In 2019, middle distance runner Katrina Bissett became the first Australian woman in a decade
to break the two-minute barrier in the 800 metres.
Later that year, she set a new Australian record of 158.78, surpassing the 43-year-old
record set by Charlene Rendina.
One of the most dominant middle distance runners in the world that year, Katrina describes
her return to the sport as a happy accident after nearly a decade away from the sport
while battling an eating disorder.
One of my favourite parts of this episode was Katrina's discussion around her post-graduate
degree in architecture, and in particular, her thesis on running tracks, a really beautiful
connection that she feels between movement and making spaces a home.
I hope you enjoy this one.
Katrina, welcome to the Female Athlete Project.
Hey Chloe, thanks for having me.
Big fan of yours as well.
Thank you very much.
We've had a bit of a chat off air and I'm very much looking forward to this discussion.
Bez and I, as we host our weekly podcast, we've followed you for a long time in your
running career and we love kind of cheering you on from afar, so it's often a really special
opportunity for us to actually get to know you a little bit better and for our audience
and followers to get to know you a little bit better as well.
Can we take a look back at your childhood?
I think the best way I can describe like my childhood is like the relationship with
my parents and also my relationship to the like landscape of Canberra.
So I grew up in Canberra and I don't know if you've spent much time there, but it's
like, it's like the bush capital, right?
So there's a lot of trails, lots of mountains, lots of bushland, lots of ovals, just a lot
of open space and just a really beautiful place.
I used to grow up as a runner and as an active kid.
So a lot of my running was just centered around my relationship with my dad.
So he is a, well, not anymore.
He's like 75 now and like super injured all the time.
He's got like old man calves or whatever they say.
But before when I was a kid, he was like a really good distance runner.
And yeah, we would just go on these really long runs through Canberra.
Through like the fire trails around like Mount Taylor.
And yeah, we would just talk about, you know, like school and my friends.
And yeah, those are like my strongest memories of being an active running kid.
And I did the whole little athletics thing from when I was like a six year old.
And that was amazing.
And that was something I did with my mom was like going to little athletics on Saturday
And she would always volunteer.
And she was like a champion shot putter in her youth.
My dad would always be like the distance running guy.
And then my mom would teach me how to do like the cool shot put spinning technique and stuff.
So I was like this like super elite, like seven year old.
Well, that's not true.
But I was like dominating the multi events.
That's, that's definitely, yeah, that was what I was like as a kid.
I was, I was very active.
I also played other sports like swimming and netball and touch footy.
But yeah, I think just spending that time with my parents was and sharing athletics with
That's where I really, and yeah, really enjoyed myself as a kid.
Did you ever have a look at something like heptathlon with like your multi sports skills?
In hindsight, I'm like, Hmm.
And I, even now I'm like, well, maybe that would be really fun.
No, I, I kind of, I always really loved running.
That was definitely my favorite, like sprinting, middle distance.
That was my, yeah, that was my big thing.
Even though like I loved the field events, my heart was in running.
It's interesting the way you describe your connection and kind of those core memories
with nature and your parents, they seem like quite powerful connections to the sport.
A lot of kids that like everyone has a different stories, right?
Like some people kind of just fall into sport or the siblings are doing it, whatever, but
it sounds like your connection is quite a powerful one to sport.
And I think it's something that has carried on through my life as well of like, yeah.
Um, how would I describe it?
I, and I think like, so I ended up studying architecture and a big part of, um, looking
at like studying architecture is the relationship.
I think that, um, I think that I sort of had a lot of time to sort of reflect on my past
and how movements and being in these different places really form those strong connections,
just connections.
And that can be things like really mundane everyday rituals, like just going out for
a run in your local area and how that really connects me to, um, to Canberra and to my,
And like, and I think like bringing that with me across around the world now traveling as
a professional athlete being based in Melbourne now, it's like, that's how I cultivate a sense
of home is like through the action of running, um, and just the repetitive, like going to
Collingwood athletics track, my local track.
