Jessica Evelyn Pengelly (born 1 July 1991) is a South African-born Australian swimmer, who specializes in freestyle and individual medley events. A 2008 Olympian, she has claimed multiple South African championship titles and national records in the individual medley (both 200 and 400 m), and won a total of five medals (three silver and two bronze) at the
2007 All-Africa Games
The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nige ...
Shenzhen, China
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major Sub-provincial division, sub-provincial city and one of the Special economic zones of China, special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pea ...
.
Pengelly competed as South Africa's youngest swimmer (aged 17) in a medley double at the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in Beijing. She took the women's 400 m individual medley title in 4:41.35 and eventually fired off a 2:15.22 to crush the national record in the 200 m individual medley at the South African Championships four months earlier in Johannesburg to assure her a place on the Olympic team, both dipping beneath the FINA Olympic qualifying cut.
On the first night of the Games, Pengelly held off the fast-charging French swimmer Joanne Andraca to save the seventh spot and twenty-first overall by 2.84 seconds in heat five of the 400 m individual medley, finishing with a time of 4:41.04. Two days later, in the 200 m individual medley, Pengelly scored a time of 2:15.80 to touch out the daunting Dutch swimmer
Femke Heemskerk
Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk (; born 21 September 1987) is a former Dutch competitive swimmerPerth, Western Australia in 2010, after completing high school, where she trains for the West Coast Swimming Club. After major shoulder surgery and sitting out for the majority of 2013 Pengelly made a comeback and returned to the swimming pool. She will compete for Australia at the
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
, in Glasgow.Dale Miller (13 April 2014) "Jessica set for green and gold" – '' The West Australian''. Retrieved 22 July 2014. Making her debut for Australia, Pengelly qualified for the final in the 400 individual medley event.