Jessica Pengelly

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 in Algiers, Algeria. Pengelly also set two South African records in the freestyle relays at the 2008 FINA World Short Course Championships in Manchester, England, and at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.

Jessica Pengelly

Personal information
Full name	Jessica Evelyn Pengelly
National team	South Africa (to 2014)  Australia (from 2014)
Born	(1991-07-01) 1 July 1991 (age 32) Edenvale, Gauteng, South Africa
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, medley
Club	West Coast Swimming Club
Coach	Mick Palfrey
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  South Africa All-Africa Games 2007 Algiers 200 m breaststroke 2007 Algiers 200 m medley 2007 Algiers 400 m medley 2007 Algiers 50 m backstroke 2007 Algiers 200 m backstroke

Pengelly competed as South Africa's youngest swimmer (aged 17) in a medley double at the 2008 Summer Olympics 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 by almost a quarter of her body-length for the fifth spot in heat two, but missed the semifinals with a twenty-sixth-place finish from the prelims.

Pengelly emigrated to Perth, 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, in Glasgow. Making her debut for Australia, Pengelly qualified for the final in the 400 individual medley event.