Nicola Olyslagers

BIOGRAPHY

Nicola Olyslagers (nee McDermott) became the first Australian woman in history to clear the elusive 2.00m barrier in the high jump, achieving the feat at the 2021 Australian Track and Field Championships. After raising the national record to 2.01m in July in Europe, she won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a new PB and national record of 2.02m.  The achievement was the first Australian medal in this event since 1964.

She made a late start to the 2022 season due to sickness. She opened her year in April, winning her third consecutive National title. On a four-meet International tour, she cleared a seasons best of 1.96m in Turku in June 2022. At her third World Championships in Eugene, Nicola matched her seasons best of 1.96m, to place fifth in the final. 

Two weeks later at the Commonwealth Games she led the qualifying round, but withdrew from the final with a torn muscle in her jumping leg. But a month later she returned to competition to placed third in Brussels and third in the Diamond League final. After the Brussels competition she wrote: “It is a miracle to be back jumping in half the recovery time prescribed! I was only able to run a few days before the competition, so to get a podium finish to qualify for the Diamond League final is overwhelming.”
Nicola’s 2023 campaign was extraordinary. Nine wins from 10 starts and the loss was on countback ahead of winning bronze at the world championships in Budapest. At the Diamond League final she placed second raising the Australian record to 2.03m.

Nicola’s outstanding form continued in 2024, opening her season in Canberra with an Australian allcomers record of 2.03m. After a win in Melbourne, she claimed the World Indoor Championships title in Glasgow, clearing 1.99m. In April she won her fifth Australian title with a 2.01m clearance. At the conclusion of the championships she was selected for Paris, her second Olympic team.

+ + + + +

From an early age, Nicola Olyslagers (nee McDermott) was tall for her age, but she admits due to a lack of coordination she was not good at sports. Introduced to athletics at school when she was aged seven, she won the majority of the events from shot put to 200m - she had found her niche, and her parents signed her up for Little Athletics.
Over the last decade, every year she has equalled or improved her high jump best – providing a neat chart of progression. Aged 17, she made her international debut at the 2014 World Junior Championships, followed by an impressive fourth at the 2015 World University Games. In July 2017 when she cleared a personal best of 1.90m in Brisbane and shortly after was extended an invitation to compete, via the IAAF Roll Down Process, at the London World Championships, where she, unfortunately, no heighted. In late August she competed at the World University Games, placing seventh with a tremendous height of 1.88m.

In 2018 she was a surprise, medallist at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, but that was just a launching pad for her trail blazing 2019 season, where she increased her personal best by five centimetres to 1.96m. The height moved her to equal third Australian all-time, was the equal highest leap by an Australian for 25 years and was a Tokyo Olympic qualifier. The year included, competing at the prestigious Monaco Diamond league where she cleared 1.94m and placed third defeating many athletes with superior PBs.

In 2020 she negotiated the challenges of travelling and competing in Europe while COVID was rampant. On her 7-meet, 6-week tour, she cleared 1.90m in every competition, including setting a PB of 1.98m, just 1cm below the 1.99m Australian record set earlier in the year by Eleanor Patterson. The clearance by Olyslagers elevated her to equal number two Australian and gained her a number five world ranking for the year.

It brought her into her trailblazing 2021 campaign which saw her raise the national record on three occasions, win an Olympic silver medal and placed third in the Diamond League final.

+ + + + +

An inspiration and kindred spirit when Nicola was growing up was Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic. Nicola observed when Blanka attempted the world record, which must have been at one of the most terrifying moments in a career, Blanka had so much peace on full display. Being half-Croatian, it convinced Nicola she could jump like that.
A beautiful natured person, Nicola wants to be known in sport for the way she loved people more than the way she jumped high.

Advice to your young self…..”Have quiet confidence and trust in the process and plan for your life, no amount of worry will help you get ahead.”…Biggest challenge faced…..”Learning how to see myself as more than an athlete. I had put so much pressure on myself growing up to ‘make it’ as an athlete I’d lost my values and identity in the process - which would break me when I underperformed. When I faced that and let it go, I became so satisfied in who God says I am rather than allow my performances to determine my value. After facing that was when I started jumping in freedom, and began surpassing the sporting goals I set for myself.”…Influential people..…”The support of my personal coach Matt Horsnell who has been there from the beginning of my career, as well as the support I received from my school, Green Point Christian College. The teachers were passionate about my gift during my teenage years when sport seemed like a dream I wouldn’t reach.”…Education: Graduated in April 2022 with a degree in Biochemistry from Sydney Uni. She admitted she struggled with the sport/life balance while studying.

Nicola Olyslagers post - August 2022
Nicola posts in social media about her journey in the sport, usually referencing her Christian faith. This one post ahead of withdrawing from the Commonwealth Games high jump final in 2022, sums up a lot of her positive and supportive views.
“Unfortunately I won’t be competing in the finals tomorrow 😢 What was thought to be a tight calf after my qualifying round turned out to be a torn muscle in my jumping leg. Of all the emotions + shock I could feel in the moment, I still have peace. Winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games four years ago allowed my professional career as a high jumper to begin, it was a competition that changed the trajectory of my life. My prayer is that someone else’s dream comes alive tomorrow as I cheer them on from the sidelines. It might be a torn muscle but I have a full heart that even in times that make no sense I will be covered and back jumping soon. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:28‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Thank you for your support and for my team that did everything to get me here ❤️ Let’s go cheer Eleanor on as she jumps for Australia so well out there.”

@ 7 June 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au