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| Born | (1983-08-03)3 August 1983 (age 42) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |  Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Disability | Retinoblastoma | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | S11,PTVI | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jessica Tuomela (born August 3, 1983) is aCanadianparalympic competitiveswimmer andpara triathlete who was born inSault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She won silver in the 50-metrefreestyle at the2000 Summer Paralympics and bronze in the Women's PTVI Paratriathlon at the2022 Commonwealth Games.
Tuomela was born inSault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to aPortuguese mother andFinnish Canadian father.[1] She is blind as a result ofretinoblastoma at the age of three. She learned to swim while at the Ross MacDonald School for the Blind[2] and began competitive swimming at age 12.[3] Tuomela was offered facial reconstructive surgery at age 16, but declined.[4]
Competing at the2000 Summer Paralympics inSydney, Australia, Tuomela earned a silver medal in the 50-metrefreestyle as well as three sixth-place finishes in the 100 freestyle, 100-meterbackstroke and 200-metermedley.
Her accomplishments merited an invitation to the 2004 Paralympic Games inAthens, Greece, where she placed fourth in the 50-meter freestyle and had two sixth-place finishes in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke. Tuomela also set five Canadian records in swimming. She won two gold medals in May, 2006 at the Belgian Paralympic Championships in the 50-meterbreaststroke and 100-meter backstroke. She also took the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
In 1998 Tuomela was one of 35 young people fromNorth America andRussia to win the "Yes I Can" award, which recognizes the accomplishments of people with disabilities. She was honored in Sault Ste. Marie in 1992 for her academic achievements. On September 30, 2006, Tuomela became one of the first ten inductees in the Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame. In 2009, she was indicted into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame.[5]
Tuomela stopped competing in para swimming in 2008. After an eight-year break from sports, she returned to compete in para triathlon.[6] In June 2016, she competed in the ITU Nationals in Ottawa.[3] In July 2017, Tuomela began training with former national team athleteEllen Pennock.[7] Guided by Pennock, Tuomela won a gold medal in the women’s visually impaired race at theDuathlon World Championships inPenticton in 2017.[7]
In 2018, Tuomela won the World Para Triathlon Series in Edmonton with guide Lauren Babineau, becoming the first fully blind athlete to win gold in an event on the World Para Triathlon Series circuit.[8] In 2019, she won bronze at the ITU Paratriathlon World Championship inLausanne, Switzerland with guide Marianne Hogan.[9] Tuomela and Hogan won bronze in the 2019 World Para-triathlon Series in the women’s visually impaired category.[10]
At the2021 Tokyo Paralympics, Tuomela placed fifth in the women’s visually-impaired triathlon, with Hogan.[11][12] In June 2022, Tuomela and guideEmma Skaug were named to Canada's2022 Commonwealth Games team.[13] The pair won bronze, marking Canada’s first-ever medal in the event.[11][14] Tuomela and Skaug won bronze at the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama, Japan.[15]
Tuomela retired from sport at the end of 2023.[16][6]
In 2008, Tuomela stopped swimming and attended massage college. After that, she completed a Performance Psychology diploma course at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[16] She has a masters degree in Social Work from theUniversity of Southern California.
Tuomela moved toVictoria, British Columbia in 2017.[4] Tuomela has been working with dogs, training in scent discrimination to find missing persons. In May 2023, she successfully tracked an individual with dementia who had gone for a walk and didn't return.[17]
