Leaping into medal contention with aid of higher power
NICOLA McDermott had always been an easy target. When you’re significantly taller than everyone else at primary school, it’s hard to hide.
Kids can be cruel and they didn’t miss the freakishly tall girl with the long ponytail who moved like a giraffe.
She dealt with it as best she could, getting used to the daily barbs, but when her parents decided to change schools in Grade 6, she was anxious.
“I was so tall and I was so used to getting bullied,” said McDermott, who last week in Stockholm increased her Australian women’s high jump record with a clearance of 2.01m, which thrust
her into Tokyo medal calculations. “I remember going into that new school thinking I’m going to get eaten alive.”
The school was Green Point Christian College, a 20-minute bus ride from her home at Tascott, in NSW.
She braced herself for the worst, given there were 1000 students at the school, which certainly increased the ratio of potential bullies.
But from day one something was different. No one was commenting about her height, in fact, they were doing something completely different.
“When I walked in I was immediately met by this overwhelming, nonjudging love from the students and teachers,” she says.
“I was like, ‘What is this?’ I was just loved by them and it left me with all these questions, as I was envious of how they were able to show that sort of love.
“They said we love because Jesus loves us. I said, ‘Well, I’m sold’ because I had never experienced a love quite like it. It was simple, yet it changed my entire life.”
McDermott, 24, has set up the ministry Everlasting Crowns with some fellow international Christian athletes to serve God through sport.
It connects athletes with fellow Christians and local chaplains during international competition.
For McDermott, everything is now so much clearer and she will approach her first Olympic Games with the help of a higher power.
“Over the past few years, when I have been growing my faith in God, it seems to make my fears and doubts of what I can jump disappear,” she said