Jeanette Chippington relives winning historic Para canoe gold at Rio 2016

Ten years after winning a historic gold medal in Para canoe's Paralympic debut, Great Britain's Jeanette Chippington still finds it difficult to watch the race she says changed her life.

Chippington edged Germany's Edina Muller in a thrilling women's KL1 final at Rio 2016, completing a remarkable journey back to the Paralympic Games in a new sport, after 12 years away.

“It was so close. I can't watch it, even though I know the result. It was so, so close,” said Chippington, who beat Muller by 0.114 seconds.

“It changed my life. It's what you all strive for. It’s so hard to get any medal or even to get selected. But that (a Paralympic gold medal) is the ultimate.”

 

Finding a new freedom

She had previously competed in Para swimming at five Paralympic Games between Seoul 1988 and Athens 2004, winning 12 medals including two golds, both at Atlanta 1996. After Athens, Chippington became a swimming teacher, thinking that her days competing at the Games were over.

“I didn't know I'd ever do another Games,” Chippington, 56, said.

“Coming into Rio, I knew it was going to be so important for me to just try and absorb every single moment and try and enjoy every single moment.”

Her route back to elite sport began when one of the swimmers she taught suggested she try kayaking.

“I'd never tried it before. I thought, ‘I can't think of anything worse than going out in the freezing cold,’” Chippington said.

“I went down to our local club, got in a boat and managed to paddle about 10 strokes without falling in. It was like, ‘Wow.’ It was such an achievement.”

In the kayak, she found a new freedom.

“I just really loved it, and not necessarily competitively,” Chippington said.

”Just going out in a boat, the freedom that it gave me that you don't get so much when you're in your wheelchair, seeing bits of the countryside that you probably can't normally access.”

 

Making of a Paralympic champion

Chippington was reluctant to return to elite sport, knowing the commitment it would require. But after attending a Para canoe talent day in 2011, events moved quickly.

“Before I knew it, I was allocated a coach. I was training twice a day every day and it was like, ‘Well, how did that happen?’” she said.

“Six months later I was at the (2012) World Championships in Poznan and there I won gold medals.”

Para canoe was not yet part of the Paralympic programme at London 2012, but Chippington continued competing and established herself as one of the world's leading paddlers.

She won three gold medals at the 2013 World Championships in Duisburg, Germany, and won four consecutive world titles in the K1 200m race between 2012 and 2015.

But in the Paralympic year, Muller beat her at the 2016 World Championships in Duisburg, Germany. The silver medal taught Chippington a crucial lesson.

“There was a lot of pressure going into that World Championship because it was our last major competition before Rio,” Chippington said.

“I let the nerves get to me. I lost my World Championship title to Edina. She beat me. I came second, but it was really the best thing that could have happened to me.

“When we analysed the race afterwards, all I could say to my coach was that ’I don't really know how the race went because I raced her race, not my own race’. I was just too worried about what she was doing, so nothing really went to plan.”

 

 

Making history

Six months later, Chippington arrived at Rio de Janeiro's scenic Lagoa Stadium, determined not to make the same mistake.

“I knew that I had to do something different and I had to be calm. I'd let the nerves get to me previously. Most of all, I had to race my own race,” she said.

On the morning of the final, Chippington arrived at the venue about two hours before her race and went out for a pre-paddle.

“There was nobody on the course. I just remember thinking and saying to myself, ‘I can do this, I know I can’,” she said.

”She hadn't gone faster than me. Yes, she'd beaten me, but her times weren't faster, and I was just telling myself, ‘Have confidence in myself and stay calm.’”

With Para canoe making its Games debut, Chippington was determined to enjoy every part of the Paralympic experience as if it were her last, appreciating things she might once have taken for granted.

The Paralympic Village also left a lasting impression.

“The actual Village was incredible. At the end of each accommodation block there were about three or four huge swimming pools, so we were allowed to go in there and cool off and just relax in between training and racing,” she said.

And when Chippington arrived early for the women's KL1 final on 15 September 2016, she took the chance to soak up one of the most spectacular settings of the Games.

“It was just such a special moment. I remember taking in the whole environment. Such an iconic venue,” she said.

“You had the mountains in the background, you had Christ the Redeemer looking down on you. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out. There were literally fish jumping out over my boat.

“It was like, ‘Am I going to get another moment like this?’ It was so special, it really was.”

When the race began, there was little time to appreciate the scenery.

“I knew I had to get the best start I'd ever had,” she said.

”Then I was digging in the whole way and there was nothing more I could give. I was just trying to reach the end.”

The finish was so close that the then 46-year-old did not know who had won.

“We crossed the line and I didn't know where I'd come. Edina just kind of screamed and the cameras went on her. I thought, ‘Oh, she's got it. She's got the gold’,” Chippington said.

“I thought, ‘Well, silver's a pretty good position to come in.’ And then it (the result board) said GBR one, GER two.”

She still did not believe it.

“It wasn't until we got to the pontoon and I said to the team manager, ‘Where have I come?’ And he was like, ‘You've got gold, you've got gold’,” Chippington said.

“I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ It wasn't until I was on that podium and I got that gold medal round my neck that I truly believed that I'd done it. Even now it chokes me up. It was such a special moment.”

 

What it means 

The final was significant not only for Chippington, but for the sport itself.

“I was the first ever person to win the gold medal in Para canoe. So there was that bit of history-making.”

For Chippington, the sport's arrival on the Paralympic programme was a milestone in itself.

“It was absolutely fantastic. It's such a great sport to watch,” she said. “It's just 200m, it's an explosive sport, it's fast. As a spectator sport, it's great to watch and I'm so pleased that it made the Paralympic Games.”

Her time in Rio was not without its challenges, however. The day before the heats, strong winds created waves on the course and left the British paddlers wondering what conditions they might face.

“I was nearly capsizing,” Chippington said.

“We came back to the (Paralympic) Village and it'd been so windy, the bins were going over. The coaches were trying to pick them up without us seeing. They were trying to play it down because we were all really freaking out.”

The conditions settled, and by the time Chippington left Rio she had a clear answer to a question she had been struggling with throughout her career.

“People would always ask me, ‘What's your favourite Games?’ Up until then, it was like, ‘I haven't got one,’ because they've all got something special or something different about them,” she said.

“Having competed at Rio, I can honestly say that those Games were so special. I don't know whether it was because I got the gold medal, but everything was amazing. 

Rio was particularly meaningful because Chippington's children were teenagers and old enough to share the Games with her. At Athens 2004, they had been too young.

“They could really take the whole experience in as well. That was really special,” Chippington said.

Her husband and parents also travelled to Brazil.

“My parents came out as well. I've unfortunately now lost them, so it was such a special moment that they were there,” she said.

“I couldn't have done this without the support of my family. There's absolutely no way.”

When the gold medallist came home, she got a message from Muller.

“She just said, ‘Thank you for giving me such a great race and for that competition’,” Chippington said. “That meant so much to me as well.”

“It's the racing, but it's about the other competitors as well. You do become friends with them, and you have that respect for them because you're all after the same thing.”

Chippington was subsequently appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to the sport.

“When I actually received my honour, I was so choked up. When I came away, I couldn't speak. It was a really emotional moment,” said Chippington, who was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) five years later.

In the decade since Rio 2016, she won a bronze in the women's Va'a single VL2 race at Tokyo 2020 and competed at Paris 2024.

Having competed at eight Paralympic Games, she says sport will always be an important part of her life. 

“Sport is such a huge part of my life,” she said. 

“Not only does it keep you fit, but it'll always, always be part of my life.”

 

Discover more about the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games