Brad Kahlefeldt is still having fun
Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt is headed towards another Olympic experience this summer, but he knows that there is still a lot of work to do before stepping onto the pontoon in London. Good thing is – he is still having fun.
ST: Brad it has been a while since we last chatted, actually almost 4 years on the nose.
Brad: Hi Herbert, yes it has been a while, always good to catch up.
ST: Time does seem to fly.
Brad: Yes I can’t believe it is another Olympic year already. Time flies when your having fun.
ST: We are glad to hear that you are having fun, not many folks can say that about their job.
Brad: Well it is fun most of the time. The way I see it, we are kind of lucky. To be paid well for traveling the world each year and compete in some nice locations and never have a winter (last winter I had was year 2000) is awesome. Sure we have to work incredibly hard each day and give up a lot of things, but if you ask me whether I prefer to sit at a desk on a sunny day or be out there riding pushing hard with some mates it is a no brainer.
ST: When we chatted in 08 you had already stamped your ticked to the Olympics and here you are selected again. Do you think the second time will be the charm?
Brad: Yes it’s nice to be pre-selected again and nice to be going together with my partner Emma (Moffatt). I guess it takes a little pressure off the early 2012 season and gives me the chance just to concentrate on hitting good shape for August and not worry about being in peak shape early on in the season to gain the spot. Of course it is still very possible to be selected in June and still perform, as athletes have shown in the past, but it just nice to wrap it up now and mark that day in the diary that I will be on the start line in London.
ST: But it isn't final until June, is that right?
Brad: Yes basically Emma and I are in the team barring injury/illness. June I think they will announce the whole team.
ST: A lot of folks have already given the gold to one of the Brownlees, and while we know that is not smart, does it help you in terms of pressure?
Brad: Alistair and Jonny will go in as favorites for the first two podium spots and rightly so. They are very strong well-rounded athletes and have shown consistent form over the past couple of years. But the Olympics are the Olympics and as we have seen in the past anything is possible. It is always exciting to watch as any athlete has a chance to stand up on that one day every 4 years and produce something special. We have all seen Simon, Hamish and Jan achieved this.
ST: The Aussies are known to be absolutely fanatical about this sport and their expectation for both the men and the women seem to be high. Any more for the ladies than for you guys?
Brad: Well us boys cop it a bit from the Australian media and at ‘Team Australia’ pre race team meetings. The Aussie girls have always performed exceptionally well and continue to this very day. It is always great to watch them go out there to set the bar very high for us blokes to try to emulate and we try to give it a real shake. But when both Emmas were on the podium in Beijing I thought that was a bit cheeky and knew it would be a monster effort for only us two males in the Aussie team to try to match. If we did it would have been Triathlon Australia’s beer shout for the next year.
ST: What beer shout was it then instead?
Brad: It was down graded from Coronas to a 30 cent Chinese beer.
ST: So you and Emma (Moffatt) have been nominated, any thoughts on who might join you two?
Brad: Well I guess it is hard to go past the 3 Emmas, Jacko and Snowy both had solid seasons last year and have put their hand up for selection, there are some other girls not too far behind as well. In the men there is a small list in the Olympic shadow squad who are all contenders: Atkinson, Huggett, Macca, Sexton and Wilson. In alphabetical order, so I don’t get in trouble.
ST: Do you think Macca still has a good shot at it?
Brad: Macca wanted to give the Olympics one last shot and I guess you can’t blame him. It was good to see him back on the ITU circuit again. Obviously he has continued to follow the ITU races in recent years and he knew it was going to be very quick racing before he started. That it was! He never bagged the ITU racing like some of the guys that never made it, so I respect him for that. We did a lot of our training together over in France last year and I did enjoy it. I had sore stomach muscles laughing everyday at his stories and he has a memory of an elephant! He is a funny character. He and Crowie are both good for the sport in Australia and it is always good to see them go well. Like all the guys in the shadow team he has a shot of making the team.
ST: A lot of young Australian talent is coming through the ranks. Has anyone particularly caught your attention?
Brad: There are a few young guys and girls coming through which is good to see. But I believe it is up to the coaches obviously to nurture these talents and help them achieve their goals. And not burning them out at a young age is something I see more and more. I was a big believer in utilizing the top guys to learn as much as I could about training/racing. I was fortunate to train with some of the best men and women in the world when I was a junior. I was like a sponge and learned a lot from this experience. It is not about copying an athlete's program, but about understanding why they train the way they do and the reason behind it.
ST: So who is your sponge?
Brad: Well it changes now. I look outside the box a little, I like to study the best athletes in each sport. I like to follow athletics especially, Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie are my favorite runners and some Kenyans. Guys like Cadel and also some Aussie swimmers are great to watch.
ST: I meant are folks leaning on to you?
Brad: I try to encourage the young guys to come out training when ever they like in our camp in France and on the Gold Coast, if they can keep up there is no problem. I know what it is like as a junior. Money is tight and they are foaming at the mouth to get out there amongst it.
ST: It is important to not look too far ahead with the big event on the horizon, but any thoughts on what you might do after the Olympics? We saw on twitter that you have a Giant Trinity Advanced SL headed you way. We assume that one isn't for ITU World Cups.
Brad: Yes all my focus for the next 6 months is on London. I will push as hard as I can to try to be on the podium and all my training will be geared solely towards that.
Post London I will most likely stay in Europe with Emma for a French Grand Prix and a German Bundesliga for my teams then fly back to Australia to spend some time on the Giant Trinity TT bike. I have been racing the ITU World Cups since 2000 and have loved every bit of it. It is cut throat racing and extremely competitive and the quality of fields are amazing. Basically you have to keep improving, if you don’t you need to get another job. After my good year in 2006, Javier came out and blew me away, then a couple years later it is Alistair beating him, the bar is always being raised which is great to be apart of. The ITU has done a good job in getting the best athletes to toe the start line every race. But I am 32 now and recovery is a little slower then these young fellas and racing every couple weeks on the ITU WCS especially with sprint events being added to the series makes it hard to match them week in week out. I still feel I am improving each year and I am not looking to retire any time soon.
But I would like to try something fresh. It would be nice to do some non drafting racing and most likely start with Noosa then look at some 5150 and a 70.3 to see if I enjoy it. If I do and see myself racing well I would like to do some racing in the US in 2013. Emma would like to maybe try something new as well, so it is a decision we will make together. I started the sport as a non-drafting athlete back in 1993 so it would be kind of like going back in time, which would be fun I guess.
ST: All well on the sponsor front?
Brad: Yes I am very fortunate to have some of the worlds best sponsors: Giant, Asics, Scody, Mavic, Professional Investment Services, Oakley, AIS and recently signed with food company Sanitarium as an Ambassador of ‘One Square Meal’.
ST: Anything else we should know?
Brad: Emma cooked me a mean carrot cake today.
ST: Is she a mean chef in general?
Brad: She can be, when she is hungry
ST: And how well do you cook?
Brad: Well, Emma’s parents buy me a cookbook each year for Christmas, as they know I am useless in the kitchen. At the moment I have been cooking some killer steaks on the BBQ. Emma eats a lot of salad so I guess I have to eat that with it. She eats very healthy; I have to have some more fat so I don’t get too skinny for the swim/bike. So I overdose on the dessert.
ST: Thank you Brad.
Brad: Pleasure
