Swim Star Giaan Rooney on Life Lessons Outside the Pool

Former Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney retired from the sport that made her famous at 23. Ten years on, life looks very different for the gold (and silver) medalist and Channel Seven TV presenter, who was recently named part of Rio’s broadcast team.

Here, the swim star and mum to Zander, 2, chats to Yahoo7 Health about the struggles of balancing work and family life, and the lessons she’s learnt since leaving the pool.

How has your fitness routine change after retirement?

I went from a very regimented training routine – knowing exactly what time I needed to be in the pool, what time I was exercising – to having no routine whatsoever. I had 12 years of monotony. Then I had to figure out, what exercise do I enjoy? I admit to being so naïve when I was an athlete. I had no idea how hard it was to fit exercise into your life when it’s not your job. I’m never going to get into the pool, or go to gym or do a class cause that was a part of my routine before. I needed to find [exercise] that I actually enjoyed and that worked for my body make up.

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Did you find that challenging?

Yes. It’s taken me taken me 10 years post retirement to work out what [exercise] I enjoy, what works for me, and what I can sustain long term. I did Bikrim yoga for nine months, and then was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore!’ It’s not sustainable for me, but for other people that’s their thing. I needed to find what my thing was.

What about your diet, was it tough adapting once you retired?

Absolutely! It took me three to four years to figure out how to eat in a normal existence, as opposed to the way I used to as an athlete. Back then, I had no diet, I could eat anything. When you exercise six to seven hours a day, you’re burning it straight off. No one was watching what you ate – it was just finding food every two hours. You couldn’t get full! It’s the exact opposite now. I find that once I stopped [swimming] I naively thought my body would stop craving that amount of food. But like anything, it’s a habit that you form since you were 11or 12 years of age. [Now] I eat every two hours, I have second helpings, and I can have dessert every night.

What does your health routine look like these days?

I still have no typical day. I like reformer Pilates. That’s my one structured exercise I do. I walk a lot with Zander [Rooney’s son, 2, with husband Sam Levett] in a pram. When he’s moving, I’m moving. I have a three-legged dog that still like to exercise. And when I’m travelling I’m a big believer in incidental exercise. Those little things can make a huge difference, as they add up. If you can try, move whenever possible.

How has life changed since becoming a mum?

Everyone says [motherhood] changes your life, but no one can say the extent to which it changes until you’re in it. The biggest change for me, is that I’m such a traveller, I love travelling, love seeing the world. [Before] I would happily be on a plane going to a destination somewhere. That changed since the minute I had [Zander]. All of a sudden I just wanted to be at home with him, and be a mum. The biggest change [was] my perception of how it all works – for the better. He’s allows me to live in the moment a lot more.

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As a working mum, how do you manage to balance it all?

It’s definitely a juggle. It happens so organically, that your life just moves with it. [Work wise] there are things that I used to say yes to, that I say no to now. Now, I’m like what’s the shortest amount of time I can be away from home? My husband [Sam Levett] and I moved to the Gold Coast [from Melbourne] eight months ago. Having family and a great support system close by is what keeps things ticking along. My mum and dad are there and happy to be hand-on grandparents. It was the best move we made, to keep all those balls in the air. Having a great support system helps keep the train on the tracks.

And what about the working-mum guilt factor – did it affect you?

Absolutely. I used to hear women speak about mother’s guilt. I don’t think I got it, until I was there. For the most part, I think [being away] makes me a better parent because it means I do enjoy the quality time together [when I’m home]. The long trips are difficult. I [covered] the Swimming World Championships in Russia last year, I was away for two weeks. That was the longest time I’d been away from [Zander]. Thank god for Facetime, and Skype! When I’m at work, I feel guilty for being away. When I’m at home, I feel guilty about not working. It’s a massive juggle. I know that most working mums, and working parents deal with it. I’m learning from the rest of them, and asking advice.

As an Olympic athlete, you were always on a strict schedule. Do you think that experience has helped you in motherhood?

Definitely. Being an elite athlete is a strange existence. Whilst training daily is quite monotonous, you also need to learn to be flexible. If things do go wrong on race day, you have to deal with it. If you don’t, with the likes of Olympics, then you’ve got another four years before the opportunity arises again. So you learn to deal with situations as they happen. I find that being a mum is like that as well. You never know what the next challenge is going to be, or how you’re going to deal with it. You can only deal with it the best way you can. Which is the right thing at that point in time. You figure it out. That’s absolutely being a parent, at every step of the way. Swimming in a lot of ways, gave me a lot of great tools to deal with life after. I don’t think there’s much that can prepare you for motherhood. In saying that, it’s also hopefully the traits that [Zander] will have as he grows up, and that I try to instill in him are the things that I learnt from sport.

Giaan Rooney is part of Seven’s Rio Olympic broadcast team. The Australian Swim Championships continues on Channel 7 from 8.30pm.