Elizaveta "Liz" Parnov (née Parnova born 9 May 1994 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
) is an Australian athlete who competed in the
pole vault
Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the M ...
at the
Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...
Parnov came from a family of athletes and particularly pole vaulters. She is the niece of
Tatiana Grigorieva
Tatiana Vladimirovna Grigorieva (; born 8 October 1975 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a retired Australian pole vaulter. She retired from the sport in 2007 after a 10-year career that saw her win Olympic, Commonwealth and World Championship meda ...
, who won the silver medal for
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
in the women's pole vault at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
, and the granddaughter of Natalya Pechonkina, who won the bronze medal for the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
in the women's 400m at the
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport ev ...
.
Parnov moved to Australia with her family in 1996, at the age of two. She was a competitive pole vaulter from the age of nine, where she vaulted 2.65m. She set two world age bests at 11 years (3.15m in 2005) and 12 years (3.64m in 2006). She cleared four metres just days after her 14th birthday in 2008.
Pole vault career
In 2010, she competed at the first
Youth Olympic Games
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consiste ...
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...
.
Her personal best of 4.50 metres, achieved on 17 February 2012 at
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, is the Australian under-20 record, surpassing the record of her sister that she had tied in winning the Australian National Championship in 2010. While she was still age 17 at the time of the jump, which surpassed the World Youth Record, she was not eligible for the record because she turned 18 in 2012.
At the
2020 Olympic Games
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 ...
her best height was 4.4m which meant that she was placed 12th in her qualifier. Parnov was eliminated from the pole vault qualifiers in controversial circumstances as officials failed to stop proceedings as rain tumbled down. She was forced to try her third attempt at 4.40m as the rain steadily increased. and in slippery, wet conditions was forced to abandon her next jump.
After pole vaulting
In December 2022, Parnov announced via her Instagram that she was "excited to embark on the next chapter of my life - how lucky am I to have lived one as a pole vaulter and now I get to begin the rest of my life". Parnov is the marketing manager for the streetwear brand StreetX and studies global media and communications at
Murdoch University
Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...
.
In November 2022, Parnov was confirmed as a contestant on the 10th season of the reality TV show ''
Australian Survivor
''Australian Survivor'' is an Australian adventure reality game show based on the international '' Survivor'' format. Following the premise of other versions of the ''Survivor'' format, the show features a group of contestants, referred to as " ...
'', titled '' Heroes V Villains'', which premiered in January 2023 on Network 10. Parnov ended up winning the season and the $500,000 prize.
Personal life
She was coached by her father Alex Parnov, himself a former world class pole vaulter. Her older sister Vicky also competes in pole vault and is the 2012 Australian national champion.
As of 2023, Parnov is in a relationship with Daniel Bradshaw, founder of StreetX.