Eliza McCartney Pole Vault New Zealand!

Hi Everyone,
Today with the Summer Learning Journey Programme I have reached to the end of week 1 tasks and I can't wait to start working on week 2. Today's task is to choose your own sports person in New Zealand and write some description about that person and what they do. For my sports person, I chose to write about Eliza McCartney who is a New Zealand Pole Vaulter and one bronze in the 2016 summer Olympics, I hope you enjoy it. Who is your favorite New Zealand sportsperson?

Eliza McCartney's Story

Pole Vaulter Eliza McCartney stormed into the international scene winning the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic games in her first-ever major event. Two years later Eliza McCartney backed up the bronze with silver at the Gold Coast 2018 commonwealth games. 

Eliza McCartney first made the athletics world take notice of her abilities with a fourth place at the world under 18 championships in 2013. At the end of 2015, Eliza McCartney set a world junior pole vault record with a whopping 4.64 meter, just days before she qualified for a junior world record ended. 

Since then she has extended her New Zealand record to 4.82 meters and placed fifth at the world indoor Championships in Portland, United States Of America. Eliza is coached by Athletics NZ high-performance program coach Jeremy McColl and competes for the North Harbour Bays club. 

She was also only the fourth New Zealand Olympic medallist in a field event, after Yvette Williams (long jump, 1952), Valerie Adams (shot put, 2008, 2012, 2016), and Tomas Walsh (shot put, 2016).

Facts About Eliza McCartney

• McCartney was a Vauxhall Primary School mate of pop star Lorde, and they played in the same age-grade netball team. Lorde's mother, Sonja Yelich, posted a picture of McCartney on her Instagram account during the Olympics: "This is Eliza McCartney - just the nicest person ever - and a finalist in today's pole vault in Rio." The girls were also at Takapuna Grammar.

• She was fifth at this year's world indoor championships in America, her first major international competition, where commentators tipped her as a star on the rise. She won the world junior bronze two years ago.

• At age 19 years old, Eliza McCartney became the youngest Olympic medallist in the women's pole vault. 

• Eliza McCartney was also only the fourth New Zealand Olympic medallist in a field event, after Yvette Williams (long jump, 1952), Valerie Adams (shot put, 2008, 2012, 2016), and Tomas Walsh (shot put, 2016).

Images