Nick Gillingham

Gillingham participated in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1988. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he won the silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke in a Commonwealth record of 2:14.12,[1] followed by a bronze medal in the same event four years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona in another Commonwealth record of 2:11.29.[2] Although better known as a 200m breaststroke swimmer, Gillingham was also a world class 100m swimmer and was ranked first in the world in 1992 with his Commonwealth record of 1:01.33 from the British Olympic trials. However, he sustained a leg injury during the Olympics which impaired his performance in the 100m final where he finished 7th, half a second slower than his heat time.[3]

Gillingham won seven Commonwealth Games medals; he represented England and won a silver medal in the 4 x 100 metres medley relay and a bronze medal in the 200 metres breaststroke, at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.[4] Four years later he represented England and won two bronze medals in the 100 metres and 200 metres breaststroke, at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.[5] At the 1994 Commonwealth Games he won the gold medal in the 200 metres breaststroke, the silver medal in the 100 metres breaststroke and a bronze medal in medley relay.[6]

In August 1989 in the European Championships, he equalled the existing world record in the long-course 200-metre breaststroke in a time of 2:12.90,[7] only to co-hold it for a single day before the other record co-holder, American Mike Barrowman, lowered the record again.

He was trained by Tim Jones and also won the world title at the first inaugural 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca. He broke three world, ten European, nine Commonwealth and seventeen British records during his career and won 17 major championships.

He dominated the ASA National Championships in the breaststroke events, following on from his predecessor Adrian Moorhouse and won the 100 metres breaststroke title in 1992 and 1993 [8][9] and the 200 metres breaststroke on eight occasions (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1995).[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]