With her trademark beaming smile, swim legend and Aussie sporting royalty Susie O’Neill admits that when invited on to this year’s Dancing With The Stars, the three-time Olympian struggled to come up with one good reason why she should do it!
Swapping out her Speedos for a killer pair of dance heels, the Brisbane-based mum-of-two, who turns 52 in August, wants to set the record straight that she’s no Fred Astaire when it comes to dazzling on the dancefloor!
“After turning 50, I decided this next chapter is all about deep diving into all new adventures – and it didn’t take long to figure out that while I’m a pretty good swimmer, it turns out I’m a really bad dancer!” Susie laughs, revealing to Woman’s Day that she’s never felt more like a “fish out of water”.
“When I was first invited to join, I initially thought there’s no way I’m making a fool of myself on national TV,” she explains.
“So, I asked the family [husband Cliff, and our kids, son Bill, 19, and daughter Alix, 21] and a few of my closest friends who all said why not, what have I got to lose – apart from my pride!”
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And as it happens, the woman we’ve long known as Madame Butterfly, who proudly represented her country at three Olympic Games [1992, 1996 and 2000] earning her a total of eight Olympic medals, including two gold, never imagined entering the DWTS arena was going to take her so far out of her comfort zone.
“I was way more nervous hitting the dancefloor than I ever was diving off the blocks in an Olympic final,” she says frankly.
“The kids and Cliff came to a couple of rehearsals, and it was Alix who offered this piece of advice, ‘Mum, can you soften your face a bit – instead of looking like someone’s got a gun to your head!’ Let’s just say it was the right choice my parents made to take me to swimming lessons as a kid and not ballet classes!”
SUSIE’S SECRET WEAPON
Thankfully coupled with veteran DWTS dancer Lyu Masuda, who partnered songstress Deni Hines in 2022, and who earned an impressive second place with Home And Away star Emily Weir in 2023, Susie admits without Lyu she might’ve thrown in the towel early on.
“As a swimmer, I knew all about commitment and the long hours of training it takes to be a champion, but this was very different,” she explains.
“It took me a whole week to learn just six steps, and while I’ve never been a quitter, there was a brief moment early on after plenty of tears, and maybe a couple of tantrums, when I considered not coming back to the studio after one of our lunch breaks!” she says cheekily.
“But I couldn’t do that to Lyu – he has the patience of a saint, and aside from being a remarkable dancer, he’s an incredible teacher who never stopped encouraging me to be the best I can – just like my swim coaches did throughout my career.”
And it was a moment when Susie turned up for their first rehearsal that she will never forget.
“It hit me when Lyu first took me in his arms that I’ve only ever been with one man most of my life – my husband Cliff and I have been married for 27 years come this October, so being held so intimately by another man took some getting used to!” she smiles.
“You’re up so close and personal from the get-go, 10 hours a day, seven days a week, and you just have to trust each other every step of the way.”
IT’S SHOWTIME!
Speaking to Woman’s Day from her riverside home in Brisbane’s west, Susie says nothing could’ve prepared her for the live audience shows, however having her family there watching on from the very first dance made it a little easier to slip into her dancing shoes.
“Cliff’s dad Mal and sister Nanette, who are both amazing dancers themselves, really encouraged me from the start, and are my biggest fans,” she says.
“What a lot of people won’t know when watching me is that after weeks of gruelling rehearsals, I’d developed stress injuries in my feet, so for my first two dances, I was in so much pain!”
“Anyway, I pushed through, and when I saw my daughter Alix crying, and then presenting me with flowers afterwards, and through tears said, ‘I’m so proud of you, Mum, I can’t believe you’ve done that,’ doing this was worth it just to hear her say those words.”
SPECIAL FRIENDSHIPS
Susie believes the best part of the experience has to be the many friendships forged with her fellow cast members including news veteran Michael Usher and host Sonia Kruger.
But it’s her co-host, Dr Chris Brown, who Susie hopes to keep in touch with now that filming is over.
“He’s such a lovely man and so supportive and kind,” she says of her new buddy.
“When we had days off from filming, we even managed to go swimming together – I got to show him what I’m actually really good at, and not the deer in headlights I was on the dancefloor!”
And what does Madame Butterfly make of the judges?
“It was a different experience for me to be judged when my entire sporting life was based on if you touched the wall first you were the winner – to be assessed for every twist and turn was a bit confronting,” she says.
“But what DWTS has taught me is that in life it’s OK not to be good at something and it’s also OK to just dance like nobody’s watching – I should know!”
