Jemima Montag

BIOGRAPHY

Jemima Montag is Australia's premier female race walker who at only 25-years-old has already secured dual Commonwealth Games gold medals, and Olympic and World Championship top 10 finishes. The International Olympic Committee Young Leader was selected for her maiden Olympic berth in Tokyo where she placed a stunning sixth in the oppressive Japanese heat in Sapporo, clocking 1:30.39. Her sixth place was the second highest in Australian Olympic history.
There was an emotional moment at the end of the race for Jemima. She pointed to the sky as she crossed the line, later revealing that it was a tribute to a late family member who inspired the brave performance.

Jemima’s terrific form continued in 2022, when in February she broke Jane Saville’s 18-year-old 20km Walk Australian record, clocking 1:27.27. At the 2022 World Championships Jemima was terrific, placing fourth in a quick time of 1:28.17. A time which would have won five previous world championships. It was the second highest in the event by an Aussie woman and the best Aussie place in the event by a male or female for two decades.

Three weeks later, Jemima defended her Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham, clocking 42:34.30.

Her 2023 has been six undefeated races and three consistent 20km walk times of 1:27.51, 1:28:00 and 1:29.10. Jemima now owns four of the top-5 Australian 20km walk times ever.

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Jemima started Little Athletics at Brighton in the under 8s and after struggles with events like jump and throwing, realised she had slow twitch muscles and found her way into the technical endurance event of race walking.

Aged 16, she made her first appearance for Australia, in the junior event at the World Race Walking Cup. Just after her twentieth birthday she made her Australian senior debut at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, where she would compete in just her third 20km walk.  In the lead up she was feeling rather nervous due to it being a home Games and family would be on the sidelines. She took to journaling to understand that people just wanted her to enjoy the event as she competed in her sport. On the morning of the race she said to herself, for the first half or hour, she should be comfortable and for the remainder of the race, it will take 30 minutes of courage for a lifetime of pride. She also said did deep, have faith in my training and what my coach has told me. Montag went on to win gold by a comfortable 88 seconds, an achievement she considers as her most memorable sporting achievement. This was followed by two outstanding performances in 2019, silver at the World University Games and tenth at the world championships – the highest place in this race by an Australian woman for 20 years.

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Montag’s strong community spirit has led to part time work to support herself while she studies and trains. While at high school at Wesley College in Melbourne, she was the prefect for Charities and Community Service and later employed by The Fruit Box Group as a research assistant for their new Corporate Social Responsibility project, The One Box, which delivers free boxes of fruit, veg, milk and bread to food insecure families around Australia.

Her advice to her younger self matches the destination of the Tokyo Olympics – “Find your purpose…your ‘ikigai’ and go fearlessly in the direction of whatever ignites that fire.”

The science student at Melbourne University strives for a well-balanced life and is studying. She understands you can’t expect yourself to be able to excel in all areas at the one time and that different areas will have different importance at times. She sees herself like a piece of music and you have to have all the elements in harmony.

She is also a keen musician who can play three instruments including the trumpet and piano and enjoys public speaking and debating. 

@ 1 August 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au

World Athletics Profile https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/jemima-montag-14457807