4TG
4TG (For The Girls) is the podcast empowering the next generation of female athletes to build confidence, break barriers, and thrive — in sport and in life. Through real, raw conversations with elite athletes, coaches, and changemakers, we share the stories, tools, and inspiration young women need to chase bold goals and shape the future of women’s sport.
4TG
#43 What It Really Takes to Win an Olympic Gold Medal, With Josie Baff
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
She finished 17th in her seeding run. She had the flu. She won Olympic gold anyway.
Josie Baff is a 23-year-old snowboarder from Jindabyne and Australia's first ever Olympic gold medallist in women's snowboard cross. But this episode is not about what happened on the podium. It is about everything that happened between the race that broke her and the one that made her.
After a difficult campaign at Beijing 2022, Josie spent four years rebuilding her mindset from the ground up. Working with a sports psychologist and life coach, she developed the mental performance tools that carried her all the way to Milan 2026. Her story is raw, practical and packed with lessons every athlete needs to hear.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why success is not linear and how to use your worst result as your biggest pivot
- The alter ego strategy Josie uses to perform consistently under pressure
- Process over outcome and why wishing for a result is not the same as working for one
- The difference between confidence and arrogance and why female athletes need to own it
- How Josie used journaling, sports psychology and intentional training to build mental strength
- Why luck in sport is something you forge, not something that finds you
- What needs to change to keep more girls and women in sport for longer
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction and what this episode is really about
02:15 – Snap Fitness Rapid Fire
04:30 – Growing up in Jindabyne and falling in love with snowboarding
08:45 – Fun as a performance philosophy and intrinsic motivation
13:00 – Beijing 2022 and the campaign that didn't go to plan
17:30 – World Championships heartbreak and what it revealed
23:00 – Building an alter ego with her sports psychologist
29:15 – Process over outcome and being present in training
35:00 – Luck, superstitions and letting go of jinx thinking
40:30 – "I can't believe it, but I kind of can" – confidence vs arrogance
47:00 – Tall poppy syndrome and owning your belief as a female athlete
52:30 – What women's sport needs to grow and the power of co-ed environments
58:00 – What Josie would tell her 16-year-old self
Follow Josie
Instagram: @josiebaff
⭐ Did this episode inspire you?
- Please subscribe to 4TG, leave a five-star review, and share it with an athlete, parent or coach who needs to hear it
- Follow @4tg_podcast on all socials and visit us at 4tg.com.au 📱
☕ Want to support 4TG?
- Individuals - help us keep the movement going by donating or becoming a 4TG member at https://buymeacoffee.com/4tg_podcast
- For brand collaborations or sponsorships, email: kylie@4tg.com.au
🔗 Struggle with Pre-Game Nerves?
Here is our FREE 5 Min Pre-Game Reset Tool that will help you calm the noise, lock in your focus, and walk into game time with more self-belief, not panic, to perform your best.
🧠 1:1 Athlete Mentoring – Confidence and Champion’s Mindset
- Want 1:1 support to build real self-belief and perform with freedom? The 4TG 1:1 Athlete Mentoring is a 6-week program for driven female athletes who want to back themselves, lead with confidence and play to their strengths – on the field and off it.
- We will work on mindset, habits, resilience, leadership ...