Thomas William Darnton Dean (born 2 May 2000) is a British competitive freestyle

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 ...

. He is a double Olympic gold medalist, winning gold individually in 200 metre freestyle and as part of a team in 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He has represented Great Britain at the European Junior Championships and the European Championships. He also competed at the 2020 European Championships where he won three gold and two silver medals in the team events and one individual bronze in 200m freestyle.

Early life

Dean was born to Jacquie Hughes and Jonathan Dean in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the second of five children. He grew up in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

, Berkshire, and was a pupil at the

Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (Follow things worthy of thyself) , established = , type = Academy grammar school , head = Kay Mountfield (since 2018) , founder = Sir William Borlase , specialist = Performing Arts College , address = Wes ...

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow (; historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow) is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

. He took up swimming when he was eight, and joined the Maidenhead Marlins. He went to study

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

in 2018 while training at the National Centre for Swimming in Bath.

Career

At the 2017 European Junior Championships, Dean won the gold medal in the 200m Individual Medley and the silver medal in the 400m Individual Medley. At the 2018 European Junior Championships, Dean retained the gold medal in the 200m Individual Medley, breaking a European Junior record in the process. He also won two bronze medals, in the 400m Individual Medley and the 4x200m Freestyle relay. Dean was selected for the British team for the 2018 European Championships, his first senior competition, where he participated in the 200m Individual medley, 400m Individual medley, and won gold as part of the 4x200m freestyle team.

2021 – Olympic gold medals

In May 2021, Dean won gold as part of a team in mixed 4 × 100 metre and mixed 4 × 200 metre freestyle, as well as silver in the men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. He also won an individual bronze medal in the 200m freestyle. On 27 July 2021, at the

2020 Summer Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in Tokyo, Dean won the gold medal in the 200m freestyle, with his teammate Duncan Scott winning the silver medal. He then won gold in the men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay together with James Guy, Duncan Scott, and Matt Richards in a time of six minutes 58.58 seconds. Dean became the first male British swimmer to win two gold Olympic medals at the same games in 113 years, a feat later equalled in the same week by James Guy and

Adam Peaty Adam George Peaty (born 28 December 1994) is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first by a male British swimmer in 24 years, ...

. Dean was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to swimming.

2022

At the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

, Dean won the bronze medal in the 200 metre freestyle with a time of 1:44.98.

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

(20 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Men's 200m Freestyle Final Results"
''

Omega Timing Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

''. Retrieved 20 June 2022. His bronze medal was the first medal won by a swimmer representing Great Britain at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships."Determined Dean claims Great Britain's first medal of FINA World Championships"
''

Swim England Swim England is the national governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, open water swimming, and synchronised swimming in England. It forms part of British Swimming, a federation of the national governing bodies of England, Scotland ( Scott ...

''. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2022. He won his second bronze medal of the Championships in the 4×200 metre freestyle relay, splitting a 1:43.53 for the anchor leg of the relay to finish in a final time of 7:04.00.

(23 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Men's 4x200m Freestyle Final Results"
''

''. Retrieved 26 June 2022. In the 4×100 metre medley relay he won his third bronze medal of the Championships, helping achieve a third-place finish in the final in 3:31.31 by swimming the anchor leg of the relay in 47.45 seconds.

(25 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Men's 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results"
''

''. Retrieved 26 June 2022."World Aquatics Championship: Great Britain win bronze in men's 4x100m medley relay"
''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

''. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022."Men's Medley Relay End World Champs With Budapest Bronze"
''

British Swimming British Swimming is the national governing body of swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming, diving and open water in Great Britain.

''. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.

References

External links

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Tom Dean
at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics {{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Thomas 2000 births Living people British male swimmers Place of birth missing (living people) British male freestyle swimmers European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Championships (multi-sport event) gold medalists Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Alumni of the University of Bath Members of the Order of the British Empire World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Olympic swimmers of Great Britain Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England 21st-century British people Sportspeople from Berkshire People from Maidenhead