Olivia Gross – Jumping from East to West

Originally from Geelong, Victoria, pole-vaulter Olivia Gross, packed up her life six months ago and relocated herself to Western Australia to join the WAIS pole vault program.

With world class facilities including an indoor hydraulic runway ramp at the WAIS High Performance Service Centre, and the WA Athletics Stadium next door, the program is home to the Australia’s best vaulters and is considered one of the best programs in the world. Current program athletes include Australian Record Holder Nina Kennedy and dual Olympian Kurtis Marschall and the program sent three athletes to the Tokyo Games.

Gross’ potential had been identified at junior level and with qualification for the Under 20n World Championships secured, she was offered the opportunity to train at WAIS in 2021.

“I’ve known her for a while, and she’s been jumping at a reasonable level for a few years. I invited her to do some training with us prior to her attendance at the World U20s last year and this was the catalyst for her to try our environment and move over,” said WAIS Senior Pole Vault Coach James Fitzpatrick who works closely with pathway athletes, while also working with the senior athletes in the program lead by WAIS Head Coach and 6m jumper Paul Burgess.

With knowledge that Perth and WAIS was the place to be for her development she thought “may as well give it a go,” if the opportunity arose.

“After a few chats with Fitz [James Fitzpatrick], I decided that I wanted to head over to WA and immerse myself in the program, it looked like so much fun. I had finished school and was doing online studies, so could do that from anywhere,” Gross said.

“The program has been awesome so far. It’s been a big step up from what I was doing back home, just watching Australia’s best train was such an awesome insight. The training intensity is much greater here, but it was definitely the next step I wanted to take.”

After recently completing a course in Pilates instructing, Gross is working at Rebel Sport, a job secured through support from WAIS Athlete Wellbeing & Engagement Advisor, Amanda Schonfeld.

With support from WAIS the 19-year-old has found housemates and a place to live, the program supporting athletes both in sport and to ensure a balanced lifestyle and wellbeing associated with relocating to Perth.

“For anyone who’s thinking of making the move like I did from over east, my advice would be to grab the opportunity if it arises, you’re only going to regret it if you don’t come.”

“Having the support of your family is also important, but WAIS really helps create that family environment while you are away from home.”

With Nationals in Sydney at the end of March, Gross is looking to finish her season for the year with a bang.

“Nationals are next weekend; goal is to get on some big poles and jump a PB hopefully!”