Former Bankstown Sports Swimming Club athlete, Bec Rippon, and Bankstown Sports Athletics track superstar, Jessica Hull, can hold their head up high after a highly successful Paris Olympics with both highly regarded ladies leaving with silver medals.  

Bec was appointed Head Coach of the Australian Women’s Water Polo team 9 months ago, and now leaves Paris with an Olympics silver medal after agonisingly falling short against Spain, who captured their first-ever gold medal.  

The Australian side went into the final off the back of an exhilarating penalty shoot out win against the United States, before taking on the Tokyo 2020 silver medallists, Spain, in the final in which they lost 11-9. While the “Aussie Stingers” are disappointed in defeat, Bec’s vigour, determination and value-minded coaching has labelled her a trailblazer in the world of Water Polo.  

On the track, Jessica Hull stole the nation’s hearts with her bubbly, infectious personality but also her undeniable skill and grit. Becoming the first Australian woman to claim a medal in the 1,500m, Jess barnstormed home in the final 100m to claim silver ahead of Georgia Bell from United Kingdom, while falling just short of world recorder holder and triple gold medallist Faith Kipyegon of Kenya. 

Jess’ rise to Olympic glory took flight locally at The Crest Sporting Complex as a part of the Bankstown Sports Athletics Track Project. Simon Hull, Jess’ father and coach, is a local man with a love for the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs NRL side and both father and daughter were spotted streaming the Bulldogs win over the Dragons over the weekend in the lead up to Jess’ race.  

“Bankstown Sports Club are proud to support 10,000 sporting participants across three local government areas and to have two of our alumni achieve silver medals is a wonderful testament to the hard work of our local community of sporting volunteers that enable that pathway to happen,” says Matthew Starr, Sport and Partnership Advisor.