Jo Brigden-Jones (born 19 April 1988) is an Australian kayaker. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in sprint kayaking.
Nicknamed Goanna,[1][2] Brigga, JBJ, Joey and Jo Toe,[2][3] Brigden-Jones was born on 19 April 1988 in Mona Vale, New South Wales.[2][3] She attended Newport Public School before going to Oxford Falls Grammar School and Freshwater Senior Campus for high school.[3] From 2006 to 2010, she attended the University of Technology, Sydney where she earned a Bachelor of Nursing.[3] She earned a Graduate Diploma of Clinical Practice (Paramedic) from Charles Sturt University.[2] In 2010, she injured her shoulder which required ten months out of competitive sport.[1] In 2013, she again injured her shoulder, requiring another long period out of sport. She is a nurse and a paramedic.[1]As of 2012[update], she lives in the Sydney suburb of Mona Vale.[3][2]
Jo raced for Australia at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the K4 500m event. Her crew finished in 9th place.[4] Jo is a World Championship medalist, having won a Bronze medal in the K2 200m event at the 2011 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.[2]
Jo also competed at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, finishing 7th in the K4 500m and 13th in the K2 500m.[5]
Jo gained worldwide recognition for her work as a paramedic during the Covid-19 pandemic. She appeared in TIME magazine alongside other Olympic and Paralympic athletes who battled the Covid-19 frontlines.[6]
Brigden-Jones is a member of the Manly Surf Life Saving Club.[1][7] She started surf lifesaving when she was six years old through an Australian programme called Nippers.[1] In her mid-teens, she left the sport for a while but took it up again when she was nineteen. At that time, she added surfski paddling to her surf lifesaving competition events.[1] She has competed for Manly in surf lifesaving competitions.[1]
Brigden-Jones is 182 centimetres (72in) tall and weighs 73 kilograms (161lb).[3]
Kayaking
Brigden-Jones came into the kayaking in 2001 following a talent identification program.[1][2] Jo made her first Australian Team at the age of 15. She raced in Europe as part of the Australian Junior Kayak Team and won her first international medal at the prestigious Bochum Regatta in Germany. She won a silver medal in the U16 K1 1000m.
Her primary training base is Narrabeen, Sydney with a secondary training base on the Gold Coast of Queensland.[3] Her international training base is in Varese, Italy, the same location as the Australian Institute of Sport European Training Centre.[8] She is a member of the Sydney Northern Beaches Kayak Club,[3] and has a canoe scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport and the NSW Institute of Sport.[2][3]
In 2010, Brigden-Jones was ranked second in the world in the solo kayak paddler event.[1] She finished third in the K2 200m event and fifth in the K4 500m event at the 2011 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.[1][3] She finished 7th in the K4 500m event at the 2011 World Cup 3 in Duisburg, Germany.[3] She finished fifth in the K4 500m event at the 2011 World Cup 2 in Racice, Czech Republic.[3] She finished first in the K4 500m event at the 2012 Oceania Championships in Penrith, Australia.[3] She finished first in the K4 500m event at the 2012 National Championships in Penrith, Australia.[3] At a 2012 World Cup event in Moscow in the two person kayak, she finished first.[1]
Brigden-Jones was selected to represent Australia at 2012 Summer Olympics in the K-4 500 m event.[1] The London Games will be her Olympic debut.[1] Before the start of the Games, she and her canoe teammates trained in Italy at the AIS European Training Centre located in Varese.[9][10] Jo and her teammates finish 9th at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In 2016, Jo controversially missed selection for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. In the domestic selection trails, Brigden-Jones had 3 wins in K1 races and 3 second places in K1 and K2 races. She was then forced into a race off with teammate Naomi Flood at the World Cup in Duisburg. But both athletes were racing in different events but their results were compared. Jo was only allowed to race the K1 200m event, and was not allowed to contest her preferred distance, the 500m. As a result of the World Cup race, Jo was not selected for the 2016 Rio Olympic Team.[11]