And, and like, that's where I feel a sense of home, um, because I go there and I, yeah,
It smells the same.
Like I'm familiar with like the sound of the cars driving past of the birds of like experiencing
the seasons across the year, like in the same place, like, yeah, it's, that's, I think it
is a really, I think a lot of sports people have that, um, powerful connection to place
and like their relationships to other people just through sharing sport.
It's quite a beautiful thing.
Have you noticed like from the general population, you're obviously at the very elite of the
elite, but general pop, there's obviously been a lot more people taking up running, joining
run clubs and things like that.
Do you think that's that connection that people have the ability to make through something
Oh, a hundred percent.
I think it's like, yeah, people are getting addicted to just the rituals of it.
And like, we don't have a lot of opportunities out.
Especially as an adult of like, if you're, you know, not a religious person or have a
lot of, you know, like strong hobbies or community, like to just meet up with a group of people
at a certain time of the day and just be out in nature and it doesn't matter what the weather
And, um, I also think that sort of, uh, what's the word for it, like, um, incidental interaction
or connection, that sort of thing is like, I think there's been studies and stuff on
this sort of thing.
Like that's, that's how you develop strong bonds and relationships is just, um, it's,
um, yeah, sharing those, those everyday experiences and that sort of thing.
And, and I think running is perfect for that.
I remember having a podcast actually a while ago talking about like the parallel of like,
when you go for a job with a friend and you can have some of the most deep and like the
biggest DNMs, because you're just like, it's like a contained amount of time and you're
And it's also like, you're not looking at it.
And it's like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a part of the, of the process
where you're just kind of like, it's like, you're not looking at each other.
Like there's no, none of the social etiquette and social pressures of like making eye contact
and you know, like how sometimes you have the best conversations when you're in a long
road trip with a friend and you're not looking at each other and it's like, it's, it's something,
there's something to that of just like this, this shared movements, um, where you're not
really like set out to have a big DMM, but it just sort of comes, you just feel really
comfortable together.
It's, it's not something that I'd really thought about, but it does.
It makes sense when you're not in this, not that it's a forced environment when you're
making eye contact and spending time like that, but it is, it's quite a comfortable
space for people, well, people who are fit enough to be able to breathe and run and talk
at the same time, I imagine.
I mean, walking, yeah, like I'm super advocate for walk jobs.
So take us back to your days, Little Athletics.
What did that look like for you heading into your teenage years?
Yeah, so this is one of the, I guess, non-atypical parts of my transition into being a professional
athlete that I've talked about quite a lot, and I'm a huge advocate for talking more about,
which is that, yeah, I had a long stretch of really bad mental health issues.
So towards the end of my high school and early university, I had a lot of trauma.
I had trouble with like an eating disorder, depression and anxiety that really made it
hard for me to just do all the things that I wanted to do.
And yeah, I gave up running for a long time and really fell out of love for it because
a lot of young athletes, I think, especially when your body is growing and changing, female
athletes, that time was transitioning from like a junior.
To a senior is really tricky because you have all of the other life pressures of, you know,
going to uni and moving out of home for the first time.
And I think definitely the eating disorder is exacerbated by a lot of the pressures on
young athletes of being skinny, being, you know, little professionals when you're a 16
year old, when you should just be having a fun time.
And so, yeah, I definitely, I'm even hesitant to say that I stepped away because a part of
me really wanted to still be an athlete, but I was just too sick to be able to pursue that
And so I never really consciously stepped away.
I was kind of like forced to make other decisions because it was no longer a viable career path
But yeah, then it kind of, you know.
I opened up things for my academic career.
So going to Sydney, moving from Canberra to Sydney, I started a bachelor's degree in architecture.
And then I, once I finished that, I worked full time in two different architecture firms in Sydney
and then moved to Melbourne to start my master's.
And that's where I sort of took up running more seriously again.
And yeah, I fell in love with it for a second time.
