Signet is courtside at Richmond’s Burnley Park with Aussie 800 metre runner Peter Bol. Burna Boy is pumping through a speaker while Bol takes a break from playing basketball with some local kids to chat with us about his Sudanese heritage, the importance of family and his preparations for the future.
Middle-distance runner, coach, keynote speaker, proud Sudanese – Australian and all-round good guy, Peter Bol holds the title for the fastest Australian ever to run the 800 metres. Despite his incredible achievements, Bol remains an unexpectedly average 29-year-old Aussie who loves “trash talking while playing FIFA with his mates and shooting hoops at the local park." Bol’s life may have started overseas but his immigration journey, family values and the joy he found in the sports he loves, could not be more Australian.
“It's hard to talk trash while running, you just run out of breath. I love the banter, but I have to save it for the basketball court or the PlayStation.”
Nagmeldin ‘Peter’ Bol's run began in South Sudan, where his family originated. They sought refuge from local conflicts and an escalating war, first escaping to Egypt when he was four years old before immigrating to Australia. Bol reflects on the tough sacrifices made by his parents during troubled times, recognising the move as difficult but necessary for their family.
"My family just wanted to get us to a safer place. We chose Australia because we had family in Toowoomba, Queensland. They talked about Australia, and they sold it to us as a dream. My parents said we'd love to get there someday and just filled out the forms. We got accepted and it was the dream that we were looking for."
Bol's earliest memories are a blend of childhood antics with his brothers, dodging wild dogs in Egypt, and running competitions at home. “I just wanted to beat my brothers.”, Bol says laughing. Running, initially a game and part of everyday life, would later grow into a passion that would open doors to representing his new home in the sport.
"I ran to school and played outside every single day. I wasn’t exposed to the technology and the phones that everyone probably has here and now. We had so little, and I tended to spend all my time outside. Where I’m from, you just grow up running. It was almost a game. I never recognised it as being a sport until I actually came to Australia."
Upon arriving in Australia, Bol loved the sense of freedom, the Tim Tams and the choices Australia offered him, but he found the Aussie slang took some getting used to.
"I loved the sense of freedom and that I could just walk out and play in the street without my parents having to worry about if I was safe or not. I did learn early on that Aussies shorten everything, and that everyone's your 'mate'. It's pretty friendly, but hard to get your head around when English isn’t your first language!”
Bol’s talent on the track and in the 800 metre event sent him to multiple world championships and eventually the 2020 Tokyo Games where his popularity skyrocketed. "I didn't actually win a medal, but I won the support of the nation, which is pretty cool." The Australian public rallied behind him as he became one of the most widely recognised Australian athletes, unable to walk down the street without getting stopped by fans.
"I had the best experience at the Tokyo Games. I performed well, and the support of the Australian community was just unreal. I rocked up with seven thousand followers on my Instagram and came out with over fifty thousand. That support was probably the most special thing."
For Bol, family was the only constant in his life while they moved around the world and within Australia. “I've relocated to so many different places. Family is the only constant that I had moving from Sudan, to Egypt, to Australia and then within Australia, from Toowoomba, to Perth and finally to Melbourne. They've always been there for me and that's why they’re so important.”
Footage of Peter’s family and friends celebrating his run at the Tokyo Games captured the hearts of Aussies and the media. Viewers praised the wholesome support shown to the runner as well as the sheer numbers of supporters he had at home. “The footage went viral, but I don't know what the big deal was...more people turned up to my nephew's birthday party".
The joy Bol finds in running, despite its challenges, was evident as he describes the meditative state achieved during competition. "When I’m competing and running at my fastest times, it's just beautiful, it’s almost like meditating. When I get it right, I’m just in the present moment and I’m either embracing or blocking out everything that's around me. It's a hard feeling to describe but it's almost like I've got no weight on my shoulders, no pressure. I’m just calm. There's no worries in the world and I’m just at peace. I think that's probably the best way to describe it.”
As Peter Bol sets his sights on representing Australia again in 2024, he’s focused on not only of winning but also of giving back to the community that rallied behind him. "I want to be the best in the world, to wear the green and gold again and hopefully, win this time. That is why I got into this sport…well that and I get to travel a lot. I also want to give back to this country outside of the track... I want to help people and inspire them to achieve to their best.”
Outside the track Peter has become a popular mentor and keynote speaker, inspiring the Australian community that has supported him in his journey.
