‘I was so f**king proud’: How Nina Kennedy conquered the world – and the Paris Olympics

After winning gold at the Paris Olympics, Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy has starred in a new fashion shoot – and revealed the ‘really scary’ reality behind her ambition.

Looking back at her gold-winning, history-making pole vault jump in the women’s event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in August, Nina Kennedy says she has a sense of everything being very clear yet also hazy at the same time.

This speaks to the nature of her sport, which took place over several hours, unlike other individual events that could be over in mere seconds.

“When you’re so tunnel-visioned, you actually forget a lot of the little details that happened. But I remember when I actually won, it was, ‘Holy sh*t! That’s so cool’,” the 27-year-old tells Stellar, with a laugh.

“It was so much more special because my family were there, and my four best friends and their partners, and my partner [AFL player Declan Mountford] and his best friend, and his cousin, and my friend’s parents … I was so happy, and so happy they were happy.

Olympic gold medallist Nina Kennedy has starred in a fashion shoot for the latest issue of Stellar. Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

‘I felt like I really just put my goals out there!’ Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

“A few weeks later, I went back and I watched the whole competition from start to finish. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that happened and that happened, I forgot all about that.’ It was nice to be able to experience it again.”

Kennedy soared to new heights with her 4.90m jump, becoming the first woman in the Australian team to ever win a gold medal in field athletics at the Olympics.

For more from Stellar, listen to the podcast Something To Talk About below:

She started pole vaulting when she was just 12 years old, so the win was a culmination of 15 years of intense training, injuries and depression, recovery and comeback – literal and metaphorical highs and lows.

“I felt like I really just put my goals out there. I felt like dreaming that big was really, really scary. Honestly, so scary,” Kennedy admits.

“But for me, it was gold or nothing. I was there to win. I just put every single egg in that basket. When it paid off, it was really validating to know that I rolled the dice and I dreamt big.

Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

“People were like, ‘Oh, you must be so relieved.’ I wasn’t relieved. I was just so f*cking proud of myself and my team for doing something so hard and so vulnerable, and laying it all out there.

“Me and my friends talk about it now, and they’re like, ‘You’re the best in the whole world.’ It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around, but I’ve just been so obsessed with this idea of mastering my craft.”

Something else the Olympic champion is well on her way to mastering is stepping in front of the camera.

Kennedy has done a few photo shoots over the years and says she was “really comfortable” with the Stellar team in particular. “I felt like I could have some fun on the shoot, it was great,” she enthuses.

As for her own fashion sense, Kennedy says she dresses to suit her mood.

Nina Kennedy competes in the Women's Pole Vault final of the Memorial Van Damme Diamond League athletics meet in Brussels last month. Picture: AFP

Laser focus. Picture: AFP

“If I’m feeling lazy and sloppy, especially after training, I love to chuck on a nice oversize cotton tee with some tight shorts and a high sock and sneakers. Love that.

“If I’m feeling really confident and good, I might wear my shoulders out with a pair of jeans.”

Given her rigorous training schedule, the pole vaulter admits she spends most of her time in training gear. “We go to training every single day, and we wear the same stuff,” she says.

“I get very comfortable with wearing that, and then it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I have to go out on a weekend. What the hell am I gonna wear?’ Because us athletes never go out. But my housemate works in fashion so she helps me a little bit, which is actually really nice. I feel like I’m becoming more comfortable with fashion.”

To wrap up an already incredible year, Kennedy also triumphed in her event in the Diamond League, which saw her named champion at the international annual track and field series in Brussels just weeks after her Olympic win.

Nina Kennedy celebrates on the podium after winning gold in the women's pole vault final at the Paris Olympics. Picture: AFP

Pole position! Picture: AFP

Doing Australia proud in Paris. Picture: Getty Images

She’s setting her sights on next year’s Diamond League competition, as well as the World Championships, which happen every two years, and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

As for right now? Making history may be fulfilling, but it’s also tiring, and Kennedy is taking a well-deserved break.

Listen to the latest episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below:

“I’ve been working my body and my mind, everything I have, for this one goal and it’s finally paid off. My soul feels like … you know when you’re trying to wring water out of a towel and you’re getting that last drop? That’s how I feel,” she tells Stellar.

“This season is over. I’ve given every ounce of anything I have left in my body and I need to have a long recovery and regenerative break. I need one of those out-of-office email replies: ‘Don’t contact me. I’m on holiday.’”

See the full shoot and read the interview with Nina Kennedy in the latest issue of Stellar via The Sunday Telegrph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (SA) and Sunday Mail (QLD.

For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here.

Originally published as ‘I was so f**king proud’: How Nina Kennedy conquered the world – and the Paris Olympics