Jordanne Whiley wins tennis doubles Bronze in Rio
The formidable Jordanne Whiley is leaving Rio with a second bronze medal to her name in the women’s wheelchair tennis doubles.
Tennis ace Jordanne, who Fish Insurance is proud to sponsor, and her partner Lucy Shuker beat Japan’s fourth seeds Yui Kamiji and Miho Nijo 6-3, 0-6, 6-1 to match their achievement from London 2012.
It’s a monumental accomplishment, although Jordanne would be the first to admit she was hoping for gold. Speaking to Fish Insurance before the Paralympics she said: “I really want to bring home a gold medal, and hopefully two.
“I won bronze in London which was amazing but to win gold would be something else. If I’m sat around the table having Christmas dinner at the end of the year and I can say I have a gold medal and a Wimbledon title then I’ll be so happy.”
The Wimbledon title is hers but a gold medal wasn’t to be. Jordanne and Lucy reached the semi-finals, but were beaten 6-3, 6-3 by the number one seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot from the Netherlands. In the singles, Jordanne made the quarter finals but was beaten by Diede De Groot 6-3, 6-1.
Jordanne expressed her disappointment on Twitter, writing that she was “absolutely saddened” that her gold medal dreams were over, at least for this year. But in true Jordanne style she came back fighting the very next day to win the bronze medal – an achievement to be very proud of.
It’s something that is perhaps made more impressive by the fact that Jordanne was suffering from a wrist injury. She told reporters: “I had this injury 48 hours ago and I did think that it was over for me.
“But the medical team have been absolutely incredible and got me back on track to win this, so it’s kind of a little bit more special knowing that I came from nowhere, not being able to hold a racket, to now winning a bronze.”
Displaying true sportsmanship though, she refuses to blame her earlier loss on the injury and admitted: “We just got off to a slow start and couldn’t make the most of our opportunities.”
The bronze medal has a certain significance for Jordanne, too. Boarding the plane to Rio a few weeks ago she tweeted two photos: One of herself, smiling and wearing the official Paralympics Team GB kit; and a second, taken 32 years previously, of her dad Keith on his way to compete in the New York Paralympics of 1984. Although neither knew it at the time, they were both on their way to bringing home bronze medals (Keith won bronze in the L3 100 metres that year.) Jordanne calls her dad her biggest career inspiration and he was the one who first introduced her to tennis at the age of three.
At Fish Insurance, we’ve supported Jordanne through sponsorship for two years and watched her notch up countless achievements. At the age of 24, she is ranked third in the world for her sport, has nine Grand Slam titles to her name, an MBE and, now, two Paralympic bronze medals. She told us: “I don’t want to be like someone else but I do always try to be a better version of myself, I think that’s important.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Fish Insurance is a proud sponsor of Jordanne Whiley
