Laura Hingston Interview
In the latest episode of Off The Podium we're excited to learn a bit more about the sport of diving for the very first time, as we sit down with Australian diver Laura Hingston to learn more about the sport and her amazing career. We find out which sport Laura started off in and how it brought about an interesting transition into diving. We also learn all about the finer details of just how the skills are developed and why a fear of heights isn't exactly a barrier when it comes to certain disciplines in the sport, as well as learning how the disappointment of not making the Tokyo team is spurring her on towards a tilt at Paris 2024. It's one fun chat that will have you trying not to splash your entry into listening, so get to it!
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 episode. And we are so excited to bring you another interview as we inch closer and closer to Tokyo 2020. Can you believe it? I can officially say to you that the Olympics start next week. It feels like it's been forever because it kind of has. It's been longer than usual. But we're excited here at Off The Podium, of course, to get to Tokyo 2020 and cover those games for you. But it doesn't mean we're still not going to bring you some great episodes in the lead up to really get you pumped and excited ahead of the Olympic Games. Today, we're going to be talking about the sport of diving with an Australian representative, Laura Hingston, who unfortunately did not make the Tokyo team. But there's a very heartbreaking story behind why she didn't. She was on track to make the Olympics. And as you'll hear in our interview with her today, just some unfortunate circumstances came about, which saw her unable to make the team. But it doesn't stop this from being a very interesting chat. Laura's journey to going into the sport of diving and how she transitioned from another sport into it and a series of results along the way and kind of her goals moving forward as she obviously switches her sights now to a spot on the Paris 2024 team and also gives us a bit of an insight on who we should be looking out for on the Australian diving team at the Tokyo Olympics and what our chances are for some medals in that sport. It's a great chat. You're going to enjoy it. And we're going to play it for you right now. My chat with Australian diver Laura Hingston.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's a massive pleasure to welcome our next guest here to Off The Podium, our first chance to talk about the sport of diving. And our guest today has competed in a myriad of different events around the world over the last few years, including making the semi-finals of the women's platform in the 2019 World Aquatic Championships. And I, for one, am very excited to talk about this sport because it's a sport that I know little about. I've tried it once, and yeah, there's a reason why I'm not a diver at any point. But maybe we can find out today from our guest Laura Hingston about why she is a diver and why this sport is so awesome and amazing, and we need to learn more about it. Laura, welcome to Off The Podium. It's a pleasure to have you on the show today.
LAURA HINGSTON: Thank you so much for having me.
BEN WATERWORTH: When I say I tried it, I think I got up on one of the diving boards once and belly flopped quite severely into a pool. So I don't know if that's really trying. But I mean, it's a sport that I'm in awe every time I watch people do this sport because it's just one of these ones, which it's just amazing how you are able to do what you do and just the amount of tricks and everything you can do in the space of a short amount of time. I mean, the obvious question I have to start with Laura is, what brought you into the sport of diving?
LAURA HINGSTON: Well, just quickly, if it makes you feel any better, I also, when I first started the sport, had plenty of belly whackers.
BEN WATERWORTH: Makes me feel a lot better. Thank you.
LAURA HINGSTON: So for me, I got into the sport as an elite gymnast before, and unfortunately had back surgery. So that ultimately ended my gymnastics career. I still really wanted to try and make an Olympics. So for me, it was always just, all right, what sport can I do next? And diving was on the horizon, and I gave it a go and I absolutely loved it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great, great. So it was just on the Olympic thing, was that sort of the goal in general? Like why you got into gymnastics? Was this kind of a young, you know, as a child, you saw the Olympics, you wanted to make the Olympics, you kind of chose that path, or were you already in gymnastics? And then that was just the end goal when you were in the sport of gymnastics.
LAURA HINGSTON: No, it was actually, I saw the 2000 Olympics on TV. I had no idea what it was. I'd never seen it before. I was five years old, and I was just mesmerized by it. And I remember running into my mum's room, and I was, mum, what is this? What is this? And it was the gymnastics at the time, and I knew that's exactly what I wanted to do. So I begged my parents to let me start gymnastics. It actually took three years before they let me. And yeah, I feel just literally from that moment, I was just so inspired. And I don't know, I felt like that's what I was meant to do.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think every child who was in Australia watching the Sydney Olympics had some sort of moment they remember watching. I remember the gymnastics, Jai Wallace obviously winning the silver medal was a pretty big deal there. For us to win our only ever Olympic medal in the sport. Were you looking at the trampolining? Were you sort of looking at artistic, rhythmic? Were you into the ribbons and the balls? I mean, kind of, was there a specific part of gymnastics that you got into?
LAURA HINGSTON: The first time that I was watching it was artistic gymnastics. And they were, I actually distinctly remember just watching them flip around. And obviously as a kid, a young girl, we're always doing cartwheels. So I was like, wow, what is this? And they're doing really cool tricks. How can I do that? So for me, it was artistic. But over the two weeks, I was just obsessed with it. I watched every sport. I tried to step as late as I could to watch everything. I didn't want to miss anything. I tried to say that I was going to sleep on the couch so that I wouldn't miss anything. I just was absolutely mesmerized. I just loved it.
BEN WATERWORTH: With the gymnastics, you said it took a few years to get your parents to let you do it. What was their kind of, you know, thing to hold you back? Was it like, oh, no, I don't want to do this sport. We'd rather you do something else. Or was it kind of just a case of you didn't maybe really sort of explain how much you wanted to do it? I mean, it's sort of interesting that I feel gymnastics is not one of those sports that parents maybe don't want you to do. I thought that would be one of the ones. Yeah, go for it. Gymnastics is fine. You're not doing BMX or, you know, extreme diving or something like that.
LAURA HINGSTON: I think just my parents knew how hard it was. Obviously, gymnastics is a very hard sport. And I also was a dancer and I was dancing many hours a week and I was a little ballerina and I absolutely loved dancing as well. And I definitely did beg them to do gymnastics. So they definitely did know how much I wanted to do it. It was every birthday, every Christmas. It was the top of my list to do gymnastics. So I definitely did tell them how much I wanted to do it. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't let me. I think it was just because I was so happy and dancing and I perhaps did have a career in ballet. So yeah, I think they just were trying to protect me a little bit because they knew it was so hard.
BEN WATERWORTH: Who knew that, you know, 24 years later, if you had stuck to dancing, you could have gone break dancing, you could have been a break dancer at the Paris Olympics. Now that's coming in a few years time.
