Oliver Hoare

BIOGRAPHY

Australia has seen a wave of metric milers emerge in the last couple of years, resulting in unprecedented depth and quality in the event. One of those is Sydney’s Olli Hoare, who at the Tokyo Olympics joined the then national 1500m record holder Stewart McSweyn in the Olympic 1500m final, where he placed 11th. It was the first occasion in 65 years, since the 1956 Olympics, that Australia had two in the final of this event. In the ensuring years ahead of a second Olympic appearance in Paris, Olli has claimed an historic 2022 Commonwealth Games title, a world cross country medal and set numerous Australian records and currently holds the 1500m and the mile (jointly).

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Post his Olympic debut in Tokyo, Olli continued his great form into the 2021/22 American Indoor season with two Australian records from two starts in the mile and 5000m. In June 2022 Olli pushed the Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen all the way in the Oslo Dream Mile, clocking an Australian record of 3:47.48 and becoming the 13th fastest in history.

At the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Olli won his 1500m heat comfortably, but in the semi-final he seemed to be shuffled back through the field a couple of times and at the end looked out of gas and unable to mount a challenger. He placed 10th in 3:38.36.

Determined to rebound from his world championships performance, against a world class field in Birmingham, Olli won a very fast Commonwealth Games 1500m final in 3:30.12. The time broke the 48-year-old championship record by two seconds and moved Olli to number two in Australian history. He joined just two other Aussies as a 1500m gold medallist in major championships:  Edwin Flack 1896 Olympics and Herb Elliott 1958 Commonwealth Games and 1960 Olympics.

He closed his season in September with a third place in the Diamond League final in another very quick 1500m time of 3:30.59.

In February 2023 he ran on his first Australian team on home soil at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst in the mixed gender 4x2km relay team. He led off the National team, which won bronze – his first global medal.

In June at the Bislett Games in Oslo he placed 7th in a deep 1500m race, clocking an Australian record time of 3:29.41. But things were not good and he was eventually diagnosed with a sports hernia and injured pelvis, requiring surgery, putting an end to his season. He spent time in Australia rehabilitating the injury.

He would not return to competition for 10 months, until April in Adelaide at the Australian Championships where he ran a strong race to place second. The next goal was to record an Olympic qualifier and that was achieved over the mile at the Prefontaine meet, he then travelled to Oslo competing in the 1500m five days later, clocking an impressive 3:31.08 in sixth place.

Selected for his second Olympics, in the leadup to Paris he won the London Diamond League mile in 3:49.03. At the Olympics he finished well back, 13th in his 1500m heat. The next day in the repechage round he placed 5th in 3:34.00.

Following his heat, Olli revealed he copped abuse on social media, with him deciding to delete his Instagram account.

“I probably should have deleted Instagram before I went into the village, but I miss my friends. They don’t know that I couldn’t walk in November, they don’t know what a lot of athletes go through and sometimes it’s their day, sometimes it isn’t.”

Olli was in good form in early 2025, setting indoor PBs in the mile (3:50.77) and 3000m (7:45.42). He was selected for his 7th Australian team, to compete at the World Indoors in Nanjing, where he placed 3rd in his heat. He headed to Australia and placed 3rd in another strong Australian 1500m championship. In June he opened his European season with a quick 1500m time of 3:31.15 at the Rome Diamond League.

MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES

During injured period in 2023, Olli Hoare spoke candidly, via a monologue on his Coffee Club podcast, about his mental heath challengers. In an article with ABC sport his 2022 season where he won the 1500m title at the Commonwealth Games was described as ‘Professionally, best year ever. Personally, his worst.’

“Mentally, I had a lot of head noise,” he told ABC Sport.

“I had a lot of issues dealing with it … I was very low.”

He admits due to anxiety and depression he was close to retiring.

“I was very close to ringing my parents and just telling them I can’t do it anymore,” he said.

Living and training in Boulder, Colorado he was homesick, away from his family and he was dealing with the loss of his grandfather.

“I didn’t enjoy being around people … I struggled to find any meaning, I felt like a robot. I thought that maybe I had lost my passion for running. I questioned retiring.”

He sort help from a counsellor and spoke to his family.

“I’ve been able to kind of identify that I can’t just run through things physically and achieve goals … but not deal with the mental implications of what I do,” he told ABC Sport.

OLLI’S EARLY YEARS

Olli’s father Greg was a good track runner and world beach running champion over 2km, a pathway Olli also followed winning the U15 (2012) and U17 (2013) 2km beach run at the Australian titles along with team medals in the swim and board races. He also swam at State level.

Although still swimming in his teens, soon athletics became the focus.

“Once I reached high school, I really started to develop as a runner, particularly in track. I won the 2015 Australian cross-country championships as a 17-year-old competing in under 20s. I loved the thrill and knew I had to fully focus on track and cross country.” Initially he went to high school locally before transferring to the leading Combined Associated School Trinity Grammar, where he came under the coaching of Brad Woods and a strong sports system.

At a neighbouring school to Trinity was Newington’s Morgan McDonald, who was a year older and a good friend of Olli’s. They raced during their teens and it would be no surprise McDonald would have a strong influence on the career of Hoare. McDonald was a four-time NCAA champion competing for the University of Wisconsin and it was natural Hoare would follow him to the same institution.

Hobbies: surfing…..Why do you run: Running for me is a way to escape and compose your thoughts. I have an opportunity to be great, leave a legacy and do something like represent my country while competing against some of the greatest runners in the world….Best Advice:  Patience. Take ownership of your training, your successes, and your failures…Podcast: Olli can be heard weekly on the popular podcast (coffeeclubpod.com). It is hosted by his training partner and mate from Sydney, Morgan McDonald. Kiwi George Beamish.

@ 20 August 2025 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au