Amanda Jane "AJ" Jennings (formerly Reynolds, born 7 October 1971) is an Australian

paracanoe Paracanoe is canoeing for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. The Paralympic version of the sport is governed by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), and a va'a-specific variant is governed by the International Va'a Federation (IVF) ...

ist who has won two gold medals at the

ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation (the other being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships). The World Cham ...

. She won a silver medal in the Women's 200m KL3 at the

2016 Rio Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

Personal

Jennings was born on 7 October 1971 and lives in

Macclesfield, Victoria Macclesfield is a town in Victoria, Australia, 47 km east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Macclesfield recorded a population of 878 at the 2021 census. The communi ...

. In April 2012, Jennings underwent elective surgery to amputate the lower part of her right leg. For 20 years before the amputation, Jennings lived with depression, chronic pain and an addiction to prescriptive drugs following complications from a dislocated knee. In reflecting to life after the amputation, Jennings commented: "Everybody's got the opportunity. You've just got to have the courage to take it." She is an Equine Sports Therapist. Jennings is married to Wayne and they have two children.

Sporting career

Jennings is classified as KL3 paracanoeist. Reynolds paddling career started with the

Murray Marathon The Massive Murray Paddle, formerly the Red Cross Murray Marathon or Murray Marathon, and later the YMCA Massive Murray Paddle, is an Australian 404 km, 5-day canoe/kayak flatwater race on the Murray River. One of the longest annual flatwa ...

and participated in the 2013 Sale to Sea Disability Kayak Challenge. In 2014, she won the K1 200 m, K1 500 m and 1000 m LTA events at the National and Oceania Championships. In her world championships debut, she won the bronze medal in the Women's K1 200 m LTA at the

2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was held from 6–10 August 2014 in Moscow, Russia. They were chosen at an ICF board of directors meeting in Budapest on 10 April 2010. Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions are broken up i ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. At the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, she won the gold medal in the Women's K–1 200 m KL3. At the 2016 ICF Paracanoe World Championships,

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, she won the silver medal in the Women's 200 m KL3. A month prior to the championships, she underwent an appendix operation. She won a silver medal in the 200m KL3 at the

where paracanoe made it Paralympics debut. At the

2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 43rd edition of the World Championships, were held in Račice, Czech Republic, from 23 to 27 August 2017. Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions are contested in either a Canadian cano ...

, Račice,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, she won the gold medal in Women's KL2 200m. After a year of battling injury, Reynolds at

2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 44th edition of the World Championships, were held in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, from 22 to 26 August 2018. Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions were contested in either a Canadian c ...

Montemor-o-Velho Montemor-o-Velho () is a town and concelho, municipality of the Coimbra District, in Portugal. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 26,171, in an area of 228.96 km². History In 711, the Muslim invasion of Iberia, Arab occupation ...

, won the silver medal in the Women's KL3 200m. At the

2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 45th edition of the World Championships, were held in Szeged, Hungary from 21 to 25 August 2019. The championships served as the primary qualification regatta for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic ...

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, she finished seventh in the Women's KL3 200m. At the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

, Jennings finished fifth in her Heat and eighth in the Women's KL3 semi-final and did not advance to the final. Jennings is a

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

scholarship holder and was originally coached by Steve Vegh and Mark Dougall. In 2015, she moved to the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

to work closer with National Para-canoe Head Coach Andrea King. She named her new sprint canoe "Douglas" or "Doug" after two people that have inspired her - boxer James 'buster' Douglas and pilot

Douglas Bader Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...

Recognition

In 2015 and 2016, she was awarded the People's Choice Award at the Australian Canoeing Awards.

References

External links

* * *
Amanda Reynolds
at Paddle Australia
archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, AJ 1971 births Living people Australian female canoeists Australian amputees Paralympic canoeists for Australia Paralympic medalists in paracanoe Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics KL3-classified paracanoeists Sportswomen from Victoria (state) ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in paracanoe