LAURA HINGSTON: So yeah, how amazing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, absolutely crazy to think that. So how far did you end up going with gymnastics sort of before the injury? I mean, were you on the path to represent Australia one day at the Olympics in the sport?
LAURA HINGSTON: I like to think so. Obviously I had back surgery just before the 2012 Olympics. So the trials, we had all of our Olympic camps. I was on the national team at that point. I may have been a little bit young for that team. I think where I was meant to peak was probably the 2014 Commonwealth Games. But again, that was something that I definitely was striving for. And look, I wasn't an elite gymnast. So again, you're always trying to make that team. But you just never know with sport, with injuries, timing. Unfortunately, we haven't qualified a team for the last two Olympics. So that's been pretty devastating for a lot of my friends and teammates I used to train with, because it means that only individual athletes have been able to go to the Olympics. So the opportunity there for multiple athletes from Australia to make that Olympic dream a reality has been quite tough. So it's really hard to know what my outcome would have been. But I know I would have been training pretty hard to try and make it a reality.
BEN WATERWORTH: And obviously we're here to talk to you about diving. We will talk about diving, but just with gymnastics, I mean, it seems to be a very age dependent sport. It seems to be one of these ones that when you sort of hit 20, you're almost a veteran, you're almost too old. I mean, is it that case when you're sort of competing in that level, that it is sort of when you're in your teens, that's when you're at your peak and the older you get, you kind of the opportunity does fall a little bit further away.
LAURA HINGSTON: I think that is changing a little bit, though. I know a few of my teammates who were trying to make this Olympic team and try and qualify themselves individually. One of my friends, Georgia, she's actually 26. So it definitely has changed a lot. I know when I was younger, it definitely was. You're at your prime between 16 and 18. But again, I think it's just really personal. People are hitting their peaks, their physical peaks at such different times. And there are quite a few athletes around the world or gymnasts around the world who actually are getting a little bit older now. And I think it's really exciting to see that. I mean, even Simone Biles, she's, I guess she's not 16, but she's just amazing. She's obviously one of the great gymnasts of all time. So I think just the culture of gymnastics is changing in many ways. And age is just one of them.
BEN WATERWORTH: Was there not a gymnast in Rio in her 40s? I remember there being like a really big thing. She was somewhere from Europe, was she not? And she was in like a fifth or sixth Olympics or something like that?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yes, I think she's actually just qualified for another Olympics, which is super exciting.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic. That's great. Wow. Yeah, it's just it's so fascinating to kind of watch some of these sports when they're talking about on the coverage, a 26 year old, a veteran of the sport. And it's like, wow, that's that's fascinating. So when the transition came to diving, was that something that you had kind of had an eye on? Was this something you recruited for? Because I know sort of with gymnastics, it translates into some different sports. Alyssa Campland, for example, and a lot of aerial skiers kind of have from a gymnastics, David Morris, you know. So was that was that an option maybe to go the winter route, go aerials, or was diving always kind of that one that you thought would be a better idea?
LAURA HINGSTON: So I actually sat as a VIS gymnast, I actually sat down with the Victorian Institute of Sport, and at the time they had a talent pathways manager. And we actually worked out what I'd be best suited for. And aerials skiing was one of them, diving and pole vaults. They were the three top picks for me. I actually was pretty desperate to do aerials skiing. I was super excited. And unfortunately, they just didn't have a coach for me. It was really last minute. And they said, all right, we're pretty keen to have you, but can you come back next year? And for me, I was 18 at the time and I did feel quite old, especially to be starting a new sport. So I was pretty motivated to get going and pretty determined to get started in a new sport. I actually went over to diving and I said, all right, we'll try the next time we go to diving. And I just loved it. And I just didn't even try pole vault. I didn't even continue to pursue aeroskiing. I just loved diving. And I knew that was probably the best fit for me. And definitely now that I'm in the sport and I've watched Lydia Lassler's documentary, The Will To Fly, I definitely feel like I've made the right decision.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's some of these sports just crazy. I mean, pole vault is definitely one of these ones where it's that makes sense with the gymnastics connection because I'd love to speak to a pole vaulter and be like, so what made you want to run with a giant pole and flip yourself over that and then fall flat on your back? Like it's there are definitely some sports at the Olympics where I feel like there are questions about how you get into you're not just running, you know, a straight line, you know, there's some there's some effort involved in there, I think, to why you switch into that. So when it came to switching over, and, you know, obviously, I can see that the transition of skills, you know, a lot of sort of acrobatics and tumbling and sort of, you know, you're doing the skills and everything that you're doing in the air. I mean, outside of the obvious things, what are some of the other sort of ones from gymnastics that really do translate across into diving?
LAURA HINGSTON: I think just a lot of the mental side that I learned from gymnastics, which obviously is that how to deal with fear, how to deal with the nerves, because I can tell you right now standing on top of that 10 metre, especially for the first time, I was physically shaking. So for me, that was something that I had learned in gymnastics had to deal with, because gymnastics, some of the skills can be quite scary, especially on the beam. So for me, those skills are really important to bring over to my diving career and pathway. Of course, the aerial awareness, which is what you mentioned was is a big one. So being at a flip and twist was pretty important. I think that's why my transition into diving is quite fast. So I was able to acquire a lot of my dives off 10 metre very quickly. I still look like a gymnast. And this was something that I still work on to this day on a lot of my takeoffs. And a lot of the commentators do note that she must have been a gymnast. So it's something that I'm still working on to try and get rid of a few of those gymnastics habits. But yeah, they're probably the main things. A lot of the mental skills and then of course, yeah, the aerial awareness.
BEN WATERWORTH: What are the gymnastics habits? Like how is a commentator able to pinpoint that you were a gymnast and not just a diver that you've been diving since a young age?
LAURA HINGSTON: Well, if it's not my handstand, it gives it away. I do typically hold my handstand for a little bit longer than most, and that's completely unintentional. I don't realise I hold it that long, but it's a lot of my takeoffs. So gymnasts tend to use a lot more of their shoulders because we're quite strong upper body, whereas diving is very quad dominant. And so for me, it's just a, it's probably a bit hard to explain, but it's the way that I swing my arms to get that power to jump off the 10 metre doesn't quite look like I've been diving for 10 years. It has a little bit of a gymnastic swing in there, but it's definitely getting better. And I guess once I, because I've been a gymnast for so long, those habits aren't going to be there for a little bit until I've, I guess I've been diving for a little bit longer.
