Rebecca Adlington

Hello everyone and welcome back to another week and another episode of Unfiltered Waters.
And this week we travel across the pond to London, where I am sharing one of my two interviews that I got to do when I was over there with Speedo for an incredible speaking panel with two of these other legendary athletes.
And without further ado, let's get right into it.
I have my conversation today with a double Olympic gold medalist, a two-time Olympian, a former world record holder, Becky Adlington.
And Becky is not only a gold medalist and former world record holder, but now an incredible mom.
She is an entrepreneur, she runs her own swim schools, she's a broadcaster.
She has truly done the most in I'd say the most balanced best way post-retiring.
And I think it's really cool to hear just how healthy her story is.
And obviously she's had trials and tribulations, but to sit across from a former competitor.
Obviously, she and I went head to head in the format or freestyle in Beijing, and she got the edge.
But to hear just our difference in mentality and just the way that she approaches racing and she actually prefers practicing versus racing, you know?
And it it's I think a great lesson for all swimmers, all athletes that are growing up and feeling like they have to be a certain way and they have to fit into a certain box.
And that just isn't the case.
Like you can win Olympic medals and break world records with totally different mentalities.
And that's okay.
We're all different.
And so I was intrigued to learn that this was my competitor's mentality.
And you know, watching uh what she did in Beijing.
I mean, uh the gold in the 400 free, the gold in the 800-free broke Janet Evans' record of 19 years uh world record, um, and then came back and and swam at a home Olympics at the beautiful uh London pool.
Um, and then just decided that she was ready to be done and and ready to start a family and um ready to then leave her impact in a different way on the sport.
And so I was very just refreshed by hearing the way that she went about her transition and and now really I mean she's open she's in the teens in in opening these incredible uh swimming centers and and the impact that it's leaving on water safety and helping athletes to um and kids to learn how to swim so that they decrease drownings and there's so much that she's doing beyond the medals is I think the point.
And so um she was seven weeks postpartum, and so of course I got into that being very pregnant myself.
It was it was great to hear how she approaches motherhood coming from an elite at uh an elite athlete mindset, and I just really enjoyed the conversation, and you know, of course we reminisce, we're both Speed-o athletes, and so talking about the brand and and our favorite parts is always fun as well.
But gosh, I can't say enough good things about Becky, and I know there are so many so many great moments of wisdom to hear for for you all.
So you know I'm gonna say it.
Hit that subscribe button, comment on your favorite moment, and please enjoy my conversation with Becky Adler.
This episode today is brought to you by partnership with Speedo, a brand who truly helps athletes at every level of the sport, including myself.
I signed an incredible partnership with Speedo back in 2005 and worked with him throughout the entirety of my career through two Olympic Games, multiple world records, American records, and I always felt so confident in putting on a Speedo suit.
Whether it was at a practice, whether it was a racing suit at the Olympic Games and an Olympic final, I knew that my Speedo was going to give me what I needed.
And as you're here today in the episode with Becky, we talk about feeling confident and feeling free in the water.
And you know, your equipment has a lot to do with that.
Like you can't stand up behind the blocks and have goggles that you think are gonna leak or a suit that you don't have the utmost confidence is the best of the best on the market.
And that is truly what Speedo the brand is for me, and you'll hear Becky talk about it in this episode as well.
But I just want to give a huge shout out to Speedo, not only as the brand, but as a family.
I have known them since I was 15 years old, and they truly embody what a brand in the sport of swimming is meant to be.
So go check out all of their incredible apparel, suits, equipment at speedo.com and learn why I trusted Speedo for over 20 years.
What's up everybody?
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Becky Adlington, welcome to Unfiltered Waters.
Thank you.
It's been 18 years since we've seen each other.
I'm glad you did the math because I was like, I don't know how long that's been.
So yeah, a long time.
I embarrassingly did the math.
I was like, oh, that's how long it's been since 2008.
Gosh, and that feels yeah, it does feel like a lifetime ago in some ways.
And then in other ways, I'm like, oh yeah, I remember it really clearly.
I know, I know, and it depends on the day.
I feel like if I'm like some depends on, I'm sure as a mom, you're like, it feels like it's like a totally different life altogether.
But when you get to an event or a pool, I don't know, I I'm guessing because I'm not a mom yet, but does it feel like two separate versions of you?
Totally separate.
Like totally.
And I still love going for a swim.
So I don't know how your relationship is with like swimming and stuff now.
I know loads of my friends that I swam with are like, we've not swam since we retired.
Whereas I love going for a swim.
So I still have that bit of me, and my business is all learn to swim and and everything.
So I constantly feel like I'm surrounded by swimming.
But once you're a mum, you're like, they don't care that you've got Olympic medals.
Like there's none of that.
And then it's like, but so many people say to me, Oh, do you teach your kids how to swim?
And I'm like, they do not listen to me.
Like, even though I'm no more than even their teachers, but they still don't listen to mom.
They're like, No, mom, you don't know.
It's like I do, but yeah, they don't listen to you.
Yeah, I feel like maybe when they're 25, they'll look back and be like, Wow, mom was mom was pretty accomplished.
Yeah, they might listen to me then, but yeah, I'll hold out that hope that they'll listen to me.
Yeah, well, you're you just well, I just met your beautiful new baby.
Seven weeks removed.
Seven weeks, yeah.
Like your super mom, like the fact that you're here and doing things, like I know it's your third, but how how have you been?
How has this pregnancy gone?
Yeah, it is a lot, especially with three.
I'm like, okay, I can't handle all the different activities, but I've got such a big age range between my kids.
So my eldest is 10, I've got my middle one's five, and then obviously Thea's only seven weeks, so they're in such different stages and different activities.
Like my daughter's going to secondary school and all this sort of stuff, so it's just a bit mental in that way.
But yeah, this pregnancy, we had two miscarriages in between my little boy and this one.
So this journey has been so different over the past couple of years because the everything going on, the anxiety that I had when I was pregnant, I kind of wrapped myself in a bit of cotton wool.
I was just so paranoid to do so much when I was pregnant.
