually was training for the skiing, racing up until three or four years ago. And then I was snowboarding. I only snowboard to competitions or when I went overseas with my dad, who runs snowboard camps. And I just, I loved them both equally. I definitely still now, I don't really have a necessary favourite. But I got selected onto ANSWIS, which is the development pathway. And I was doing really well in some competitions when I was younger, and I wasn't really training that much for them. And my sister was doing board across and my brother was doing board across. And then eventually I kind of just morphed my way and put all my eggs into board across, which I'm very happy I have done. But definitely miss skiing sometimes too. But I try and get out and ski as much as I possibly can.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I've got to bring up a hero of ours on the show right now. Why are you talking about doing both? Esther Ladeca can do it, Josie. So, I mean, there's a possibility there that you can still combine the two, right? Come on.
JOSIE BAFF: I mean, I have thought about it, and some of my family friends have joked about it. But that would be very, very impressive, I must say. She's an incredible athlete, and I actually don't know how she does it. It's insane.
BEN WATERWORTH: Still, one of my favourite quotes I've ever heard is when she won the gold in the Super G and Lindsay Vaughan basically famously said the whole, I just got beaten by a freaking snowboarder, which, you know, I mean, that's a T-shirt. There should be a T-shirt with Lindsay Vaughan's shock face on it. I just got beaten by a freaking snowboarder, right?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: It kind of works that way. So when sort of you growing up doing both, is it a case of that you've got a balance or two like, okay, I'm going to do some ski racing events now and snowboarding then? Do they kind of work in cahoots where you can be doing both sort of until you, I guess, as you're saying, switching focus to snowboarding?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I mean, for me, I think that ski racing has definitely helped my snowboarding in nearest ways. And most people who I've spoken to, who had a very strong ski like ski racing background, has noticed it in their snowboarding as well, because snowboarding is a relatively new sport. So having like when you go when you're in a ski racing club, which I was for my whole life, pretty much, you learn about like how to make a turn the apex of a turn, where the pressure of the turn goes and the lines you take. There's a lot more theory behind it. Like as soon as there's a bad weather day, that's what you're learning. You're watching videos of Ted Ligeti and Mikhail Shifrin, you know, all the top dogs of ski racing. And you're watching them and you're analysing them at such a young age. So it's kind of gets ingrained into your knowledge. And then it kind of transfers to snowboarding. You don't really know, like my GS, like how I turn a snowboard is probably one of my strong suits in board across. It just makes sense to me. I don't have to think about it. It's like second nature. So I think that they definitely help. I mean, you can't just ski your whole life and then expect to be amazing on the snowboard, obviously. But I think that they definitely do help each other. And that's part of the reason why I have made it as far as I have.
BEN WATERWORTH: I've got to ask a question. I'm sure it's a question you might get asked by people like myself, who are just completely unco when it comes to snow sports. I, earlier this year, gave my first crack at skiing, told the story of him many times that I'd lasted 30 seconds, chickened out and went back to the lodge. But did I make the wrong decision? Because I was sort of questioning whether I should try the skiing or the snowboarding. I was told skiing was easier. Was I wrong? Should I have tried snowboarding?
JOSIE BAFF: Personally, I think, I mean, learning at a young age definitely helps. And like a lot, obviously, learning skills as you get older gets more difficult. But skiing is definitely easier to learn. And then I think it's harder to master.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right.
JOSIE BAFF: Mostly because it's been around for so long, it's so perfected. But it's a beautiful craft. And snowboarding, it's hard to get the gist of. And you crash a lot. You have sore knees, sore bum, sore wrists, like it's a brutal first experience. A lot of people do get discouraged by it. But once you get past that and you can link terms, then you kind of develop the skills a lot faster and you kind of get to that top level quicker. That's like the general idea.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good to know. I mean, I'm only 34, so time is probably running out for me to make the Olympics. But I still, you know, like I'd never say no, never say never, never say never, which when you were growing up then sort of doing the two, did you have Olympic aspirations early on? Were you growing up watching the Winter Olympics going, I want to do that? Or is this something that sort of came to you the further you developed in each of the sports?
JOSIE BAFF: Um, no, I definitely knew I wanted to go. I always knew I wanted to go to the Olympics, but I never knew what for. And I was actually thinking about it the other day and we had to write down our goals in the ski racing and I was training one day and I wrote, I wrote down, I want to go to the Youth Olympics in ski across or board across. And I didn't know which one it was going to be. And then I went. So, um, it's pretty cool to think about, but I think seeing, I had a lot of people around me who were like in sport and my dad had coached, has coached like many Olympians. So having that relationship and seeing that it's possible in a closer way, definitely, it was always, it was always my dream.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I can imagine then seeing, you would have been, what about seven or so when Tora won gold in 2010, like was seeing somebody like her achieve such a groundbreaking moment for snowboarding in Australia, first Olympic gold medal. Was that also something that you looked towards and thought, well, okay, well, Tora Bright can do it. I can do it too.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, definitely. And Tora actually, my dad did coach Tora. So, um, we had like a good relationship and I remember we would play left soccer in the backyard with her family and her sisters and everything like that. And I think that definitely has been like a strong point in like a pivotal moment in snowboarding in general. And I think that there was a pivotal moment for me as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: When it comes to choosing the discipline of, of snowball cross, I mean, sort of relating it to the ski racing side of things, but was there any ever attempt or thought of half pipe, big air, you know, giant slalom, things like that? Or is it more of a case you like the racing aspect? So that's why you chose the discipline of snowball cross.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I mean, like, don't get me wrong. I love going in the park and I love like hitting jobs and rails, but it's definitely, I think racing is what I loved. I loved ski racing is what I started with. I started in giant slalom and I started in slalom and skiing. And then throughout like into schools, which is like probably one of the main pathways into professional sport in Australia, it's like an awesome, awesome way to get young kids involved and they all love it. But that definitely, I loved that part of it. I mean, half pipe and slopestyle aren't in schools. And I don't think that's the reason why I haven't done it, but I just like going fast and I like having a distinct time. Like there's no discretion. It's like not subjective. So that's what I love about it. And I, it's just awesome. And then as soon as I did board across and I was like racing with three other people on the course, I was like, this is so cool. Like no run is ever the same. You can't perfect it. You can't train to the same run all the time. Every single round is going to be different no matter what. It's not just on you. It's on the other people around you and the course and the conditions and it's always different. That's what I love about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which it's so entertaining, I think too, because I remember my first real, I guess, taste. I mean, I remember back in Turin when we had the snowboarder who famously was celebrating right at the end, right? And then she kind of like, you know, celebrate a little bit too early. But I think I really paid attention to it during Sochi with all the hype around Chumpy and kind of obviously the success he had in the lead up to those games. And then, and realising that you can be the best in the world at this event, but that come an event that all of a sudden, as we saw, unfortunately with Chumpy during Sochi, it just didn't come together. It's just fascinating, it's that excitement of it. And there's very few sports like it. Is there where you can dominate the absolute hell out of a World Cup, but come at Olympic Games, you're gone in the first round.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, it's probably one of the sports where you're least consistent. Like if you're consistent in the sport, you are like incredible. There's no one has won every single race in a season that I know of. That would be very impressive. I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened. I don't want to quote it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Until this current World Cup, until you do it, basically. Yes.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, but I think that that's like such an awesome part because it gives everyone an opportunity to experience it and have their moment to shine. Or I mean, you still have to be good to win no matter what. There's numerous rounds. You can't just fluke it. I mean, you could do a Stephen Bradbury for sure. But I think that that's like such an awesome part of the sport. And it really brings out how you prepare for it. Because if you are really prepared, then if you are consistent, you are like unstoppable. And that's like awesome.
