116: Hannah Campbell-Pegg - From Olympian Luge to Leading Climate Change Research

What happens when an Olympian transitions from competing on the world stage to tackling global challenges like climate change? Join us as we welcome Hannah Campbell-Pegg, a former Australian Olympian in Luge, who shares her riveting journey from competing in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games to her current life balancing a PhD, motherhood, and a career in sustainability. Hannah opens up about her unexpected foray into winter sports, which began with a friend's suggestion and led her from the beaches of Australia to icy luge tracks worldwide. 

Hannah was known not only for her athletic achievements but also for her leadership, serving as the head of Luge Australia for over a decade. Even after retiring from competition, Campbell-Pegg continued to contribute to the sport, playing a pivotal role in nurturing the next generation of Australian lugers, making her an inspiring figure both on and off the track.

Tune In To Learn more about:

• Her intriguing path to the Winter Olympics 
• Hannah's thrill of competing at the highest level and the challenges of pursuing a winter sport as an Australian 
• Highlights on the sense of a close-knit community among athletic peers and how to leverage it
• The stark contrast of living in a desert climate in Dubai  after years of winter sports
• Sneak peek into her PhD on the impact of climate change on Winter Sports
• The joy in her teaching pursuit and how it complemented her life as an athlete 
• Hannah’s disciplined approach to training and life and how it has immensely guided her life after sports

…and so much more!

Are you looking for Career Clarity for your next step, for more information, or to book a consultancy, make sure you check out www.2ndwind.io    

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-campbell-pegg-oly- 

X: https://x.com/HCampbellPegg 

Chapters

• 0:00 Olympian to Climate Change PhD
• 4:13 From Beaches to Winter Sports
• 8:21 Balancing Teaching and Athletic Training
• 17:33 Transitioning From Athlete to Professional Life
• 21:08 Identity Crisis and Transitioning From Athlete
• 28:14 International Luge Community Bonding
• 32:16 Athlete Family and Academic Integrity
• 36:05 Rethinking Sports in a Changing Climate
• 41:36 Preparing for Life After Sport

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, yeah well, it seems like it came from quite simply giving it a go. So seeing something that was interesting, opportune, and you thought, hey, why not, I'll just jump in, give it a shot. What's the worst that could happen?

Speaker 2: 0:11

I'd done a lot of sport growing up. I played tennis, I played water polo, I swam. I wasn't a very good runner, but athletics was never really my thing unless it was like the throwing events. I was never really my thing unless it was like the throwing events. I was never a great runner, not a good running style, but I just decided. You know what like this sport. Actually it's challenging. It was something different. Everybody always says to you you know, so you pick. I remember one of the first interviews I had with channel seven and the guy said to me oh so you always wanted to be an Olympian, so you picked the easiest sport and went for it and I was like, uh no, this is probably the most challenging thing I've ever done hi, I'm ryan gonzalves and welcome to a second wind academy podcast, a show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes.

Speaker 1: 1:05

Each week, I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story. Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations. Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty. Elite athletes are still people after all. Let's be inspired by the stories of others. Hannah, welcome to the show. It's good to have you here.

Speaker 2: 1:30

Thank you, good to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Great. So we're going to chat you, and this podcast is all about the transition that you've had from being an Olympian Well, once an Olympian, always Olympian. So very much about your transition to your life after sport and what's going on in your world today. Hannah, tell us who you are and what you're up to nowadays.

Speaker 2: 1:56

So I'm Hannah Campbell-Peck. I competed for Australia in the sport of luge, which is very foreign for most Australians. It's a sport where you slide feet first down the ice speeds up to 150 kilometers an hour for men and about 140 for women.

Speaker 2: 2:14

Was back in my day anyway, I competed in 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games and I've been an official for the last three Olympics for our athlete, alexander Falazzo, ever since, and hopefully he'll be going to his fourth Olympics in next year, the end of next year. So yeah, and that's what I did as an athlete as well, so that was my sporting achievements.

Speaker 1: 2:40

Yes, well, that's good. Well, we can go in a little bit more. I mean, in terms of your sporting achievement, it is pretty cool to, especially coming from australia. As you said, it is quite a foreign, I guess, a foreign sport for many australians. But I am still curious because, as much as I talk about it, today you're not in australia. Today you find yourself as far away from snow and hills as possible yes, I'm now living in dubai.

Speaker 2: 3:03

I'm currently. My husband got a job over here, so we moved the whole family three months ago and just trying out a very different side of life. I'm definitely missing trees and cool weather, and I'm actually craving rain for the first time in my life. But yes, I'd love to. I'd love to get back to some snow. I'd really love to get back to some. You know those nice warm jackets that you rake yourself up in. But basically, whilst I'm here, I'm doing a PhD in climate change, on the impacts of climate change on winter sports, and I'm a sustainability consultant as well, and I'm a mum, so two very energetic boys. I could add some other words in there, but they keep me on my toes.

Speaker 1: 3:49

This is what it's all about, so it's great.

Speaker 2: 3:53

They keep me old. That's all I can say.

Speaker 1: 3:56

No, it's the opposite. They keep us young, that's it. They keep us having to move around and chase them and a dog as well, just to add to that.

Speaker 2: 4:02

And I've got a dog as well my mum too, and chased them and a dog as well, just to add to that a mom to a little fur fur ball. But um, yeah, he's. He's five months old and still learning his ways awesome.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Now we did mention, and we opened up at least with you as an olympian getting into uh luge. I'm curious though, for certainly someone growing up in australia how did you get into that sport? Where did it all start for you?

