Hayley turns from ironwoman into Gladiator0

Switching from the beach to the fighting arena, Bateup is in filming in Sydney for the revival of the TV series Gladiators, in which she’ll be nicknamed “Nitro”.

Bateup says the opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It’s all happened at a great time for me because of where the sport is going in ironwoman – they’re not looking after the athletes a lot,” Bateup said

“So when this opportunity arose I would be silly not to take it. They asked me to audition for it, and it was right up my alley.

“Being in TV was something I eventually wanted to get in to.”

“Rather than just being a presenter or something like that I still get to be sporty – but still be on TV – so it’s something different.”

Bateup will join Olympic pole vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva, nicknamed “Olympia”, and former AFL player Anthony Koutoufides “Kouta” in the show, which will run from March to July this year.

After filming wraps up, Bateup will go back to competing for Kurrawa Surf Club.

She will also compete in the Australian championships in April, and the world championships in Germany later in the year.

Bateup says she’ll also consider taking part in next year’s ironwoman series, but hasn’t made any definite decisions.

“I’m just seeing where it (Gladiators) takes me I guess,” Bateup said.

“I’m really enjoying it at the moment and having a new challenge.

“I’ve been an ironwoman for so long, to do something else it’s a bit of a buzz.

“I haven’t given up being an ironwoman – so there’s the ironwoman side and there’s the Nitro side.”

At 27, Bateup is the most experienced elite ironwoman in the country and one of the few remaining from the sport’s glory days of the 1990s.

Bateup and men’s star Zane Holmes led the refusal by elite athletes to sign contracts with Surf Sports because it limited their ability to promote personal sponsors on their swimwear, bodies and surfcraft while competing.

Source: Daily Telegraph