I'd say this time.
It wasn't the sort of purity as it was and simplicity as I was as a kid, but still a
lot of the same thing.
It was things of like remembering how much, just like some of the most beautiful runs
through Yarra Bend and Melbourne, like discovering Melbourne as a city through running basically.
And all my early friendships in Melbourne was through the running groups and that sort
And yeah, easily.
Fell back into it.
And then I sort of describe becoming a professional athlete as like a happy accident because I
never went like sort that out and was much more focused on my master's studies at Melbourne
And yeah, and then I last year graduated from my studies and have been juggling being a
professional athlete and completing my architecture studies at the same time.
And yeah, in 2019, that was like my breakout year and signed a contract with Nike, which
enabled me to be able to pursue all these parts of my life and finally having like the
financial support to.
And also just like how Nike has always been really supportive of these other parts of
my life as well and seeing me as a multifaceted person, not just being the person on the screen.
At the Diamond Leagues, yeah, being, being really encouraging of my other interests and career as well.
You talked about that, that 2019 breakout year.
How did it feel for you to, the happy accident?
I really like that phrase.
It's really cool.
How did it feel to be thriving in something you talked about?
The fact that you wouldn't describe it as stepping away, but kind of reflecting on what
you had to go through as a teenager to get to that point in 2019 to be performing on
To be honest, it was.
Um, it was fantastic, but at the same time, it was a massive identity shift for myself.
Like, I think I spent those years away from competitive running, really shedding this
identity as a runner.
I'm like, I, you know, as a kid being a runner, being outdoors, like that was who I was.
Everyone knew me for being, you know, the sporty girl.
I really had to work hard or almost, yeah, I guess, reluctantly turned into like the
architecture kid, like the, the, you know, pursuing these other parts of me and, and
then sort of being thrown into right.
Like, and then picking up running again as a hobby and then, you know, finding it myself
as a professional, like it was incredible, but also extremely intense.
This transition where it's like.
A lot of athletes, they get many years to transition from a junior to a senior.
It's something that targeting, whereas it happened to me in about a six month stretch
of time of going from just seeing running as this really serious hobby into making my
first representative team, you know?
And I remember there was this one race, um, at the, uh, university games.
It was in Sydney where I ran sub two minutes for the first time, which is like a big deal
in the 800 meter world and, and a theme and a, and a, um, 800 meter runner hadn't done
that in 10 years.
Like it was a big deal that I broke through this barrier and I did it at this really low
I just solo ran this, this fantastic time.
Um, and I think it might've even been a world lead at the time as well.
Like it was just very, very overwhelming.
And after the race, I just burst into tears.
Like I was just, it was just so incredibly intense for me, this sudden realization of
like, this is bigger than, than what I thought it was.
You know, it's like, I didn't know that I like, obviously this is fantastic and I'm
loving this, but change is really hard.
And then to have the change happen so suddenly, it did take me quite a while to adjust.
And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,
and then, and then suddenly it was COVID 2020.
And I stepped back into the architecture world again and it was just, yeah, it's only really
been the last year or two where I've properly, properly felt that, um, I am an architect
and I am a professional athlete and both of those things are important.
And both of those things, uh, by careers.
So it was a period of pushing and pulling and trying to figure out what on earth I was
It's full on to think that you go through this immense change and then the pandemic
And at that point in time, I imagine you're trying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
A hundred percent.
But basically being my first team being 2019, that being really sudden, having a huge sort
of 12, 18 months of no competition.
No international competition.
And then the next big one being the Olympics.
So yeah, it was, and then especially all the unknowns around it too, of like whether I
was able to travel, what the restrictions were and, um, yeah, not having a crowd at
the Tokyo Olympics, like all that sort of thing.
So yeah, it was a lot.
Quite a bizarre Olympics for there to not be a crowd, but how did it feel to you to,
to represent your country over there?
It was, yeah, I think about it a lot.
I'm actually, my, my partner is, um, he's amazing, but he's kind of funny.
