Olympics 2021: Nicola McDermott leaps into Tokyo medal contention with help from a higher power

Nicola McDermott is a genuine contender for Olympic glory. But more important to the champion high jumper is the faith which has supported her every step towards Tokyo.

7/7/21 - WEEKEND TELEGRAPHS SPECIAL. MUST TALK WITH PIC ED JEFF DARMANIN BEFORE PUBLISHING. EMBARGO WARNING - MUST BE CLEARED BY WEEKEND TELEGRAPH EDITOR MICK CARROLL BEFORE PUBLISHING - Australian Olympian Nicola McDermott pictured in studio before the Tokyo 2021 games. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Nicola McDermott had always been an easy target. When you’re significantly taller than everyone else at primary school, it’s hard to hide.

Kids can be cruel and they didn’t miss the freakishly tall girl with the long ponytail who moved like a giraffe.

She dealt with it as best she could, getting used to the daily barbs, but when her parents decided to change schools in Grade 6 she was anxious.

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Nicola McDermott goes to Tokyo as one of Australia’s top athletics medal hopes.

“I was so tall and I was so used to getting bullied,” McDermott recalls. “I remember going into that new school thinking I’m going to get eaten alive here.”

The school was Green Point Christian College, a 20-minute bus ride from her home in Tascott, just outside of Gosford on the NSW Central Coast.

She braced herself for the worst given there were 1000 students at the school, which certainly increased the ratio of potential bullies.

But from day one something was different. No one was commenting about her height, in fact they were doing something completely different.

“When I walked in, I was immediately met by this overwhelming, non-judging love from the students and teachers,” she says.

“I was like, ‘What is this?’ I was just loved by them and it left me with all these questions as I was envious of how they were able to show that sort of love.

“They said we love because Jesus loves us. I said, ‘Well, I’m sold’ because I had never experienced a love quite like it.

“It was simple yet it changed my entire life.”

McDermott had been raised in a religious family and regularly attended church but after going to her new school, something shifted for her.

“It was the first time I came into full realisation of the Gospel and the reality of God,” she says. “I committed my life to Jesus and got involved in different youth groups and camps while at school.

“There were regular Bible studies, chapel services and opportunities at school which helped me grow in my faith.

“When I finished school I left my old church and joined my local church whose teachings corresponded more closely with my personal beliefs.”

She was also on another pathway, one which would lead her to the pinnacle of world sport.

McDermott brings some impressive form to the Olympics.

‘Yes, this is the sport for me’

Tennis, swimming, surf lifesaving, basketball, dancing. McDermott had tried everything but to no avail.

“I was really tall and had no hand-eye co-ordination, so no ball-sports,” she explains. “I’m also really strong in my legs and really weak in my upper body so swimming and sports like volleyball and basketball were out.”

It wasn’t until a school athletics carnival at the age of eight that McDermott found her calling.

“I loved running and we went to a Little Athletics carnival without any expectation and I pretty much won all the events.

“It was there that I was introduced to high jump and I was like ‘Yes, this is the sport for me’.”

After just the second time she competed in the high jump, McDermott started to dream big.

“I remember asking what the Australian record was — at the time it was 1.98m. I thought to myself, ‘No one has ever jumped two metres — I’m going to do that’.

“I didn’t mind if I was not the first, because I didn’t want someone else determining my dreams, but I wanted to be a girl who could jump two metres.”

McDermott preaching at her local church..

The 24-year-old is in great form..

When she won the state title in U/10s with a clearance of 1.36m, McDermott still recalls the feeling she had at that moment.

“I was so happy to be there. I remember looking around at the field and the moment clicked, ‘You can win this’.

“I figured I actually could and I went on and won it with a 10cm PB. I just fell in love with the sport, but I didn’t know if it was possible to be a full-time athlete.

“I had never really heard of it growing up on the Central Coast, that is just not what you did.”

She had a coach by the time she was 10 — Matt Horsnell, who is still her mentor today — and he presented her with a 10-year plan outlining how she was going to progress in the sport.

