Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell (born 1994 in Warrington, England, UK) is a retired

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

swimmer, who won the 50m and 100m breaststroke at the 2010

British Swimming Championships The British Swimming Championships are an annual event organised by British Swimming (the governing body of swimming in the United Kingdom). History The event is usually held in March or April each year in a long course (50 m) swimming poo ...

. Prior to 2010, she swam internationally for

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Born to a British mother and a

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

n father, political activist and academic
Professor Rok Ajulu
Ajulu-Bushell left Britain at the age of 3. She spent ten years living in Kenya and then South Africa with her mother and sisters. She learned to swim in the Indian Ocean at the age of 4, and swam her first competition at 6. Swimming for Kenya, she won two gold medals at the

2008 African Swimming Championships The 9th African Swimming Championships were held at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa from 1–7 December 2008. Participants Swimmers from 18 countriesA list of the countries with swimmers at the championships was included in the articlJess ...

(50m and 100m breaststroke), becoming the first female to win medals for Kenya at the African Championships. She also represented Kenya at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Italy. In early 2010, Ajulu-Bushell made the decision to start swimming for Great Britain, and after a customary period without representing Kenya (1 year) and with clearance from the Kenya federation, began swimming from Great Britain. She made her senior British debut at the 2010 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, becoming the first black woman to swim for Britain. She went on to compete for England at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

in Delhi, India. Ajulu-Bushell attended

Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational independent school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Co ...

and was a classmate of Olympic diving medalist

Tom Daley Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, but moved to London as she stepped up her preparation for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, attending

Notting Hill and Ealing High School Notting Hill and Ealing High School is an independent school for girls aged 4 – 18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a Junior Department of 310 girls (ages 4–11) ...

. Ajulu-Bushell withdrew from competitive swimming in 2012, following a plateau in form, and did not seek entry to the 2012 Games. In February 2012, she announced the withdrawal was permanent. In October 2012 she took up a place at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

. Ajulu-Bushell graduated BFA from the

Ruskin School of Art The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division, University of Oxford, Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, ...

in 2015. After setting up a communications and media agency calle
Nyar K'Odero Group
she turned to writing and filmmaking, directing and producing the critically acclaimed documentary
''Breakfast in Kisumu''
it had its international premier at IDFA in 2019, nominated in the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary. The documentary, edited b
Mdhamiri Á Nkemi
received a four-star review from

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

as part of an anthology, securing a distribution contract with the streaming platform, True Story. Ajulu-Bushell's essay, ''Hegemanic America (2021)'', won the annual US National 'Justice For' essay prize. Ajulu-Bushell joined the Department of African Cultural Studies of UW-Madison as a grad student in August 2020 to begin her PhD. She also started advocating for greater diversity in swimming, talking about racial inequalities in swimming in a 2020 interview with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

for

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

. She has since spoken about her own experience of racism during her swimming career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajulu-Bushell, Achieng British female swimmers English female swimmers Kenyan female swimmers Living people 1994 births Sportspeople from Warrington Black British sportspeople English people of Kenyan descent People educated at Plymouth College Swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School