BEN WATERWORTH: And is that something that judges mark down, you need to sort of remove that aspect or is it something that isn't really marked upon that style?
LAURA HINGSTON: I think now probably not. It's probably not as noticeable now. When I first started, definitely, because the parabola of how I jumped off the platform, I was probably jumping a bit too far away from the platform in the beginning, because I was throwing my shoulders back rather than jumping as high as I could to get that rotation in the height. So definitely in the beginning, I would say yes, but I would hope not now. For me, I feel like I look like a diver, it's just some commentators who are quite experienced, probably just see a little bit of a gymnastic swing in there. And I guess it's just a point to talk about.
BEN WATERWORTH: You just need people like me, Laura, to commentate who really know nothing. And I just go, wow, that was incredible. Like literally, I watch it, every single dive, unless there's a massive splash, I'm like, that was incredible. And then I'm listening to the commentator, oh no, the execution arm, one arm was one millimeter to the left there, she's going to get deducted. I'm just like, what?
LAURA HINGSTON: That looked brilliant. Especially at such a high level in every sport you are, I guess, in our sport, you're chasing that perfect 10. So they are really looking for the little parts that are wrong. And that's where the commentators are coming in just to show the audience that, all right, she only got a nine and a half on this dive because of this, or, and just really providing that context for the audience. So I think to the general public, or even to my parents, they probably wouldn't notice the gymnastics little takeoff that I still maybe have. But yeah, definitely some of the experts are probably looking for it, to be honest.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm still not over Pyeongchang with David Morris when he had a better landing than, I can't remember the name of the Chinese athlete, and he didn't even make it into the final. And I was like, what the hell are you going on about? I think Australia still hasn't gotten over that. It's been over three years. And yet we're again, we're just the armchair experts and you're all watching. Oh, yeah, no, he was right.
LAURA HINGSTON: Yep.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, definitely. When it comes to choosing the discipline in diving, obviously, you've got everything from a one metre springboard until the 10 metre platform. Is that a case where you're sitting down with the VIS and you're working out your skills, what would be transferable? Because I mean, I could imagine that if you hate heights, you're not going to do a 10 metre platform, you're going to stick to the one metre one. But is it skill dependent really of what your gymnastic skills translate across best two?
LAURA HINGSTON: Definitely. And it's definitely very individual. For me, I actually was terrified of heights when I first started diving. But I also knew that I wanted to do the 10 metre platform because they do the handstand dive and I love doing handstands in gymnastics and that was kind of my thing. So I knew that that's what I wanted to do in diving. But again, I think it definitely is super individual because the board definitely chooses you. For me, although the springboard is lower, it is quite hard to learn the timing of the bounce and quite frankly, I find it quite scary. So for me, yeah, 10 metre was definitely the obvious choice. I think a lot of gymnasts transfer a lot easier to the platform just because of the surface. As I said, the springboard does take quite a lot of skill and time to really learn that skill. So I think in terms of the quick progression into the sport, gymnasts typically take to the platform a lot quicker.
BEN WATERWORTH: How many seconds do you generally have from the moment you launch into hitting the pool and how many tricks can you, the best divers in the world, fit into that period?
LAURA HINGSTON: So you have about 1.6 seconds from when you leave the platform, yeah. So we hit the water at 60 kilometres per hour, so it's pretty fast from the 10 metre. The best and one of the most difficult skills in the world would be the front four and a half. That's four and a half somersaults in the tuck position. Typically that's what the boys do. There are a few females in the world that do it, which I think is super exciting. For me, I really like the handstand dive, so I'm going to typically hopefully be trying to push that envelope in trying to get a two and a half twister on my handstand rather than a one and a half twist. So there's plenty of different skills that you can do and plenty of different dives you can do. I just, you need to work to your strengths and front direction is definitely not mine.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I mean, how to put that into context when you're say, going on the vault in gymnastics, is that a similar timing that you've kind of got the 1.5 seconds, 1.6 seconds, or is it less, is it more?
LAURA HINGSTON: It's actually a really good question. And I'm not actually sure how long you have on the vault. So I definitely didn't have that long. Vault was an apparatus that I did struggle with. It wasn't my favourite apparatus in gym.
BEN WATERWORTH: What was your favourite, what was your forte in gymnastics?
LAURA HINGSTON: The uneven bars.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ah, nice.
LAURA HINGSTON: I pretty much liked all of them, except for vault.
BEN WATERWORTH: Except for vault. I chose a good one there to go with the example. Yeah, it's, it's, again, I don't even think I can do a flip. I just, I forward roll. I remember in primary school when you sort of, you know, had to do gymnastics in your school hall or your gym, you know, like do a forward roll, do a back roll. I struggled with that. And I can imagine that first time you mentioned that you get up there, you see that, you're like, how the fuck am I going to do, you know, three things going down in 1.6 seconds? When you first get up there and you're sort of transitioning, kind of what are they just getting you to simply get used to the height, kind of just do a couple of, you know, free dives or something along those lines to kind of get used to it. And then you just build up to doing the skills and the tricks?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, definitely. As soon as you, I think you even just start off doing a pin drop, you're running and doing a pin drop off to begin with. And then you'll do just a roll off into a dive and then you'll go into some of the easier dives, which we call compulsories or requires. And that's literally just a front dive, a back dive. And that's just to learn control and build up the, I guess, the conditioning of your shoulders, because obviously the impact is quite, quite high. And then you start getting into your optional dives. So they are the big ones. So they are the really the high difficulty ones with all the twists and the flips. But again, there's always a phase where you're building up to it. So a lot of my dives, I'll train on five metre first, and I'll be doing the two and a halfs on five metre. And then when that's ready, I'll go up to the 10 metre and then I'll add another sum of salt. So I'll be doing the three and a half on 10 metre. So there definitely is a phase of preparation and definitely not just chucking you up there in the beginning and saying, all right, chuck a front three and a half. Um, so...
