How gold medallist Nina Kennedy inspired a six-year-old to beat a world record
Nina Kennedy became the first Australian woman to win Olympic gold in a field event in the early hours of Thursday morning (AEST), but the champion pole-vaulter has been inspiring our next generation of athletes for far longer.
Kennedy and fellow medallist Matthew Denny, who took bronze in the men's discus, dropped by Nine's Paris studio to talk about their success at the Stade de France, when host Ally Langdon brought up a "beautiful" picture of the pole vaulter with a young fan.
That fan was six-year-old Helena Carey, who set an age-group world record in the 300m in March.
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Nina Kennedy with six-year-old runner Helena Carey, who she inspired to break an age-group world record. Nine
"She tells me the story about how she met you, and that you told her that you qualified for your first World Championships and... came dead last, but then you came back eight years later as the world champ," Langdon said.
"And that is a story that a little six-year-old girl tells over and over again of you inspiring her.
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"And I think when, when you guys give back so much, you can never underestimate the impact that you have on future little athletes."
Kennedy seemed quite moved by the story about the youngster.
"That's such a great story," she said.
"I represented Australia for the first time on the senior level when I was 18. I came dead last, I didn't clear a bar, and eight years later, I obviously won that World Championship and now I've won an Olympic gold.
"So it's taken some bloody tough times to get there, but we did it, we finally did it."
