Kookaburras Defender, Eddie Ockenden, joined Scotty & Goss in preparation for his record breaking journey. He is set to make a 5th appearance at the Olympics in Paris.
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SEN WA Breakfast
Eddie Ockenden - 5 Time Olympian (02/07/2024)
Ryan Reynolds here for I guess my hundredth mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use, but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year, and plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible. Savings are not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required. - What about this remarkable feat to take place at the Olympics just around the corner? And that is through Eddie Ockenden's exports. On the hockey field, just an outstanding contributor. He's 438 career goals. He's been playing. In fact, he's first Australian player to play 400 internationals. He'll get 450 over there in Paris. And he's been kind enough to join us first ever five time Australian hockey Olympian. Eddie, appreciate your time. Congratulations, mate. - Good morning, thank you. Thank you very much. - Oh, you're 23 when you made your Olympics to boot. Boy, oh boy, that's a long time ago. - Yeah, I think Beijing, yeah, in 2008, like it does, obviously. This is how it goes really quickly. I think when you play with the work, something else coming up. But I think, yeah, looking back at the time, it certainly is a long time. - Did you expect this, Eddie? First of all, firstly, congratulations. It's phenomenal achievement that you've done. And I said to God's early on today, I said, you watch, you know, young people get their first ever ticket to the Olympic Games, their first time, and they are just beside themselves. They're so excited to do it five times. It is extraordinary. Did you expect to hold on and get a spot in the team for the fifth time? - Oh, I feel really lucky that I had the opportunity to do it so many times. 'Cause like you said, going to the Olympics is the coolest thing we can do. Like it's an unreal experience. You get to go and play the sport that you love against the best in the world in such a big event. So it's really, it's an awesome thing to do. So I feel really lucky that I've had the opportunity to do it. And I think just touching on Beijing, yeah, the first time you select it, I think you see so much excitement because you feel like a kid again, like that's what you dreamt of. You hold junior career or you hold sporting career and you don't really think it's possible until, you know, you get told you're selected and you're going. For those times, they're just still good excitement and energy. So yeah, I think you're right then. For me, it has been the same. Like you're so excited to go and there's a lot of preparation that goes into it every four years. So when you get the chance to be selected again, yeah, every time it feels like the same sort of excitement and joy that you've been chosen and you get to go to the Olympics. - I know you don't have to worry about this 'cause you're going. But you thought about not going and the fact is what that would have been like to watch an Olympics that you're not involved in? - Yeah, I think, yeah, you sort of cross with your mind in the preparation every now and then sort of what it is for, you know, I think, and yeah, I mean, I haven't really watched one for a long time, you're right. But I think, like after Tokyo, it was only three years and I think thinking back then I was 34. So I did want to, I thought I could do it. I wanted to put all my energy into trying to be selected for the team and I think there's times where you just look at it, I'll take it year by year and yeah, if I'm not good enough anymore, I can accept that and I was okay with it. I thought, you know, I've had a good career and I really want to do it and I'm trying to improve every day and I want to get better, but there's an acceptance that yeah, if I'm not good enough anymore, then that might be it, but yeah, it's been good. - We'll talk about the team in a moment, but at the moment it's all about you. Eddie Ockenden is our guest now, you know, there's been some, one of our colleagues who apparently tells everyone that he carried the flag at an Olympic Games, we talk about it again. It's a bit over-hyped to be brilliant with you. - I think three others brought out. - Yeah, so he was left home early. He was left holding the flag. - Have you had, is there anyone pushing up for you? Whether it be the opening ceremony or the closing ceremony? Would you like that on there? Because I mean, I can't I would be a naysayer on you, Eddie, but I'm pretty sure you won't be able to go into the next Olympic. - I don't really, man. (laughing) - I don't know, like it's something really, it's something really strange to think about. Like, you know, you don't ever think about the possibility like you never sort of out training. Every day thinking like this is what I want to do or this is what might happen. It just doesn't really cost you long. So it's a really difficult one. But in saying that, I will say things like, I do love the Olympic history and the flag bearing and sort of the announcements and the sort of like team connection we get with the whole Australian team when things like that and the opening ceremony is already doing that part of the Olympic. So yeah, I think it's really special in the unique thing. And yeah, I have heard that, gave you some and I've heard that once. (laughing) - Nice. - It sounds like he had a lot of fun doing it. So yeah, it was pretty cool. - Yeah, and the next year he was balling his eyes out on TV, on international TV talking about the team. No, we are gonna talk about your team in a very quick sec. But the fact that you're even being pushed up and suggested to be a flag bear, does that put in context what you've achieved here? And he liked it, I mean, five times. I'm sure it'll sink in probably after you retire or whenever that may be. But is it the fact that you've been discussed as a possible flag bear for Australian team, make you go, "Wow, I've done something pretty special here." - Yeah, it's crazy, to be honest, yeah, it's really weird because you just, we're just so here, training in Perth, we love