The mention of her knock-knees causes champion swimmer Leisel Jones to turn red – then erupt in gales of laughter.
As a gangly 10-year-old, she dreamt of finding catwalk fame as a model, and was convinced her knock-knees were the only things standing in her way.
Such was her zeal to walk straight and tall, she pleaded with her mum Rosemary to let her have an operation.
Little did she know those same knock-knees would be instrumental in her becoming an Olympic champion, a vital tool when doing breaststroke.
“I was so self-conscious about my knees,” Leisel, 18, recalls. “We even went to a doctor about them, but he said an operation wasn’t a good idea as I hadn’t finished growing.
“Thankfully we left it. Now that I know they help me swim, I don’t worry about them.”
Leisel’s focusing instead on trying to win more than one individual gold medal at the Athens Olympics.
Such an achievement would make her the youngest Australian swimmer to achieve this since Shane Gould, who claimed three as a teenager at the 1972 Munich Games.
“It’s probably a bit of a bold prediction,” says Leisel, “but it’s good to set goals. And if nobody’s achieved it since Shane, I’d love to go after it!”
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