Talk:Emma Snowsill

2008 Olympics

"1 hour 58 mins 27 secs ahead of Portugal's Vanessa Fernandes". I doubt it. Sad mouse (talk) 04:21, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Fixed it with just a comma. "...she won Gold at the Beijing Olympics in 1 hour 58 mins 27 secs, ahead of Portugal's..." --Kvasir (talk) 21:55, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I have a question though on her race in Beijing. She was seen hopping over a barrier as she took the wrong turn or something. Was there any possibility or discussion that she would be disqualified on her last lap of the running portion of the race? http://www.smh.com.au/news/aussie-updates/gold-gold-gold-for-australia/2008/08/18/1218911583633.html (paragraph 9) --Kvasir (talk) 16:31, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

A tribute - "da mouse that roared"

This is a tribute to Snowsill posted by her former coach, Brett Sutton. I have tidied up the formatting and some (but not all) of the spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. The original is here.

Now the dust has settled after the olympic games, and most teams head home to enquiries of why they performed as they did, we at teamTBB can be pleased that our female competitiors put in great efforts: Nicola's 6th , is just about at 100 % best hoped for performance, and Mariana, transition glitched, she too had a good day - riding away from a pack is not easy , and the only 2 to do it were teamTBB chicks.

But the race belonged to another story.

It's the story, of a champion that came to the olympics and left as a legend.

Emma Snowsill, better known to me and some of our team, as "the mouse". Triathlon morning, meant more than a gold medal on offer, but vindication, validation for wrongs done past. In 2003 da mouse, who had been training with the same intensity for the past 18months, saw her performance morph, into not one level but 2, of improvement, just as if she shifted plataus, her bike started to love her, and her run was transforming from a negative split build, into cop this people , as she found confidence with every race that year.

Such was the pay back from work done in days gone by, that the 2nd half of the season saw her on a tear, racing terrific in Europe but culminating in a great win at a world cup in Japan on the way back to Aus, a formality to be picked for world in New Zealand that Nov, and of course, the subsequent winning of her first world title.

da mouse had arrived with a roar, the Olympic selectors decided to ignore it, and as the selection trials for 2004 Olympics were held, still had to prove her point to get into the team. The selection race was Coffs Harbour, and a stupider course has yet to be set anywhere, for a selection trial. However, the night before the race Loretta Harrop's manager rang, and said I have just been informed, that if Loretta does not win the race outright, she will not be one of the three going to the games.

Now if you're from another country you will find this hard to believe, but believe me, it's true. Sutto athletes were duly treated like this in Australia.

So, any one who knows Miss Harrop can imagine how easy it was to motivate her, to a performance that had yet to be matched in triathlon. Coff's Harbour was the day. She blew off the start line with destiny in her eyes, and gapped the swim, by 45 seconds to the main pack, with the first pack looking like the who's who of triathlon greatness clumped together - thinking let's stick together and get her later, well da mouse knew Loretta, and was warning, we let her go now she is gone, no matter how hard the course is, and so da mouse dropped the pack and went after her friend, and for 15 km on the bike, any body with 2 eyes could see greatness, standing on the hill at Coffs, I was full of torn emotions, having to give tactics, and here it was, the old champion, showing the world again what made her the best short course triathlete that has ever was, deciding to attack the problem, the only way she knew how, break em all with sheer will and courage, and now 40sec down was the master's apprentice, she too decided, well if they won't go get her I will, da mouse clawed back second upon second, cut it to 30, then next time around had cut it to 20, then to 10, but the effort was astounding, to any conniseur of greatness Loretta was having the ride of her life and the mouse was not matching, but taking time, big time, till she got so close on the steepest of hills where 10 sec looks like 5 m so close, but in this story so far, a lesser champion would have conceded and rode with Emma.

