SUSIE O'NEILL I FELT A FISH LIKE OUT OF WATER

The beloved Olympic swimmer dived in head first with this brand new challenge

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With her trademark beaming smile, swim legend and Aussie sporting royalty Susie O'Neill admits that when invited on to this year's Dancing With The Stars, the three-time Olympian struggled to come up with one good reason why she should do it!

Swapping out her Speedos for a killer pair of dance heels, the Brisbane-based mum-of-two, who turns 52 in August, wants to set the record straight that she's no Fred Astaire when it comes to dazzling on the dancefloor!

"After turning 50, I decided this next chapter is all about deep diving into all new adventures - and it didn't take long to figure out that while I'm a pretty good swimmer, it turns out I'm a really bad dancer!" Susie laughs, revealing to Woman's Day that she's never felt more like a "fish out of water".

"When I was first invited to join, I initially thought there's no way I'm making a fool of myself on national TV," she explains.

“So, I asked the family [husband Cliff, and our kids, son Bill, 19, and daughter Alix, 21] and a few of my closest friends who all said why not, what have I got to lose - apart from my pride!”

And as it happens, the woman we've long known as Madame Butterfly, who proudly represented her country at three Olympic Games [1992, 1996 and 2000] earning her a total of eight Olympic medals, including two gold, never imagined entering the DWTS arena was going to take her so far out of her comfort zone.

“I was way more nervous hitting the dancefloor than I ever was diving off the blocks in an Olympic final,” she says frankly.