Um, even though it wasn't healthy, like I stopped exercising, which you should never really do.
It's so important.
But I was like just so on edge about everything when I was pregnant because I was like, I just want to keep this baby alive.
I'm just gonna, if I sit still, it might it might just be okay.
Yeah.
Obviously, luckily Thea was here, and now I'm like, well, I want to get back out in the world again.
I want to do stuff, and I want her to kind of see stuff as well.
I don't want to keep her just sheltered.
She needs to kind of fit in with the other two, fit in with our lives.
Just yeah, I don't want to be afraid to kind of travel and do stuff with her.
And why should you, as a mom?
We want to work, we want to do stuff that we want to do.
It doesn't mean you have to stop your life just because you're a mom.
Yeah.
Well, I I think that's important to say though, because I think as I'm preparing for this baby in August, I've had all those emotions like, well, what's gonna stop?
What's gonna change?
Like, do I bubble wrap myself?
You know, like there's all these questions.
And I I love that you've been so open.
So I went through IVF embryo transfer, and so I love that you've been so open about your miscarriages because I don't know how how you experienced it, but I felt like I was so scared to come out with here's what I'm going through.
And then you get this like literally tidal wave of people reaching out and sharing their stories.
So, like, what what did that process look like from deciding to share it and then the feedback you got?
Yeah, um, I mean, the first miscarriage was at 12 weeks, and I was really um in an aurum whether to kind of share it or not.
But I actually, from the surgery, I actually ended up getting sepsis, so I was really poorly in hospital with my first miscarriage, and that one was just it felt so different.
So, being open and honest about that, it was kind of like I kind of have to because I had to take so much more time off work just to recover from having sepsis and just the whole kind of recovery.
So everyone was a bit like, hold on, why are you hiding away?
So you kind of have to feel like you have to justify why I'm saying no to work or things, and then with our second miscarriage, I was 20 weeks pregnant when we had our second week, uh second miscarriage, so I had a bump.
Like I'd announced the pregnancy, we kind of were in the thick of it.
I couldn't just go from announcing we're pregnant and then where's the baby?
Yeah.
So we kind of not was forced to at all, but we kind of did put it out there and just kind of was really honest and open with what we were going through, and just the amount, like you said, the amount of messages that you get from people going through it.
And I think fertility, miscarriage, or everything to do with it, it's such a private thing that a lot of people don't share and and don't and aren't honest about it, which I totally respect.
It it's everybody's decision, but I think it's one of those that so many people feel so lonely and isolated by, and I don't want ever to feel or people to feel like they're going through things and they can't have somebody to talk to, and they because it's a hard conversation, isn't it?
Oh, I've had a miscarriage, and then somebody goes, Oh, okay, I didn't even know you were pregnant, and how can I support you?
And it's it's an awkward conversation, it's a difficult one, but actually, I just wanted people to know that this help, like you're not going through it alone, like if you need somebody to talk to, like there is so many people out there, and once you're open about it, you then realize how many people have struggled.
Like you get told when you're in your teenage years that it's like so easy to get pregnant, and then you get older and so annoying.
What?
Like, wait a second, this is hard work.
You're like, you lied to me, but it's just you just expect it when you're fit, young, healthy, like lived your life exercising and doing everything right.
You kind of think, well, surely this should be easy, and it's it's not.
I think too, there's like a lot of shame on the w woman's side of like, well, there's something wrong with me, or I did something wrong.
And I think that is what I've realized.
It's like, no, there it everyone's just created differently, and you might just have a different path.
But I think that's something I've had to get over of like, I felt like when it wasn't working, I was blaming myself on like, oh, I'm too high stress, or oh, I'm this.
Like, did you go through that experience?
Oh, absolutely.
And I think look, there is two parents.
Once that baby is born, that parent parental responsibility is split 50-50.
But when you're pregnant and trying to get pregnant, there is a lot more on the female body.
Of course, there is.
Like, you have to carry that child.
And certainly with both miscarriages, I just this was completely my fault.
My body let me down.
I hadn't, there was no other rhyme or reason.
Like everyone that I saw, every doctor I saw was like, we don't know why you've had this mission.
There is nothing there.
There's not like you've had an accident or anything obvious as to what's happened.
So that just comes back to, well, it's my body.
My body just couldn't keep these these babies alive for for whatever reason, and and I'll never find out.
So I've kind of had to be at peace with the why, because I don't know what you're like, but I think being from an athlete background, we like to know the answers, we like to be in control, we like to know we don't want to kind of have these unknown factors.
So it was kind of really hard for me to kind of process and digest because I was like, well, what's wrong with me?
And and there was just there is no answer, so you kind of have to get to peace with that.
Um, and I think that's why with my recent pregnancy, I was so highly strung because I was, I just felt like I did nothing last time.
I did everything by the book in my pregnancies, everything, like no matter what, laying on your sides, like gentle exercise, like all these things that you get told like not to eat and not to do.
And I did all of those, and that still didn't work.
So then you're even each pregnancy just got more and more kind of anxious and to and kind of just trying to get to the next stage, get to the next stage, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, now we're giving birth.
I hadn't thought about this bit.
Yeah, she actually has to come out.
I'm having that moment right now.
I'm like, she has to come out of me.
Yeah, that's that is a tough one.
But I just kind of say to myself, you know, they've got to come out one morning, another they have to come out, so it'll be okay.
Yeah, I'll just keep telling myself you'll be okay.
Uh well, I want to talk a little bit about swimming.
Obviously, we're here with Team Speedo at this incredible event.
And I really, I feel like I really admire the way that you handled your career coming to a close.
I know you don't like the word retire.
I am the same way, by the way.
I'm like, no, like I'm still involved in the sport, you know, I'm just not competing anymore.
How did you arrive at an earlier age, I would say, than most on such a impactful and hard decision?
Yeah.
Um, I don't know kind of everyone else's relationship with the sport, but I didn't actually love the competing.
Like, what?
My husband finds it so weird that he's like, you're the least competitive person I've ever met.