BEN WATERWORTH: And is it a momentum basing mentally that if you're in good form, you're coming off some good podium finishes or, you know, winning that, that mentally you're going into these events all of a sudden feeling that extra boost of like, hey, I'm kicking ass right now. I'm going to do well today.
JOSIE BAFF: I mean, I would assume so. I've only done one World Cup and I haven't had the opportunity to do a lot of competitions back to back, but going into this season, that is what we are planning on doing. So I'm very intrigued to see how that's going to work. I think, I personally think that it would be, I'm sure if you're going well in something, you usually continue to do that until it stops going well and then you might have to come back. But I think momentum is a huge part.
BEN WATERWORTH: You mentioned about the Olympic dreams, didn't really know too much what it was. Was that purely just the winter side of things? Were you very sporty growing up? Were there some other safe summer sports maybe that you were trying that potentially could have been a different career path for you?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I mean, I knew I always wanted to be an Olympian. That was like the overarching goal. And I think ski racing and snowboarding was a bigger part and I was getting really good results in that. The competitions were local so I could do them rather than, I think in summer sports, it's harder in a small town to get exposed to all of that. But I was a very sporty kid growing up. I was doing tennis, netball. I did little athletics, soccer. I mean, soccer's not my strong suit, that's for sure. But I did that like when I was really young. And I think, like I was one of those kids who had something going on every afternoon after school. And that's just what I loved doing. I loved being outside and loved being active.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm trying to see here, and I don't know if this is something if I'm putting you on the spot with here, but have there been Olympians from Gindabyne before? Is this kind of something?
JOSIE BAFF: Yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: There has been, okay.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah. So there has been quite a few, actually, even from, we have a little, like at my old school, we had like a little wall of people who had come from Gindabyne. And I could list them. Well, Adam Dixon and Adam Lambert, they both have been, they went last year for border cross, and they're both local kids in Gindabyne, and I've known them most of my life, so that was cool to see them go. And then Toro was in Cuma, so that's not too far away, it's half an hour away. And Nicole Parks, I really hope I'm not missing anybody else.
BEN WATERWORTH: So it sounds mainly the winter athletes though, like obviously it's based on the geography and kind of the snow and ice.
JOSIE BAFF: Yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's known for the winter side of things, which it's coming from a small town though. I mean, I'm from Hobart, you know who your Olympians are, even in a city the size of Hobart. We're very proud and Tasmanians, we know who they are. So it's kind of that level of pride, isn't it? They're like, oh, I know you're from that place, so I'm going to look up to you and kind of relate to you a little bit.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, for sure. And I think, I don't know if there has been any, I don't want to say that there hasn't, but I don't think there has been any Summer Olympians from Gindaban. And I think that probably does have to do with one, all of the athletic people who are into that, maybe getting to skiing and snowboarding instead. But I also think that it has something to do with like the programs that are around us. Like people travel to come and ski and snowboard where we are. So yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because it's an interest. I mean, most countries will have those hotspots for like the winter sports. But I mean, if you're talking to European nations, North American nations where they've got many to choose from. For Australia, it's very selective, right? You know, Buller, Threadboe, Hotham, we all know where they all are on a handful. Or if you're doing ice sports, you know, you go to the ice house in Melbourne or places like that. But it's also that community, I can imagine, too. I mean, you're mentioning your dad's training Olympians. You're meeting someone like Tora Bright at a young age, and you're all involved in such a tight-knit community, which I can imagine helps spur you on when you go into these World Cup events and give that sort of family feel to it, I imagine, as well.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, it's awesome. I think it takes away some of the overwhelming aspect of it, because you see, if you know somebody and then they are very successful, it doesn't seem as far away. Like that goal doesn't seem like it's impossible to reach a bit. And meeting them, you're not completely starstruck and you're not like, oh my gosh. And I think it's because you have seen the preparation into it and you can see that anyone can do it. It's just a matter of mindset and determination, pretty much. Sure, a bit of natural talent does come in there, but I think seeing that is huge. And it's a very supportive group, because when you join into it, like when I came into it last year into the OWIA, I wasn't like, I definitely felt like I was on the backside of it for sure. Like I knew that I was new and I felt fresh. I felt young and unexperienced. But now I have like kind of gotten to know them even more on like a more personal level. And that's like really awesome to have that sense of family. It really is. And I think even crossing over into different sports, like you have friends, like one of my best friends since I was an infant, Abby Harrigan. She's a slope style skier. And we went to the first year of Olympics together. And now we're hoping to both go to Beijing together. And having that is crazy. Like we grew up together. We've known each other since we were tiny. We have like photos where we're like, we couldn't even speak. It's really awesome. So I think that that part of it is, it's really nice and comforting.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I love that too. You mentioned the OWI. I mean, something as simple as how well their social media and website is run. I feel if you're following the OWI, you get to know all of you in terms of the athletes because they've got great profiles on you. They do little things like, oh, it's such and such as birthday today, or like stay up to date with this World Cup. It adds a personal level to getting to know athletes in the lead up to a Winter Olympics because no disrespect to the summer athletes, but when you've got a team of four or five hundred people going to one game, and you've got a team of 40 or 50, it's hard to get to know every single summer athlete. Whereas I feel that when a show like us is covering the Winter Olympics, we know all of you because there's so few, but it's that personal level, and we can understand your stories, the challenges that a winter athlete has in Australia to make an Olympic game. So I think all props to the OWI for the great work that they're doing with everyone, not just from the athletic side of things, but just the personal side of things to make people like me connect with athletes going to Winter Olympics.
