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Talking career highlights, sustainable activewear and goal-setting tips with Bronte Campbell OAM

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North Bondi-based Bronte Campbell knew she wanted to be an Olympian from just seven years of age, and swimming has been woven throughout the fabric of her life ever since—she's now both a triple Olympic gold medal winner, and a World Champion.


Her achievements extend outside of the pool, too, and when we chatted Bronte was deep in start-up mode for the sustainable activewear company she co-founded, Earthletica.


Here Bronte reflects on her esteemed swimming career, delves into the inspiration behind her business ventures, shares what she misses most about Bondi when she's away, and her tips for pursuing our lifelong goals.


Bronte Campbell OAM with her Olympic medal.

Four-time Olympian, Founder & Co-Founder, business degree graduate—your achievements are nothing short of inspiring! What have some of your highlights been on this accomplished and varied journey?


It's funny when you say varied—I feel like I've done a lot of the same thing—swim up and down a pool for most of my life!


Training takes up so much of my time and energy—it took me eight years to do a three-year degree—I definitely didn't feel I was accomplishing great things doing that. It was a slog, the rest of my class had literally started and finished their degrees and moved onto full time work before I was half way through!


Things happen at a different pace for me, though. Swimming has always been my main focus, and as sportspeople we operate on different timelines, so it's important not to get caught up comparing yourself.


My career highlight was the very first time I qualified for the Olympics. I've never been so happy after a race in my whole career. I was 17, had just finished school, and had dreamed of competing at the Olympics since I was seven.


The gold medals and world records that have come after that—nothing has compared to wearing the green and gold for the first time.


Going to the Olympics never gets less special but as expectation increases so does stress. There's a sense of relief when you qualify for your second, third or fourth Olympics—rather than that pure joy that I had from the very first time. Despite all the stress and sacrifice, I still keep wanting to go back for more.


You took a break from swimming after the Tokyo Olympics. What brought this on, and how was life away from the pool?


From when I was seven until I was 28, my number one focus was my swimming career.


All throughout school, university, and any jobs I've had along the way, swimming was always number one. I was obsessed, right from when I was seven. My coach would send me home all the time at that age. He used to say: "There's no world champion seven year olds! I want you to still love this sport when you grow up." It was excellent advice because I still love swimming 23 years later.


After Tokyo though, I needed a break from my injuries and the mental load of training; and I wanted to prove I could do something different. I was working at EY in business consulting during that time, and loving going to the city and feeling like a grown up, instead of walking around with wet hair and in chlorine all the time!


What prompted you to return to competitive swimming?


During the break I thought about whether I would go back to the pool, and at the start of 2023 decided I would start training and see if I could make the Paris Olympics.


It's not super common to come back from a break like that, so I wasn't sure how successful I'd be, and I thought: "If I don't want to pursue this, I can always quit and return to my life outside of the pool."


It involved a lot of sacrifice, but I was really willing to do that to see if I could take on this next challenge of having a big break and coming back into the pool and to do things a bit differently—it's nice to have different challenges, I've always chased those challenges.


I was down in Canberra 80 per cent of the time for training. In swimming you pick which coach you want to work with then move there, and my new coach was based at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). So I packed my bags from Bondi and drove to Canberra for three weeks every month. I did this for a year, leaving my partner, my friends and my beloved ocean swims behind.


I had a few days back home every month and I was really lucky to be able to train just down the road at Cranbrook School and do my gym at North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club (NBSLSC) so I could really soak in all my time back in the Bondi Bubble.


"My career highlight was the very first time I qualified for the Olympics. I’ve never been so happy after a race in my whole career. I was 17, had just finished school, and had dreamed of competing at the Olympics since I was seven."


Is there anything you really miss about Bondi when you’re away training or competing?


I missed everything about Bondi when I was in Canberra. The reason I didn't move there full time was because I knew I needed to have a base here.


I absolutely love getting in the ocean, I get in almost every day, either in the morning or afternoon—no day is so bad that a dip in the ocean won't make it better.


I miss the water, getting a coffee at bRU, running into friends, and my Blue Crush surf chat, where we see who's up for a surf.


Bondi is such a special place with really special people in it, who are obsessed with the ocean and community. People are always doing something interesting and bizarre—stare into a garage door and you never know what you'll see—from people painting to pottery.


