Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:52am BST

Rebecca Adlington broke a world record set in the year she was born on Saturday to become Britain's first double Olympic swimming champion in a century.

Adlington was just six months old when American Janet Evans clocked eight minutes 16.22 seconds for the 800 metres freestyle in Tokyo on August 20, 1989.

Nineteen years, less four days, on, she romped home in 8:14.10 to shatter the oldest record in the book and achieve the first Olympic title double achieved by a British swimmer since Henry Taylor won the men's 400 and 1,500 freestyle in 1908.

Adlington was surprise victor of Monday's 400 freestyle in a relatively slow-paced final in which Italian world record holder Federica Pellegrini failed to exert her anticipated grip.

The 800 was totally different, with world short-course champion Adlington racing inside world record pace throughout.

"I can't believe it, I went out so quick. I knew it would be tough... When I realised I was on my own I just went for it and felt I could get the time," Adlington said after a race she dominated, winning by more than six seconds from Italian European champion Alessia Filippi.

"When I looked up (and saw her time) it was just absolutely amazing...It's (the world record) always been a goal of mine. It's always been in the back of my head that I can do it.

"It means absolutely everything to me. It just shows that the hard work has paid off... How I'm going to cope with it? Get back in the pool and do more hard work." 

Coach Bill Furniss, who said Adlington was "a joy to work with", paid tribute to her dedication.
"Talent comes in different ways. She has a psychological talent as well, an inner strength. She hates to lose and she's driven," Furniss said.

"She was nervous today but that was just her and her body getting ready for what she needed to do.

"Some crack under pressure and a few get better. She's one of those. She's a winner.

As for the world record: "Phelps swims, Spitz swims, it's right up there as one of the greatest because it was such an amazing record to break, to break it ...and dominate that field by so much. It's right up there as one of the best.

"She works incredibly hard. You can see she's a bubbly character but, every session, she's so driven and so focused and some of the (training) sets she does are just amazing.

"It's not training like the old distance training, not massive volume, not 100k (kms) a week. She does 65k a week.

"She's technically superb. You look at her stroke... She's economical, strong, perfectly balanced, fluent, everything you would want."

Source: Agencies