Staying focused, competing proud ft. Sam Fricker OLY

Acknowledgement of Country: As we share a yarn today, we honour the stories that have been told on this land for thousands of years and acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the land we're recording on and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

Sam Fricker OLY: When you give everything to your sport, people at training become family. It teaches you things about life; it gives you principles for high performance that are apparent everywhere. I run my own business now and all the high-performance strategies I used in sport I just take to my business, and I feel like being successful in any field is just the same principles used in a different way. 

So, sports shaped me as a person and kind of really gave me the skills I needed to exceed not just in the pool but everywhere else. 

I think when you look at something like an Olympics or Commonwealth Games, they're massive events, but you're still doing the thing that you've trained every day. 

So, I feel when it comes to achieving big things, it's about looking inwards and focusing on what you need to do, focusing on yourself, your routine and it doesn't matter the scale of the situation or the event or the competition, you still just look inwards and rely on yourself and follow what you've done in training. 

I'd like to dive till Brisbane '32. I think doing a home Olympics would be a great way to potentially end my diving career if I can train all the way till the end, but what becomes just as important as I get a bit older is building my business outside the pool and having those things outside the pool that I can do and that still keep me really mentally engaged because training can become very monotonous.

Tim Gavel: Hello and welcome to Clean and Gold, The Road to Glasgow 2026. I'm Tim Gavel. This Commonwealth Games podcast series is all about celebrating the journey behind the performance, what it takes to represent your country, compete at your best and uphold the values that make sport fair and safe for everyone. 

Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Australian diver Sam Fricker. Sam has experienced firsthand what it's like to compete on some of the biggest stages in sport. We'll be chatting about his memories of the Commonwealth Games, how he prepares mentally and physically, and how the role of integrity from anti-doping to athlete well-being continues to shape the athlete experience. Sam, thanks very much for joining us today.

Sam Fricker OLY: Thank you very much for having me on. I'm excited to be here.

Tim Gavel: How did you get into diving?

Sam Fricker OLY: Well, I started initially because the girl I liked was doing it.

Tim Gavel: Yeah? Okay. 

Sam Fricker OLY: I actually didn't really like it because it was cold, it was windy, it was in Newcastle, and she was there so I'd go, and my dream was to go to the Olympics. I was doing gymnastics and trampolining at the time, but she was diving so I had a crack at that and after a while, I thought, hey, maybe this could be my road to achieve my dream.

Tim Gavel: So, gymnastics and trampolining, was it sort of something you did after school and sort of moved on to diving and took that a little more seriously?

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, exactly. 

So, I was doing gymnastics, trampolining, even a bit of karate and kickboxing outside of school. I did a whole bunch of sports, soccer as well. I love futsal with my friends. Diving, I found the girl who I liked that was doing it, I started doing it and I made like a school nationals’ event, and when I made that level and event at the time, I thought, maybe I could go to the Olympics for this sport. 

And then NSWIS had an open testing day which I went to, which is open to anyone who wants to show up and try out for elite sport for diving, and I got into the institute and then that moment changed my life because it went from just diving casually to twice a day, extremely structured, very rigid in a high performance environment, and that was like a big lifestyle shift for me.

Tim Gavel: And no doubt the girl was impressed, yeah? (laughter)

Sam Fricker OLY: Oh yeah. We say we didn't get the girl, but we got the gold.

Tim Gavel: (laughter) That's good. Sam, just on the Commonwealth Games – you get selected, what's it like to put on that tracksuit and put on the Australian team uniform for the first time?

Sam Fricker OLY: It's a very proud and humbling moment. Every time you get to represent your country, it's like a gift. I feel so, I know I felt so honoured but also felt this sense of responsibility to do my best for the country and represent the country the best I personally could. But it's this feeling of you feel proud of your country and proud of your team and proud of the people around you that put you there. It's a feeling that's very tough to explain in a couple of words, but once you put that jacket on and you're on the bus to the pool, it's a really empowering feeling. 

And because Australians are so loved all around the world, I really enjoy wearing my Australian uniform no matter where we compete. People love Australians so I love wearing the uniform and I love representing all the people back home, and I love the fact that Australians love sport and they really get behind it.

