Rebecca Adlington: Britain’s Olympic Champion freestyle specialist
Olympic swimming champion, Rebecca Adlington is Britain’s freestyle specialist. She made her debut in domestic and international swimming in 2006. Her aggressive style has taken her to the top of some of the toughest tournaments and she has managed to win
a tremendous amount of awards and medals for her exhilarating performances in the pool.
Adlington won a gold medal in the 800m freestyle, a silver medal in the 400m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle at the 2006 British Championships. A few months later, she won a silver medal in the 800m freestyle in a time of 8:27.88 minutes
at the 2006 European Championships.
At the 2008 British Gas Swimming Championships, her hard work paid off as Adlington comfortably took three gold medals in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle with a time of 1:57.94, 4:04.50 and 8:20.29 minutes respectively.
Her accomplishments for 2008 were not restricted to the domestic events only, as she took part in the 800m freestyle and 4*200m freestyle relay at the Short Course World Championships in Manchester. Adlington successfully grabbed a gold medal in the 800m
freestyle in an aspiring time of 8:08.25, as she also won a silver medal in the 4*200m freestyle relay being a part of Britain’s relay team.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Adlington participated in two individual events, instead of participating in a relay event. Her decision of representing Britain in two individual events proved smart, as she won a gold medal in the 400m freestyle in a time
of 4:03.22 and another gold medal in the 800m freestyle in a world record time of 8:14.10.
In 2009, Adlington participated at the World Long Course Championships in Rome, where she competed in three events including the 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle and the 4*200m freestyle relay. The year resulted in a dip in her performance, as the Olympic
champion only managed to win a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle and 4*200m freestyle relay in a time of 4:00.79 and 7:45.51 respectively. She finished fourth in the 800m freestyle with a time of 8:17.90. Adlington’s time in the 800m event was three seconds
above her Olympic gold timing and six seconds above her Short Course Championships time.
The determined champion adopted an extensive training program for a rapid improvement in her performance. She seemed a little satisfied with her performance in the 2010 European Long Course Championships, where she took part in the 400m freestyle and 4*200m
freestyle relay. Adlington won a gold medal in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:04.55 and a bronze medal in the 4*200m freestyle relay in 7:55.29, as part of Britain’s relay team. Though her time was four seconds above her last World Championship time and
one second above her time at the Beijing Olympics, she still managed a gold medal.
A few months, Adlington travelled to Delhi to compete in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where she dominated her way in the 400m freestyle and the 800m freestyle, winning gold medals in both events in a time of 4:05.68 and 8:24.69 respectively. She also won
a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle and 4*200m freestyle relay in 1:58.47 and 7:58.61.
Adlington is currently participating in the 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships at the Manchester Aquatics Centre. She has won a gold medal in the 200m freestyle in 1:58.90 and in the 400m freestyle in 4:02.84, as she is on her way to win a gold medal
in the 800m freestyle with the fastest qualifying time of 8:35.99. She has been selected to represent Britain at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships in June that will lead to her selection for the 2012 London Olympics.
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