Jeanette Chippington

Started: She began canoeing in 2011. (bbc.co.uk, 14 Jun 2016) Reason: She was persuaded to try Para canoeing by a friend, after previously representing Great Britain as a Para swimmer. "I retired from competitive swimming and was looking for another sport to take up for a hobby. I was introduced to Para canoe by a friend and fell in love with it immediately. It was only ever meant to be a hobby but after 20 years of competition and training it must have still been in my blood." (paralympic.org, 01 Apr 2016) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk, 20 Oct 2022, 09 Jan 2022) Milestones: At the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris she will be competing at her eighth Paralympic Games. In doing so she will join a select group of British athletes to have achieved the feat, including multi-sport athlete Sarah Storey [1992-2020] and shooter Deanna Coates [1984-2012]. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Jun 2024) At the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo she became the oldest canoeist from any NPC to win a Paralympic medal in the sport, claiming bronze in the women's VL2 200m event at age 51. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Jul 2024) Awards: She was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [OBE] in the 2022 New Year Honours list. She was previously appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [MBE] in 2017. (maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk, 20 Oct 2022; britishcanoeing.org.uk, 01 Jan 2022; windsorexpress.co.uk, 05 Jan 2017) Additional Info: FROM HOBBY TO ELITE SPORT She was previously a Para swimmer and competed at five Paralympic Games between 1988 and 2004 before retiring to pursue a career as a swimming instructor. She initially took up Para canoe as a hobby in 2011 and had no intentions of taking it up professionally. She went on to win a gold medal on her Paralympic canoe debut in 2016 and a bronze at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. "When I first tried canoeing and they said I should have some coaching I said, 'Look, I've done elite sport, I know it takes over your whole life and I don't want to go there again'. Six months later I won three golds at the world championships and it kind of spiralled from there. I couldn't give up then. I never thought I'd see the day where another sport took over from swimming but it has done and I'm enjoying it." (SportsDeskOnline, 22 Nov 2023; telegraph.co.uk, 15 Sep 2016; The Canoe Show YouTube channel, 02 Sep 2016) TRANSITION FROM SWIMMING TO CANOEING After taking up Para canoe she initially struggled to perfect her technique. She still swam as a hobby and used her time in the pool to help ease the transition into canoeing. "The hardest thing I found was getting my technique. It's so frustrating knowing that I just wanted to get in there, train hard and start racing. But I couldn't because I didn't have the technique. I'd still go to the pool. I'd keep pulling with my arms [when swimming] and thought, 'That's just like paddling'." (The Canoe Show YouTube channel, 02 Sep 2016)