Rebecca Adlington

• Team: Mansfield, Great Britain
• Sport: Swimming

• Date of birth: 17-Feb-1989
• Discipline: Freestyle

Biography

A member of Nova Centurion Swimming Club and coached by Bill Furniss, Rebecca began swimming at the age of four and competing at ten.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games were Rebecca's debut as an Olympian, competing in the 400 metres and 800 metres freestyle events. Rebecca was also scheduled to swim in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay but was rested in the heat and the team failed to qualify for the final.

In the heats of the 400 metres freestyle, Rebecca broke the Commonwealth record with a time of 4:02:24. The following day, on 11 August 2008, she won the Olympic gold medal in the final with a time of 4:03.22, beating Katie Hoff of the USA and British team-mate Joanne Jackson. In doing so, Rebecca became the first woman to win Olympic swimming gold for Great Britain since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960.

Three days later, Rebecca set a new British, Commonwealth, European and Olympic record of 8:18.06 in the heats of the women's 800 metres freestyle. She went on to win her second gold medal in the 800 metres freestyle final on 16 August 2008 in a world record time of 8:14.10.

Rebecca finished an incredible six seconds ahead of the silver medalist Alessia Filippi of Italy, her winning time breaking by two seconds the previous world record which had been set by USA’s 1988 Olympic champion Janet Evans when Rebecca was just 6 months old. Until Rebecca’s record breaking swim, this was swimming's longest standing world record.

Rebecca is the first British swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Olympic Games since Henry Taylor won three in 1908.

Rebecca has now commenced training for the 2009 world swimming championships in Rome. Rebecca is planning on competing at European championships, Commonwealth Games and world championships as part of her journey towards the defence of her Olympic titles in London in 2012.

Visit Rebecca at rebeccaadlington

Records Held

World

800m Freestyle, 8:14.10 (L/C), Beijing, August 2008.

European:

800m Freestyle 8:08.25 (S/C), 2008

British:

400m Freestyle 4:03.22 (L/C), 2008

Achievements

Double gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Games