Oliver Hoare

BIOGRAPHY

Australia has seen a wave of metric milers emerge in the last couple of years, resulting in unprecedented depth and quality in the event. One of those is Sydney’s Olli Hoare, who at the Tokyo Olympics, joined national 1500m record holder Stewart McSweyn in the Olympic 1500m final, where he placed 11th. It was the first occasion in 65 years, since the 1956 Olympics, that Australia had two in the final of this event.

Olli continued that form into the 2021/22 American Indoor season with two Australian records from two starts in the mile and 5000m. In June 2022 Olli pushed the Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen all the way in Oslo Dream Mile, clocking an Australian record of 3:47.48 and becoming the 13th fastest in history.

At the world championships in Eugene, Olli won his 1500m heat comfortably, but in the semi-final, he seemed to be shuffled back through the field a couple of times and at the end looked out of gas and unable to mount a challenger. He placed 10th in 3:38.36.

Determined to rebound from his world championships performance, against a world class field in Birmingham, Olli won a very fast Commonwealth Games 1500m final in 3:30.12. The time broke the 48-year-old championship record by two seconds and moved Olli to number two in Australian history. He joined just two other Aussies as a 1500m gold medallist in major championships:  Edwin Flack 1896 Olympics and Herb Elliott 1958 Commonwealth Games and 1960 Olympics.

He closed his season in September with a third place in the Diamond League final in another very quick 1500m time of 3:30.59.

In February 2023 he ran on his first Australian team on home soil at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst in the mixed gender 4x2km relay team. He led off the National team, which won bronze – his first global medal.

In June at the Bislett Games in Oslo he placed 7th in a deep 1500m race, clocking an Australian record time of 3:29.41. But things were not good and he was eventually diagnosed with a sports hernia and injured pelvis, requiring surgery, putting an end to his season. He spent time in Australia rehabilitating the injury.

He would not return to competition for 10 months, until April in Adelaide at the Australian Championships where he ran a strong race to place second. The next goal was to record an Olympic qualifier and that was achieved over the mile at the Prefontaine meet, he then travelled to Oslo competing in the 1500m five days later, clocking an impressive 3:31.08 in sixth place.

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Running fast has always been in the life of Sutherland athlete Olli Hoare. His sharp rise in the last few years has seen him trade his running surface from sand to track.
“I started running because of my family background,” Olli Hoare recalled. “Mostly I swam, and my father Greg, who used to run in his youth, took me for runs around the trails. As a child, I did cross country while juggling many other sports.”

Olli’s father Greg was a good track runner and world beach running champion over 2km a pathway Olli also followed winning the U15 (2012) and U17 (2013) 2km beach run at the Australian Surf titles along with team medals in the swim and board races. He also swam at State level.
Although still swimming in his teens, soon athletics became the focus. “Once I reached high school, I really started to develop as a runner, particularly in track.” Aged 17, he won the 2015 Australian U20 cross-country. Mid high school he transferred to the leading Combined Associated School – Trinity Grammar, where he came under the coaching of

Brad Woods and a strong sports system.
At a neighbouring school to Trinity was Newington’s Morgan McDonald, who was a year older and a good friend of Hoare. They raced during their teens and it would be no surprise McDonald would have a strong influence on the career of Hoare. McDonald was a four-time NCAA champion competing for the University of Wisconsin and it was natural Hoare would follow him to the same institution where McDonald was.
“I have known Morgan since I was ten, running at the National cross country championships in Perth in 2007-8. Since then Morgan has been a mentor and a good mate. He was a big reason I went to Wisconsin. The school’s heritage, academics as well as the coaching was a major factor too but having Morgan there was huge for me to learn from him and to run with a fellow Aussie over in the states.”

In college Olli followed a similar successful path as McDonald, winning the NCAA 1500m title in 2018. 
In 2019 Olli smashed his personal bests including an extraordinary 3:54.83 indoors mile at Millrose. Set for a big 2020, COVID hit. He graduated with a degree in Economics, but decided to leave the college running system, but remained in the USA training. 

In August 2020 he joined the ‘On Training’ group under coach Dathan Ritzenhein, training out of Colorado. Late in 2020 he resumed racing including a massive 1500m PB of 3:34.63 – an Olympic qualifier, although not in the qualification window. He also ran a world leading mile time of 3:53.35. In an unofficial race he also clocked the first sub-4 minute mile (3:56) at altitude (1600m) in Colorado.

After a return to Australia in late 2020 to sort out visa issues, in early 2021 he undertook a stunning series of races in the US. It started with an Australian indoor 1500m record of 3:32.35, then two more Olympic qualifiers – both outdoors in times of 3:33.54 and 3:33.19. He had been unable to return to Australian for the April 2021 National Championships/Olympic trials, but did get a chance to race Aussies in May at the Gateshead Diamond league where he placed second, ahead of Stewart McSweyn.
In his Olympic debut in Tokyo he negotiated the three rounds to placed 11th in the final. Post Olympics he raced in Europe, placing fourth in the Diamond League final. In 2021 he clocked five sub-3:34 1500m times and set PBs at mile and 5000m.

Olli continued that form into the 2021/22 American Indoor season with two Australian records from two starts. On December 4 he took 26 seconds off the Australian Indoor 5000m record clocking 13:09.96. Then on January 29, over two seconds from the Australian mile record with a time of 3:50.83. In March he was selected for the World Indoor Championships where he placed fifth in the final clocking 3:34.36. In April he won his first Australian 1500m title. Through May and June he had three good Diamond League races, but the last one was special. Olli pushed the Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen all the way in Oslo Dream Mile, clocking an Australian record of 3:47.48 and becoming the 13th fastest in history.

At the world championships in Eugene, Olli won his 1500m heat comfortably, but in the semi-final, he seemed to be shuffled back through the field a couple of times and at the end looked out of gas and unable to mount a challenger. He placed 10th in 3:38.36.

Determined to rebound from his world championships performance, against a world class field in Birmingham, Olli won a very fast Commonwealth Games 1500m final in 3:30.12. The time broke the 48-year-old championship record by two seconds and moved Olli to number two in Australian history. He joined just two other Aussies as a 1500m gold medallist in major championships:  Edwin Flack 1896 Olympics and Herb Elliott 1958 Commonwealth Games and 1960 Olympics.

He closed his season in September with a third place in the Diamond League final in another very quick 1500m time of 3:30.59.

MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGERS

During his injured period in 2023, he spoke candidly, via a monologue on his Coffee Club podcast, about his mental heath challengers. In an article with ABC sport his 2022 season where he won the 1500m title at the Commonwealth Games was described as ‘Professionally, best year ever. Personally, his worst.’
"Mentally, I had a lot of head noise," he told ABC Sport.
"I had a lot of issues dealing with it … I was very low."

He admits due to anxiety and depression he was close to retiring. 
"I was very close to ringing my parents and just telling them I can't do it anymore," he said.
Living and training in Boulder, Colorado he was homesick, away from his family and he was dealing with the loss of his grandfather.
"I didn't enjoy being around people … I struggled to find any meaning, I felt like a robot. I thought that maybe I had lost my passion for running. I questioned retiring."
He sort help from a counsellor and spoke to his family.
"I've been able to kind of identify that I can't just run through things physically and achieve goals … but not deal with the mental implications of what I do," he told ABC Sport.

Hobbies: surfing…..Why do you run?: Running for me is a way to escape and compose your thoughts. I have an opportunity to be great, leave a legacy and do something like represent my country while competing against some of the greatest runners in the world….Best Advice?:  Patience. Take ownership of your training, your successes, and your failures.

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