Jennifer Hazel (Jenny) Whittle (born 5 September 1973) is a retired Australian women's basketball player. Whittle was a regular member of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

for over a decade, from 1994 until 2006. Playing

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, Whittle was a key contributor to the Opals' success at international events during the 1990s and 2000s, with strong rebounding and defence a feature of her game. Following an outstanding national and WNBL career, Whittle was elected to the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.Lulham, Amanda (23 October 2016)
''Liesl Tesch, Jenny Whittle, Jeanie Kupsch inducted into basketball Hall of Fame''
The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 November 2016.

Biography

National team

Whittle broke into the Australian side as a 20-year-old, following her success at the 1993 World Championship for Junior Women, where she won a

Gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

. Averaging 10.1 points per contest, the centre added six points and provided a dominant defensive presence under the rim in the gold medal game as Australia defeated Russia 72–54. She was immediately placed on the Opals radar.''Australian Basketball Hall of Fame - Jenny Whittle''
(10 November 2016). Basketball Australia. Retrieved 12 November 2016. At that tournament, Whittle played alongside other future Opals stars,

Michelle Brogan Michelle Brogan (born 8 February 1973) is a former basketball player from Australia, who won the bronze medal with the Australia women's national basketball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Four years later she was on the ...

Kristi Harrower Kristi Harrower (born 4 March 1975) is an Australian professional basketball player, who three times (2000, 2004 and 2008) won the silver medal with the Australian Women's Team at the Summer Olympics, and also the bronze in 2012. She played in ...

, Carla Boyd and

Jo Hill Joanne Kay Hill (born 19 June 1973) is a former Australian women's basketball player. Biography Hill played for the Australia women's national basketball team during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in ...

. The following year, Whittle was selected to play for the Opals at the 1994 World Championship for Women, held in Australia. The young side finished a respectable 4th and would mark the start of a highly successful era for Whittle and the Opals.Harrower, Kristi (20 November 2013)
''Opals' best of the best''
Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 20 November 2013. Whittle was selected to play for Australia at the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. That team would go on to win a

Bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

earning Australia its first ever international basketball medal for either men or women at the senior level. At the 1998 World Championships held in Germany, Whittle would win her second bronze medal. Playing in front of a home crowd at the

Sydney 2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, Whittle 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 ...

, her second medal at an Olympic Games. At the 2002 World Championship held in China, the Opals and Whittle would win their 4th consecutive medal in international play, claiming another Bronze. Having retired following the 2002 World Championship, Whittle was not considered for selection to represent Australia at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens. However, later that year former Opals coach

Tom Maher Tom Maher (born 4 September 1952 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian basketball coach, who is the most successful coach in Women's National Basketball League history, having won nine WNBL titles. He coached Nunawading Spectres to six ti ...

convinced Whittle to break her retirement. That decision led to the highlight of Whittle's career at the 2006 World Championship held in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. As co-captain of the team with

Lauren Jackson Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian professional basketball player. The daughter of two national basketball team players, Jackson was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1997, when she ...

, the Opals won the tournament and first ever

at an official international event. In a sign of true respect for Whittle, after Jackson accepted the World Championship trophy, she walked down the line of Opals players and handed it to Whittle. Earlier that year, Whittle would also win a gold medal at the

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 ...

, again as co-captain with Lauren Jackson. Following the Opals success at the 2006 World Championship, Whittle retired from international competition, saying, "it's the right time to go" and "it's great to leave the international game on top".Basketball Australia. News (4 June 2007)
''Whittle retires from Opals''
Retrieved 17 February 2016. Whittle ended her career having played 262 games for the Opals, 5th highest all-time. Her six medals (2 Gold, 1 Silver & 3 Bronze) at official

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

tournaments makes Whittle one of Australia's most successful and decorated basketball players at the international level.FIBA Archive
Player Search: Jenny Whittle
Retrieved 8 October 2013. Whittle has also been referred to as one of the Opals best ever players. Along with her Gold medal win at the 2006 World Championship, Whittle also named the Sydney Olympics as a career event highlight, as well as playing alongside World Champions Lauren Jackson and

Tully Bevilaqua Tully Louise Bevilaqua (née Crook on 19 July 1972) is an Australian professional women's basketball player. She formerly played for the San Antonio Stars in the WNBA and the Perth Lynx in Australia's WNBL. The 5'7" Bevilaqua's play style is ...

