Michelle "Shelly" Jenneke (; born 23 June 1993) is an Australian hurdler and model. She won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

for the

100 m hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

at the

2010 Summer Youth Olympics The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics ( ta, 2010 கோடைக்கால இளையோர் ஒலிம்பிக் விளையாட்டுக்கள் ms, Sukan Olimpik Belia Musim Panas 2010), officially known as the I Summer ...

and the 100 m hurdles at the 2016 Australian Athletics Championships to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games. In 2012, she received worldwide media attention after her pre-race

warm-up 'Warming up' is a part of stretching and preparation for physical exertion or a performance by exercising or practicing gently beforehand, usually undertaken before a performance or practice. Athletes, singers, actors and others warm up before s ...

dance

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...

on the internet and was featured in the 2013 ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue.

Early life and education

Born in

Kenthurst, New South Wales Kenthurst is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 39 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of The Hills Shire. It is part of the Hills District region. Kenthurst is ...

, Australia, she attended

The Hills Grammar School The Hills Grammar School (commonly referred to as Hills Grammar) is an independent nonsectarian co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day school, located in Kenthurst, a suburb in the Hills district of Sydney, New South Wales ...

. She studied mechatronics at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

, a combination of

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and electric engineering. In an interview, she described her hobbies as

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, quad biking, climbing trees, and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

Career

Jenneke has trained with coach Mick Zisti as a hurdler from the age of 10 at the Cherrybrook Athletics Club. She competed at the

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

-hosted 2008 Pacific School Games in the 90 and 200 metres hurdles. In March 2010, Jenneke finished first in the 100 m hurdles, breaking the national record in the women's

sprint medley relay The sprint medley relay (SMR) is a track and field event in which teams of four athletes compete over sprinting distances as part of a relay race. Unlike most track relays, each member of the team runs a different distance. The sprint medley is rat ...

at the 2010 Australian Junior Championships. She competed in the 2011 Pirtek Athletic Allstars event. In July of that year, she was on Australia's team at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games, running the 100 m hurdles and the women's medley relay. In the hurdles, she came second with a time of 13.46 and set a personal best after winning her heat, and the medley relay team came fourth. Her medal was the first Australia won at the Games in athletics. In 2011, Jenneke competed at the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

hosted Cooks Classic. At the 2011 Australian Junior Championships, she had a first-place hurdles finish in the under-20 group. In April 2011 she competed at the 89th Australian Athletics Championships and finished third in the 100 m hurdles behind world champion Sally Pearson. On 15 July 2012, Jenneke finished fifth in the 2012

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

World Junior Championships 100 m hurdles. After the competition, a video of her 100 m hurdles taken during the heats race, was subsequently posted on a video-sharing site, raising her profile around the world. She was selected as a member of Australia's 2014

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

team. There Jenneke came fifth in the final with a time of 13.36 and was the youngest competitor. She is the second-fastest 100 metre hurdle woman in Australian history. Jenneke's personal best is 12.66 set at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, in the same heat that saw the world record fall to

Tobi Amusan Oluwatobiloba Ayomide "Tobi" Amusan (born 23 April 1997) is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles and also competes as a sprinter. She is the current World, Commonwealth and African champion in the 10 ...

. She finished second at nationals to qualify for the 2015 World Championships in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Jenneke got through the heats to make the semi-finals. She finished sixth in her semi and in 18th place overall. In March 2016, Jenneke represented Australia at the World Indoor Championships in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

and finished 10th. The next month she won the Australian National Championship 100 m hurdles final with a time of 12.93, qualifying her for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. In August, Jenneke competed in the Olympics but was unable to get out of the heats, finishing in sixth with a time of 13.26. She would have needed a near personal best to qualify as the third qualifying time in her heat was 12.85. Australian

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Craig Hilliard was critical of her performance. In the Australian University Games at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Jenneke tried her hand at the 100 metres sprint, getting through to the final, and the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

where she finished second with a distance of 5.61 metres and her own event the 110 metres hurdles, which she won with a time of 14.19 seconds. In August 2017, Jenneke competed in her second World Championships and got through the heats to the semi-finals, finishing in 7th with a time of 13.250. She would have needed a near personal best to reach the final as the second qualifying time in her semi was 12.85. In the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's montage of events (the moments of the games as BBC

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh presenter and a former international rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted ''Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also p ...

called it) on the games' final evening Jenneke and her warm up jig was featured. In April 2018, she represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games, finishing fourth at 13.07, after running a

qualifying time In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

of 12.99.

Media coverage

In July 2012 videos of Jenneke dancing during her pre-race warmup before the 100 m hurdles race at the

2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

went

viral Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). Viral may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. One clip received 19 million views by the following week and was featured on the American late-night talk show, '' The Tonight Show''. Jenneke acted in a short comedic

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

produced by the website

The Chive The Chive (styled theCHIVE) is a website owned and operated by Resignation, LLC. Images appearing on thechive.com are selected by staff from searches of both international and domestic websites as well as daily submissions. The Chive gained att ...

titled ''Forever Alone Meets Michelle Jenneke'', playing herself in a piece referencing her viral video. The video had received over 10 million views on YouTube by 2014. In January 2013 Jenneke was ranked tenth on

AskMen.com AskMen is a free online men's web portal, with international versions in Australia, Canada, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is owned by Ziff Davis and operates through the IGN Entertainment unit. History AskMen was ...

's 99 Most Desirable Women 2013. She was featured in the 2013 '' Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue''. In 2014 Jenneke was featured in a video-heavy mobile computing app on stretching techniques called ''Stretch with Michelle Jenneke''. Early the same year, she was a star in the ''Top Gear'' Sydney Festival, racing a Nissan GT-R.

Athletic achievements

Other career highlights

* 1st place (100 m hurdles) – 2016 Australian National Championships (Olympic qualifying time, 12.93) * 1st place (100 m hurdles) – 2010 Australian Junior Championships * 1st place (4 × 100 m relay) – 2010 Australian Junior Championships (national record) * 4th place ( "Swedish medley" relay) – 2010 Summer Youth Olympics,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

* 3rd place (100 m hurdles) – 2011

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

* 2nd place (100 m hurdles) – 2015

(12.82) * Semi Finals – 6th place (100 m hurdles) - 2015 World Championships Beijing (13.01) (fastest reaction time, 0.122, in all semi-finals) * Semi Finals – 10th place (60 m hurdles) - 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Portland, USA (8.10, personal best) * Heats – 6th in heat (100 m hurdles) - 2016 Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (13.26) * Semi Final - 7th in semi (100 m hurdles) - 2017 World Championships,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(13.250)

References

External links

*
Michelle Jenneke Interview

Michelle Jenneke athletics profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenneke, Michelle 1993 births Living people Australian female hurdlers Athletes from Sydney Models from Sydney Australian female models Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Australian people of German descent People educated at The Hills Grammar School Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Australia Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade bronze medalists for Australia Competitors at the 2015 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 2017 Summer Universiade