Heading into the 2016 Rio Olympics, Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke had the world at her feet.
She was one of the faces of Coca-Cola’s international ad campaign, was featured on billboards all over Brazil and even appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit daily.
But then the actual competition started, and Jenneke’s well-crafted image started to crack. Failing to even get out of the heats in the 100-meter hurdles, Jenneke finished in a hugely disappointing 37th place, and Athletics Australia — the governing body for all of Australia’s sports, including their Olympic committee — announced this week they had completely cut her funding.
Instead, 62 other able-bodied athletes will receive funds from Athletics Australia’s National Athlete Support Structure after it was determined that they had a better chance of performing well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
It is an amazing fall for Jenneke, who became a worldwide phenomenon after a video went viral of her warmup before a race at the IAAF World Junior Championship in 2012.
In the video, set to the iconic 1980s pop song “Boys,” by Sabrina, Jenneke dances and bounces up and down as the chorus, “Boys! Boys! Boys!” repeats itself over and over again.
Michelle Jenneke from Losse Veter on Vimeo.
The video popularized the then-19-year-old as an internet sensation, and she used her newfound fame to land sponsorships with big-name brands such as Coke and Puma while also getting featured in sexy media profiles.
It was easy to justify Jenneke as a hot property because she was accomplished on the track.
Specializing in the 100-meter hurdles, Jenneke won a silver medal at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, became the second-fastest female hurdler in Australian history after she posted a time of 12.82 seconds in 2015, and eventually qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics by winning the Australian National Championships in April.
Expectations were high as she stepped onto the track in Rio. After performing her signature dance for the cameras, Jenneke posted a terrible time of 13.26 seconds, didn’t qualify for the finals and then blamed a mysterious injury for her poor performance.
Australia’s head coach Craig Hilliard had a much different take on Jenneke’s failure.
Citing her modeling and advertising gigs, Hilliard told the Sydney Morning Herald after the race, “It’s something that I need to discuss with her and go through with her, with her program. She certainly didn’t arrive here in the shape she should have arrived in.”
Noting she was an Athletics Australia-funded athlete, Hilliard harped on Jenneke’s apparent lack of focus: “It comes to the end of the day, and well, it’s not a priority, it’s about balance. If it’s not a priority, then why are we funding athletes?”
Hilliard’s question was answered when Jenneke lost her funding. A more concrete question must be asked of the dancing hurdler: Can she regain her athletic focus, or will she be remembered as just a sexy meme?