Speaker 2: 4:25

so I actually started a friend of mine. I was watching the olympics in 2002 and I remember watching luge but didn't even think of luge. I thought of bobsleigh and just coincidentally, a friend of a friend who ends up, who ended up being a really good friend of mine in the end he said oh, we're looking for women for the women's bobsleigh team for australia. So I called up and I said look, you know, I'm interested, I'd like to give this a go. I had to go down to some training facility that they had in melbourne and I flew down there and they took everybody because there wasn't many people doing bobsleigh or putting their hands up to do bobsleigh. So we went over the next.

Speaker 2: 5:09

So the end of 2002, we went and did a bobsleigh school where you learn how to drive, and did all of that, and then I kept doing that for a couple of years and then I pulled out of that and I loved sliding, but just the atmosphere was quite toxic and so I said you know what, let's do something else. So I went and took up luge and in 2004 and went from that. But basically it all came about through talking to a guy who's a good friend of mine now, and he competed for the Australian Jeremy Rolleston. He competed for the Australian bobsleigh team and, yeah, so he went to 2006 and 2010 as well as a bobsleigh athlete. But yeah, basically all came about through that and just and then started training and and from there on, the rest is history well, yeah, well, it seems like it came from quite simply giving it a go.

Speaker 1: 6:01

So, seeing something that was interesting, opportune, and you thought, hey, why not, I'll just jump in, give it a go. So, seeing something that was interesting, opportune, and you thought, hey, why not, I'll just jump in, give it a shot. What's the worst that could happen?

Speaker 2: 6:10

and also it was um, I'd done a lot of sport growing up, played tennis, I played water polo, I swam. I wasn't a very good runner, but athletics was never really my thing, unless it was like the throwing events. So, um, yeah, I wasn't, I was never a great runner, not a good running style, but I just decided. You know what like this sport. Actually it's challenging. It was something different. Everybody always says to you you know, so you pick.

Speaker 2: 6:38

I remember one of the first interviews I had with channel seven and the guy said to me oh so you always wanted to be an Olympian, so you picked the easiest sport and went for it. And I was like, uh, no, this is probably the most challenging thing I've ever done at that age. And then his next question was um, couldn't make it in a summer sport, so thought you'd try winter. And meanwhile I was like you're not a very nice person. But I was like, no, this is once again like I'd never been exposed to winter sports as well.

Speaker 2: 7:10

My, my mother, had an aversion to the cold and we pretty much were beach people. We I spent every holidays at the beach. I'd never seen snow until I started doing bobsleigh. Until I went to Canada. I didn't even see it in Europe the first time, because it wasn't snowing there and it was beautiful, like it was just great. It was such a challenge because it was so different from everything we'd been able to do and what we'd been offered in Australia, and I think that's what appealed to me as well. And in such a different environment too, but also amongst these people, just just by giving it that, giving it a go and having faith, I've made the most amazing friends and had the most amazing experiences.

Speaker 1: 7:52

Yeah, as you were growing up and going through the sport academically, what was the balance like for you?

Speaker 2: 7:58

So the sport was like pretty much funded by me. We. We got some money from the AOC but like it covered an airfare and you lived overseas for four to six months of the year and the International Federation would give you like a race allowance which covered probably half your week's accommodation and food. So, having to be self-funded, I had to. I was already doing, I'd already started my first year of university when I started doing bobsleigh.

Speaker 2: 8:27

So I was doing sports science at UTS and then I, and then after that as well, like I couldn't get a job coming back as well in between the Olympics, and so I ended up going into teaching, doing another degree in teaching, and that actually was such a good career to have whilst being an athlete, because I could come in, do casual work as much as I wanted, wherever I was in the world, wherever I was training, and then I could just go off and do my sport and then you know I was flying in, flying out for. So I was gone. Yeah, I was home for about six months of a year and then off and doing training and so on as well. So, but yeah, it was academically it was always important to be and my parents have always put a really strong emphasis on making sure I had an education and that I wasn't allowed to just. I had to have something and something I was working towards, and I couldn't just rely on my sporting you, my sporting career, to see me through my life.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Well, that's quite an interesting balance getting into teaching or becoming a teacher. It sounds a bit like you fell into it. You're doing sports science, you were making the Olympics, that's a line to sport. But then, in terms of finding a career that can help fund your athletic dreams, did you fall into teaching? Or is it something that you kind of intentionally said boom, that's the career for me after the olympics, my uh, I went and did.

Speaker 2: 9:55

I think I did like this. I did a physiology job, working in nursing homes, where I used to assess people. Like you know, that's what I did with the sports science degree. I became a physiologist and I was like and then in the nursing home I picked up scabies from one of the patients and I was like, okay, I'm done, I can't do this, and also the job took me like traveling regionally and I was like I can't train when I'm away five days of a week, so it wasn't the job for me. And then I ended up getting into a sales job, which also is not me. I'm not someone who can go and sell things what were you selling?

Speaker 2: 10:28

it was like a, not a software. A well, yeah, like a software, but a compliance software at the time. So, but you know, I was, I think I was 24 or something. I wasn't, I wasn't old or you know, wasn't as old as I am now and you know you're learning new things.

