Multisport

Inducted in 2016

Jenny Cheesman was a highly talented athlete playing for Australia in Basketball and Softball, as well as donning the State colours in Netball.

She played 167 games for the National Basketball Team between 1975 and 1988, competing at the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics, which saw the Opals just finish outside the medal calculations both times (5th and 4th). Jenny and her then husband Phil Smyth were the first husband and wife to Captain Australian teams at the same Olympics.

Over 12 years she competed at four World Championships, eight as Captain, with a fourth at the 1979 Championships, her best return. In 2004 she was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame and then in 2006 she was selected in the top 10 Women Basketball Players in the “25 Year Team”.

Softball was her other major sport, where she played for Australia in the early seventies including a Bronze Medal at the 1974 World Championships.