Elizabeth Clare Simmonds (born 22 January 1991) is an English 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 has represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA World Aquatics Championships, and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. She specialises in

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

events, and is a former European champion in the 200-metre backstroke. Simmonds represented Great Britain at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in both the 100-metre and 200-metre backstroke swimming events. She also competed at 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 the 200-metre backstroke swimming event, coming in fourth place. Simmonds went to secondary school in Lincoln and trained with the Vulcans Swimming Club, later attending

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. Her early career largely coincided with that of her friend, teammate and former World champion and record holder

Gemma Spofforth Gemma Mary Spofforth (born 17 November 1987) is an English former competition swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA world championships and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. Spofforth is the f ...

, with whom she shared the gold and silver medals at both the 100 and 200 metre backstroke at the

2010 European Aquatics Championships The 2010 European Aquatics Championships were held from 4–15 August 2010 in Budapest and Balatonfüred, Hungary. It was the fourth time that the city of Budapest hosts this event after 1926, 1958 and 2006. Events in swimming, diving, synchroni ...

Personal bests and records held

External links

British Olympic Association athlete profileBritish Swimming athlete profile
1991 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University English female swimmers European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Olympic swimmers of Great Britain Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Female backstroke swimmers Swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Beverley Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games {{UK-swimming-bio-stub