Jenny Whiteley

Country: AUS
Honoree Type: Masters Swimmer

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS (SWIMMER): World Points – 948, Pre 1986 points – 0. Total Points – 948. Since 1994, she has competed in 4 age groups (35-39 through 50-54). 39 FINA MASTERS WORLD RECORDS.

Jenny Whiteley began pool swimming when she was eight years old and swam as an amateur until she was 16. As a teenager, she swam with the Ryde Club in the early 1970’s in the shadow of Olympic legend and ISHOF Honoree, Shane Gould and under the famous coaching team of Forbes and Ursula Carlisle. She competed at the national level but admitted to being “too nervous in competition in those days” and eventually decided to swap swimming for her tertiary studies.

“I then took a break for ten years but got into Masters swimming when I was 26,” Jenny Whiteley of Australia says and she hasn’t looked back. Jenny holds a string of state, national and world records in the 50, 100 and 200 meter distances in “everything but the backstroke,” Jenny laughs. “It’s that one stroke that doesn’t work for me.”

Jenny Whiteley has been competing in Masters Swimming since 1994 and has been in the Top Ten for 18 years. She has competed in four age groups and has set 39 FINA Masters World Records, ten long course meters in breaststroke and one individual medley and 29 short course meters in the breaststroke, freestyle, butterfly and individual medley. She has accumulated 32 number 1, 24 number 2, 15 number 3 long course meters rankings, 45 number 1, 22 number 2, 14 number 3 short course meters for a total of 77 number 1, 46 number 2 and 29 number 3 world rankings.

In recent years, in addition to Masters Swimming, Jenny has turned her attention to Pool Lifesaving Sport where she holds world records in the 50m Manikin Carry, the 100m Manikin Carry, the 100m Manikin Tow and the 200m Obstacles; the same distance as her masters records but with the added component that Pool Lifesaving provides. Her nieces and son got involved in the sport and convinced Jenny to try it. She loved it….that was six or seven years ago.

As a Masters Swimmer and a regular competitor in ocean swimming events, Jenny is philosophical about Pool Lifesaving’s place. “Pool Lifesaving isn’t well known; it’s a small but close knit group. Australians are so well known for their pool swimming ability and surf lifesavers are such an iconic part of our culture because of our beaches and beautiful coastline, but Pool Life Saving is such a great sport and it’s growing.” “Learning how to save a life is such a valuable skill to have,” says Jenny.

In addition to being a Masters World Champion, world record holder, pool lifesaving champion and record holder, Jenny also enjoys swimming open water. She recently competed in the 2013 Bali Ocean Swim 10km in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, where she was second overall and the first female to place in the race with a time just over two hours and thirty minutes.

The information on this page was written the year of their induction