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Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers (née McDermott), known for her outspoken Christian faith, has shared the podium in Switzerland despite adverse conditions.

Defying the pouring rain, Aussie athlete Nicola Olyslangers took a single jump to clear 1.91 metres in the high jump competition at the Diamond League in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

The conditions were less than optimal, causing world high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine) to bow out after two failed attempts. But the soaked track didn’t stop Olyslangers from taking the risk—and it paid off, as she cleared the bar on her first and only attempt.

“On a night where rain battered the stadium and Olympic champions faltered, dual Olympic medallist Nicola Olyslagers rose above the conditions to share the top spot in the Women’s High Jump at the Lausanne Diamond League, a highlight in a string of gritty Australian performances in Switzerland.” — Sascha Ryner, Australian Athletics

The New South Wales-based Olympian, who in 2021 became the first woman to clear 2 metres and last year won silver in the Paris Olympics, shared the podium with Poland’s Maria Zodzic and Germany’s Christina Honsel.

One jump is all it takes! 🥇👊

Not even the rain could wipe the smile off Nicola Olyslager’s face, as she talks about braving the wet conditions to jump 1.91m share gold at the Lausanne Diamond League.

Eleanor Patterson joined in the 1.91m party, finishing fourth on countback.… pic.twitter.com/174fiLB3ph

— Australian Athletics (@AustralianAths) August 20, 2025

Characteristically, Olyslangers left no question as to who deserved the praise, telling reporters that God is the reason she doesn’t flag under adverse conditions.

“… the joy that’s inside of me can’t get drowned out because it’s from a source that doesn’t get diluted with circumstances, because I have God’s joy inside of me…” — Nicola Olyslangers

Olyslangers posted photos of the pouring rain on Instagram with the caption, “The floodgates opened over Lausanne 💙 When it’s worship, it’s a treasured moment no matter the weather.”

 

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A post shared by Nicola Olyslagers (@nicolalmcdermott)

Divine Support

This is not the first time the Australian athlete has had to face adversity. In 2019, Olyslangers won the first competition in her European season—jumping fourteen times that day and clearing 1.94 metres. She wrote an article reflecting on the time, titled “When Strength Seems to End”.

Following her win in Sweden, she says that she felt like she needed “a few weeks off”, but her manager called to inform her that she had been granted late entry to a competition in the Czech Republic. That competition was only 36 hours away.

When she arrived in Ostrava, Czech Republic, she says “just sat down cross-legged by my door, eating a peanut butter protein bar, crying tears of exhaustion”.

“My pre-competition sessions that had been finely tuned, down to the grams I would load on a barbell to activate my muscles, were all thrown away in the travel day. My competition diet that I had spent months trialling, gone! I’d slept through breakfast and was eating chocolate bars for the most part of the day so I didn’t have to walk to find a supermarket. My competition day that I usually carefully mapped out to do little bits of exercise, study and lying down.” — Nicola Olyslangers

As she was walking into the stadium, she remembers that she heard a voice in her head say, “If you got to the Olympic final after the qualifying round feeling this tired, would you decide it’s too hard, and go home? Or would you fight? And make the most of this opportunity to go out and jump with all you had inside of you, trusting the Lord as your strength?”

Despite how she felt, Olyslangers pushed through—jumping the best she ever had (1.96 metres) and qualifying for her first Olympics.

“It cost all I had,” she says, “but I gained something I never would have achieved without the help of the Lord.” Olyslangers is convinced that what she achieved that day was only possible because she came to the end of herself, where she “truly had to rely on Him.”

In the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Final, Olyslagers won the Silver Medal. Photo from Nicola Olyslagers’ website.

Perseverance

This is the attitude towards athletics that has motivated her ever since. Olyslangers points to two scriptures that have reshaped her mentality towards sports and God.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” — Romans 5:3-5

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.” — Hebrews 10:35-36

Following a 2017 conversation, Olyslangers collaborated with several other Christian athletes to found Everlasting Crowns, an organisation whose stated mission is to “encourage, empower and equip athletes to transform culture through the love of Christ.”

With her beaming smile and infectious sense of joy, Olyslangers faithfully models what a transformed Christian witness looks like in the arena of sport.

 

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A post shared by Australian Olympic Team (@ausolympicteam)

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Photo taken from Nicola Olyslangers’ website.