Last week on home soil

I have had quite a week with the media.  Firstly, and very excitedly I can announce that Aquadiva have released their Olympic Edition swimwear - just in time for my imminent Olympic tour departure.  These are handmade pieces with Swarovski crystals and real gold leaf.

The Aquadiva team have supported me all the way through my Olympic journey and now they are taking it one step further.  They are putting all funds made through the sale of these limited edition swimsuits back to the athletes – an absolutely amazing thing for them to do.  So get your friends, family, colleagues and your bosses to check out the site below, to be a part of my Olympic journey and buy a piece of Olympic history. You can search the Olympians, their favourite Olympic edition swimsuit and you can choose who to support…pick me!!!! J Check out the Aquadiva Olympic Edition swimsuits here 

To all of the Brisbanites out there perhaps you stumbled across the most recent Brisbane News? Well be sure to go back through and have a look at the Up Close article on page 5…yes you guess it, it’s me!  This was arranged by some lovely people from my high school – Stuartholme School.  So Stuartholme gets a nice mention, as well as my extremely supportive employer Aurecon.  If you need any roads designed you know where to go J. The article can be found at this link   Brisbane News 'Up Close' article

This media storm is overwhelming, and I love it!  I’m sure there will be a lot less of us water polo players in the public eye, especially as we are headed to Montenegro…unless the paparazzi follow us there (sometimes sarcasm doesn’t come across in text J)

So until next time

Zbogom

Jane 

Aquadiva Olympic Edition swim suits

Check out the Aquadiva online store to get your piece of Olympic history!

The beautiful togs come in a range of 5 colours - one colour for each of the olympians (water godesses) representing Aquadiva

Its a race to get them! They are hand made with Swarovski crystals and real gold leaf.

The $400 price tag goes back to the athlete/olympian/water goddess, so check them out at http://aquadivaswimwear.com/inc/sdetail/59904/59909

and pick me!!!!!

Or to check out the whole range of beautiful swim wear go to 

http://aquadivaswimwear.com/?xtr=JANEMORAN

Totally Wild appearance

http://ten.com.au/video-player.htm?movideo_p=41457&movideo_m=188600

Just a little appearance on day time TV! The star starts at around 4 minutes 58 into the clip.

Meet Jane Moran - AOC Website

So the questions are:


1. What is my proudest achievement?
2. Why do I love being Australian?
3. What do I think of when London comes to mind?
4. What is my favourite breakfast?
5. What do I do on a lazy Sunday?
6. What must I take with me when I travel?
7. Do I play any musical instruments?


http://london2012.olympics.com.au/news/videos/media/7CB1F9D0-B41F-11E1-BCF5005056A302E2

Stingers Chillin' in Canberra

The Aussie Stingers have spent an interesting couple of weeks in Canberra.  Canberra certainly put the weather on for us – this morning was our first frost and minus six degrees.  Photo below to prove it!

We have been in the media again (twice in one week is a lot more than we’re used to), but this time it was a bit less exciting – for us anyway.  One of my teammates contracted whooping cough from our recent trip to China.  When this was known we were all advised to get blood tests.  These tests showed two more positive results – another teammate and a coach.  This was plastered all over the news last night, but mainly because the Olympic swim team had to cancel their swim meet in Canberra as a precaution.  Oh well, any media is good media, so they say…

We head home for our last few days with family and friends at the end of the week, and then we’re off on our Olympic Tour via Montenegro and Italy – it will definitely be a nice change in weather, and perhaps even a chance to get a tan before the Olympic Games! 

In other news, one of my brilliant supporters – Aquadiva Swimwear, has released some of their new swimwear through a photo shoot I did with them not so long ago… perhaps not a modelling career awaiting, but still some pretty cool shots came out of it. 

To check out these and a lot more awesome swimwear go to http://aquadivaswimwear.com/?xtr=JANEMORAN

From freezing Canberra, til next time

Jane. 

News articles on our "Official" Olympic Team announcement

AOC website article - http://london2012.olympics.com.au/news/why-we-ll-follow-this-team
AOC website article - http://london2012.olympics.com.au/news/stinging-for-gold
AOC website profile - http://london2012.olympics.com.au/athlete/jane-moran

The Canberra Times newspaper - http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/plenty-of-firsts-in-goldhungry-team-20120612-2086v.html?skin=text-only

The Cairns Post newspaper - http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/06/13/223765_local-news.html

The Manly Daily newspaper - http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/hollys-unique-family-double/

The West Australian newspaper - http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/other/13935969/beadsworth-and-ralph-get-nod-for-london/

The Sunday Times newspaper - http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/london-olympics/classic-golds-net-effect/story-fn9dj0r8-1226391676552
The Courier Mail newspaper - http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/london-olympics/gold-beckons-for-girl-who-dared-dream/story-fn9di2lk-1226391654304
FoxSports - http://www.foxsports.com.au/olympic-games/classic-golds-net-effect/story-fn5k3iok-1226391676552

World League Super Finals and OLYMPIC TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT

So today brings the announcement of some really good news…but more on that later J  The last leg of our five week overseas tour took us to Changshu, China for the World League Super Finals.  This is the last competition before the Olympics so teams were there to make a stand (or so we thought).  It appears that there were three categories of teams – teams who are in a rebuilding phase, as they didn’t qualify for the Olympics, teams who are playing funny buggers by sending junior teams as they want to keep their Olympic campaign a secret, and teams who were there to win. We met an array of these teams, made apparent by the score lines.

