Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics April, with open water event swimmers selected after performance in the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships, in Seville, Spain. In winning six medals (two gold, two silver and two bronze) the team bettered the target of three medals set by UK Sport. The most successful swimmer was Rebecca Adlington who won two gold medals. Her 400 m freestyle success was Britain's first Olympic swimming title since 1988, and the first swimming gold by a British woman since 1960. Her second gold, in the 800 m freestyle, meant she also equalled the best performance by a British woman, from any
Anita Lonsbrough only two GB gold medallists that year, the other being Don Thompson in the 50 kilometre walk. She would also be the last British woman to win Olympic gold in swimming until Rebecca Adlington gained the gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics, 48 years later. At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth she won three golds: 110 yards breaststroke; 220 yards breaststroke; and 440 yards individual medley. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo she came seventh in the 400 m individual medley Lonsbrough was educated at St. Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford, a girls' direct grant grammar