- Nicola Olyslagers won fans over with her endearing personality
- The Olympian got the crowd going at the Paris Games
- But she fell short in her bid to win gold on Sunday
Nicola Olyslagers has won the hearts and minds of sports fans with her infectious personality at the Olympic Games.
Olyslagers, the first Australian woman to have cleared 2m in the high jump, went head-to-head with Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh for gold in Paris on Sunday in a dramatic final.
The 25-year-old,a devout Christian who prays before each and every attempt, says she jumps with ‘joy for Jesus’.
And she quickly won over the Stade de France crowd and the millions of fans watching at home with her positivity, egging the spectators on ahead of her attempts while beaming with delight every time she cleared her mark.
But it was one act that was most endearing, with Olyslagers the only athlete to write in a notebook after her jumps.
She has previously called the diary her ‘little book of gold’, and marks herself out of 10 for each effort.
‘This thing’s got viral and I didn’t quite understand why. But it’s my sports training diary and I think that’s just like Athletics 101,’ she told Nine.
‘Just write down what you did for training each day. But I just went one step further and said, okay, but what did I learn and what felt good and what do I need to change?
‘The [Tokyo] Olympic Games, it was two hours and 45 minutes long. Such a long time to be out there and focused.
‘So I had this book full of inspiration as well as these lessons I learned. I could just almost write a letter to myself in the future to say, hey you’re at the Olympic Games but remember this and I could look at it.
‘So it was like this beautiful moment that I could bring the journal with me in those competitions, and write down exactly what I was feeling in the moment that I can reflect on later.
‘Originally I was doing it because I thought no-one else would see it.
‘And then the next thing you know your little scribbles are in the headlines. It was never really intended for that.’
In the end, Olyslagers was unable to clear the 2.02m mark and had to settle for silver, with Mahuchikh taking the top prize.
But fans felt Olyslagers embodied the Olympic spirit, taking to Twitter to laud the Aussie.
‘Nicola Olyslagers happiness is contagious!’ one fan said.
‘This Aussie high jumper is so precious,’ said another fan. ‘I am now an Olyslagers fan.’
A third fan asked: ‘How can you NOT cheer on Nicola Olyslagers?’
‘Nicola Olyslagers is the cutest thing with her lil journo.’
