Australian jumpers raise the bar, but Ukrainian flies over it

As the bar rose, so did the cream.

Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s gold medal in the women’s high jump came as no surprise since she is the No.1 ranked jumper in the world, and it is only four weeks since she broke a 37-year-old record in the event, right here in Paris. This night, she looked what she is, the most fluent and in-form jumper in the field.

It left Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers with a silver medal for the second Olympics in a row.

The four women’s high jump medallists (from left): Eleanor Patterson, Iryna Gerashchenko, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Nicola Olyslagers.Credit: AP

But neither she nor anyone would begrudge Ukrainians a few spoils right now. Mahuchikh packed her car and left Dnipro hastily against a backdrop of gunfire and falling shells nearly two years ago. Since then she has lived and trained as an itinerant in at least seven other countries, all the while carrying her homeland’s flag.

“This medal is important, but in my country, Russia killed people,” Mahuchikh said. “We are fighting for all athletes. Almost 500 sportsmen died in the war and they will never compete. They will never celebrate, they will never feel this atmosphere, so I am happy for this medal. It is for all of them.”

Olyslagers’ compatriot Eleanor Patterson finished third on a countback, which meant the podium replicated the world championships in Budapest last year. The poetic twist here was that Patterson shared the bronze medal with another Ukrainian, Iryna Geraschenko. Four of the top five women in the world filled the podium. The other, Serbian Angela Topic, did not start, for unknown reasons.

Ukraine high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh.Credit: AP

It should be noted here that the reigning Olympic champion, Russian Mariya Lasitskene, was disbarred from competing here. For Mahuchikh, that’s not an asterisk, but a star. There is no love lost between them. Though jumpers are a small and close community, Mahuchikh noted recently that she had not heard from Lasitskene since the war began.

Evidently, there are many ways to skim a bar. Olyslagers and Patterson are only a year apart in age and now share a plinth in Australian Olympic history, but they are as much of a contrast in personality as their jumping styles.

Olyslagers is tall and long-limbed in the traditional way of jumpers, does not so much run in as bound, and sometimes looks as if she means to step over the bar rather than clear it.

The shorter Patterson, belying her mild personality, charges in as if to dare the bar to get out of the way. Between them are the jumpers who look as if they are trying to sneak up on the bar in the hope that it doesn’t notice them.

On Sunday night, both said that while glad to win medals, they would have liked to jump higher. Athletic pride is rarely satisfied. Neither came near to their personal bests, but nor did Mahuchikh. So often, this is so at the Olympics.

Olyslagers is an evangelical who carries with her at all times a now well-thumbed book with For His Glory inscribed on the cover. In it, she keeps Bible verses, jottings, sketches and a record of every jump she makes.

Her inspiration on Sunday was a Bible verse that read: “Love bears all, believes all, hopes all and endures all.” She said it was what sustained her through form lapses, gruelling training and self-doubt.

“It was the love of God inside of me that allowed me to bear all things,” she said. “I started to enjoy things that annoyed me originally. I love God enough to know that I can believe when He says you’re going to be you’re going to be OK.”

Nicola Olyslagers won silver in the women’s high jump.Credit: AP

When done on Sunday, but before Mahuchikh signed off, Olyslagers wrapped herself in what appeared to be a white blanket or flag. It was not surrender.

“I was in church one day, just having a great time, and I got this picture of me dancing with this white banner,” she said. “And I’m like, I don’t like dancing. I didn’t like doing a first dance with my husband on our wedding day.

“But I wanted people to see that joy, and that expression of praise, not because it looks pretty, but because He’s worthy of it. To be honest, I don’t really know why He asked me to do it, but I did it. In that moment, I got such a joy in my heart: I’m an Olympic silver medallist.”

Olyslagers has made many big leaps, but not of faith; it has always been in her.

Eleanor Patterson clears the bar.Credit: AP

Patterson grew up in Leongatha, fell in love with athletics as an eight-year-old – she can remember the feeling still – won a Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow as an 18-year-old, but faltered until moving to Sydney for a reset.

“My journey has been anything but linear,” she said.

She was the 2022 world champion and has established herself in the top rank in her sport, but recently hit an untimely form lapse.

“Two months ago, I was genuinely quite scared, and I was quite nervous about what this was going to bring,” she said. “I just competed and competed and competed. It was not pleasant, I hated not performing how I wanted.”

On Sunday, her perseverance – masked by a humble disposition – paid off.

While Olyslagers finds inspiration in prayer, Patterson composes herself through meditation, yoga – and knitting. In Paris, she is teaching a roommate to crochet.

The Australian pair and the Ukrainians share what they say is a genuine bond. Patterson said she knew Mahuchikh and Geraschenko had minimal family with them in Paris.

“It’s crazy. My job is to jump over a bar, but I get to meet some pretty wonderful people and hear their stories of hardship,” she said. “It makes me feel very grateful for what we have in Australia.”

Olyslagers was on the same page.

“In my head, it was the perfect podium,” she said. “The four of us, all there sharing it together. Of course, you want the Australian anthem. That means I’m just gonna have to work harder for Los Angeles.”

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