Here at Mamamia, we like to celebrate women who are doing great things in the sporting world.
The 15th World Championships for athletics are being held in China this weekend. It is the biggest event to be held at the Birds Nest (Beijing’s national stadium) since they hosted the Olympics in 2008.
Three Australian women – Michelle Jenneke, Eleanor Patterson and Eloise Wellings – have made it through to the finals in their respective fields.
And we think that’s worth talking about, right?
Eleanor Patterson is just 19 years old and is competing in the high jump finals.
This week she cleared 1.92 metres, which is impressive on its own. But do you know what’s more impressive? The fact that is Patterson’s first ever world championship appearance. The Victorian is a Commonwealth gold medalist and is the youngest ever Australian to make it to the finals in a world championship.
Michelle Jenneke is 22 years old and is also making her debut performance at a world championships. The Sydney born athlete is the only woman to be representing Australia in the 100m hurdles, and has now made it to the finals.
“I feel like I have been waiting to get out there for so long. To be out there in front of the crowd was incredible,” Jenneke told the ABC.
You might remember Michelle after she became an ‘internet sensation’ when a video of her race preparation went viral a few years ago.
Post continues after the video…
Eloise Wellings is the third Australian female athlete doing us proud in Beijing. The 32-year-old long distance runner is a veteran in her field, and is definitely still at the top of her game. Wellings ran so well in her 5000m heat that she qualified straight away.
She ran the distance in 15 minutes and 27 seconds.
“I got ran out of the heats in the Olympics and that was disappointing. I knew I could do it here. I just had a feeling,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Unfortunately world and Olympic champion – Australian born, Sally Pearson is absent from the championships due to a current injury.
We’re wishing Wellings, Jenneke and Patterson the best of luck.
And in other sporting news this week…
The Australian women’s basketball team, The Opals, have secured their place at the 2016 Olympic Games after defeating New Zealand in the second-leg of the Oceania qualifier. The Opals took out The Ferns 61-41 in their first game followed by an 80-63 win two days later in Tauranga, New Zealand. Rio will mark The Opals sixth consecutive Olympics.
Sydney FC’s Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League sides will play at WIN Stadium in Wollongong on September 18 in what will be known as “The South-Coast Football Challenge”. The women’s league will kick off the inaugural evening with Sydney FC competing against the Illawara Stingrays before the men’s league of Sydney FC take on Wellington Pheonix afterwards.
Aussie7’s rugby coach Tim Walsh has announced he will be focused on the women’s team rather than guiding the men’s team to the Olympic Games in Rio, 2016. The women’s team qualified for Rio in May this year when they finished third at the World Series behind New Zealand and Canada. The men’s team missed out on automatic Rio qualification by one spot and will have to contest in a qualifying tournament in November.