Ready, Set, Gold
With Queensland hosting the Olympic Games in 2032, and talks of preliminary events being held on Toowoomba soil, the region is abuzz with excitement. Nicole Yap gets some local insight into the Toowoomba sport scene and the Olympic dream.
Published 24 February 2023
Written by Nicole Yap
Photography by Theresa Hall
IT BEGINS WITH young local talents like Jai Gordon who, at only 18 years old, was crowned the Under 20s national champion at the 2022 Chemist Warehouse Australian Track & Field Championships. It is his first national title, winning the U20 Men’s 100m and 4x100m relay. Jai says he played “almost any [sport] I could get my hands on” – from AFL to cricket, until he started specialising in sprinting only a few years ago.
“I’ve been coming second and third ever since I started in 2018 at nationals so it feels good to finally win and run another personal best,” Jai said.
It is a feat that doesn’t come easy. Also a USQ student in Exercise Physiology, a typical day in Jai’s life – if there is such a thing for an elite athlete – starts at 5.30am at Willows Health and Lifestyle Centre, where he is a personal trainer. Throughout the day, he also works as a sprint coach at Elite Performance Unit and the Toowoomba Grammar School, doing study and lecture runs before closing the day with training. Not to mention having to eat up to 4000 calories a day, which Jai considers to be a job in itself.
He has a big support system behind him as he races through those tracks to victory, from family and friends to coaches, massage therapists, physiotherapists, and chiropractors. Jai enjoys working on the small, technical details that go into a 10-second race, but most of all, he loves the individual nature of the sport.
“The rewards and accolades you get are your work … what you get is what you put into it,” he said.
While he is hoping to live the Olympic dream, Jai knows what it takes to get there, and currently has his sights set on this year’s Oceania Championships and World Junior Championships in Colombia.
“You’ve got to take one championship at a time, so 2024 in Paris first, make that team, and then eventually we’ll make our way to 2032 in Brisbane. Hopefully I’m still running then – I think it’d be a great opportunity to run in front of family and friends,” Jai said.
“It’s nice to be an Olympic hopeful, but you’re not on the team until you’re officially selected so you can’t rest on your laurels – you’ve just got to keep working hard.”
The Games are also keeping coaches on their toes. Together with his team, Corey Wolski (pictured) – high performance manager at The Fit Lab Health and Fitness Centre – works with both individual athletes and sports teams as they prepare for the podium, whether through strength and conditioning, personal training, physiotherapy, or prescribing a four-year program in the lead-up to an Olympics.
“Having [the Olympics] only a couple hours away is going to provide athletes with a lot of opportunities to progress to that level, and hopefully also provide regions around the area with potential funding and different opportunities to grow sport everywhere,” Corey said.
“I’m really excited – I wish I was 10 years younger.”
Corey highlights the importance of young athletes seeking out professionals to take their sport to the next level, and hopes to see some Olympians out of the 1500 junior athletes that The Fit Lab works with every week. He said he has seen a strong intrinsic drive in the group, particularly among the individual athletes, and also notes the excitement and growth of female sport.
“I think that’ll be a big part of this region having success – being able to develop those programs to help females as well,” he said.
Gemma Etheridge is a testament to female success in sport and an inspiration to young athletes in the Toowoomba region. Along with her teammates, she won gold at the inaugural women’s rugby sevens (a variation of rugby union) event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The former Fairholme College student played touch football before being selected in her first rugby touring team. But her journey to the Olympics was unique – Gemma had never played a game of rugby sevens prior to recruitment, had trained in the sport for only four years in the lead-up to the 2016 Games, and had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) just weeks before flying to Rio, almost missing her dream.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind process for me,” Gemma said.“I wasn’t one of the key players on the field … but my role in the team was still just as important in holding the fabric of the team together, being one of the mature and senior leaders of the team.
“It is phenomenal how big a scale the Olympics is, and then for us to actually win a gold medal and think that we were the same as what I was watching on TV four years earlier … was pretty surreal,” she said.
Now retired after three knee reconstructions, and now a busy mum of two little boys, Gemma encourages young Australian athletes today to have a go and learn something new in every sport they try. While rugby sevens was not her original plan, Gemma said she took her skills, drive, and training capacity in touch football and other sports across to rugby sevens, which ultimately led her to winning gold in one of the world’s biggest sporting events, and in what became a historic match in female team sport.
“What I always say is – don’t ever say no to an opportunity to try a different sport, because you never know what sort of skill or coaching you might receive that you can then use.”
The Brisbane Olympic Games are still a decade away, but planning is underway. According to the Queensland Government’s Brisbane 2032 Master Plan, one of many infrastructure projects lined up is a $1 billion redevelopment of the Brisbane Cricket Ground – the Gabba – for the opening and closing ceremonies. The plan also includes Clive Berghofer Stadium in Toowoomba as a venue for football preliminaries. The Games are projected to create a 20-year pipeline of opportunity and bring $8 billion in benefits to the state.
And with the Toowoomba Region Sports Precinct project in Charlton currently in its early stages of development, locals may have a chance to hone their sports skills, try a different sport, or even kick-start their sporting career there in the meantime.
Whether it be young hopefuls like Jai, dedicated coaches like Corey or experienced athletes like Gemma, Toowoomba athletes and spectators alike are gearing up in the name and thrill of sport as they anticipate another Games – one that has never been this close to home.
The 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane is scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August 2032, with the 2024 and 2028 Olympics to be hosted in Paris and Los Angeles, respectively.
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