The 23-year-old racewalker will be chasing Olympic glory after she was one of only five to qualify for the women’s 20km race. 

It will be the first taste of an Olympic games for Rachel, who has set a personal best of 1:31.32 to win the 2016 Oceania and Australian 20km Race Walking Championships in February.

Rachel’s mum, Kathy, always knew she was destined for great things.

The walls of their home in Buninyong are filled with families photos of Rachel and her six siblings. 

There are photos of decades of sporting achievements from race wins at Little Athletics to Jared’s Olympic meal wins.   

From a young age, Rachel who grew up on potato farm near Ballarat, aspired to be like her champion racewalker brother Jared.

“She would watch her brother from the sidelines,” Kathy said. “It wasn’t long before she began to say she wanted to start athletics too.”

From the age of 8, she began race walking at the Ballarat YCW Little Athletics club and the rest is history.  

SEE RACHEL’S EVOLUTION IN PHOTOS HERE

“She’s always been incredibly dedicated,” Kathy said.

“As soon as she finished year 12 she moved to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and she was just so determined to make it into the senior ranks.”

Now, the former Ballarat Highschool student is coached by her by her three-time Olympic medal winning brother who has qualified for the 50km race. 

”He is her biggest supporter,” Kathy said. “He has always been her brother and friend first and then her coach.”

Rachel had a very strong season last year competing in her first IAAF World Championships in China and at the World University Games in Korea.

Since then, she’s overcome multiple stress fractures and injuries to defy every odd on her road to victory.  

“We were ecstatic that she made it through because it was so unexpected,” she said. “She never thought she would even make it to the finals.”

 All her hard work has been leading up to this moment. Watching her daughter sidelines fills Kathy’s heart with pride.

Next week, she will fly over to Rio to watch Rachel and Jared compete.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them and what they have achieved,” she said. “We never expected for both of them to make it to the Olympics and we are just so excited for them.”

Her longtime training partner, Brendon Reading, has also qualified for Rio in the 50km event.

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