Tim Gavel: You have great memories of your bronze medal in Birmingham.

Sam Fricker OLY: I certainly do. That was one of my favourite events of all time. I remember we were warming up in dry land and my synchro' partner, Xixing (Li Shixin), he's a world champion, he was a Chinese, now he's an Australian and he was a world champion for China and he had so much experience that he brought to me. 

I would listen to him in training every day and we were warming up and I had such confidence that I got to dive with him, and I feel like he really lifted me and allowed me to dive better than I'd ever dove because of his experience and his presence that day on pool deck. 

So, it was a great thing to achieve together, and he used to love dancing, so he'd be dancing at the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony and then we'd get a medal, so that was great fun and it was a good opportunity for me to learn from someone like Xixing who had so much experience.

Tim Gavel: Well, that's what the Olympics and Commonwealth Games are all about, because you have competed at the Olympics in 2020, obviously the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and it's all about learning different cultures, experiencing life, obviously, outside the bubble a little bit too and it's more than just sport for you, isn't it?

Sam Fricker OLY: It's a full lifestyle, and when you give everything to your sport, like people at training become family. It teaches you things about life; it gives you principles for high performance that are apparent everywhere. I run my own business now and all the high-performance strategies I used in sport I just take to my business, and I feel like being successful in any field is just the same principles used in a different way. 

So, sports shaped me as a person and kind of really gave me the skills I needed to exceed not just in the pool but everywhere else.

Tim Gavel: What do you have to do to train for diving apart from diving all the time? There's a lot of other stuff I would imagine including being in the gym and doing exercises on dry land.

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, one of the things we certainly don't do that everyone thinks we do, is swimming. We never swim unless you're injured actually, so for a diver, we do a lot of work in the gym. You got to be strong in your legs so you can jump, you got to have a strong core so you can control where you are in the air because when you're in the air, you have angles, gravity, inertia, like you control yourself really with your core, and then you've got to have good upper body so you can take that impact when you're hitting the water at over 60k's an hour. 

So, we got to be strong, and then we do a lot of gym work, we do a lot of flips in dry land, somersaults into a foam pit, we actually do about 40 to 50% of our training outside the pool, and then when we go to the pool, we typically train by working through a skill chain. If I'm going to do a front 4 1/2 that day, I'll typically go forward dive, 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2, and we'll train that full skill chain. We have six different diving groups, so I might train 3 skill chains on one day and three on another, but then when we come to close to competition, I'll just do my most difficult dives, drop back all the numbers and just focus on them, which is what I'm doing at the moment because we fly out to compete again tomorrow.

Tim Gavel: In Taiwan, yeah. Just on, I guess, the diving aspect – so, 10 metre, is that your favourite height, for want of a better expression?

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, I went to the Olympics for 10 metre, and I trained that full time for many years, and I was able to achieve my biggest dream there. 

But then I went to the Commonwealth Games and won a medal for 3 metre synchro', and not many divers do both disciplines, but something that was always really important to me, and as I get a bit older, I've just focused on the 3 metre. We say 3 metre is a little bit easier to train but more difficult to compete, where the 10-metre platform is a little bit harder to train, but easier to compete. Because on springboard, you got the board that moves, it's like an extra variable that you have to attack before you even get to the dive.

Tim Gavel: Yeah, I remember commentating the one metre springboard in Barcelona, and if you can imagine, it's all over pretty quickly. Very hard to describe on radio (laughter).

Sam Fricker OLY: Oh (laughter). I can imagine. 'He's up and he's down.'

Tim Gavel: Yep, that's about it. 

Sam Fricker OLY: Low splash, or big splash, bad dive.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. Are there moments from your experiences, whether it be at major events or Birmingham or the Olympic Games that really stand out for you?

Sam Fricker OLY: I think when you look at something like an Olympics or Commonwealth Games, they're massive events, but you're still doing the thing that you've trained every day, so I feel when it comes to achieving big things, it's about looking inwards and focusing on what you need to do, focusing on yourself, your routine, and it doesn't matter the scale of the situation or the event or the competition, you still just look inwards and rely on yourself and follow what you've done in training. 

