From Billy Ward to Natalya Diehm, the Gladstone region has been home to some genuine Olympic Games talent

These four athletes once called the Gladstone region home.

Boxer Billy Ward was just one of the several Olympians which called the Gladstone region home. He competed in the London Olympic Games of 2012.

With Australian athletes doing the nation proud at the Tokyo Olympic Games, The Observer thought it timely to marvel at some of our local Olympians.

Billy Ward – Boxing

Gymnast turned boxer Billy Ward, who stands at 165cm and is just taller than a boxing bag, after the announcement of the Australian Olympic boxing team that will represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympic Games, in Sydney.

With one Olympic Games campaign under his belt following the London Olympic Games in 2012, the sky was the limit for Gladstone-raised boxing sensation Billy Ward.

Ward began his sporting career as a gymnast, winning a Queensland junior title in 2004.

He switched to boxing in 2006 and the following year won an Australian junior title.

His boxing was curtailed by Ross River Fever in 2008 but he fought on and in 2011 he made the semi-finals of the Australian Under 19 championships as a flyweight.

The following year, he stepped up to open competition and dropped a weight division to light flyweight.

He won both the Australian title and the Oceania Olympic Qualification tournament that year to earn a place at the London Olympic Games.

The Observer reported that when he returned to Gladstone after winning the Oceania qualifier, he was met by a group of fans wearing red curly wigs.

He did Gladstone, Queensland and his country proud in the round of 32 at the Olympics, however, suffered a Round of 32 defeat to Cuban Yosbany Veitia on points 26-4.

Ward sadly took his own life on August 4, 2013, aged just 20.

Stuart Tinney – Equestrian

Equestrian - Olympics: Day 7

Three-time Olympian Stuart Tinney OAM grew up in the Gladstone region and mustered cattle on his parent’s property and began competing in equestrian sports as an eight-year-old.

Tinney first competed on the international stage in 1988 at the World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

Making his Olympic debut on home soil at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Stuart was a member of the gold medal winning eventing team.

He went on to compete at the Athens 2004 Olympics where the eventing team placed 6th.

Stuart continued to compete nationally and internationally and in 2016 returned to the Olympic stage in Rio where he and fellow NSWIS athlete Shane Rose won a bronze medal in Team Eventing.

In 2003, Stuart was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

For the last 20 years he and his wife Karen have operated their own eventing business in north-west Sydney.

Natalie Jenkinson – Judo

Champion Womens Boxer , Natalie Jenkinson Picture: Mark Scott

Jenkinson comes from a family of boxers with her brothers, father and grandfather all putting on the gloves, however, at 11-years-old Jenkinson decided Judo was her discipline.

Jenkinson qualified for and competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the women’s half-heavyweight event.

After that Olympic campaign Jenkinson transitioned to both coaching and competing in athletics.

At the Queensland Country Athletics Championships, held at the University of the Sunshine Coast in April 2006, Jenkinson entered the women’s 20-plus throwing events and won silver in the discus throw, gold in the javelin throw and gold in the shot put

Jenkinson also competed in boxing and won four Australian Titles.

On 31 March 2012, Jenkinson, then of the Pacific Club from Redland Bay, defeated Katrina Harvey to win an Australian title fight at King‘s Theatre at the Warwick RSL Memorial Club.

In August 2016, at age 40, Jenkinson was a coach at the Hit House Boxing Club at Bli Bli, Queensland.

Some of her team participated in the National Golden Gloves (Australia‘s amateur boxing championships), held at the Acacia Ridge Tavern, Brisbane.

Natalya Diehm – Women’s Freestyle BMX

Gladstone-born BMX rider Natalya Diehm, 23, made history at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games by becoming Australia’s first female BMX competitor.

With the Gladstone region watching along with the entire nation, Diehm posted two fantastic scores and finished a respectable fifth place.

Prior to the Olympic Games, Diehm finished sixth at the 2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships at Australia’s first appearance in the event.

In 2019 she won the inaugural Oceania Championships as well as winning the Australian national title. In total she has three national titles.

After recovering from her fourth knee reconstruction in late 2018, Diehm was discouraged from pursuing her Olympic ambitions and almost left the sport.

However, she received motivation from BMX racing world champion and Olympian Caroline Buchanan who contacted Diehm to offer encouragement and support which prompted Diehm to continue.