BEN WATERWORTH: When it comes to training, obviously diving, doing a lot of dives, I can imagine, as you said, obviously going on some of the smaller ones to practise that as well. Is it a sport that you can say jump on a trampoline and practise some of the... when you just don't want to get wet, I guess, all the time and kind of other methods you can do to practise those skills without always constantly jumping off a diving board?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yes, definitely. Actually, a lot of our training is done in the dry land. So the dry land has a foam pit, trampolines, springboards into the foam pit. We'll be doing flips onto crash mats. So that's where we learn a lot of our technique. We also have harnesses in there, so you still are able to do... That's where you originally will learn your front three and a half. You'll just get a feeling. You'll be able to see what it feels like, and then you'll transition that into the water. So a lot of our skills, yeah, are developed in the dry land, and that's a really important aspect of our training as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: At what point, once you had transitioned into diving, did you sort of start to, no pun intended, with water, make waves? I mean, kind of was this something that you just took to immediately and kind of made progression through the ranks? I mean, at that point, was this something where this Olympic dream was coming on quickly, or was it sort of more of a case of you were learning along the way and kind of gradually made your way up the ladder a little bit?
LAURA HINGSTON: I did make it really clear when I first started and when I was transitioning into a new sport that I wasn't just doing this for fun. I mean, obviously, I was going to enjoy the process and enjoy the journey, but I definitely had that end goal in mind. So I really wanted to, even though I was coming in at 18 years old, which I actually felt was quite old at the time, looking back, I was actually still quite young. I think that was really important to let them know that, all right, I really need that, like, can you guys put the time into me, because this is a serious dream for me that I really want to achieve. So I was pretty determined. I worked pretty hard. And it was I think one of my very first competitions. I actually finished third. So that was my second competition, but they were pretty, pretty close. And that was a national competition. And that was probably where I first made my mark. And obviously, no one really knew who I was. So that was quite a fun experience at the start of the week. Everyone's like, who are you?
BEN WATERWORTH: Who are you?
LAURA HINGSTON: Where have you come from? And then I actually finished third. So yeah, that was pretty exciting for me. And I had really worked hard that year to try and get all my dives. I mean, I think sometimes to put it into perspective, people are diving for quite a few years before they get all their dives. And I was diving only 11 months, and I had all my dives. From literally stepping on the platform for the very first time. So a few of them weren't perfect, but I still had the dives. And I think that was, now that I look back at it, that's a pretty proud moment for me that I was able to achieve that.
BEN WATERWORTH: And in terms of timing, so was this pre-Rio? Was this kind of after Rio? And sort of if it was after, was that then always, okay, goal set to Tokyo? Or if it was pre-Rio, was there any chance you could have made 2016?
LAURA HINGSTON: So it was before Rio. I started diving in 2014, and unfortunately, I got injured. So Rio was out of the question about six months even before the trial even happened. So unfortunately, I hurt my shoulder. We had to, so there's pre-qualifying things that you have to do to even make it to the Olympic trials. So you have to get a certain score. And it was that December competition. I was only five points off making the National Squad score. And unfortunately, I hurt my arm. And it was my decision that I actually decided to compete the next weekend to try and make that score so that I could give myself the opportunity to trial for that Olympics. Whether I would have made the team, whether I would have been ready, who knows? But I just wanted to try and give myself the best opportunity. Because I competed that next weekend and I was injured, I just made it a lot worse. And unfortunately, it meant that I was out of the water for the next 10 months. So I completely missed everything. And yeah, I just straight away turned my focus to the next Olympics and just getting better. I think that's the that's the big thing for me is although the Olympics is obviously the dream, it's always just about trying to get better. And there's so many competitions in between that that I was always striving for. And I mean, we have so many great divers in the 10 metre event in this country. So it is very competitive and I knew I had a long way to go. So still and still to this day, always learning and always striving to just be the best that I can be.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, it's when it comes to our history in particularly in the Olympics in diving, I mean, two of our three gold have have come from the 10 metre event, obviously, Chantelle Newbury back in Athens and of course, Matthew Mitch in Beijing. So it's obviously we've got a bit of history in the 10 metre platform. Is this kind of Australia specialties that we can just jump off high things and do it quite well enough to do so well at the Olympics?
LAURA HINGSTON: That's a good question. I think honestly, we just have some, I mean, even now when we look at some of our really experienced divers, I mean, Maddie Keeney is one of our top divers and she's a world champ. And unfortunately, she's not going to this Olympics, but I mean, she's one of the best divers in the world. And she's actually a 3-metre diver. So we definitely have talent on the 3-metre and the 10-metre. And yeah, I think we have some really exciting divers and some really exciting results to come up at this Olympics and definitely for the Olympics to follow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I was going to talk to you about the Olympic trials soon and obviously what went down this year. But I mean, just while we're on that page of our divers that are going to Tokyo next week, I can officially say next week now. I mean, do we have anyone that we should be keeping an eye on? Have we got any sort of real medal prospects that are in with a hunt with some medals coming up in Tokyo?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, I think, I mean, that we have a great team going. We have seven athletes going, which is quite a small team. And unfortunately, that was due to COVID. And we weren't able to get to some of the qualifying meets. So the World Cup, we weren't able to go. So that means we have no synchro teams going to the Olympics, which is absolutely devastating because we really did have some opportunity there to end up on the podium for some of our synchro teams. In terms of our individual athletes that are going, I mean, we definitely have some super experienced athletes. We have Annabel Smith, who is an Olympic bronze medallist in a three-metre synchro, and she'll be going with Esther, who's also an Olympian and a very experienced diver. They both did a really world-class performance at the Olympic trials. I'll be really excited to watch them. We have Cassiel Russo in San Francisco in a ten-metre. Cassiel, I've never seen someone spin so fast in my life. He's still really new to the sport, but he has such a huge future in the sport, and I really can't wait to see where he matches up on the world stage at this Olympics. And Xuxin Li, three-metre. He is a two-time world champion, and again, he did a really great performance at trials. And then in my event, we actually have Nikita Haynes, who's my synchro partner, and Melissa Wu. So Melissa Wu is a veteran of the sport and has so many medals to her name.
BEN WATERWORTH: She's been around for a while, hasn't she? Yeah.
LAURA HINGSTON: She has. And honestly, she's looking the best I've ever seen her. So I'm really excited to see her. But again, you just never know at Olympics. We haven't really been out of travel much. There hasn't been a lot of competition. So it's really hard to know. Where everyone is in the world, and who's actually going to end up on those podiums. I mean, obviously, I'm sure China is looking great. But in terms of the other positions on the podiums, it's just really hard to know. And I really hope that some of our Aussies are able to get on there because they really deserve it. And they're definitely talented enough to get a medal, for sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know if you can answer this question a lot. Why are China so good at diving? Like, my goodness, like, it's one of these sports where, you know, you watch and you just basically sign off every single gold medallist in China almost, right? Like, those guys are amazing. I mean, I don't know if they're just as soon as they're born, they're just shoved on a diving board, basically. I mean, it's just it's crazy how good they are.
