Adlington strikes gold for Britain

Rebecca Adlington today claimed a brilliant gold medal in the 400m freestyle in the Olympic Games as team-mate Joanne Jackson took bronze.

Adlington snatched gold ahead of American Katie Hoff in a thrilling finger-tip finish, winning by 0.07 seconds in a time of four minutes 3.22secs.

The 19-year-old from Mansfield becomes the first British woman to win a medal since Sarah Hardcastle in Los Angeles in 1984. That was in the 800m freestyle, the event in which Adlington is ranked world number one in 2008.

Jackson was third in a time of 4:03.52s as Britain matched their entire medal haul in the pool from Athens in one race.