Rebecca Adlington

She now looks ahead to the challenges of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Adlington began swimming at the age of four and was competing at ten. She is a member of Nova Centurion Swimming Club and is coached by Bill Furniss.

At her first National Age Group Championships in 2001 Adlington showed a glimpse of what was to come, aged 12 she won two gold in the 800m and 200m IM, along with silver in the 400m freestyle and two bronzes in the 200m freestyle and 100 backstroke.

The summer of 2003 saw Adlington’s first international competition, the European Youth Olympic Festival in Paris. The festival saw Adlington win two silver medals in the 400m and 800m freestyle. She followed up with gold a year later at the Junior European Championships in the 800m.

Adlington made her senior international debut at the 2006 European Championships in Budapest where she won silver in the 800m freestyle. A year later and she had her first taste at senior world swimming, where unfortunately she failed to make the finals for the 800m freestyle.

In 2008 all was forgotten as Adlington qualified and won the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle at the British Olympic trials (she later dropped out of the 200m to concentrate on the other events). Then later in the year she struck gold at the World Short Course Championships, smashing the Commonwealth and European record.  She also picked up silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

To finish over a winning year Adlington was named as Sports Journalist Association of Great Britain’s Sportswoman of the Year, she was voted third in BBC’s Sports Personality of the year award and received an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

To read more please visit: http://www.rebeccaadlington.co.uk/

Last Updated August 2009