It’s not the year I thought I would have: Ryan
Dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ellen Ryan is still baffled by her magnificent year on both the national and international stage.
The 25-year-old from Goulburn shot to superstardom in Birmingham in July, becoming the first Australian to win a gold medal on UK soil following her comeback victory over Guernsey’s Lucy Beere in the final, which would have been enough to etch her name into the history books.
However, she was not one to rest on her laurels, claiming a second gold in the women’s pairs with her best friend Kristina Krstic after playing a superb runner on the final bowl of the extra end to take a remarkable win over England in one of the Jackaroos’ most famous wins.
With those titles, Ryan would become the first bowler, male or female, to claim the singles and pairs gold medals at the same Commonwealth Games, which also became the Jackaroos’ most successful overseas event.
On the national arena, she was part of the Melbourne Pulse’s back-to-back Bowls Premier League (BPL) triumphs in BPL15-16 as well as earning yet another Marg Morris Trophy for New South Wales at the 2022 Australian Sides Championships in October.
Speaking on Bowls Australia’s (BA) ‘The Right Line’ podcast, Ryan never thought that she would be leaving 2022 with the accolades bestowed upon her, but has loved every second of it and reminisces on the Commonwealth Games any chance she gets.
“It’s definitely not the year that I thought I would have but it’s been an amazing journey,” she said.
“I’ve been with great people and supported by the best people, it’s been great.
“Any time I get on a flight I flick through all of our Comm Games photos from when we first got to the village and tired on our gear, the whole experience was amazing and I love trying to re-live all of those moments.
“I go through all of the photos and videos and watch different people and what they do and I think I picked up that Bec Van Asch actually kissed my arm so it’s interesting to pick up something different every time.”
Some of sport’s most wholesome moments are when best friends share the ultimate success on the biggest stage, and that is exactly what happened with Ryan and Krstic at the Games, with the pair standing hand-in-hand on the top step of the podium.
Despite the 3,737 kilometre distance between Goulburn and Krstic’s home city of Perth, the pair are as close as anything and speak on a daily basis.
“I was actually just saying today that our goodbyes are getting harder and harder being from different states, but we talk every single day and I even say good morning to her before I do with my partner Mac sometimes,” she said.
“We have a really special connection and I’m really lucky to have her as my best friend and teammate.”
The pair shared a room at the University of Warwick Village while in the UK and following Ryan’s success in singles, they would rub the gold medal for luck every night throughout their pairs competition.
“I packed the gold medal away for the first night and I put it under my bed in my suitcase and I switched my phone to flight mode because I just wanted to focus on the pairs,” Ryan said.
“After that I thought bugger this, let’s use it as motivation, so two days later we got it out and I’d rub it on her shoulder and we’d give it a little kiss.
“The whole time from being selected for the team and then selected for pairs we just kept saying that we could do it, we were always so positive and even went out and bought gold scrunchies and little plastic gold medals.
“We sang about gold and dreamt about gold, so the vibes were there from the start.”
Upon returning home, Ryan was welcomed back like a hero with Goulburn giving her a parade through the town, as well as a key to the city.
Her newfound contacts in the aftermath of Birmingham include her town’s mayor.
“It’s funny because Mac and I are waiting for our block to settle and we’ve been waiting for two years, so someone suggested we ask the mayor,” Ryan recalled.
“They said that I’ve got the key to the city, so surely there would be a way to hurry it up,” she jested.
“I messaged the mayor this morning and was like surely with you being the mayor and me having the key to the city we can pull some strings to get this block to hurry up, and she’s now onto it.”