it, like we love being with the team and we love training and going to take and doing our hockey team. But it's so separate to like an Olympic, like every four years we get to do this awesome thing. But for the rest of the time, I'm sort of just training away and trying to be as good as we can be. So, yeah, it's definitely strange. - Four-time Commonwealth Games gold medal, a couple of World Cup medals, Kookaburra player of the year, bronze medal at the Olympics, a couple of times Olympic Games silver medal. You don't have the gold. What's your vibe in regards to the preparation for this opportunity of winning gold and what a great way to go out if that be the case? - Yeah, I mean, I think this Australian hockey team, like we've always had a really strong team and I'm going to say it again, I think we have a really, we have a fantastic team. I think we're better than what we were in Tokyo. I think the mix of our team at the moment is really good and we've got some good form and we believe that our best is good enough to win a gold medal. So I think that's a pretty incredible place to sort of start an Olympic competition, knowing that your best is good enough, knowing that if we keep preparing in the next few weeks and we go over there and we can perform to our best, that we're good enough and I love that feeling and the blessing and the grip that we can do it. So, yeah, I mean, having a gold medal would be, we're special, it's not, you know, I don't, I take five weeks' thoughts and take you on a solid silver medal. We performed really well, but there's no problem. We don't think, oh, we sure, what if this happened or things were different, you know, we'd have a gold, but yeah, like a lot of positives. They make sure Tokyo. - Well, normally when we look at Australia's pool in most sports, it doesn't, not just the Olympics, but in a lot of sports, maybe look at that pool, oh, it's the pool of death now. Googabarras, they've got Belgium, India, obviously strong Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland, because today is top of the world Tuesday and everything's positive, is this the pool of life, Eddie? We're gonna smash this pool. - Yeah, I mean, yeah, Tuesday is what I think, like we're, we know we're gonna play good teams, so we're not sort of daunted by any pool and like we're gonna, if we make a quarter final, we're gonna play a great team in that quarter final from the other pool too. So, we're looking forward to whoever we play and yeah, I mean, it's so interesting looking at like, it's such a sort of like a random event where you might cross over with, so you have no control over it and you just have to make sure you're playing well. I think yeah, I'm happy with the pool. I'm happy with our first game. We're really looking forward to Argentina and kicking our campaign off against them. So you're right, yeah, definitely. - Now, we'll ask you, I know you're a rusted on hockey man and you're proud Tasmania, but you spend a lot of time in Western Australia because of the hockey program and the like, but what about a team in from Tassie now being launched into the AFL? How does that make a proud Tasmania feel? - Yeah, I think it's really interesting. Yeah, I'm pretty keen to delve from the devil's home, that'd be good, but I think like just sort of growing up, I just, I encourage all kids to trust sport and I think having sports sort of at only a door step, I think that helps. And yeah, I obviously encourage kids to play hockey 'cause I've had a great experience with that, but I just say play every sport you can when you're a kid and if it's more accessible on it, like I said on the door step, I think that's a great thing for kids in Tassie. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. - And you also, just a little side note, you're like walking upstream and fly fishing. Is that true? I mean, I'm not saying you're not telling us that. - You're a little bit more relaxing than someone hitting a rocker, a little white, around a rocker to get 100 cows in the ant, wouldn't it? - Yeah, is this your thing, the old fly fishing, tuna fishing during the season? - Definitely, and definitely in Tassie, you want to, when I can get back, yeah, I think yeah, you have to sort of do that stuff. If you're a Tasmanian and sort of spook it through the world, don't you? I do, I do, like it's probably, it's actually a lot harder than getting involved in that. Yeah, I tell you, I'm like, I'm knowing years that finding the trout that I have at getting hit by a ball, but yeah, it's a very nice thing to do. - Good stuff. Hey, mate, we look forward to it. And I think a five-time Olympian deserves to be at the pointy end of the plane, so we can push hard for a business class. I mean, you know, you might have to separate from the rest of the team, but, you know, we're happy to try and push that case. - We've only got one thing in this already, so we can either push for you to be a flag bearer or return for a class. - Yeah, which one do you want? - Which one do you want, Ed? - Well, we'll return for this class, but that only means that we've got to call madam, so I like that. But, you know, we've got, you know, mid-20s guys and have full backs and, you know, 37, and I'll give up my spot for the end, so they're well-rested and ready to go. - Hey, Eddy, 37, you're one of those blokes and when you're walking off the plane, they keep the elderly seated until everyone's gone. (laughing) And then they bring the wheelchair up with that little thing with the little orange, a lot vipping and flashing. That's what they'll do for you when you return with a gold medal, great man. Congratulations. (laughing) - Well, thanks a lot, save that for me. - Good luck, man. - He is a bona fide legend of Australian sport, not just hockey. We talk of Eddie Ocken, and what about that? That's five Olympic, that's, that's, that's a lot of years. - This is 20 years. - There's 20 years, separation. - As I said, there's people who just dream of one Olympic Games and play five. To be hit the top of your sport for that long is ridiculously good. - He's a Tasmanian, but lives most of his time in Western Australia. - Well, he's done well there, so hockey's provided him with a lot of positives.