We topped our pool by beating Canada, Italy and Russia 20-4, 12-3 and 9-7 respectively.  This saw us cross over to Germany where we had a near perfect game winning 18-0.  I unfortunately strained a muscle in this game so was rested for the semi-final against China.  This was very nerve racking (it always is more so from the sidelines), especially since we were trailing 4-0 early in the 2^nd quarter.  The troops rallied and blasted through the 2^nd half, recording an 8-7 victory. 

I was cleared to play in the grand final against the USA which was great, but unfortunately our performance was not so great.  We could not buy a goal, which is a credit to the USA defence, but definitely a wake up call for us for the big event in two months time.  We lost to the USA 6-4. Directly after the medal ceremony we jumped on the bus, travelled the two hours to Shanghai to catch our planes home. The next couple of days was a nervous wait, as we were to get the phone calls to advise us if we were in the OLYMPIC TEAM…and I got an excellent phone call!! It happened to be on my birthday so it was that much more sweet.

So there were a couple of celebrations, some tears and a lot of relief, but no rest for the wicked - we are now back in Canberra for our last training camp in Australia before the Olympics.  

Until next time

Jane (the Olympian - first time I’ve been able to say that J)

Episode 7: Meet your 2012 Olympic team

Welcome to the 2012 Stingers!

Episode 6: Who has a trunk for an arm?

Funniest episode yet!  And no, thats not a tea cosy on my head... it was bloody cold in Canberra when that was filmed!!!

Episode 5: Three sisters - with one dream - three Olympic Games

Mel, Bec and Katie - what an inspiration!!

Episode 4: Missed out for Beijing. Motivated for London

I certainly know how Sophie and VB felt as I also missed out on selection for Beijing.  Not planning on repeating that for this cycle!!

Episode 3: Aussie Stingers Head Coach Greg McFadden on squad selection for London 2012

Sorry, not featured here...but the episodes continue

Episode 2: History of Australian Women's Water Polo

The TV career continues...

Episode 1: Aussie Stingers Countdown to the 2012 London Olympics

TV career here I come :)

Aussie Stingers - Water Warriors

Featuring some excellent chin-up technique at the start of the clip :)

Jane Moran - FOCUSED

Shanghai day trippin'

11th June 2012

On our one day off from our Chinese training camp we got to venture the streets of Shanghai.  From fake markets to malls and British colonial high teas to river cruises, we certainly had a fun-filled day.

The Brisbane Barracudas are represented by 5 members in the Aussie Stingers squad – below are the Barras on the boat in Shangers. 

Chillin' out in SIngapore

18th May 2012

After our success in Japan we were awarded three days off in Singapore.  It was nice to finally explore the city.  I can’t count how many times we have had stopovers in Singapore but have never ventured out of the airport.  Due to the reports of clenbuterol steroids in meats in China, and our envisaged three weeks sans protein, we were keen to sink our teeth into just about anything.  So Singapore’s mantra was eat, shop, sightsee.

We stayed close to Little India, so got to taste all of those delights, as well as the Turkish/Middle Eastern cuisine that populated most street corners. We tested the famous and highly recommended chilli crab at Jumbo’s at Clark Quay, below.

 

Even though we have luggage weight restrictions, that didn’t stop our shopping day.  Singapore is crazy with shoppers, we heard mention that it was better than Paris for shopping, well it appeared so. We shopped Orchard Road and Marina Bay.

We certainly tested out the sights – Little India, street markets, Riverside, but the highlight was the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, duly dubbed “the boat in he sky”, complete with bar, restaurant and 100m swimming pool on top of the building – on the 57^th floor. We decided to stay dry this time around but it was still a fantastic sight.

Our next stop was China.  We have just completed an intense two-week training camp at the Shanghai institute of sport and now are heading to Changshu for the World League Super Finals from the 29^th of May.  My next report will be after the World League, so sorry for the ‘not-so-water-polo’ instalment this time, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me. So until next time,

再見

World League Preliminaries

15th May 2012

Konichiwa from Chiba, Japan.  We have had the World League preliminaries here against the Japanese and the Chinese. The Chinese are the current World Championship silver medallists, hence can boast the title of second best in the world…not to us J We played them with a less than full team – our Captain sat out with illness, and one of our other players sat out due to injury.  So we only had three substitutes, and it was tough.  The Chinese launched their attack early and stormed out to a 6-2 lead.  We changed gears in the second half and nawed away at them until we were 1 goal up in the last quarter, and didn’t relinquish.  Beating the Chinese with a less than a full team was very pleasing, and a real boost to our confidence! Next up was the Japanese team.  They are a much smaller team, but can be quite nifty and tricky, so we had to watch out for this.  We managed an 18-2 victory, so a very comfortable win. 

