When Dunedin-born high jumper Hamish Kerr stood atop the Olympic podium, he wasn’t thinking about the gold medal around his neck or the national anthem playing.
He was only focused on his family, just metres away from him.
“All my siblings and my girlfriend were sitting in the stands, like, ten metres away from me,” he said.
With Kerr, 28, and girlfriend Maddie in the process of moving house, the medal is safely hidden away, but he wants to use it to inspire the next generation of Olympians.
“I definitely want to show as many people as possible,” he said.
“When I was growing up, I remember when we had a few Olympians come to our school and a couple brought their medals, and that was such a special moment that I really want to do the same.
“I do a little bit of school speaking in my quieter times in the year, so looking forward to getting back on the circuit a little bit and doing a few more with a couple of shiny bits to show them.”
Almost seven weeks ago, in an enthralling high jump final in Paris, Kerr and US athlete Shelby McEwan were unable to be separated, with identical records until both failed at 2.38m.
They had the option of sharing the gold medal, or going to a jump-off, a series of one-off attempts until one athlete succeeded and the other missed.
Kerr only had one option in mind.
“I was at peace with the fact that I would have rather gotten silver in a jump-off than share a gold,” he said.
“I had talked with the team and had debates with my mates and the thing that always came out of it was, I would literally rather compete and lose than share it and just stop there.”
Kerr and McEwan both failed in the jump-off at 2.38m and 2.36m, then the American missed 2.34m – and the Kiwi made no mistake, taking home his first Olympic medal.
“(But) I’m incredibly grateful and over the moon with what’s happened.”
Kerr and McEwan exchanged words before the medal ceremony. Kerr said they were happy for each other.
“The feeling was just so much joy and happiness, and probably a bit of shock on both of our parts.
“We were just both over the moon. For him, he did two personal bests in that final, and to do that in an Olympic final is so hard to do.
“Credit to him as a jumper. He didn’t quite get it across the line in terms of getting the gold, but he was so, so close, and for him that’s a huge amount of confidence going forward.”
Kerr has been back at his Christchurch home for three weeks now. After his medal win, he attempted to soldier on and finish the Diamond League season in Europe.
It took one meet for him to realise he needed a break after the intense high of the Olympics.
“I definitely had spent all my energy at Paris, but that’s kind of what you want to do,” he said.
“For me it was just, mentally, I was done.”
He’s taking a break from high jump, and is not looking to train until the start of November.
But Kerr’s making sure to keep active, with indoor and outdoor world championships looming next year in China and Japan respectively.
“I love riding my bike and playing golf (he has a handicap of 18), so this time of year is almost like catching up on that. I don’t ride my bike at all when I’m training, and in golf I don’t play a lot, so it’s nice to be able to get on one of those at least once a day just to keep busy.”
The gold medal is front of mind most of the time.
“It’s super interesting. I wouldn’t say I’m very attached to objects or anything, but definitely with my medal I feel like there’s like a separation anxiety element to it like, where is it, oh did I lock the house,” he said.
“It’s quite weird, I can hold it and feel like it’s relatively normal, but then I give it to somebody to like have a look at and I’m sort of keeping an eye on it to make sure they don’t do anything to it.”
Six things you may not know about Hamish Kerr
- Favourite athletics moment: Usain Bolt in the 2008 Olympics
- Favourite activity other than athletics: Playing golf
- Favourite movie: Transformers 2
- Favourite artist: Sub Focus
- Ideal dinner guests: Girlfriend Maddie, mum and dad
- Most famous phone contact: Zoe Hobbs