Speaker 2: 10:46

But also that's what that's what these years are for to discover what you like and what you don't like. Because at the same time, it's like I do not want to do physiology unless I'm working with athletes, and so I was kind of looking at the degree that I had and thinking, wow, is this my life? But I remember my parents sitting me down and saying you need to do a teaching degree, because my older sister was a teacher as well and they said you need to do a teaching degree, and that was always the plan. Actually, when I first went to university, I was going to do human movement and a grad dip in education and I was like, ah, and I pulled out of the diploma and then they turned it into a degree and I that time off anyway, I think as well, to decide what I wanted to do. But my parents said you need to have something. Teaching's a good, solid foundation, and so I went, did it, but it was only a year's degree. As well, they condensed everything in because they were desperate for teaching. So I had this intense year of training, working and and studying. So it was great, though I actually really enjoyed it. I met some amazing people and I really enjoyed it when I started doing my practicals and getting into it, and I've been a teacher now for 16 years.

Speaker 2: 11:52

I've only just in February March resigned from teaching, but it's led me to then going and doing like I've now due to being an athlete. I got a scholarship from the IOC to do a um, a master's, in sports ethics and integrity. So I went off and did that and now that's led me to doing a PhD. But from doing the master's I was then doing university lecturing as well, which I thoroughly enjoy, and I do love educating people. I love doing all of those type of things. So it's really something I'm quite passionate about. So, as much as my parents were like you need to do this, they obviously saw that I had something in me to go on. You need that nudge, I needed that nudge. That's me. I knew what I wanted to do. Why did you nudge?

Speaker 2: 12:40

I think I was a bit directionless career-wise in between, because I didn't, you know, like there was no clear career path from being in physiology and then as a sales. You know, in sales just wasn't my thing. But yeah, I kind of feel I was so focused on being an athlete and, on reflection, I needed that and being a teacher being a casual teacher was actually such a good. I wish I'd done it sooner, because it was such a good career to have to earn money because I was doing temp work as well. I was working as a secretary and I think at the time I think I was earning something like $500 a week working full-time as a secretary like as a receptionist and office administration and so on, which I love being around people. But then when I started being a teacher, I think I was making $300 a day and I was like, yes, I've got it paid. So, as a 26 year old or whatever it was at the time, I was like, oh, this is brilliant, thank you.

Speaker 1: 13:41

There you go. That's the bit I was going to say. Is that what you've described is it's a career that you've since been able to do for the past 16 years, but it was also good because of that balance you had with your training when you were in the country but then also been away for four to six months of the year.

Speaker 2: 13:59

Exactly. And what was great is you went out to schools and the kids loved having me as their PA teacher, you know you got out there and you played soccer with the kids. You, you know they, they enjoyed it, and some of the schools that I went and taught at some of those kids never had opportunities and so on. So it was, um, it was great. I really enjoyed it. I thoroughly, you know, being a PA teacher as well at the time. It was brilliant. I just loved mucking around with kids. But then it led me into other work as well. I then started working at TAFE and I became an HSC coordinator. So it all started leading into different things. I'm very much somebody who can sort of stick with something for five years and then I've got a, could be on the same sort of area of education or something, but you kind of got to take a bit of a sidestep or or look at something different just to challenge myself. That's something I generally tend to do yeah, which is good.

Speaker 1: 14:55

That keeps mixing things up. You know without a doubt removes the monotony. But still talking about monotony, in some respects as an athlete, there is the need for that disciplined training. Quite simply, how did you approach training? Being overseas for six months, getting that sort of discipline in there and then coming back to teaching? Did you have like two different personas that you brought in, or how did you manage that?

Speaker 2: 15:19

Pretty much it was if anything, circuit was more relaxing for me and usually when I used to get back on circuit because I would go from getting up at five o'clock in the morning straight to training, being a routine athlete every night everything would be set up, ready to go for the whole day. Cl clothes would be packed for work, I'd have all my training clothes lined out so that I could literally step into my sneakers and put my clothes on and go straight to the gym and I'd be out the door in 10 minutes and driving 40 minutes to the gym doing a session early in the morning and then coming straight like back to school on the way back, teaching a day and then heading back to either training in the afternoon or the evening after school. And the great thing about school is being a casual teacher you didn't have to mark, you didn't have to have to do reports or any of that stuff, so you'd finish school at three o'clock and that was it. I'll be like sweet, I can go training now.

Speaker 2: 16:16

So it was my day, was mine, and then, you know, when I was doing uni, I was doing all the assignments in the meantime. It actually gave me a lot of discipline. It gave me a lot of structure that I needed with my personality type as well. So I found doing more, I achieved more because I've really it was that monotony, but I enjoyed that monotony at that stage of my life. You know, bring up kids now, what's your personality?

Speaker 2: 16:42

my personality is I some might describe it as adhd right now. But if you wanted to put a label on it, but it's look, I'm, I've always been someone who's very energetic, very. You will always give anything a go, will always put a thousand percent into something if I want to do that and so, and I'll always go for it and work like a little bulldog until it's done. But yeah, and it's funny, part of that has subsided as I've got older as well. I think you know you kind of you prioritize things a bit better when you're older, but when you're young, you know, and also life experience as well. But also I didn't have the priorities back then that I have now with you know, keeping other humans alive, and that takes up a lot of time. You know I was just somebody who I needed that structure to be able to achieve what I wanted to do.

Speaker 2: 17:33

My days were very routine. You know it was the alarm went off at this time every day and I remember reading this article that Ian Thorpe was interviewed and they were talking about what time in the morning do you get up and it was something like, you know, 4.28. And they're like why not 4? Because he said, oh, I'd have to get up at 4.25 or something. And he's like that extra three minutes every day leads to an extra, you know know, 15 minutes for the five days away. I was like, ah, so true, yeah, and I actually do that now too. Ever since I read that article, I'm like I know, the extra two minutes, that's gonna make a big difference to my life.

