Great Britain star Laviai Nielsen promoting healthy lifestyles for positive change: “I think movement is such an important aspect of everyday life"
As part of ‘Let’s Move’ celebrations for Olympic Day 2023 on 23 June, the British 400m athletics star spoke exclusively with Olympics.com about how she was inspired to pursue her passion for running and why now she wants to encourage others to find something that gets them moving.
Athletics
The memory is one so formative Great Britain’s Laviai Nielsen says she’ll never forget it.
It begins with her aged 12, sitting in front of her television set. On the screen, is the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the women’s 800m is getting underway.
As the athletes tear off from the start line, beginning their chase around the iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium in the Chinese capital, Nielsen finds herself captured by a feeling of amazement.
“I just thought, wow,” the 27-year-old Nielsen told Olympics.com from the Saint Polten training ground in Austria, where she and her twin sister Lina Nielsen are currently based. “I remember watching it thinking, 'that’s incredible. I would love to do that'.”
It was the first time she’d ever laid eyes on an athletics track.
Moved by what she had seen, Nielsen went straight to her mother and asked if she could go down to the local club to make her own attempt: “I tried to run the 800m as quickly as they did at the Olympic Games, which was well under two minutes. I think I did like four minutes or something like that,” she says laughing.
“But that was my first taste of track and I loved being on it. It felt like I was at home.”
Nielsen’s desire to emulate the efforts of the women she had seen racing was, in many ways, the natural chapter in a story that had started already a few years earlier.
Before the Beijing Games, the young Briton had already started to fall in love with running. From hours spent playing outside with friends to getting locked into races with her twin sister, feeding each others’ competitive spirits, Nielsen had begun to forge a special bond with the movement.
“I just remember always wanting to be outside, running, playing, doing sports,” she continued. “Being with my twin sister growing up doing exactly the same thing, we actually became very competitive with running and so we fell into the sport very naturally, the both of us.”
Inspired by London 2012 and Jessica Ennis-Hill
Four years later, having taken her first steps in her athletics journey after that Beijing moment by joining a club, an opportunity arose that would change the course of Nielsen’s life altogether.
At 16, the twins signed up as volunteers for the London 2012 Olympic Games and the stars, in effect, aligned for them. The two local teens found themselves responsible for carrying the bags for heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, Team GB’s poster star.
The role meant stepping out into the London Stadium track with the Olympic medallist gifting them a view of life in athletics they could have only ever dreamed of.
“To see the sport up front, close and personal, and being so close to these athletes who I once thought were superhuman but, being up close to them thinking they are just normal people who have pushed themselves and found themselves in this environment.
“And I was standing behind Jessica Ennis-Hill and she was so focused on what she was about to do, and she absolutely smashed it at the Olympic Games. And I just thought, I really want to try and do something like that."
“I remember walking away from the 200m start line into the tunnel underneath and I thought, I want to do this" - Laviai Nielsen to Olympics.com
“Next week, I joined my coach who helped me develop into the 400m athlete that I am today. So, I think without the 2012 Olympics, I honestly don’t think I’d be here.”
Zoey Clark, Laviai Nielsen, Eilidh Doyle and Emily Diamond of Great Britain celebrate winning silver in the Women's 4x400 Metres Relay final at the World Athletics Championships in 2017
Let’s Move - On Olympic Day (23 June)
Committed from that day on to a professional track career since then, Nielsen has uncovered a multitude of successes.
From winning World Championship medals in the 4x400m relay to being part of the Team GB squad at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, the runner has got to experience the grandest stages in her sport and it's something she's immensely proud of.
"I just love the fact that I can come to my job every day and do what I've loved since I was a child; running and challenging myself, and pushing my limits and seeing how good I can be."
Having been inspired to live out her own passion for running, Nielsen now says she wants to encourage others to do the same by connecting with something that gets them moving.
As part of the International Olympic Committee’s 'Let’s Move' initiative which is being celebrated on Olympic Day (23 June), she opened up about the personal benefits of being active and how important it has become for her in all aspects of her life.
“I think movement is such an important aspect of everyday life. I think movement can be the difference between a great mood or a terrible mood or feeling great or feeling terrible. If you can move every single day, you would just notice only improvements in your mental state, and your emotional state, but also overall in your body, and your physical well-being.
