She made world headlines after becoming the first British swimmer to win two gold Olympic medals in 100 years at the Bejing games in 2008.
And now Rebecca Adlington hopes to inspire future champions in Huddersfield after launching her first swim school in the town.
The 25-year-old swimming superstar, known as Becky, made a splash with kids when she led two lessons to mark the opening of her under 11s Swim Stars programme at Total Fitness in Waterloo.
Created last September following her retirement from competitive events, she hopes the school will encourage more young people to gain confidence in the water.
Her decision followed a shocking report in 2012 that revealed that 51% of children leave primary school without being able to swim 25 metres.
Becky, who is working full time to develop the school and now has nine across the country, said: “I spent four years trying to encourage people to swim and thought that the ASA lessons on offer were tired and rubbish, to be honest-they’ve not changed since I was young.
“I think it’s immensely important that young people learn to swim and couldn’t believe that so many were leaving primary schools not knowing how to. It wasn’t something I expected considering that we live on an island.
“We all need to be encouraging young people to swim because it’s not compulsory in schools at the moment but never learning could endanger someone’s life.
“The brilliant thing about swimming is that there aren’t any barriers to taking part and you see a great cross section of people in the pool at a very early age.
“It doesn’t discriminate on gender, disability or race and that’s why I love it.”
Becky, who now lives in Stockport, hopes to open her tenth school in the coming months, as she gets ready to dive into the world of presenting with her debut appearance at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Commenting on her career so far and her hopes for the future, she said: “I didn’t think when I first started swimming that I’d be where I am now.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to compete around the world, take four medals in Bejing and also to compete in the Olympics in my home country so when I retired from swimming competitively I just felt content that I’d achieved everything I hoped to.
“I live and breathe swimming and can’t imagine it not being a part of my life so am looking forward to working to encourage more young people into the pool, mentoring and trying my hand at presenting, which would be amazing to break into but there’s a lot of competition.”
For more information about Swim Stars, go to: beckyadlingtonsswimstars.com
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