Like, my husband really wants me to be more competitive, and I'm like, I'm really sorry.
Like, I never liked the competition element, like it wasn't what drove me.
Like, some athletes are born competitors, like you see them come out, they love the crowd, the show, like they absolutely embrace it.
I hated it.
I used to walk out and like head down and just run behind my block.
And I just felt like the racing part to me was like the giving birth bit, like it was just part and part of it.
I loved the training, like for me, training was like my everything.
I loved training.
Um, and I just was like, I was in love with the sport, I wasn't in love with the competition.
So for me, because that love for the sport was there, I just wanted to move departments.
Like I always say, I just move departments at work.
And like I just wanted to keep doing stuff in the swimming space, but not have the competition.
And I think a lot of people that have that go into coaching or things like that.
But for me, I just it wasn't the elite stuff that drove me.
Like, it wasn't the elite stuff when I look back at swimming now.
Yes, I remember the Olympics, but otherwise, I remember learning how to swim as a kid and being confident in the water and just the fun that you had, and that's absolutely what drove me.
So when I started like working on kind of my grassroots and my learned to swim stuff, I was like, I want to go here, I don't want to go back to training, I don't want to do that.
Like, I totally realized like how much I just didn't associate with the competition side, and I just began to kind of hate it and just really, really got really anxious about competing, and I was just like, this is just not for me anymore.
And I was just so ready to kind of take the next step into still the swimming world, but not compete.
It sounds so healthy, honestly.
You know, like I do think that's rare where athletes do have this relationship or the sport where they're just like I didn't touch water for like eight years.
Wow, yeah.
So I was just like, I had an opposite experience, and I always look at people like I know your story, and like, wow, like she she stopped swimming or stopped competing and then stayed in the sport and created a swim school.
All these things that are so just joyous and happy.
So I just it's amazing.
Honestly, I just love it.
Like I find swimming is just like my happy place, like it's got me through so much.
It's not necessarily physical exercise.
You're probably like, even though it was eight years, when you got back in, you remember how to swim.
Like you never ever look at it.
But then you get your stroke back.
Yeah, and yes, I can't swim fast or anything anymore, but I just it's the only time like I don't have a phone on me.
And like more so when you become a mom, you also realize it's your quiet time, like it's the time where nobody's going, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, I need you, I need you, I need you.
Do this, do that, do this, even at work.
Or it's just I have 30 minutes of of a week where it's just me, and I just think, I just let my brain go.
It's like my meditation that I just plod and I just love that.
I love that I can just disconnect from everything and just have a bit of me time.
I'm so fascinated by this.
So, Olympic champion, but you're not competitive.
Not at all.
So, like, walk me through.
Like, so walk me through before a big race.
Like, what are what are your emotions going into it?
Oh, I used to be nervous probably a month before.
Yeah.
Like, feel like just horrendously sick, like a month before.
Like I would just hate it so much.
Like I was like dreading it.
And I luckily, um, after Beijing, I got a sports psychologist who really kind of helped me just understand enjoying the process and the journey.
I think sometimes I was so focused on the outcome and that kind of build-up to it.
I didn't enjoy that kind of lead-in, the tapering, the kind of getting ready to compete.
I just kind of just wanted to get through it.
I was like, just get me to the end of the race so I just can move on to the training again.
And he kind of really, really helped me just process that and just kind of understand to just take a step back, take a breath, control the controllables, just kind of go through the motions a lot more.
But yeah, it was just and as well doing distance races, you know, like they're brutal.
Like how we weren't just doing 20 seconds of splash and dash, like eight minutes of just pain and just oh gosh, yeah.
So just yeah, trying to just get through it the best I could.
So, what was your driver and your source of joy if it wasn't the competition and like kind of getting the the high of the win?
Um, it wasn't necessarily the high of the win.
I always wanted to better my time.
So it was more the time that I was always like I was after London, I wasn't disappointed with the bronze at all.
I was disappointed with my 800 time.
So there was such a different because I think loads of people thought I was crying and upset because I came third.
And I wasn't bothered whether I'd come third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and whatever.
If I was bettering myself all the time, I did want to improve as an athlete and constantly get faster.
And the fact that I went so much slower in London compared to Beijing, I think I went six seconds slower in in London, so it was a lot slower.
That that's what I was so disappointed with.
I did want to get faster every time because I think every athlete wants that, like to always get faster.
But it was hard.
We were in like the swimsuit era of world records going and kind of to get move into textile, move into knees.
We were going through so much change in kind of that era that it was just hard to keep track of what times were what, really.
Yeah, no, I mean it was it was such an evolutionary time from 08 to 12.
Like, I feel like so much changed within the sport, within competitors, like it just kind of.
Of chaos.
It was money.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was.
So, how do you grapple with, you know, a performance?
And this is something I mean, not even an athlete, but anyone who goes into something, has high hopes.
Were you expecting, based on your training, to go faster in London?
And then what did you do to pick yourself back up and then still have this positive relationship with the sport?
Yeah, with the 400, I was really pleased because I actually swam faster than I did in Beijing.
So it was kind of that's why it was such a bizarre week because my 400 was better.
Yeah.
And I had I would have always classed the 800 as my better race than the 400.
But the 400 I swam quicker.
And then the 800, it was like I was just running on empty.
I'd got the taper completely wrong.
We'd I tapered too soon.
I'd made the season too long, and I was just on film kind of the week before rather than the week off.
Um, and at first it, I mean, I think I cried for about two days after London Olympics because I was just, I knew it was my last Olympics, firstly, and I just was everything was geared up to kind of go 8, 12, 8.13.
That's what we were aiming for.
So um kind of a second or two quicker than my my personal best.
So to go six seconds, like it was a lot slower, um, was just I just felt really bad on my coach as well.
Like I felt responsible that I didn't perform for him.
Like we had I had the same coach my whole career, and I felt disappointed that I couldn't deliver for him because he deserved better.
He had done everything to help me, so I felt disappointed for him as well as myself.
And it was only us two that were disappointed.