JOSIE BAFF: That's really awesome feedback. I'll have to tell our social media manager that that's really awesome to hear actually. And I would agree, I think even before I came into the OWI, and before I knew a lot of people personally, I did kind of know who they were. I didn't go in and go, I don't know that face, I don't know what sport you do. And I think it helps start a lot of connections too, because you don't have to go through that whole furnace of, oh, what's your name? What sport do you do? How old are you? Kind of thing. You kind of already know. Yeah, that's awesome.
BEN WATERWORTH: One thing, just on the training aspect, outside of the obvious of one between ski racing and snowboarding, one you've got two planks on your feet, one you've got one. Is there, in terms of if you're hitting the gym, and now that you're sort of switching focus to snowboarding, is there much in terms of the physical side of things outside of just racing that you need to do as a snowboarder as opposed to a ski racer?
JOSIE BAFF: I think that the preparation is both pretty similar. You still want to have fundamental... If you disassemble the parts of board across, it has jumps, so you need to be... It's long. It's an endurance event. It's usually a minute long, which is a long time if you were to go and do squats for a minute with a certain amount of weight and jumping, you get pretty tired pretty quick.
BEN WATERWORTH: I get tired with one squat, so I'm screwed.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah. So I think having that level of endurance and that cardio, even if you do high knees for a minute, you would be tired. So you have to be both strong, have strength endurance, have cardiovascular endurance, and you have to be powerful and fast. So every aspect pretty much of gym preparation is covered. And I think in ski racing, that's very similar, but especially in ski cross, but then they kind of goes into specific parts. So you have the fundamental base, and then you kind of add this topping of specific border crossing. So we have, I think the probably biggest thing is like lateral hurdle jumps, because we're like constantly like trying to get over features as far as we can without touching them. That's like one of the things I'm learning at the moment is trying to like come out of the snow before you go into it, so you can skip the takeoff, because if you're riding up the wall, then it's obviously going to be slower if you're jumping and not touching the wall and you're skimming that. So we do like lateral hurdle jumps, and that's probably one of the most like sport specific things that we do.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is there on a competition day or sort of in the lead up to a competition, do you do sort of a walk of the course? I mean, I'm a big Formula One fan, and they do the track walk, for example, you know, before the event to make sure that they're getting there. I mean, is that something that you can do as an athlete in board across to go, okay, well, this is challenging. I know that that's there now so I can prep myself for a competition.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, so we often, often for the board across races, there's a day where the coaches go up and they have a look, and there's a testing day and a few like selected athletes go through and make sure that the course is all running smoothly and that there's no parts where it doesn't work because it has to flow if everyone's going to be doing it. So like, I think it's two girls and two boys do it. And then often we either go up and we watch that or our coaches film it and they send it to us. So that's what we get first. And then the following day, like before training, there's always a course inspection every morning, no matter what, because the course is different, the gates are set up different, the snow could be running weird, they could be like death cookies going into one corner and you got to want to know that they're there. So we go through that and then we try and memorise the course as much as we possibly can. And that's something that I definitely struggled with last year, was remembering like how many rollers are in a roller pack and all of that jazz. But it's definitely something that comes with the time and I've been practising and then I write it down and I highlight the parts where I think that they're going to be like the money makers. When I was growing up, my sister, when she would take me through course inspection and into school, she would say, okay, this is the money gate. So I always look for the money gates and that's just something that I do internally and then I go home and I refresh it and then we often do qualifying the next day and then eats the following day or on the same day.
BEN WATERWORTH: You mentioned death cookies. Now, it sounds like the best heavy metal band ever, but I'm guessing it's got nothing to do with that. What the heck is a death cookie?
JOSIE BAFF: It is where like the groomer, I think it comes from the groomers. It's where they like spit up and the balls of snow they form. They could be all different sizes and shapes and then overnight they freeze. So it's not smooth and completely easy to go through. And it could cause some, you have to be like stable to go through that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay. Well, I'm glad you clarified that because I'll give you an example. During Tokyo, we got very confused in the rowing when they kept talking about hitting crabs. And we thought there must be some crab infestation in the Tokyo water that we don't know about. I'm not seeing them, but now it was explained to us. We understand it. So now during Beijing, if all of a sudden the commentators are going to hit a death cookie, we're not going to be going like, what sort of evil cookies are the Chinese organisers putting on the course here? I don't know what they're doing. So clarification. I like this.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, no, I definitely didn't. What does hitting crabs actually mean?
BEN WATERWORTH: It's sort of the way they are hitting their stroke is kind of out of time. So like they're sort of hitting the water at the wrong angle. And it puts their stroke off if I'm explaining it correctly. So any role is listening. If I've gotten that wrong, that is my recollection of what was taught to me.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Well, death cookies, there you go. Now you know.
BEN WATERWORTH: I do. Yes. We do commentary, Josie, during the game. So if we do snowball cross, I'm going to make sure that I remember that for our commentary with that. Youth Olympics, you go into it. We'll obviously talk about what happened. But when you sort of got selected, you were going to the Youth Olympics. I mean, did you go into that with any expectations, kind of like hopes for anything, or kind of did you just go into it wanting to relish the experience and kind of see what you could come out of it with?