So he, he's like a writer and artist as well.
And the, he bought this thing.
It's like a, it's, it's this little cylinder and I'm looking at it now in my living room,
but it's called like time since launch.
And so basically it's like a time.
It just counts, you pull this pin and from that second, it just counts the time from
So when I ran the heat of the Olympics, he pulled the pin on it.
And so I think it just ticked over 1000 days.
So it's like 1000 days since I became an Olympian.
So he made this, so he, he, he got this little, um, time counting capsule kind of thing.
Yeah, I think that sort of, that sort of talks to the importance of it where at the time
I'm like, ah, it's just another race, just on the cool experience and this crazy, you
know, last 24 months or whatever.
And then, yeah, when I look at that, it's like, oh my God, like I became an Olympian.
Like it, it's one of those things I'm sure you experienced it as well of like, you don't
really know that it's special until it's finished.
It's a, it's a weird thing to process.
Like I was chatting to some of my sevens teammates the other day.
And the fact that Rio 2016 was eight years ago, like it's just, it almost still feels
like it was just a year or two ago because it's such a huge thing for your brain to even
think like, this is what, is it something that you always wanted to do as a young kid?
Did you talk to your parents about one day becoming an Olympian?
In those early days, like when running was my, like everything I thought about and wanted
And, um, yeah, I remember telling them about wanting to go to the Olympics and that sort
And, but yeah, then, then really quickly shedding that and, and then being that, that very long
chunk of many years where it was like, nah, what was I even thinking?
And it was like sad.
It's kind of sad to think that I really shut that all down and then, yeah.
And then it all just coming back really quickly, um, all of these things and having to remember
what I loved so much about running as a kid and finally like meeting those two parts,
like, yeah, marrying those two parts of myself together again.
It's quite an amazing thing that you touched on this idea of elite athletes and who we
pictured to be elite athletes often have been training their entire lives.
Like you've really challenged that stereotype in quite an incredible way.
Like I imagine for people hearing your story, that's quite an empowering thing to challenge
what people think you have to be to become an Olympian and the very best at what you
Um, yeah, absolutely.
I think, and that's been one of the most, um, wonderful things about talking and having
this platform and talking about my experience, like the number of young women coming up to
me and being like, oh, I listened to your podcast on, you know, X platform, or I saw
you on like this Nike ad or whatever.
And they were like, and so I took up running again, you know, like I had a similar experience
where it was like.
I was like, yeah, I thought I wasn't good enough.
I didn't look the part I didn't, you know, people were telling me that, you know, focus
on blah, blah, blah instead.
And, and then they're like, and then I heard what you did.
And then I was just like, actually, I really love running and I'm just gonna, I'm going
I'm not going to care what other people think.
And yeah, that's, that's the best part of that.
Like having like, everyone has a different, um, journey into the sport.
Like I, I'm sure.
A lot of athletes who have had like the quote unquote typical experience would hear me say
this and they're like, what are you talking about?
So it's, it's all, it's the, every, everything's complex and everyone has a different experience.
Well, you touched on there, that idea of not looking the part, what do you think sport
and athletics role can be to like really shift people's attitudes about to be an athlete
or to be whoever you want to be.
You don't have to fit in this perfect.
It's fascinating.
This shift in the last, you know, a couple of years, we've talked more about body diversity
and neuro diversity as well.
And I mean, it's something that like, I've loved about working with Nike as well.
Like talking to people like Jared Clifford, for example, who's one, a good friend of mine.
Um, I actually interviewed him as part of, um, my thesis project.
We can talk through horn into this conversation, no matter what it takes, um, cause I love
it so much, but, um, yeah, talking about people with different, different abilities and how.
And like, even thinking back of how, when I was a young athlete growing up in Canberra,
I would train at the AIS and it was like, that was where the center of power athletics.
Was in Australia.
