# Jemima Montag

Jemima Montag (born 15 February 1998) is an Australian Olympic racewalker. She won the silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, won bronze medals in the 20 km walk and the Marathon walk relay in the Paris 2024 Olympics, and is a two-time Commonwealth Games champion.

## Early and private life

Montag was born in East Melbourne, Victoria, and is Jewish. Her parents are Ray (whose parents are Holocaust survivors) and Amanda Montag, who met at the 1989 Maccabiah Games in Israel, where Ray was competing in cricket and Amanda was competing in the heptathlon for Australia. Montag's paternal grandmother, born Judyta Joachimsmann in the town of Wieliczka, Poland, was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and the Auschwitz death march. Montag plans to write a book about her grandmother's experiences.
Montag is studying for a postgraduate medical degree and a Master of Public Health at medical school at the University of Melbourne, where she previously earned a Bachelor of Science. She also works at a company that delivers food to underprivileged families.

## Career

Montag is coached by former racewalker Brent “CV” Vallance.
Prior to her walking career, she studied ballet at the national theatre ballet school in st kilda, Victoria. Under the training of Beverly Jane Fry.
She began taking part in Little Athletics when she was seven, encouraged by her mother, who was herself a hurdler. She was inspired by Cathy Freeman, as well as her contemporaries Regan Lamble and Steven Solomon. A Jewish Australian, at age 15 was recognised for her wins at the state and national championships with the Australian 2013 Outstanding Jewish Junior Sportswoman of the Year Award.
She made her first impact with a win in the under-20 section at the 2014 Oceania Race Walking Championships. A global medal came later that May, as she placed twelfth in the 10 kilometres walk at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup and shared in the team bronze with Clara Smith and Elizabeth Hosking. She graduated high school from Wesley College in 2016.
She was the Australian team’s flag bearer at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel, where she won a silver medal in the 10 km race walk.

### 2018–22; Commonwealth Games champion

Montag earned selection for Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games through a silver medal performance behind Beki Smith at the 2018 Australia and Oceania Race Walking Championships, setting a personal best of 1:31:26 hours in her second ever competitive outing over the 20 km distance.
Montag was the gold medalist of the 20 kilometres race walk at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, at 20 years of age. She had been leading alongside fellow Australian Claire Tallent, but was assured of the win when Tallent was disqualified in the final stage of the race.
She came in sixth in the final of the Women's 20 km walk in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in a time of 1:30.39, at 23 years of age.
Montag won the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, repeating in the 20 kilometers race walk.
In March 2022, she was inducted into the Maccabi Victoria Hall of Fame.

### 2023–present; World Championships silver medal

At the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Montag won the silver medal in the women's 20 km walk, 25 seconds behind the winner.
in May 2023, she received the UniSport Australia award for the most outstanding performance by a student-athlete.
In February 2024, at the Oceania and Australian championships, Montag won the women’s 20 km race in 1 hour, 27 minutes, and 9 seconds, breaking the Oceania and Australian record that she herself had set previously by 7 seconds.
In April 2024 at the Maccabi Australia Sport Awards she was awarded the President’s Award and the Victorian outstanding sportswoman award. In July 2024, she was ranked #3 in the world. In preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics, she declared to Australian-Jewish media outlet, The Jewish Independent, she wanted to be best in the world.

### 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medals

Montag represented Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the Women's 20 kilometres walk on 1 August and the Mixed marathon walk relay on 3 August 2024. She won the bronze medal in both events, and was the first Australian woman in 52 years to win two medals in track and field at the same Olympic Games.

## International competitions

| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
| 2014 | Oceania Race Walking Championships | Hobart, Australia | 1st | 10 km walk (junior) | 47:00 |
| 2014 | World Race Walking Cup | Taicang, China | 12th | 10 km walk (junior) | 47:34 |
| 2014 | World Race Walking Cup | Taicang, China | 3rd | Team | 20 pts |
| 2018 | Oceania Race Walking Championships | Adelaide Australia | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:31:26 |
| 2018 | Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast, Australia | 1st | 20 km walk | 1:32:50 |
| 2019 | Oceania Race Walking Championships | Townsville, Australia | 1st | 10 km walk | 43:50:84 |
| 2019 | Summer Universiade | Naples, Italy | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:33:57 |
| 2019 | World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 10th | 20 km walk | 1:36:54 |
| 2019 | Australian 50 km Race Walking Championships | Melbourne, Australia | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:37:22 |