JOSIE BAFF: I mean, for me, I haven't done that many fist races leading up to it. So as soon as you turn 15, you kind of go into the open category for snowboarding, and there's no more age. There's like youth and junior, which I think is under 20. And then at the Olympics, it was just people born in 2002 and born in 2003. But I did a Europa Cup leading into it, which is like the level down from the World Cup. And I came third, and that was like very shocking to me. I wasn't expecting that at all. And when that happened, I was obviously over the moon. And my dad came in and he told me, he's like, sorry, he said, he was like, oh, like, you've got this. And I wasn't, he didn't say, like, you're gonna win. You know, it's impossible to predict anything like that, particularly in the nature of our sport. But he was like kind of saying, you've got this. Like, I reckon you'll do it right. And in the back of my head, I was like, I think he's saying that I can win, but I didn't want to think about it. And I have like this thing where I don't know how I scale in to the levels of other people. Like, I know that I'm a strong athlete, but in regards to the comparison of other people, I really do not know where I sit. Like, I watch somebody and I'm like, wow, they're really good. Like, they're going to win. And I have, they don't. Like, I'm really like, I have to work on that for sure. But so going into it, I was like thinking, oh, like, no, like I'm not that good. And when I did my first heat, because there was no qualifying, they did a very different system. They had like a round-robin format, and you would do five races and you gained points from them. And then if you had enough points, you would go into the semifinal and the final. So it was good because you got the opportunity, if you did stuff up or if you did crash, then you still had an opportunity to come back. And if you won, say four and came fourth in one, then you would still qualify. So that was really cool of them to do that, especially at something like that. It gives everyone a chance in case you don't just like, so you don't just like crash out and then it's over. So in my first round, I came second and I was like, okay, like, this is good. This is good. And then in the second round, I won. And the third round I won. I was like, okay, this is getting weird. And I was like seeing my family at the bottom of every run. And then when I made it into the semifinals, it was like, it was a bit emotional even then. I was like, wow, the worst I can do is come eighth. Like I'm still like over the moon with that. I'm at the Olympics. And when I won the semifinal, I was really, really getting there. I went to the bottom and I was like, I was like, mum, like, the worst I can do is come fourth. And I was like starting to even cry. And I was like, this is weird. Like you've never experienced these emotions before. And it was just so, it was so different. And I was like, well, it's not over yet. Like awesome job, but go back up. And I was like, okay. And I did, and I was like telling my physio at the top. And she was also saying like, well, put yourself together. Like you still have another race. It's not done. It's like, okay, yeah, you're right. It's not done. And when I went through the final, it was very crazy experience. And I think the leading, like having the consistency of winning minus the first one, it definitely opened my eyes to that chance, but you don't meet the other side of the pool until the finals and the semifinals. So I knew that I hadn't raced everyone, but I hadn't raced half of the field. So it was pretty cool.
BEN WATERWORTH: And were these athletes that you're coming up against in Europa Cup and other events, or are some of these sort of new to you that are emerging athletes who hadn't really been competing in events you'd been at?
JOSIE BAFF: A lot of them were new, mostly because I had done more races in the Northern, not in the Northern Hemisphere, but still in the Northern Hemisphere, but in North America. Europeans usually don't travel over there, especially genius. So a lot of them were new. And I had raced a few of them at the Europa Cup leading into it, but not really. I had seen a few, but because it was only one race and it was in France, I didn't know a lot of the athletes, so I didn't know how I was going to scale up against any of them.
BEN WATERWORTH: The strategic side of it, when you win the semi and you got people saying to you, you're not done yet, like, great, sure, you can finish fourth, great, but you can win this, do you just simply have a word with your coach and say, okay, keep your similar strategy up, or is it a case of, well, you're up against these athletes now, somebody's doing this? Because you mentioned Stephen Bradbury, the famous strategy from him going into that final in 2002 was, well, we made it into the final because everyone fell over, just do the damn same thing and it might work again. It did. So like, is that something similar that you do keep the same strategy because it worked in the semi? So this might work in the final.
JOSIE BAFF: Usually, I think your coaches, it's a bit different in normal format because you see the other people racing and you usually meet up with them earlier on. You kind of go through with one person meeting new people. So if you two have like a strong racing thing and you guys are just together and out in front, then you probably can keep that throughout it. But every rider is different, has different strengths and weaknesses. So no, no run is the same, but definitely the experiences from before definitely do come into play because for me, there was this girl Anuk and she ended up finishing third, I believe. She did. She was definitely in third. And in the first heat, she was the one who won and she had beat me. So going into that first berm, I tried to go outside on her and it didn't work. I tried to overtake her through the outside and I ended up staying behind her for the rest of the competition, for the rest of that race. And then going into the final, I was like, OK, I have to do it again, because her starts were stronger than mine. So I was like, well, going around the outside didn't work last time. I'm going to try the inside this time. And it worked. And that's how I got out in front. That's where I was like, OK, hold on to it, hold on to it. And I knew from the bottom, that was my stronger part is in the turns. And so once I was down through there, I was like, I knew that one of the girls that came second, Margot, she's goofy. So she faces the opposite direction. And toe sides, you can take different lines to heel side. Toe side, you can cut really in tight next close to the gates, whereas heel sides, you usually tend to go wider and drop in low, depending on the shape and style of the turns. But I knew that she was going to have, be able to catch me through those turns down the bottom, because she was on her toes where I was on my heels. And she did. And I fell day behind me, and I just remembered my coaches telling me to stay right down the bottom and not drift left because then that opens the room for them to just scoot over onto the right side and come through the finish line before you. So I was thinking in my head, I think it was stay right, it could have been stay left, but I was just remembering that throughout the whole thing, and I could feel it hot on my tail. And she ended up finishing just 0.05 seconds behind me. So I'm very glad I listened to them, but you're the person who knows the most, and you're the only person experiencing it firsthand. So you obviously have the best knowledge, like your coaches are going to do everything they can to help you, but you're the one who knows.
BEN WATERWORTH: What I love hearing when you're explaining that is that, what a race is what a minute, basically, and you've got all of these still being able to go in your head in the middle of the chaos that someone like myself is watching, like it's just so chaotic, but it's just fascinating how you're able to still compute, remember, strategise, or do everything and kind of get to that point. I mean, that's just incredible.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, no, I think snowboarding definitely has to be kind of be first nature to you, second nature to you. You have to be able to do it very easily and consistently. And when you have that strong foundation, you can think about other things. Like when you're going down the course, you're not thinking about how to turn. You're not thinking about, oh, I have to put the pressure on like this part of my foot. You have to start ankles. You're not thinking about that. You're thinking about what's happening with the race and what's happening with the people behind you and the people in front of you and how you're going to overtake, how you're going to maintain your position. And I think that's one of the really cool aspects of it, because you have to be so fundamentally strong to be able to be competitive in the sport.
BEN WATERWORTH: What is that moment like when you realise you won? I love the footage of you crossing the line and obviously that kind of realisation moment when you've got the gold. But what is that moment like when you realise that you've done this, that you are a Winter Youth Olympic champion?
JOSIE BAFF: It was so overwhelming. Even thinking back on it now, it's just, it was crazy. I crossed the line and I was like, I think I won. And I had to, when I collapsed, and I checked and I looked up to the board and I saw my name on top and I was like, oh my gosh, like this is crazy. And I looked over on the other side of the fence and I had so many friends and family there with other kids who were racing and who were nearby. And because I was on a snowballing k with my dad before I had four of my closest friends there too. And they were holding the Aussie flag and they were cheering. And it was just like, it was so overwhelming. And I just remember just getting swarmed by all these emotions I had never felt before. It wasn't like winning a race at home. It wasn't the same. It had scaled up by a million. And I think it was just, it was awesome. It was the best experience of my life. And one of the feelings that I'll hopefully cherish for the rest of my life.
