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Rebecca "Becky" Adlington, OBE, (born 17 February 1989) is a British freestyle swimmer.  She won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 400 m and 800 m, breaking the 19 year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800 m final.  Adlington is Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908 and Great Britain's most successful Olympic swimmer in 100 years.

Adlington was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where she attended The Brunts School.  She started swimming with Sherwood Colliery Swimming Club, and was selected for the Nottinghamshire County Swim Squad (Nova Centurion) where she currently trains.  She still swims in local swimming leagues for Nottingham Leander Swimming Club, taking part in the National Speedo 'B' Final in May 2010.  Adlington's great uncle is former Derby County goalkeeper Terry Adlington.

Adlington represented Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Olympics, competing in the 400 m and 800 m freestyle swimming events.  She was also scheduled to swim in the 4×200 m freestyle relay but was rested in the heat and the team failed to qualify for the final.  In the heats of the 400 m freestyle, she broke the Commonwealth record with a time of 4:02.24. 

On 11 August 2008 she won an Olympic gold medal in the same event, with a time of 4:03.22, beating Katie Hoff of the United States in the last 20 m.  She was the first woman to win swimming gold for Great Britain since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960.  She was the first British swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Olympic Games since Henry Taylor won three in 1908.

In 2009 Adlington admitted she suffered with the expectation placed on her ahead of the World Swimming Championships in Rome and although she swam a personal best she was only able to win bronze in the 400m freestyle.  She added a second bronze in the 4 x 200m freestyle.  In her favourite event, the 800m freestyle she was shut out of the medals in fourth.

In 2010 Adlington won the 400m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest but again failed to win a medal in her 800m freestyle as she faded to seventh.  She won bronze as part of the 4 x 200m freestyle relay team.  At the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi she won a "bonus" bronze medal in the 200m freestyle and was part of the English record setting 4 x 200m freestyle relay team that also won bronze.  In the 800m freestyle Adlington led from start to finish to win her first Commonwealth Games gold medal.  In the 400m freestyle Adlington won comfortably to earn a second gold medal and repeat her Olympic double.  She ended the season ranked 2 at 400m freestyle and 1 at 800m freestyle.

Adlington set a new British, Commonwealth, European and Olympic record of 8:18.06 in the preliminary heats of the women's 800 metre freestyle on 14 August 2008.  She went on to win the 800 m Olympic freestyle final on 16 August 2008 in a world record time of 8:14.10, her second gold of the tournament, a full six seconds ahead of the silver medalist, and two seconds ahead of the former world record which had been set by Janet Evans when Adlington was 6 months old.  At the time, this was swimming's longest standing world record.

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