Libby Trickett Interview (Brink Vault)

A 'vault' interview of epic proportion today as we go back to 2014 to speak with legendary Australian swimmer Libby Trickett! Talking up her then new role on Australian TV through to her career, things don't start the smoothest during the interview though as Ben makes one epic blunder. What is it? Well you'll have to listen to find out!

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.

BEN WATERWORTH: Welcome back to Off The Podium, An Olympics Podcast, as we once again have a Valt interview for you from our history of our parent show, The Brink, speaking to people involved in the Olympics. Olympians are the people, singers, we had Nikki Webster in there somewhere, so just all Olympians. But today we've got a big one for you, Libby Trickett, one of Australia's greatest ever Olympians. A seven-time Olympic medallist, if you don't mind. Four gold, one silver, two bronze. She's a swimmer, in case you didn't know. Also multiple world championship gold medallists, multiple Commonwealth Games gold medallists. The list goes on. I don't have time to name them all because there's too many, basically, to list here. But this chat was in 2014. A retired Libby Trickett spoke to me. And again, similar to some of the ones I've had in the past. Not necessarily about her Olympic career. It was more so at that point that she had just been announced as a health reporter for an Australian TV show called The Today Show. So this was more, again, in relation, I guess, to that. But again, there's Olympic references in there, and she's still an Olympian, so we're still gonna bring that to you. And I have to say, one of my most embarrassing moments in the history of my career on radio is how I introduced her to give you a bit of background. She formerly competed as Libby Lenton before then she obviously went on to get married. And for some reason, in the lead up to this, I had a complete utter brain fade and decided to call her by her previous name rather than her current name. You'll hear that pretty much straight away. So here it is, Libby Trickett interview from 2014 from the Brankie.

BEN WATERWORTH: Libby Trickett is one of the greatest female Olympians in the history of this country, having won seven Olympic medals, including four gold in her amazing career. She has just been announced as a new Health and Lifestyle reporter for the Today Show, and I spoke to her about this new role, and getting over an embarrassing moment myself of introducing her by her maiden name instead of her married name. Libby Linton, Libby, sorry, Libby Trickett. The name's a big sub, I'm going back in time.

LIBBY TRICKETT: You are.

BEN WATERWORTH: Libby, welcome to the Brink and Edge radio.

LIBBY TRICKETT: My pleasure, thank you for having me, and what a blast from the past. I'm glad you remembered my maiden name. That was very impressive.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, look, that just shows how much of fans we are here on this show, Libby. You know, we are stuck in the past, apparently, but- Yes, well, speaking about the future, as I just said, just been announced as the Health and Lifestyle Reporter for The Today Show. You've been a bit of a regular, though, on The Today Show for a couple of years. I mean, how did you go about sort of getting this promotion to this new reporter role?

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah, it's been really exciting. It's been a process, obviously, having been on the show a number of times during my swimming career. It was, you know, Carl and Lisa have always been very supportive of me, which has been lovely. So, yeah, I just, I guess, off the back of retirement and having a few other television gigs, yeah, I was offered a position, and they thought I would be good at it. So, I'm really excited to be a part of the show. It's honestly a dream come true to work in breakfast television. It's sort of something I've always dreamed of, to be honest. Back when I was still swimming, I'd come home from training and watch the Today Show. So, it's such a thrill to be a part of the team, and such an amazing team.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, of course, I was going to say that some people might say, well, getting up early every morning must be hard, but for yourself, Libby, I mean, you've been doing that for years, getting up training. So, it's a perfect fit, really, for you as well, isn't it?

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah, and that's why I thought I would be good at it, because I'm used to early morning. However, I actually think it's more difficult to work on breakfast television than it is to be a swimmer waking up early, because when you're swimming, you don't have to talk to anyone. You don't have to look pretty, or you rock up in your tracky-dacks and your Ugg boots, and get in the pool, and you don't have to actually interact or socialise, whereas breakfast television, Kyle and Lisa and all of the guys there are such professionals presenting the news and current affairs of the day, and getting people ready for their work day, which I think is nice.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, as host of a breakfast radio show, Libby, I'm sort of the same when you used to swim. I just rock up in my marks and no makeup. Don't need to worry about what people look at me, but maybe I should start going for the presentation style, perhaps, and add a camera in the studio or something like that.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah, maybe, but you're midway between. You still have to be on the spot and ready to talk to people and be nice and sociable. As a swimmer, you don't need to do any of those things.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, as long as one time you don't get memories mixed up like I did at the start of the show, you'll rock up in your marks and you're swimming close, then you might have an issue.

LIBBY TRICKETT: It's all good.

BEN WATERWORTH: Now, I guess the obvious question, though, as health and lifestyle reporter, I mean, what are some of the things that we can expect you to be reporting on on The Today Show in the coming months?

