Jenna Jones

Jenna Jones was born on 19 January 2001, the fifth of six children; she has four older brothers and a younger sister.[2] When she was in kindergarten, she was diagnosed with rod-cone dystrophy,[3] a rare degenerative eye disease. She played a variety of sports, but as her eyesight deteriorated, she settled on swimming.[2] She uses tappers to alert her when she is approaching the end of the pool. She initially had trouble with competitive swimming, as the wash from other swimmers exacerbated the vertigo she felt due to her visual impairment. In 2014, a new coach, Nick Robinson, thought he could help. Under his tutelage, her times improved significantly over the following six months.[3]

Jones competed in her first Australian Open Championships that year, aged 13, and set eleven age records,[2] winning two silver and two bronze medals. At the 2015 Open Championships, she won a silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke event despite battling illness. Then at the 2015 Australian Age Championships, she won six gold and three silver medals, breaking nine Australian and ten New South Wales records in the S13 class, the swimming classification for blind swimmers.[3] She went on to win her first national short course title in the 50 metre backstroke in November 2015.[2]

Although she was targeting the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo rather than the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio,[3] at the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide, she met the Rio qualifying times in the 50, 100 and 400 metre freestyle, 100 metre backstroke and 100 metre breaststroke events,[4] and on 14 April 2016 was named a member of the Australian Paralympic swimming squad.[5]

In 2016, Jones competed at the Rio 2016 Paralympics in five different events. She qualified and finished seventh in the 50 metre freestyle S13 and 100 metre backstroke S13 finals, but didn't qualify for the finals of the 100 metre freestyle S13, 200 metre individual medley SM13 or the 100 metre breaststroke SB13.[6] Coach Robinson worked with Jones in the lead up to Rio to reduce her nausea and vertigo and instructed Jones "But it's your choice, You've gotta start controlling it. In life, you've got to learn to control pain, fear and everything." Reflecting on her preparation to Rio, Jones states "When I am really fit, I feel like I am flying."[7]

As of 2016, Jones lived in Faulconbridge, New South Wales,[2] and was attending St Columba's High School.[3][8]

• Jenna Jones at the International Paralympic Committee (also here)
• Jenna Jones at Paralympics Australia
• Jenna Jones at Swimming Australia