I also enjoy chatting with the locals who have lived in Bondi since the 1960s or 1970s. They've seen it change, have so many interesting stories, and you'll find them up at the Diggers on a Sunday afternoon—I love that there are so many different sections of our community.


Do you have any race day "musts"? Routines, snacks, good luck charms and so forth…


I have a pretty set routine of the things I need to do on race days. I make sure I'm awake three to four hours before I need to be competing, get enough fuel in, and make sure that fuel will last.


Two hours before I'll head into the pool, and make sure I’m prepared and ready.


Oh, and I'll 100% get a coffee.


What are some of your favourite local hangouts?


I live in North Bondi on Ben Buckler, so anything super close.


In the mornings it's bRU, and I've been spending a lot of time at Pocket and The Depot since I've been back.


Dinner is obviously Rocker as it's just down the road, I'm at the North Bondi RSL from time to time, and up at the Diggers a lot as my partner plays golf obsessively, so if I want to see him I need to go up there!


I also love going down to Promenade. When the precinct got redone, I was away and it was so exciting to come back to, it's such a special place.


"Bondi is such a special place with really special people in it, who are obsessed with the ocean and community. People are always doing something interesting and bizarre—stare into a garage door and you never know what you'll see—from people painting to pottery."


What does an average day look like for you now?


My days are pretty structured. I'm normally up at around 6:30am, and can have slower mornings now, which I really appreciate.


My partner and I will have coffee and breakfast at home together, and I like to arrange exercise or a meet up—one lap of Bondi on the sand, and a jump in the water for a swim.


I'll then head into the Techstars office, where Earthletica Activewear is based in Haymarket, and start work. It’s flexible and sometimes I'll work from home too.


Tell us a little about your businesses Earthletica and PB with Bronte. How did they come about, and what’s your vision for them?


Earthletica is a sustainable activewear company raising the bar for sustainability, quality and innovation. Activewear as an industry is reliant on unrecycled (virgin) plastic, we use recycled bottles and old fishing gear to create our pieces, keeping the quality of the fabric while reducing the environmental impact.


We're not just creating one item sustainably—a lot of brands do a sustainable piece or capsule collection, and then the rest of their supply chain is reliant on unrecycled plastic. For us, we thought: "Okay cool, let's build this from the ground up and embed sustainability at every level of the business."


The Bronte Jacket is the first jacket in the world to have a weatherproofing Bio-Alloy Shield, so it's made from plant-based membrane instead of PFAS, and it's the first to have a tapeless zipper made from recycled plastic.


We're really trying to show you can have sustainable, innovation and style all together—you don't need to compromise to have a brilliant garment.


We have a really beautiful Earthletica community. Our garments are designed in Bondi, Co-Founder, Libby Babet founded The Upbeat women's gym on Bondi Road, and we've been accepted into the Techstars Accelerator—500 companies applied, and 12 of us got in.


PB with Bronte is also very much a Bondi inspired business. I was swimming out on the bay a lot during COVID, and people were asking: "What's a pull buoy for? What’s a kickboard for?"


So, I created a range that looks great, is inspired by the area, and the products come with an instruction manual that will teach people how to make the most of them. It's about democratising that swimming knowledge.


Do you have any advice for those of us looking to get out and swim more, or even more generally—pursue our lifelong goals, as it seems you have done?


We're all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for, so don’t be overwhelmed by the end, focus on the start.


I didn't know how to run a business, and now I own two. I started researching and taking tiny little steps, and would say—don't be so scared of the big goal that it stops you from starting.


Back when I first moved to Bondi five years ago, I was genuinely scared of open water swimming (I had an unreasonable fear of sharks). But I took little steps. I'd swim to where the surfers were and get terrified, and then bit by bit built that up, and now I'm swimming out to the bay, the shark net, and out to Bronte with the Wobbegongs. If you told me I would be swimming to Bronte I wouldn't have believed you!


What's coming up in Bronte's world—both personally and professionally?


Earthletica is the biggest thing in my world now, and planning a wedding—I got engaged just after Paris as well so 2024 was a big year. I have no idea how to plan a wedding so any advice is appreciated!


With swimming I'll take a little break like after Tokyo and decide what I’m doing once I’ve had some space from the pool.



Connect with Bronte

Follow her journey on Instagram

Keep up to date via Earthletica's blog or Instagram



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