Jessica Deglau (born May 27, 1980) was a member of the Canadian Olympic team in

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

in the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

2000 Olympic Games 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 ...

. Deglau swam for the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club in her youth, until becoming a member of the national team. In addition to swimming on the national team, she swam for and graduated from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. The

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

native first broke the Canadian record in the 200-meter

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

at the 1996 Olympics clocking 2:11.68 for sixth spot and bettered it two years later at the world championships, again finishing sixth. However, in the 200-metre butterfly at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

, Deglau went under the magic 2:10 barrier clocking 2:09.64, a time that would have earned her the silver medal at the 1996 Games and a bronze at the 1998 worlds. It was the second fastest time in the world in 1999 behind Australian world and Olympic champion

Susie O'Neill Susan O'Neill, (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career. Early life Susan (Susie) O'Neill was ...

's 2:07.35. Deglau won the 1996 Elaine Tanner Award, presented annually to Canada's outstanding junior female athlete. She also won a 2003 Sport BC Athlete of the Year Award and a 2003 Premier's Athletic Award for swimming as an outstanding British Columbia athlete, and was honored as "one of the greatest swimmers in

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

CIS history." During her collegiate swimming career she amassed a total of 29 medals, the highest total in the history of UBC. Deglau was chosen CIS Female Swimmer of the Year in 1998-99 and 1999–2000. On April 3, 2013, Deglau was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame. Jessica Deglau is a distant relative of prominent photographer Terry Deglau.

References

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deglau, Jessica 1980 births Living people Canadian female butterfly swimmers Canadian female freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for Canada Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1999 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Vancouver UBC Thunderbirds swimmers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games 21st-century Canadian women Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games

See also

References

External links