Gemma Spofforth

Gemma Spofforth is an English former competition swimmer, born on 17 November 1987 in Shoreham-by-Sea, who represented Great Britain at the Olympics and the FINA world and European championships and England at the Commonwealth Games. She won eight medals in major international championships. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she came fourth in the 100-metre backstroke, 0.04 seconds off the bronze, and at the 2009 World Aquatic Championships in Rome she won the 100-metre backstroke in a world record 58.12 seconds. She swam for the University of Florida Gators, winning seven NCAA national championships, and finished fifth in the 100-metre backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London before retiring.