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At only 16, Somerset West's Jessica Pengelly is the youngest member of the South African swimming team who will be competing at the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.

Jessica, coached by Santa van Jaarsveld (Swimming South Africa Coach of the Year 2007) not only broke SA records and won National titles in the 400 as well as 200 meter individual medley races, but also swam Olympic "A" qualifying times in both these events at the SA Nationals and Olympic Games trials in Durban recently.

The week after the Nationals, Jessica as a member of the SA team, swam in the World Short Course Swimming Champs in Manchester and finished fourth in the 400 meter individual medley, breaking the South African Open record by almost five seconds.

This time makes her the sixth fastest woman in the world in short course swimming (racing in a 25 meter pool as opposed to a 50 meter pool) in the 400 meter individual medley for the 2007/2008 season.

Jessica, a grade 11 learner at Somerset College, when interviewed last week said, "I am very excited about Beijing in August. It is a dream come true. I have trained hard to reach this level and would not have been able to achieve this without the support and guidance of my coach as well as family."

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