And so I'll just be, you know, training after school on a Tuesday afternoon and you would
have the wheelies going around and you'd have people of different prosthetics and all this
And it would just be so normal to me as like a 10 year old or whatever.
And it would just be like, oh yeah.
Like wheelchair sport is just like, you know, a different event, you know, it was like the
difference between a steeplechaser and a discus thrower.
Like it's not like, yeah, it just made everyone just, it was just normalized different abilities
And I think that's a really powerful part about sport, um, being able to have those
discussions about different bodies and, um, yeah, I think the conversation is shifting.
There's a lot of, um, I think people are embracing more, uh, the actual science around, um, fueling
ourselves and how someone's aesthetic appearance can look very different is very different
to someone's actual health.
Um, I've got a great story.
One of my training partners, Linden Hall, who's a dietitian, we were, um, in like a
dining hall, like before world champs a year or two ago.
And there was some athletes talking about how, you know, there was this weight when
they ran this time.
They were like, oh, I was like, uh, you know, basically talking about how much weight like
was related to their performance and, um, how, and like, this is something Linda and
I are very passionate about of how, like, it's, it's much more complicated to that than
And health is much more important.
And I just remember this one sprinter was one guy being like, yeah, I was a kilo lighter
when I ran this time or something.
And then Linden was like, did you just take a
really big shit that morning?
Like is that why you're a kilo lighter?
Like just like how people don't understand the basic things like that.
Like, yeah, your weight fluctuates a lot.
Like it's, it's more looking about how your body moves, like the times that you're, that
you're doing in training, like too much emphasis on weight and food and aesthetics, um, tech
too much, just lazy coaching around that.
So I think, I think we're getting better at it as a, as a whole.
You talked about Linden hall.
When we look at the Australian middle distance cohort at the moment, it is like another level
as you Jess Hulls, you're there, Benderia Boy is there, Claudia Hollingsworth, like
it is elite of the elite.
What is it like being part of a group like that from a high performance perspective,
but a group that then has to compete for limited qualification spots for the Paris Olympics?
It's definitely a whole new landscape now, a whole new generation of, um, younger athletes,
not just in the women's, but the men's as well.
That's going to be a crazy, like Stewie McSwain, um, you know, all these athletes fighting
for three positions.
I think it's just, that's how you get Australians making finals, getting medals is that when
we have a, like, we're such an isolated country, um, to have this sort of local competition,
to have this culture is, is just going to bring everyone up.
Like it's that, that cliche of like the rising tides, you know, lifts all ships kind of thing.
And obviously it's stressful for someone like me, um, but it's also like, and it's stressful
because of the uncertainty, you know, it's like in the past, you know, I was a head and
shoulders above the next athlete and making a team.
I'm maybe even took it for granted a little bit, but now it's like, yeah, uncertainty
is scary, but you have to fight now.
Like you have to really lift your game to earn that place.
And I think that's only going to just create better performances and better athletes and
more hardened athletes that will perform better at championships because we have that domestic
competition, which all the other countries have anyway.
And that's why they have that edge at the major champs.
Um, I think it's awesome.
And I think also it's not only is the, is there the depth, but these are all really
Like they're all lovely people with their own interesting stories and like they're all
advocates for, you know, all the things we've talked about before about, um, yeah, positive
body image, like just having a holistic, um, approach to sport.
Um, and just being really kind to each other, really inspirational to the next generation
I think that in the past there could have been a little bit of, um, I don't know, animosity
between people of fighting for these finite places, but it's like, I always found that
to be really sad sometimes and isolating that these are the people who really understand
what it's like and we can't talk to each other about it.