Following the 2016 World Cup, Jo commenced work as a paramedic with NSW Ambulance. Jo had planned to hang up her paddle and retire from kayaking. Jo was drawn back to paddling, as she loves the sport and has great friends who were still training and racing. Jo decided to go along to training to keep fit and for the coffee catch ups after training. It was her competitive nature that kicked in and she decided to keep racing. Incredibly at the 2017 National Championships, Jo won the K1 200m. Even Jo was baffled, but delighted. Jo hadn't been able to train as much as she used to given her full-time shift work hours. Jo continued to pursue full-time work and training and went on to race internationally bringing home two silver medals at the World Cups and a place in the K1 500m A final at the World Championships.[12]
In 2018, The Australian women's K4 500 (Alyce Burnett (QLD), Alyssa Bull (NSW) and Jaime Roberts (WA), Jo Brigden-Jones (NSW)), canoe sprint team shocked even themselves with a stunning silver medal at the ICF World Cup in Szeged, Hungary. The Australian crew, which only came together two months ago, chased the highly rated New Zealand team to the line, and in the process set the fastest ever time for a women's K4 500 crew. The crew went on to place 7th at the 2018 World Championships in Portugal.[13]
In 2019, Jo and her K4 teammates qualified Australia a K4 500m quota position for Australia to race at the Tokyo Olympic Games, when they finished 7th at the 2019 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Jo is currently in training to qualify herself onto the Australian Olympic Team for 2020.
Jo has been named on Australian Kayak Teams every year since 2004. This includes Australian Junior Team, Australian Youth Olympic Festival, Under 23 Team, Senior Team and Olympic Team. Jo holds 38 Australian National Titles over various boat categories and distances.[12][4]
Career
After finishing high school in 2005, Jo began studying a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Technology, Sydney.[8] Jo was supported by UTS through the Elite Athlete Program during her years studying at UTS.[14] She worked as a Registered Nurse on a casual basis from 2012 to 2015. In 2012, she started studying a Post Graduate course in Paramedics through Charles Sturt University. She managed her study alongside her training and her work as a RN.[8] Jo commenced work in her dream career as a Paramedic in 2016. Jo had wanted to become a paramedic since she was 10 years old. Jo currently works full-time as a Paramedic for NSW Ambulance.[15]
Awards, Honours and roles
Honours
Post nominal initials - OLY, Olympian
Manly Pathway of Olympians - plaque placed in 2013 for Olympian status
Australia Day Ambassador 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019
Awards
Australia Day Award 2018
NSW Institute of Sport - Personal Excellence Award
Charles Sturt University Distance Education Sports Person of the Year 2012 & 2014
Sport Achievement Award - Australian Institute of Sport 2011
Paddle NSW Female Paddler of the Year 2011
Pittwater Council - Sportsperson of the Year 2010
University of Technology, Sydney, Sportswoman of the Year 2008 & 2009
University of Technology, Sydney, Full Blue award 2008 & 2009
Layne Beachley 'Aim For the Stars Foundation' scholarship
Roles
NSW Institute of Sport, Athlete Advisory group member
Australian Institute of Sport and Lifeline Community Custodian
Australian Olympic Committee - Olympians Unleashed program
Ben Fouhy is a New Zealand flatwater and marathon canoeist who has been competing since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the silver in the K-1 1000 m event at Athens in 2004, as well as finishing fourth in the 2008 Olympics and ninth in the 2012 Olympics in the same event. He is the recipient of the 2003 Halberg Award for NZ Sportsman of the Year and a former world record holder in the K1 1000m event.
Richard Munro Fox is a British slalom canoeist who competed for Great Britain from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. He won eleven medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with ten golds and a bronze. Fox also won the overall World Cup title three times and the Euro Cup four times.
The 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was the thirty-ninth edition of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, that took place between 17 and 21 August 2011 in Szeged, Hungary. The Southern Hungarian city welcomed the world event for the third time, having hosted the championship previously in 1998 and 2006. These championships were awarded initially to Vichy, France, however, the race course on the Allier proved to be inadequate to hold the competition and the French Canoe Federation withdraw from organizing the event, following that Szeged, the original host of the 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, was moved up to 2011.
