Jodie started to swim at the age of 10 with the guidance of her parents. However, it was shortly after the Australian age championships in 1999 that coach Shannon Rollason discovered Jodie Henry was a different kind of swimmer.

With the intention of helping her to bring out her talent, coach Rollason insisted that a bit of hard work will put her in an excellent position to make it for the Sydney Olympic Team. However, her reluctance led by fear of competition, ripped off her chance to swim in the games which was held at her home ground.

Still, with the nervousness within her, she had a go at the Commonwealth Games where she emerged as a sprint sensation in 2002 by winning three medals, including the 100m freestyle. Getting back to her tricky skips, she once again showed signs of downfall, specially at the Queensland titles at Chandler in the beginning of 2003. However, being a slow learner as described by her coach, she managed to grab the Australian title and a silver medal in the 2003 World Championships, which marked a new era of Jodie's swimming career.

Leaving the past behind, Henry started to take up the challenge by swimming the 100m freestyle at the Australian Olympic Trials in March 2004, upstaging her fellow teammate Libby Lenton who had just broken the world record at the time. With her confidence growing, she was not going to miss the waters in Athens.

In the very first day of the games in Athens, Jodie anchored the Aussie 4x100 relay team with the fastest relay split in history to win gold with a new world record where she overtook the American legend Jenny Thompson starting a full body length behind her. It was one of her sensational swims which illustrated the growth of her competitiveness. Continuing her triumph she also made history by breaking the world record in the 100m free semifinals surging past the former record holder Inge de Bruijn of Netherlands. Jodie, the newly emerged world champion, then made a glamorous final dash to crown herself as the new Olympic Champion. Her 100m freestyle gold was the first by an Australian woman in 40 years, since Dawn Fraser won gold at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Withdrawn from, the then 15-year old girl who feared competition, Jode is now reigning as the new aquatic sprint queen of the world. The Aussies have claimed her win as the dawn of a new era in Australian Swimming. With all new hopes alive, Jodie is up to the point where she can dictate terms with anyone who might try to bring out her olden days back. I together with all ceneus visitors would like to wish Jode the very best of luck! Keep swimming just like you smile!

Ceneus.com