Speaker 1: 18:12

I still do that. It's like I'm like no, no, what time you get up by 5, no, no, no, I'm up before six, nope, okay.

Speaker 2: 18:20

So I'm dressed by six yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:25

It's funny like you still lose that mentality as well as you still take this approach.

Speaker 2: 18:27

And that's one of the things from sport like taking the sport mentality and putting it into everything else that I'm doing now in life.

Speaker 2: 18:34

I've been able to apply it to so many things and I always remember we had I was at the New South Wales Institute of Sport and I used to run a lot of the courses as well for athletes with retirement and so on, and one of the things that one of the Olympians got up and he was now quite successful in business and he said look, you know, you start your career later, but you're going to jump a lot quicker up in your career because of what you've learnt and what you've been able to do as an athlete. And it was so true because when I did exactly that and I jumped quite quickly in what I was doing within education and then, and then you know, then my priorities changed and had kids and became a mum, and then that's you know and and then my interests changed as well. So when I went into integrity, it's sort of starting back at the bottom again, but all the experience that I had in sport was completely usable and and you still take the same approach to a lot of things.

Speaker 1: 19:28

So it's yeah, it's definitely been yeah, it's like an accelerant, an accelerator that you bring in. So finishing sport, coming into what one could describe as the real world, it's a case of well finding out, well, what are the steps that I need to do regularly in order to catch up or get ahead or quite simply be or feel successful. And it's that dedication and focus to well, just get that done.

Speaker 2: 19:52

It's like, well, this is what it takes, that's what I have to do, so I'm going to do that and, I think, having to do a lot myself as well, like as an athlete, like I had to plan my whole seasons. I didn't have managers, I had to book all my own flights, I had to get myself, you know, with at the time, like four bags on and off trains, like with four minutes in between connections and and so on and and just find my way from a to B, you know by looking at German timetables and things, and try and work it out. And I think those skills that came as a by-product of me being an athlete have really helped me in the future. Like there was no modicoddling, like back in those days. Coaches were like do it yourself, get here, do that it was very hard.

Speaker 2: 20:41

And I think they gave me some really important life skills and that was it. I look back and I'm like, oh, they probably wouldn't get away with half of these things now. But I look back and I actually appreciate some of them now because I've been given some great skills.

Speaker 1: 20:54

When did you start to realize I'm not going to do this circuit again?

Speaker 2: 21:07

It's time for me to think about what's next. I actually got after every olympics well, not after 2006. I was like I really want to keep going, because I don't just want to. I qualified after 19 weeks on ice, so I didn't want to be like a one-hit wonder, let's just do that. I'm an olympic tourist. That was something I didn't want to be and it was interesting because nobody talked to me like the established athletes from all the other countries. A lot of them didn't talk to me until I came back after the Olympics because they thought I was just going to be a tourist. And some of my best mates, they're like oh, we didn't think you'd be there the next year. So I was like cheers, thanks, that's great. Yep, so it was. You know, that was two years I endured of that treatment, but it was great. And then I came back and everything just got better and better, as like athletically, as I kept going. But so after 2010, I sort of thought, oh, do I keep going with this? And I still loved it and I wanted to. I'd set my sights on 2014 as being my retirement.

Speaker 2: 21:59

But I, in 2012, I got really sick. I just kept getting sick. I could not recover. I think what happened was I just had a complete burnout, like physically, and probably mentally as well, but physically I just totally burned out and then my body was just saying you need to stop and I could not get over any of these illnesses and so I'd go to a training session I feel better, go to a training session and then I'd be in bed for two days, because I remember going to work as well and I think what had happened was I was working, I was training all the time, then I was studying, then I was working and I just probably was the tip of the iceberg and then I got really sick overseas and I had to call the rest of the season and finish the season early. Two weeks early it was in world championships. I actually ended up collapsing at the track and being sent to hospital and and they were like okay, and that was kind of the tip of the iceberg. And then after that, that whole year I was just battling, battling illness and I'd go to work as well.

Speaker 2: 23:01

I remember being a teacher and I'd set I'd have a period off and I'd go and sit in my car, pass out, fall asleep because I was so tired. I'd set my alarm and then get back up, go and teach the next class, so. And yeah, I was diagnosed with an adrenal burnout, they said at the time. So, and it took a while to actually recover from that. I had to totally look at my whole diet again. Go on, so many different supplements and I was just like, oh, can I do this, do I want to do this? And actually I met my husband at that time when I was going through this whole transition, like I was losing hair.

Speaker 2: 23:35

I was like my whole body was just breaking down. And I remember we went overseas because he's from England. So we went for Christmas overseas and I we went to Germany and we stood at a track when the World Cup was there and I remember standing on the other side of the track and being like, actually I'm really happy being here outside of the track rather than in it. So I was like, okay, so I've got a little bit of peace now, you know. And and I went to the Olympics with my athlete, alex, and I was like okay this is actually good.

Speaker 2: 24:07

I'm glad I'm not competing here. So it kind of it was a process, but it was a long process. And I remember when I was still thinking about it and when I was getting sick instead of recovering. I remember going into we had a kitchen above the gym at En-Suisse and we went in there and Louise Sabage was there and I always remember she was really. I remember this moment because we were talking in the kitchen and she said she probably doesn't remember, but I just simply remember it because I said to her I'm thinking of you know, I don't know, know, I don't know where I should keep going, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 24:41

And she said, oh yes, it's like this whole identity crisis. You're really sort of questioning what you're doing and it really stuck with me as well and I was like, oh, louise Savage like had an identity crisis now, like that was immaturity probably back then thinking that. But now I'm like, of course she Like we all do, because that was our identity and one of my friends when I was struggling with the whole transition and because everybody calls me Peggy, like my nickname's Peggy and everyone's like, oh, but you're Peggy the loser.