BEN WATERWORTH: And were you aware that you had created history, that you were Australia's first ever Winter Youth Gold Medallist?
JOSIE BAFF: No, I wasn't. I remember, I think Ramon was there and he was the chef de mission. And he came up to me and he said, you're the first ever person to win. I was like, oh my gosh, like that's so awesome. It's cool because that title can never be taken away from me now. Once it's yours, it's yours. You're the first person. There can only be one first person.
BEN WATERWORTH: You mentioned Bradbury. I mean, you and Stephen Bradbury are the same person, basically. You both created history as winning that first gold medal. So there you go. Which it must be such, I mean, as you said, it can never be taken away from you. And it will always go down in the history books. But you mentioned about you sort of had these Olympic aspirations and the Youth Olympics are a real dress rehearsal for the Olympics. You're not calling them normal Olympics or anything along those lines. So are you also taking that opportunity to soak it all up? Because it's taking a step towards that dream of going to the non-Youth Olympics. So, you know, are you able to kind of soak in the atmosphere and relish in a gold medal, but also just relish in the moments and going, OK, well, this is giving me that drive now to push towards Beijing, Milan and beyond.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I think the way you put it as a dress rehearsal, dress rehearsal definitely is accurate. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and that wasn't just the racing part of it. If I didn't win, I still would have had that same view. I met so many people that I still am in contact with now, and that's like the awesome thing about social media. You can stay in contact with them, and it's cool to see them in different places all around the world. And knowing people up there just makes you feel more at ease. It's like less overwhelming. You don't see the big people, and you're not like, oh, they're really good. I can't go up and talk to them. Everyone's really friendly. But you also have this group of friends that you've all experienced that thing together, and no one can ever take that away from you. Even in the village, the atmosphere was so awesome, and it was so different. Walking in there, I walked in with my friends, and we saw our bags sitting there with our names on it. We were like, oh my gosh. It was just full of all these goodies, and this is all free. This is really happening. I missed the right uniform. We were like, what? This is nuts. Yeah. So that was a really cool part of it, and it definitely has taken that whole unknown aspect away from it. I mean, it's been put back in a little bit by the whole COVID thing. We have no idea what it's going to be like. Seeing the Tokyo Games definitely helped in that sense. But I think the way we were all there and the emotions and everything, like we were walking outside of the village. I don't know if you've seen it, but we stayed in like a big cylinder. They called it the vortex, and you could walk the whole way around and be going up. It was really cool. There was no steps, and you could walk around this path and go to the top. And you look down and you look down into the village, and there was a tent, and there was live music, there was games, Jenga. They do this pin quest thing, and it's so fun.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm always fascinated by pin collecting in general, but I love it when there's an element to it, where it's almost like a Pokemon Go style thing, isn't it, the way you've got to get your pins, right?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, it's so cool. You can go and trade pins. That's one way of getting different countries' pins, but you can also go around and you can achieve pins that say different things, and you have to do a challenge for it. We did an anti-doping one where you went and you learned about the doping rules, which is awesome. It's educational. We definitely need to know about that. And then there's ones, random challenges everywhere all around the place, and you can look them up and go around like Pokemon Go, and then you go and you talk to somebody and they give you the pin, and then you can trade those rarer pins for the country's pins that you want. It was really cool. It was fun. Like you bonded with a lot of different people because you had to ask them for their pin.
BEN WATERWORTH: Did you end up getting a favourite, like a pin that you just treasure above all the others?
JOSIE BAFF: Not really. I mean, there's definitely like cooler ones than others. I can't remember what they are now, but I do have an Italian one. I loved the Italian one. I actually put on my Crocs that my mum had bought me.
BEN WATERWORTH: We should explain, but just for people who are watching this, there's a sensor light in the room you're in right now, which is, I'm actually really entertained by this, that it's kind of just like, it's almost like this big introduction, like a pop concert going on every single time.
JOSIE BAFF: It's like a second life. Yeah, so I actually still have my Crocs.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just ready to go, right?
JOSIE BAFF: They're my footwear of choice most of the time. They're so practical.
BEN WATERWORTH: So you're the one who wears them. People do wear Crocs. Okay, I get it.
JOSIE BAFF: I think we should bring them back. They should be more socially acceptable. We need to work on that for sure, because sometimes I do get a little embarrassed going down to somewhere. And I'm like, I don't know if I should be in Crocs right now, but I would live in the middle.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just wear the middle, Josie. Just be like Winter Olympic Youth Gold Medallist. I can wear Crocs if I want to.
JOSIE BAFF: I can wear Crocs if I want to. Yeah, I think the celebrities wearing Crocs has definitely made it a little bit more social acceptable, which is cool. But yeah, I put a little Italian pin in there, and I was walking up the steps, and I got to the top and it was gone. I couldn't find it. Mostly because it's not a Croc pin. It's just a pin. And I even had a sharp edge, but I was happy to embrace that. But yeah, I lost it, which was really sad.
BEN WATERWORTH: So we're putting you like an APB out there for your lost Italian pin, because somebody's found it, contact you basically.
JOSIE BAFF: Yes, please.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right. There's a special note out there that we'll put out there for that. We'll get to some sort of fun wrap up questions in just a moment when it comes to just getting to know you a little bit more, Josie, and learning some weird things about you. One thing I wanted to ask you about, though, you, in 2020 also, a recipient of the Tier 1 scholarship for the Sports Hall of Fame, which I believe you then get partnered with a pretty esteemed mentor in Susie O'Neill. What's that like, and what does Susie teach you, and how helpful is that to kind of have someone like that be able to mentor you?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, as soon as I applied for that scholarship, I was like, if you get paired with somebody who's in this, like Australia's Sports Hall of Fame, they can't be a bad person. They're going to have to be like one of the most successful athletes in the history of Australia. Like to get into that Hall of Fame is impressive. So when I was paired with Susie O'Neil, I was like, oh my gosh. My mum, my mum in particular, she was more in that age. She was like, wow, like, that's awesome. That's so crazy. And it was really cool to have that experience. And I think like we're still in contact now. And that's really nice, even though my year has, it's nearly over from home, which is sad. But I think that the way that they pair you with somebody outside your sport is really, it's really cool because you can find like parts that you might usually not talk about, like similarities, more like the mindset things instead of like talking like specific snowboard cross stuff. It's more sport general things, which I think is really interesting. And you kind of can see different sides of it and see how different sports affect different things. And whenever I like I'm feeling the pressure or I'm feeling like not quite perfect, I just send her a message and I ask, I got the advice is on that. And no matter what she gives back, it always is so simple and I can understand it really easily. So that's really awesome.