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, they're amazing. I would actually love to go to a Chinese facility and just watch them train. I think it's just that they have so many divers that are training, especially compared to Australia, where it's quite a small sport. It's a really big sport in China, and they just have the, I guess, the depth there. And I guess the saying that success breeds success, I mean, that definitely probably works for them. I mean, if you've got the Olympic champion and you're training next to her, I mean, it's likely that you're going to pick up a lot of her skills and you're going to be at that standard. So look, I'm not sure why they're so good. Maybe it's their physicality that really helps. But yeah, I think it just has to do as well with just their work ethic, and they've just got so many athletes, and perhaps, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's a fun trivia fact for you, which you can use this one, and anybody listening today, I'm just looking here at the overall medal tally in the history of diving at all Olympic Games, and just looking at the top three. So the US apparently have won the most medals over the years, and China. The third greatest nation in the history of diving, according to this table, is Sweden. I don't know if I've ever seen a Swedish diver before. This must be back in the old days. The Swedes must have been the China of the older Olympics. That's crazy.
LAURA HINGSTON: Wow.
BEN WATERWORTH: You said it as a fun little trivia fact. Sweden are the third most successful nation in diving at the Olympics. So then we need to find out when the last time Sweden won a medal at the Olympics. It's probably been quite some time. When it comes to, you talk about sort of compulsory dives and then kind of the ones that you obviously can add to it. What are the compulsory? What does that generally entail when you're at a competition is just every diver has to do a set dive to kind of just get on the board? I mean, and what makes a dive compulsory?
LAURA HINGSTON: So the compulsory dives, that's just the name that we use, and that's the name that represents the easier dive. So you'll notice in the synchro events, they will typically do two easier looking dives, and then they'll get into the hard dives, which we call the optional. So they're not necessarily compulsory to do, but that's just the name that we give them, if that makes sense. Yeah, so some people also call them required. I'm not really sure why they got that name. Maybe it was because in previous Olympics, I think they stopped it in 2004, well, before I started, but they had to do some of these simpler dives to begin, and then they'd get into their hard dives. So maybe that's where the name comes from, but I'm probably not the best person to ask.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's very similar, I guess, in a way to back to say pole vault or high jump, where you might start off at a low sort of height just to kind of get your footing, rather than go, okay, I'm going for the world record straight away.
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, definitely. And it also is these compulsory dives, I'm not sure why, but they often hurt the most. I'm not sure if that's just because you're falling at a faster speed or why that is, but they're really good just to learn control, to work on your takeoffs, and to really develop the shoulders, the arms, the wrists, and to condition those parts of your bodies, which are really taking the impact from the 10 metre. So you'll often see a lot of our younger divers who aren't quite at the stage of doing the front three and a halves or the back two and a half pike, whatever it may be. They will often be doing the compulsory dives, so the more simpler dives, which I must admit that definitely they look simple, but they're actually, that I find sometimes harder, because there's so much time where you have to fall, so you really have to get the takeoff right. So yeah, the young kids will be doing those dives to really start preparing their body for that impact and for the harder dives.
BEN WATERWORTH: In terms of the strategy, do you go into a competition and go, okay, well, this is going to be worse, a score enough to get me into a final, maybe then have to adapt when all of a sudden, five divers have come out and done something five times bigger, or do you kind of stick to a plan and kind of just hope that you're going to get it and that's going to be enough to sort of progress you in a competition?
LAURA HINGSTON: I would actually love it if we could go in with a bit of a game plan. I think that would be really exciting. And it's something that I've obviously spoken about with my coach. This is a bit of fun. But no, in our sport, it is very planned. So you actually have to have your dives in 24 hours before the competition and signed off then. Before the final, you actually can change your dives if you want, but it's pretty rare. I've actually never known anyone to do that before. So basically you train five dives and you just compete those five dives. So, yeah, it's pretty planned and you know exactly what you're doing. My order that I compete in always stays the same. And that's what we decided was the best way because I train in that order. And so I'm getting used to competing the way that I train, which I think is always what an athlete is trying to do.
BEN WATERWORTH: And do you get a chance to see what the other divers are doing? Can you like one up them? So like if, you know, somebody from Chinese diver submits theirs in earlier, you can sort of have a sneaky sneak and go, OK, well, they're doing that dive. I'm going to do a better one because I'm going to do better than them at that. And I'll get a higher score.
LAURA HINGSTON: I wish. I mean, that would be quite a lot of fun. But again, we literally just train the five dives that we're competing. So and pretty much you'll notice if you watch the Olympics at diving, majority of the divers do the exact same dives. So everyone will be doing a very similar dive list. The order of these dives will be obviously very individual. But again, most divers will finish on the back twist. And you'll see that for pretty much the whole round. And that's because that's a safe dive, it's a high difficulty dive. So it means that they can finish generally on a high.
BEN WATERWORTH: What is the hardest? What is like the creme de la creme dive that maybe no female athlete has ever competed that somebody's trying or the one that, you know, one person like, what is the one that if you landed, you're going to get a 10, you're going to get a goal, anything along those lines?
LAURA HINGSTON: So I'm not sure if anyone is training any secret dives at the moment, but I think the front four and a half is definitely that dive. It's worth, I'm pretty sure, 4.1, I'm pretty sure, which is massive. Most of the dives that we do are worth 3.2. So 4.1 dive, if you nail it, you're in good state. Yeah, that's going to be a very good score.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I mean, I'm probably sure this is a loaded question, or maybe it's an easy question, I don't know. But how does that scoring work? I mean, I guess you've just got your basic elements that a judge is looking for. And is it a case of when you're in that 1.6 seconds, you kind of can feel that you've done well, so you're going to get out of the pool and sort of look and go, okay, that's fair enough. Or is it a bit more technical than that? Like you can pull off what you think is an amazing dive, and then you look at the, I don't know, the judge from Norway and go, oh, come on, fuck off, like, come on, I did better than that.