Speaker 2: 25:08

Like that's what everybody calls you. They always introduce you as Peggy the loser, and so it's creating this whole new identity afterwards and having to get comfortable with that. Like I didn't want to be PE the teacher. That wasn't me.

Speaker 1: 25:23

How did you get through that process and what did you want to be?

Speaker 2: 25:29

I honestly had no idea like I was just teaching because that was something I needed to do. And then I ended up, you know, being moved into a different role in teaching and that became more important. And then I'd met my husband as well. Well, I wasn't married by that time, but I started it was honestly with a great amount of support from my friends, from just only a few friends, like a handful. Some did not get it Some, but it was funny it was all the athletes who had been through it before and just like two in particular, were always calling, always asking me how it was, always seeing how I was, and that helped yeah, just check it.

Speaker 1: 26:07

So it was checking in with you, or was it something bigger and more complicated than that?

Speaker 2: 26:12

uh, they were checking in because, look, I, I wasn't, you know, I, I was down like I was really down, I, um, and I thought things would be different. You know, you think your life's gonna turn out a little bit differently. My, you know, I was gonna retire on my terms in 2014, you know, do a third Olympics, and that was it. I was gonna get a PB 2010. It was totally messed up Olympics because they'd lowered the start heights of in the track. So pretty much everything you train for four years just sort of threw out the window. But that was due to circumstances out of everybody's control and you know.

Speaker 2: 26:49

So all these plans that I had and I'd also set myself up for life after retirement with degrees, with a career. I'd been working on teaching, but also I was a PE teacher. There weren't permanent jobs. I didn't get given a permanent job straight after. So I was, I was still doing casual work, I was still, but then then my other role at TAFE ended up giving me another job and it was just. It took time, but I had great support from my strength and conditioning coach as well at the time too another one of the other girls retired on circuit too, and that was great.

Speaker 2: 27:21

So a few of us did. I'd spoke around to a mix of people from Australia and both internationally and that was good, but it was. It was a really tough time and I just literally had to just keep going. Every day was just okay, just get up, just keep going. And I couldn't afford because I was pretty broke after being an athlete. I couldn't afford to take a day off work. So if, instead of like, actually taking the time and healing, I still had to get up every day and just go to work and just do all those but the thing as well like I had.

Speaker 2: 27:57

I felt like I had a family in Swiss as well. We had a really good little winter crew that we all trained together, a whole bunch of athletes we were all training and what kind of. You just got cut off from the gym Like that was it. You couldn't go training, you couldn't do that Once you decided you were retiring. That was it. See you later. So I actually think that really affected things too, because then you know I, she did. That really affected things too, because then you know I was back at a normal gym with normal people getting harassed because you know I'm on the bench press and that's not where women should be. So it was, it was interesting. But I did have like specific friends. I have one who used to be like okay, let's go to the gym together let's do that, you know.

Speaker 2: 28:35

And then I had another friend who, like, had to retire from sport in a pretty horrific way as well, and so we hung out a lot and we did a lot together and it was having those even though there weren't many people, but it was having that support network.

Speaker 1: 28:49

Yeah, it's like this organic network, not structured or designed intentionally to support you, but through friends and having those who reached out and you know, said let's go to the gym together and did things. You know that it sounds was really positive experience for you, accidentally, but it actually has helped get you through. So then, what came next? Because you're going doing the studying well, not the studying of ethics, but how did you get back involved, or stay involved in the sport and, you know, come through the olympics?

Speaker 2: 29:22

so I still ran the luge australia as we call it, the national federation for luge in australia. So you know I had to still do everything to try and make sure alex and we had some other athletes at the time could still compete and still, you know know, run the federation in that way. And I still do run the federation as well. So 20 years now that's how I kept in and you know I've really enjoyed that side of things as well. I mean, some athletes they retire and they're like no, don't want anything to do with the sport, but I mean yeah, what is it you enjoy about it?

Speaker 2: 30:03

Luge. We're a very different sport in the fact that everyone internationally is a family. We all get along, we all live together Like my roommates were Romanian and Slovenian and Canadian, so you shared rooms in tiny little pensions in Germany. You were sharing beds with these people. I had a Romanian who didn't speak a word of English to me and I was still sharing a bed with her for months.

Speaker 1: 30:26

These are your competitors, right? Yeah, these are the people who you are, at least from the outside looking in. These are the people who you want to beat, but listening to you, it doesn't sound like well, you were kind of competing against them. You're sort of competing with them and, you know, speaking about getting your own personal bests and at the end of the day we were.

Speaker 2: 30:50

we used to organize. What was really nice is so we'd have what's called a qualifying cup. You'd have to do which was called nations cup, so you qualify for the world cup the next day, because they only took 24 people and 10 were already pre-selected, so 14 people would go through out of all the rest of us, and then either the men would compete the next day or the women would compete. So, whatever, when it was the day after the qualifying cup or the day after the World Cup, all the women used to go out and we'd have a pizza. We'd always, every track, we'd all have a pizza night and it was, you know, all the US team, all the Canadian team, the Slovakians, the, it was the Austrians, japanese, italian.

