While barely older than a toddler, Jess Thompson literally walked in the wet footsteps of older brother Cameron, who was an aspiring swimmer.
Late last month, 18-year-old Jess came out of the national short-course championships in Pietermaritzburg with a handful of golden medals.
She won five national titles, including equalling the African 50m backstroke record of 26.85 sec set by Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry in Manchester in 2008 — when Thompson was probably still learning to walk, let alone swim.
Coventry, now 42, in 2024 became the first woman to serve as president of the International Olympic Committee. No pressure, Jess!
“I always looked up to Cameron,” says Thompson, “and swimming was a way of being close to him.
“I remember as early as grade 2 in Grayston Prep in Joburg swimming 25m races, and I’d win by far and then win another race, and it just lit a fire in me. My mom, Liesel, and I asked if we could compete in galas, but we were told I was too young and would be taking spots from older kids.”
Back then her mom and she had a saying: “Be so good that they can’t ignore you,” and Jess lived that motto to the full. “I’ve always had a competitive streak, and one of my main reasons was trying to beat my brother.”
She led an active sporting life, juggling sports. “I remember one day having hockey practice in the morning, then school, then more hockey practice, then swimming practice and finally actually playing a hockey match!”
It was around grades 6-7 that she focused more on swimming. There was something of an ulterior motive, though. “Swimming was such a full-bodied sport, and to tell the truth, I love eating all the sweet things [lemon meringue pie is my favourite], so a huge part was being able to eat without wanting to gain weight!”
Like it did globally, Thompson’s life was badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, but they made a plan. “We tied a rope around a tree in the garden, tied it to ourselves and used it as resistance training.”
Last September she upped her game even more and moved to Rio Olympian Doug Erasmus at Cardinal Aquatics in Bedfordview.
“He put me out of my comfort zone, and I do a lot more gym work now with heavy weights, which helps swimmers who sprint. People get a huge shock when they see me lifting such heavy weights in the gym and I tell them I’m a swimmer.”
— As Erasmus says, she’s only 18, and she’s already been to three world junior championships and has lessons from all three.
Says Erasmus: “Jess is a phenomenal athlete, knows what she wants and is prepared to do the work required to achieve her goals. We’re both super happy with the progress and definitely on the right track to achieve outstanding results.
“She’s certainly very mature for an 18-year-old, which makes it easier to work with her.”
As Erasmus says, she’s only 18, and she’s already been to three world junior championships and has lessons from all three.
“My first was in Lima, Peru, in 2022, where I was part of the SA mixed medley relay team that won bronze. That was a huge turning point in terms of inspiration.”
Then it was Israel a year ago, and she had high hopes. “I’d had great swims at nationals, had medalled at the Junior Commonwealth Games about three weeks prior — and yet it turned out to be the most disappointing gala of my career. I didn’t even make a final in any of my 50m events, but swimming is like that; you never know if you’ll get something out of the hard work.”
Moving on to Romania this year, she and her mom had gone over a week early to get in long-course-specific training, but in the end it was the long-haul schedule that proved too much.
“I had medal chances in all three of my 50m events, but they were all crazily close together.
“I remember being in the call room for the 50m back semi, and all the 50m fly finalists walked in. There was one chair left for the finalists, and a girl asked me, ‘Isn’t that your chair?’ and they couldn’t believe I was doing both within about 10 minutes.
“I now know that I need at least a 30 min break between two hard 50m events.”
So it was another champs without a medal, though she was a tantalising 0.02 sec off third place in the 50m backstroke final. She knew she could have done so much better, but it was a valuable lesson in knowing what her body could handle.
She admits to going through some postrace depression after the 2025 world juniors and she almost didn’t make it. “I was in my room about to put my suitcase in the car, and Mom told me that it was up to me; we could still pull out of short-course champs. I’m so thankful my parents are always so supportive.”
So she went to Pietermaritzburg with no expectations or pressure, just aiming to have fun — and struck gold five times!
“Tying the African record with Kirsty is a huge deal, and it’s also my first senior SA record.”
Her road winds back to brother Cameron, though. “He’s at Southern Methodist University in Texas studying mechanical engineering. It’s always been my dream to go to the US, so I’m very excited to be going to the University of Virginia, which has the top swimming programme in the US.
“They have a few world record holders in their squad, so I’m very excited to see where that will take me!”
Big brother is watching …
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