Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson both claim medals at Paris Olympics high jump
Nicola Olyslagers soared to a second consecutive Olympic silver medal and she was joined on medal dais by Aussie teammate Eleanor Patterson.
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Nicola Olyslagers soared to a second consecutive Olympic silver medal as Australia again made it a double act on the medal dais in the women’s high-jump.
While world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh handled the pressure and expectation to win the gold medal, Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson again flew the Aussie flag with distinction on the world’s biggest stage.
Patterson added an Olympic bronze medal to her impressive CV, sharing the honour with Ukraine’s Iryna Gerashchenko.
In a competition that was surprisingly devoid of highlights Mahuchikh, who set a new world record of 2.10m a month ago in Paris, won her first Olympic title with a clearance of 2.00m.
Olyslagers also cleared 2.00m but when she missed her three attempts at 2.02m, the Ukrainian decided to not to continue with her third attempt at the height as she was guaranteed gold on a countback.
Three years ago Olyslagers was unheralded and in many eyes a shock result when she produced a career-best to win the silver medal behind Russia’s Mariya Lasitskene (2:04). Mahuchikh took bronze (2.00m) that night with Patterson fifth (1.96m).
The Aussie pair have taken it in turns since in having their moments in the sun.
Patterson won the 2022 world title and then at last year’s world championships in Budapest she took silver with Olyslagers taking bronze.
Strangely on a perfect night in Paris, the standard of the final was low which played into Patterson’s hand after she had missed all three attempts at 1.98m as Gerashchenko then proceeded to do the same.
It was obvious early this was going to be a two-horse war.
Olyslagers didn’t come into the competition until 1.91m like Mahuchik and they both cleared that easily and then did the same over 1.95m and 1.98 which sewed up the silver medal.
Then things got interesting.
At 2.00m Olyslagers missed her first two attempts before pulling something special out, channelling the encouragement of the 80,000 fans inside Stade de France she sailed over the bar.
An excited Olyslagers then sprinted back to her bag and grabbed the journal in which she writes notes in at every competition, clearly hoping she’d found the secret ingredient.
It has been a ritual she has followed religiously throughout her career and drew headlines in Tokyo.
She writes a variety of things down but the primary function is she rates herself on various aspects of her technique. This includes her run-up, take-off and execution.
Alongside this, she jots down technical advice, motivational quotes, and any personal reflections after each jump.
As someone of Christian faith, Olyslager’s “little book of gold” also features religious symbols and bible verses.
Rather than watch her competitors Olyslagers prefers to look into her journal which unfortunately in Paris was missing a special gold medal page.
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Originally published as Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson both claim medals at Paris Olympics high jump
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