LAURA HINGSTON: I think realistically, you do know. I know pretty much as soon as I take off how I'm going to, I guess, execute that dive. And that's the whole point of just trying to obviously execute it the best you can. So as soon as I hit the water, I definitely can probably feel if that was a good entry or not. And then obviously coming up, I would say I would have a pretty good idea of what my score would be. So I'd have to say that, yeah, usually you've got a good idea, especially when you've been travelling a little bit, and you know how the scoring works. Some competitions can be a little bit tougher than others, but of course it doesn't really make a difference at the end of the day because it's obviously very standard across the whole competition. But yeah, you typically know exactly what you're, around what you're going to get.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now, you don't have to give names, Laura, but you're welcome to. Is that a case of when you go to a competition and you see certain judges, it's like, you know, in a game of football, they're not that rough. Like, come on, they're always against, like, do you sort of go, oh, shit, not them, I'm not going to do well today.
LAURA HINGSTON: No, it really isn't like that in diving. I mean, I do know the Australian divers, sorry, the Australian judges, but when I go overseas, we have no interaction with them. So I couldn't even tell you who the top American judges or who the top Chinese judges. So it really isn't like that. And I think because in our sport, the two lowest scores and the two highest scores are both scratched out. So you're always getting those middle scores anyway, because there are so many judges. Yeah, honestly, I never even look at who's judging the event. For me, it's just if I dive well, then they're going to have to give me a good score. And so that's just pretty much what I'm always just trying to focus on, which is pretty much just focusing on what I can control.
BEN WATERWORTH: Going back to my point I said when I love watching dive and kind of you think you're doing so well, and ultimately I think a lot of us casual observers of diving, maybe we only get to watch it at an Olympics or a Commonwealth Games, a lot of it comes down to the entry, the splash. We like to look and go, oh, no splash, that was perfect, or big splash. I mean, how important is that entry? And is it all about the splash? Does it come down to the fact if there's barely no splash, you're going to get a better score? And if there's a massive splash, well, good night, you're not going to be doing well.
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, definitely a lot of the score is weighted on the entry for sure, because that just creates the overall look of the dive. I mean, even just with the audience, if someone does a dive with absolutely no splash, the audience is just going to go wild. So the judges are obviously going to give you a better score. But of course, there is the elements of the takeoff. There is in the air that they're looking at as well. But again, the last thing they see is that entry into the water.
BEN WATERWORTH: I can imagine too, it's a unique sport where when you enter the water, as you're saying, like if the crowd sees it as a good entry, they're going to go crazy. So you're kind of you're deep down, you kind of got that muffled sound. And it's almost like when you emerge from the water, then all of a sudden you got this massive cheer. So it's kind of it's almost like if you're entering the MCG or something like that, where all of a sudden you've got the sound. And as soon as you walk out, that hits you. So I can imagine when you've pulled off a great dive, you're pumped up, you're under the water and you kind of get up and all of a sudden you got the crowd going. It must be a really great feeling.
LAURA HINGSTON: Oh, definitely. Yep, definitely. I think that they're the moments that we live for as divers for sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: I love talking to figure skaters about the kiss and cry when you sit there awkwardly and just kind of stare at the camera and pretend to be super happy when you're probably really pissed off about the divers, the scores, I should say. You've kind of got a sort of thing in diving. Is it the shower or the hot tub? Like, I mean, is that the kiss or cry? What's that cold? And how's that when you got a camera shoved in your face and you're trying to, you know, compose yourself and be like, oh, I didn't do too well there, shit. Or like, I did so well, but those scores suck.
LAURA HINGSTON: I haven't really ever thought about it, to be honest. I think especially because our scores are coming up after every dive and we have five rounds. So for me, I typically won't actually necessarily look at the score in the middle of the competition. I will obviously, I might obviously will hear them and hope that they're at least eights. And again, I will just be focusing on the next dive. I'll walk straight over to my coach, who will give me the feedback and then we'll be preparing for the next dive. It's not really until the end of the competition that I will actually look at the scoreboard, see what my final score is, perhaps look where I ended up. But again, I'm just there to enjoy the moment and hopefully I've done really well and support my teammates and yeah, it is very different, I think, to figure skating, or ice skating.
BEN WATERWORTH: I love these sports when you kind of just have these... I can't wait to see what break dancing is like when all of a sudden these guys are all done up and girls sort of... I can't wait to see the outfits in Paris. You were talking about sort of your injury and kind of coming back to that. You did go to the 2019 World Champs. You made the semifinals in the platform event. I mean, sort of what was that experience like? Did you sort of go in to set yourself a goal of a medal? Finals, I mean, were you kind of satisfied with how that all ended up?
LAURA HINGSTON: I think you always go there to do the best that you can. I mean, obviously, yeah, it'd be nice to go there thinking that I was going to win a medal, but I'm still really new within the sport. And that was actually my first, what I like to call my first big girl competition. So for me, it was really exciting to be there. I was trying to take in as much as I could and hope to obviously make all the big competitions after that. So for me, I didn't necessarily have any expectation, but of course, I had an expectation on myself that I wanted to do well. For that competition and for where I was, I was pretty happy to make the semifinals. As I said, it's quite competitive. A few years net, like obviously a few years on, obviously, I would be aiming to do a lot better than what I did. But as I said, I was still quite a new diver. That was my first big competition. I had a steady competition that I was really happy with. And yeah, I was just looking to build on that.