Like my parents still loved me, and your friends still love you, they don't care that you've gone six seconds slower, but you do, and that it took a long time to kind of just be okay with that, and that's why I think it very quickly swimming became something completely different for me.
Swimming just became more for my mental health.
It was how I was able to process and digest so much after the London Olympics was just going for a swim.
Like, I don't swim fast, I don't even look at the clock, I don't do it.
Self-control.
Wow, I literally just swim and I just plod and I just let my brain go from one thing to the other.
And I think that just really helps me process it.
And yeah, swimming's definitely got me through some like really tough moments in my life that I'm like, I'm so grateful that I've had something that I've got that.
Do you know what I mean?
Some people it could be going for a walk, it could be friends, it could be yoga, whatever.
But for me, mine's swimming, and yeah, I'm just so grateful that I've got that.
Yeah, that's incredible.
I love that perspective.
I think it's just it's so refreshing because I I think there are a lot of people that that, like you said, they they take the time away and was like, no, like why am I gonna take this thing that's provided me so much joy and so much growth and throw it out the window?
And I just like irrationally, some people just do that.
And I missed it.
Like we had all our pools.
The longest I've been was during COVID.
So here all the swimming pools got shut during COVID.
Yeah, and it that was really hard because I was like itching to go.
I was like, I'm at home, and all I want to do is go for a swim.
So that was the longest period I went, and I think you know you love something when you really, really miss it, when you can't do it.
And during that period, I was just like, I can't wait to go back, and yeah, I've gone back ever since.
And yeah, yeah, went for a swim last week, first time after giving birth, and I was just like, I felt awful by the way.
My arms absolutely killed.
I only managed like 1500, and my arms are like dead, and then I was like, Oh, I'm so happy to be back.
Isn't it so unfair how fast you lose it?
Like, it's just not okay.
Like, I'm like, I feel like runners, like walking is the equivalent of us swimming slow.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah.
So I just think like our we're not meant to do those movements.
So I think your body's just like, oh, you're not doing it.
Bye.
I think being distance as well, like it's it's harder because yes, I never never had like the speed, but you know what, just plodding.
I don't know, I could have easily done 1500 like as a warm-up, like oh yeah, that was warm-up without even like taking a breath.
Like, and whereas now I'm like dying after 1500 being like, it's humbling, it's humbling.
So, talk to me about you as a mom.
Like how I I'm so curious at like how I'll be having this, you know, competitive mentality or having this, you know, elite mindset.
How are all your kids different and who is most like you?
Oh, um, my daughter Summer is most like me, uh my eldest.
It's like she's got some sassy pants, and it's like she's like madam, and then she'll give me sass, and then my mum will be like, you were exactly the same.
And I'm like, damn it, I deserve this.
I'm like, um, so yeah, definitely my daughter.
And Thea might be, but yeah, Summer definitely.
Um, I think being a mum massively changed me.
Everyone said when I was pregnant with my first, you're like gonna be bad cop, you're gonna like keep them in like control.
And like, I wasn't massively, I wouldn't have considered myself massively maternal before having kids.
And then as soon as I had my daughter, I just became so soft and like really totally bought out this different side of me that I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like, I'm just like, yeah, of course you can have this, of course you can.
I'm like, it just totally changed who I was as a person, and I think as an athlete, you have to be quite selfish.
You you do to be a top athlete, and then you become a parent, and you are you are just solely selfless, like you just give everything to your kids, like you're just it it's not always right that mums get pushed to the bottom of the list, but you just naturally do it because you love and care for your kids so much, and you'll be the same, it'll just it'll it totally changes your perspective, your outlook on life, your absolute everything.
You'll love it, it's the best thing in the world.
I'm so excited.
You how do you balance everyone?
Talks about like the mom guilt, and you just said you sometimes you get pushed to the bottom.
How do you manage wanting to still be you, have your career, and also be a mom at the same time?
Oh, it is hard, and it it like you can't shy away from it.
It takes an absolute village to raise children, like, and and I think that's where we live.
Um, we don't live near our parents.
My husband's parents are about an hour away, my parents are two hours away.
So we don't have somebody on hand just be like, oh, can do you want to come around and just watch the kids just while we nip off for a walk for half an hour or go to the gym for half an hour.
We don't have those that ability near us, but we've just, I don't know, me and my husband are really good at being like, okay, I'll have the kids, you go for a swim, and he goes and plays football on a Sunday, like it's so important to have you time and it does refill your cup.
And I think sometimes you have to prioritize yourself to make you a better mum.
Like, if if I don't just have like my daughter knows that I just need my cup of tea in the morning, like my cup of tea is like my just thing that I'm like, mummy will play after her cup of tea.
And it's like my kids now know, like it's like, no, no, no, I'm just having my I want to eat my dinner hot, I want to have a hot cup of tea, I'll play with you in a minute.
And they've got to learn those boundaries, and they've got to learn that like they can just play by themselves for two minutes, like they're absolutely fine to do that, yeah.
They're safe, they're happy.
Just go play for two minutes while mommy does this, and they've learned that as well.
So, yeah, you've just got to protect it at all costs because you need to recharge.
It's not physically possible to give 100% 24-7 all the time, and especially when they're little, like because you're feeding and you're up through the night.
Like, nobody is good off little sleep.
Like, no, no, it's like physiologically impossible, yeah.
And as an athlete, like I always say swimmers have this thing with sleep.
Like, I have never met a swimmer that like is terrible at sleep.
Like, swimmers, it's like it's our thing, it's our thing.
Like, we're really good at it, really good at it.
Yeah, we know how to nap, like we can like sleep is my everything, it's my recovery.
It's like I have to have sleep, and like my husband can run off such little sleep, and I'm like, no, no, like I can't I can't do that.
Like, yeah, because I become a monster if I do not have at least eight hours, exactly.
So protect the sleep at all costs, so you've just got to balance that.
Yeah, it's a lot.
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Uh make sure you're moving this summer and doing the best for what your body needs on a daily basis.
Do you does summer, is she in sports or any type of thing now?
Yeah, so she does netball, cricket, she's part of a swimming club.
