MONTAG Jemima

General
IOC YOUNG LEADER
She was selected as one of 25 International Olympic Committee [IOC] Young Leaders for 2021-2024. The programme provides annual funding to use sport to make a positive difference in local communities. She plans to use the funding to develop a program to address the decline of female participation in sport. "From the onset of puberty and in later high school years when physical education lessons were not compulsory, the number of girls competing in sport and physical activity dwindles. That was really interesting to me, because I had always loved sport so always wanted to address what it was that caused the drop-off. One of the biggest barriers was around appearance and judgement, and this comes from the types of uniforms women and girls are expected to wear when competing in sport, so what I am trying to encourage is more choice in what girls and women can wear when playing sport. There is [also] this idea that compared to boys, girls aren't fit enough or good enough. The final barrier I discovered, and this issue relates more to women, was prioritisation [of] physical activity when there are other things they feel like they should be doing. Having the athlete voice microphone is really exciting and it's an opportunity that I don't want to waste." (olympics.com.au, 03 Feb 2021)

SCIENCE AND SPORT
She studies immunology at the University of Melbourne. "I love studying science because it answers all of these interesting questions, [like] how does the body work and why is this happening? And it gives you a whole new appreciation for the incredible science behind life, the universe and everything. For my experience, sport and science complement each other so well and they form this really nice balance where you can use your scientific knowledge at your physio or in your training." (athletics.com.au, 11 Feb 2018; The University of Melbourne YouTube channel, 31 Jan 2019)

TRIPPING OVER
She stumbled five minutes into the 20km walk at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, her first world championships, but recovered to finish 10th. She joked after the event that despite being a race walker, she is known for tripping over. "I'm known for falling over flat ground, especially in airports for some reason. My coach often jokes, 'Jem, you're literally paid to be a walker and you can't walk on flat ground'. I just fall over nothing." (heraldsun.com.au, 30 Sep 2019)

She won a gold medal in the 20km race walk at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia at age 20 years and 52 days, which made her the youngest athlete from any nation to win a Commonwealth Games race walk gold medal over any distance. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Apr 2020)