Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Olympic gold medalist and heptathlete, the most decorated in history, who became a household name after her 2012 London gold on Super Saturday.
On the island
Eight records
For me, this is that track that I'd always go to when I was either training and feeling tired and motivation was wavering a little bit. I'd put this song on and it'd just kind of lift me and give me that confidence that I needed to go out there and push hard on a training session. Or it'd be that track that I'd listened to before I'd come off the warm-up track, about to enter the stadium. I'd listen to this song to give me that huge amount of confidence and that self-belief.
this was just a song that was always played in our house growing up. One specific memory of my dad cooking tripe for me, which still to this day makes me want to be sick. But I remember him cooking it up in the kitchen with onions and this song was on. So it really just kind of brings back that memory.
My next disc is Westside by TQ and it reminds me of a time when we used to have the cassette and it was side A and side B and we'd just keep rotating it and playing these two songs and we'd always have it on in the car on the way to school and we'd pick my friend Charlotte up and my dad would just be sick of hearing it over and over and over again. But just brings back such great memories of those relationships that I had with some really key people in my life that are still really close to me now.
Foolish by Ashanti and this reminds me of my teenage years wanting to see my friends and socialize and have all those experiences as a teenager but also trying to keep focused on you know this amazing athletic opportunity that I had.
So my next track is More Money, More Problems, Notorious BIG and this just reminds me again of great times growing up where music videos were just you know everything and you kind of switch MTV on and you'd want to see what the latest video was and this was one that just gripped me. I still love this song.
Unfinished SympathyFavourite
So, my next one is Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack. When I stepped out onto the track at the London 2012 Olympics, it was playing in the stadium, and it's just always kind of stuck in my mind just before I went out to do the 800 meters. And then I remember having my daughter live and going through a long labour, and just as she was about to be born, the radio was on in the hospital, and this song came on, and it just gave me that last little drive to meet her for the first time.
I am a huge Jay-Z fan and I always have been, so I'd have to, have to have a Jay-Z song. So I've gone for public service announcement. And again, this is just another great motivation for me, you know, to put on in my headphones when I'm heading out onto the track, to give me that confidence, that belief to go out there and smash it every time.
So my final disc is Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Reddin, and this was our wedding song, so this was our first dance at our wedding.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:28Why is it important for you that people remember that grit and determination as well as those moments of glory?
It's just always been something that has stuck with me. I want to be remembered for those moments of hard work on the track that no one saw and those years of dedication and sacrifice that you make as a sports person and not for those amazing key moments that you have, but for everything that takes you on that journey to that final point.
Presenter asks
3:07Can you begin to describe the feeling of standing on that podium being cheered by 80,000 spectators on home ground? What was it like?
Oh gosh, I mean every time I speak about it, it does, it still gives me goosebumps. It makes me kind of like well up with this like feeling of excitement and a big smile comes on my face instantly. It was just one of those moments that you dream of, you've worked so hard towards and you almost think to yourself, will it actually ever happen? You know, will it come true? Will it happen for me as an athlete in my lifetime? And those two days were the most intense, stressful, competitive, physically and mentally draining days of my life. But to bring them together and to finish on the podium was the most amazing feeling I've, you know, I experienced at that point.
Presenter asks
6:23The keepsakes
The book
Brian Cox
I have gone for The Wonders of Life by Professor Brian Cox, and I think that this for me would just be perfect to read on the island just thinking about the real origins of life and going really, really deep.
The luxury
My family and the people closest to me are like my everything. So to be able to have a collection of photos of all those people and my kids and being able to, you know, constantly look at them and yeah, that that would just bring me complete joy. So I'd definitely have to have photos. So an enormous photo album.
Tell me a little bit about your mother.
In a way, we're very different because my mum grew up in a small village outside Sheffield in Derbyshire, and you know, she was a little bit of a rebel. You know, at that time, she dyed her hair pink, which my grandparents loved to tell me. And, you know, she was a little bit, you know, off the charts. And I'm the complete opposite. I'm very like rules straight, you know, do things properly.
Presenter asks
21:41Do you think that you have to cultivate a kind of selfish streak if you're going to be in elite sport?
Yeah, absolutely. I think without a doubt, you know, whether you're comfortable with that kind of term or not, you have to be a selfish person to be a sports person. You have to make sure that everything is right for you as an individual. It's not just your job, it's your way of life. It's how you sleep, it's your nutrition, it's the people you surround yourself with. And you kind of put everything on hold to make sure that you are, you know, the best you can be. So, yeah, without a doubt, you have to be incredibly driven and incredibly selfish as well.
Presenter asks
24:15Were there times that the pressure got to you?
Yeah, there was definitely times where I felt it was quite overwhelming, particularly when training hadn't gone that well. So I remember times where I'd had really bad long jump sessions or, you know, the high jump hadn't been going well. And I'd come home and I'd just close the door and sit with Andy and just say, gosh, like, is this all going to happen? You know, am I going to be able to do it or am I going to let down the nation? You know, is it going to happen in the way that I hope it will? But very quickly after those moments, you pick yourself back up and you think, yeah, you know what, this is an opportunity. This is unique.
Presenter asks
30:27How difficult was it for you to take that step back [retirement]?
In all honesty, it was the right time for me. I felt that in that last year, those last two years after having Reggie, it was hard, it was challenging, and I knew that it was relatively short term. I didn't want to go on for another Olympic cycle after Rio. And in those moments, I just felt that it was right for me. I wasn't retiring because I had to. I wasn't retiring because I had injuries. I was retiring because I felt complete from that sense of the word. I felt that I'd achieved all that I wanted to achieve.
“I want to be remembered for those moments of hard work on the track that no one saw and those years of dedication and sacrifice”
“It was just one of those moments that you dream of, you've worked so hard towards and you almost think to yourself, will it actually ever happen?”
“I used to kind of rub my fingers and put my hair behind my ears in a certain way and rub my hands on like the cheeks of my um shorts and just all these funny little kind of patterns of doing things that just I suppose gave me comfort and confidence that I was just ready to go.”
“I was retiring because I felt complete from that sense of the word. I felt that I'd achieved all that I wanted to achieve.”