As a young girl, I always loved watching the Olympics. I knew the names of every Australian swimmer and athlete competing and I enjoyed watching sports that did not usually get a lot of ‘air time’ in the media. Every four years, this global sporting spectacular gives rise to new celebrities.

St Catherine’s proudly boasts five Old Girls who achieved the dream of competing at the Olympics. Their profiles and pictures adorn the walls of Sherren House as part of the Nil Magnum Nisi Bonum collection; I have highlighted the achievements of these amazing women below.

I am also proud to have friends who are Australian Olympians, our very own staff members: Mrs Gina Peele, a dual Olympian rower, Ms Susan Hobson a triple Olympian in the 10,000m and marathon and of course, Miss Jeanette Gunn who managed the Australian Women’s Water Polo Team over many years, including two Olympic games.

As far as family members go, I can lay claim to having a sister who performed in the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. She was living in Sydney at the time and determined to be part of the action of the Opening Ceremony. Upon hearing choreographers of the ceremony were looking for stilt walkers, she promptly attended lessons in stilt walking and was selected for the Opening Ceremony.

With Brisbane excitedly announced to host the Olympics in 2032, it will, hopefully, inspire a whole new generation of athletes over the coming decade, and potentially some stilt walkers!

Undoubtedly, the commitment, determination and self-discipline required to achieve the pinnacle of competing at the Olympics is extraordinary. Each athlete has a story of their dreams, passion, set-backs, loss and glory.

Interestingly, motivational speaker and author, Mr John Maxwell, suggests most of us have uphill dreams but downhill habits…and that is, of course, because downhill is easy.

But what are downhill habits? Complacency, inconsistency and excuses. Perhaps no big picture vision for the future, only instant gratification. Downhill habits require little effort. As you are aware, sliding downhill takes no talent at all (unless you are competing in snow sports). Gravity does most of the work for you. The truth is – everything worthwhile in life, everything you want, everything you desire to achieve, everything you want to receive – is uphill. It is not out of reach – it is just uphill!

Uphill is hard. Being an Olympian is hard. It requires intentionality, determination, hard work and consistency. Uphill requires you to keep an eye on the big picture and a readiness to put in the time. Although uphill is not always easy, the rewards are high and significant.

At School, we encourage all our students to be uphill climbers, signposted by one of our School values: Perseverance. How steep the climb may depend on many things … often how far downhill you are currently. This week, with Victorians managing COVID lockdown 5.0, we recognise the uphill challenge.

Some helpful tips for climbing uphill:

• Visualising what you want to accomplish; this is the starting point.
• Take-action, even if you are uncertain, it is the right action. A mindset for action in itself is a step in the right direction.
• Seek advice from teachers and friends about specific learning strategies and use them consistently.
• Stay focused; try and avoid being distracted.
• Celebrate your successes and your uphill climb.

I look forward to the announcement that we will be back on campus next week. In the meantime, I encourage all of our students to capture within themselves the necessary motivation, commitment and self-discipline with their studies and co-curricular pursuits and to not shy away from the uphill. And for the next two weeks, enjoy supporting Aussies at the Tokyo Olympics.

 St Catherine’s Olympic Alumnae

Triple Olympian and dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lauren Hewitt (’96) is one of Australia’s most recognisable female 100m and 200m sprinters. The youngest member of the 1996 Australian Olympic Track and Field team competing as a 17-year-old St Catherine’s school girl, Lauren and had the entire School supporting her. Lauren represented Australia at three Olympic Games, six world championships and three Commonwealth Games over a 12 year professional Athletics career, where she amassed two gold, one silver and three bronze medals and 12 Australian titles. She also has a Master’s Degree in Human Nutrition from Deakin University, a Bachelor of Science from Monash University and is a Registered Nutritionist with the Nutrition Society of Australia.

Olivia Sayers (’04) commenced at St Catherine’s School in four year old kindergarten in 1991. She began swimming competitively at the age of eight and in the same year won a Gold Medal in her first race at the Special Olympics. She holds the record for the most Victorian Primary Schools’ Sports Association (VPSSA) medals won by a St Catherine’s student. Olivia has represented Australia at four World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships; Ireland 2006, Portugal 2008, Taiwan 2010 and Italy 2012. Her greatest success was in Portugal where she won five gold, one silver and one bronze medal, set four World Records and was Runner–up Swimmer of the meet. Olivia has set a total of fifteen Swimming World Records.

Anna Segal (’04) created her share of history during her debut at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The 27-year-old was Australia’s sole female representative in Ski Slopestyle which was on the Olympic program for the first time in 2014. The Victorian then went on to finish fourth and record Australia’s first fourth place finish in Winter Olympic history. Anna was first introduced to skiing by her parents at age four. She began competing at an international level in 2003, when she was in Year 11 at St Catherine’s. At this point her focus was directed towards Mogul Skiing. In 2005 she decided to switch her focus to the new and quickly growing area of Free-Skiing – the disciplines of Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Big Air Skiing. None of these were Olympic sports until the 2011 announcement was made, they would be included as official events at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Anna chose to focus on representing Australia, deferring her studies as she poured her heart and soul into representing Australia in Sochi.

Olivia Skellern’s (Bunn ’96) passion for the Equestrian sport of Eventing began soon after she left St Catherine’s. For a period of 15 years she competed in, and managed, an internationally successful Equestrian team. At the age of 19, her hard-work and commitment to the sport paid off. Olivia was named the youngest member of the Australian Eventing team to compete at the world championships in Rome, Italy in 1998. This was a phenomenal experience for her, and also earned her the best-performing Australian team member, placing Olivia seventh in the world. Her Equestrian career blossomed from there taking her to not only the Athens Olympic Games, but also the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Other competition highlights included another World Championship and a World Cup final. Olivia’s commitment to Equestrian pursuits saw her defer her Engineering studies. She returned to complete a Bachelor of Applied Science and later an MBA at Monash University. She is now very involved in her family farming enterprises, focusing on agriculture, primarily in wine grape production, broad acre grain farming, meat and wool production.

Margaret McLean (Woodlock ‘56) was Captain of St Catherine’s School in 1956 and was selected to represent Australia in Shot Put at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Margaret was Victorian Champion 1956 – 1962, Australian Champion 1957 – 1962 and was a gold medalist at the World Masters Games 2002. Continuing her Athletics career while studying Physical Education at the University of Melbourne, she was awarded a University Full Blue for Athletics in 1957. Upon graduation she was appointed Head of Physical Education at MCEGGS in Australia and at Heathfield School in the UK. Margaret has also worked as the Box Office Manager at the Playhouse Theatre, Toronto, Canada. Her professional life continued as Development Director at Toorak College in Victoria and then Manager of the National Water Sports Centre for Melbourne’s 1996 Olympic bid. She ran her own professional major events business receiving the Premier Award for the Best Victorian Community Event in 2000, Making the Most of Life Expo.