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‘Comes in waves’: Jiggling Jenneke opens up on the death of her mum
Michelle Jenneke has on several occasions over the past year broken down in tears out of nowhere. The crying “comes in waves”, the veteran Australian hurdler says. And she doesn’t try to stop it. It’s good for her.
Reading that may come as a surprise. Jenneke, after all, is Australia’s jiggling hurdler; the bubbly, larger-than-life star who jumps around and shakes her hips with a beaming smile every time she sets foot on a start line.
Michelle Jenneke competing at the Australian championships in Sydney in April. Getty
The dual Olympian is sure to again be doing that when she lines up for the 100-metre hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the coming days.
In May last year, she received a call from her dad that shattered her world.
Jenneke, who lives on the Gold Coast, had texted her parents, Randal and Nicky, to confirm she’d booked a flight to Sydney to visit.
A couple of hours later, her dad called to say her mum had died.
She was 55.
“She had been sick for a number of years,” Jenneke tells nine.com.au.
“So in some regards it wasn’t really sudden; her health had been declining.
“But we didn’t think it was going to happen as soon as it did.”
Asked how she remembers her mum, Jenneke’s face lights up.
“She was just such a larger-than-life character. So many people in athletics knew her well because she was this big beam of energy – always so happy, positive and encouraging, and not only to me but to so many other athletes. She was a real character – a little bit crazy!” the 33-year-old says.
“We had a really good relationship, and she was always my number one supporter.”
If it reads like the biggest fan of Jenneke’s pre-race boogie was her mum, it reads correctly.
“Very much so!” she beams.
She recalls the pillar of support her mum was across 2016 and 2017 – a dark time in her life when criticism of her pre-race jiggle, eye-catching commercial activities and underwhelming Rio Olympic Games campaign flooded in.
Michelle Jenneke and her late mum Nicky at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Supplied.
“Throughout my whole career, my mum was a huge support and really helped quiet all the noise going on around me,” she remembers.
“The perspective both of my parents instilled in me is that I am a human first and an athlete second.
“There’s been a lot of commentary over the years, but my commitment to the sport has never wavered.”
How has Jenneke navigated the loss of her mum?
“Honestly, the biggest thing has been just acknowledging that it was a really hard thing to go through and that it’s OK to struggle at times,” she says.
“I’ve talked to a few other athletes who have lost parents and they say the same thing: it comes in waves. You’ll be fine, and then all of a sudden it just hits you.
“One of the important things for me has been letting myself feel it. I’m generally not much of a person who cries, but I’ve been in places – like just sitting at a track – and I’ve just cried. Being able to release that emotion and let myself feel that grief lets me process it and move on.
Jenneke at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she made her senior Australian debut. Getty
“It’s also about remembering all the good times. My mum ... would always come to competitions to watch me.
“Going into stadiums and not seeing her in the crowd or hearing her is tough. She was the loudest human. You could hear her in any stadium, regardless of how many thousands of people were there.”
Jenneke is about to compete at her fourth Commonwealth Games.
Glasgow holds a special place in her heart. She made her senior Australian debut at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
She’s fought back from a full hamstring rupture to get this far.
In the heats of the 100m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympics, her right hamstring ripped off the bone, at the site of the knee, and shot 13 centimetres up her leg.
Refusing to quit, she returned the next day to run in the repechage round.
Jenneke in action at the Oceania championships in Darwin in May. Getty
She was in a knee brace for six weeks, and lost five kilograms of muscle.
“I had a stick for a leg, which I have never had in my entire life,” she recalls.
Jenneke admits this Commonwealth Games will be her last – she will be 37 when the 2030 edition rolls around – but she hasn’t shut the door on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
How does she want to be remembered when she eventually puts the spikes away?
“I’d like people to think that I was a good, resilient athlete who knew how to have some fun with it,” she smiles.
Her dear mum Nicky is looking down with pride.
