WITH the 2016 Olympic Games less than a month away, two Warwick students have won top honours for their involvement with the sporting movement.

Year 12 students Claudia Ready and Sarah Ogden, both 17, were among other Queensland high school students to take out the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin Award.

Claudia from Warwick State High and Sarah from Assumption College were both the successful nominees from their schools, elected for the award because of their sporting backgrounds.

“I’ve played netball since primary school, and that isn’t yet part of the Olympics but I’ve also just started playing rugby 7s and that will debut at Rio this year” Sarah said. “We had to prepare a literary piece about the Olympics after we were nominated by our teachers and then had to wait to see who was successful from the school.”

Claudia has a different sporting background.

“I play hockey, softball and do swimming, and have done all three since I was about nine,” she said.

“I love hockey the most and softball is yet to come back onto the Olympic program so hockey is probably the one I could go furthest with.”

Both girls admitted they knew little about the Olympic movement before being nominated but said the two-day awards events – an official ceremony in Brisbane and a leadership camp in the Tweed hinterland – were inspiring for them as budding athletes.

“We did a lot of leadership activities and team bonding and we were able to talk to other athletes about what they’re doing,” Sarah said.

“It was a great opportunity to mix with like-minded people and the whole point was to push past your comfort zone, so in one activity we had to climb up a tree in a harness and jump out to a trapeze, That was pretty daunting.”

“We had two Olympians with us through all of the obstacles and tasks we did and both were afraid of heights, but they still got up there and gave it a go so it’s not about being the best but just trying your best,” Claudia said.

“What I learnt about the movement was it’s not just about winning but it’s about taking part in the journey and doing something you love.”

Despite having markedly different sporting backgrounds, both girls said they drew inspiration from meeting Olympic gold medal-winning beach volley ball player Natalie Cook.

“She had a really humble but enthusiastic personality, and she talked about mixing up between school, a social life and being an elite athlete,” Sarah said.

“Her passion for it was really good,” Claudia said.

“She told us before competing she wore gold everything like gold shoes and gold pyjamas just to get her head in the game, and she was just really fun.

“What I took from it is you don’t have to impress everyone, as long as you do it for your own reasons and are happy with yourself.”