Eleanor Patterson’s Journey of Discovery

IT took only six seconds out of 26-year-old Eleanor Patterson’s life to complete the effort that secured her the world high jump championship title, but, as much as it’s a treasured moment, the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship athlete insists the victory shouldn’t define her as an individual.

Last July’s world championship triumph in Oregon added to Patterson’s 2013 World Youth title, her Commonwealth Games gold medal . . . which was draped over her neck when she was 18 . . .  a world indoor championships silver, a Commonwealth silver, two Olympic campaigns, national championship, and state victories as well as an assortment of records.

However, when Patterson stepped away from sport five years ago after she didn’t qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, she discovered being recognised as simply ‘an athlete’ didn’t sit right with her.

“I didn’t step foot on the track . . . I didn’t step foot in the gym,” said Patterson of her time on the outer. “I was sitting on the couch and getting quite unfit. I just wasn’t very happy. Full stop.

“However, the huge thing for me was finding out who I was outside of athletics. I wasn’t just ‘Eleanor the Athlete,’ I was ‘Eleanor the Person.’

“I was wanting to have more of a balance with that because I’d always sacrificed so much as a junior athlete to put everything into athletics . . . but, that came at the detriment of myself as a person. It was unhealthy.”

One of the challenges many athletes, including cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman and three-time Olympic gold medallist Shirley de la Hunty (nee Strickland) faced long after their final innings, or last race, was having their sporting achievements eclipse all other aspects of their life.

Off the pitch Bradman enjoyed a successful five decade-long career as a stockbroker, company director but one anecdote suggested he was shocked the day his son introduced him to a young school friend as ‘the great Australian cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman’, and not as his ‘dad’.

For many, de la Hunty’s Olympic efforts overshadowed a lifetime’s worth of achievements which included obtaining an honours degree for nuclear physics, lecturing physics and mathematics at Perth Technical College (despite her early education being via correspondence), serving as President of the Australian Democrats branch in Western Australia, contesting seven federal elections, becoming a local councillor, and a conservationist.

“One thing I’m hellbent on proving to myself is I’m a person outside of being an athlete; having that balance in life is huge,” said Patterson, who worked in education support at a school during her self-imposed exile.

“Even after becoming the world champion, I was really determined not to let that change me. I like to be a humble person . . . a hard worker . . . and keep things simple. I’m someone who doesn’t like to draw a lot of attention to myself.

“[I wanted] to have those elements of myself to remain true and not let things, and any successes, change me too much. That’s a big thing for me I’m determined to maintain that true essence of myself as a person.”

The second chapter of Patterson’s path towards her world championship triumph was summoning the courage to do the right thing by herself as an athlete, and person by leaving what was actually her discomfort zone in regional Victoria.

The catalyst for that was the day Sydney-based athletics coach Alex Stewart phoned to check in on her.

“I wasn’t happy with the set up where I grew up in Victoria,” said Patterson, who is from Leongatha, 135km south-east of Melbourne. “I’d been training under a coach for a long period, and I needed a change. A change of environment . . .  people . . . a lot of things.

“I quit sport for over a year, and it took me a long while [to realise] I wasn’t finished, but I needed change. I needed that time to find the motivation to come back into sport. Alex reached out, and the rest is history.

“I moved up to Sydney in June 2019 and started working with Alex and also became a member of the NSWIS community and it was a huge moment, a pivotal moment. I remember the first instance of doing a training session with Alex and being petrified and not wanting to do it. Feeling so scared and daunted.”

By overcoming her trepidation, Patterson was eventually able to fulfill the pledge she made to herself as a highly motivated nine-year-old Little Athletics competitor: to become the best she could be.

“It’s a huge change for me moving up to Sydney and chasing that dream” she said.  “But I think a part of that was remaining true to myself.

“I knew deep down I needed to change the environment around me. I knew coming up to Sydney and working with Alex was the best decision for me. It took a long, long while to make that happen and bring it to fruition.

“It’s brought me to enjoy the sport . . . love the sport . . . and have such an appreciation for anyone who is in it and striving to better themselves. That’s the biggest thing to me.”

Patterson wasn’t expected to win gold at last year’s world championships. Her build up was frustrated by a stress hot spot. The injury reduced her to doing walking drills just weeks before her event. Despite the odds, Patterson believed she had it in her to spring an upset.

“I wasn’t the favourite going in,” she recalled of the event where, for the first time in her career, she cleared two metres in an outdoor competition.

“I was up there, but there was a Ukrainian athlete [Yaroslava Mahuchikh] who was highly favoured for the event. Even though going into it I wasn’t able to run I was really using my head space to convince myself it was going to come to fruition.

“And when it did, having the rest of the world know what I can do – and achieving that – was a scary thing. But it was a great moment; insane.

“I was certainly out of breath . . . a bit overwhelmed. All the preparation we’d done as a team – obviously, competition-wise, I didn’t have a lot under my belt – but I had a lot of confidence in my ability, and I brought out my 2.02m jump.”

Coach Stewart is adamant that while Patterson’s performance in Oregon exposed the world to her character, it merely reaffirmed the traits he admires.

“The world championship victory didn’t tell me anything new about Eleanor’s character,” he said.

“I know that she’s a champion on the track, and she’d be one of the toughest people you’ll ever come across on the track and off the track. She’s gracious; talented, and, as many champions are, she’s a whole package.

“I want anyone who looks up to her to see it is worthwhile to explore your potential. That is essentially why I started to coach, to help athletes explore their fullest potential.

“Not everybody will be a world champion – not a lot will be a national champion – but, if I can, I want to be involved in the process of helping someone explore their potential … doing whatever it takes  . . . moving interstate; living a disciplined life which includes missing social outings . . .  making the right dietary choices.”

Patterson’s preparation for the upcoming world championships has been hindered by a broken bone in her foot. While she is off the crutches, she knows what needs to be done.

After her stress hot spot before Oregon, and the pre-season stress fracture she battled in the lead up to her fifth place at the Tokyo Olympics, Patterson says she is in familiar territory.

“As part of the mental head space and being able to come back from injury, it’s something that’s quite familiar for me,” she said.

“We have world championships in Budapest at the end of August, but I have big plans. I want to be able to defend my title and achieve a lot of things as far as personal best and Australian records.

“As much as this is looking ‘different’ I don’t think it will change the end result.”

With the clock ticking, Patterson is preparing for her title defence in the NSWIS gym, a place where she feels focused and part of a community.

“It’s been a wonderful thing,” she said of her NSWIS scholarship. “When I came to Sydney I hadn’t been on a team for a number of years.

“Obviously, I had an okay resume as far as what I’d achieved in the past, but at that point I [started at NSWIS] I hadn’t competed in over a year and I hadn’t jumped particularly well. In the last competition I’d jumped 1.82 – or something like that – not very high.

“But, to be welcome in those early stages into the NSWIS community and to be able to access facilities was a new thing. I’d always, in the past, taken care of everything and trained in the country with not much access to facilities and support such as NSWIS.

“It was very new to me, but it gave me support [and the knowledge] that people do believe in me. It made it easier for me just to get stuck into the hard work, to gain that fitness, and to be able to return to competitive sport.

“In the early competitions I jumped quite high, and it really reiterated it was the best decision of my life to come to Alex and to Sydney to work with NSWIS.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS