Four-time Olympian and basketball legend Kristi Harrower says there was a time post-retirement when she wondered if she’d made the right call.
Hanging up the sneakers in January last year after a stellar career with the Australian Opals and the Bendigo Spirit, Harrower wondered if there was still a bit left in the tank.
“Sometimes I wished I had gone for a bit longer,” she tells Star Weekly on Thursday.
“But I think I gave it my all.
“I always wanted to be a starter; I wouldn’t be as good coming off the bench (laughs).
“That was one reason why I couldn’t walk away from the game. I couldn’t fully walk away from the game because of that competitive side in me, plus I loved playing.”
Kristi admits she was green with envy watching the next generation of Opals at the Rio Olympics’ opening ceremony.
“I will be absolutely honest, I was so jealous of the girls at the opening ceremony,” she says.
“I haven’t sat and watched the Olympics since 1996. It’s been 20 years since I was a spectator.
“You see all the photos on Facebook and Instagram (of Australian players), I was jealous, I wanted to be part of it.”
She now wonders if the Opals got ahead of themselves.
After giving the girls a pre-Olympic pep talk on the importance of doing everything possible “to medal”, the team finished a disappointing fifth.
“If you start talking about the gold medal (too early), you’re too ahead of yourself,” she says.
“We did the same thing in 2010 (finishing a shock fifth at the World Championships in the Czech Republic).
“You can’t talk gold medal when you come up against the USA.
“It looked like the leadership wasn’t there, the chemistry wasn’t there. It didn’t look great. I don’t know why.”
She says speaking to the squad before the Olympics actually brought her to tears.
“They put up a highlights film of my last game with the Opals against Russia in London. I was so, so emotional, I really couldn’t stop crying,” she says.
“It was more the fact that it was the best game I ever played for Australia, my last game.
“I was pretty emotional because you don’t realise how special it is to be part of it. I knew what they’re about to head into.
“We’re shattered the tradition has now stopped (of winning Olympic medals). We won medals for so long.”
Kristi bites her lip when asked about this current squad’s deficiencies.
“There are things I want to say but don’t want to say. I’ll be honest with you,” she says. “The group is changing.
“The selection was a part of it (a lack of success in Rio). I honestly think of people like Suzy Batkovic and Abby Bishop should have been there.
“There were players you couldn’t play at the end of the tournament.
“I think with this group, there were too many players who didn’t have the international experience.”
Unlike some retiring champions, who struggle once the limelight shifts elsewhere, Kristi says she was in a fortunate position to deal with retirement.
“I think I would have really struggled if I wasn’t pregnant (with son Cooper) and didn’t have my business (Boost Juice in Bendigo),” she says.
Back shooting hoops at a social level in her home of Keilor with another fellow Australian player, Sandra Tomlinson, Kristi admits she struggled with her body shape after giving birth to Cooper, now 15 months old.
“The thing that I struggled with the most, as many people do post birth, is just not being in shape,” she says.
“I didn’t do anything for 12 maybe 16 months.
“That was the hardest thing, trying to get back into some kind of fitness or activity.”
It must be incredibly tough for local mums to take on the Aussie champion who won four Olympic medals (three silver and a bronze) and three WNBL titles.
“Everybody hates playing against me,” she laughs.
She says giving birth made her realise how selfish a professional sporting career can be.
“Athletes are selfish, really selfish, because it’s just about us,” she says.
“You had all the time in the world to do what you wanted to do. I definitely miss that side of things.
“And you’ve got to have more patience as a mother.”
She says the social competition in Keilor has allowed her to build friendships away from the game.
“I missed out on those things while I was playing,” she says.
“The only people you hung around with were in your team.”
While Kristi is enjoying a quieter life these days, she’s frustrated by what she feels is a substandard WNBL and is envious of how Netball Australia runs its premier competition.
“The way they promote their game and pack out their stadiums, that’s what I’m jealous of,” she says.
“That’s what the Australian women’s basketball league needs. Take a leaf out of their book.
“You need somebody like Michele Timms to be the face of your league.
“The women’s league struggles every year.”
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