Speaker 2: 31:29

We'd all go out. We'd have these huge pizza nights, and it was always my coach as well, who was the only male Because his fiance was Canadian, but it was. We would have these great dinners and we had so much fun we did, and every night we'd be like, hey, you did really well in that race, congratulations. We all you know. I remember when one of them and she's still one of my best mates she won the silver medal at the Olympics in 2010, you know and we went out that night partying and congratulating her because it is a family and we have such a close relationship with all of those people on circuit.

Speaker 2: 32:05

They're the ones you're always not going to get along with as well, but the majority you do and you've got that understanding and you all really appreciate each other and their achievements as well. It was, yeah, everybody's kind of competitive edge. Wasn't, I mean like once you came you bought your A game to the start handles and that's it, but off the track you were. You're all mates and and we're family, we all looked out for each other. You know, if somebody had an accident, was in hospital, everybody would come and visit and send flowers and look after everybody, and that was same for guys and girls. We all took care of our own and each of the teams.

Speaker 2: 32:44

You know, my coach one day got so sick and I was solo. There was this hideous gastro bug going around, we had norovirus, everybody got norovirus in the hotel and I had no coach. But then, straight then there's the Austrian coach, who's barely spoken to me before. He's like let me take your sled, let me sort it out, because you have to leave your sleds outside for a certain amount of time so that they cool down and reach the temperature checks. And they're like you just go and focus on you and being an athlete and I'll take care of this. And it was amazing.

Speaker 2: 33:25

And then I had the Slovakian coach did exactly the same thing. The my old coach was like sweet, I'm here, I can help you out, no worries, let me get everything, I'll get it for you at the end. And, and you know, and that was the type of that's, that's how everybody helps. And alex if I look at alex now as an athlete, I mean he trains and competes with the canadian team and he got fifth in the world, like it was. You know, nobody puts everybody's so happy for him and wants to see him do better and better. You know, nobody tries to sabotage equipment or do any of those things. We're a family. It's very unique and that's what's so great and that's why I'm still involved, because I just came back from the conference a couple of weeks ago, and they're all people that I used to compete against years ago and you know we're still there, all trying to help the sport grow and help the sport get better and so on.

Speaker 1: 34:01

So it's um, yeah, it's, it's a family yeah, it sounds quite unique in that competitive edge that while you're all there together growing the sport and increasing that participation, like you say, once you get in the start gate, boom, you're off and you are competing. If anything sounds like you're more competing with the course and your own personal best rather than that other athlete, and that's quite unique you're competing against the clock at the end of the day, and that's it and that was nice look, there were athletes there that were competing against each other and kept to themselves, and you just learned not to.

Speaker 2: 34:35

But we, we always looked at it. We're like they've they've missed out, because we've all got friends friends for life, you know. So that's yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:42

Yeah, and I guess you know, like you say, that's what has kept you in the sport. That family, that vibe has really kept you there. And so today your impact is less about you as the athlete, much more about you as part of that well one governing body. But also I'm interested in some of the studies, or at least where your academic studies has taken you, and some of the thoughts and, well, I guess, the bits that you're uncovering there. I mean, talk to me a bit about that type of impact.

Speaker 2: 35:10

So the PhD or the integrity side of things?

Speaker 1: 35:15

Well, I quite like both. To be honest, both of them are interesting, so let's kick off with integrity.

Speaker 2: 35:20

Yeah. So the Masters was really interesting. I mean, it was once again, and this is what I like about the academic world. It's like being on circuit again because you get to travel all around the world talking to different. It's a family within itself, different family, but and that's I think that's I've kind of replicated being an athlete, but in academia as well, because it's it's a very similar sort of traveling aspect to it, which I love traveling, I love seeing the world and I love meeting people from around the world.

Speaker 2: 35:54

So, but yeah, so I got into integrity, basically because you're looking at your different areas of integrity, which are safeguarding in sport and match fixing, anti-doping, what else. But we looked into the philosophical side of these things as well. I originally didn't think it was a philosophy master's, so I got there and in the first two weeks he's like, oh, and I was like what we're doing philosophy? Not my amazing abilities in in philosophy, but actually it's no, it wasn't what I expected, but it was um. But then, as I went along, I'm like, oh, this has actually really changed my whole way of thinking about everything. And what was really interesting is working with other people from there.

Speaker 2: 36:34

It was, it was amazing and because you had these huge conversations with your whole class on, with a whole bunch of people from different cultures and their take on safeguarding in sport or their experience. So you know we had, like, I've had my experiences in safeguarding.

Speaker 2: 36:51

I've had my experiences with anti-doping not not ever testing positive or anything, but just doing the tests and actually physically doing that and you know're always some of these people in this room have never had to do an anti-doping test. You know where you have somebody actually physically looking at you whilst you're going to the bathroom and that in itself, like you know as an athlete, feels a bit violating, and so on. So it's interesting talking and talking about your experiences, but also hearing other experiences from other cultures, because there were seven Olympians in my course as well, and so hearing some of their experiences and one had missed out on a gold medal at the Olympics and the person who got the gold medal had tested positive to drugs, and so it's really.

Speaker 2: 37:32

It was this amazing course where we learnt so many different things there about match fixing, which I hadn't actually had a lot of involvement in, yeah, but then I had this passion for sustainability and climate change, but then even then, they had a different take on sustainability than I did.

