Source : ABC NEWS
There can’t be many Australian swimmers who clock more kilometres through the water than Moesha Johnson.
Whether it be 10-kilometre races in the ocean or engaging in the brutal monotony of the 1,500 metres in the pool, Johnson is not afraid to put in the miles in order to achieve success.
It’s not just in the pool, either.
Johnson has been earning plenty of air miles since winning a superb silver in the 10km open water Marathon swim at the Paris Olympics.
Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Portugal, Hungary … Johnson has competed in them all over the past eight months.
But no matter what country Johnson finds herself in, she will always be the country farm girl from northern New South Wales, desperately proud to represent her country.
“I’ve moved around a lot recently,” she tells ABC Sport at the Australian Open Championships in Brisbane.
“To get that experience and expose myself to competing against a lot of different athletes, and trying to learn from them as well.
“But I’ve recently moved to Miami Swim Club on the Southern Gold Coast [from Griffith], just bringing myself closer to home, because I just I love my origins.
“I’m from northern NSW, actually on the farm, just a country farm girl, and it’s just so special to come home and really ground myself.
“When I’m overseas representing Australia, every day I wake up and every time I go into a competition I’ve got Australia attached to my name, and to come home and just really embody that and be amongst it, and be with the friendly faces and our personalities and our culture, it’s something that I am so proud of, to be an Australian and to be from the northern rivers and southern Gold Coast.”
Moesha Johnson said she is desperately proud to represent Australia. (Getty Images: Deepbluemedia/Mondadori Portfolio)
Of course, you can take the Aussie away from home, but thankfully, that Aussie can always take a little bit of Australia with them when they go.
“Yeah, I do try and travel with Milo or something like that,” Johnson says, a beaming grin spreading across her face.
“Like my Weet-Bix, I always try and take some Australian packs with me.
“I did a race in Saudi Arabia end of last year and one of the organisers was Australian and we all just really bonded and he sent me a care pack of Weet-Bix, Vegemite and some Twisties, just to last me through some short course competitions.”
It might seem strange to some that Johnson has been so active since her Paris heroics.
Many of her contemporaries have enjoyed a lengthy break after summitting Olympus with their medal-winning performances, jet-setting around Europe and the world not to compete, but to play.
“I took a reasonable break,” Johnson says — 49 days according to her World Aquatics profile before she won silver in the 1,500m at the Australian short course championships in Adelaide, before taking on her first marathon swim in Portugal just over two months after the Olympics.
Moesha Johnson has been doing a lot of swimming since the Paris Games. (Getty Images: Dean Mouhtaropoulos)
“But I decided to throw myself in every competition possible, basically, to get myself going again.”
When pushed, Johnson admitted that, had she stopped for too long, the inertia of being so relaxed would prove too difficult to overcome.
“I chose to start racing because, you know, I think I might have struggled to get back into the sport,” she admits with refreshing candour.
“But I definitely know I’m not done yet.
“So that’s why I put myself into the racing and I went on a bit of an open water tour and really found my feet with open water and the pool racing as well.”
It wasn’t just the Seine where Johnson made a splash in Paris, which despite the controversy over the current and the pollution was one of her “favourite races ever”.
The 27-year-old also competed in the pool at Paris La Défense Arena, finishing a hugely credible sixth in the 1,500m.
So it was surprising to hear that she occasionally struggles to switch into the confines of the pool.
Despite struggling with nerves in the pool, Moesha Johnson still swam well enough to finish sixth in the 1,500m at the Paris Olympics. (Getty Images: Sarah Stier)
“[With] My pool racing, I struggled with a lot of nerves,” Johnson says.
“Having to front up to it a lot, and having back-to-back pool racing weekends, it’s something that has really helped me work through that.
“I still am working through it a lot, but that’s been a significant thing in my development, and something that I definitely want to keep following up on.”
Johnson competed in both the 800m and 1,500m events at the Australian Open Championships, with her 1,500m time on Thursday (16:02.59) fractionally faster than what she swam in Paris (16:02.70), netting her a first ever Australian Open title in the pool.
“I really want to be hitting under 16 [minutes] more frequently,” Johnson says.
“I just saw my splits, [I went] out a little bit slow but that’s something that we’ll go back and work on.
“I actually think I found my rhythm better when I was by myself in that race, which was surprising.
Moesha Johnson said the Paris Marathon swim was one of her favourites. (Getty Images: Clive Rose)
“But I train long distances, I’m by myself all the time so that mental side of it, I train all the time and I’m used to that.
“I have a good imagination, so I’m imagining people around me, I’m imagining my coach … waving me on and it all helps.”
Happy or not, both her 1,500 and 800m times were under the qualifying standard for the Singapore World Championships later this year.
As an open water swimmer Johnson can use those times as her qualification marker and not rely on having to finish top two at the Trials in Adelaide in June — that way she won’t have to taper for trials and then build back up for a marathon effort just three weeks later.
“It goes up against the girls’ times at trials,” Johnson explains.
“So this, for me, is a qualification and something we’re trying in the distance space, which I think is really exciting.
Moesha Johnson has thrown herself into action since the Paris Olympics. (Supplied: Swimming Australia/Delly Carr)
“You know, there’s a sprint revolution happening but, in the background, I really hope to see some of this open-minded thinking coming to distance swimming.”
Part of that involves another trip away, this time to encompass some altitude training: “In Australia, it’s hard to access but it’s best if you can get to a mountain,” she explains.
Going to these lengths to improve does not suggest that there are any lingering thoughts that retirement from the sport could be an option.
“I think for me, I always plan at least a little bit beyond a competition, so I don’t fall into a hole,” she says.
“So [before Paris] I said to myself, I wanted to go to [the 2025 World Championships in] Singapore, because if I just said to myself, Olympics and Olympics only, I I think I would have fallen over myself pretty badly.
“So now I really try and have a vague goal in the back of my mind.
“And if I don’t, if I chose to stop then, like, that would have been fine as well, it’s not like I have to do it.
“But it’s definitely something that helps me get myself moving again.”
Indeed, Johnson confirmed that her focus now is firmly set on LA, where she plans to go one better than her silver medal in Paris despite some of her rivals dropping away.
“I definitely want to get on to LA,” Johnson says.
“There’s some retirements are happening around me, so, yeah,” she grins.
