Andrew Astbury (born 29 November 1960) is an English former competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who represented Great Britain at the Olympics and England in the Commonwealth Games in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Swimming career

In his international swimming debut as an 18-year-old, Astbury represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

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, where he received a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

for this third-place finish in the men's 1500-metre freestyle. In the first of two consecutive Summer Olympics in which he appeared, Astbury swam for Great Britain at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in Moscow. He was a member of the sixth-place British team in the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay. In individual competition, he also competed in the preliminary heats of the 400 and 1500-metre freestyle events. Competing for

at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

in Brisbane, Australia, Astbury won gold medals in the 200-metre and 400-metre freestyle races in Commonwealth record times. He also won a silver medal as a member of the English men's team in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in the 1500-metre freestyle. At the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles, California, he claimed the bronze medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, together with British teammates

Neil Cochran Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

Paul Easter Paul Robert Easter (born 14 May 1963) is a former competitive swimming (sport), swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, and competed for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games. Swimming career He was freestyle swimming, freestyle swi ...

and Paul Howe, finishing behind the Americans and West Germans. He also advanced to the B Final of the 400-metre freestyle, finishing sixth in the consolation final (14th overall), and competed in the preliminary heats of the 1500-metre freestyle. He won the 1981 ASA National Championship 200 metres freestyle title and the 400 metres freestyle in 1980, 1981 and 1982. He also won the ASA British National 1500 metres freestyle title four times from 1980 to 1983.

References

British Olympic Association athlete profile

External links

* * * * * 1960 births Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England English Olympic medallists English male freestyle swimmers Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers of Great Britain Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Leeds Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming {{UK-swimming-Olympic-medalist-stub

Swimming career

See also

References

External links