LIBBY TRICKETT: I'm hoping, well, my very first gig was an interview with Cadell Evans at the Tour Down Under. So that was really fun way to start sort of this next journey for me. But obviously health and lifestyle, that encapsulates a lot of different things. And I think we're gonna, I'm hoping to bring you a lot of different stories, obviously relating to not only health and fitness, but certainly mental health and wellbeing. And hopefully lots of fun and different activities that people might be able to do, whether it be maybe music festivals or airplane, going on airplane flights or trapezing or whatever it might be. I just bring a lot of really fun stories to the show. That's sort of what I'm about. So hopefully I can express that throughout the year.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, they seem to always put someone like Steve Jacobs or any of the weather presenters in kind of these precarious positions, doing fun and outlandish stories. Do you think maybe they might start doing that for you across the coming months, Libby? You might find yourself skydiving and doing random things.

LIBBY TRICKETT: I can only hope. If that can be part of my job description to go skydiving or getting strapped to a plane or whatever it might be, then I will be a very happy lady. That'll just be an absolute dream come true.

BEN WATERWORTH: The health benefits of extreme sports. I can see it right now.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Exactly, adrenaline.

BEN WATERWORTH: How do you find the interviewing side of things? I mean, I'm sure you've sort of been used to throughout your swimming career being interviewed, I like to say you are now, but sort of going from that end to actually finding yourself asking the questions to people like Cadell Evans.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah, it's a weird transition to make, to be honest. I've been lucky that I've obviously been interviewed for over a decade now. So I understand what it's like to be the person being interviewed and I understand the importance of making the person feel comfortable. So if I can bring anything to being the interviewer, it'll be trying to make the talent feel comfortable and, you know, open up about their experiences. Because I love people, you know, I really enjoy learning about different people's experiences from all different walks of life. And hopefully my job now as an interviewer will be just to open them up about their experiences. So fingers crossed I can do that, but it is a big transition for me.

BEN WATERWORTH: One tip I would definitely give you is make sure you get the name correct when you introduce them. It generally works well.

LIBBY TRICKETT: You can call me whatever you like. I've been called much worse in my life.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you're finding yourself also researching lots of new trends in health and lifestyle and always sort of reading books and going online to see potential stories.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah, absolutely. All of the different fads and different things that people might be interested in, whether it might be aerial yoga or stand up paddle boarding or all of those fun different things. I'm hoping to get around to all different things. So if people have different sports that think that we might be interested in, definitely try and get in contact with the Today Show, because that's what I want to bring. I want to bring that difference and show people different ways to be active. Because that's what I'm passionate about, is getting people outdoors and enjoying not only their environment, but enjoying their body, enjoying being physical and active and hopefully having a positive impact on their lives because of that.

BEN WATERWORTH: I'm sure that's definitely something we can look forward to watching. And I'm sure one thing we can potentially look forward to, Libby, in the future. I mean, after such a decorated swimming career with many medals and awards won, I mean, the future could bring a logie. Have you thought about that now that you've kind of got a regular role? Yeah, you're thinking, you know, give you some tips from Carl on how to win a logie, perhaps.

LIBBY TRICKETT: I know, well, Carl knows all about it, doesn't he, with his little gold statue. But to be honest, I laugh so hard because I've not ever even thought about that. I don't even know what the process is about how to get one of those things. So it's certainly not something that's been in my mind. But like I said, just to have the opportunity to work in breakfast television is like a reward in itself. So I'm excited to be part of the team at this point. I'm sure goals will start being set.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yes.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Like I'll start setting my own goals eventually, but not at this point.

BEN WATERWORTH: We'll help you out. We'll get you at least nominated or something, and we'll work out yearly. Brilliant. You know, get that happening. I mean, it took John Wood like 10 years to win one. So look, you know, it might be a slow process. Yes.

LIBBY TRICKETT: But we'll start the wheels in motion now.

BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Of course, you can catch Libby on The Today Show every morning, 5:30 a.m. on Wynn Television. Libby, appreciate your time. Best of luck for the new role. And thanks for your time on Edge Radio this morning.

LIBBY TRICKETT: My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Bye.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's still not any easier hearing that stuff up, and I guess that's probably why the brink didn't end up lasting that much longer after 2014. There you go. Libby, thank you for your time. Again, you're not listening to this, but hey, we're gonna say it. Anyway, we've got a couple more of these still to come. Your way, these classic vault interviews for you, and we're very much looking forward to bringing them to you. If you've missed any iTunes, go there, subscribe. You can find all the classic interviews on there as well. If you rate us, leave us feedback, we appreciate that. It makes us feel nice. It makes us feel important. So please do it, and like us on Facebook as well. Give us some feelings, people. We're humans, podcast hosts, and we appreciate us, you know, making us feel human. We gotta go now. I'm gonna shut up. That's terrible, Ben. No wonder I stopped to name up, because clearly that's what I do. Thank you for tuning in to us here on Off The Podium, and we will speak to you very very soon.