Rebecca Adlington OBE

At just 19, Rebecca became the first British swimmer in over a hundred years to win two Olympic gold’s. She is only the second woman to win two gold medals at the same Games.

Date of birth:

17th February 1989

Home town:

Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

Stroke:

Freestyle

Achievements:
Rebecca has come a long way since leaping onto the international stage when she won gold in both the 400m and 800m Freestyle at the Beijing Olympics. Her time in the 800m broke a world record that had stood for 19 years – the longest standing of all swimming world records. At just 19 herself, Rebecca became the first British swimmer for 100 years to win two Olympic golds and is only the second woman to win two gold medals at the same Games.

Since Beijing, Rebecca has continued to shine, winning gold in the 400m Freestyle at the 2010 European Swimming Championships in Budapest. At the Commonwealth Games the same year she picked up gold in both the 400m and 800m Freestyle. Her subsequent 400m Freestyle win at the British Gas Swimming Championships in Manchester even saw her beat her own gold-medal performance in Beijing by 0.38 seconds. At the 2011 World Swimming Championships in Shanghai Rebecca won silver in the 400m Freestyle and gold in the 800m Freestyle, which saw her and defending champion Lotte Friis never more than 0.5 seconds apart until Rebecca was able to pull ahead during the last 50m; reinforcing her status as one of the greatest distance swimmers of all time.

Out of the water, Rebecca’s highlights include accepting an OBE from the Queen and winning the Laureus World Sports Awards ‘Breakthrough of the Year Award’. She also works as an ambassador for the Encephalitis Society, a national charity that is the only resource of its kind in the world for people affected by the illness.