Australian Story: Feb 19

Australian Story returns for 2024 with “The Making of Mini” a profile of the Matildas’ own Katrina Gorry.

The performance of the Matildas in last year’s women’s football World Cup turned many of the players into household names, among them Katrina Gorry. But the road to glory hasn’t been an easy one for the 31-year-old midfielder.

Despite her size – the preteen nickname ‘Mini’ stuck – Gorry ran rings around other players and rose steadily through the ranks of women’s football. She debuted for the national team in 2012 and just two years later was both Asian Football and Australian Football’s woman player of the year.

But eventually the pressures of international sporting life began to get to her, culminating in an eating disorder that left her exhausted and out of love for the game.

“I started kind of resenting the game a little bit and I found myself trying to control my food intake and wouldn’t like to look at myself in the mirror,” Katrina tells Australian Story. “It was like three years of, you know, didn’t really want to get up out of bed, didn’t want to go to training.”

Katrina got help from a team psychologist but what really turned things around for her was the decision to undergo IVF, which she did while based in Norway.

“I didn’t really want to tell my family because I didn’t want anyone to talk me out of it. And I didn’t tell the teammates that I was living in the house with because, again, I didn’t want them to talk me out of it.”

The birth of Harper in 2021 changed everything, re-invigorating Katrina’s love of the game and giving her new respect for her body. Within a year Katrina was in a relationship with a Swedish teammate, Clara Markstedt. The pair are engaged, with Clara due to give birth to a sibling for Harper in June.

As the Matildas prepare for the Olympics in Paris, Katrina Gorry is at the top of her game.

Katrina Gorry is joined by her partner Clara, mother Linda, sister Amanda, coach Mel Andreatta and fellow Matilda Charli Grant in an intimate and revealing Australian Story.

8pm Monday on ABC.