But I think there's such a good culture amongst all of us.
that comes from yeah the the older generation like me and and lyndon of just like you know
being really uncompromising about being like no i i love you as a person off the track but
i want to crush you when we're when we're on the track but afterwards let's go hang out get a coffee
nice nice what is your headspace like during the training sessions like i feel like the discipline
you have chosen you could not get me to do that in a million years like you guys are incredible
athletes what you put your body through but also put your minds through right like that
that lactic acid that you must belong in for a lot of your training like it's rough
oh yeah i definitely picked middle distance is not the um distance that you pick if you you know
want it to be an easy ride like it's it is a pain-based sport like endurance is a pain
based sport same as like rowing same as like um cycling like it a lot of it is just how much you
can take um through training in a race how much yeah you can um train your mind to push through
all those warning signals that your body is is telling you um yeah it's something that you can
learn i think i think some people might be like oh i could never do that or but it is really
something that you can learn and i think it's something that you can learn and i think it's
something that you just practice day in day out like let me give you an example of a session
so and and then also it's like you often just blow up and it's just a terrible session
like i and you just have to get through it like the there was a session a couple of weeks ago
that i did where it was like four reps just all um basically
you know first lap pace of an 800 just like quick and minimal recovery and my training partner and i
we just went out too hard in the first rep and we both just sort of look at each other and we're
like this is we have really stuffed this up and you just have to keep going and and you and the
thing is as well it's like it gets exponentially harder once you have sort of tipped over the
scales of the lactic and the high and you just have to keep going and and you and the thing is
it's not something that you can come back from a little bit so you kind of have to
not only is it the mental game of pushing through it's the mental space of being able to readjust on
the fly and being like okay i spent all my money in this first rep so now i have to just be kind to
myself and we're getting through this and not just throwing in the towel but just making the most of
what we've got what we've got now and you kind of have to do that in a race too like sometimes like
you go out too hard and you kind of have to do that in a race too and you kind of have to do that
and then you're like all right like now i just have to remain calm and execute what i can knowing
what i'm capable of yeah it's it's hard work i um i really i really take my hat off to you guys
it's different to what you guys do it's but i couldn't do it you guys i would never be able
to take a hit before we get to i'm gonna let you get to your thesis in a second i didn't i didn't
prep you with this question but i've i've brought back this question because i really love hearing
your responses and it's what is your favorite failure my favorite failure oh i failed so many
times i failed you fail all the time like my favorite failure i think that's a really tricky
question because it's like there are failures that become opportunities you know to change
your life kind of thing and and then there are failures that are just really funny
and totally unnecessary and stupid um i guess okay i'll answer it in a serious way so i think
one of the big failures is like what okay one of the big failures of athletes is like getting
injured right and i had a really major injury in 2019 i had a stress fracture in my fibula so my
ankle and it became a really serious injury and i had a really major injury in 2019 and i had a
this yeah this huge like i had never had a serious injury like that and it meant that i really had
to reassess pretty much all aspects of my life like sort of think about how much i could balance
the study and the athletics at the same time how much i could balance um all these yeah different
stresses in my life um i really had to go hard on seeing a dietician and addressing any
nutritional deficiencies um seeing a psychologist to deal with all of you know the the psychological
aspects of injuries working really closely with um the vis and and and dealing with my strengths
deficiencies and all that so i basically just like you that that big failure is an opportunity
to just reassess everything and to try new things because like when things are going really great
you don't you don't change anything you're kind of just like you're just like you're just like
desperate to make sure nothing changes and then maybe miss out on things um but yeah i think my
favorite failures are in training where it is just absolutely hilarious like like that example
before of just going out too hard in a rep and then you're like well i've got no one to blame
but here we are here we go it's i really liked what you said there though i i probably haven't
thought about it in the sense of when everything's going really well
how desperate you are for things not to change and it often limits you in that space of being
really afraid to trial and error different things exactly i like that yeah do you have you done that
before yeah well i think for me i found the injury piece a really refreshing space once i deal once i
process the emotion of what it means what i'm missing out on but i've had this perspective
