How the South West’s athletes fared at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games all wrapped up, Josh Kempton takes a look at how our athletes from the South West fared. Nina Kennedy (pole vault) Result: Gold medal How it happened: Busselton-born Nina Kennedy did not just brilliantly claim a gold medal in Paris — she made history on multiple fronts in doing so, becoming Australia’s first female Olympic athlete to win a field event, and taking our gold haul to a best-ever total of 18. After a disappointing debut at the Games in Tokyo marred by an injury-affected build-up and a pre-competition COVID-19 scare, she superbly dealt with the pressure of sport’s biggest stage to vault a season-best height of 4.90m. A first-up miss at 4.70m did not prove a sign of things to come for Kennedy, who quickly corrected the mistake with her next jump, needing only a single attempt to get over 4.80m, 4.85m and 4.90m. Before the Games, she said she would not take a chance to share gold as she did with American Katie Moon at the world championships last year, but the scenario did not arise, with none of her competitors able to match her. In the unbridled joy of her post-win celebrations, she turned down a chance to clear 4.95m, but she has now set her sights on the world record of 5.06m, which has stood for 15 years. What she said: “I rolled the dice so damn hard, I put every single egg into that basket and I kind of said ‘why not me? Someone’s got to win it, why can’t it be me?’.” Jack Robinson (surfing) Result: Silver medal How it happened: Margaret River’s Jack Robinson will always have a silver medal to show for his brilliant efforts in Tahiti but he was denied a genuine shot at gold by the cruel nature of competitive surfing. In his gold medal match against Kauli Vaast at the Teahupo’o surf break — some 18,000km from Paris — the local hope put himself in a strong position by capitalising on two good waves early in the contest. Needing a worthy wave to get himself back in the running, Robinson was forced to endure an agonising wait but the slow conditions proved unco-operative and he never got a genuine chance to overhaul his opponent. Robinson had to make the final the hard way — being pipped in the closing stages of his round one heat forced him into the repechage, where he got over Peru’s Lucca Messinas before a seeding system which has come under fire saw the World No.3 meet world no.1 John John Florence in the round of 16. After besting the legendary American, he took down compatriot Ethan Ewing in an all-Australian quarterfinal and got over Brazil’s Gabriel Medina in the semifinal to guarantee himself one of the top two places on the podium. What he said: “The most difficult thing was working with Mother Nature . . . I was just waiting on the ocean to provide me with one shot.” Lauren Reynolds (BMX racing) Result: Semifinals How it happened: At the Olympics for a remarkable fourth time, a stroke of cruel luck was all it took to end the medal hopes of Bunbury product Lauren Reynolds in the BMX race. After sailing through the quarterfinals and finishing third and fourth in her first two heats of the semifinal, she only needed to avoid a last-placed finish in the last race to punch her ticket to the final for a second time at the Games. But disaster struck when she was forced wide on the middle straight and had to bail out of the track into a slip lane, meaning she could only cross the line in eighth. Reynolds’ 10th-placed result adds to her finishes of 15th in London, 11th in Rio, and fifth on Tokyo, with compatriot Saya Sakakibara going on to win gold in the event in one of the best stories of the Games. What she said: “Absolutely devastated and real freaking proud.” Aran Zalewski and Jake Harvie Result: Quarterfinals How it happened: The Kookaburras came into Paris full of confidence after securing the FIH Pro League title in the lead-in to the Games, but were left to rue another disappointing tournament. After edging past Argentina and Ireland in their first two games, their repeat of Tokyo’s gold medal match against Belgium proved a non-event as they were on the receiving end of a 6-2 thumping. Another loss to India in their final pool stage game resulted in a tough quarterfinal match-up against the Netherlands for the third Games in a row, with the eventual gold medallists taking revenge for a loss in 2021 by winning 2-0. Captaining the side, Margaret River’s Aran Zalewski was among their best performers, and Dardanup’s Jake Harvie more than held his own when called upon, but the Kookaburras’ gold drought will now extend to at least 28 years. What they said: “As much as we wanted it, as much as we tried to put everything in place, you have to accept that it just wasn’t our Olympics.” (Aran Zalewski) Kyle Lee (marathon swimming) Result: 13th How it happened: Australind-raised Kyle Lee produced a solid showing in the 10km race at his first Olympics, finishing 13th in a 31-swimmer field. With plenty of family along the banks of the River Seine cheering him on, he was confronted by conditions which proved difficult, with strong currents and temperatures hovering around 23C. Middle of the pack for much of the race, he held firm in a strong end to his race which saw him finish just over five minutes behind gold medallist Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary. Aged only 22, the debut will give Lee a strong foundation for future Olympic campaigns. What he said: “It was nice to have my family here. They’ve done a lot for me, so it was really special.”