Jack Burnell (born 13 June 1993) is an English retired swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 10 km race at the European Open Water Swimming Championships in 2016 but was disqualified during the same event at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. He retired from swimming in 2021 and now works as a performance mindset coach for the football team

Brentford FC Brentford Football Club is a professional football club in Brentford, West London, England, which competes in the Premier League, the highest tier of English football, having gained promotion via the playoffs at the end of the 2020–21 Champi ...

Career

Burnell competed at the Kazan World Championships, and recorded a fifth-place finish in the 10 km marathon. This placing secured Burnell's place in the 2016 Rio Olympics, being the first Briton to secure his place. Burnell competed in the marathon swimming event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, with the event beginning at the Copacabana Beach. In the men's 10 kilometre open water event, he was disqualified after receiving two

yellow cards Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

for unnecessary contact with other swimmers, though he initially appeared to have finished fifth alongside

Marc-Antoine Olivier Marc-Antoine Olivier (born 18 June 1996) is a French competitive swimmer who specialises in long-distance open water events. Career Olivier's father and brother were both swimmers, which inspired him to take up the sport as well. He began swimm ...

and

Zu Lijun Zu Lijun (born 26 November 1989) is a Chinese competitive swimmer who specialises in long-distance open water events. Career In June 2016, Zu won the Olympic qualifier race in Setúbal, Portugal, which qualified him for the Olympic marathon. Zu ...

. The second yellow card came close to the finishing line after a tussle with the defending Olympic champion,

Oussama Mellouli Oussama "Ous" Mellouli ( ar, أسامة الملولي; born 16 February 1984) is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Tr ...

, who was also given a yellow card but ultimately finished 12th. In an angry interview following the race, Burnell claimed that Mellouli had grabbed his leg and that it may have stopped him from winning, and said the first card for unnecessary contact had been awarded when there were no other swimmers around. His appeal against the judges' decision was not successful. Burnell won a gold medal victory at the 2017 FINA World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Ahead of the World Championships in Budapest that year, he revealed that he had been struggling with "nightmares and depression" since the 2016 Olympics: "Sometimes I forget and I don't think about it for a few days, but then there'll just be something that triggers the memory. Then I'm feeling depressed about it and I think about how it was four years of hard work down the drain. I'll be laying in bed and I can sometimes feel ellouli'shand on my leg. At that point it sends shivers down my spine." He went on to finish in fourth place in Hungary. Burnell finished 24th at the Doha World Cup in March and then announced his retirement from the sport the following month, ending his bid to reach the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games. He currently works as a performance mindset coach for the football team

Personal life

Burnell began dating English singer

Ella Henderson Gabriella Michelle Henderson (born 12 January 1996), known as Ella Henderson, is an English singer. She competed in the ninth series of ''The X Factor UK'' in 2012, finishing in sixth place despite being a strong favourite to win. She signed ...

in 2020. In January 2023, he got engaged to Ella Henderson whilst holidaying in Mauritius.

References

1993 births Living people English swimmers Male long-distance swimmers Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Scunthorpe Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Brentford F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen {{UK-swimming-bio-stub