Double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington promotes importance of children swimming and being active

Double Olympic gold medal winner Rebecca Adlington has been speaking to the city’s teachers to promote the importance of children learning to swim and having healthy lifestyles.

Rebecca, 34, won two gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 400m and 800m freestyle events, before going on to win bronze medals in the same events at the London 2012 Olympics.

She also won gold and silver medals in the World Championships and is a former world record holder.

After retiring from swimming at the age of 23, Rebecca set up the enterprise 'Swim' to help ensure children finish primary school equipped with this vital skill.

Speaking at Sunderland Primary Schools’ PE event at Durham County Cricket Club Rebecca said: “It’s a pleasure to be in the North East today speaking with teachers.

"Despite it being on the National Curriculum, one in four children across the UK are unable to swim by the time they start secondary school.

“Estimates suggest this will soon be three in five.”

A key reason is the decline in public swimming pools for children to learn to swim.

Rebecca said: “Across the UK 150 pools have closed since Covid and 1,000 since 2010. Estimates suggest this could rise to 2,000 in the next 10 years.

“Community pools are growing old and there needs to be more investment from both the Government and private enterprise to reverse this trend.

“Swimming is such a fantastic way for people of all ages to keep active and healthy and it’s also a vital life skill to keep people safe.

“Children simply aren’t getting enough lessons or time in swimming pools. You can’t learn to swim in a couple of weeks.”

One of the event organisers was Dame Dorothy Primary School headteacher Iain Williamson who highlighted the difficulties some schools have in ensuring children learn to swim.

He said: “It's an issue for schools with swimming pools to keep them open due to the cost. We are quite fortunate as we are close enough to the Aquatic Centre to walk the children there, but for other schools the cost of transporting pupils to local pools is also an issue.

“We are a coastal city and so it’s important for our children to be safe and to have the ability to take care of themselves in water.”

With above average levels of childhood obesity across the city, Rebecca was also helping to promote active and healthy lifestyles.

Mr Williamson said: “Here in Sunderland the latest data is horrific. Our children are above the national average with 24% of pupils in Year R classed as overweight or obese and by the end of primary school this has increased to 40%, which is again above the national average.

“As well as celebrating all the good things PE leads are doing in schools, today is also about looking at how we can promote active and healthy lifestyles to bring these figures down.

“It’s about ensuring children enjoy active play and developing a culture in which being healthy and active becomes part of their lives.

“It’s important to instil this foundation before they get to secondary schools. It’s really inspirational to have an Olympic legend like Rebecca here today talking about her experiences and hopefully she will inspire PE leads to go back to their schools and make a difference to the children in their care.” 

Rebecca’s enterprise is currently running swimming lessons and sessions at Farringdon Community Academy. Further details can be found on the Swim@Farringdon Academy website.