Jennifer Blow

Jennifer Blow (born 10 January 1991) is an Australian goalball player and is classified as a B3 competitor. Having only started playing the sport in 2009, she has several goalball scholarships. She plays for the New South Wales women's goalball team in the Australian national championships, where she has won three silver medals. As a member of the national team, she has competed in the 2010 World Championships, 2011 IBSA Goalball World Cup and the 2011 African-Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition. She represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in goalball.[1]

Jennifer Blow
2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Blow
Personal information
Nickname(s)Awesome
NationalityAustralia
Born (1991-01-10) 10 January 1991
Narraweena, New South Wales
Height165 cm (65 in) (2012)
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportGoalball
Event(s)Women's team
TeamNew South Wales women's goalball team

Personal life

Nicknamed "Awesome" by her goalball teammates, Blow was born in Narraweena, New South Wales, on 10 January 1992.[2][3][4] She has the visual disability of oculocutaneous albinism, a congenital vision impairment,[2][5][6] and is 165 centimetres (65 in).[3] As of 2012, Blow is attending the University of Sydney and double majoring in Arts and Education, which would enable her to become an English and drama teacher.[2][4][6][7][8] In 2009, she was awarded a New South Wales Department of Education and Training Teacher Education Scholarship.[9] In 2011, she earned the NSW Institute of Sport Academic Excellence Award.[6][10][11]

Goalball

Blow is a goalball player,[2] and is classified as a B3 competitor.[2] She started playing the sport in 2009.[2] She has a goalball scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport,[12] and the Sydney University Elite Athlete Program.[4][8] In 2011/2012, the Australian Sports Commission gave her a A$7,000 grant as part of their Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program.[13] Blow plays for the New South Wales women's goalball team, making her debut in 2009.[2][3] As a member of the team, she has earned three total silver medals at the national championships,[3] including one in 2010.[2]

Blow made her national team debut in 2010, less than a year after taking up the sport,[2] when she represented Australia at the 2010 World Championships, where her team finished eighth.[3] As a member of the 2011 team, she finished sixth at the IBSA Goalball World Cup.[2][6][14][15] During the tournament, she found "a rock shaped like the lucky egg from the film Cool Runnings.[2] The rock has since become integrated into her team's pre-grame ritual where she "must hold the rock and quote from the movie before every big game."[2] Her team made it the quarter finals before losing to Russia 3–6. It then met the Spain women's national goalball team to try to earn a spot in the fifth/sixth place match. Australia walked away 8-7 victors, but in the fifth/sixth place match, it lost to the Israel women's national goalball team 6–8.[16] She played in the 2011 African-Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition.[17][18] She played in the gold medal game against the New Zealand women's national goalball team.[19] Australia won the game.[15] The Manly Daily described her play in the series as "instrumental" to the team's success.[17]

Blow was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[5][14] That the team qualified for the Games came as a surprise, as the Australian Paralympic Committee had been working on player development with the idea of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[14] An Australian team had not participated since the 2000 Summer Paralympics, when they earned an automatic selection as hosts, and the team finished last in the competition.[14][20] The country has not medalled in the event since 1976.[21] Going into the Paralympics, the team was ranked eighth in the world.[4] She was 21 years old at the Games.[17] In the 2012 Paralympic tournament, the Belles played games against Japan, Canada, the United States and Sweden. They lost every game, and did not advance to the finals.[22]

The Belles originally failed to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics after finishing third at the IBSA Goalball Asia Pacific Championships in Hangzhou, China.[23] They were displaced to allow for an African team, Algeria as it turned out, to compete in goalball for the first time.[24] But following the re-allocation of Russia's spot, the Belles found themselves getting a last minute invite to Rio.They entered the tournament ranked ninth in the world.[25] They performed better this time, fighting Uzbekistan to a draw, but they needed a win or draw in their final game against Canada to progress to the quarter finals, but lost 6–0, ending their second Paralympic campaign.[24]

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References
  1. "2016 Australian Paralympic Team receives nine extra spots". Australian Paralympic Committee News, 29 August 2016. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  2. "Jennifer Blow". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  3. "NSW Ladies". NSW Goalball Association. Archived from the original on 7 August 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  4. Tilley, Andrew (22 May 2012). "News". Sydney: The University of Sydney. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  5. "OLY:Australian goalballers London bound". Australia: AAP News. 8 May 2012. WAAP97280181. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  6. "Magnussen dominates NSWIS Awards". ACPE. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  7. "- Staff News". The University of Sydney. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  8. Tilley, Andrew (14 May 2012). "Goalball glory for Blow". Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  9. "Winners of 2009 NSW DET Teacher Education scholarships - News and events". The University of Sydney. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  10. Mayor, Kate (25 November 2011). "News". The University of Sydney. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  11. 17 Nov (17 November 2011). "Crawford wins NSWIS Female Athlete of the Year". Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  12. "Michelle Rzepecki". NSWIS. 11 July 2012. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  13. "Grant Funding Report". Bruce, Australian Capital Territory: Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  14. Fife, Janet (14 June 2012). "Pride of Australia nominee Georgina Kenaghan is giving her team that ring of confidence". Sydney, Australia: Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  15. FitzGerald, Deborah (24 November 2011). "London here we come". Inner West Courier. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  16. "GOALBALL is set to get rolling in South Australia". Talent Times SA (PDF). South Australia. p. 1. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  17. "FAST LANE". Manly Daily. Sydney, Australia. 23 May 2012. p. 32. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  18. "AAP News: SPO:Aus goalballers play for London 2012 spots". Australia: AAP News. 16 November 2011. WAAP92597477. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  19. "Aus goalballers play for London 2012 spots". Australia: Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  20. "Australian London 2012 athletes receive extra funding | London 2012 Paralympic news". insideworldparasport.biz. 9 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  21. "Meica, Nicole pack their bags for London". Sporting Wheelies. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  22. "Women's Goalball". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  23. "Curtain draw on Rio 2016 as Australian Belles claim bronze". Australian Paralympic Committee News. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  24. Spits, Scott (14 September 2016). "Rio Paralympics 2016: Silence please! Brazilian fans get their taste of goalball at the Paralympics". Sydney Morning Herald.
  25. McDonald, Margie (25 August 2016). "Rio Paralympics Paralympic team grows by nine after Russian ban upheld". The Australian. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
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