Greg Bennett

Yes, pro triathletes make enough money from sponsorship and prize money, especially if they are the very best in the world.
 
Transcript: "Between sponsorship and prize money, do pro triathletes make enough money? Well, I think the very, very best in the world do. I think they get looked after very well from endorsements. And I think the prize money is there. If you're winning and winning often, and you're making a strong six figure, if not, potentially, a seven figure career, if you're the very best in the world. So yes, I think the pro triathletes do make a good living, if they are towards the very top, the pointy end of the sport."

In 2004, I was not selected for the Australian Olympic team, which was a disappointment at the time. However, looking back it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I moved to Canada to help my friend Simon train for the Olympics, where he eventually won a gold medal and put it around my neck. Additionally, I met the love of my life, Laura, and we later married.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Michael, really great question mate. I wouldn't say that. I have a career failure, so much as a career disappointment that turned into one of the best things that happened to me. And that was that the in 2004, the Sydney Olympic Games. I'd won on the course that you previous. I had been on the podium. The three years before that, I grew up a mile from the Sydney Olympic site, where it was going to be at the opera house. And anyway, was left off the Australian team ended up, being a bit of a court battle. It wasn't a joyous time the court battle didn't go my way. And I was pretty lost and bewildered. Anyway, young friend of mine. Simon. Whitfield said, Greg. Why don't you come over Canada? Help me get ready for the games and I did, and we trained relentlessly together for five, six months. And as it turned out, Simon went off to win the Olympic Games. He then stood on top of the die has got his gold medal and after he got his gold medal and was walking off. He ran up to the stadium and put the medal around my neck and said, this is yours. And when I Look back at my career highlights. That was a very, very special moment. And I love re telling that story because it was just such a special time. And you know, that was pre 9/11. So, you know, it was a bit looser and we could do those things. But on top of all of that, when I went to Canada help Simon train. I also met the woman of my dreams Laura and we were married. We were together right away and married after the 04 Olympics. And I always wonder if I'd been put on that Australian Olympic team, What would have happened both for my career and my relationships and everything going forward? So it was a really when I look back it was one of the the turning points in my life to be able to have that massive disappointment in that moment. But when you look back and big picture, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Cheers."

As a parent, I use my experience as an athlete to help me approach parenting. This includes understanding that when kids have temper tantrums they are usually either tired or hungry. I also lower expectations on my kids and manage my own ego. Additionally, it is important to remember that the journey matters more than the destination or outcome, so appreciating the little moments with your kids is important. Embrace the grind and make sure to take time for recovery in order to be a better parent.
 
Transcript: "Hey Josh, love this question mate. How is your pursuit of greatness and Sport influence your approach to Parenting? And I'm not gonna lie. I've gone to answer this one, a couple of times because it actually made me really have to stop and think about myself when I was an athlete and now focused on myself as a parent, and I've had to write down some notes. So, first off as an athlete, we understood that we were either. Tired or hungry, really affected our moods. And so when we look at our kids, when they having temper tantrums or they're not in good spirits. It's usually they're either hungry or they're tired that correlates directly to what being an athlete was. We're very moody if we're not well fed, or if we're not, well rested. So I brought that over to Parenting a couple of other things. Expectations. One thing as an athlete. I got very good at is managing those expectations of What the outcome will be and that definitely is correlated over to being probably a better parent is that I reduce and lower the expectations on my kids. And generally I'm a bit happier than that. I wasn't expecting so much from them managing your own ego. One thing I talk about on my podcast, a lot is the ability to have an ego because it can really drive you but learning how to manage that. So you're a better person to actually be around and I think I That with the parenting side of things with the kids is understanding my ego. And what I'm trying to achieve and their egos and what they're hoping to achieve and when we have the disputes quite often, it just comes down to who wants it more and they usually went out and letting go of my own ego. Another really big one is understanding that it's about the journey and the process far more than the outcome or the destination in sport. That was huge. You know, you Often have whether it's Olympics or World Championships or major events that you're looking at their major goals, but often it's the journey is the day-to-day process. That's where the real Joy comes from. And with parenting. That's the same thing. It's understanding. There's the day-to-day things. It's the little things where the joy is, it's sitting down to have breakfast is putting a little basketball hoop. Amo two-year-olds room and just shooting ball with him for a little bit. It's running on the beach with them every evening after dinner. It's it's not a Massive one off thing that you're trying to be, but just the little moments consistently and on that consistent basis. That said another keyword in sport and every major guest I've had on the podcast will share that. Probably the number one thing to success is just staying consistent. And for parenting, that's even when times are getting tough. The kids are pushing back on. You pretty hard. Just keep turning up. Just stay consistent. Keep turning up and Joy or Whatever you want to look at it, will come from that. And a bit on that consistency. One is embracing the grind. That the life is not meant to be easy. We went life is not meant to be easy. That to embrace the struggle embrace, the grind know that you've got it within you to be able to overcome any hurdles that you have. I think they're powerful tools that we can really think about. And finally, the last one, I'll That is grounding yourself in recovery. So with our athletes were very good at being able to focus on our recovery and rebuild to get going again. And as a parent, make sure you can find some downtime or go to the beach with them and ground yourself or walking or Forest whatever it is, but maybe even a little bit of time away from the kids will really help big answer mate, but it was a that's a quite a big question and I love it. Thanks. Cheers."