She always says to me, she goes, Mummy, I don't want to be like you.
And I'm like, that's fine.
That's fine.
And to be fair, she's she's not that competitive either.
She just loves being active.
Like it's just she just wants to do everything, she wants to play everything, be involved.
She's really sociable, she's really active, but she's not like I must win.
Like, she's my little boy, he's such a soul loser.
He is the most competitive.
Is that like your husband?
Oh my so, like my husband.
I'm like, everything is a competition, like eating food, competition, just get putting our shoes on, competition.
I'm like, oh my gosh, stop.
Like he made they them two are two Ps in a pod, and I kind of have to say, not everything's a competition, it's fine.
Let's just take a breath.
Um, so he's super competitive all the time, even in his swimming lesson, because he's just in swimming lessons, he'll race the kid next to him in his swimming lesson, even though that kid doesn't know that they're racing.
It's just like have to get to the wall first, and I'm like, okay.
So he's definitely got that gene.
It's like celebrating the kids, like, was this a race?
No, he's the other kid's like, I was just swimming.
Yeah, no, I relate to that.
I'm like that in like a group fitness class.
I'm like, beat the girl next to me.
And my husband's like, You they weren't racing you.
Well, you know they were.
Yeah, yeah.
So what are you what are you most excited about?
If like you have so many amazing projects, you're doing broadcasting, you have your swim schools.
Like, what lights you up the most professionally?
Oh, um, definitely just I I don't know what a swimming learned swim's like in the US, but here in uh the UK, it's just so bad.
Like the the swimming pools are shut in here, so we've had over 400 swimming pools close in the past five years.
What?
So it's like humongous the rate that swimming pools are shut.
Obviously, because they're indoor, they're such expensive buildings to run here.
Um, and learn to swims just seems to be getting worse and worse because there's no swimming pools for the kids to go to, for schools to take them to.
So um, we are currently building our 14th like swimming pool here, which is just amazing.
The fact that we're such a tiny little country and yet we're building our 14th just seems mad.
So I would love to kind of just see that grow and really change the shape of grassroots swimming because I always think if we don't get the grassroots right, we'll never see an Olympian, like it just won't happen.
So the two kind of go hand in hand.
So I'd love to do that, I'd love to take it further out into the world as well.
Um, and I think it's one of those that we we have to prioritize it as a life skill.
Look, we both know it's a fantastic sport, but we don't see it as a life skill here in this country, we only see it as a sport.
They're like, oh yeah, that's good when it's on telly.
And I'm like, no, no, no, that will save your child's life one day.
Like it's it's just a non-negotiable for me.
It's like my kids have to know how to swim.
Like, I don't care that if they don't like it, they're doing it until they can swim.
I'm like, we're surrounded by lakes, rivers, reservoirs here.
You can't go anywhere on holiday without a pool being there.
I'm like, just from a safety aspect, it's so important.
So for me, that's just my whole entire kind of career is just changing the shape of someone in this country.
And we've got to do something different.
We can't keep just relying on the government going, yeah, the government will sort it out.
Yeah.
That's that's just not okay.
We've we've got to do it ourselves.
And how do you show up within these businesses?
Like, do you find yourself?
I'm always interested of like how competitive athletes operate in the quote unquote normal world.
Like, are you type A?
Are you type B?
Are you organized?
Oh, I'm so organized.
Um, I am so organized in that sense.
I'm like Monica from Friends, if you've ever watched and like a love a label maker, and like the most organized person ever.
Um Josh is nodding, going, Yes, it is, she is the most organised.
I'm very organized.
I am very organized.
Um, yes, and I work full-time in my business.
So um even now, like I'm still doing stuff at home.
I'm like, I can't shut my laptop, even though I'm meant to be on maternity leave.
I'm like, no.
Um, so yeah, I work full-time and I'm just so passionate about just what we're doing.
And I'm just I can't switch off.
Like my husband even keeps saying, Becky, you're allowed to have your maternity leave.
And I'm like, but I don't want to, I miss it.
I love it.
I I genuinely love what I do that I'm like, I'm not feeling like I have to do it, I want to do it.
And I love the fact that my kids get to see their mom doing something they love.
And um, we opened up our 13th one in a place called Leeds in Yorkshire, and I took my kids to it um a cut two weeks ago, and my husband, my husband and I didn't really seen the the pools before either.
And the kids were like, This is amazing, mom! And I'm like, Thank you.
And I felt like so proud because even though it was our 13th center, and it was just amazing having them see it and see what we're all about and what we're trying to achieve.
And my daughter was like, Why weren't this here when I learned to swim?
And I'm like, sorry, but she's 10, it was different back then.
I was like, sorry.
That's how you know it's not work, you know, like, or it's like it's work, but it's just such a privilege when that's how I feel about the podcast.
I'm like, I don't want to stop because it just fills my cup so much, and I I don't I don't think everyone gets that.
So I think that's that's incredible.
No, it is important when you find something you love, you're like, it's not work, is it?
Yeah.
No, it's so important that we keep hold of that and that you don't stop.
Why should being pregnant or being a mum stop that?
Right.
Thank you.
Yes.
Do you have a story of a you know a kid where I feel like lives are transformed by you know learning how to swim?
Do you have any moments where you're like, yes, this is why I'm doing this?
Oh well, one that I mean, there's loads, um, but one from one of our older venues, actually, um, we run like um water safety like hours for for children in half terms.
And one of them we put on this foster care session, um, obviously for foster care children to come to because they can't always get to normal after school lessons, etc.
So we put on this bespoke hour where the swimming pool was shut and it was just for these kids to come along and have a water safety session.
And this foster parent came with her little boy and she said he's never got in water, he's had a real trauma about water, will not get in the bath.
She's like, it took us two years just to even get him in the bath.
He would just sponged, like wiped him for so long.
Had real trauma about the swimming pool.
She was like, Can he just come and watch?
And then, because we're taking him on holiday in the summer.
Um, I was like, Absolutely, maybe him seeing it and everything.
And he was brave enough that after like watching for 10 minutes, he was like, I want to put my swim stuff on and put my feet in.
