News & Updates

Allowing herself “a little happy cry” on the morning of her selection announcement for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, there is no denying the joy Olivia McTaggart felt when securing conditional selection.

For the 24-year-old pole vault it has been a dream she has held since watching the Beijing Olympics as an eight-year-old girl. Back then she dreamt of appearing for her country as an Olympic gymnast, and it was also where she first hinted at her prodigious work ethic by practising her beam routines and completing between 50-100 sit ups during ad breaks watching the action in Beijing from her lounge.

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to fulfilling my Olympic dream,” explains Olivia. “It may not quite be the final step (because Livi has performance conditions to meet) but it is a massive step and a celebration. I am in a much better place than I was three years ago (when the Tokyo Olympic team was announced. It is a massive deal for me.”

By her own admission her 2023 was “a big learning year.” She enjoyed the high of setting an outstanding PB of 4.71m at the Auckland Championships but undergoing a coaching change and an untimely bout of Covid meant she was unable to repeat the form she showed during the domestic summer on the international circuit. Missing out on a final spot at the World Championships in Budapest was not the result she desired but with her typical upbeat nature she prefers to reflect with positivity on her 2023 campaign.

“I had a whole mix of things go on, I worked with a new coach for three months in James (Steyn) who did a great job under the circumstances. I then had Covid about three weeks out from worlds and missed 12 days of training. I think by the time I got to worlds, I lost my fire a little bit, which is unlike me. But I learned a lot from (2023) and I feel in a much better place.”

Stability arrived last spring when Livi formalised her coach relationship with Athletics NZ pole vault coach Scott Simpson, who also guides fellow Kiwi vaulters Eliza McCartney and Imogen Ayris.

Instantly the pair clicked, and the Aucklander is hugely appreciative of the opportunity of working with the Briton, who guided Molly Caudery to the World Indoor title in Glasgow and Holly Bradshaw to Olympic pole vault bronze in Tokyo.

“At the time he come on board he was a saviour for New Zealand pole vault,” explains Livi. “He came in with the willingness to support us. He does very well at combining the technical aspects of the sport but also possesses that human aspect and he likes to get to know us as people as well as athletes. He tailors his training to the needs of the individual and is highly motivating.”

Pumped by their early work they have done together, Livi however received a blow in early December when after suffering discomfort in her right knee an MRI scan identified bone bruising.

Initially told she would need to take three to six weeks of rest she returned to jogging before heading over to be based in the UK for the indoor season. However, she was to suffer another setback with the knee after a further MRI scan revealed further bone bruising and she would be required to take another four to six weeks rest. Scrapping plans to compete indoors she

returned home to New Zealand to continue her rehab using a range of recovery strategies including icing, blood flow restriction and electrical stimulation.

No longer feeling any pain in the knee, Livi underwent a third MRI scan. Slightly mysteriously further bone bruising was discovered but as the North Harbour Bays athlete was no longer suffering any discomfort, it has been all systems go for Livi since then and she has stepped up her training.

“It has been an interesting past few months,” she explains. “My team has done everything right it has just been one of those medical anomalies that we haven’t been able to control. It has been a frustrating process, but we’ve been able to take the wins and work on other areas to become even fitter and stronger. It has also made me a mentally more resilient athlete.”

Working closely with Scott, her physio, Lou Johnson, and her HPSNZ strength and conditioning coach Simon Chatterton the team put together a plan to ensure she best use her time away from vaulting to become “a faster, better, stronger athlete.”

Livi has increased her upper body strength in the gym, she has developed her overall athletic ability through circuit work and even managed to improve her quad strength. Yet perhaps the most significant gain has been to change her running mechanics in order to best avoid future injury.

“My stride is shorter, more efficient stride length which will produce more power into the vault,” she says. “We are really starting to see those benefits now.”

Now back vaulting again and recently having completed her first 12-stride run up in training for many months, she is waking up each morning with “true purpose and intent” for every session.

And if Livi needed inspiration through her injury challenges of recent times she does not need to look far given how her training partner Eliza McCartney has overcome years of injury frustration to win a brilliant World Indoor silver medal in Glasgow in March.

“Training and jumping alongside Eliza makes me appreciate that you need to enjoy pole vault when you can,” explains Livi. “I have to remind myself that I have had about five months off pole vaulting whereas for Eliza it was on and off for five years. That naturally gives me a perspective.”

Planning to leave for her Loughborough base in England’s East Midlands in early May she hopes to next compete in Marrakech, Morocco on 19 May for what will be her Diamond League debut.

Her initial goal is to meet the performance conditions which will allow her Paris selection to be unconditional, although Livi admits she has more ambitious goals in 2024.

“I am trying to get that height (to meet performance conditions), as that will mean I am officially selected, but I don’t want to just get to the Olympics I want to be competitive at the Olympics, where the aim is to jump bigger heights and make the final.”