Australian weightlifter Jacqueline Nichele will take a moment out of her Olympic campaign to remember her late grandmother in Paris.
The weightlifter from Sydney plans on strolling the city streets to honour her Parisian bloodlines on her father’s side of the family.
Immigrating to Australia in 1968 when her dad, Gerard, was nine-months-old, her grandmother’s stories about the French capital captured Jacqueline’s imagination.
“A motivation for me to get to these Olympics was because Nan, who I was named after, came from Paris,” Jacqueline said.
“It’s just over a year since Nan passed away, and part of me wanting to compete in Paris was to take my family to France.
“My grandmother was very special to me. She was always kind and gentle with us kids, considerate of everyone.
“It was always inspiring to see someone of her age being independent and as healthy as she was. We miss her dearly.
“The thought of my family going overseas got me through some rough times. It’s been a tough couple of years, just with life in general. However, weightlifting gave me something good to focus on.”
Jacqueline, who played a host of sports before taking up weightlifting in 2019, described her Olympic qualifying campaign as a rollercoaster.
“The beginning of the Olympic qualification was tough because I went into it after doing smaller competitions to, ‘here, you’re on the big stage, good luck’,” she said.
“During that first competition I PB’d with one of my lifts, but then I bombed. That was a lot to deal with, particularly on one of the biggest stages ever.
“A lot of the tears, though, were for Nan. My idea to take my family the ‘full circle’ was a deep motivation for me. I was so fortunate to have great support around me because when I thought ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, I’ve had enough’ they reminded me it was going to be worth it in the end. They made it clear I was a lot stronger than I thought.”
As Jacqueline prepares for her first lift as an Olympian in the Women’s 71kg class on 9 August, she said the doubts she experienced in Saudi Arabia were long gone.
“Sure, it can be nerve racking being out in front of people, having the lights on you, but when you think about it, what’s the worst thing that can possibly happen? “Bomb out? I've been there, done that,” she said.
“My mindset is simple: I can only do what I can on the day. I’ll make sure I enjoy the process and I'll give my all.”
Daniel Lane
