Her Spirit Podcast

4 time Olympic medallist Rebecca Adlington OBE talks to Annie and Louise about her swimming career, the importance of swimming as a life skill, becoming a mum again with the recent arrival of her first son Albie.

April 13, 2021 Her Spirit Season 3 Episode 15
Her Spirit Podcast
4 time Olympic medallist Rebecca Adlington OBE talks to Annie and Louise about her swimming career, the importance of swimming as a life skill, becoming a mum again with the recent arrival of her first son Albie.
Show Notes

In the fifteenth episode of season three of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to 4 time Olympic medalists Rebecca Adlington OBE.

Becky first got into swimming at the age of 3 when her parents wanted her to learn a life skill. She fell in love with it straight away and knew that I wanted to be a swimmer. She has two older sisters who Becky has always looked up to and who inspired her to become competitive but she didn’t think that she would ever become a multiple Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European medallist. Becky has competed in four Olympic finals, over two Games, winning two gold and two bronze medals in Beijing and London respectively.

Since retiring from swimming, Becky has enjoyed challenging herself and exploring different avenues, including taking part in a variety of TV shows – From I’m a Celeb in 2013, to The jump in 2016 and Masterchef in 2017.

Becky has also been part of the BBC punditry team since 2013, and covering The Olympics in Rio 2016, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Games.

An extra special bonus in Becky's career came when breaking the World Record in the 800m freestyle in 2008. The record was 19 years old, the same age Becky was in Beijing; it was the highlight of her swimming career and a stand out moment for her personally. She still can’t believe she gets to say "I get to say I’m the greatest swimmer that Great Britain has ever produced!"

She feels  incredibly privileged to have been part of Team GB at our home Olympic Games in 2012 "To experience the whole atmosphere, spirit and camaraderie of London is something I will never forget"

Becky's motto of the 2012 Olympics was to ‘inspire a generation‘, a legacy which inspired her to set up my own learn to swim program. This has become her greatest challenge in swimming  and her mission to see every child in the UK leave primary school being able to swim 25 metres. She is very proud to say that there are now 10,000 children a week learning to swim ‘the Becky way’ on our programmes across the country.

Becky talks to Annie and Louise about the recent arrival of her son Albie in early March, with her partner Andy and the brother to Summer her first child. She talks about her struggles during COVID to stay active and what swimming means to her during her times as an Olympic years and founder of and is a partnership between Becky and Total Swimming Ltd, one of the UK's largest and most innovative private specialist swimming companies in the UK.

These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org

Medichecks offers an easy and affordable way to check your health from the comfort of your own home with their simple and personal at-hom


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