Rebecca Adlington

• Born: 17 February 1989

Rebecca Adlington

Record-breaking Rebecca Adlington is Britain’s most successful female Olympian of all time in the pool having won a total of four individual medals at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.

It was in China where a then 19-year-old Adlington became the first British swimmer in 100 years to win more than one swimming gold medal at an Olympic Games as she stormed to victory in the 400m and 800m Freestyle – the latter in a new world record time.

She followed that up with third place finishes in the same races at London 2012 before retiring from competitive swimming at the age of 23.

Adlington won a total of 17 major championship medals during her glittering career, including four – two gold and two bronze – at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games representing England.

In 2008, she was named as the Sports Journalists’ Association Sportswoman of the Year and placed third in the Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Adlington was appointed OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list for services to sport.

The following year, the Sherwood Swimming Baths in her home town of Mansfield, where she learned to swim, was renamed the Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre.

Following her sporting successes, she set up Becky Adlington’s SwimStars and has become a regular pundit for the BBC’s coverage of major swimming events.