Chippington was born Jeanette Clare Esling in 1970 in Taplow, England. In 1982 she contracted a virus which resulted in damage to her spinal cord which in turn left her paralysed in both legs. She married in 1998, flying from her honeymoon to compete in the IPC Swimming World Championships in New Zealand. She has two children and also works as a swimming instructor and coach.
Swimming career
Chippington started swimming on the recommendation of her physiotherapist after her illness. She entered her first major competition in 1985 and despite originally participating in all four major competitive strokes, she settled as a 50m and 100m freestyle specialist. In 1988 she made the Great Britain team for the Summer Paralympics in Seoul entering the women's 100m backstroke and freestyle L4 events. There she finished in second place in the 100m freestyle to win her first Paralympic medal. Chippington represented Great Britain four years later at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. There she entered six events, taking a medal in one, a bronze in the women's Women's 4x50 m Medley S1-6, alongside team mates Tara Flood, Margaret McEleny and Jane Stidever. The 1996 Summer Paralympics were Chippington's most successful with a five medal haul. She won two gold medals, setting world records in both. In the Women's 4 x 100-metre medley relay she was reunited with McEleny and Stidver while new member Jennifer Booth was added to the last leg. The team finished in a time of 2:52.36 setting a new world record and taking gold. Her second gold medal was in the 100m freestyle S6. In the heats Jennifer Newstead of New Zealand finished as fastest qualifier in a worldrecord time of 1:23.85, while Chippington qualified third. Despite the strong competition, Chippington won the final by swimming 1:23:63 beating Newstead's short lived record in the process. She completed the Atlanta games with a silver in the 50 m freestyle S6 and two bronze medals in the 200 m freestyle S6 and 4x50 m medley relay S1-6. The 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney saw Chippington add another four Paralympic medals to her tally; a silver in the Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay 34 pts and three further bronze medals. Her final Paralympics as a swimmer was the 2004 Games in Athens. Despite believing she was not good enough to qualify for the Games, Chippington still left with another medal, a bronze in the 4x50m freestyle relay 20pts.
