Olympic gold medallist Leisel Jones will speak at the final 2025 Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice on Saturday 21 June. Photo: Supplied.
Leisel Jones doesn’t swim anymore.
More recently the Olympic gold medal champion has focused her energies on renovating a house, but laughingly admits “I’m a bit sick of it”.
The 39-year-old retired Australian swimmer, widely regarded as one of the greatest breaststrokers ever, lives on the Gold Coast and rises early Monday to Friday to work as a breakfast radio host.
So on weekends she likes to “hibernate”, although if she had more time she says she’d like to get better at golf.
However on Saturday 21 June, the swimming legend will head to the colder climes of the Riverina where she will join a line-up of keynote speakers set to address the final Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice.
Now a prominent mental health advocate, Leisel will share her own personal experiences at the event which shines a light on the pain, grief and often untold stories of suicide and mental illness.
Leisel won her first Olympic medals at 15 – a silver in the 100-metre breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay – as the youngest member of the Sydney 2000 Olympic team.
She would go on to make history as the first Australian swimmer to compete in four Olympic Games, winning a total of nine Olympic medals, and setting numerous world records throughout her career.
But while it was a path paved with glory, in many respects, Leisel also endured a long-running battle with mental health throughout her swimming career – exacerbated by the inevitable level of public and media scrutiny that comes when the stakes are so high.
Even at the height of her success, Olympic historian Harry Gordon would describe her gold-medal win at Beijing in this fashion: Leisel Jones ended a long, sometimes tormented journey when she won the 100 metres breaststroke at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games … Some saw it as evidence that she had finally beaten her toughest, most difficult opponent: herself.
It’s been 13 years since Leisel hung up her togs, as they say, and quite the journey of self-discovery since.
Finding her sense of identity – just who is Leisel Jones out of a pool – has been a big part of that journey towards self-worth and self-health.
“It’s still a journey,” she says.
In reflecting on her days as a swimmer, Leisel concedes it’s a “complex relationship”.
“I’m grateful for a lot of things but … some things I hated and I’m still scarred from it,” she says.
“I really didn’t have much fun; it was very very serious and we got flogged. We travelled around the world and there were all these experiences on offer but we were never allowed to enjoy them, in case we got sick or got an ear infection.”
The culture has changed a lot, Leisel adds, “which is great”.
“I’m still bitter towards the sport yet on the other hand I’m really grateful for it,” she says.
Leisel has candidly explored her journey in and out of the pool in her autobiography, Body Lengths, and is now a vocal campaigner for mental health and body image awareness in sport.
Such is her level of commitment to this cause, she has studied for a Bachelor of Psychology, although she’s critical of the “rigmarole” required to become registered and says it is prohibitive when we are crying out for more practitioners.
“Generally there’s a minimum three-month wait to see (a psychologist) even if the person is at the level of needing critical care,” Leisel says.
“It’s really hard, and as someone who has been through the system … we need people on the ground, people with lived experience because it’s not just about theory and research.”
The need for more male practitioners is critical, according to Leisel.
“Typically psychology is a field that’s very female dominated but we need more male psychologists – men with emotional intelligence that can walk and talk with other men in crisis,” she says.
You only need to look at the military, to veterans, to see the problems that can arise when people lose their sense of identity – the thing that defined everything they were or are, Leisel adds.
It’s why she’s passionate about working in the space and sharing the story of her own journey if it can help others.
Leisel, who still works with a psychologist as and when she needs to, says looking after her own mental health is a “lifelong journey”.
These days she’s more aware of the dips so “they don’t last as long as they did the last time”.
She’s found meditation works wonders and it’s become a “real habit” now – along with exercise.
“If I don’t exercise my mental health goes south,” she admits.
If there’s one small piece of gentle advice she would leave with anyone struggling, it’s that things can get better.
“My psychologist said it to me, and I absolutely hated it at the time, but there is light at the end of the tunnel even when what you are experiencing really sucks,” Leisel says.
“This is why I love the concept of this Winter Solstice event … the sun will rise after the longest and darkest of nights.”
The Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice will be held on 21 June from 5 pm at QEII Square, Albury, with the Facebook livestream starting at 6 pm. For more information or event details, go to Survivors of Suicide & Friends/Winter Solstice on Facebook.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact:
Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support line – 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800 or kidshelpline.com.au
MensLine Australia – 1300 789 978.