i've had a couple of really horrible injuries throughout my career that meant i i fractured
my cheekbone four weeks out from the tokyo olympics um and then i didn't
get to go to my second olympics and what i've noticed with the injuries is you can make these
big progressions in short periods of time whereas when you're at your peak and you're in that space
of everything going right and being afraid to change things the progress that you make is so
tiny and so incremental that it doesn't necessarily feel like you're moving forward whereas for me i've
tried to always frame rehab as that thing of every single day i get to move forward and i make bigger
yeah and that's also a hard thing about things not going bad in some ways like i've also had the
trap of not having an injury for a really long stretch of time and then over training a little
bit because i haven't like i've been like well i don't need a break yeah because i'm not injured
why would i have a break and then and then that being a failure in itself um and and then also
not being able to step back and seeing the long progression over years and then i've also had a
because it is so incremental it's time to talk about the thesis you did your thesis
in athletics tracks tell us about this yes okay buckle up everybody
this is what we've all been waiting for yeah so basically um as i've said before i studied
architecture um and then became a professional athlete and then at the end of my master's i had
this opportunity to have a career in athletics and i've been able to do a lot of things and i've
had an independent thesis so study a topic that was unique to that i could pick basically and for
a while there i was really resisting any overlap or cross-contamination between my two identities
as a runner and as an architect because i didn't want it to be a gimmick i didn't want it to be
this embarrassing thing where people are like oh of course you would do some you know like when
your friends come up to you and then and you're like they're like oh you study architecture are
you going to design stadiums and i'd be like oh yeah i'm going to do that and then i'd be like
no like i'm a real architect like i'm going to do beautiful museums and you know like i don't know
like you know that kind of thing yeah yeah and then finally you know i think it's a sign of
maturity for this thesis i spoke to my incredible supervisor hannah robertson and basically within
sort of like 10 minutes we were like i have to do athletics tracks because like for one thing
like how movement connects people to space or it was how i learned how i connect to space
is through repetitive movement um and just you know everyday activity ordinary activities um
and so i decided to study athletics tracks and it was also a beautiful opportunity as well
um because i'm traveling across the year and so going overseas i could photograph
athletics tracks around the world and be able to experience
um something that i couldn't if i was just an architecture student like i like i wouldn't be
able to have the time or the money to go and travel and and have this sort of informal architecture
tour of athletics track and so basically the question i was asking was how do these spaces
community sports spaces function as public spaces like how do they interact with the public how do
they um contribute to a sense of home a sense of a neighborhood um and yeah basically
advocating for their value in the urban fabric um beyond sort of our ideas of sports infrastructure
being these mega stadiums um and so yeah it was this incredible um opportunity to like i interviewed
various athletes like for example jared another that what i brought up before a vision impaired
athlete another incredible nike um athlete um him talking about how an athletics track was the first
place he felt a true sense of independence that that was where um he didn't feel like his vision
impairment made him any different to anybody else and a lot of that was because of this um
a completely predictable space this very safe predictable 400 meter track the same thing
universal across the world you're always experiencing the same thing and he would count
the steps um from the
straights and the bends so he always knew where he was in space and he would love the sounds of the
other athletes training it being a busy track other people doing other things like i found that
really incredible and like yeah bringing back to my own childhood like i was talking about at the
start of this of um how much those landscapes those environments um contributed to my childhood
um and one of the questions i wanted to ask you as well is um like i asked people like what their
earliest memories were of like a sporting space and how that contributed to their future career
and how they made that feel about their identity yeah what was your earliest memory yeah it's a it's
a great question i think one of my early memories i used to play a lot of touch footy as a kid um it
was called kitchener park down by my home and it was friday nights and we'd go down there and i'd
with a team of girls who were a couple of years older than me and just the field i just remember
the field so clearly and it was also what came with it like every single time we'd walk across
like with me my mom and dad and my two brothers we'd walk across the road and i'd get my subway
i'd get my meatball sub after touch footy and it was like that was the experience you know there
was so much that came with that oh totally yeah so these are the stories that i loved it's like
what does it taste like what does it smell like
what did it sound like like and then how did it make you feel yeah with the people that you were