BEN WATERWORTH: And at that point, that was about a year out from the Olympics, if all things had have gone normal. So I can imagine then that that was the goal. Did the delay to 2020 help or hinder? Because we'll obviously get to what happened with the trials earlier this year in just a second. But do you feel had the Olympics gone ahead as planned, that things would have gone differently? I mean, I know you can't really predict an injury, but I mean, how do you think that would have played out, had the Olympics gone as scheduled?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, that's a really hard question, because yeah, we can't tell the future. But for me, my 2020 season started off really well. So our season, for me, it started off in November in Malaysia, and I got a PB. I competed really well. I was super happy. And then I had the World Cup Trials in February, and I actually won the Synchro with my partner Nikita, which was super exciting. And then I also won the 10-metre individuals. So it was the first time that I had won a Nationals or Trials, and I was able to win both my events. So that was really exciting, and my diving had improved quite a lot from 2019. I think 2019 World Champs actually gave me quite a lot of confidence in my own ability that I was able to bring into that 2020 season, and that was a really great step and a really great development point for me in my career that I really look back on. I'm really grateful for that comp. Obviously, then we were travelling quite a lot. Nikita and I got to go to Madrid, and then we went to the World Series. That was really exciting, and I like to call it, I was a bit on my dream run. I was really happy with how I was competing. My scores were getting higher and higher, and I was doing better at these competitions. So I really did feel that I was on track to try and make that 2020 Olympic team. Unfortunately, obviously, the pandemic hit and we were completely shut down. I actually hurt myself when I was training in isolation. So when I was training in my garage, it was cold. Perhaps I wasn't warmed up enough. I actually hurt my back. So that was also quite hard because that was an injury that I probably struggled with for, I think it was eight months in total. So that brought me to the start of our 2021 season. So I was a little bit behind schedule. First competition of 2021, I actually got quite a big PB and I competed really well. So that gave me the confidence moving forward. And yeah, as I said, I think each year I'm just getting better and better. And that's probably just because our sport is a numbers game to some degree. And the more you're diving, the stronger you're getting, and the better you're able to execute those dives. So yes, I think that if I was healthy this year, it would have been a good move to delay that games for me in terms of my, I guess, in terms of how I was diving, because as I said, I was getting better. But unfortunately, yeah, maybe it would have been better for me last year.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's one of these kind of ones that you never, never sort of know. Because I mean, was that then the injury that ultimately led you to withdrawing from the trials? A couple of months ago, was there a different injury that came about?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, so unfortunately, my back is all good, which is really great. But unfortunately, about three weeks after I'm in the trials, I had a really unfortunate entry. I got stuck behind my leg and it just wasn't prepared for the impact when I hit the water. So I think I just had a really small strain in my tricep. It wasn't very worrying in the beginning. But because we were so close to that trials, cat training, and of course, with any tear, it just kept getting bigger and bigger. So it just got to the point where I actually couldn't use my arm anymore. I couldn't engage my tricep. I still tried to compete at the Olympic trials because obviously, I was willing to give everything and try and make that team. And unfortunately, it just wouldn't work and it became unsafe. And so I was medically withdrawn from that competition because it was unsafe for me to continue. And I was probably going to do a lot more damage. This injury necessarily isn't that bad. I mean, it's a 10 to 12 recovery time. Well, we're hoping. But it was just weeks. So it's a muscle tear. So it's a nine centimeter muscle tear. So it's a pretty significant tricep tear. But if I had continued on, not that I think I could have. Yeah, I potentially could have done a lot worse, like done my shoulder or who knows. So, which, yeah, it's glad.
BEN WATERWORTH: Obvious question. You're obviously extremely devastated and disappointed at that moment. But kind of on the flip side, at least of the Olympics being postponed, you've only got three years to the next Olympics rather than four. So, I mean, slight silver lining. But I mean, I can't imagine that with all that effort, everything that you've sort of gone through, going right back to when you're saying about watching Sydney as a five-year-old, that you're this close and that happens. Mentally, Laura, I can imagine that outside of the physical injury, how do you sort of get over that disappointment? Or is it something that you're still sort of trying to deal with? I mean, are you not going to be able to watch Tokyo because it's kind of still disappointing? Or is it a case of just drink some coffee and move on and kind of switch focus to 2024?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, of course, I was pretty devastated. There was quite a few tears. And for a few days after as well, I think, especially with how I was diving as well, I did really feel that I was in with a great chance. And there was quite a few of us who definitely could have got that second position because Melissa, being Melissa, she definitely has her that position. There was about five or six of us who were really vying for that second position. And we all were very capable of making it. So I think that in itself was quite exciting. And just not being able to even have the chance, that was what was really hard. I think if I had competed and still not made the team, at least that would have been on me. But unfortunately, this was just purely a bit of bad luck and a bit of bad timing. And I think that's just really hard to deal with because you start to really think, well, what if we had done this? What if we had done that? And I know that's really unproductive, so I really have just tried to say it is what it is and just move on. But yeah, of course, it is pretty hard. I mean, even sometimes seeing things on social media about the Olympics, like I do get a little bit teary still. But again, I am really happy for the team who have made it. I mean, we all work just as hard, and for Nikita, she is my synchro partner. So we have had quite a lot of heartbreak over the last year with both the World Cup teams being not allowed to go due to COVID. For us, that was both quite hard to deal with as well, and I was lucky to have her, and we were both really excited for the World Cup. So when they kept getting cancelled, it was just such a big disappointment for us. So it is really nice that at least Nikita has made that team. And I don't know, a part of me feels that because she's made it, I've kind of made it as well. So that's really nice. And I will be watching. As hard as it will be, I think that's just life sometimes. You can be as prepared as you want, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. And just accepting that and knowing that, look, I'm still like, Comm Games are next year, and yeah, Paris 2024 is three years away. And it is nice that it's only three years away, but there's so many competitions that I would like to make before that. And at the end of the day, hopefully by 2024, I'm in even a better position. And who knows, maybe even looking to, you know, maybe I might be in a position to try and get on that podium at 2024. So I think just continuing to work hard, put my head down, and really learning from this experience of this injury and making sure it doesn't happen again.
BEN WATERWORTH: It is that kind of unique thing, not only that the Olympics are only going to be three years apart, but also, yeah, like the Commonwealth Games usually, what, two years after an Olympics, but you've only got that 12 months away. You've got a World Championships this year. So I can imagine that, you know, once this injury sort of fully develops itself, heals, and kind of you can get back into full, you know, training and everything along those lines, that those goals sort of, yeah, can sort of make it go closer towards Paris. And who knows, Commonwealth Games medals, World Championship medals. We're very positive on this show, Laura. We're just saying, we're not saying an if. It's a when, so, you know, and you get to still see all these great places around the world at the same time. So, you know, you're just living many of our dreams, Laura. You know, just saying. You're an athlete travelling the world. What's not to like?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, I am pretty lucky. And to be honest, I am very grateful to do what I do. So I know a lot of people obviously work really hard and they don't often get to follow their dreams. So for me, I'm really lucky to have that opportunity and to be able to do that and represent Australia. I'm super, super patriotic. So for me, every time I put on that Australian uniform, it's just a really proud moment. And they're the moments that I really do live for.
BEN WATERWORTH: In terms of our listeners today, if they want to follow your progress sort of towards Paris 2024, can people follow you on social media? I mean, sort of, do you have any sort of channels you want to plug today where people can stay up to date with how things are going?
LAURA HINGSTON: Yeah, definitely. Instagram is probably the one that I use the most, and that's just Laura underscore Hingston. Of course, send me a message if anyone's questions arise, or if any of your listeners want to get in touch, I reply to all of my direct messages. And I've just started getting more on TikTok. So that's just, I think it's just Laura Hingston at TikTok.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is there any fancy ones? Can divers pull off like really like, can you do like a mid-dive like costume change sort of thing like that to be able to do it? I mean, I don't know, like that would be a pretty cool TikTok.