So, I think going to those events is incredible, it's like the best experiences of my diving career, but you still just rely on what you do every single day, even under that pressure.

Tim Gavel: And I guess, being in that team environment too, does that bring out the best of you or are you daunted by being surrounded by so many different athletes and very high-profile athletes a lot of the time?

Sam Fricker OLY: When you go to those major events and you have, you're diving with Tom Daley and some of the most famous and successful divers in the world, it can be very uplifting because you can see what's possible. I can remember being at the Olympics and just seeing Tom Daley just drill three of his dives in training, like perfectly. And when you nail a dive, you can hear it, it's like this really loud ripping sound.

We call it a rip because it's the sound of ripping paper next to your ear, that's how it sounds to us when we're going through the water. When you rip a dive, it's like ripping a piece of paper next to your ear, it sounds like a massive clap for everyone else around pool deck so when you watch someone like Daley just drill a dive, it sends like this massive noise around pool deck and everyone just like stops and like, 'Whoa'. And that experience is really cool and it motivates you to want to be able to do that, and when you do it, feels so good.

Tim Gavel: So physically and emotionally, how do you handle that environment? Do you have to sort of take a step away emotionally? And physically is it hard to recover and back up dive after dive? How do you do it?

Sam Fricker OLY: I feel like when you're coming into a major event, you're mentally prepared for however long that event may be. For example, if I'm going to go away and compete for a couple of months, I'm mentally prepared and physically prepared to enjoy that, but if I'm only going to compete for a week, I'll be tired at the end of that week. 

So, I feel like coming into the approach, just being ready for what's ahead and planning for what's ahead and just being, giving yourself the mental capacity to handle what's coming is something that I use to really get through it. For example, we're about to go away and compete for a couple of weeks overseas and just knowing it's going to be a couple of weeks, I kind of pace myself for that and not try to burn myself out too early and just take it one day at a time. 

But the big things really are like eating well, sleeping well, looking after yourself, drinking a whole bunch of water. Those are things that I do every day when I compete that make a massive difference. Coming into a major event, I sleep more.

Tim Gavel: Getting into a routine is pretty important, isn't it?

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, it is. 

Tim Gavel: And to stay in that routine.

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, and it can be really monotonous. Like some days you're training and you get up and what you need to do to succeed and you're doing it, but it can become very monotonous, but it's still important and I think being able to push through that and still do it when it's boring, that's important.

Tim Gavel: So, for a young athlete going, for instance, to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and you can get spooked a little bit because there is so much going on, there are so many different people, so many people there offering advice and you've got a lot of things going on. How do you navigate that heading into an event like the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow?

Sam Fricker OLY: I remember when I walked in for my three-minute synchro event in Birmingham, the one we picked up the medal in, I was walking in for the warm-up, you look at the stands, it's packed with people, but I remember being aware that they're there, but it not taking any focus of mine. I was just so focused on where I put my bag, get out my shammy, put my iTac on, alright, we're warming up, first dive, second dive, talking to Xixing, my partner, talking to the coach. 

I feel like being so focused in the actions that are required to do your job or allow me to focus on what's important and not be distracted by the fact that there's a crowd or a TV crew or what this could mean for me. So those things are there, but I find when you're so focused on the job, those things do – you're aware, but they don't take your focus, you focus on the task at hand.

Tim Gavel: What happens though, if you leave your bag there and the bag's not there when you get out of the pool or your shammy's not there? How do you cope with the unexpected and it's out of routine? What do you do then? And if you're a young athlete, as I say, preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the 10 different events and something goes wrong or something is out of place, how do you handle it?

Sam Fricker OLY: You know who gave me the best advice on this ever? Melissa Wu. She got up and gave a talk to the divers about superstitions. People always ask me about superstitions, when you compete and when you're under pressure, and she said 'Superstitions are a weakness. They could break you. Because what happens when they don't go to plan, especially under pressure?' 

So, she said, 'Try to get rid of any superstitions you have because they won't help. They will not serve you. They will be a pain.' For example, if I throw my shammy down the same place and then I miss and it doesn't get there, it's not going to help me. 

