by Stuart Weir
This is Stuart Weir’s piece on the surprise early departures from the pole vault by WL Molly Caudery and Olympic bronze medalist Holly Bradshaw. On the broadcast, I did not believe it when I saw it. But it happens in sport.
Holly and Molly – a sad tale
The women’s pole vault qualifying ended the Olympic career of one GB athlete and the medal hopes of another.
Holly Bradshaw has had a magnificent career. I will never forget her Olympic bronze in Tokyo three years ago. 2022 was a year full of promise that had ended before it had really begun. In the warm-up at the world championship in Oregon, Holly was preparing for a routine practice vault when a pole snapped, causing her to fall awkwardly and seriously injure her back – effectively ending the season. She announced that the Paris Olympics was her target and 2024 would be her final competitive season. She also split from long-term coach Scott Simpson and was self-coached with help from Kate Rooney. She did a Master’s degree, writing a dissertation on the attitudes of elite athletes. She made statements like not liking the person elite sport had made her. She spoke openly about fulfilling her ambition and Tokyo of becoming an Olympic medalist and then suffering a deeply lethargic, depressive “Olympic Blues”.
In Paris she came in at 4.20 but then failed 4.40, commenting: “It’s not the ending I wanted but in life you don’t always get what you deserve. I think I’m just a bit crushed. I have struggled all year with a niggly achilles and my team have done an amazing job to get me pain free and today was the first comp or training session I have been completely pain free, I think with what happens in pole vault I was on the back foot, I was on too soft a pole, had a bit of a flirty wind which with a better build up I would brush off, but I just got caught out with a few tech and tactical decisions. I felt really good, its only taken 4:40 to make the final and I am well worth that at the minute”.
Molly Caudery came to Paris full of hope and expectation, with a PR of 4.92 set this year and as 2024 World Indoor Champion. She was the last athlete to enter the competition, at 4.55, higher than that required for qualification for the final. She failed three times at 4.55 and her Olympics were over. Speaking to British media last month she outlined her strategy: “The qualifying round being two days before the final you need to try and save as much energy as you can for the final, but also you still need to be able to get the job done. So I would tend to come in reasonably high in the qualifying round”. This time, it would seem that she came in too high. Her comments afterwards were: “I am currently in a bit of shock. I am so disappointed. I don’t have any excuse. I felt great and in the best shape of my life, I loved the big crowd, I didn’t feel overly nervous, I don’t have a reason right now for what just happened. This is going to take a bit of time to process. 4.55m is a bar that I jump day in, day out. There is not one piece of doubt in my mind that I wasn’t going to clear it. Some people might say I came in too high, but that’s certainly not mine or my coaches opinion. When I have been jumping 4.80 and 4.90 all year round, 4.55 shouldn’t have been a problem. It is just a really unfortunate day”.
A tough lesson but at 24, she will have more Olympic days to come.
