Olympic gold pole vaulter Nina Kennedy has revealed an awkward encounter saw a member of the public hilarious get her job title wrong.

The Australian international clinched the coveted gold medal in a stacked field this year in Paris, but told of a funny anecdote to go with it.

Getty

Kennedy won gold in the women’s pole vault on day 13 of the Olympic Games this summer[/caption]

The 27-year-old appeared on the Mental As Anyone podcast with Jonathan Moran and shed light on the misunderstanding over what she does to earn a crust.

“I’m glad you got pole vaulting right”, Kennedy said on the podcast. “I was on the plane the other day, and this person misheard me.

“‘He was like: ‘You went to the Olympics for pole dancing?’ And I was like: ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, don’t worry’.”

She admitted pole dancing is ‘pretty cool’, but added that she doubts it would make it as an Olympic sport.

Kennedy won the gold medal in Paris this summer, clearing 4.90m on her first attempt.

American Katie Moon won silver, jumping 4.85m on her second attempt, and Alysha Newman of Canada took bronze, matching Moon’s height.

The gold in Paris was Kennedy’s fifth major senior gold of her career and her first medal at a Games.

Redemption was on the cards in the French capital as Kennedy jumped whilst injured in Tokyo, clearing just 4.40m – half a metre shy of what she managed in Paris.

Kennedy added the gold to a world title in 2023, a Commonwealth Games gold in 2022 and two Diamond League victories in 2022 and 2024.

Kennedy’s world title came in unique fashion too. As both herself and Moon cleared 4.90m, the option was to go to a jump-off, though instead the pair decided to share the gold medal.

Getty

Kennedy added to Australia’s total tally of 18 golds at the Paris Games[/caption]

It was the first time the golds were shared at the pole vault event at a World Championship, reminiscent of Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi sharing Olympic gold in 2020.

Speaking about the win on the podcast, she said: “I feel like right now I’m in a bit of a reflection phase. I’m doing some journaling and recapping on what was a crazy year.

“I’ve just reached my life goal… it’s kind of weird to say,” she added.

“What I’m really enjoying about my career at the moment is that every year and every season brings its own challenges.

“This year was different to last year, which was different to five years ago. It’s about learning and growing… I’m sure this coming year will be filled with, how do you deal with that pressure of being the Olympic champ – and that’s something I’m going to have to learn and deal with, which is kind of exciting.”

Kennedy continued: “It’s pretty crazy. Especially going into the Olympics, I was equal world champion with Katie Moon”.

Getty

Kennedy and Katie Moon, right, shared the world title in 2023 in Budapest 2023[/caption]

Getty

It was reminiscent of the Tokyo Games, when high jumpers Barshim, right, and Tamberi, left, shared Olympic gold[/caption]

“That was a bit of a story about how we shared that gold medal right. A lot of people had an opinion of: ‘There should be only one winner. You’re a coward. You should have kept jumping’. That was a bit of the vibe I got.”