2022 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, December 10th – Friday, December 16th
- Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Queensland, Australia
- LCM (50m)
- Results
In November 2021, Australian Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Jason Plummer died at the young age of 52.
Plummer’s memory and legacy will now live on through the Jason Plummer Memorial Award, which was designed by his brother BJ and recognizes the top 15-16 swimmer for both genders in the 1500 freestyle at the annual Queensland Championships, which concluded this past Friday.
Plummer was an accomplished distance freestyler, winning gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in the men’s 1500 freestyle while also placing 14th in the event at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea.
The inaugural Jason Plummer Memorial Award winners were Amelia Weber and Ike Martinez, both 16, who posted the top time in the girls’ and boys’ 1500 free at the Brisbane Aquatic Center.
Weber, who completes for St. Peters Western ASC Inc., swam to a time of 16:45.92 to lead the girls’ event, while Martinez, a member of Rackley Swim Team Inc., topped the boys’ field with a time of 15:59.64.
Both Weber and Martinez earned a cash prize of $750 AUD.
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- Amelia Weber and BJ Plummer.
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- BJ with Ike Martinez.
The meet program described the award as follows:
Jason Plummer sadly passed away in 2021. In his swimming career he had the honour of representing Queensland and Australia over many years as an age group swimmer and between 1983 and 1989 as a senior swimmer. Jason held the 15 years Queensland 400m Freestyle Record and at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games won gold in the 1500m Freestyle. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics he placed 14th in the 1500m Freestyle and 4th in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay. Post his swimming in Australia Jason went on to hold numerous records swimming for Stanford University in the NCAA championships.
This award is donated in loving memory by his brother BJ to help promote and develop other Queensland swimming stars of the future.
In addition to his success on the international stage, Plummer was also a standout in the NCAA with Stanford, and served as an assistant coach with the University of Hawaii in the early 2000s.
Excellent! Jason was a close friend and an exceptionally funny, caring, and scary-smart person. Thank you, BJ Plummer for starting this award. Can’t wait to see the future champions who earn this in the future.