Jenna Forrester

South African-born Jenna Forrester followed her older sister into swimming as a youngster and tasted early success as a junior. 

Medley swimmer Jenna, who grew up in Brisbane, won nine gold medals at the 2017 Australian Age Championships before earning selection for the 2017 World Junior Championships in Indianapolis, at the age of just 13. 

Still eligible for the world juniors’ team two years later, Jenna then collected silver as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay in Budapest. 

Jenna then went on to win her maiden Australian title in 2021 in the 400m individual medley and repeated her success at selection trials in Adelaide two months later, but her time was outside the selection standard for Tokyo. 

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she reached the final of 400m individual medley. She also reached the final at the World Championships in Budapest just prior to Birmingham. 

At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Jenna finished fourth in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:08.98 and eighth in the 200m backstroke in 2:11.44. 

At the Australian Championships on the Gold Coast in April, she won bronze in the 400m medley, along with gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay and the mixed 4x100m medley relay.

Jenna nailed down her place in Paris when she finished second in the 400m individual medley at the Australian Olympic trials in Brisbane, in a qualifying time of 4:38.16.