Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australian Nicola McDermott wins high jump silver medal

Nicola McDermott has explained her high-jump rituals that captivated the nation- including a career first in her journal.

It was the miss that cost Nicola McDermott the gold medal but it still delivered a first - a 10/10 rating.

The Australian high-jumper’s quirks and routines throughout Saturday night’s Olympic final captivated millions watching on television throughout the world.

McDermott racing straight back to her seat, pulling out a journal and scribbling down notes rating each jump is a critical part of her competition routine.

“I did (think I had the gold medal),” she revealed afterwards. “The 2:04m I gave myself a 10 out 10 for that jump, the execution.

“I felt the clearance in the air but just the lack of experience for the timing meant that it just didn’t happen today.”

There are categories which she reviews after each jump including take-off, run-up, how much lean during the leap, every important detail registered.

The ritual came via her sports psychologist and helped her focus during the competition and she even took to writing them down on an Australian shirt during the final.

“The analysing really is just great to ground me, to just capture exactly what that feeling was,” McDermott explained after breaking her own Australian record, 2.02m, to finish second to three-time Russian world champion Mariya Lasitskene.

“It is a really great tool for me to learn how to jump higher because even though I jumped 2:02 I know that there are higher heights.

“If I am very strategic in the way that I write, I know in my next competitions coming up I will have that fresh on the paper and I can learn from it and hopefully get 2:04 and 2:05 next time.”

McDermott celebrates her medal-clearing jump.

Asked exactly what she wrote down after her silver-medal performance, the 24-year-old went blank: “Good question, I actually don’t remember it. It’s a bit like a dream, you wake up and you do something and then it just goes.”

McDermott, who turned to Christianity in high school after being bullied as a child, competed with the message ‘Jesus makes all things new” written on her wrist.

“In my first world championships I came last, I didn’t clear a single bar and there is always that thought that works in my head of, Could this be the time I don’t clear a starting height?,” she said.

“But I always remember I have got a clean slate just like my past is a clean slate so is today. I just run with that, knowing I am with God and he has been with me every single training session and I am carrying a message bigger than myself, he is going to make this new.”

McDermott is dreaming about stadiums being full again with fans, not just for support but so she can reach them.

She sees it as her mission to spread the word, like US TV evangelist Billy Graham did and along with other Christian athletes has formed their own evangelist mission called Everlasting Crowns.

“I am so thankful the Olympics went ahead. I think the world needs to have some inspiration at the moment,” she says.

“Every single time I saw an empty stadium I just reminded myself that one day those stadiums will be filled and my dream has been since 2017 that it wouldn’t just be for sporting performances.

“That maybe that could have revival meetings again like Billy Graham did decades ago in Australia and people would hear things from athletes that would change their lives not just be spectators.

“That has been my drive. Those empty seats almost inspired even more than when there is a full stadium.”

McDermott’s silver medal made it three medals for Australia’s track and field team - decathlete Ash Moloney and javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Barber won bronze.The emerging depth in the sport was the exciting part with 13 top eight performances, five Australian records broken and 16 personal bests from the team of 63.

Nicola McDermott with her silver medal.

MCDERMOTT TAKES OUT SILVER MEDAL

Religion and high jump are Nicola McDermott's passions and they combined together in beautiful synchronicity for Olympic silver in Tokyo.

McDermott has always believed the Lord gave her wings to fly and she soared into the history books, breaking her own Australian record as she came agonisingly close to Olympic glory.

In a thrilling jump-off for gold, McDermott cleared 2.02m on her second attempt to match the clearance of Russia's Mariya Lasitskene.

But the reigning world champion then cleared 2.04m on her second attempt, which the Australian was unable to match.

Rather than be daunted by the occasion, the 24-year-old from the NSW Central Coast smiled her way through the Olympic final.

Her ritual of writing down an assessment of every jump in a journal had TV viewers around the world captivated.

After every entry she also drew a yellow Christian cross on the page.

McDermott's silver medal caps off an incredible Games for Australia's athletics team with her victory coming after bronze medals to javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Barber and decathlete Ash Moloney.

It matches Australia's previous best result in the high-jump with Michelle Brown also winning silver in Tokyo in 1964.

Adding to the history narrative, for the first time Australia had two jumpers in the top five with Eleanor Patterson finishing fifth with a best clearance of 1.96m.

McDermott became a devoted Christian in high school after she had initially been bullied as a kid because of her height - she was often called a giraffe.

Nicole McDermott's message.

When she broke the national record in April she had a passage from the Bible written on tape on her wrist.

She is also the co-founder of a ministry group, Everlasting Crowns, with other international athletes.

McDermott has literally raised the bar this year becoming the first Australian woman in history to clear the magical two-metre mark.

She was the story of the national championships in Sydney in April when she cleared 2.00m to claim the Australian record.

McDermott then improved that to 2.01m in Stockholm last month.

She didn't elect to enter the Olympic final until 1.89m which she cleared easily and immediately looked in total control.

A miss at 1.96m was soon rectified and when she cleared 1.98m on her first attempt to put herself in the frame for gold.

She then cleared 2.00m at her first attempt to put the pressure on Lasitskene who missed at her first attempt before clearing it with her next jump.

The roles were reversed at 2.02m with the reigning world champion making a clear leap first-up while McDermott missed her first before dug deep again.

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Originally published as Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australian Nicola McDermott wins high jump silver medal

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