McCartney set for Paris after ‘rollercoaster ride’
Olympians normally count time in fouryear cycles, but for Eliza McCartney, it’s been eight.
After bursting on to the scene in 2016 and winning bronze at the Rio Olympics, life hasn’t been straightforward for the New Zealand pole vaulter.
While she won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, soon after she was beset by a series of injuries, which ruled her out of the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and have kept her from setting a new personal best for six years.
Now the 27-year-old is off to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which she feels is “pretty crazy”, because when she started her campaign, “there were so many question marks”.
“There was a huge possibility this was just not going to be possible for me.
“It’s pretty crazy, to be perfectly honest, that I’ve got to this point, and that feels like a real thing to celebrate.”
McCartney was one of 15 athletes announced in the New Zealand team for Paris yesterday, alongside one other previous medal-winner, Tom Walsh, and a host of up-and-comers, led by 100m sprinter Zoe Hobbs, high jumper Hamish Kerr and 1500m runner Sam Tanner.
Reflecting on her journey to this point, she said it had “been a real rollercoaster ride”.
“I’ve had some amazing moments since the Rio Olympics. 2018 was my last really exciting year, where I got my current PB and won a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
“That was a fantastic year, and, to be honest, this year, so far, has shaped up incredibly well.
“It’s pretty common for a career to be up and down, all over the show, of course, in sports, but particularly the Covid time, for me just happened to coincide with such bad injuries that I was incapable of doing anything.
“I’ve come back out and it feels like I’m version 2.0 right now, which is really cool, and it feels like I’ve just got so much more left in the tank than I actually realised. “It’s a very exciting time.”
While there are still a little over five months until the Olympics begin, with the women’s pole vault final scheduled for August 8 (NZ time), McCartney feels she cut it close with regard to her return to regular action.
“There was a moment last year where I
thought, man, I’ve just got back into things in the nick of time.
“It was probably a year ago now almost, which sounds a bit crazy, because it was a year and a half out from Paris, but in my mind that was in the nick of time, to be not just going to the Olympics, but to be competitive and prepared and ready.
“Then I had another moment again, this season, where I was like, yeah, we’re on top of things. Nothing’s guaranteed, but if I had to choose, this is a great place to be right at this moment.”
McCartney will be joined by two other pole vaulters – Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris – in Paris, provided they meet further selection conditions.
Hobbs and Tanner will be joined on the track by Geordie Beamish in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, while Camille French will run in the women’s marathon.
Jacko Gill will join Walsh in the men’s shot put, while Connor Bell will contest the men’s discus and Ethan Olivier will compete in the men’s triple jump.
Lauren Bruce will be in the women’s hammer, subject to meeting further selection conditions, while Tori Peeters will compete in the women’s javelin and Maddi Wesche the women’s shot put.