Two years later he won a gold medal in the 4×200-yard freestyle relay at the 1930 British Empire Games.

[6] Thompson was born in Scotland and in the early 1920s moved to Canada, where he started training in swimming at the Toronto YMCA club.

Thompson, a machinist by profession, had modest incomes and had to seek sponsors to attend the Games.

Later he initiated a government-sponsored swimming program for poor, and between 1932 and 1966 worked as the head coach of the Hamilton Aquatic Club.

Hamilton's Jimmy Thompson Memorial Swimming Pool carried his name.