So, I feel like getting rid of superstitions is really important and something I've always tried to do. And the other one is when things don't go to plan, for example, we were competing in the Gold Coast earlier this year, every day of training, perfect weather. Sun was shining, no wind, beautiful. 

First day of comp, we got hit with a massive storm and it stormed every day of competition. I'm talking rain, so heavy, outdoor pool by the way, rain so heavy, you're looking down the ends of the board and you're getting hit with water in your eyes. 

Something you would not even think of or plan for, and I feel like having the mental capacity, and this is by sleeping well and looking after yourself, you've got these extra resources to accept these challenging circumstances and just continue to move forward anyway, not panicking if it flogs down raining or if your shammy goes missing. Planning, expect the best plan for the worst, and just have that extra capacity to deal with things when they go wrong because they will.

Tim Gavel: Very interesting about superstitions because a lot of people use superstitions as a strength, but it can be absolutely fatalistic for somebody if it goes wrong. 

So, its very interesting advice, to try and get rid of your superstitions, don't walk on the cracks sort of thing.

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, I thought it was really, really good advice because there were things I did as a kid and I just thought maybe they were a strength. But no, I feel like they can be a weakness.

Tim Gavel: Especially if it goes wrong.

Sam Fricker OLY: Especially if they're things outside of your control. Like there's things I do that are routine that I wouldn't regard as a superstition. 

For example, when I'm before every dive, I, do this with my hands and I take a big breath, (breathing) and I look down the board and I go. I would call that part of my routine, not like a superstition. But if you've got superstitions about, I always put my bag in a certain place, but then you show up to competition and someone's got their bag there, does that off rail you? 

So, I think there's a difference.

Tim Gavel: Well, it's out of your control a little bit there, so...

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah. 

Tim Gavel: Just on integrity in sport – what does it mean to you, integrity?

Sam Fricker OLY: I think integrity is living by your values, your morals, doing what's right because the right thing to do is always the right thing to do.

Tim Gavel: And I guess ethical decision making comes into it then, doesn't it? You know, making the right decisions.

Sam Fricker OLY: I think making the right decisions and following your gut. I feel like you always know what's right and wrong, and by leading a life and following that, I feel like you always end up in a better place. And I feel like you know when you're doing the wrong thing. It's like a feeling.

Tim Gavel: And don't try and take shortcuts too, I guess.

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, there's very few shortcuts in training. I remember when I was a kid, when I first got into the institute, we used to have these really, really difficult circuits. In fact, one of my first days of training was so hard a few of the boys vomited, I felt so sick and I thought, I don't even know if I can handle this kind of training. 

And a lot of the people at training would just cut corners. If we had to do 20, they would do 10. If we had to run 3 laps, they might do 2. And I just always thought, these guys are better than me now, but by training like this, I will get them eventually. And you do.

Tim Gavel: Just on integrity measures at Commonwealth/Olympic Games, it has evolved over the years and grown to ensure sport is safe, clean, and fair. Can you tell us about some of the proactive measures you see in place to create that level playing field in sport?

Sam Fricker OLY: I think when it comes to proactive activities that help protect sport is the training. I know every year, Diving Australia, it feels like twice a year, they sit us down and we do over an hour of a presentation on sports integrity and they refresh us on everything we should, shouldn't do, where we can, can't, check the things, if there's new substances that weren't banned and now, they are just educating us on that. 

So, I feel like the most important part of the whole system is that education. So, when you go to Boost Juice, you know not to buy a protein ball because you don't know what proteins in it. 

So, I feel like that pre-education is the most important thing and allows you to make those informed decisions because ignorance is unfortunately not an excuse that can be used, even if you genuinely don't know. So that training in my diving career has been really important, even though it can be a little bit boring at times.

Tim Gavel: But it goes beyond anti-doping, doesn't it? The whole aspect of integrity. I mean, we're looking at, you don't do things that might hinder your opponent's performance. 

In terms of sort of integrity, fairness, and the standards by which you live by, it's really important that you don't overstep the boundary and do something that might impact on others or you might be taking an unfair advantage over somebody else.

