Australian Olympic kayaker Jo Brigden-Jones has successfully managed to juggle two demanding professions. The 33-year-old trains alongside crocodiles and sharks by the day and saves lives as a paramedic by night. 

Brigden-Jones was balancing a hectic schedule of training for the Tokyo Olympics and being a paramedic even before the pandemic hit. This meant that she had to combine training on rivers with emergency calls.

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The kayaker was first spotted at the age of 13 at a program to identify sporting talent when she was told that she would excel in paddle sports because of her strength and fitness. 

“I didn’t even know what kayaking was when I got involved,” she said, adding that she soon fell in love with the sport. 

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But for her, being a paramedic was equally rewarding.

“That medical side of things always interested me, and what I discovered I was passionate about – having an impact on your community. I thought that being a paramedic would be a fun, exciting and rewarding job,” she said.

Weeks after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, she heard the news that the event was postponed due to the COVID pandemic,

“I was completely heartbroken and devastated but I fully understood the reasons why. But the choices and sacrifices I made to dedicate my life and my every day towards this one goal and to have that postponed by 12 months, was massive for me,” she said.

“Being an older athlete and knowing that my body is breaking down and only just holding it together with some sticky tape, would my body make it through another 12 months of beating myself every single day? It was quite hard to take,” she added. 

Brigden-Jones will be retiring after making her last appearance in the Tokyo Olympics this year.