Ahead of her arrival at the runway at the Stade de Paris on Tuesday, Australian long jumper Brooke Buschkuehl has eschewed the finest foods France has to offer with good reason.

At an Olympics where critiques about the cuisine have been so frequent it is possible a gastronomic gold medal is on offer for the team with the most complaints, the Melburnian has more reason that most to be wary.

A finalist in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, the 31-year-old has excelled in her craft for more than 15 years despite two health conditions that threatened to ground her outstanding career.

Competing against the world’s best athletes is difficult enough, let alone trying to do so when your own body is attacking itself, which is what happens to Buschkuehl without proper oversight.

The dual-Commonwealth Games silver medallist is living with both coeliac and Hashimoto’s disease, a condition where “your immune system attacks your thyroid gland … in your neck.”

She is on daily thyroxine medication to manage the condition and undergoes monthly blood tests to ensure she is well enough to train at the level needed to produce premium performances.

“Basically, for me, some of the symptoms that I experience when my thyroid is underactive are fatigue, joint and muscle pain, weight gain and sensitivity to the cold,” she told foxsports.com.au.

“The list goes on and on. So, yeah, it’s not great. It’s something that I guess I’ve learned to live with, but I just have to keep a very close eye on my blood and make sure that everything is on track.”

Buschkuehl has had to pass on the patisseries and boycott the boulangeries over the past week, for any slip-up in her diet could be enough to land her in hospital and up-end her Olympic dream.

“The last few days in Paris before I compete, I think I’ll literally be living off of tuna and rice and just very plain, gluten-free food, which sounds super boring,” she said.

“Being coeliac, I probably won’t be able to go out and enjoy, you know, croissants and whatever other French food a lot of people would enjoy when they’re in France or in Paris.

“I tend not to eat out at restaurants or cafes when I am away or when I am in competition mode because I can’t trust that the food I am eating is going to be 100 percent safe.

“But I’ll save that for afterwards, for sure. I’m sure there’ll be some dedicated gluten-free restaurants, bakeries and cafes around that I can really enjoy.”

LEAPING FOR THE STARS WHILE INSPIRED BY AUSSIE GREATS

Buschkuehl’s path towards becoming a three-time Olympian and legitimate podium prospect in Paris began a world away from France in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Nunawading.

It was not long after Cathy Freeman inspired the nation with her unforgettable triumph in the 400m during the Sydney Olympics, an effort that lit the Olympic flame for Buschkuehl, who was a regular on the athletics track from an early age.

“Gosh, it is going back a long time, but I think it was the social side of Little Athletics that I really enjoyed early on,” she said.

“I loved being able to give every event a go and I remember in Grade One, when I was in the Under-7 age group, I watched Cathy Freeman on TV at home in the living room with my siblings and parents when she won a gold medal for Australia … and that was the moment that I realised that I wanted to represent Australia one day.

“I was quite quick over some of the sprinting distances, so I think knowing that I could run really fast down the runway and then I had just this natural spring in my legs, which is obviously great for long jump, I think the event really just chose me.”

Bright-eyed and bouncing out of Caulfield Grammar in Melbourne as one of Australia’s most promising athletes as a teenager, she eyed the future with optimism, with her success in junior ranks earning her a Sport Australia athletic scholarship.

That came with a remarkable prize – the opportunity to be mentored by Freeman.

“I think it was maybe in 2012, so that was incredible to have had her mentor me for a year as part of that scholarship,” Buschkuehl said.

“I learned so much from her and also Sally Pearson as well. (She was) such an incredible Australian athlete. I was on a couple of teams alongside her and those two athletes have definitely paved the way for us Australian athletes, to be able to see what they’ve been able to achieve on the world stage.

“It definitely makes athletes like myself realise that we are capable of matching it with the best athletes from around the world. But it is also just the way they go about their business as well. It’s truly inspiring and I feel like they’re great role models for our sport.”

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A CAREER DEDICATED TO SOARING FURTHER INTO THE SAND

Given her health conditions, it is not surprising the Victorian Institute of Sport athlete has endured a rollercoaster ride in her athletic career.

If not for the fatigue she felt towards the end of school, she might well have competed in London as well, but missing the 2012 Games prompted the search for a solution.

After the diagnosis of coeliac disease which prompted a significant change in her diet, she was selected for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, only to suffer an injury.

But in her early 20s she emerged as a world class performer. She jumped 6.64m in the 2015 World Championships and broke a 14-year Australian record with a leap of 7.05m in 2016.

After finishing seventh in Rio, she recorded the highest-placed finish by an Australian long jumper when sixth in the World Championships in 2017 and then won a silver medal at home on the Gold Coast in 2018.

The good results continued to flow, culminating in a leap of 6.83m – her best in the green-and-gold – in the delayed Tokyo Games, a jump achieved despite knee pain that ultimately required an operation.