Sam Fricker OLY: I think it's about being bigger than just that competition or one event. It's about being a good person and living by good values, and it's not about taking an advantage here to just win this comp because I feel like you should live your whole life through your morals and your values and it should be bigger than trying to get an unfair advantage in a competition.

Tim Gavel: And you can sleep peacefully at night too, can't you? Knowing full well that you've done everything possible to prepare for an event and you've done it in the fairest possible way.

Sam Fricker OLY: Even when things don't go to plan, it gives you that peace of mind that, hey, like I came to this comp, I did everything I could. I ate well, I slept well, I rested. And sometimes it goes to plan. You're like, yeah, I did everything right and I won. I deserve that. And then when it doesn't, it's like, well, yeah, I did everything right and I didn't do that great, and sometimes that's just part of the game as well and just being okay with both of those. 

But if you know you've done everything right in training, you've eaten right, you've slept right, you've looked after yourself, you've trained hard, and you haven't taken any shortcuts, then whatever the result is, you feel okay with it internally.

Tim Gavel: Do you find yourself offering advice to young athletes coming through, young divers? Do they ask you about how to cope with certain situations or what standards you live by?

Sam Fricker OLY: The diving program at the Institute's quite close-knit, we always talk. When I was on platform, you get to talk to the platform divers a fair bit more, now I'm on springboard, there's actually not that many springboard divers so it can get a bit lonely down there, but we train with a lot of the juniors as well because it's like a big pyramid structure, you have a few at the top and then a lot of juniors at the bottom and I try to talk to them as much as possible and I try to just be very encouraging to them. 

Some of them may not come with life advice questions, but I feel I remember how impactful it was when the senior athletes said good things about my diving to me as a kid, even if they didn't know how impactful that was. 

So, I make sure I pass on the favour on things like that, just always lifting them up and saying positive things and being encouraging to all the athletes on pool deck.

Tim Gavel: Positive reinforcement, yeah?

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah. I find it goes a long way, especially when everyone's there trying their best. 

So, I feel like if you can just lift everyone up, just leave that pool making everyone feel a little bit better about themselves then I felt that's a good day in the office. And sometimes it's hard. When I'm having the world's worst training session, sometimes it's hard to still be uplifting to everyone else, but that's the fight, that's the difficult part.

Tim Gavel: You've got a very strong social media presence. Do you find that gives you a little more currency or they're offering, they're coming to you a bit more? Because of your quite big in social media so they think 'We follow that. We want to live our lives like Sam.'

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, I find when I'm out and about, it's very, very nice. Like people come up and they say hi and I find it incredible that I get to share what I do to so many different people but what's amazing is it's done in such a private place in terms of where we train. It's quite a closed off private area, and I make my videos in my own space at training, which is my own kind of area, and it's all done very low key. 

So, what I find fascinating is something done so low key and kind of quietly has such a loud impact outside the pool. I find that really fascinating. I might be in the pool with my teammates just making a video and it's very normal, but then you go out to the pub and people come up and they're asking about what you're doing with training and it's fascinating.

Tim Gavel: Do you offer to take people diving? Is that how...

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, that's something I do all the time. We took a guy named Clayton yesterday, he loves his chicken burgers.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. 

Sam Fricker OLY: He's got Down syndrome and he makes funny videos with his brother Jack, who's a legend and we thought we'd bring him to the diving pool and see how his diving skills would turn out and he loved it. He wanted to jump in together; he wouldn't jump on his own. But I feel like...

Tim Gavel: Yeah, so you're promoting more than yourself, you're promoting the sport itself.

Sam Fricker OLY: 100%. It's not just about being the best diver, it's about being bigger than diving, and being able to promote diving in a way that's good for me and good for the sport is a massive win-win. 

But I do it from the enjoyment of making the videos. I've always made videos and I actually never thought it could be a job, I never even thought it could be work so it's turned out better than I could have ever imagined.

Tim Gavel: And do you find that with these videos you are promoting to a certain degree, integrity in sport? Because you're pointing out to people the standards by which you train and compete by.

Sam Fricker OLY: That and I've always been about sustainability. So, I started a company called Sam Straws where we made biodegradable wheat stems and I promote that on social media. 

