Nina Kennedy has won a record 18th gold medal for Australia at the Paris Olympics, soaring to victory in the women’s pole vault.
After an early miss at 4.70m, the 27-year-old Kennedy was flawless at her next three heights, going over 4.80m, 4.85 and 4.90m at the first attempt.
She missed her first attempt at 4.95m but it didn’t matter, with 4.90m enough to secure the gold.
It was Australia’s fourth gold medal of a magnificent Wednesday in Paris, lifting the nation’s overall tally to a record 18 golds with four days of competition still to come.
The previous best total haul was 17 golds at the Athens 2004 Games and again three years ago in Tokyo.
‘I’m here, I’m a gold medallist, that is so sick,’ she told Nine.
‘I felt really calm. I came in with a job… I came in with a job, and intention and today I told myself to get to work. “Do your job” and this is the result.’
Kennedy made her Olympic Games intentions very clear from the outset – that she wanted to take the top step on the podium – but embraced her vulnerability.
‘You know, I was very open to the media about it, I was very vulnerable,’ she said. ‘I said from the start I wanted to win the gold medal and it’s scary, it’s vulnerable but I did it and I couldn’t be proud of myself and my team.’
Kennedy’s win means Australia have won 18 gold medals at the Paris Games and represents a remarkable comeback story for the 27-year-old.
In what she described as ‘the bottom of my whole career’, Kennedy could only finish 12th in Tokyo three years ago as a range of setbacks caught up to her.
Injuries to her groin, hamstring, calf and quadriceps wrecked her preparation for the Olympics – and she was also coming back from two broken bones in her back.
‘The stress fracture I had was in my L5 and L4 [vertebrae] so my physio explained to me that it is either going to stay cracked – and lost of people live their lives like that – or it is going to heal back up.
‘So I literally stayed still for a month. I’m not exaggerating.
‘He [her physio] was like, ‘Do not wear exercise clothes.’ He also told me not to carry my groceries if they were heavy and I was like, how am I meant to live my life?
Nina Kennedy has won gold in the women’s pole vault at the Olympic Games
Kennedy defeated defending Olympic champion Katie Moon in a marathon final
The Australia was beside herself with emotion after her stunning victory
‘My first rehab session was a month later and it was a 15-minute walk.’
To top it all off, Kennedy had to leave the athletes village in Tokyo after coming into contact with a Covid-positive athlete.
What followed was a disastrous 12th-place finish that saw her best jump equal the mark she set at the 2014 World Junior Championships.
But it was a totally different story in Paris, with her effort to clear 4.90metres enough to secure a famous gold medal.
More to follow.