Speaker 2: 37:48

I was like, ah, like the environmental side of things, and they were more about, like you know, sustaining sport the way it is, and so, yeah, but it was, it was interesting, but you had all these lecturers with different experience, but also people who came in from, like, the International Safeguarding Agency as well and come and talk to you and tell you about their experiences, and some were heartbreaking, some were fantastic, but it just sort of drove this and I think doing this later in life as well, with as much behind me from an administrative, sports administrative perspective, but also from an athlete perspective, it added a totally new dimension to it as well, and I I feel like if I'd done this degree at 21, after doing, you know, my first degree and doing a master's like this. I just wouldn't have had a clue what I was doing, whereas in the end, so how did it change your perspective?

Speaker 2: 38:42

I've realized, sadly I kind of realized how much sport was was in trouble, like from a governance perspective, from all of these different things and and how, and sadly it kind of takes away from the beauty of sport, if you know what I mean like what we're there for you know, and for me, I love sport because it's a way to get rid of so many things.

Speaker 2: 39:08

You know, physically you're inserting yourself, you're having to mentally think about something, but you're also within, you're out in nature, and that's what I love and it's an escape for a lot of people. But you know, and then to have all this other noise and integrity going on in the background, it was hard not to come out of that course with a bit of a sort of, you know, negative view of how sport's going to go in the future. But I mean, with all these people working on everything and trying to make it better, it's actually quite hopeful in a way as well. But you know, doing what they can for everybody.

Speaker 2: 39:45

But yeah, I mean, look, the safeguarding side of things just was quite heartbreaking. But you know, I then got this passion. Well, I've always had a passion for the environment. Always I've noticed, as well as I've gone to the last five olympics and been on circuit like, how little snow there is, like especially in China in 2022 you know they claim to be the first olympics that was all done on artificial snow and I'm like, well, yeah, you're the first ones that actually say you are the others all probably did it too.

Speaker 2: 40:18

are you the first ones that have admitted it? But you just see less and less snow. You see these warming temperatures. You see so much of the sports, you know so much of the sports becoming so artificial in winter that I was like, oh, this is really interesting. And how do we? So that's how my PhD got created with you know, how do we reimagine these sports so that what they look like in a climate changed world. So that's what I'm investigating at the moment.

Speaker 1: 40:45

That's some investigation that you've embarked upon there. If I take what you've said, how might we reimagine winter sports when there's no winter temperatures?

Speaker 2: 40:54

Yeah well, and it's specifically looking at sliding sports so bobsleigh, skeleton and luge and it's specifically looking at sliding sports so bobsleigh, skeleton and luge but in that process it's looking at what other sports have done around the globe as well to reimagine those sports.

Speaker 2: 41:06

Like, if you look at SailGP, they've actually brought in a whole new league that's an impact league as well, so you know boats that are only purely on sailing.

Speaker 2: 41:16

It's really interesting what some of these sports have actually done to try and mitigate the impacts of climate change so that these sports still survive.

Speaker 2: 41:24

But I mean, if you look at winter sports and a lot of sports like, look at the heat, like here living in dubai, for my kids to play sport it's got to be in an air-conditioned gym.

Speaker 2: 41:36

That's because otherwise the risks of heat stroke and potentially, especially especially with a kid death from heat stroke is a lot higher. Like in Australia, we don't have the same death rates of heat as around the globe and because we're used to the heat, we're set up for dealing with it. You know, it's funny, like when you get people to come out not to be critical of the English, but they're the ones that come and visit because my husband's English and they all want to go and fry themselves on a beach at like 1 o'clock or go for a jog in the middle of summer at 1 o'clock or just sit there and sunbake. And we're like, mate, you go to the beach at 7 o'clock in the morning, you're home at 10 o'clock before the sunrise and you don't go back until 5 or 4 or 5 in the afternoon, like you just don't even go near it.

Speaker 1: 42:26

You're there about 50 degrees, you're really not going to feel the benefit.

Speaker 2: 42:30

No, exactly, but that's how we've grown up. Yeah, it's interesting reading about it all and how they go about doing it here. I mean, look, even here in Saudi Arabia they're building an indoor ski complex and they're talking for their Asian Games, but it's all going to be artificial and all going to be indoors. So is that the way of the future? Is that how our Winter Olympics are going to be from now on, or are they going to still exist? So that's yeah.

Speaker 1: 43:01

It's fascinating just the area of study, but also how. For you, as a winter olympian, an australian winter olympian, now looking at this reimagination of of winter sports, to me is it's all wonderfully put together to mean that that whole perspective on sport, on participation is. I know it's just going to be different, but I think it's a fascinating area to be looking at.

Speaker 2: 43:20

You know how the sport continue and it's all come about purely because I gave it a go, like back in 2022. You know, like the things that have happened because of this, and you know there's something I can say to my old self when I was, you know, back in 2012, I've always looked at things to me like, oh, this will pass. You know this will pass. I will feel different. You know I, that's life. I've always, always kind of flicked those kind of things off to the side, but you know it has, and everything that I did back then, like at the start of my career in 2002 as an athlete, has all led to this experience and and what I could say to you know, other athletes, is that whatever you're learning, you're learning so many great skills right now and you've got to kind of realize that you will be able to utilize and use those and use the passion that you have in sport to go and be able to apply that in so many other areas like it's.

Speaker 1: 44:20

It's just channeling that energy into a different, a different sort of area as well after sport taking your experience and thinking about those athletes that are coming through now that share your olympic dream and you know, I guess for many it's going to be in that reimagined version of what winter sport might be. But for those who are pursuing that Olympic dream and they're well on their way what tips do you give to them to help them to prepare for this, for life after their sport?