sharing the space with and and like that's what architecture is and like i think it's been really
interesting maybe pivoting this conversation a little bit like how i'm bringing that design
um perspective into my professional career as an athlete sort of it's like a two-way
two-way street um and sort of how architecture is all about not just like
aesthetics it's about function as well and i think it's been really cool working with like the nike
product team around like performance wear and how it's like incorporates um aesthetics but also
above all function and like i've become really passionate about fashion i've been really
passionate about clothing as well as being this really interesting offshoot of of this thesis and
um and my sort of design
background and finally really embracing these dual personalities um i had this amazing experience
in glasgow um for world indoors this year where i met up with the nike design team around the um
innovations on the new spikes that we use for for middle distance running and so i met with them
london last year where they were talking about um they had interviewed me and they were interviewing
a whole lot of athletes about what we liked what we're all about and what we're all about and so
they were talking about like how our opinions were on the different shoes like how it felt around
our our foot like the and like how like talking about the different parts of our training and
then different parts of the race and how you want to feel on different things and and yeah and then
meeting up with them again you know being able to talk to them about not just like the shoe function
and also like the one of the most fascinating things was talking about like stack height you
know like this this um idea of like the
the heel of the shoe being a certain height to match the regulations of world athletics
and how you can use those rules and regulations to innovate um and that i found that really
reflective i found that really an interesting parallel in architecture because it's like
when you have a site you have all these restrictions you have all the building codes
that you have to have to work your way around and that's like kind of where the cool innovations
come out as well like some of the most interesting designs have come out of a really big restriction
um like whether it's you know like a height limit or you know whatever but um yeah and then
talking to them about just like aesthetics and and they were asking me about like my own personal
style and how you know like for me like i'm half chinese i've been really sort of embracing these
dual um i think everything i'm talking about is about bringing in like these different buttons
in your life it's like bringing all these loose threads together about
like my own personal style is very much like i just want to be a teenage boy in korea in china
like that's my love that for you i love that i'm so here for that yeah it's just like this
little chinese school girl like that is what i want to but like cool like that that's what i want
to look like and um and yeah and like talk and like talking to them about like the one of my
like favorite pieces that i've been working on for a long time and i've been working on a lot of
is this sakai jacket collaboration of nike which is so sakai is this luxury japanese brand
and so they obviously have a lot of like connections to japanese craftsmanship and
that sort of thing and those aesthetics and the streetwear aesthetics and they made this really
great performance piece which was like a raincoat it's like a trench coat um but not but one of the
things that i love so much about it was that it really reminded me of like you know drovers like
in the australian outback like yeah yeah yeah yeah like the drovers on on the horseback
and they would wear these big brown raincoats and they they were like trench coat length and they
have like the hoods and that's like a double layer yeah yeah yeah exactly exactly and like
like the dark brown oil skin like that sort of stuff and it really reminded me of that as well
which is why i love it so much because it's like oh this is like this kind of like fusion of all
these things like this
australian the asian the sportswear the streetwear like and i think that yeah nike does that so well
of like not only it being like these really amazing functional pieces but then like design
architecture is always more about the culture of the time um and then and then bringing that
all together but anyway sorry that was my super long rant i'm i'm so here for it i'm glad we
waited for that because it's i think what's a really beautiful thing of the
coming together of everything like at the female athlete project what we love doing is using our
platform obviously to share the athlete story so that people who listen to this the next time they
see you like even me thinking already to the next time i watch you compete out on the track
i'll be thinking about those things you know i'll be thinking about your connection to nature and
the track and to the clothes and the shoes that you're wearing and i think it's such a powerful
thing so thank you so much for your time today and and your honesty and vulnerability and for
sharing your stories it's it's been really really special to have the chance to chat to you so thank
you so much thank you so much thank you so much thank you so much thank you so much thank you so much
so much katrina oh no thank you it was a pleasure any opportunity to talk about these things i'm
massively nerdy about i love it amazing amazing thanks so much for listening if you got something
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