Incredible inner strength and an unbreakable spirit to win – Just some ways you could describe Brooke Hanson – The former golden girl of Olympic swimming and Australian sport.

Brooke is an inspirational mother, business woman, ambassador of causes close to her heart and continues to be a source of admiration for women throughout Australia – several years after the end of her sporting career. And what a sporting career it was.

Following a host of disappointments and narrowly missing out on making the Olympic squad for both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, Brooke’s determination paid off, as she reached the pinnacle of her career in 2004.
Brooke claimed Gold and Silver medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics and then followed this up with 6 more gold medals at the World Short Course Championships. Five of those six gold medals were achieved in individual events, something that had never been seen before at a big international race meeting.

Brooke went on to win further honours, including a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Having such powerful traits to win however does not always relate solely to sporting excellence – but life itself.
In 2007, Brooke was swimming in a swim spa – a small pool that produces a strong current to swim against – fulfilling her duties for her sponsors at the time.

Shortly after exiting the pool, tragedy struck as Brooke collapsed to the floor. She had received an electric shock – an event which subsequently brought an end to her glittering swimming career.

For anyone who has followed Brooke’s story since 2007, they will know she has faced more ups and downs than most people experience in a lifetime. This included the incredibly sad death of her son Jack, at just 9 months of age, following his battle to survive after being born 12 weeks premature, weighing just 663grams, severely growth restricted and only 32cm long.

Her resilience and determination to keep smiling and to raise awareness of the issues that have touched her life however have never wavered.

She is an ambassador of both Life’s Little Treasures Foundation (Supporting families of premature and sick babies) and Jim’s Test & Tag (Australia’s leading electrical test and tag organisation).

Jim’s Test & Tag, for example, have one aim – the same aim that drives Brooke’s support of the company – to ensure that every time someone goes to work, they return safely to their family and loved ones at the end of the day. Brooke hopes that by highlighting her own experiences, attention can be brought to where the real importance of electrical safety lies.

“I hope that my continued support of Jim’s Test & Tag, alongside the fantastic work they do as leaders in electrical test and tag, will continue to offer lifesaving benefits both now and for the long-term”, stated Brooke.

If this article and others like it make just one more person pick up the phone, or prompt their loved ones to check that their employer has electrical safety high on the agenda, then it will be a success.

Jim’s Test & Tag

Jim’s Test & Tag proudly supports Brooke Hanson and her ongoing commitment to educating people and businesses about the importance of regular testing and tagging of electrical equipment.

Jim’s Test & Tag is a group of individual business owners who operate independently within the confines of a uniform set of operations and with a common goal of providing great customer service.

Jim’s Test & Tag has a commitment to strive for customer satisfaction across all aspects of its business is demonstrated by its ongoing engagement with the ISO 9001 Quality Management program. They aim to continually improve, ensuring that their customers are receiving the highest possible customer service and technical knowledge available.
To find out more about Jim’s Test & Tag visit the website: http://www.jimstestandtag.com.au/

Life’s Little Treasures

The Life’s Little Treasures Foundation (http://www.lifeslittletreasures.org.au) is Australia’s leading charity dedicated to providing support, friendship and information, specifically tailored for families of children born premature or sick.

The Foundation’s services are available in the hospital (neonatal and special care units) and in the community when families come home.

It was founded in 2005 by parents, all of whom had a sick or premature baby. They realised how important it was for families to have access to information and a community they could identify with and feel a part of – someone who understood the challenges that they faced.