So, I find promoting what I love in the pool and also promoting the great causes I stand for outside the pool. Starlight Children's Foundation, I help them fundraise every year and I love to get involved. Clamp Australia Day, I've been like an ambassador for a long, long time. 

So, I try to use my platform for good, and a lot of people ask why, and I don't understand, why not? Why wouldn't you?

Tim Gavel: What's next for you beyond the immediate competitions? What are your goals from here?

Sam Fricker OLY: I'd like to dive to 'till Brisbane '32. I think doing a home Olympics would be a great way to potentially end my diving career if I can train all the way till the end. 

But what becomes just as important as I get a bit older is building my business outside the pool and having those things outside the pool that I can do and that still keep me really mentally engaged because training can become very monotonous when you're doing the same things every day and although it's still immensely difficult because you're always pushing for the bigger dives and when you're pushing for the bigger dives, you're not always feeling great about yourself because you're getting knocked back every day because they're at the edge of what you're physically capable of. 

So, diving is always difficult, but it can become monotonous, so I find the older I get, the more important building a business and things outside diving become to me.

Tim Gavel: Do you feel as though you're a trailblazer to a certain degree for a lot of young sports people coming through that 'Yes, you can make a living beyond your sport, using your sport'?

Sam Fricker OLY: Yeah, I feel like I'm probably one of the only people doing what I'm doing. And even as I started to do it, the first day I brought a tripod to training, everyone laughed at me. It can be –

Tim Gavel: Now they're all bringing tripods to training (laughter).

Sam Fricker OLY: They are. They're all bringing tripods to training and the coaches are really supportive of it too but it's nearly, breaking the social norms of what's normal. When you're training with a team, sometimes to do something different can feel very uncomfortable, and even though it's not wrong, it may not be socially normal but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the wrong thing to do. 

And I feel like if you believe in something, even if it can have some negative thoughts put towards it, I feel like if you believe in something and you feel like you're doing the right thing, you should do it anyway, despite what people say and think.

Tim Gavel: And Sam, some of the, I guess, aspects of competing at a major event like the Commonwealth Games include testing, things not going right, how do athletes handle something like that for the first time?

Sam Fricker OLY: I think if you're getting tested and you're underage, you can bring a chaperone with you. That's what I did for my first ever couple of drug tests. I brought my coach in with me that made the process a little bit smoother. If you see something dodgy, report it. That information can be critical. 

If you're in Australia, you can report it to 1800 161 361, to Sport Integrity Australia, but there are integrity officers over there at the Commonwealth Games that you can report something to if you see something that's slightly off, speak up.

Tim Gavel: Just finally, have you got a message for young athletes going across to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games? Given you've been there before and you seem to have some really good thoughts about what it's like to compete at that level, what message would you have to young athletes going across there?

Sam Fricker OLY: I would say it's one of the most fun events I ever competed in. When it comes to the performance, just focus on what you do every day that put you there in the first place. You know your routines, you know what made you the great athlete to make that team and just follow your routine when you get there, especially under the competition pressure. 

Stick to your routine and then try to enjoy the foods, try to enjoy the village, try to make the most of an incredible event. And a lot of the gear you get, like I'm wearing the Commonwealth Games belt here at the moment, it lasts nearly a lifetime so –

Tim Gavel: Okay (laughter). 

Sam Fricker OLY: – it's a very special moment ahead, and I would say enjoy, of course, but remember your routines.

Tim Gavel: Good on you, Sam. That's great.

Sam Fricker OLY: I appreciate you having me on.

Tim Gavel: Thank you. That's Sam Fricker, a diver who's, yeah, obviously got it together outside and inside the sporting environment. 

So, thank you very much for that and your insights regarding the Commonwealth Games. And conversations like this remind us that success in sport isn't just about performance, it's about integrity, responsibility and the example athletes set for the next generation. 

Thanks for listening to Clean and Gold, the Road to Glasgow 2026, brought to you by Sport Integrity Australia. Stay tuned for more episodes as we count down to Glasgow and continue to explore what it truly means to compete clean and compete proud.