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Steve Waugh feels like a rookie. After almost two decades as an Australian cricketer and 168 Tests, he feels like the new kid on the block.
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Waugh, 43, flew in to Beijing overnight for his first experience as an Olympian. He and rugby legend John Eales are acting as advisers, motivators and mentors to Australia’s Olympians.
Waugh finds it a somewhat humbling experience.
“I’m just hanging back a little bit and watching what is going on,” he told AAP.
“I feel very privileged to be here. It’s a great honour to be amongst all these athletes.”
Waugh has immense respect for athletes who dedicate their lives to a sport without any of the perks that come with being an international cricket star.
“Cricketers and other professional sportsmen probably don’t realise how lucky they’ve got it compared with some of these other sports like water polo, gymnastics and rowing,” he said.
“They’re not really making any money at all and it gives me a new perspective on being a cricketer.”
Waugh got a taste of life as a Games athlete when he represented his country in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
He loved that experience. But for him the Olympics are something else again.
“I’ve always loved the Olympic Games. For me it is the ultimate sporting event.”
He’s also feeling a little self-conscious about his level of fitness, which he rates as “pretty ordinary”.
“I won’t be wearing too many singlets around the rowers, that’s for sure.”
He sees his role as completely flexible.
“I think I can use the experience of my professional career in things like dealing with the media, being away from home and so on.
“People have the same issues across most sports. They have the same dedication, the same desires, the same pride.The only difference is the money.”
Waugh has already spent time in Australia with many of the athletes he will mentor. When he visited them he took along his treasured baggy green cap, which he sees as cricket’s equivalent of the Olympic Games.
But he did not pack it in his Beijing bag.
“It’s a bit tattered to take away and I didn’t want to risk losing it, so it’s stayed at home for this one.”