Warrawong High School students now know what it takes to become an Olympian.
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Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Caitlin Cronin shared her story with students on Friday.
The rower highlighted the importance of hard work and perseverance, traits which helped her make the Australian Women's Quadruple Sculls team, which upset more fancied outfits to win a bronze medal in Tokyo.
So it's no surprise Cronin urged Warrawong High students to work hard, persevere and find something they love doing.
The 27-year-old is part of the Olympics Unleashed program which connects athletes and schools across the country to inspire students to find and follow their passion and provide lessons in goal setting, overcoming challenges and developing resilience.
About 180 students in Year 9 and 10 took part in Cronin's presentation, which included a goal setting activity followed by a Q&A session with the students.
"My big message for the kids is just find what they love to do and really work hard and have a go at that,"Cronin said.
"I love to try new things, if I hadn't have done that I wouldn't have found rowing and wouldn't have seen where it could take me."
The Brisbane-based Cronin did not initially fall in love with rowing when she followed her father's footsteps and took up the sport while in her early teens.
"I wasn't really good at the start. I didn't really like it," she said.
"I quit for two years but then decided I wanted to go back and see how I went and then that's when I really started to love the sport.
"I'm very competitive and love the hard-working nature of rowing. Above all though the thing that really made me love rowing was working with team-mates to achieve a common goal.
"I just kept aiming for small steps and making junior teams, under 23s and eventually cracked into the senior team."
Cronin said Australia's Women's Quad team only qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in May, 2021 just a month before the games started.
"We went into the Olympics ranked ninth so we were big underdogs. We decided that we would just give it our all and have a crack. It worked and we made the final.
"We then had a really good race on the day and came out with the bronze medal. We were ecstatic," she said.
Cronin has also completed a Chemical Engineering Degree at University of Queensland and is taking time of rowing this year to study medicine at the University of Wollongong.
"I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things next year and hopefully qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024," she said.
Warrawong High School wellbeing head teacher Nisrine Hijazi hoped Cronin's story would inspire students to follow their dreams.
"We have been very lucky to be part of this amazing program called Olympics Unleashed where we have a guest Olympian come in and speak to our students.
"Caitlin is using her Olympic journey to inspire our students and I hope that through sharing her experience it can further inspire our students to feel that they can achieve their own personal goals," Mrs Hijazi said.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
