Home from the Rio Paralympics, first time Paralympian Jenna Jones is filled with confidence and hungry for more.
The 15-year-old from Faulconbridge competed in five swimming events, pulling off a personal best in each, and making the finals of the 50m freestyle and 100m backstroke.
“It completely blew me out of the water. It was an unbelievable experience,” Jenna said.
She said the roar of the cheering crowd as she competed sounded like a storm and was a good motivator.
Entered in the multi-class events in the S13 category for vision-impaired swimmers, Jenna was up against swimmers much older than herself, including 24-year-old Anna Stetsenko from the Ukraine who won several races Jenna entered.
“I concentrated on myself in the races, and after [all the events] it hit me that I was versing people of that standard,” Jenna said.
While she only briefly had time to check in with her fans on social media during the Paralympics, Jenna said it was really encouraging to know how many people were behind her.
Her passion for swimming has only deepened, and she can’t wait to get back in the pool.
“Its [the Paralympics] has changed my look on swimming. It’s given me more confidence and more of a drive to be better.
“I’ve definitely been daydreaming about Toyko [Paralympics 2020]. It will be four years of hard training.”
Jenna has a two-week break before she begins preparing for the Australian Short Course Championships in November, but her primary focus will be the Australian Open Swimming Championships in Brisbane in April.
She’s expecting coach Nick Robinson to be tougher on her than ever.
“Nick is always expecting more,” she said. “I always think it’s the hardest I can go, but no, I can go harder.”
Jenna said she couldn’t have made it to Rio without the support of her coach, parents, the swimming community and her school, St Columba’s College.