Loretta just growled at me for a split, I gave her the gap to the bunch, thinking that she had conceded Emma was going to be riding with her, but she exploded, Emma you f... up. forget the rest. "It's me and her" at that moment, I could see there was no relenting, kill or be killed, and the next lap around the gap had opened up, watching Emma come up the hill, as the battle hardened Loretta found that something only special people find, was going away, and Emma's energy fast fading, she was now losing time to the main pack, and I considered if she kept riding they would get her just before the run, spent with no energy, so I had to make the hardest call in my coaching triathlon life: Sit up and wait for the pack, save your legs for the run.

The chapter ends by Loretta putting 4min into the best girls in the world, in what was the hardest course ever seen in ITU drafting races, and she jogged and ran to the finish and then onto olympic glory. Miss mouse was forced to duke it out, with the then best runners in the triathlon world: Michellie Jones, Rena Hill, and a cast of another 8 or so. Even after the long hard bike effort that astonished every body, one by one she attacked and broke the old champs, till with 1 km to go, one girl, a young jnr, that was never thought of in the mix - she swam in the pack, sat in on the bike, and like 10 green bottles hanging on the wall, she was the last green bottle, and with 100m to go, more to her suprise than anybody else's, she popped out and ran past Emma to take 2nd. But no one with any brains was in any doubt, there were 2 champions out there that day, and they got 1st and 3rd.

Then Emma developed a serious injury, selectors were informed she needed a break to help it heal quickly, but we were told in no uncertain terms, she doesn't race the last selection trial, she would not be considered for the Olympic team. Oh yes, don't ask why? just believe it. So stress fracture and all, da mouse went to battle again. While not as dramatic, it was an epic show of courage, here with everybody could see, she couldn't run, she held onto 4th, somehow.

Now, for the shocks. the men's team selected, they picked a guy that didn't finish the first race, and was out of the top 6 in the second. When asked, on what criteria, by some very disgruntled male athletes the answer he won Worlds in New Zealand.

So it was with utter dismay, when the team was read out, after they had consulted me, and I said, Emma, in my mind, is going to be the next great in triathlon, give her some time, and I will have her ready to roll for the Olympics. However the longer the selection went on, the more apparent it was, something very smelly was afoot and sure enuff, out was the team selections, Harrop self selected, and then 2 names but none were Emma Snowsill, I won't go into the merits or demerits of the selectees, it's not fair or honourable, but they had no argument to be in the team over da mouse.

But why wasn't the same criteria for the girls used? We thought the women's race was weaker than the men's, and so no guide. There is more. Come olympics, Emma was in fine form, winning a race the week before by 2min30, then won the same day or week later then finished up by carving up another field of Olympic girls the week after. Then for the next 4 yrs showed she was continually the best athlete in the world. Two more world championships, Commonwealth games win in a canter.

She like Loretta selected herself for the Olympics this time. Like Loretta who had taught her well, she kept away from all the team rubbish, and concentrated on being ready for the big day. Many said she was inferior to the young lass from Portugal, nobody here fell for that nonsense, the one to beat was da mouse. The race starts and she positions herself perfectly onto the bike, and you don't see her, as she gets ready for another challenge in her young life, this time there is no gladiator in the group like her mentor, they are all mortals, nobody goes off the front, and so it was to be a foot race, thus the 2 giants of the sport. They hit the transition, and da mouse hit the field, with a 6-year pent up emotion that had to be seen to believed, da mouse roared out of transition, and just kept roaring for the whole 10 km, there was no competition, just her drawing strength from the adversity ,of her past, the wrong doings of others, and 6 years of total dedication, to one thing, winning the Olympic gold medal. So, on the biggest day, on the biggest stage, the smallest competitor, put down the biggest performance ever seen in ITU drafting triathlon. da mouse that roars, fully deserves her gold medal, and triathlon ITU style finally crowns its best athlete.

It's not hard to see how Sutton inspires and motivates his athletes. --NSH001 (talk) 13:45, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Emma Frodeno

At Kona yesterday she was repeatedly referred to as Emma Frodeno. Has she changed her name? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.224.109.153 (talk) 00:00, 12 October 2015 (UTC)