Jeanette Chippington

Jeanette Chippington

Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1970-04-21) 21 April 1970 Taplow, England
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Medal record Representing  Great Britain Women's swimming Paralympic Games 1996 Atlanta 100 m freestyle S6 1996 Atlanta 4x50 m freestyle relay S1-6 1988 Seoul 100 m backstroke L4 1996 Atlanta 50 m freestyle S6 2000 Sydney 4x100 m medley relay 34pts 2004 Athens 4x50m freestyle relay 20pts 1992 Barcelona 4x50 m medley relay S1-6 1996 Atlanta 200 m freestyle S6 1996 Atlanta 4x50 m medley relay S1-6 2000 Sydney 50 m freestyle S6 2000 Sydney 100 m freestyle S6 2000 Sydney 4x50 m medlay relay 20pts Paracanoeing Canoe Sprint World Championships 2013 Duisburg Women's K–1 200 m A 2013 Duisburg Women's V–1 200 m A 2013 Duisburg Women's V–1 200 m TA 2015 Milan Women's K–1 200 m KL1 Paralympic Games 2016 Rio Women's K–1 200 m KL1

Jeanette Chippington (née Esling, born 21 April 1970) is a British Paralympic swimmer and paracanoeist. Chippington has represented Great Britain at five consecutive Summer Paralympics, 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. Competing as a S6 classification swimmer she favoured mainly 50 m and 100m freestyle competitions. After retiring from swimming Chippington returned to disability sport, becoming a world class paracanoeist, winning medals at the ICG World Championships in 2013 and 2015.

Personal history

Chippington was born Jeanette Esling in 1970 in Taplow, England.^[1] In 1982 she contracted a virus which resulted in damage to her spinal cord which in turn left her paralysed in both legs.^[2][3] She married in 1998, flying from her honeymoon to compete in the IPC Swimming World Championships in New Zealand.^[2] She has two children and also works as a swimming instructor and coach.^[1]

Swimming career

Chippington started swimming on the recommendation of her physiotherapist after her illness.^[2] She entered her first major competition in 1985 and despite originally participating in all four major competitive strokes, she settled as a 50m and 100m freestyle specialist.^[2] In 1988 she made the Great Britain team for the Summer Paralympics in Seoul entering the women's 100m backstroke and freestyle L4 events. There she finished in second place in the 100m freestyle to win her first Paralympic medal.^[4] Chippington represented Great Britain four years later at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. There she entered six events, taking a medal in one, a bronze in the women's Women's 4x50 m Medley S1-6, alongside team mates Tara Flood, Margaret McEleny and Jane Stidever.^[5][6]

The 1996 Summer Paralympics were Chippington's most successful with a five medal haul. She won two gold medals, setting world records in both. In the Women's 4 x 100 metre medley relay she was reunited with McEleny and Stidver while new member Jennifer Booth was added to the last leg. The team finished in a time of 2:52.36 setting a new world record and taking gold.^[7] Her second gold medal was in the 100m freestyle S6. In the heats Jennifer Newstead of New Zealand finished as fastest qualifier in a world record time of 1:23.85, while Chippington qualified third.^[8] Despite the strong competition, Chippington won the final by swimming 1:23:63 beating Newstead's short lived record in the process.^[8] She completed the Atlanta games with a silver in the 50 m freestyle S6 and two bronze medals in the 200 m freestyle S6 and 4x50 m medley relay S1-6.^[6]

The 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney saw Chippington add another four Paralympic medals to her tally; a silver in the Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay 34 pts and three further bronze medals.^[6] Her final Paralympics as a swimmer was the 2004 Games in Athens. Despite believing she was not good enough to qualify for the Games, Chippington still left with another medal, a bronze in the 4x50m freestyle relay 20pts.^[2]

Paracanoeing career

Chippington took up paracanoeing after being nagged by a friend to try out the sport.^[1] In 2013 she won three gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, but later decided to focus on the KL1 200m event when it was announced that only Kayaks in her disability classification would be included in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio.^[1] At the 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships held in Milan, Chippington won gold in the KL1 200m, giving her a qualifying place for the 2016 Games in Rio.^[3]

References