Name: Jessica-Jane Applegate MBE (Twitter: @jessica_jane96)
Year of Birth: 1996
Height: 180.5cm
Weight: 67kg
Sport: Para Swimming
Team: City of Norwich Swimming Club / Great Britain
Represented: Club, County, Region, England & Great Britain
About You: I am 19 years old, I live in Norfolk & I train at the UEA sportspark. I am an ambassador for the City of Norwich sports foundation (Local), Mencap (National) & INAS (International). I work very hard with these charities & more information can be found on my website about them www.jessicajaneapplegate.com I absolutely love my sport & have been incredibly lucky to work with some fantastic sports personalities through it.
Tell us about the sport you compete in? I compete in Paralympic swimming my classification is an S14 which is a swimmer with an intellectual disability
How did you become involved in it? I was hyperactive as a child and my mum got me into swimming to burn up my excess energy. I used to get into quite a bit of trouble and I probably would now if I didn’t have the discipline of swimming to keep me in line
What does an average training week consist of? 8 pool sessions, 4 land training sessions, 3 gym sessions and 1 ply session. I also have a sports massage or physio session weekly to make sure I am in optimum shape. This is done over 5 days as I am often competing over a whole weekend.
Achievements:
Paralympics London 2012 – S14 200m Freestyle Champion
Paralympics London 2012 – S14 100m Backstroke Fourth
Runner up in the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year
World Championships 2013 – S14 200m Freestyle Champion
World Championships 2013 – S14 200m Individual Medley Silver Medalist
World Championships 2013 – S14 100m Backstroke Bronze Medalist
2 x 200m Freestyle Long Course World Records - 2013
Received MBE from Princess Anne
European Championships 2014 – 200m Freestyle Silver Medalist
European Championships 2014 – 200m Individual Medley Bronze Medalist
European Championships 2014 – 100m Backstroke Bronze Medalist
4 x Short Course World Records - 2014
1 x 100m Butterfly Long Course World Record - 2015
World Champions 2015 - S14 100m Backstroke Champion
World Championships 2015 - S14 200m Freestyle Silver Medalist
World Championships 2015 - S14 200m Individual Medley Silver Medalist
National Paralympic Day 2015 - London Aquatic Center 'Duel in the pool - Great Britain vs The rest of the World'
2 x First places for Great Britain
2 x Second places for Great Britain
British Nationals 3 x Para Gold’s and a World and European record in the S14 400m Individual Medley
British Swimming’s Para Athlete of the Year award
Para National swimming championships December 2015 – 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze
1 World & a European record in the S14 100m Freestyle
1 World & a European record in the S14 100m Butterfly
How does the CherryActive product range help you during training and competition? It’s great at helping me recover from my heavy training sessions, during competition it is excellent to assist my recovery between heats & finals to enable me to compete at best in finals. The dried Cherries are excellent in a waterproof reseal able bag to keep poolside to snack on during long sessions. I believe in prevention & not cure!
Highlight of career? It has to be my London 2012 Paralympic Gold medal followed by receiving my MBE in 2013.
Who are your hero’s? I think Michael Phelps is incredible and is my hero, I would love to meet him one day.
What are your future goals? I am aiming to make the Great British team for the Rio 2016 Paralympics Games.
How do you relax away from your sport? I have two rescue dogs & I love nothing more than curling up on the sofa with them & watching a movie. I also enjoy baking cakes but daren’t do that too often as I’ll eat too many!
