The gold medal that took Australia to previously unknown heights in the medal table came at the main stadium, in a brilliant women’s pole vault competition.
ABC’s Dean Bilton was there to watch Nina Kennedy soar in the Paris night sky to clear 4.90m and win a gold to complete a brilliant Olympic comeback.
Warm ups begun in the late afternoon sun with the Stade de France entirely empty. As Kennedy completed her run-throughs and surveyed her competition, she did so knowing this battle wouldn’t be won for at least another five hours.
But what’s five hours when you’ve spent three years, maybe even your whole life, preparing for this day of reckoning?
She missed out on the final in Tokyo having come to the Games hampered by an injury. Now Kennedy is the number one ranked women’s pole vaulter in the world, the reigning world champion and the favourite in Paris.
She has had to fight for every inch of her career, overcoming physical issues and even greater mental ones through a non-linear journey to the top.
Overcoming the struggles has taken time, and has been incremental. But it has also steeled her, allowing Kennedy to arrive in Paris a complete athlete, one ready to conquer the world.
And conquer she did.
You can read more of Dean’s piece here.
