Jennifer Margaret Armstrong (born 3 March 1970) is an Olympic sailor from New Zealand. After competing for her native country at the 1992 Olympics, she moved to Australia in 1996 and won a historic sailing gold for her adopted country at the 2000 Olympics.

Early life

Armstrong was born in 1970 in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand, to John and Robyn Armstrong. Armstrong attended

Otago Girls' High School , motto_translation = The Right Education Makes The Heart As Strong As Oak , type = State , grades = 9 - 13 , grades_label = Years , gender = Girls-only , established = ; years ago , address = 41 Tennyson Street ...

there.

Sailing for New Zealand

In Dunedin, Armstrong is a member of the Ravensbourne Boating Club. She went to the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

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 ...

, Spain and competed in the Europe class for New Zealand, coming fourth in that competition. Armstrong is listed as New Zealand Olympian number 592.

Sailing for Australia

Armstrong is married to Erik Stibbe, a Dutch born sailing coach. They moved to Australia in 1996 when he secured a contract to coach Australian Olympic solo dinghy sailors. In Australia she was affiliated with the Middle Harbour Yacht Club in

Mosman, New South Wales Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

. Armstrong attended the 2000 Summer Olympics for Australia in her new home city

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and competed in the 470 class with Zimbabwean-born

Belinda Stowell Belinda Josephine Stowell (born 28 May 1971 in Harare, Zimbabwe) is an Australian sailor and Olympic champion. She won a gold medal in the 470 Class with Jenny Armstrong at the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially ...

. They won Australia's first gold medal in sailing in 28 years. On 16 January 2001, Armstrong was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

. Ten days later on 26 January 2001, she was awarded the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

medal for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. At the

470 World Championships The 470 World Championships have been held every year since 1970 and organised by the International 470 Class Association and recognized by the International Sailing Federation. When the Championship forms part of the ISAF Sailing World Championship ...

, Armstrong and Stowell won silver in both 2000 and 2001. Armstrong and Stowell were crowned female

Australian Yachtsman of the Year Australian Yachtsman of the Year Award was created in 1962 by Max Press, OAM, the then Commodore of the Parkdale Yacht Club in Melbourne. The club was launching an appeal to build its new clubhouse on Port Phillip Bay foreshore at Parkdale and t ...

for both the 2000–01 and the 2001–02 seasons. Armstrong and Stowell again competed for

Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece from 13 to 29 August 2004. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era. The Australian Olympic Committee sent a total of 470 athletes (268 men ...

in the 470 class and in that year, they came 14th. Armstrong retired from international sailing after the 2004 Olympics. In 2016, Armstrong and her husband joined the

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

Yacht Club. In 2017, Armstrong and Stowell were inaugural inductees in the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Jenny 1970 births Living people New Zealand female sailors (sport) Australian female sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Europe Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – 470 Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – 470 Olympic sailors of New Zealand Olympic sailors of Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in sailing Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal People educated at Otago Girls' High School Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Dunedin Sailors from Sydney