Jane Jolly collects Echo Women in Sport Award for brilliant displays on the world stage

SWIMMING is a skill for life and our latest World Champion, from Cork, Jane Jolly epitomises that philosophy. 

Jane has just returned from the World Aquatic Masters Championships in Doha where she was crowned the World Champion in the Open Water 3k event, held at the Old Port in Doha. In addition, she added two bronze medals at 800m and 400m in the Aspire Dome pool.

And for these achievements she was chosen as The Echo Women in Sport award winner for February.

Awards in Masters swimming are given across five-year age bands. Jane was swimming in the 70-74 age group and her time, over the 3k Open Water swim was faster than many athletes, quite her junior.

The World Masters Championships were held in Doha recently. The Open Water events were held over the first two days of competition. 

Jane returned from Doha having completed her programme of events and in true champion fashion, was back training with her beloved Cork Masters on Saturday morning. I caught up with the new World Champion after her session. 

“I took a day to get over travelling but I needed to get back into the water to stretch out my muscles."

Jane travelled to Doha ahead of the rest of her Irish teammates and arrived three days before the Open Water race.  This allowed her to recover from the long journey, acclimatise to the hot weather and more importantly swim in the ocean and become familiar with the 3k course. 

This she felt really stood to her on the day. Following her return from the European Championships in Rome in 2022, where she won bronze in this event, Jane targeted the Open Water 3k at World Championships 2024.  All of her training had been geared toward this event in the intervening period.

DIFFICULT

On the day of the race, the conditions were very poor, and the water was very choppy, which made the swim very difficult. 

"The conditions were the same for everyone. I think all my training in the waters around West Cork, in Irish weather conditions, was a great help, and there were no jellyfish to contend with! 

"The fact that the water was so salty, really helped with buoyancy and enabled a great body position throughout."

The swimming journey began for Jane when she was just nine years old and began swimming lessons at the Eglinton Street Baths, by City Hall. One of her teachers was the renowned Gus Healy, after whom the Douglas pool was named. 

From an early age she showed real affinity for the sport and was very fast, soon beating the older girls. She moved to competitive swimming with SWSC and enjoyed success at Regional, National and Schools level. 

In those early years she was already breaking records. In 1970 along with teammates, her sister Doroty Cross, Mary Donnelly and Stella Bowles, they broke the Irish Senior Record at the 4x100m Medley Relay.

Jane continued to swim while studying Physical Education at Thomond College in Limerick and was the first swimmer to win an Intervarsity title for the College. 

The birth of her twin sons in 1980 kept her busy for some time, but then she heard about a new club being set up in Cork – Cork Masters, and so began her Masters journey. 

CONSISTENT

Her CV as a Masters swimmer is very impressive. Jane was a member of the Cork Masters team who claimed gold in the 4x50m freestyle relay at the inaugural World Masters in Toronto, in 1985, setting a World Record in the process. Her teammates were Deirdre Sheehan, Mary Brickley and Eileen Hempel.

In 1991, she won silver in the 50m freestyle at the European Masters in Coventry.  In 1994, she won gold at 100m freestyle at the World Masters in Brisbane.

At the European Masters in Palma, Mallorca in 2001, Jane transitioned from sprint to Open Water. She finished fourth in the 5k swim.

In 2006, she won the Alcatraz Swim in San Francisco in her age group (50-55). In 2011, she won the Hellespont/Dardanelles swim in Southern Turkey – Europe to Asia (55-59) and in 2015 she won the Bosphorus 6.5k swim from continent to continent, in Istanbul, Turkey (60-64).

In 2019, she claimed silver in the (65-69) 3k Open Water at the World Masters Championships in South Korea. 2022 was a busy year for Jane. 

She claimed bronze in the 3k (65-69) at the European Championships, in Rome. She won her age group in the Lee Swim and also won the accolade of ‘swimmer closest to the World Record’ in her age group.

In 2023, Jane combined with three Irish teammates to win their age group at the European Masters in Tampere, Finland in both the 4x50m medley and freestyle relays.

About eight years ago, a serious injury where she broke her knee almost scuppered her love of swimming and competitive success.  However, a determined Jane was adamant that she would return to the pool as quickly as possible where the weight-free exercises undertaken, greatly enhanced her recovery and eventually Jane returned to the sport that she loves.

Jane is a great advocate for the health benefits of swimming, both physical and mental.  Even when one is tired, there is an almost instant feel-good factor on completion of a swim. 

But she is also very aware of the safety required with Open Water swimming. 

Your mental attitude and positivity can be called upon, as you must consider the various challenges of tides, cold and jellyfish encountered while swimming in the Open Water. But the benefits outweigh any negatives.

Some of the local favourites for Jane are the Sandycove Island swim, Garnish Island swim, the Lee swim and Rebel Plunge. She tends to pick her events to suit her training needs at the time.