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ELAINE TANNER AWARD
for Outstanding Junior Female Athlete
Jessica Sloan - Swimming
Nominated by Swimming Canada Natation
Since breaking onto the international scene as a 16-year-old at the 1998 International Paralympic Committee world championships, where she won six gold medals and set three world records, Jessica Sloan has been a formidable force whenever she enters the water. Along with success has come recognition. In 1998 she was Canada's Outstanding Junior Female Athlete and Swimming Canada's Female Swimmer with a Disability of the Year. In 1999 she entered eight events and came home with eight gold medals from the U.S. Nationals for swimmers with a disability. At the 2000 Paralympic Games trials, she set three world records.
Sloan left the competition in her wake at her first Paralympic Games. Enroute to four gold medals, the versatile powerhouse smashed world records in the 200m individual medley, the 100m breaststroke, the 100m freestyle, and the 4x100m medley relay. For good measure, she added the bronze in the 50m freestyle.
A recent graduate of Calgary's National Sports School who wants to become an artist and open up a tattoo business, Sloan started swimming at the age of 10. From the start, she was determined to be a swimmer, not a "swimmer with a disability." Following the same training program as her able-bodied teammates gave her a solid athletic foundation and eased her transition to high-performance swimming. To handle the inevitable distractions and high expectations of Paralympic competition, she drew on her "unwavering" ability to focus and great inner strength.
Sloan is also proving herself as a talented able-bodied breaststroker and sprint freestyler. Her bronze medal performance in 100m breaststroke at the 2000 junior nationals earned her a spot at the national championships.
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