“I’ve been running, mentoring, coaching and doing a lot of public speaking over the last few years and it’s thanks to sponsors like Signet that I get to do the things I care about and bring me joy. It’s pretty special to be at a level where companies want to get behind and support you. I'm grateful for Signet's support.”
Signet is proud to run with Peter Bol as a member of Team Signet. Join us as we get behind him, the rest of the team, and over 60,000 other Aussie ventures all chasing their own dreams.
Read on to find out more about Bol.
Signet: Where is your favourite place to go for a run?
Peter: I probably feel the most connected and focused when I’m in nature. No matter what time of day and what season of the year I just prefer to be out in nature. I do like the cold because I can sweat a lot and it gets pretty hot otherwise. I'm originally from Perth and running in the heat is tough. If I’m running along the Swan River in Perth, running around the Tan here in Melbourne or running in some forest in Germany, as long as I have nature, I’m ok. I’m meditating when I’m running in nature. One of the craziest times I trained was when I was in South Africa and I was running through, almost the desert and I’m seeing all these native animals running around me. It was quite peaceful … and scary at the same time.
Signet: When you've done all that hard training and you get to that space where you're running your fastest, tell us more about what that feels like?
Peter: It's just pure. I’m so still and thinking about nothing else. That's my favourite part about running. It’s probably why I train so hard to get there and it's hard to get to that state these days. You're always distracted and thinking about something here and there, but at a World Championship, you're thinking about absolutely nothing but running. Even with hundreds of thousands in the crowd. It's pretty special.
Signet: How do you motivate yourself to keep going when you’re training? Do you have any tips for young Australian’s out there training to run as fast as Peter Bol?
Peter: When I run, especially an easy run, it's probably about 50 minutes to an hour. So, I almost try to play a game with myself using my senses. For the first 10 minutes, I’m focusing on sounds. Whether that's the wind, the trees, the leaves around me, the birds or cars going by, I try to identify and focus on every sound. Then once that's done, I just try to smell everything around me, the flowers, the trees and everything that's around. I’m working with my senses to focus while I run. Before I know it, it's like 50 minutes is done.
Signet: Tell us a bit about what you love about Sudan and Sudanese culture?
Peter: Oh man, there's so much I love about my culture and Sudanese food. There are so many different types of food and the dancing…we love dancing. Everyone's so close… like you saw during the Tokyo Games. All of my family was together in one house. A close family is so important in Sudanese culture. That's probably what I love the most, that everyone is together and embraces each other.
Signet: What were the things that you noticed first or that stood out about Australia?
Peter: The first thing l noticed was the language. It was completely foreign to me and different to what we spoke, which was Arabic. When I came to Australia, I didn't speak any English. I could only speak Arabic and another tribal language from back home. I probably knew how to say “Hello” or “Hi” and that was about it. I think what took me the longest to get used to was the language. It took me about a good year and a half to speak it fluently. Reading and writing, that took a while too. I also think Australian culture in general took getting used to. If you think about what defines Australian culture and then go overseas, you think, “what is Australian culture?” It's a culture that's made up by so many different people. I almost get used to it, but I must keep embracing and on-learning because there's always something new. I’m still getting used to it. When I go to Europe and I speak, they're like, ‘oh, you're definitely Australian’. I was like, ‘Why do you think that?’ They’re like, ‘well, you shorten every single word.’
Signet: When you speak to family back in Sudan, do they think you sound very Australian?
Peter: Yeah, that's probably the funniest part. You go back home, or you speak to family over the phone in Sudan and you're a completely different person. I've spent more time in Australia than I have anywhere else. So, I am basically a full Australian rather than anything else.
Signet: What is it like to be part of the Australian team?
Peter: Being part of the Australian team is special. Once I’m part of the team, I’m not just associated with the track and running. We’ve got a team that's so diverse in skills and cultures. We've got Australians from everywhere. They're doing the same thing as me, but they're doing it their way, in their sport. They all have different stories, and those stories are the ones that I will remember for a lifetime.
Signet: Beside the millions of Australians who can’t wait to see you compete, would you say your family are your biggest supporters?
Peter: I would say my family have always been my biggest supporters. I also have my support team, the Australian public, and now Signet too! They've all joined together, which is pretty cool. Australia adopted me, and now, so have the Australian people.
