'Let's cook': Aussie race walker Jemima Montag spills on ruthless pre-race wish after racing to bronze
Updated . First published at
PARIS: Australia's Jemima Montag wanted her rivals to "cook" during the women's 20km Olympic race walk and find the going "uncomfortable", believing staunchly in her ability to hang tough in sweltering conditions.
The weather gods delivered gruelling conditions as a jubilant Montag raced to bronze on Thursday night (AEST) in the heart of Paris, where the temperature soared into the high 20s and the humidity climbed to above 60 per cent.
China's Jiayu Yang claimed gold in one hour, 25 minutes, 54 seconds (1:25:54), ahead of Spanish silver medallist Maria Perez (1:26:19) and Montag, who clocked 1:26:25 to break her own national record as the Paris Games athletics program got under way.
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"In the days leading up, when people were sending me the weather report, I was like, 'Crank it up, let's cook, I want everyone else to be uncomfortable because I know I'm tough'," Montag told reporters in the media mixed zone.
From left: Australian bronze medallist Jemima Montag, Chinese gold medallist Jiayu Yang and Spanish silver medallist Maria Perez. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
As Montag spoke to media near the finish line, situated within clear sight of the Eiffel Tower only a stone's throw away, many of her competitors were in visibily distressed states.
"I think Australia's well ahead of the rest of the world in terms of physiology and nutrition awareness," Montag said.
"I've had the privilege of being a part of a lot of research with Professor Louise Burke, who's the queen of dietetics, and there's my physiologist. I won't give all my secrets away, but the heat wasn't a factor.
"I was tough.
"We were passing bags of ice, they were going in the crop top, pouring on the head."
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Montag became the seventh Australian race walker to win an Olympic medal, joining George Parker (1920), Noel Freeman (1960), Nathan Deakes (2004), Jane Saville (2004), Jared Tallent (two medals in 2008, one in 2012) and Dane Bird-Smith (2016).
The Melbourne athlete was placed fifth at the 16km mark but surged into the bronze medal position over the next kilometre, before holding on for a moment to cherish forever.
Her bronze-winning walk followed a sixth-placed finish at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
She now has a second global medal to go on the mantlepiece, along with the silver she won at last year's world championships in Budapest.
"It feels like I've made it," Montag said.
"Saville, Deeks, Tallent, [Kerry] Saxby — they're the names you grow up as a little athlete looking up to, and never in your wild dreams would you imagine being up on that podium and at their level with so many Little Athletics kids saying that you're their inspiration now."
