Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers opens up on journal entries after winning Paris Olympics silver medal

Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers has revealed the journal entry that fuelled her pursuit of a second consecutive medal at the Olympic Games.

She is the athlete with the mysterious diary — and Nicola Olyslagers again captivated the world during the high jump final at the Paris Games.

Every time she jumped she lay down, using her kit bag as a pillow, to write a new entry — or read an old one.

And every time she did it, millions of TV viewers asked themselves: What was she writing? In case you were wondering it was nothing salacious. Turns out, the bound notepad was full of bible passages, inspirational thoughts and water colour paintings.

Most importantly though, Nicola analyses every jump, as she goes, rating every movement, every part of her jump routine.

She jots down coaching instructions for herself.

Nicola Olyslagers and her journal. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Step over! Pull, Bam it, Up. Rhythm at start and then hold. Cycle under with intensity.

The routine is unique. But it works. This time taking her again to the silver medal step on the podium.

After the final, Nicola gave a rare look inside the diary, and revealed her main inspiration was a bible verse that she wrote in her journal which convinced her to start enjoying the things in life that she found annoying.

“It sort of brought me back to rather than trying harder — I was trying pretty hard — I just wanted people to see what’s possible through love,” Olyslagers said.

“I’ve got a Bible verse that I wrote down and it says, love bares all, believes all, hopes all and endures all.

“When training was unbearable at times, like you know your coach is making you do an extra set, it is 40 degrees in the gym, you’re like, can we just have air conditioning?

“Rather than get upset or put less effort in, it was a love of God inside of me that allowed me to bear all things.”

Nicola Olyslagers celebrates during the women's high jump final. Picture:Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Olyslagers also revealed she marked herself a 10 out of 10 for at least two jumps in the final — the crucial clearance over two metres that kept her gold medal dream alive and remarkably her first miss at 2.02m. “The good bits were for 10 out of 10 jump for the third attempt at two metres,” Olyslagers said.

“Yeah, 10 out of 10 jump for the (2.02) first attempt. If we move that back just a step further, maybe I’d have a different coloured medal around my neck. But that’s okay because that means Los Angeles (Olympics), we know what to do when I get to 2.02m.”

Nicola Olyslagers reveals her notes from the final.

Olyslagers came into the Olympics after an injury-interrupted preparation, having rolled her ankle while training in Europe.

She barely competed in the leadup to Paris but embraced the pressure that greeted her at Stade de France as she found herself in a showdown for gold.

“I feel like I’m a different athlete than I was three years ago,” Olyslagers said.

“I feel like that two metre jump I rose to the occasion. So it was really beautiful. What it also means to me is the last 12 months I’ve ..... wanted to make Paris my standout competition of the year. I wanted to do personal best … but what I saw tonight, I think there’s great potential for higher heights and higher national records. And now we’ve got two women on the podium.

“So I’m just thinking by LA, we’re going to have something really magnificent come around.”

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Originally published as Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers opens up on journal entries after winning Paris Olympics silver medal