The Campbell sisters open up about their rivalry to Andrew Denton: "We're invisible to each other"
Aussie swim stars Cate and Bronte Campbell have revealed in a new interview how they juggle being both sisters and competitors.
Speaking with Andrew Denton on his new show, the sisters talked about their experience racing against each other at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
When Bronte won gold in the relay race at the games, video footage emerged of Cate looking reserved, prompting rumours a rift was developing.
Elder sibling Cate watched on as the Aussie team broke the all-time World Record with a time of 3:30:65.
The announcement that Cate had been left out of the women’s relay team occurred just hours before the race.
When Denton asked if there was any tension between them behind the blocks, the sisters confessed that they were “invisible” to each other before the race.
“Behind the blocks, it’s like, ‘She ... I don’t know her. Why would I help her?’” Cate said, laughing.
“That sounds pretty selfish but, at the end of the day, it’s your race. You just gotta do your own thing,” Bronte said.
Denton asked the siblings if any pre-race sledging went on between them.
“No, we can’t do that. That’s pointless. I mean, at the end of the day, when we’re up there and especially when we’re racing against the rest of the world,” Bronte said.
As the interview went on, it was clear the Campbell sisters didn’t have any jealousy over each other’s successes.
“If you can’t do well, you want your sister to do well, you want Australia to do well, you want your family to do well, you want someone you love to do well and so why would you jeopardise that?” Bronte said.
Cate, 25, and Bronte, 23, described what it was like when they were racing against each other in the individual 100m event – with Bronte taking the gold.
“I was breathing in Cate’s direction coming into the last 25, and so I could see her. I could see she was ahead of me and then that was the last time I looked at her. It was pretty overwhelming. You could feel ... you could hear the crowd, so I knew something was happening. I don’t remember it, to be honest. I remember bits of it but I don’t have a very clear memory of it at all,” said Bronte.
Cate explained that the final moments of the race were a blur for her too.
“I could see that Bronte was right next to me but, like, you’re breathing so quickly and you’re so low in the water and there’s water going everywhere that I didn’t exactly know,” she said.
“You know, it’s why people watch sport and, honestly, people are like, ‘Oh, you know, aren’t you annoyed at her or angry at her?’ I’m like, ‘no’. Yes, everyone loves to win. I’m not going to deny that. But I’m so proud of Bronte and what she’s done.
“You know what? Coming second isn’t that much of a big deal. Like, everyone wants number one.”