And by the end of the hour, he was in the water swimming, and the mum was just in absolute floods of tears because she'd been with this foster child for so many years, and she was just like, I've never seen him this happy.
And she was like, I know now going on holiday, being around a pool will just gain him so much confidence, and it's just like moments like that that you think we really are changing people's lives, and it's swimming is so much more powerful than any Olympic medal, anything like that, because that family are gonna remember that for the rest of their lives, and I'm like, it's just so powerful, so powerful.
Yeah, we hear stories like that all the time in the US, and I'm just like that.
This is the this is the why.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then I mean, talking about the aspect of like high competitive commentary, you know, your perspective, like what has lit up your cup in that bucket when it comes to broadcasting?
Oh, Paris Olympics was just incredible.
Like, I think we went out to Rio, and then obviously Tokyo was just really different.
And I even felt sorry for the athletes in Tokyo, like watching it and just the stands so empty.
I was just like, this doesn't feel like an Olympics, and it was just, I know even though I wasn't there competing, I could just imagine how hard it was for those athletes.
So to be back in Paris, I think was just unbelievable.
Like there was just this amazing Olympic buzz.
I love all Olympic sport anyway, but being getting to go out to Paris and be with BBC and just be with the commentary team and just commentating and seeing like Leon Marchand just absolute dominate, Katie Ledecki doing her thing, just like literally changing the sport and seeing it in front of my eyes.
And I think less than like we're all excited for LA.
Like we just are excited, we just know how good it's gonna be.
Like, it's been the absolute talk.
And I kind of feel sorry for like other Olympics because LA has just been there's such a focus on it already.
I mean, the buzz, and we're still two years out, is just insane that I'm just like, please let me go.
I really want to do the commentary, like hopefully, but you just never know with with telly stuff.
But yeah, it was just it, I think it's gonna be incredible.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be insane.
I mean, it's the first US Olympics since '96, and so like tickets are already sold out.
I'm like, I feel the same.
I'm like, I better be there.
I know.
That's that's what I'm like, and I'm like, I can't believe it when I saw that swimming tickets were sold out.
I was like, we're still two years old.
This is crazy.
Well, I mean, the fact that they're figuring out how to put you know, pools and football stadiums is just like adding a whole nother level of coolness to it.
Um it is gonna be amazing, it's gonna be so fun.
What do you enjoy most about commentating?
Um, I genuinely just treat it like I've just I would act the same whether I'm sat in the stands or a camera's there.
I think like I just genuinely love watching it.
Like I love the excitement of certainly those big championships that it's so unknown who's gonna win.
And even if that you do know who they're gonna win, seeing how far they can push a time and seeing what all these athletes go through.
Like, we know firsthand the sacrifices, the dedication, the hours that they put in.
And I just think you're just in awe of that, and you're just wanting everyone to do so well.
And and I love it, and don't get me wrong, of course I'm cheering on team GB.
So hard to stay on bias, yeah.
But at the same time, you just I think being from the sport, you love seeing other athletes.
Like Leon, like what he did in Paris was insane that as a that as a fan, you're just in awe of that, and it doesn't matter whether they're what country they're from.
Obviously, you've got a bit of whoa, go team GB, but yeah, it if There's no British athlete in it, it or even if there is, you can you kind of have so much respect.
I think that's the thing.
In the in definitely in swimming, and I know other Olympic sports are the same, but there is so much respect for all the athletes.
Like you can see how good friends everyone is.
Like they come out, they all say congratulations to each other, all like there's it's all friendly rivalry in swimming.
Like nobody's bad mouthing somebody else.
There's nothing like that that goes on in the pool.
Everyone's just so respectful of everyone, and people are loving seeing the sport move on as well.
That's the thing now that all those world records from 09 that just they've needed to go.
Like, and it's about time that it moves on.
Yeah, no, I agree.
And I think it's it's cool bringing the perspective that we have, you know, like you can sit there and and talk about and quote unquote critique what's going on, but you have this appreciation and admiration because you've obviously been there.
I want to know how you handled, because I feel like you your build up to 08, like 06, 07, and it was like boom in 08, and then everyone in your country knew who you were.
And like, how did you manage that?
Um, I don't think I did, to be honest, but I was 19, like I was such a baby, um, that it was just kind of an absolute whirlwind.
Like it was just it was crazy, and you don't get into swimming for any sort of money, fame, or anything like that.
It doesn't exist in the sport.
So it was just so bizarre because I'm from a very, very small town here, so it's kind of like I'd never even seen another Olympian, I'd never even seen anyone that had done anything like that.
It's not like I grew up in London and like you were exposed to everything.
Like it, it it's just it was mad.
Then all of a sudden it was like people coming up and just wanting a photo and things like that, which is lovely, but it it took me a long time to get used to that.
And I am quite a private person.
I am not a showy kind of I'm husband jokes because I just love being at home so much.
I'm like an extroverted introvert.
I'm like, I love being at home and I love kind of just my own little thing.
So it does take a while, but at the same time, and you probably found it, people are just wanting to be supportive because they they have loved watching you, and that's the thing with most cement fans as well.
They only see it every four years, they don't know, like it's they they don't know when they were saying, Oh, you're gonna win two gold medals again.
They don't know that I wasn't and everything else because they don't know the sport.
When you say you went 814 for an eight hundred free, people go, is that good?
Is that yeah, is that fast?
They're like, We we don't know.
Yeah, so like it's like the sport isn't known in that sense.
Like here, football, soccer, whatever you gotta call it, like it's huge.
Everyone knows everything.
Whereas swimming, it's not like that, and it's very, very rare that people understand about the sport.
Yeah, like what what one, what's your love language?
Because this will play into my next question.
Um, mine is like acts of like service, like doing like my I you're gonna laugh at that, like emptying the dishwasher.
Like, no.
It's just simple things that like if I come down, like you've put your put your pots away or like put your shoes away, or like done something like that.
Make me a cup of tea.
Like when my husband brings me a cup of tea, I'm like, thank you.
