Greene aims at medical career after Olympic narrow miss

Posted

Nicole Greene just missed out on becoming the first high jumper from Ponte Vedra High School to make the U.S. Olympic team, but she has a pretty good backup plan in the form of medical school.

Despite finishing third in the women’s high jump at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials a couple of weeks ago and achieving not one, but two personal best marks during the final round of competition at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., she came up just short of clearing the Olympic standard height required to automatically secure a spot.

Her second personal best was 6 feet 4 inches, which would have been good enough in recent years to qualify for the Olympic Games, but the standard was raised to 6 feet 5 inches for this year.

“Getting 6-4 has always been the mark you want for all of the Olympics I’ve seen,” Greene said.

According to Greene, only 13 women have cleared 6 feet 5 inches and her 6-4 jump in the final would put her in a tie for 19th in the world.

However, the remaining Olympic spots in Tokyo were decided by taking the highest non-qualifiers from the top 32 in the world ranking, where Greene sits 58th.

Personal records are always an impressive feat, but what makes Greene’s accomplishment at the U.S. trials even more so is that she did it while studying for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).

“You can do more than you think you can and more than you say you can,” Greene said.

Although balancing both was challenging, it is one that Greene fully embraced.

“I’ve always said that I’m not just an athlete or a student, I’m both,” Greene said. “Making it to the finals would have been great.”

She knew from an early age that she wanted to have a career in a healthcare field because both her parents are doctors.

“Watching them over the years, they were great inspirations,” Greene said.

She first attempted track and field in sixth grade while at Episcopal School in Jacksonville after her mother suggested she go out for the team because she was running and skipping around the house all the time.

Sprint events was how she got her start, but by the time she got to PVHS she turned her focus more and more to the high jump and wound up competing in college at the University of North Carolina.

Greene had until June 29 to clear the 6-5 standard in competition, and she was determined to not go down without a fight, so she made the trip back from Oregon and a week later took part in the JAC Golden Southeast Classic hosted by Bolles School in Jacksonville.

The last stitch effort was not enough as she cleared 6 feet 2 inches.

Although she will not get the chance to compete in the Olympics, she has represented her country on the international stage, including finishing fifth at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Poland and finishing eighth at the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru.

“Most of the things that come to you will come when you least expect it,” Greene said. “Always have patience and don’t let anyone say what you can and can’t do. That’s up to you.”

Greene does not know if she will attempt another run at the Olympics in four years, but she is looking forward to a medical career and that is where her attention will now shift.