Shane Gould swaps Olympics for reality TV in new Survivor season

Shane Gould won the hearts of Aussies right across the country when she took home three golds, a silver and a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics – only to shock everyone by quitting and embracing a quiet family life shortly after.

Now, she making a sensational return as she bids for gold again at the age of 61 – this time, on reality TV.

The mum-of-four will star on the new series of Channel Ten’s Australian Survivor, and insists while she’s the oldest competitor on the show, it won’t hold her back.

The show itself confirmed the news by featuring Gould in its new trailer, shared on Twitter. It shows the sporting great slowly putting on her swimming hat ready to take on the competition – looking as fit as ever. The show follows a group of contenders marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves. They compete in challenges to fight for their place, with people eliminated throughout.

https://twitter.com/Survivor_AU/status/1010658957629648896

“I have a lot of resources and tools that others don’t have. One of them is years,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I’ve got the wisdom of experience and I’ve packed in a lot more than most people would in their 60 years of life.”

Read more: Hilarious Aussie version of the Olympics will give you a giggle

Gould said she’s keen to prove people over 50 shouldn’t be “warehoused” past a certain age, and added: “I am my age. I am the accumulation of years of experience. I am a grandma, I am a mother… But I also still feel like that bright spark 25-year-old inside.”

It will be a trip down memory lane for the sportswoman, as the show is filmed in Fiji – where she spent around seven years as a child, enjoying the great outdoors. 

Indeed, by the age of 17 Gould had become an Olympic champion, having won an incredible five medals in the 1972 Olympics. At one stage she even held every world freestyle swimming record from 100 metres to 1,500 metres. 

However, it wasn’t to last, as a year later she quit her entire career to become a Christian, marry and start a family on a working farm in Margaret River.

Her new venture on Australian Survivor now coincides with her completing a PhD, and asked by the publication what she’d spend the $500,000 prize money on, she revealed she dreams of building her own sustainable cottage, as well as contributing towards her grandchildren’s tertiary education.

Do you remember watching Shane Gould in the Olympics? Will you be watching her on Australian Survivor?