Heidi Earp (born 20 December 1980) is a female English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games and the European championships, and for England in the Commonwealth Games.

Swimming career

Earp specialized in breaststroke events. She swam for the British squad at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, and later earned two bronze medals at the European Short Course Championships (2000 and 2001). During her sporting career, she trained for the Nova Centurion Swim Club in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

under her longtime coach and mentor Bill Furniss. Earp competed only in two swimming events at the

in Sydney, Australia. She broke one of Britain's oldest records from the Olympic Trials in Sheffield, finishing in a

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 ...

A-standard of 1:09.92. On the second day of the Games, Earp placed twentieth in the 100 m breaststroke. Swimming in heat five, she came from behind the pack to edge out Poland's

Alicja Pęczak Alicja Pęczak (born 13 January 1970 in Bydgoszcz, Kuyavian-Pomeranian) is a retired breaststroke and medley swimmer from Poland, who competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country: in 1992 and 1996. A member of Astoria Bydg ...

on the final stretch and pick up a seventh seed in a time of 1:10.56, but missed the semifinals by almost a tenth of a second (0.10). Earp also teamed up with Katy Sexton, Sue Rolph, and

Karen Pickering Karen Denise Pickering, MBE (born 19 December 1971) is a former freestyle swimmer from Great Britain. Swimming career She made her international senior debut in 1986. She was first selected to represent her country at the European Junior Cham ...

in the medley relay. Swimming the breaststroke leg, Earp recorded a split of 1:10.25, but the Brits settled only for seventh place in the final with a record-breaking time of 4:07.61. Shortly after the Games, Earp, along with Sarah Price, Alison Sheppard, and non-Olympian Rosalind Brett, shattered a British record of 1:51.20 to take home the bronze in the 4×50 m medley relay at the

2000 European Short Course Swimming Championships The fourth edition of the European Short Course Championships was held in Palau Luis Puig in Valencia, Spain, from December 14 to December 17, 2000, just a couple of months after the Sydney Games. Medal table Men's events 50 m freestyle ...

in Valencia, Spain. The following year, she added a second bronze to her career hardware in the 100 m breaststroke from the

2001 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 5th European Short Course Championships was held December 13–16, 2001 at the Wezenberg Swimming Pool in Antwerp, Belgium. The meet featured competition in a short course In swimming, the term short course (abbreviated SC) is used to ide ...

in Antwerp, Belgium. At the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

in Manchester, England, Earp failed to collect a single medal for the English team in the 200 m breaststroke, finishing off the podium at 2:30.45. In 2003, Earp announced her retirement from swimming to pursue a further career in medicine. At the ASA National British Championships she won the 100 metres breaststroke title in 2000 and the 200 metres breaststroke title in 2000.

References

External links

Manchester 2002 Profile
1980 births Living people English female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Female breaststroke swimmers Sportspeople from Stoke-on-Trent {{UK-swimming-bio-stub