AT THIS rate Rebecca Adlington is going to have a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marcos. The teenage swimmer was promised designer footwear from her parents, as well as the Mayor of her hometown, Mansfield, when she won gold in the 400m freestyle. Now that she has made history by becoming the first British woman to win two Olympic swimming gold medals, the chances are she will be able to afford to buy a few pairs herself.
The 800m freestyle was always her preferred event. But the fact she not only took gold but smashed the longest-standing world record in the sport made the second win all the more laudable.
At the 400m split she was a full body length ahead of the
rest of the field and she upped the ante. In a world of her own she was 2.52 seconds inside the record set by American Janet Evans in 1989. That was the year the British swimmer was born and she had been training most of her life for this.
"It's always been a goal of mine to do this. I never really expected I could do it at this moment in time, but it's always been at the back of my mind and in my sight. I knew when I touched the wall I was going to win the gold, but I didn't expect to get the world record. And to do it by that much is unbelievable. If someone had said I could do that here I would have laughed in their face. It hasn't sunk in yet.
"I can't believe it, I went out so quick. It's fantastic that all the hard work over the years has paid off, I'm so pleased. I didn't expect to go three seconds faster than in the (British Olympic] trials, that's a lot to ask. In the 400m it was just racing, forget about the time, but this is amazing. It means everything to me."
She said she had expected some tougher competition on the day but opted just to swim her own race. "When I realised I was on my own I just went for it. I hear that back home it has been amazing but I've tried to focus on this event. I guess I have got it all to come now that I have finished swimming."
If the interest in her was huge before, after yesterday's panache it is set to multiply. The last female to win Britain two golds at the same Olympics was Kelly Holmes four years ago. She is now a Dame. "If the Queen is watching, this girl should be made a Dame, Dame Rebecca Adlington," said fellow Team GB competitor Cassie Patten, who finished eighth in the race. "Two Olympic golds is awesome."
In the end, Adlington blistered the record by 2.12 seconds, winning in 8.14.10, with Evans watching from the stands. And this time her mum and dad were in the crowd as well. They hadn't made it out to Beijing in time to see her gold medal-winning performance in the 400m freestyle and had been victims of a scam when buying tickets for the 800m. But they made their voices heard as they roared her towards the record and their feelings known at the end.
She merely laughed when asked if her dad was always that emotional. "Yeah, they have always been very supportive of my swimming, my mum and my dad. The 400m was the first race they have not watched. They have been to every other meet with me. I couldn't have done it without my mum and dad. It was fantastic that they were finally here."
Adlington also paid tribute to her coach, Bill Furniss, who works with the Mansfield-born swimmer at the Nova Centurian club.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Bill," said Adlington. "I've been working with him since I was 12 or 13 and he's just brought me through everything. When I was ill he brought me through it and I wouldn't be here without him to be honest."
Furniss was confident Adlington was going to add to her collection of gold medals early in the race, such was her early dominance of the rest of the field.
"At 200m I thought she was going to be difficult to beat because she was going so fast," he said. "She's just a joy to work with. She's great for the team, she's grounded and this won't go to her head at all. She's a Mansfield girl and she'll always be a Mansfield girl. She's very grounded and very well adjusted.
"She works incredibly hard. She is a bubbly character, but in every session she is so driven and so focused and some of the sets she does are just amazing. I'm going to be talking at a conference in a few weeks' time and when I put them up I don't think coaches will believe the speed she trains at."