LAURA HINGSTON: Maybe. Well, I need some ideas. So maybe I'll jot that one down. Thanks, Ben. As I said, I'm pretty new. I'm pretty new to TikTok. I've been viral a couple of times, which has been really unexpected, but unfortunately the videos have been viral for. I haven't necessarily showed my full talent. There have been the fails. But look, well, I'm there for the laugh, and if I can laugh at some of my bad dives, then I'm glad that other people can too.
BEN WATERWORTH: We promise we won't laugh. We'll just laugh at the good ones. That doesn't make sense. But hey, we'll return that to the good thing. I have no idea what that means, but that's what we do a lot on the show. Laura, it has been an absolute pleasure to chat with you today and learn not only about your career, but the sport of diving. It's always a sport that I personally love watching at the Olympics. It's always very entertaining. I know we'll be talking a lot about it in the coming weeks during our coverage, but we appreciate your time today, and we look forward to seeing you in Paris 2024. Again, it's not an if, it's when you're at Paris 2024.
LAURA HINGSTON: I'll be working hard to try and make it happen, that's for sure. Especially now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, exactly.
LAURA HINGSTON: If I wasn't working hard before. Thank you so much for having me.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great chat there with Laura, and once again, thanks to her for her time. Obviously, a bit of a difficult time having the disappointment of not making the Tokyo Olympics, but we wish her all the best moving forward towards Paris 2024. We should also thank to the folks over at Diving Australia for arranging that interview for us as well. We hope to speak to some of the actual Olympians in terms of the people who are competing at Tokyo coming your way after the Olympic Games as well. So stay tuned for that, and we should have a few more for you coming your way after Tokyo. Speaking of coming your way after Tokyo, I'm going to say there's stuff coming your way before Tokyo because we still have some episodes to go before we get to the actual Olympic Games. Of course, I teased last week on our chat with Max that we have a few more interviews and things lined up, and we still do. I can tell you that this week, you're going to hear another interview with two athletes who, again, unfortunately did not quite make Tokyo 2020, but also have a very unique sort of interesting story about why they are not heading to the Olympics. We've got two wrestlers for you, the first time that we have ever spoken about the sport about wrestling on this show. Jaden Lawrence and Connor Evans, two Australian representatives who have done quite well on the world stage, two-time Commonwealth Games competitor, and Jaden Lawrence and Connor competed in the Gold Coast in 2018 as well, and both narrowly, narrowly missed out on the team for Tokyo 2020, and of course, have also set their sights for Paris 2024. But a unique insight into the sport, we learn more about wrestling itself. For those of you who are remembering the Roy and HG commentary from Sydney 2000, all the fun little tidbits that they put out there, there's a lot more to it than that. And also, it's not the wrestling where you're hitting each other with steel chairs and ladders, matches, and cage matches and things like that too. So a great chat with Jaden and Connor, that will be coming your way this week as well. And also this week, another interview with somebody who is on the plane to Tokyo, Abdi Abdurrahman, who is an American marathon runner, who is competing in, believe it or not, his fifth Olympic Games. Incredible for him and the oldest member, I believe, on the US athletics team heading to Tokyo. Great story from Abdi. He's actually got a book coming out, so it sort of ties in very well that he's about to go to his fifth Olympic Games. So Colin did that interview. It's a great chat, highly recommend it. And that will also come out this week for you as well, which leads us in towards our Tokyo coverage. We may have another interview dropping as well before we get to our big epic Tokyo 2020 preview episode. Jarrod will be joining Colin and myself to go through all the things that you need to know ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. We're going to preview it. We're going to give you the best chances for Australia, the best chances for Canada, and we're going to talk it up and get excited. And of course, as we've teased a few times as well, as is expected next week, there is expected to be confirmation that Brisbane will be a host city of the Olympic Games in 2032. An incredible moment that will be for Australian Olympic history. And if it's all expected to go ahead as planned, the eve of the Olympic Games next week, then Jarrod and myself, and possibly Colin, we'll see how he feels about it, we'll be doing a special emergency episode. Not really an emergency episode if we're already planning it, but a special episode discussing the bid, discussing the Olympics, and discussing what that means for Australia, and our third time hosting the Olympics in 11 years' time. So hopefully we're not jinxing it, but it's all but set to be signed off next week and be made official. So stay tuned for that. That will drop the eve of the opening ceremony. And then daily coverage of Tokyo 2020. We're bringing it back as we did during Rio, as we did during Pyeongchang. Every single day, we will have an episode for you covering all of the events, the medals, the action, the fun bits, the non-fun bits. We'll bag out Channel 7, we'll bag out CBC. We will do it all, and we have a blast doing it. So stay tuned for that as we are so excited to bring you the coverage over the coming weeks here on Off The Podium. If you missed our 100th episode, of course, a couple of episodes back, that does cover a whole series of our interviews that we've had in the lead up to this moment and celebrates 100 episodes Off The Podium. So I highly recommend that. And as I mentioned in my chat with Max, Max Millian-Van Haster, Canadian fencer, who is in Tokyo right now. He's made it, following him on social media. I've seen he has made it across to Tokyo. So he's ready to compete for Canada at the Olympic Games. If you want to learn a little bit more about sport offencing, that is a great chat that I do highly recommend. And of course, by listening to these, if you want to listen to these, best way to do is to subscribe to us. All the good podcast channels, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, we're on all of them. Search for Off The Podium, subscribe, and that way you will not miss a single episode during the upcoming Olympic Games. And we are now officially on Instagram. Search for Off The Podium Pod. We'll be posting some great graphics during the Olympics. You can interact with us, and we would love to hear from you throughout the Games. Hashtag OTP is our hashtag, which you can use during the Olympics to communicate with us. Give your thoughts on the show, give your thoughts on the Olympics, and we'll read them out on air throughout the Olympic Games. And you can do the same on Twitter as well. Off The Podium Pod is where we are. Facebook as well. Simply search for Off The Podium Podcast. And stay in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear your thoughts. And get excited, of course, for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It still seems weird saying that in 2021, but hey, we're going with the official title. Big thanks again to Laura. Big thanks again to Diving Australia. We will speak to you in a few days with our chat with Jayden and Connor about wrestling. In the meantime, my name is Ben. This is Off The Podium. And we will speak to you next time. Good night.
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