BEN WATERWORTH: Pretty cool to just be able to send Susie a message. Susie, how are you doing?
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, it is great. It's really good. It's really good opportunity.
BEN WATERWORTH: The other thing I wanted to quickly touch on now, I watched a couple of interviews you've done post your race and also when you got the award for Junior Athlete of the Year through Snow Australia, I loved whenever it got brought up about school, that you were sort of like, yeah, I've got to go back to school. Like, yeah, school, school. Have you finished school now, Josie? You got that torture out of your life now because it seemed like that was a bit of a burden for you.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I graduated in 2020. And like, I definitely went through phases through school where I was like, oh, gosh, I don't want to be here. And then like, oh, I'd rather be snowboarding. But I did, I do really enjoy learning. So I think going through school and being with my friends and I definitely missed some parts of being in school for sure. And I think, I think when I graduated, I was very excited because I was like, oh, like I can finally focus on snowboarding. And I think that's totally one of the main reasons why I wasn't completely in love with going to school. I mean, not very many people are.
BEN WATERWORTH: None of us are. Come on.
JOSIE BAFF: But I think having that better alternative made it that much more painful on those days when there was good snow or I just wanted to be somewhere else. But now that it's over, I definitely missed parts of it, but I hopefully am going to study again soon. I told myself that I was going to give myself up until the Games to not do anything and just see what it's like to put all of my energy into snowboarding. And it's been great. I've definitely improved a lot and quite quickly, which is awesome. I'm very happy about that.
BEN WATERWORTH: I've got to ask what is the agenda for study? Like sort of what are you looking towards going towards?
JOSIE BAFF: Well, I have a lot of different interests in very different things. They're very broad and they don't really relate to each other. I like interior design and I like nutrition and how the body works. But I think the thing is at the moment, I'm not loving any of the jobs that pair up with them, but I would like to learn about them and I would still be happy to learn about them. And even if I learnt, like I like sports physiology and how the body works and how like feeding your body and like the chemistry sides of that, I find that like super interesting. And that's what my sister's studying at the moment. And when she talks about it, like I'm always so interested. But I think that can kind of go into my soul, getting me help, because if I have a good understanding, then I know what I have to do to my body and I know how it works. So I think that kind of relates to InterboloCross. And I think that would be beneficial. So maybe I'll do that, but who knows?
BEN WATERWORTH: Is it a question you get sick of people asking you like, what are you going to study? Like, I don't know.
JOSIE BAFF: I mean, I mean, it's expected. Everybody, everyone gets that question no matter who you are.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just get the medal. Just seriously hold on. I don't care what I'm doing. Look at this gold. Like, you know, just shove it in people's face. That's your excuse. Jail, free, you know, ticket out of jail card right there. And like, I mean, we always ask our medallists, I believe you are our first ever Youth Olympic medallist. I mean, do you, what do you do with the medal? Like, is it on display? I'm at dad's house. Is it something you kind of put in your pocket for some inspiration? Like, what do you do with it?
JOSIE BAFF: So we actually get this, get this like case. It's a very nice box and it's felt from the inside and it has like the metal insert and the ribbon goes underneath. And it's really cool. It's really cool. But I have like this one shelf above my bed and it has like a few candles and a book and some cool aesthetic trophies that I have collected over the years. But there's like a big wooden fin, surfboard fin from the Benz Lyle because it's like kind of surfy, but it was just my work. So that's up there and I have the box there too with like another with the, what's it called? Junior Athlete of the Year Award, which is a class. So it's really nice and classy. So I keep like the aesthetic trophies on that shelf and it's on there with that inside the box. So it doesn't get ruined, but it comes out like one of the songs comes to my house. Who hasn't seen it? They go, can I see it?
BEN WATERWORTH: Be honest Josie, even like, you know, like, what's that doing there? Oh my, funny story. Do you want to hear what I did with this? Accidentally, right? You know, but it's, I like that kind of level of some candles, some books, use Olympic gold medal, just, you know, just casual, casual kind of like it. It works better than the sock draw.
JOSIE BAFF: I think I'll get worried if I ever lost it, but I was, when I came home, it was actually a funny story. I was, I put it in my carry-on bag because I was like, what if my bag gets lost? I want to have it. I want to know where it is. So I put it in my carry-on. Going through the x-rays at the customs in the airport, they stopped it and they pulled it. They opened it like that. I was like, oh no, I can see this big metal thing through the x-ray. So they got it out and they were opening it and they were talking in French to each other. And my mum and I were just laughing, laughing while standing there and they were opening it up and they had to go. I had it in like a, I carry little bags where I put my socks and undies and I put it in just one of those bags to protect the box that was protecting the medal. But they were taking it out and they had to open it all the way out and they opened it and they were like, oh! And they were saying stuff in French to the other colleagues. It was really funny. My mum and I were just standing there and we were just watching and laughing. But they gave it back to me and I continue on.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, we need to confiscate this. I love there was a few Olympians on social media I saw when they came back from Tokyo. They did the whole like going through the scanner thing. And they go, beep, beep, beep, and like, oops, and they'd like pull out like a gold medal from within their shirt. Sorry. Yeah, sorry about that. There's an idea for you. You know, kind of just keep travelling around that. Now, Josie said we like to wrap up a series of sort of get to know you style fun questions. These are a questionnaire that Team Canada gave their athletes ahead of Rio and Pyeongchang. And we're hopeful that they're doing it ahead of Beijing, where we've heard whispers that they're bringing this back. And as always, there is a drawing element if you want to do it. Now, we've had two fantastic Bob's letters on this show. Both Ash Werner and Sarah Blizzard did some drawing. We put it on our social media. So if you want to join your fellow winter friends by drawing, please do some homework, send it in. Otherwise, I know you hate school, so you don't have to. You'll have a look. All right, so you can draw a picture of yourself. If you were an animal, what would you draw? And there's draw a picture of one of your teammates. So that's always fun.
JOSIE BAFF: You know, I mean, if I was an animal, if I was an animal, my first thing was to say an elephant because that has been like one of my I don't know. I don't know if I put my favourite animal, but it has been an animal that I've like collected. I don't know why. Like all of my stuffed animals growing up as an elephant, I still have like Dumbo from Disney. I still have it. And I had like little like toy versions of them. And like my mum, my super-boobies are super random, but the other one is going to be a turtle, which they're very different.
BEN WATERWORTH: Elephants heavier, so I don't know if that goes faster.
JOSIE BAFF: But yeah, I'm not really sure what my similarities to those animals are.