In 2011 she sailed over 1.76m and has been beating her personal best every year since. She competed at the World University Games in 2015 but then missed selection for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

It was in 2017 when she had another religious event with the realisation that her life wasn‘t defined by clearances or medals.

“I realised that no gold medal could bring lasting satisfaction to my heart,” McDermott says.

McDermott with fellow Olympian Eleanor Patterson as juniors in 2011.

“My identity was not based on my performance.”

The led her to set up the ministry, Everlasting Crowns, with some fellow international Christian athletes to serve God through sport.

It connects athletes with fellow Christians and local chaplains during international competition.

“This ministry has organised meetings at the highest international sporting competitions and has created incredible fellowship within a high-pressure environment,” she says.

With this renewed vision, McDermott no longer put boundaries on her training or goals.

“I was always lowering my own standards in my own dreams to match the circumstances,” she says. “For example, with a 1.85m jump, maybe I shouldn’t aim for two metres otherwise I will get disappointed.

“When I learnt that I wasn’t afraid of disappointment and I wasn’t letting that fear get in the way of it, I was able to go, ‘Nah I am still holding onto that two metre dream’.

“And the last few years it has been amazing the production that has come from belief.”

McDermott preaching as a guest speaker at an Easter Festival at a church in Launceston.

A dream 16 years in the making

At the Olympic trials in April, McDermott, 24, fulfilled that childhood dream she’d spoken about 16 years earlier.

With a scripture verse written on strapping around her wrist, she became the first Australian woman to clear the magical two metre barrier.

“What was written was fearless hearts are birthed in perfect love and that’s from Jesus and 1 John 4:18,” McDermott explained.

“That’s been my verse because I was always scared of two metres.

“I knew in my body I could do a lot higher but the fear aspect of high jump is the thing that gets to you with the mind.

“Jesus can use ordinary people to do the most extraordinary things.

“I went out I was like ‘No, I am fearless because I know I am loved, let’s go out there and do it’.”

There are two things which stand out when observing the 186cm McDermott in the competition cauldron.

Mcdermott is out to inspire a new generation.

The gold cross around her neck is a constant and is only removed for weight sessions.

“It was given to me as a baby and still fits,” she says. “I’ve broken it a few times when I have done gym, so I don’t wear it there anymore, but everywhere else it is with me.”

And after each jump she goes to her kitbag and pulls out a notepad and proceeds to rate her performance. It is a very specific exercise, there are categories like takeoff, run-up, jump etc — with each given a mark out of 10.

This ritual came via her sports psychologist and helps her focus during the competition.

“It’s about not getting carried away with if that was a good jump or a bad jump,” she explains. “With all of those things there is always something to work on.

“It’s good to know that I can control that even in my head. I mean imagine if the ink runs out halfway through the competition and I have only bought one pen, that doesn’t matter now because it is all about the process.”

Her Australian record-breaking leap at the trials didn’t get the score most would have thought. In fact, there has never been a 10/10 with the two-metre clearance rating an 8/10.

“The thing that I’m really still working on is my upper body, my arms are weak and my score wasn’t 100 per cent because of my arm position.

McDermott in Little Athletics mode..

Can she bring home the gold?

“I want to get it higher and a bit stronger. I also wrote how I need to punch my knee up and lean more.

“For me that jump was good, if I was happy to stay at 2m then I would give it 10 out of 10, but I’m not.”

Last week in Stockholm she showed that, increasing her Australian record with a clearance of 2.01m which thrust her name right into the medal calculations at Tokyo.

Fellow Australian Eleanor Patterson, the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, was third in that Diamond League meet.

The pair are good friends and enjoy pushing each other to areas that have never previously been entertained by Australian high-jumpers.

For McDermott everything is now so much clearer and she will approach her first Olympic Games with the help of a higher power.

“Over the past few years when I have been growing my faith in God it seems to make my fears and doubts of what I can jump disappear.”

Originally published as Olympics 2021: Nicola McDermott leaps into Tokyo medal contention with help from a higher power