High jump prodigy Eleanor Patterson flops at Rio Games

HIGH jumping prodigy Eleanor Patterson was pegged as the next big thing for Australian athletics heading into the Rio Olympics was left in tears after failing to progress past qualifying.

A GOLD medal while in high school followed by a world championships final meant Eleanor Patterson was pegged as Australia’s next big thing.

That assessment took a hit in Rio today with the 20-year-old high-jumper failing to get out of the qualifying round.

A shattered Patterson was in tears after missing on her third attempt at 1.92m which ended her Olympic dream.

“I’m very disappointed,” she said.

“I just couldn’t pull it together, I was feeling really good, jumping really well and then I hit that 92 and I couldn’t put it together.

“I was jumping well in the warm-up, all the jumps before it but ... “

Australia's Eleanor Patterson bombs out in the Women's High Jump Qualifying. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Australia's Eleanor Patterson failed to clear 1.92 metres in the Women's High Jump Qualifying. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The 2014 Commonwealth champion denied the pressure of the occasion had been too much.

“No not at all, when I am out there, it’s just me, my coach, the high jump bar and God’s will but today evidently I just couldn’t do it,” she said.

“I have high expectations on myself, I want to do well so it’s hard. Sadly it’s one of those ones that is a learning experience.”

Patterson, who lives and trains in Leongatha, burst onto the scene in December 2013 when she cleared 1.96m at the Australian All-School Championships.

Last year she became the first Australian female in 24 years to make the high jump final at the world championships, finishing eighth with a best clearance of 1.92m.

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But she has struggled for consistency this season with a season’s best 1.93m coming earlier in the year.

“It’s never a smooth run but that’s what you deal with as an athlete, you just persist and I feel like I have been jumping in training, going really well,” she said.”

Patterson and her coach David Green have continually refused to come under the umbrella of Athletics Australia, rejecting up to $30,000 worth of funding.

The pair are determined to run their own race, alienating themselves from the rest of the team.

Patterson was the only member of the Australian team not to make herself available to the media at the team’s pre-Olympic camp in Florida.

Originally published as High jump prodigy Eleanor Patterson flops at Rio Games