Meet Olympian Nicole Parks
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we want to acknowledge all of the amazing women in sport. Women who have paved the way for others to take part in the sport industry, women who have lifted others up, women who are role models to young people all around the globe — whether this be as an elite athlete, sports journalist, executive, coach, captain or player.
This week we were lucky enough to speak with winter Olympian (and my friend!) Nicole Parks about her experiences.
When I thought about women in sport, Nicole immediately came to mind. I’ve watched Nicole throughout my life kick some absolutely amazing goals. I’ve never met a more dedicated and determined person, and I knew she’d be the perfect person to give us a great perspective on Internationals Women’s Day and get her lived perspective on what being a woman in sport means.
Enjoy!
Tell us about yourself and your involvement in Winter Sports
My Name’s Nicole Parks and I grew up and live in Jindabyne NSW.
Having the Snowy Mountains as my backyard opened the door to so many winter sport opportunities. I started skiing when I was two years old and from there skied as much as I could each winter alongside my brother and sister.
We trained through the Perisher Winter Sports Club program, and this allowed me to participate in many ski disciplines - but my siblings and I fell in love with mogul skiing and eventually stuck to the one discipline.
From a very young age I knew I wanted to compete at an Olympic Games in one of the many sports I was doing. I knew that’s what I wanted to achieve in life. I was training in Karate, Trampolining and Mogul Skiing when I was recognised by the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) for Mogul Skiing.
I joined the NSWIS program in 2008 and started training full time as an elite athlete. From there I trained In Australia during our winter, and followed the winter to Europe, Canada and America to compete on the Europa Cup and World Cup circuit. Ending with 31 World Cup starts, 3 World Championship starts and one Olympic Games start (Sochi, Russia, 2014).
I retired from competitive Mogul Skiing in 2017 at the age of 24 and I’m currently coaching the NSWIS development mogul team, where I continue to chase the winter and put all of my knowledge and experience into the future of the sport.
What’s one thing most people wouldn’t realise about training and competing at the Olympic Games?
Many people think (and say) that you have been training for 4 years leading up to this moment. People don’t realize that most athletes have been training for what feels like their whole life for this moment. It takes more than 4 years to get to an Olympic Games, especially if it is your first Olympics.
Then you get there, and for some athletes (depending on the structure of the sport) your race is over in 30 seconds.
For Mogul Skiing you have 3-4 rounds and each round you perform your run that is maximum 30 seconds. If you don’t make it through to the next round then your Olympic event is over for you super quickly.
Another thing that most people don't realise about Mogul Skiing at the Olympic Games is that the women's qualifications round is held before the Olympic opening ceremony, and the finals round is held the day after the opening ceremony, so some athletes will have finished their Olympic Games before the Olympics officially start.
The best thing about competing early on in the Games is that once the Mogul event has finished, you can stay and watch the rest of the events without having to worry about anything else. It's loads of fun to be able to watch and support the rest of your team in their respective event and enjoy the whole Olympic Games.
What does International Womens’ day mean to you, and it’s relevance to women in sport?
International Women's day for me, is a day that we can all stop, take a moment, and appreciate what we and other amazing women around us have achieved, how strong we are, and how inspiring we are. It’s a chance to open up conversation about Women’s rights in all areas and a chance to educate, continue improving and progressing.
I have many strong women in my life that I look up to and am proud of and appreciate every single day, but today (International Women’s Day) is when we all come together and shout from the rooftops about how proud we are of ourselves and each other.
I am lucky enough to be surrounded by many amazing women in sport, and for me, when I think of International Women’s day, I think of these Women — not for their accolades, their results, or if they’re the best in their sport. I think of them because of how they pushed the sport for women, how they progressed the sport for everyone, how they proved people wrong, how they paved the way for the future of the sport, how they gave me something to look up to and aspire to be like. Not to mention their grit, their determination and through all of this — how they managed to stay humble.
Which ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’ woman do you admire the most?
Lydia Lassila.
Lydia Lassila & Nicole Parks
Lydia trained and competed in Aerials, a crazy sport where you ski straight down a hill, hit a massive steep jump, perform aerial maneuvers to then land on your feet down a steep landing strip. This sport requires you to have really good air awareness and to be physically super strong. Lydia competed in 5 Olympic games, winning a gold medal during 2010 Vancouver Games, and a Bronze medal in Sochi Russia 2014. Lydia decided to perform a harder trick: a quad twisting triple somersault, pushing the sport for Women during an Olympic Games, and ended up with a medal. I was so lucky to be there, it was amazing to see live.
Lydia also has kids, a family and has her own business that is athlete, sport, and mum based. She is someone who works hard and smart. Lydia found a way to support herself and her work while being a full time athlete, and started a family all at the same time. The winter sport scene requires you to be away from home for at least 9 months of the year, you are always training or working, and being an Australian coach or athlete means short winters in Australia, meaning a short amount of time home. So to see Lydia achieve what she has achieved in her life is so inspiring.
To me, Lydia is a strong powerful woman whom I look up to.
What’s your proudest achievement?
There are so many to choose from.
From competing at the Olympic Games where that was an achievement for not only me, but for my friends and family who had supported me the whole way through. Seeing my athletes progress each day when I’m coaching is always a proud moment. I also stunt doubled in Peter Rabbit 2, that was pretty cool!
But if I had to choose my proudest moment it would be overcoming a serious and rare illness when I was at just the age of 9. In 2002 I fell sick with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an illness where your own immune system attacks the body’s nerves and leaves you paralyzed. I could not walk and was very weak for a long time. I spent 3 months in the hospital, 3 months in a wheelchair, some of it in the ICU, with no appetite and unable to do any sport, let alone even walk.
My memories are vague but I remember all I wanted to do was ski and the winter season was fast approaching. I do remember my Mother saying to me “well if you want to ski, you better start working hard to get better again” and from that day I remember trying so hard in physical rehabilitation, and each day getting stronger. That winter I was back on skis like nothing ever happened. Looking back, I now realize how serious the illness was, and how lucky I am to have overcome something like that to then go on and compete at an Olympic Games.
What’s your advice to women, specifically women in sport or planning to pursue sport?
Make sure you’re doing the sport because YOU love it and check in with yourself each year/season to ensure that you are still doing it for you and because you love it. It’s very easy to continue a sport for all the wrong reasons, like the pressure to continue, afraid of letting others down, the money, your coaches, or because you feel like it’s all you know. You are the most important person in your life, and you need to ensure that you are training that hard and putting all that work into your sport and career because you absolutely love it!
Setting the bar high allows you to achieve things you might have thought you couldn’t. Why would you cut yourself down by setting low goals? Give yourself the best chance to achieve amazing things.
Surround yourself with good, quality, positive people. If you’re in sport and you’re in it for the long run, the support system you chose is so important and can make a huge difference.
And lastly, stay true to yourself.
It’s easy to become who you think others want and need you to be — because you want to win, you want to be successful and at moments you’ll do anything to achieve that. Promise yourself to stay true to who you are, and you will be respected, you will still get that success, but by doing it the way you are comfortable with. It makes me so happy that I can look back on my career and to significant events along the way and still know that my decision was the right one for me, even if it did delay my career a bit, my morals and human being side to my career is something I’m proud of.