On returning after surgery in 2022, Buschkuehl set a new Australian mark of 7.13m in California and finished just two centimetres from a podium finish in the World Championships in Eugene before clinching another Commonwealth Games silver medal when superb in Birmingham. She felt on top of the world.

“It felt incredible. I guess I’ve definitely been pretty consistent competing on the world stage,” she said.

“In Rio, it was my first Olympic Games and only my second senior international competition, so I feel like I was definitely lacking the experience. In Tokyo, I had a knee injury leading into those games, so I don’t feel like my preparation was what it could have been.

“So if I can have a good run … I definitely feel like I can be on the podium (in Paris).”

What goes up can often lead to a crash and last year proved difficult for the Aussie.

A homebody who is close to her family, Buschkuehl experimented with spending more time on the road, but it proved detrimental to her mental health and her form suffered as a result.

“I think mentally I just wasn’t in a great place last season. I think my mindset around competition definitely wasn’t great … and my mental health was not great because of that,” she said.

Another constant priming Buschkuehl to perform is her willingness to consult with a sports psychologist, something she is a big advocate of and feels many athletes would benefit from.

“I feel like it’s definitely crucial being a professional athlete,” she said.

“I’ve had many injuries and many setbacks, many challenges, and I think if I didn’t reach out and speak to a sports psychologist to help get me through those really hard times, I probably wouldn’t have coped so well.

“I’ve been working really closely with a sports psychologist for a long time and I have definitely needed to come up with some strategies around being able to, I guess, lower my own expectations or personal expectations.

“I’m definitely in a better place thanks to my sports psychologist and I am just really enjoying my athletics for what it is at the moment.”

THE FAMILY FACTOR

Homesickness was undoubtedly a factor in her dip in form last year and Buschkuehl was happy to spend a lot more time in Australia over the 12 months leading into the Paris Olympics.

She hails from a family of athletes and has been coached throughout her career by her father, Russell Stratton. Her partner, Nathan Buschkuehl, was a competitive triathlete with an understanding of the sacrifices elite athletes need to make as they strive for gold.

“He’s definitely my biggest supporter and he honestly is my rock. I don’t think I would be where I am today without his support,” she said.

“He was also a professional triathlete in his time, so he knows what it takes to be an elite athlete, and I guess having that knowledge himself, it definitely allows him to be there for me when I really need it.”

Managing the father-daughter and coach-athlete relationship she shares with her dad has had its challenges, she said, but Buschkuehl said the benefits from their partnership had been significant.

“It’s hard. I feel like over the years, we’ve definitely learned that we need to separate the roles, (the) daughter and athlete (role) and father and coach (role). It’s definitely very easy to intertwine the two and I think sometimes it can get a bit much,” she said.

“I think it’s a lot easier now that I’m living out of home (compared to) when I was living at home. I feel like there was definitely a lot of athletics talk around the dinner table.

“But my dad’s pretty good like that. When we’re at training, he’ll put his coaching hat on, and when we’re outside of training, he’ll put his dad, slash, father hat on. And (it is the) same with me.

“I’ve obviously been very lucky to have my dad coach me and I want to be able to respect him as much as I can and also appreciate him while he is coaching me on the track, but also as a father outside of training, so it’s worked really well.”

FOOTY IN THE FUTURE

Peruse Buschkuehl’s social media accounts and it seems every second post in recent years has related to the deeds of her sister Kristy Stratton, who plays for Hawthorn in the AFLW.

A couple of years younger than the Olympian, she was a fine junior hurdler who has overcome difficulties including a wrecked knee to carve out a fine career for the Hawks.

“My sister’s had a pretty rough road with injuries herself. She was an absolute gun Junior football (and) I used to go along and watch her and I was just blown away by how talented she was. But then she had a pretty rough period with injury,” she said.

“So, last year was the first year where I finally saw her get out there and just be able to just really enjoy her football again and be able to just have a go and just be given that opportunity to really showcase what she can do.

“It was super special to be able to get down to some of her games and watch her star on the footy field. I was such a proud sister sitting and watching and who knows, one day I might join her on the footy field.”

The prospect of picking up the Sherrin once her international career is over is something that is a legitimate consideration.

“Being in an individual sport, it can get quite lonely sometimes and when I watch my sister being a part of a football team and I see how much fun she has and the camaraderie with all the other girls, it definitely makes me wonder whether I could do it, whether I could play football,” she said.

“So I’ve definitely considered it. Whether it happens, I’m not really too sure. I mean, I am turning 31 this year, so I probably don’t have forever to make that transition.

“But … I think it’d be great fun. Maybe chuck me on the wing … and I could use my speed on the ground and I think my footy skills, my kicking and handballing and maybe marking are okay as well.”