About me
Pushing Boundaries, chasing dreams, living her best life
Swimming has always been my first love. It’s in the family DNA. My grandfather was president of our local swim club in Geraldton, Western Australia, and the driving force behind the town getting its own swimming pool. The original clubrooms were named after my grandparents: “The Gibson Room”. My mum, her siblings and my brother were all swimmers. The only person in the family who didn’t swim was my Dad. However he held many officials positions in our swimming club and not to be outdone he swum his first ever swimming race at a local club competition in his forties and placed for a medal.
I swam my first race, 25 metres of backstroke, when I was around three years old, and my love for swimming only grew from there.
Sport in general and swimming specifically has given me a pathway to chase my dreams and live my best life. Living my best life means doing hard things and pushing my boundaries to places I may not have been before. I haven’t found my limits just yet!
I moved across to water polo and spent several years playing and coaching in Geraldton and then in Perth, reaching both State and National level. Half ironman’s came next before switching back to my first love swimming. I continued playing after I had my children, because the water has always been where I belong.
Each swim starts as a celebration; being present and acknowledging the work I’ve put in and being grateful for what my body and my mind allow me to do.
The decision that changed everything
A family holiday that went wrong, a milestone birthday a few years away, a ferry from France to England, the White Horse Hotel in Dover, all sliding door moments that led me to make the decision to swim the English Channel for my 50th birthday and return to my first love – swimming. As a child I dreamed of swimming at the Olympics and while that wasn’t to be, I am exactly where I am meant to be.
The first Australian woman to finish The Oceans Seven
The Oceans Seven is open water swimming’s version of the Seven Summits: seven of the world’s most demanding marathon swims, recognised as the ultimate test in the sport. I completed my seventh and final crossing in 1 March 2026, becoming the first Australian woman to finish the challenge.
July 2021
English Channel – 33km
Time: 12h 42m
April 2023
Strait of Gibraltar – 14.4km
Time: 3h 18m
October 2023
Catalina Channel – 32.3km
Time: 11h 42m
February 2024
Cook Strait – 22.5km
Time: 8h 03m
September 2024
North Channel – 34.5km
Time: 13h 08m
July 2025
Tsugaru Strait – 20km
Time: 13h 17m
March 2026
Molokai Channel – 42km
Time: 14h 15m
Molokai
First attempt – July 2024
I waited the entire ten-day window without a swimmable day appearing and left empty handed.
Second attempt – March 2025
My second attempt came not quite as planned. I received a call from Mike, my pilot, asking me to come early. At the time I was in Perth with my family as my father was in palliative care. We were down to days, with the doctors essentially keeping him alive, and I didn’t want to go without his blessing. Dad and I agreed that I would go and swim, and while he promised me he would be there when I got home, we both knew in that same conversation that we were also saying goodbye incase something happened while I was away.
I booked flights within days and headed across to swim. On arrival in Honolulu I was bombarded with messages about Paul, a fellow swimmer I had trained alongside, who had been bitten by a cookiecutter shark during his swim the previous night. When I arrived at our hotel, Paul was waiting for me downstairs, hobbling around with stitches in his ankle. We joked that he had taken one for the team, not knowing there would be another bite the following night. Matt, my coach, Mike, my pilot, and I discussed the swim and whether we would proceed. We agreed it would go ahead as planned. I was well aware of the risks but had weighed all of that up in agreeing to swim that night. My pilot Mike put measures in place during the hours research shows cookiecutter sharks are most active, placing a large white light off the back of the boat and staying closer to me between 11pm and 2am.
Unfortunately, at 4am and 17km from finishing, I was bitten by a cookiecutter shark. Knowing what had happened to Paul the previous night, I knew exactly what was happening. In a matter of seconds it was over. I grabbed the shark off me, threw it back into the ocean, and turned to my kayaker to tell him what had happened. Aside from the hole in my bathers, I had no idea how bad the bite was and was hopeful I might be able to continue. It wasn’t to be. Swim aborted. I knew what was happening as it happened, and I was surprisingly calm.
What was meant to be a five-day turnaround became almost two weeks, with hospital stays in both Hawaii and Sydney and surgery in between. The emotional toll was the hardest part. I had missed precious time with my dad and was deeply disappointed that I couldn’t give him one last achievement before he passed. When I got home we had a long talk, I was so disappointed in myself and was struggling to accept that my swim had been aborted and not that I failed – both him and myself. Dad told me that I had never disappointed him, that he was proud of me and that I hadn’t failed. The attack was something that I couldn’t control and that was part of what these swims are about. I now have those words tattooed on my forearm as reminder of what I can do and what I have overcome.
Third attempt – March 2026
Returning to Hawaii brought with it a lot of emotion: my dad, the cookiecutter, the disappointment and the grief. One of the many things I’ve learnt on this journey is that you work on what you can control; your mental strength being one of those things.This swim was not going to fail because I didn’t do everything in my power to make sure that I had worked on the things I could control, because if every tool was available to me I was going to use every one of them.
The image I channelled as I slipped into the water at 3am was one that had been sent to me by one of my junior staff members. She had created an Ai image of a Wonder Mermaid complete with shark tears on my swimsuit. That was who I needed to be at the start of this swim! Those first three hours I swam in the dark were the longest I have ever spent having to keep myself in check, singing to myself, counting strokes and talking to my dad.
As the sun came behind me I heard dolphins, and I knew then that my dad had kept his promise and that the channel had decided I was worthy of crossing her today.
What I carry
I had always planned to get my first tattoo after completing the Triple Crown. This was a personal memento to celebrate closing this milestone out. Kate who crewed all 3 swims for me helped create the design.
My tattoo not only has my English Channel and Catalina swim tracks and morse code for time and distance of my Manhattan swim, but celebrates female empowerment showing the 3 phases of the moon (The Triple Goddess) highlighing my own journey – self discovery, nuturing and wisdom.
After my dad’s passing, I had a rose and the words “you have never disappointed me” tattooed on my forearm. Rose remind me of home and these are the last words my dad said to me before he passed away.
The next chapter
United by Water
Swimming this 120km stretch started as a dream, but it has grown into something much bigger than a personal challenge. At 120km it would be a world first and a Guinness World Record, and I see myself as the storyteller of this swim rather than simply the subject of it.
I want to showcase the values of our nation and bring the community together around something that has never been done before.
Before that, my immediate focus is a Jersey to France crossing in August 2026. This was not a planned swim, but a slot came up with my coach and I thought why not. I have been in the gym for over a month now working on strength, conditioning and cardio, and at the end of May I head to swim camp for a week of big kilometres that will serve as the perfect build-up for that crossing. Everything I am doing between now and November is purposeful and feeds directly into the Dubai to Abu Dhabi swim.
120km · 30-40 Hours · November 2026
Life outside the water
Outside of training I work full time for a leading AI company here in Abu Dhabi. I am a wife and a mum to four children aged between 15 and 21. I wear many hats and without being super organised and disciplined with my days, none of what I do would be possible.
While some people talk about what they have sacrificed to achieve their goals, I don’t see it that way. I chose to be here, my family have chosen to support me in following these dreams, and while there are days where I feel I am not doing anything 100%, I have come to understand that that too is all part of the journey.
In the PRess
Jo’s story has caught the attention of media across Australia and the UAE, from local roots in Geraldton to the open waters of Hawaii.
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