Hannah Davis is an Australian sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s. She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the K-4 500 m event. She also represented Australia at 2012 Summer Olympics in the K-4 500 m event, but did not medal.
Mihai Apostol is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed from the early-1990s to the early 2000s. Apostol was born in Romania, but defected to Canada with two teammates while attending the 1989 world junior paddling championship in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He was 18 years old at the time. After defecting, Apostol took up residence in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and adapted well to life in Canada by making the Canadian National Kayak team in 1991 and moving from Halifax to Vancouver to join the rest of the team. In Vancouver, supporting himself and without the financial help that most of his teammates received from their families, Mihai worked part-time while attending college and trained full-time with the National Team.
Liam Heath is a British sprint canoeist. He is the most successful British canoeist at the Olympics with a total of four medals; he won a gold medal in the individual 200m kayak sprint event at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze in the 2020 Olympics, as well as a silver in the men's double with Jon Schofield in 2016. and a bronze at the 2012 London Olympics in the K-2 200 with Schofield.
Jessica Esther "Jess" Fox is a French-born Australian world and Olympic champion slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2008.
Dame Lisa Marie Carrington is a flatwater canoeist and New Zealand's most successful Olympian, having won a total of five gold medals and one bronze medal. She won three consecutive gold medals in the Women's K‑1 200metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as gold in the same event at the 2011 Canoe Sprint World Championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she also won a gold medal in the K‑2 500metres, with crewmate Caitlin Regal, and as an individual in the K‑1 500metres.
Alana Nicholls is an Australian kayaker. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the K-1 200 m and K-1 500 m events.
Naomi Flood is an Australian kayaker. She was the 2009 overall winner for the Ironwoman Series. She represented Australia at 2012 Summer Olympics in the K-2 500 m event, with teammate Lyndsie Fogarty.
Rachel Lovell is an Australian kayak racer. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the K-4 500 m event.
Teneale Hatton is a New Zealand flatwater canoer.
Jon Schofield is a British canoeist. He partnered with Liam Heath in the men's kayak double 200m sprint event, and they have won a bronze in K-2 200 at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and a silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the same event. They have also won gold at the European Championships three times as well as silver and bronze medals at the World Championships.
Michelle Russell is a Canadian sprint kayaker.
Alyssa Bull is an Australian canoeist. She qualified to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Bull was unable to make the final of the women's K-1 500m being knocked out in the semi-final. Bull paired with Alyce Wood in the Women's K-2 500m. They made it to the final and finished fifth.
Alyce Wood is an Australian canoeist. She competed in the women's K-2 500 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics and in the women's K2 500 metres and women's K1 500 metres at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2017 she won her maiden World Championship title in the K1 1000m. She has also won a string of World Cup medals. In the Under 23 Category she won two Bronze Medals at the World Championships.
Catherine "Cat" McArthur is an Australian canoeist. She qualified to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Her team consisting of Jo Brigden-Jones, Shannon Reynolds and Jaime Roberts made the women's K-4 final but failed to win a medal, coming 7th with a time of 1:39.797 over two seconds slower than their best time in the heats.
Jaime Roberts is an Australian canoeist. She qualified to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Her team consisting of Jo Brigden-Jones, Catherine McArthur, and Shannon Reynolds made the women's K-4 final but failed to win a medal, coming 7th with a time of 1:39.797 over two seconds slower than their best time in the heats.
Bernadette Wallace is an Australian canoeist. She qualified to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She competed in the Women's C-1 200 metres and with Josephine Bulmer in the Women's C-2 500 metres. They were unable to progress past the quarterfinals of the women’s C-1 200m, while they finished 13th as a pair in the C-2 500m.
Shannon Reynolds is an Australian canoeist. She qualified to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Her team consisting of Jo Brigden-Jones, Catherine McArthur, and Jaime Roberts made the women's K-4 final but failed to win a medal, coming 7th with a time of 1:39.797 over two seconds slower than their best time in the heats.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
