IOC Young Leader Jemima Montag is making an impact on and off the field of play at Tokyo 2020 

Jemima Montag has already achieved a lot in her 23 years, but she’s really only just getting started. The Australian racewalker won 20km gold in athletics at the Commonwealth Games at the age of just 20, has already completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, majoring in physiology, and next year will start a post-graduate degree in medicine.

She also won a silver medal at the 2019 World University Games and finished 10th at that year’s World Athletics Championships – the best result by an Australian woman in the 20km racewalk for 20 years.

And when she’s not starring on the road in the iconic green and gold colours of Australia, Montag can be found inspiring the next generation of Australians by delivering talks to schoolchildren around the country.

If all of that wasn’t enough, Montag is also participating in the latest edition of the IOC Young Leaders Programme – as she aims to break down the barriers limiting young girls’ participation in sport – and will soon realise her dream of becoming an Olympian when she competes at the delayed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

But while her impressive CV is enough to make even the biggest overachiever feel like a slacker, Montag simply takes it all in her stride, with her next major step being that small matter of a long-awaited Olympic debut, when she takes to the roads of Sapporo for the 20km racewalk on 6 August.

“I am over the moon that it's finally happening,” explains Montag to Olympics.com. “It's been a waiting game with the delay, and with this being my first Olympics, it's just all very new and exciting."

Montag somewhat stumbled into racewalking, admitting that when she was trying out events at her junior club in Brighton, Melbourne, the racewalk was “largely misunderstood”.

“Everyone would just stroll around the track, chatting to their friends, and it was more like a break in between the other ‘more important’ events,” she explains. “No one really took it seriously.”

But having struggled with other disciplines, Montag found a “natural affinity” for the endurance events, and began enjoying the racewalk more than anything else when she discovered she could be competitive against – and beat – her friends.

“I was no good at the other power- or speed-based events, or any sport that involved hand-eye coordination,” she says. “But this long, slow business really suited me. And, honestly, it just felt so good to finally be the kid that was winning something, and to stand on the podium, getting a little ribbon, after being hopeless at everything else.”

And Montag soon found that she was getting more out of sport than just little ribbons.

“Initially it was just about making friends, and then it was that sense of accomplishment of standing on the podium and working towards your goals,” she says. “I realised the happiness and sense of purpose that sport brought to my life.”

Montag is now well aware of the many benefits to be gained from participating in sport and is keen to ensure that everyone gets to experience those same advantages.

“On the sporting field, we can learn skills like teamwork, resilience, how to lose graciously, and win graciously,” she says. “And I think broadening the opportunity for as many people as possible, however they identify, to be playing sport and learning all of those great skills, is so important. I feel strongly about contributing to this space because I believe sport should be available to all.”

Montag is particularly passionate about breaking down the barriers that limit the participation of young girls in sport, and has chosen to focus on this issue for the social business that she is developing as part of the latest IOC Young Leaders Programme, which began earlier this year.

The 23-year-old is one of 25 inspiring young people from around the world who are participating in the four-year programme, which provides expert guidance, seed funding and peer-to-peer learning opportunities to help them imagine, design and realise their own sustainable sport-based social business.

“It's a privilege and an exciting opportunity to be part of the IOC Young Leaders Programme and to be able to work on something to tackle this issue,” says Montag. “On my own, I have the passion but not necessarily the means to create lasting impact. But with access to the mentoring, the awesome expert sessions and even connecting with the other 24 Young Leaders and discussing ideas, I think we will be able to do something really cool.”

Montag hopes her project, “Girls Active Project”, will address the various barriers faced by young girls to sporting participation that her research has identified – from uncomfortable and revealing uniforms to confidence, self-esteem, body image and physical literacy – which all contribute to declining numbers of women in sport.

“I was really excited by the opportunity to make a difference in an area that I'm passionate about,” she says. “After learning about the power of human-centred design with our expert, Nanna Dahl, I decided to put my project in the hands of the young girls themselves. My social business would come into high schools and create the ‘Girls Active Group’ led by a few of the 15-18-year-old students. There are three key activities that they will organise each school term. Firstly, they will hear from a woman athlete guest speaker about her journey in sport and how she navigated any obstacles. Secondly, they will participate in one fun activity session led by a guest instructor at lunchtime – because my research suggests that young girls will be far more motivated by non-competitive, creative movements like salsa dancing, yoga and karate. Thirdly, the group will be encouraged to meet and reflect on how their school sport model could become more inclusive and exciting. At the end of each school year, the girls will present their reflections to the physical education teachers to create lasting, systemic change.”

For now, though, Montag will focus on her own sporting path – one that has led her from strolling around an athletics track, chatting with her friends, all the way to the Olympic Games.