It was a whirlwind trip to Japan – just 4 days. We were able to taste some local delicacies…tepanyako, Japanese pancake, and of course sushi.

We are now all looking forward to a relaxing three days off in Singapore. 

Sayonara until next time.

"London Prepares" Series

8th May 2012

From the National League finals we flew home for a last night’s sleep in our own beds for a while before flying to London the next day.  In London the Aussie Stingers competed in the ‘London Prepares’ test event, with games against Olympic qualified teams – Great Britain, Hungary and the USAOur first game was against the Brits, after much publicity of them claiming the Aussie’s to be the dirtiest team in women’s water polo – it even made the Australian papers.  Photo below, and the article in The Weekend Australian at this link -  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/london-games/stingers-not-dirty-team-just-physical/story-e6frgdg6-1226347259310

I guess the Brits are so new to the game that they don’t really know what to expect, well they do now after we trounced them 10-4 in front of an almost full house of 4000 in the Olympic venue.  Our next game was against our main rivals – the USA.  We always have very tough matches, and this was no exception. The USA were the victors with a 10-9 win, which meant that we had to beat Hungary to get another shot at the USA in the gold medal match.  The Hungarian game was a very high scoring affair, but we always felt comfortable with a few goals lead at each break.  So then to the grand final – the business end of the tournament.  The atmosphere was electric.  The venue was packed out to 5000 people (mostly Brits who have only recently been introduced to water polo, but were as boisterous as ny supporter). The USA got a great start and we were trailing by two goals, but by sticking to our plan we chipped away at them and gained the lead by the first quarter break.  We never gave the lead up and won in a 6-5 victory.  It was a great feeling, winning in the Olympic venue and singing the national anthem with our gold medals and Olympic mascot as a gift.  Now we just have to repeat this in two months time!

No rest for the wicked, we went straight from the Grand Final to Heathrow airport to catch a plane to Tokyo via Singapore (I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either).  We have a round of World League against the Japanese and Chinese this week in Chiba.

I will hopefully bring you some more good results in the next instalment!!

Sayonara for now. 

The "All Stars" Game

16th April 2012

The Aussie Stingers squad of 17 had a training camp at Sutherland, Sydney from Easter Monday through to Friday.  It was an intense training block which included gym, training games and the dreaded swim testing – 5x400m on descending times to maximum effort.  We wear hear rate monitors with battery packs so the coaches can see the live feed of how hard we’re working.  I have a shoulder injury that blew up for the first time in this test, so I didn’t complete the last 400m.  This didn’t stop my heart rate maintaining above 98% for 18 minutes…yes I was buggered!!

Lots of physio treatment and rehabilitation exercises kept me going, and we headed to Canberra to play the ‘All Stars’ game at the Australian Institute of Sport.  The two All Stars teams were made up of the best of the best – choses from all National League teams around Australia – one Southern Team and one Northern team (my team).  We certainly kept the massive crowd on the edge of their seats, with the result only decided in the last 30 seconds.  Unfortunately the Southern Team were the victors, but it was a great experience, and a great event for Australian Water Polo.

We are now at home until National League Finals at the end of April…can we, the Brisbane Barracudas make history in becoming the first team to win four in a row?  Tune in next time to see…

Ciao for now

Jane

National League Finals

2nd May 2012

I am writing from London as the Aussie Stingers are here to use the Olympic facility in the ‘London Prepares’ test event.  We start off our campaign against Great Britain tomorrow, the USA Friday and Hungary Saturday.  This is straight off the back of our Australian National League finals last week in Sydney.  My team, the Brisbane Barracudas won the minor premiership going into the finals series, but couldn’t take anything for granted, as any of the top four women’s teams could take it out on the day.  The courier mail featured us (picture attached) in the lead up. We defeated favourite Victorian Tigers in a very hard fought semi-final to take us to the Grand Final against the Cronulla Sharks.  This was a rematch of last years Grand Final, which saw us claw our way back from a 5 goal deficit, to force our way into extra time, and win on a penalty shoot-out for our third consecutive National League title.  Things went a little bit differently this year, and it just wasn’t our day.  The Sharks goalie had a stellar game and we struggled to get anything past her.  Our sharp shooter Kate Gynther rocketed 2 in the net, and I managed to get a centre forward goal passed her, to give the Barras our 3 goals.  The Sharks managed 6 goals for a fairly easy victory. So our fairy tale ending didn’t eventuate, but onwards and upwards as they say.  As I mentioned before, we are now in London for a week, then head to Japan next week for World League preliminaries, then Shaghai for an intensive training camp, then Changshu for World League Super Finals.