Olivia Sandery - Race Walking

Olivia is an elite race walker from Adelaide who trains as part of Team Tempo. Now 23 years old, she has been competing in athletics since the age of seven where she began at the local Little Athletics club. Olivia competes over the 10,000m, half marathon and marathon distances and holds the Oceania record over the 35km distance. Coached by Olympic champion Jared Tallent, she has represented Australia at the World Teams Race Walking Championships and World University Games where she helped her teams in securing silver medals. She has also competed at two World Athletics Championships and the 2024 Olympic Games; her biggest achievement to date.

Outside of sport, Olivia is in her final year of dietetics at university and has dreams of working in the sports nutrition space to help fellow athletes like her to fuel. She also enjoys travelling, music, going to the beach and spending time with friends and family. A story of determination and resilience, Olivia is passionate about sharing how she got to the highest level in sport and the positive impact that staying active has had on her life.

Questions

The best thing about being a SASI Athlete:

The access to world class facilities and the people.

My favourite food to fuel me as an Athlete:

Any kind of Thai food.

My favourite movie:

Little Women and Call Me By Your Name (anything with Timothee Chalamet).

My favourite colours:

Butter yellow.

My sporting hero and why:

Allyson Felix: she has faced and overcome a lot of adversity in career.

My favourite possession:

My golden corona bottle engraved with my name that I got from the Olympics or my black out eye mask.

The sporting activity I most like performing:

Long (race) walks.

If I wasn’t doing my current sport I would like to be:

A dietitian.

The most important things in life:

My health, my family and my friends.

My ambassador activity tip:

Find movement that you enjoy so that it doesn’t feel like a chore.

My favourite way to keep active:

Race walking.

The sport I like watching the most:

Athletics, one of the most versatile sports.

What sporting success looks like:

Discovering what I am truly capable of.