“One personal story that I would love to share is when I was injured for the longest period of time, three months, I wasn't able to do the things that I usually do, which of course is running, but also yoga and weightlifting in the gym. I wasn't able to do any of those things, and I really noticed a difference in my mindset. I didn't feel as motivated to even do the things away from sports such as emails and admin and things like that.
“When I got back into moving, I found that I was much more able to focus on my everyday life and was much more motivated to do the things that I didn't usually want to do."
With over 80 per cent of young people failing to get the recommended level of daily activity needed for mental and physical health, Nielsen believes now is the time for intervention. Reaching out to that age group to create healthy habits the athlete says is critical for change.
“That age, it's such a formative period to discover a new sport or a new passion or something like that. So it's quite disheartening to hear that statistic. But, I also feel like it's a great place to get to springboard off of and to get people trying new things, try new sports.
“There are so many different sports out there now that young people can get involved and it doesn't have to be your typical sports like football or running or basketball. It can be dancing or climbing or skateboarding could be anything that you like. I think it's a great time to try and get people moving and try something new.”
Laviai Nielsen with the British 4x400m relay team at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon in 2022
Laviai Nielsen: On motivation and connecting with others
When it comes to forming new habits and integrating things like movement into our daily lives, motivation is often cited as an obstacle. Nielsen admits, that while it might look from the outside as if she and other top athletes don’t appear to struggle with it, the truth is a little different.
Still, the British track star said, there are strategies around it.
“A lot of people think that athletes wake up every single day super motivated to do their training. But in reality, there are some days when you don't really want to do it.
“If you can think about either maybe your end goal or the other benefits that can come from movement, then you'll find that motivation is in a lot of different places, not just in one goal or in one sort of thing that you do. You can find it in different places. So, if you're struggling to do your sport in the morning, maybe just think about your end goal and envision what that would look like for you and that could help you find your motivation. Being disciplined as well is a big one.”
Another way to keep being consistent Nielsen suggested, is to connect with friends as you do your sports. Though athletics is an individual pursuit, over the course of her life and career, the Brit says she has constantly been supported by those around her, including her twin Lina.
“I think the social side of sport has enormous untapped potential. I've been so lucky to have not only my twin sister but some great friends in the sport that have helped me stay in it, especially when it's gotten really tough and hard. And I think if you can find a run partner or if you can find a run club or a social club and have that social aspect to it, it makes it so much more fun. Sometimes you don't even realise that you're working hard and that you're pushing yourself because it's just having so much fun with people around you.”
Laviai Nielsen: Runnings tips and Olympic Day plans
With a wealth of different ways to move and be active, knowing where to start or what to choose can feel a little overwhelming. For Nielsen, running, which has been such a staple in her life, can be a simple way just to get started - and the Olympian offered her advice for those looking to start out.
“My top tip for running, when you step out the door, just start slow, because I think a lot of people think, ‘right I'll get out the door and try and run 5km as quickly as possible,’ and that is so uncomfortable! If I did that today, I think I would struggle so much. I think there is a joy in just finding that rhythm and that flow, and it can be as slow as possible. I might be quite fast in the 400m but I definitely won't be as fast as 5km. It's getting rid of those times and those structures and just enjoying the feeling of running. I think that's my top tip: get out the door and move slowly.”
As a living example of the power of the Olympic spirit and the way it can inspire, Nielsen knows that as an elite track star representing her country on the Olympic stage people now look up to her as a role model, and it's something she is happy to embrace.
Showing people that life is about finding your passion and feeling good about it is one of the main messages she hopes to portray in her sport and over the course of her career. It's why she and her sister Lina have a dedicated social media account that showcases the nutritious meals that they create as well as a video blog that documents their day-to-day lives so that people can understand and find something in their journey.
“It's talking about the small things like motivation levels and discipline and having smaller passions. It's sharing so many different stories, showing people that we are just normal people and we're just doing what we love and trying to be good at it. And I think that's what's so important about Olympic Day is sharing these stories.”
In the spirit of 'Let's Move' Nielsen also revealed what she will be up to as the celebrations get underway.
“I think for Olympic Day on 23 June, I’m going to leave the running to everyone else, and for me, I'm going to go on a gentle walk, possibly with my dog, maybe some yoga and just move slowly and just remind myself of how amazing movement can feel without too much pressure on myself. I think that's the main message I would consider for Olympic Day, is just moving for you.”