BEN WATERWORTH: But test your drawings. Draw us an elephant and a turtle. Why not? You got a World Cup or anything to prepare for me. Come on. We'll start off with your favourite ever Olympic moment is.
JOSIE BAFF: I think it would have to be. I would probably tour. I think tour I mean, I think that would probably be one of the craziest ones for sure. And then Catherine Freeman. I didn't see that one live, but looking back on it, that's an incredible moment. And then my own.
BEN WATERWORTH: Say that, which is one of these moments where it like, I feel slightly old, knowing that you weren't even alive during not only Cathy Freeman, but you weren't even alive and Stephen Bradbury won the gold medal.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: You know, what about, I mean, just as what I mean, seeing Jared, obviously, you know, get the silver in Pyeongchang. I mean, how much of a boost is that for the sport? You know, I mean, we had great success in the world stage outside of the Olympics, but an Olympic medal, the first ever one achieved by Jared.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, no, it was awesome. I know Jared really well, and my dad, he came on a few camps with my dad, and my dad cried, which was cool. He went away. I was at school. So I came home from school and I watched it, but he was down at like where everyone was watching it, at the bowling club. And it was really awesome. And his reactions, no matter when they did, they're always so good and so raw. And I really loved that about him. And seeing that definitely was eye opening. And again, helps you know that it is possible. So it's cool.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's very, very cool. It was loved. I mean, that final, Chumpy in the final as well, was such one of my most memorable moments of Pyeongchang. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
JOSIE BAFF: Oh, gosh. I think it would be, I wouldn't say it would be invisible, but I don't know. I think teleportation would be up there for me. Travelling is probably one of the worst parts about going overseas is the plane. But I think if you could teleport, that would be really cool. You could go home, you could see your dogs and come back.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, you see. What am I going to do? How many dogs do you have? Can we give you a shout out to your dogs?
JOSIE BAFF: I have one dog, his name is Alvin, and he's a caboodle and he's the cutest little gem in the world. I love him. I miss him very much.
BEN WATERWORTH: Perfect. Well, yeah, go get that, you know.
JOSIE BAFF: It's a back country movie, so it's like freestyle and power and they go up in helicopters and they ski to back country. And that's like one of the most beautiful, beautifully made snow movies ever. I love it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I always like to then equate any sport to James Bond. If James Bond has done it, it's cool. A View To A Kill, he did snowboarding. They played California Girls By The Beach Boys. And I think that movie is actually legitimately considered as a bit of a progression for snowboarding because it wasn't widely known when that movie was released. So thanks, James Bond. You know, always go to thanks, James Bond for that. And seeing like an 80 year old Roger Moore on a snowboard. Why wouldn't you want to see that? Your funniest childhood memory is?
JOSIE BAFF: Oh, funniest childhood memory. Gosh, I don't have very many. I have a very bad memory. I mean, it's good. It's like not so bad, but childhood. I don't know. I can't think of one. What's yours?
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, you're turning the tables on me here, Josie. That's a good question. I remember my sister liked to do things in which, like, you know how you go to your siblings on, like we had these stairs at our house, which was a very small gap. And I'm like, I bet you can fit under there. And she's like, yeah, I probably could. So she did. She got stuck, which is fantastic. And we got, I remember when we first got wheelie bins and she was like, I bet you I can get in there. I'm like, I bet you can too. Go on. And she got stuck and I just kind of walked off and left her in there. So, I mean, I sound like a horrible brother, but I could tell you some horrible things she did to me, but we're not here to do that. But they were funny. They were funny at the moment.
JOSIE BAFF: So, yeah, that actually made me think of one. My, we had like this electric, I think it was a tricycle. It was big. And my sister and my brother, they're both older than me. My sister's five years older than me, and my brother's a year and a half. And I don't remember this one, but I've seen a video of it, and now I remember the video. But I was in a nappy and we're going down the driveway and my sister was on the electric motorbike and she was going down the driveway and she got my brother to get on. And then they came back up, and they're like, here, Josie, get on, get on. And then I went to go get on, and she sped off down the driveway. And I'm there in my nappy chasing after my brother on this electric motorbike.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay. There's something you need to share in social media for us now. Just do that one. I like these deep questions. Your favourite pump up song is?
JOSIE BAFF: It definitely changes a lot. I think Anything 2000 is the best sing-along songs. I can't think of a specific one off the top of my head right now, but I think anything like that, a bit of pink in there, a bit of Taylor Swift sometimes, a bit of MKTO.
BEN WATERWORTH: TO, yes, yes.
JOSIE BAFF: Anything that has a good beat in the background gets me pumped up.
BEN WATERWORTH: What's that? Why have I gone blank in that song? I want to dance to that mark, I want to kiss that prince. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. God, Jesus. Good song.
JOSIE BAFF: It is a good song.
BEN WATERWORTH: Sing along, pump it up. Yeah, great choice. The most recent TV show that you binge watched is?
JOSIE BAFF: Oh, this is shameful. Me and Mia, who is one of my teammates here, she's very similar in age. We have been watching Love Island. We are currently watching the UK one on in our spare time, as well as on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, because the Aussie one doesn't come out. It's only Monday through Thursday. So when we're deprived, we go back and watch. She's actually rewatching the UK one. And she's like, you have to watch it. But yeah, we're watching that at the moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: Look, no shame. Just own it. I like that. You know, it's cheap, fun television that you don't have to think too much.
JOSIE BAFF: It's awesome.
BEN WATERWORTH: I love it. Yeah. And you get to look at beautiful people fight over each other. So who wouldn't like that?
JOSIE BAFF: It's beautiful.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Exactly. Maybe we need to do a spin off here and off the podium. Off the Love Island. That doesn't really work down there. I'll work on the title. Your least favourite foods are?
JOSIE BAFF: My least favourite foods? This is really random, but tomatoes, but not just tomatoes. Like I can eat the shell of a tomato. It's just really the juices that get me. And then mushrooms I'm learning to like. I really wish I did like them because there are so many things. If it's like blended into something, I'll eat it. But just a straight up mushroom, I can't get around it yet. So they would be up there.
BEN WATERWORTH: I feel you're still so young that your taste buds are still like developed. Like, you know, the whole cliche, you're out, your parents are down. When you're older, you like it. It happens. But having said that, I'm 34, I still don't eat vegetables.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I'm hoping I'm hoping I'm going to learn to like mushrooms and full tomatoes, but we'll work.
