Portrait of Rebecca Adlington

Birthday profile

Rebecca Adlington

Rebecca Adlington, English swimmer

Born
February 17, 1989
Age in 2026
37
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1989

About Rebecca Adlington

Rebecca Adlington is an English former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle, breaking the 19-year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800-metre final. Adlington was Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908. After winning her first World Championship gold over 800 metres in 2011, along with silver in the 400 metres at the same meet, she won bronze medals in both the women's 400-metre and 800-metre freestyle events in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Adlington is one of the few people to have won Olympic Games, World Championships, European championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals. In the heats of the 400-metre freestyle, she broke the Commonwealth record with a time of 4:02.24.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Rebecca Adlington timeline

  1. Adlington was Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908.
  2. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle, breaking the 19-year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800-metre final.
  3. After winning her first World Championship gold over 800 metres in 2011, along with silver in the 400 metres at the same meet, she won bronze medals in both the women's 400-metre and 800-metre freestyle events in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The world when Rebecca Adlington was born

Rebecca Adlington was born in 1989. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1989

  • #1 song"Look Away" – Chicago
  • Top movieDriving Miss Daisy
  • Top TV showRoseanne
  • Best-selling bookThe Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentSan Francisco earthquake interrupts the World Series
  • Top headlineFall of the Berlin Wall signals end of the Cold War
  • Technology milestoneWorld Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee
  • Defining fadGame Boy
  • Notable inventionGame Boy
  • World population5.19 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderGeorge H.W. Bush
  • Sports championOakland Athletics (World Series)
  • Also wonDetroit Pistons (NBA)
  • U.S. population246.8M

1989 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Rebecca Adlington's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19892026
Gas$1.02$3.45/gal
Average home$93,100$435,000
Average income$34,213$67,500
Minimum wage$3.35$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$3.97$11.95
Postage stamp$0.25$0.73
Population246.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Olympedia. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.