Olivia’s gold medal haul

The Year 7 student at St Mary’s in Nathalia also broke a carnival record for the 80 metre hurdles, and has recently found she may also have broken the 400 metre sprint record.

The exact results from the Leeton Athletics Carnival are awaiting confirmation from officials, but reputable sources affirm her efforts.

‘‘It feels pretty awesome winning, I really enjoyed it,’’ she said.

The 12 year-old hopes to triumph at state level, and is anxiously waiting to see if she made selection for the Youth State Championships held later this year.

Olivia has been training for athletics since she was ‘‘very young’’, and participates in a variety of other sports, including netball and golf.

‘‘I’m pretty determined to go to state, if I can get the time,’’ she said.

‘‘I had a few years off, and last year I went back to athletics. I go to Finley Little Athletics, which has training every Friday night, and we do four random events every week.’’

While Olivia is successful in a wide variety of sports, her favourite in athletics is the long jump.

‘‘You feel so free jumping in the air,’’ she said.

As for potentially breaking two records and scoring five from five at the carnival, Olivia is unsure what took her performance to this level.

Olivia’s record breaking event didn’t start smoothly, her mother Sherrene Thompson said.

‘‘She hit a hurdle to start with, and in the end she beat all the others and got the record.

‘‘She beat her personal best by a few seconds.

‘‘I think she was pretty surprised, because she didn’t realise until they were at the finish line and they were placing them in order, and one of the other athletes said, ‘I think Olivia’s got the record’.

‘‘The scoring lady checked it and said ‘Oh she did too!’.’’

Sherrene said it’s hard to predict at this stage whether Olivia will be able to fulfil her dream.

‘‘She may have achieved the times for 400 and long jump, but she still may not get in based on regions.

‘‘It’s pretty hard to get through to state level, but we just have to wait and see.’’

If she can, Olivia will compete in a qualifying event in Wagga Wagga this weekend to increase her chances of getting into the state events.

As for where she will go if she makes it past state levels, Olivia is unsure.

But for now, she says ‘‘it would be pretty awesome to have a career in athletics’’.