. In 2013, Whittle was one of several former players on new Opals head coach,

Brendan Joyce Brendan Joyce (born 1 May 1960) is an Australian professional basketball coach. He has coached all levels of the game. He has been to 3 Olympic Games with both the Australian men's Boomers team 2004, 2008 and women's Opals team 2016 and 2 world c ...

, list to be appointed as the

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

, but she declared herself unavailable. In November 2013, Whittle was inducted into the Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame, joining other recipients that included golfer

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

and five-time World 500cc champion

Mick Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan (born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended ...

. Also in November 2013,

named the 12 best Opals players she had played with over 20 years and named Whittle in that team. The link between three of Australian basketball's greatest moments internationally, Whittle was elected to the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. Whittle provided the height that had been lacking from Australia's line-ups in years past and her rebounding and rim protection proved critical to Australia's chances, becoming the mainstay in the middle of the Australian defence for over a decade. Whittle was described as a cornerstone of the golden age for the Opals.

WNBL

In the domestic

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL), Whittle played 295 games for the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(1989–1991), Brisbane Blazers (1992–1997),

Perth Breakers The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...

(1998–1999), Bulleen Boomers (2000),

Canberra Capitals The University of Canberra Capitals are an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The team is based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. In 2014 the University of Canberr ...

(2005–2006) and

Adelaide Lightning The Adelaide Lightning is an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The club was formed in 1993 and they play i ...

(2007–2009). When Whittle retired in 2009, her 295 career games ranked 11th all-time. Whittle's three years at the

was as a scholarship holder. Despite missing several seasons while playing in Europe, Whittle holds the WNBL all-time records for

blocked shots In basketball, a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player to prevent a score. The defender is not allowed to make contact with the offensive player's hand (unless the de ...

(673) and defensive assists (106). She also ranks in the all-time top 10 for points scored (3,670), defensive rebounds (1,842), total

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

(2,255) and turnovers (727). Whittle was selected to the

WNBL All-Star Five The All-WNBL Team is an annual Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) honour bestowed on the best performing players in the league following every WNBL season. From 1988 to 2018–19, the honour was known as the All-Star Five. As of 2020, it is ...

on four occasions; 1996, 1997, 2004/05 and 2005/06. Also in 2005/06, Whittle was named the Canberra Capitals

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. Whittle won WNBL Championships with Canberra in 2005/06 and with Adelaide Lightning in 2007/08. Having played over 250 games in the WNBL, Whittle was awarded Life Membership in 2006.

WNBA

Whittle nominated for the 1999 Women's National Basketball Association draft and was selected in the fourth round (pick 37 overall) by the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

. In 1999, she played in 3 games before returning to Australia to concentrate on playing for Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and practice full-time with the team.2000–2013 Sports Reference LLC
Jennifer Whittle WNBA Stats
Retrieved 11 October 2013. In 2001, Whittle was playing in Europe, but returned to the WNBA where she played a further 4 games for the Mystics. On 14 June 2001, Whittle was placed on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

and eight days later her contract was terminated by the Mystics. She returned to Europe to play.

European Leagues

For a number of years from the late 1990s until the mid 2000s, Whittle played

professionally A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

– with distinction – with the

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

club in the Spanish Basketball League,

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

in the French Basketball League and

Pécs 2010 Pécs 2010 is a defunct women's professional Basketball team based in Pécs, Hungary. It used to play in the NB I/A, the top division championship in the country and in EuroLeague Women from its foundation until 2011. The club ceased to exist ...

in the Hungarian Basketball League.Mason, Alistair (6 November 2006). FIBA Europe
Hungary: Dalma Delighted With MiZo Form
Retrieved 12 October 2013.

References