Like, that's all I need.
Like, I don't need flowers, I don't need gifts, I don't need stuff.
Like, just those gestures, that's absolutely my love language.
Which is kind of was my guess.
Uh, because I feel like mine is words of affirmation.
So you tell me, good job, I'll run through a brick wall for you.
Like, I'm just like, it doesn't matter.
But I feel like when I've talked to people where words of affirmation are like liking being the center of attention isn't something that fills them up, it becomes really hard to handle fame, to handle that kind of be creeping in and being part of your identity.
So, who did you lean on?
Who did you talk to?
How did you grapple with that?
Yeah.
And luckily, I have been with the same management company since Beijing.
And I think that has really just kept me steady.
Like they've got to know me, I know them, and it's just like I feel so comfortable.
Like they know the sort of stuff that I want to say yes to and that I don't want to do.
And I think that's really important because at first I just said yes to everything, and then it was putting me in real situations where I'm like, oh, this is a bit too much for myself, and I don't know how to go through this.
So I think that really helps having somebody else look out for you and having your best interests at heart.
It's not about money, it's about okay, what's what does Becky enjoy and what does she want to do?
And I think that that's key.
But also, my family, like, there was no like special attention that I got from my family.
I think I got home from Beijing and I was just shattered.
And I remember saying to my mum one day, oh, could you get me a glass of water?
She was like, no, get it yourself.
I'm like, like, okay, this is like my family absolutely kept me grounded, and they're the ones that I really had to learn to value their opinion, and they're kind of if something was kind of oh, where do I fit in this moral compass or something's not sitting right?
They were my sounding board to just keep me going, no, like, don't do that.
Do that, like they're my sounding board.
I think you get so many opinions thrown at you, certainly in the spotlights.
You get people on social media as well as like friends and acquaintances and colleagues and everybody, and you're like, Oh, I don't know who to listen to.
So you've got to have those people, and my family are absolutely that.
Oh, that's awesome.
Same for me.
Like, you have to have your trust tree, I call it.
And if you don't, like it's like you're falling from a cliff with no branch to grab onto.
I love that trust tree.
I'm gonna still trust tree.
Yeah, yeah.
What's something that you used to place value on, but don't anymore?
Um, like stuff.
Like, okay, I'm not like I don't buy anything expensive or anything like probably by the way I look, like I'm just like, I don't have time always to get my hair, like my roots are absolutely terrible, but I'm not all like in my nails done or things like that.
Like I used to be like so self-conscious after Beijing as well, because I got so much hate for my appearance after London, after Beijing and London, and that and as a young girl in your 20s, you want to it's like the time you're most insecure in general, yeah.
But you want to also look nice, and I am quite a girly girl, like I'm not a tomboy sort of sport.
Like, I think everyone associates oh, you put your sport, you're a tomboy, and I'm like, no, no, like I like dresses and things like that, and I used to love that in my 20s, and then as I've got older, I'm just like, I spend all of my money on experiences and holidays.
Like, that is the thing I want my kids to remember, like experiences.
Mummy, can you remember this holiday?
Can you remember when we then went there?
Like memory making, like that for me is where everything goes.
Like the rest, it's just they don't care that I'm wearing the same outfit every day or anything like that.
And I've just that's totally changed.
Like everything now is just what is memory making, because that's that's what I put all my money and effort and energy into, and that's what matters most.
Absolutely.
Do you remember an extravagant purchase that you made, like after Beijing that was like heels, like Christian Nivertons, yeah, and like Jimmy Choose shoes, and like I remember buying like expensive dresses and like a Chanel handbag and all this sort of stuff, and now it's like I I live in trainers, like I d I literally packed up all my heels recently when we made uh Thea's nursery because that's where all my stuff was, and I've packed them in a bag ready to give to my kids when they're older.
Oh my god.
Because I thought they will like this sort of stuff, like they're gonna want to just have those sorts of things.
But I'm like, I haven't worn these for like five, ten years.
Like it's just yeah, they were great and I loved them and they're amazing.
I've still got them, but yeah, not what I wear now or do.
Also, so painful.
So painful.
Like, I don't even think I could walk in them anymore.
Oh, this feels like knives being shoved into your feet, and I'm like, how did I do this?
Like, I know, yeah, it's all pain is beauty back in the day, but so what are you other than being a mom of three?
Is there anything coming up in your life that you're like, I'm so jazzed about this?
Oh, there's loads of things.
Like, I think being on maternity leave, which isn't really quotes for you.
Yeah, like, but I go back properly full-time in September.
Okay.
So I kind of said before there, like, let's just try and do as much as possible with the kids.
Like, my my daughter starts secondary school in September, so then her life is gonna be completely different.
Um, my little boy started school this year, so we were like, let's have a summer of travel.
So we're just we're going loads of places in just around Europe, nowhere crazy, but like just I cannot wait.
Like, we're going to Greece, we're going to Portugal, we're going to Spain, we're going to Mallorca, we're going to, and I just can't wait.
Like, I'm just so excited to just have a summer of travel and show my kids the kind of what is out there.
That's what I love the most.
Any tips for how to manage kids on an airplane?
Do you know what?
My my kids are actually really good.
Really?
They are really good.
It's like to be fair, my daughter, I usually take homework and I'm like, just do your homework on the plane.
Because then when she's there, you don't have to do any.
Like, just get just get it done on the flight.
Um, and then my little boy just loves like activity books, and we just sit there doing spot the difference and all these different things with him.
Snacks, yeah, always carry.
And if you think you've got enough snacks, pack more.
Like you'll never have enough snacks.
Like, snacks are just key to life, so just constant snackage and games.
Like, we love Uno and like playing cards.
My daughter is obsessed with playing cards to the point where we went uh away to Spain last week and the card pack has completely fallen apart because she's played cards too many times.
I'm like, we need a new packet of cards.
So, like, they love that sort of stuff.
Yeah, all right.
I I can do that.
That's not too but again.
I'm stressed about that too.
I'm like, it's gonna be so hard.
It's easy.
The easiest bit is when they're little.
