Aussie star's admission on controversial gold medal call

Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy says she will not share a gold medal at next year's Olympics if she finds herself in a similar situation to this year's world athletics championships.

The Western Australian shared gold with America's two-time world champion Katie Moon in Budapest last month, and while the decision resulted in a heartwarming moment, it attracted criticism from some quarters.

Having now had time to think about her decision, Kennedy said she is unlikely to repeat it in Paris.

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"I've had a week to think about it, and I'll definitely keep thinking about it in the next few weeks, but I think maybe next year if the exact same thing happened in Paris at the Olympics, I don't think I would share," she told Nine's Sports Sunday.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY:  August 24:   Nina Kennedy of Australia and Katie Moon (left), of the United States, joint gold medal winners in the Women's Pole Vault Final, on the podium during the medal ceremony at the medal plaza during the World Athletics Championships, at the National Athletics Centre on August 24, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

"I think it just really sums up where I'm at in my career and then maybe in the future I will want that individual title."

The world title win in Budapest was the first of Kennedy's career and came after battles with anxiety, depression and an awful number of injuries, including a stress fracture in her back that threatened to wipe out her 2023 campaign.

Kennedy had a major supporter in Australian Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker, who called her decision to share the gold a "beautiful moment in sport".

"I think it's brilliant," he told Wide World of Sports.

"I think to get to that point, to have exhausted your competition and to have finished tied with someone, particularly tied with someone that you've got a lot of respect for, it's an amazing result.

"If it's two people that dip and cross the line together in a 100 metres, for example, and they call a tie, it's a dead heat, they share the medal, no one's saying go and race 100 metres again.

"It's within the rules that they can split the medal. If they're tied at the end of the competition you can't make them run in and keep taking jumps. If they're comfortable with that position at the end of the competition it's within their rights to make that decision.

"I think it's a beautiful moment in sport."

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