Basketball

• Gold Coast
• 5th September 1973
• 1st November 2001

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Jenny Whittle was a regular member of the Australian national basketball team for over a decade, from 1993 until 2006.

Playing Centre, the Gold Coast-born prodigy was a key contributor to the Opals’ success at international events during the 1990s and 2000s, with strong rebounding and defence a feature of her game.

Her stellar career featured Olympic silver and bronze medals and world championship gold at junior and senior level.

She broke into the Australian side as a 20-year- old, following success at the 1993 World Championship for Junior Women.

At that tournament, Jenny played alongside other future Opals stars, Michelle Brogan, Kristi Harrower and Carla Boyd.

The following year she was selected to play for the Opals at the 1994 World Championship for Women in Australia. The young side finished a respectable fourth in a result that would mark the start of a highly successful era for Jenny and the Opals.

She was selected to play for Australia at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. That team would go onto win a bronze medal, earning Australia its first ever international basketball medal for either men or women. At the 1998 World Championships in Germany, Jenny won her second bronze medal. Playing in front a home crowd at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, she won a silver medal, her second Olympic medal.

At the 2002 World Championship in China, the Opals and Jenny claimed their fourth consecutive medal in international play – another bronze.

Recently retired, Jenny was not considered for selection to represent Australia at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

However, later that year former Opals coach Tom Maher convinced her to break her retirement.

That decision led to the highlight of Jenny’s career at the 2006 World Championship in Brazil. As co-captain of the team with Lauren Jackson, the Opals won the tournament and their first ever gold medal at an official international event.

Earlier that year, Jenny also won a gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, again as co-captain with Lauren Jackson.

Following the Opals’ success at the 2006 World Championship, Jenny finally retired from international events.

She ended her career playing 262 games for the Opals, the fifth highest all-time.

Her six medals (two gold, one silver and three bronze) at official FIBA tournaments makes Jenny one of Australia's most successful and decorated basketball players at the international level.

In the domestic Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), she played 295 games for the Australian Institute of Sport (1989 - 1991), Brisbane Blazers (1992 - 1997), Perth Breakers (1998 - 1999), Bulleen Boomers (2000), Canberra Capitals (2005 - 2006) and Adelaide Lightning (2007 - 2009).

Her 295 career games ranks 11th of all time.

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