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17/07/2008 11:30 AM - (SA) College swimmer follows her Olympic dream 180708
Jessica, who left for Korea with the South African Olympic Swimming Squad recently, will be stationed in South Korea, where she and the rest of the South African Olympic Swimming Squad will be training and conditioning before moving onto Beijing to compete in the 2008 Olympics in August. Speaking at the ceremony, attended by her parents, coach and other significant people who play a role in her life, Jessica - in her usual humble manner - said delivering the speech was far more frightening than swimming qualifying times! At the recent World Short Course Championships in Manchester, as member of the South African Swimming team, Jessica not only qualified to swim the final of the 400 meter individual medley race, but finished fourth in the world at these championships, taking five seconds off the previous South African short course record. Earlier in February, Jessica was selected to participate at the Samsung Swimming Series where she scored the highest FINA points among all the top South African female swimmers at both competitions and broke the South African Open records in the 400 meter as well as 200 individual medleys and posted her fourth "A" Olympic qualifying time. After this, Jessica competed at the South African Age Group Championships in East London and won 11 Gold medals. At the South African National Championships in Durban in April, which also served as the South African Olympic trials to Beijing, Jessica broke both her own South African National records in the 400 and 200 individual medleys, winning the National titles and swimming Olympic "A" qualifying times in both events. Somerset College, the Helderberg community and SA swimming fans wait in anticipation to see how this young champion performs at what will surely be the first of many more Olympic Championships.
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