Montag reveals touching tribute
'This is something I choose to do and yes, it's hard, but someone just two generations ago had that level of strength and I know it's with me now'
OUR Aussie hero Jemima Montag powered to an incredible back-to-back Commonwealth Games gold medal, winning the 10km walk four years after her triumph in the 20km event on the Gold Coast.
During the race, the 24-year-old wore a bracelet that was part of a piece of jewellery that belonged to her late grandmother Judith, who was a Holocaust survivor. It was cut into three pieces shortly before she passed away, with one piece each given to Montag and her two sisters.
And Montag told journalists she often thinks about her grandmother’s harrowing experiences when she is out on the track.
“They marched through snow and cold for days on end in little sandals, and hardly any clothing,” she said.
“She and her sister took their waistbands and tied their wrists together and they said, ‘We’re getting through this together or not at all.’
“So [I’m] just visualising her walking on ice, not knowing when her next meal would be or if she’d survive.
“This [race walking] is fun and this is something I choose to do and yes, it’s hard, but someone just two generations ago had that level of strength and I know it’s with me now.”
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