Like, I find the hardest bit I found was between one and two.
That was really hard because they didn't want to sit, they wanted to like crawl and walk and move, and like wouldn't just sit or do anything at that age.
Like they're too young for like proper activity.
So I found one to two really hard, and then otherwise it's been okay.
Okay, so great timing with LA Olympics.
I'll be out of the one to two stage.
So you'll be perfect.
Perfect.
Um, well, one of our commonalities is being with Team Speedo, and like I hear, is this true?
Like the only suit you've ever raced in is Speedo?
Correct.
Yeah, same, which is I think pretty unique.
I think so, yeah.
So, what has it meant to be on Team Speedo and just be within the family and culture that this brand has become?
Oh, I loved being part of Team Speedo.
Like, there was, it was never even a question for me to to wear another suit.
Same.
And even through everything, like through the whole suit era when everyone was wearing, I mean, I can't even remember some of these brands.
Shake it and yeah, they're like wetsuits, basically.
Yeah, there was loads of different size.
I said after at the worlds in 09, I was like, no, I'm just gonna wear my same Speedo suit, just gonna keep it the same.
I'm not gonna wear one of the super duper, ultra, yeah, whatever.
Extreme plus where people were wearing like three of them and all sorts.
So I just kept with Speedo the whole time, and you know what?
It was just I only felt confident in Speedo.
It's just a brand that I trusted.
It was just, it felt reliable, it felt safe, it felt like it just fit and it was comfortable, and it just was always the best.
Like, even when it comes to like, I was always really paranoid about my goggles, and I don't like goggles for me were like a huge thing because the amount of times like my goggles would like leak or fall off, and I'm like, I have to race eight minutes, like I can't have a leaky goggle, like it's just for eight minutes I can't do that.
Like, if they fell off, I'd be like just that's my race gone.
Like it was just to have the right equipment was just so key, and there was just never a question to to wear anything else, and they were so brilliant as well, so supportive.
Like, most people think sponsors like really it's pressure, it's like you've got to do it for them, and it's like like intense, and actually they were nothing but supportive as well.
Like checking in on you as a human, hey Becky, how was that?
How are you feeling?
How's this?
Like, they were always good fun as well, like the days and the stuff that it the photo shoots that we used to do, all that sort of stuff.
It was just it was fun, it felt like a family, it felt like it was a safe, happy environment.
It wasn't like pressure, and it was just kind of nice to have that because the it was pressure enough, like you felt the pressure enough, like you they didn't need to add to that, and they just never did.
Yeah, no, I totally agree.
And I think it's such a testament.
There are team US team USA speedo employees that I when I signed in 2005 are here today, you know.
So it's like that's such a testament to the brand, the culture, how they treat their their teams.
Um yeah, that's it's really like a full circle moment for me, like being like, You knew me when I was 16 years old, and now I'm 36 and pregnant.
Like, what?
I know that is mental.
And that, but that do you know what you're so right?
Like it's just everyone has that affiliation with when you're part of Speedo that it's just it is that family environment, and I love that.
Yeah, me too.
All right, last three questions we asked all our guests.
First one is what is a moment or memory outside the sport of swimming that's brought you the most joy?
Oh, I have to say giving birth to my kids.
For a mom, it's like that's easy, that's easy.
Definitely my kids, uh absolutely just painful.
I'm not gonna lie, can't hide that one, but they're just the most special, incredible, emotional, just yeah, it's just amazing.
I'm excited for you.
Like, I'm done having kids.
Like, there is no more kids because I'm done.
Like, I've chucked everything.
I'm like, no, it's done, they're out.
Whereas like I'm excited for you because it's just amazing.
Yeah, I feel like I've talked to people people say it's it's something you came and put into words, so it's like you can't you can't even impress upon someone what they're about to go through because it's just like words don't do it.
You can't, and you just you'll you'll just it it is one of those that you just go through with it because you can't make a plan, it's unknown.
It's like as long as the baby's healthy, as long as they've got to come out, and you'll just roll with it, and the medical professionals will deal with everything else and will guide you through it, and they're amazing.
And people said to me all the time, millions of people give birth, you're you're fine, you're not doing something that is unnatural or anything else.
You'll be fine.
Yeah, no, I'll be good.
All right, so similar question moment or memory inside the sport of swimming that's brought you the most joy.
Oh, um, I naturally always go to the Olympics, but there is so many.
Like, I don't know about you, I look back on like training camps, like the fun that we had.
It was like we still like because I'm still best friends with my the people that I swam with, and I'm like, we still talk about certain trips like with such fondness.
And it's like, can you remember when here we once went on a training camp to the Seychelles?
Like, and that that's like what people are like, was there even a pool in the Seychelles?
What is that?
In the Seychelles, it's like basically like um Bora Bora, like oh my god, it it's like an island that is just white.
People go there on their honeymoon, like it's unbelievable.
And I'm like, we weren't actually getting there, it's mental.
But of course, naturally, the Olympics, like as a moment that will stick with me forever.
Um, as much as I love London, Beijing is where it started.
I wouldn't have had anything without that Beijing moment.
So that's probably in my 800s getting the world record, that's probably like the moment if I had to pick one out.
Do you remember like the overriding emotion in that moment?
Yeah, like a lot of pride.
I was surprised.
Like, I think I always thought it'd just be so joyous, and of course it is.
Yeah, but there is a lot of pride that there was a lot of relief, like yeah, a lot of relief, which I didn't expect.
That I was like, I almost felt like a weight got lifted off my shoulders, going, Oh my gosh, like I won.
Like it was just yeah, it was incredible, and just yeah, so much just happiness for my coach that I had achieved it for him as well, joy, just everything.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, last question.
What is a word that motivates you, inspires you, or just serves as a reminder of who you want to be?
Ooh, one word.
Oh uh trust.
Trust.
Just like trust that it's gonna be okay, trust your gut, like trust that you just you can do anything that you put your mind to.
So yeah, trust.
I like that.
Well, thank you, Becky.
This has been so much fun.
This is so nice catching up after eighteen years.