Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell, Allen & Unwin, $24.99.
Sister Secrets is for anyone who ever dared to dream big. Swimming superstar sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell have an incredible shared history. Their life lessons from the pool to the podium are genuinely inspirational!
We gain insight into the lives and motivations of these two incredible athletes in their own words, simply framed by beautiful photographs.
The sisters say their childhoods were shaped by water. “Like water slowly wears away rock, moulding and contorting it, so it ran through our lives, carving out a slow, seemingly inevitable path, a funnel for our hopes, passions and energies. It was the beginning of a journey that would lead us from a tiny African country called Malawi all the way to the top of an Olympic podium.”
Cate and Bronte are Olympic gold-medal winners and world champions. Their 2021 gold medal-winning relay at the Tokyo Olympics was impressive. In 2012, they made history by becoming the first Australian sisters to compete in the same swimming event at the Olympic Games: the women’s 50m freestyle in London.
They have experienced triumph (individual and collective) and defeat on the global sporting stage. Sister Secrets features personal stories of their journey to greatness, their coping strategies at times of extreme disappointment and the highs and lows that have shaped their relationship with each other and with swimming. They reveal their secrets to motivation, mental toughness and finding balance in and beyond the world of elite-level swimming.
Their journey is one of ambition, losses and successes. It is also one of commitment, passion, dedication, discipline and resilience.
The eldest two of five children, Cate (first born) and Bronte never had formal swimming lessons or instruction. Their mum, Jenny, taught them in the backyard pool before they could even walk.
It hasn’t been easy getting to where they are, but then – nothing worth doing ever is.
Who is older of the two sisters: Cate or Bronte? If the answer is correct, you could be one of two winners to get a copy of the book. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 4 April 2022. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 5 April 2022.
