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 triple Olympic gold medallist, winning gold individually in 200 metre freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics 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 ...

and the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

. 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. Dean has won relay gold at all four major events available to him – at the World Championships, Olympic Games and European Championships and, for England, at the Commonwealth Games.

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 ...

in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. 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 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 The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

, 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 (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. FINA (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. FINA (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. Also in 2022, he was part of the team that won the gold medal in the Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

2023

In 2023, he won the gold medal at the

2023 British Swimming Championships The 2023 British Swimming Championships were held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, from 4 April to 9 April 2023. They also doubled as the trials for the World Championships. They were organised by British Swimming. Meda ...

in the 200 metres medley. It was the first time he had won the 200 metres event and his second British title, having previously won the 400 metres event in 2018. At the subsequent World Championships, Dean won four medals; his first World Championship gold in the men's 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay, silver in the 200 metres freestyle behind teammate Matt Richards, bronze behind

Léon Marchand Léon Marchand (born 17 May 2002) is a French swimmer. He is the European record holder in the long course 400 metre individual medley and the French record holder in the long course 200 metre individual medley, 200 metre butterfly and 200 met ...

of France, and teammate Duncan Scott in the

200 metres individual medley The 200-metre individual medley is a race in competitive swimming in which swimmers compete in all 4 strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle) in one race, with each leg being 50 metres in length. The stroke order is different t ...

and a further bronze in the mixed 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay behind Australia and the United States.

2024

After finishing second in the 200 metres medley at the

2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships The 2024 British Swimming Championships, Aquatics GB Swimming Championships (sponsored by Speedo) were held at the London Aquatics Centre in London, from 3 April to 8 April 2024. They also doubled as the trials for the Swimming at the 2024 Summe ...

, Dean recorded a time that met the British Consideration criteria for a place at the

and was subsequently named in the British team for the Olympics. Dean did not qualify to defend his individual 200m freestyle at the Paris Olympics. In the Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, the same four quartet of British swimmers who won in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics, James Guy, Duncan Scott, Matt Richards and Dean swam in the final. They won the relay with a time of six minutes and 59.43 seconds, and became the first team to have successfully defended an Olympic swimming relay title with the same four swimmers. They are also the first British team to have defended an Olympic relay title in swimming or athletics. Following their win, Dean confirmed he would be participating in the twenty-second series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Thomas 2000 births Living people European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Championships (multi-sport event) gold medalists Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2024 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 for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England 21st-century English sportsmen Sportspeople from Maidenhead Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games English male freestyle swimmers British male freestyle swimmers