BEN WATERWORTH: How's a sun dried tomato? Less juice in a sun dried tomato.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I can have a sun dried tomato and I can have cherry tomatoes. It's gonna make me sound so fussy, but I can have a cherry tomato. If it's like cut in half, it's just if I eat it and it like pops in my mouth. I don't know. And like cooked tomatoes, like love them. Fried on a barbecue. Love them.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's the insight here, Jo, like don't be ashamed. Like we're learning so much. As I said, this is, you know, just the extra levels that we're trying to get out on the show here. You saw, I mean, we touched on this before about your studies, but if you weren't an athlete, what would you be?
JOSIE BAFF: I don't think I'd want to be anything else. I think right now, if I wasn't an athlete, I would be having a gap year at home. I'm going to go into studying, but yeah, I'm not too sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: You could apply for Love Island. I mean, there's an idea. Hey, look, I mean, no seriousness, you know, like they would probably eat that up, like Winter Youth Olympic Gold Medallist, you know, like.
JOSIE BAFF: It would be fun. I mean, I have like this like exterior goal of mine and it's to go on Big Brother.
BEN WATERWORTH: Hey, they would take you. I mean, Lydia went on Survivor twice, so why wouldn't they have an Olympian?
JOSIE BAFF: Survivor is very hardcore. She's very hardcore. I don't know how she did it and then did it twice.
BEN WATERWORTH: Stephen Bradbury of course did it. Nova did it. We just had a bunch of Olympians have done Survivor. But I don't, yeah. How's an Olympian do Big Brother? Not off the top of my head that I can think of, so.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, I'm not too, I mean, it's not really a show that I watch religiously, but I think it would be really fun. So that's like an exterior goal of mine. So one day we'll make that happen.
BEN WATERWORTH: Channel 7 broadcasts the Olympics. When you get to the Olympics and you're doing these great little fluff pieces, you've got Mel McLaughlin in front of you, you know, kind of doing all this sort of stuff. Like just drop some hints. Like, yeah, I will. Like big brother. Like I want to be it. Like once I've won the Olympics, put me on Big Brother. That way, Channel 7 love that. Come on.
JOSIE BAFF: I hope so. When I retire, that's what I want to do.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, there you go. Look at this. We're working this group. You don't need to study all this time. Pathset. Pathset. Your favourite vacation spot is?
JOSIE BAFF: This is a tough one because vacation way, I usually think I would usually go snowboarding, and I would say that going to Mammoth Mountain with my family and friends, that's definitely one of my favourite places. But I also just love going to really warm places anywhere near a beach. It's lush, it's relaxing, it's nice, it's different. I can't wait, actually, until I get home. Me and Tess Cody were going to go up to Brisbane and do another training camp. Well, we've planned this. We haven't. We're hoping this is going to happen because we did it last year. But just going out there and going to the beach, I think anywhere with the right people is perfect.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good answer. Do you ever go to Banff and do the whole like bath and Banff kind of like? No?
JOSIE BAFF: I haven't, but I have thought about it numerous times.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think there's a blog in there, like you could just kind of create something, do the whole Australian like move to Canada thing, move to Banff and Banff and Banff. It just sells itself.
JOSIE BAFF: Yeah, it would be perfect.
BEN WATERWORTH: People would tune in. What's something that people usually describes you as?
JOSIE BAFF: Oh, I think I get weird sometimes. And I think that is a beautiful, positive thing. You have to have some kind of level of quirkiness, in my opinion. That's your personality. And I also think like family wise, I get like determined and like loving. It really depends on who I'm with. I think my personality kind of shifts a lot. But yeah, there's only a few of the things and hardworking. That's what I'd like to think they describe me as.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good answers. I just stick with weird too. Weird's nothing. Weird's fantastic. Now again, with something we also sort of touched on, if you could be an Olympian in any other sport other than your own, what would it be?
JOSIE BAFF: I think it would probably be ski racing. But then again, who knows?
BEN WATERWORTH: I can't tell. Esther, you can do it. Like, you know, it's kind of that way. Last question for you, Josie. Your guilty pleasure is?
JOSIE BAFF: Oh, this could also be watching Love Island. It could be up there. I think, yeah, probably watching. That's the only thing I can think of right now off the top of my head. Wearing Crocs.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep. Wearing Crocs while watching Love Island. Hey, hey, like again.
JOSIE BAFF: And having some choppy almonds.
BEN WATERWORTH: Perfect Friday night, basically. Josie, before we let you go, if people want to stay up to date with you, social media, anything you want to plug, kind of where can people find you, stay up to date with your journey moving forward?
JOSIE BAFF: Well, on Instagram and Facebook, I'm under at Josie Baff. So if you go to either of those, I'm pretty much at Josie Baff on any of my social medias. And that would be lovely if you did that. Thank you.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes. And TikTok, I always like to ask TikTok, is that a thing or?
JOSIE BAFF: Let's say no. Let's say no for now. Maybe one day I'll work on my editing skills and put out some content, but right now it is very awkward dancing with my friends that we think...
BEN WATERWORTH: So you're saying people should be looking for this and... Wasting their appetite. I'm writing that down. I don't even know what it is most of the time. Josie, seriously, it's been a lot of fun learning about yourself, the sport, your achievement so far, and we're crossing fingers, toes. Obviously by the time we release this, it's going to be a little bit closer to Beijing, so we'll probably know whether you're there or not. But we obviously, as the time we're recording this, crossing all those fingers and toes, that everything goes well for you in the World Cup season. We see you in Beijing, and if not Beijing, Milan, if not Milan, 2030, all the Olympics basically, and going forward for your career from this point on.
JOSIE BAFF: Perfect timing with the light yet again.
BEN WATERWORTH: I know, perfect, from the beginning to the end.
JOSIE BAFF: Thank you very much. It's been lovely talking to you, and hopefully I am ageing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic insight there from Josie into her sport and her career. And we are fingers crossed, of course, for Beijing should she be there. And I can honestly say I've never actually watched Love Island, not really my type of show I watch, but hey, if I've got someone like Josie telling me it's a fun show to watch, maybe I'll have to check it out and we will have that spin-off. We've got so many spin-offs here on Off The Podium that who knows where and when we can also add to that list as well. But big thanks to Josie for her time there. As we get closer and closer, we are days away now from the opening ceremony. We're continuing daily episodes, of course, between now and the closing ceremony of Beijing. Stay tuned to who we've got coming on the show because there's plenty of great chats to come, plenty of great episodes to come, plenty of great content to come. If you're an Olympic fan, you are getting very excited right now and we have you covered here on Off The Podium, so make sure you do tune in and get yourself very, very excited. Big thanks again to Josie. Big thanks to everybody for tuning in. My name is Ben. Shout out to Jason Momoa.
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