Rebecca Adlington takes bronze in 400m freestyle
The Mansfield-born swimmer fails in her bid to retain the 400m title at London 2012, finishing third behind Camille Muffat of France and Allison Schmitt of the United States.
Adlington claimed Great Britain’s first London 2012 medal in the pool when she produced a performance full of her customary guts and determination on Sunday evening.
Muffat won the race at the Aquatics Centre in a new Olympic record and textile world record of four minutes and 01.45 seconds.
However, it was a superb swim by Adlington, forced to swim out of lane eight after only just scraping into the final this morning. The 23-year-old came from sixth at halfway to touch in four minutes and 03.01secs.
Beijing triumph
Four years earlier, at the Beijing Games, Adlington had become Britain’s first Olympic swimming champion since 1988 and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908, making her Britain’s most successful swimmer for 100 years.
In 2008, she became a household name overnight after winning gold in the 400m freestyle.
She went on to set a world record in the heats of the 800m freestyle before going on to win the final two days later in another world record of 8.14.10 – two seconds under the previous record set by USA’s Janet Evans when Adlington was six months old.
But what makes a swimmer endure years of training for the chance of success?
‘A certain breed of person’
Darren Sutcliffe is a sports psychologist who works across both “wet” and dry sports.
He said: “It is definitely a certain type, a certain breed of person who can get up, get to a swimming pool for 5am each and every morning to train for anything up to 10 hours a day.
“Swimmers require a certain kind of dedication, as a lot of time is spent on your own, without competing against others.
“An American sports psychologist conducted a number of experiments and found that the times of cyclists in training were slower than in competition.
Energy release
“He concluded that the presence of others allowed for a release of additional energy stores. Furthermore, he noted that cyclists pedalled harder when they were cycling with others and children reeled in fishing lines faster when fishing with others.
“So for Rebecca to focus entirely on her timings and her swimming technique, shows a great level of mental endurance.
“Rebecca’s career has been especially good as she won Olympic gold at a relatively young age, so she has both inspired people and has the will to win.”
All this high-profile attention means Rebecca’s name reaches far and wide.
A South Eastern train used for carrying passengers between London and Kent at 140mph has been named after her.