Hamish Kerr is a New Zealand Olympian in the high jump. He holds the NZ record with a jump of 2.31m, he’s the Oceanian Champ, 6x National Champion, he’s competed at the World Champs, Diamond League meets, and a really strong contender for a Commonwealth medal next year as well as global medals over the next few cycles. 

In this episode we chat about the positive impact of diversity in training, what brought Hamish back to the sport after a couple of years away, goal setting, mental preparation and, of course, Olympic chat. An extremely insightful chat with a guy who has his head screwed on!

Photo credit for Hamish’s headshot in cover photo: Alisha Lovrich

Timestamps for main points:
0:00 Introduction
3:27 Youth sports & training diversity
10:03 Stepping away from high jump
17:56 2.14m high schooler to 2.31m NZ record holder
22:18 Goal setting
24:49 Olympic chat
30:47 Building trust & comp advice
35:41 Mental preparation/development
41:42 Final piece of advice
42:40 Outro

Quotes + key bits:

“I love getting the competitive juices flowing and jump into events I may not be as comfortable with” … “I like to prove people wrong and show them that to be world-class in any event, you have to be a world-class athlete”

“The cross over between events is quite strong. The physical components might be slightly different, but the mental side of it and how you conduct yourself in the competition crosses over. You can learn a lot (from competing in other events and against other athletes)”

“The physical attribute all the top guys have are next level. Being an amazingly physically gifted athlete just gets you in the door (on the world level)”

“When I came back into the sport, that was my decision. No one told me that I had to, and no one pushed me into it, I made that decision. That’s what I hold on to when the going gets tough and when I have hard times. I know what life is like without my sport.”

“Work out whether you’re doing it for you, or if you’re doing it for someone else.”

“If you have any cracks or chinks in your armour when you get into that pressure situation, they will get exposed.”

“My main focus going into the Games was making sure I was in a great headspace with my relationships with my family and friends and understanding who I am – my flaws and what I’m great at.”

“It’s just a high jump bar at the end of the day and you have to remind yourself of that… If you don’t have your life together before the Games, you’re not going to after”

“One of my massive values in life is trust. Behind the scenes, in training and preparation with Terry and others in my team, I’m quite controlling. It’s about developing a system which will work when it’s under pressure.” 

“I feel a lot of pressure and I’m very hard on myself when no one is watching and in training because those are the times that make the difference. Then competition is the time to have fun, nothing’s going to change what happens”

“I know I could bomb or could do amazingly well. They’re still going to love me. I could win Olympic gold and they’re not going to love me any more. I could no height and they’re not going to love me any less. That’s what gives me the freedom”

“Be happy with who you are as a human before you’re happy with who you are as an athlete”