Brooke Buschkuehl (née Stratton; born 12 July 1993) is an Olympic long jumper from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. She is the current Australian & Oceanic Record Holder. She qualified for the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. Stratton jumped a distance of 6.6m in her Women's long jump heat and therefore qualified for the final. In the final she improved the distance to 6.8m but this was not sufficient to gain a medal. She came seventh, 0.17m less than the eventual winner,

Malaika Mihambo Malaika Mihambo (; born 3 February 1994) is a German athlete and the current Olympic and world champion in long jump. Career Mihambo's athletic career began around 2009, when at the age of 15 she became the German under-16 champion with the hept ...

of Germany.

Early years

Stratton started her career at the

Nunawading Nunawading is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 miles) east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Whitehorse local government area. Nunawading recorded a population of 12,413 at the 2021 cens ...

Little Athletics Little Athletics is an Australian activity program that involves modified athletics events for children aged 3 to 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory); 3 ...

center at the tender age of 5, following in the footsteps of her 7-year-old brother, Jamie. She also competed in athletics at school level for

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...

. Four years later she won the under-9 state title and her success in the long jump continued with the World Youth Championships in 2009 where she placed 10th. She then competed at the world juniors in 2010 and 2012. One year later, Stratton was diagnosed with

coeliac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barle ...

and was found to be

gluten intolerant Gluten-related disorders is the term for the diseases triggered by gluten, including celiac disease (CD), non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), gluten ataxia, dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) and wheat allergy. The umbrella category has also been r ...

. She had been struggling with fatigue for most of the previous two years. She changed her diet and performance improved. She was selected in the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

but was forced to withdraw with an injury.

Achievements

Stratton competed at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing leaping 6.64m in the qualifying round but narrowly missed the final. In the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

she finished seventh. Her personal best in the event is 7.05 metres set at the Perth Track Classic on 12 March 2016, breaking the 14-year-old Australian record held by

Bronwyn Thompson Bronwyn Thompson (born 29 January 1978 in Rockhampton, Australia) is a long jumper from Australia. She was the former Commonwealth record holder and holds the Australian record for the long jump. She has been ranked as high as number two in the ...

. She was selected for the Australian Athletics team (in long jump) at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and was placed 2nd with a leap of 6.77m.

Personal life

Stratton is currently studying a Bachelor of Health Sciences at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

. She is the sister of Hawthorn AFLW player Kristy Stratton. Both of them attended

Wheelers Hill, Victoria Wheelers Hill is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 22 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Wheelers Hill recorded a population of 20,652 at the . At 152m ...

and were active athletes, with Brooke holding many records and Kristy holding the record for

80 metres hurdles 80 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling ran by women until 1972 in international competitions. Since the 1972 Summer Olympics, the event has been permanently replaced by the 100 metre hurdles. Masters athletics The distance, with different sp ...

in the under-14 category.

Competition record

References

External links

*
Brooke Stratton
at

Athletics Australia Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Sport Australia for the sport of athletics in Australia. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registered ...