Natalie Van Coevorden- Australian Triathlete

  “Twists and Turns” This is the title of the Matthew Mitcham autobiography - a truly inspiring story that was compelling reading. He was a transitional athlete that moved from gymnastics and was picked up by an AIS coach mucking around at his local pool. He has moved past adversity and come out the other end with an Olympic Gold medal. “People kept remarking on how they were surprised that a gold medal and fame hadn′t changed me. I always responded, "Why would I change? Being me is the easiest person to be." He isn’t just a pretty face! Within my own life, although I don’t dive, fly or fall with style, I have my own twists and turns; not from 10m platform hitting the water at 60km an hour, thank goodness! Realistically, I twist :   rotation with every stroke in swimming ( I might be a bad example if you have ever watched me swim ;) ), daily exercises from Alex Price or the occasion dance move boogieing around ...

    I have finally come out of hiding for 2013. With a few months of base training under the belt, t raining has been going relatively well but I know I am no where near full race fitness. A late arrival on Thursday night to the White House. Yes, the White House- looks alittle bit like it. It is a 110 year old two storey weatherboard mansion. It is always nice to stay in places like this as it feels like a homely place to stay before a race. I even got to have a nice bath, as my blonde moments for the trip started as I thought there was no hot water in the shower.. I just had it on the cold tap :/ My third year back in Devonport and not much has changed. The normal pre race on Friday and finally it was time to race my first race of 2013.   A lot of people were going on about the choppy swim conditions with the extremely strong wind. To what I swam in at North Wollongong a few days ago, the waves looked t...

For 13 years of schooling, I came home every day to the question of “what did you do today?” “Nothing” was generally my answer as I went to the cupboard for afternoon tea. Now15 years later, I still get asked the same question, nothing has changed but my answer. Now I answer - I ran, swum, rode or spent a few hours catching up on sleep. I now describe my life as working nearly 365 days. Standing in front of three junior girls, on a development camp run by Jamie Turner and Kieran Barry, I got the chance to reminisce on where we have come from, why we choose what we did, the investment we have put in and what it requires to be good.   All of us 4 girls came to the same final conclusion that what we do is NOT a sacrifice – it is commitment of our time to strive for success, memories, goals, achievements, and unfortunately failures. The friends, travel and the positives I get out of it make my life an unbelievable dream that I could not have imagined even in year 12 at school when I ...