Overtraining was usually pointed out by my wife due to behavioral changes, followed by physical fatigue and difficulty sleeping.
 
Transcript: "Hey Milan. Yes, I think I was often overtrained. And actually it was often the people around me that would point out that I'm overtrained. Usually my wife who is closest and could see, usually behavioral changes to be honest. But then also I guess I would recognize it when you just day after day the fatigue was there and I was never really recovering and then finally, really when I couldn't get to sleep and I wouldn't start and I wouldn't sleep well. Those kind of things. But for me, probably the behavioral changes happen first before the physical fatigue chairs."

Triathlon is often a painful sport and it requires you to become comfortable with being in pain. The goal of the sport is to be able to push through the pain and get better.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Jamie, I'm not sure. I can remember too many workouts where I wasn't in pain, if I think about swimming, I always would going to the pool Philly fatigue. The the legs were fatigued felt like they were dragging along the bottom of the pool and just trying to keep good body position and swimming. For me was always somewhat uncomfortable and painful. The bike was a little less painful in the sense. I was sitting on something and I could actually take a little break. Every now and then but biking when your time trialling, you know can be quite painful running running. I was always in pain whether it was niggling injuries or just absolute fatigue and kind of grinding yourself trying to get the miles in or do the work. I very rarely had those moments of flow where the body was responding and it felt really fantastic. In fact, I can probably remember those workouts more than I can. The painful ones because it was just so many painful workouts, and I think that's the goal of the sport is to be a bit cliche to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. That is really what the sport of triathlon is all about becoming just comfortable with being in pain and going. This is where I'm meant to be if I want to improve. I'm not sure if that helps. Cheers."

There have been many great athletes throughout history, such as Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Kelly Slater, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, Eddy Merckx, Muhammad Ali, Gretzky, Bo Jackson, Jesse Owens, Floyd Mayweather, Allyson Felix, Margaret Court, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Ronaldo, Messi, Pele, Maradona, Don Bradman, Hussein Bolt, and Mensoletsepele. Each of these athletes has proven their greatness in different ways, but all should be recognized for the amazing accomplishments they have achieved.
 
Transcript: "I tell you what. I have loved watching every one of the experts that have answered this question and they reasons why they have chosen the certain athlete or athletes that they think is the greatest of all time in history of All Sport. And whether that's because they've had to overcome adversity or they've had the longest career or the handle. The most amount of pressure. Everybody has their views on what makes the greatest of all time. I've gone through Listen to all the answers of all the other experts and I've taken a few notes. It seems to me that there is Michael Phelps, Michael, Jordan, Tom, Brady Kelly Slater. Tiger Woods is right up there. Usain Bolt, Eddy. Merckx, Muhammad Ali Gretzky, Bo Jackson, Jesse, Owens, Floyd Mayweather, the lists go on and on. what I noticed in all of those names is there wasn't a lot of females mention and I think we have plenty to talk about for me personally, Allyson Felix watching her compete over for Olympic span gold, meddling in every one of them in a Sprint, you know, the 100 200 200 400. We really do 200, 400, just in the moment. One of the most beautiful Runners. I think I've ever seen run. I just think her athleticism is off the charts. Oh Allyson. Felix, big shout out to you from me on that. I like to look at tennis because that is a very popular sport around the world and I'm going to give a shout out to Margaret Court. The Australian twenty four grand slams. Yes, Serena Williams has 23. And yes, I think Serena Williams is absolutely off the charts and amazing and sober Steffi Graf and some of the greatest female tennis players we've ever seen. I also didn't mention that Federer was also mentioned in many of the other people's ideas of what they thought was a Great at greatest of all time. So Federer was there. I'd also that you got to add Nadal and Djokovic to the tennis equation. Then you have to look at a sport like soccer. It's hard, not to look at the greatest soccer players because it's the most popular sport in the world. Everybody plays it. And so most watch sport in the world. So to get to become the greatest all-time soccer player. It's hard to say, you're not one of the greatest all-time athletes of all time. So you've got to look at Ronaldo and Messi and Pele. Maradona, you can't put him in that list, then guess? What's the second most popular? Played sport and watch sport cricket? Nobody's talked about Cricket. Don Bradman bring Australian. We gotta have Don Bradman in that equation of greatest all-time athlete. And then you think hang on. What was the one sport that every kid does? Every kid, no matter what they run. They run at the age of five. Everybody's done a running race by then. Who's the greatest runner of all time. I've said Allyson Felix already. You got to add in Hussein, bolt big time and meals out of pepper. He was mentioned. He was mentioned by someone, but the guy won the 5K 10K and the marathon at to Olympics. Doesn't happen anymore. Nothing like that. The guy was absolutely off the chart. So I think I've covered a lot in that. We also didn't mention Jack Nicklaus. We've talked about Tiger Woods, but Jack, Nicklaus still has more of the majors. So, I think, I think that's pretty good cover. I think we pretty much did everybody. Special. Shout out to Kelly Slater after just winning pipeline. Thirty years, after he won his first. I mean, the guys now is 50. He was five days. Shy of 50, come on. So anyway, that's my one greatest athlete of all time. There you go. Cheers."