Speaker 2: 44:50

I always look and you know I feel like I fail with my own athlete at the moment because for three Olympic rounds now I've been telling him to. Well, since he was 18, I've been saying you need to think about what you're going to do after sport. But you know you can lead a horse to water and he's a great guy, but you know you can. I'm very glad I had my parents who put such an emphasis on education. Education doesn't mean university. It means an education in some other area to get some other skill that you are interested in, because I think if you have such a narrow focus, I think it's a lot harder to recover from as well and that's it. Whereas if you've got broad interests, like I mean, after teaching PE, I then was like I don't want to be a 50-year-old PE teacher blowing a whistle on an oval.

Speaker 2: 45:43

So I actually went into design because I've always loved design, I've always loved creating things as well, and it was another side of my personality. So I actually went into design and technology, went back to university, did a few more subjects and became a design and tech teacher, which I've been for the last seven years, and I've loved it, Like that whole creative side of me as well was something and like, as you were saying, like organically, these things have sort of come about and I'd just say you know, keep all your options open, but don't cut off your like, even if it's one subject you're doing a semester, do something so that you're actually because the amount of times that you would just be at home potentially sitting on a computer, or the amount of times you look at social media or on your telephone or something you could be doing your reading and finishing a course very quickly and athletes do like.

Speaker 2: 46:35

One of the things that my supervisor said to me and one of the reasons why he took me on as well was because for my PhD, because he's like Olympians get it done. They make very good PhD students. They make very good athletes. I think it doesn't necessarily have to be an Olympian, it could just be an athlete, because they're very disciplined and they work towards goals. And I said to him the other day I'm I'm like okay, I need dates because that's how I work and I need to work from a date and I need to work backwards. And he's like I like to hear that that's good, you know and it's funny, you know, here I am what?

Speaker 2: 47:08

how many 12 years out from being an athlete and I still apply the same things, like these same life skills that I've learned. But I just say, make sure you keep your options open and you don't close those things until it's because when you're 30 and you're having to then go and try and get yourself a career and trying to get yourself a degree and things like that, yes, you'll get them a lot quicker, but it might take a big adjustment. Whereas if you've been working on it in the background already and looking at some skills you know and just even getting some work experience, if you've been working on it in the background already and looking at some skills you know and just even getting some work experience, if you've got a free day of training, why not go and get some work experience somewhere? It doesn't have to be paid. If you don't need to be paid, just go. And I want to get into this career, let's see what I can do.

Speaker 2: 47:52

And there's always such a good network through all the athletes, people that sit on the boards of teams and the boards of, you know, the institutes of sport.

Speaker 2: 48:02

There's always people that will put you in touch with somebody, but there's also LinkedIn too.

Speaker 2: 48:07

So that's how I've made most of my contacts now is I just reach out to people on LinkedIn and I'm like, hey, just wondering, can we have a chat? And it's amazing how many people will just yep, sure, I've got next week, let's chat on Teams 30 minutes and people. There's so many people who will give you the time of day, and if they don't, that's somebody you don't want to be around. But there are so many people that will like actually, like I had one guy reach out to me two days ago and I just said, great, let's chat. How about give me a day and a time and let's set up the teams? And so I had a meeting yesterday with somebody that you know I need to sort out, and it was the same thing. She doesn't know me, I. I know her by name, but we just reached out on LinkedIn and and that was it, and I think that's how you and I met as well. So it's it's an amazing resource for getting in contact with people.

Speaker 1: 49:01

Yeah, fully agree. And look, Hannah, I suppose for those who are listening and are going to now, you're going to have them reaching out, but where's the best place to find you? Linkedin, instagram. How do we follow your journey?

Speaker 2: 49:13

Yeah, linkedin is probably. I'm pretty bad at posting anything, but I'm always contactable on LinkedIn, so I do look at messages and things like when they come through, I get them and I'd always answer them. But yeah, I'm always on LinkedIn. You know, I'm old, so I do have a Facebook, but that's pretty hidden as well. I'm never on it, but it's. I'd never post anything either. So I'm not. I'm not a prolific poster. I do keep thinking, oh, I should probably post something on linkedin, but I just don't at least take a picture, put it on facebook.

Speaker 1: 49:46

I mean this, is it a minimum?

Speaker 2: 49:47

no, I'm joking I know I think my, I think my profile picture from linkedin is is me at 2010 olympics, so, but it's, yeah, hannah campbell peg, but oly at the end of it for um, and anyone can find me on there and contact me I'm always always happy to have chat, so it's um, and yeah, always happy to do that.

Speaker 2: 50:08

If anybody needs any help or any any guidance on things or is interested in climate change or sustainability, um, yeah, more than happy. Or talking about pathways to get into things, um, or if there's any contacts I can help somebody out with. It's amazing how, if you reach out, how many people really do just want to help other people and connect them, and look, given that, hannah, I've got to say thank you for joining me on the show today.

Speaker 1: 50:33

This was all about reaching out to help others who are starting or going through the transition or, you know, finish retirement, and I'm thinking, hey, you know what can I do? So you sharing your story has been absolutely wonderful.

Speaker 2: 50:46

Thanks very much thank you, thanks for having me thank you for listening to the second win podcast.

Speaker 1: 50:52

We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers. If you're looking for career clarity for your next step, make sure you check out secondwinio for more information or to book a consultation with me. I'd like to thank Claire from Betty Brook Design, Nancy from Savvy Podcast Solutions and Cerise from Copying Content by Lola for their help in putting this podcast together. That's all from me. Take it easy Until next time.