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Posted on September 16th 2015
Rebecca Adlington visits Chobham!
Rebecca Adlington has competed in six world championships and four Olympic Games. She won two gold medals in the 400 and 200 meter freestyle races in the Beijing Olympics. As some may know, Chobham Academy was built for the Olympics in 2012 and used for drug testing and was home for MI5 during the games. Rebecca Adlington had to do her drug test here before she won two bronze medals in the 200 and 400 meter freestyle race, she was very surprised how the magnificent building had been turned into a school.
Three other guides and I, took Rebecca to the forth floor to take a look over the East village and the Olympic pool itself. Rebecca was amazed by the progress from a village made to home athletes to a thriving community of local residents. From the forth floor, we explained how each coloured ring was inspired by the Olympic rings as well as the athletes they are named after. We then took Rebecca down into some class rooms, to be honest, even year 10s were a bit star struck. We went into the sports hall and Rebecca was asked to sign her name on the wall so we can remember the inspirational athlete every time we go to PE and Dance. We also had our photographs taken in the sports hall with Rebecca before introducing her to year 7s in the theatre.
Rebecca sat on a sofa with a sixth former for the interview. She asked how hard it was to train for her competitions. Rebecca replied with her schedule of ten sessions a week including her 5am starts before school. Being a competitive swimmer myself, I felt really inspired and motivated to keep doing my sessions and maybe become as successful as Rebecca. After the interview, unfortunately she had to go but by that wonderful experience with a star athlete, I feel really driven and motivated to do well in my studies and train hard at my swimming.
Khaleeq Khan