A mum, says gold medallist Rebecca
I feel insecure in swimsuit now I’m
AS a double Olympic gold medal swimmer, you might think Rebecca Adlington would feel more than comfortable wearing a costume.
But she has revealed that four years after the birth of her daughter Summer she still feels insecure about putting on a swimsuit.
She has admitted she ‘didn’t recognise’ her body and understands why women struggle to get in the pool because of concerns about how they look. ‘I sometimes don’t want to put on a swimming costume and I’m used to it, so I feel it is a massive barrier,’ said Miss Adlington, 30.
‘I remember putting a costume on for the first time when I took Summer swimming. It was three weeks after giving birth and I just didn’t recognise my body. Everything was wobbly and I felt so disconnected from my body.
‘I still don’t like putting a costume on now. Everybody thinks I’m “Miss Conincluding fident” but I hate it. I feel like I get more judged even though it’s just in my own head.’
She added: ‘I think, “Oh God, everyone’s looking at my cellulite and my stretch marks and my wobbly tummy” and everyone thinks I’m going to be super-ripped and lean because I used to be an athlete but I’ve been retired seven years now, my body is not in the same shape it used to be at all.’
Miss Adlington, who retired from swimming at the age of 23, said there are things in place to make women feel more confident about swimming, women-only times at pools and costumes with support for a fuller bust or even tummy support.
The sports star, who won two gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, is currently covering the World Swimming Championships on BBC2, which finish tomorrow.
She split from her husband and Summer’s father Harry Needs, a fellow swimmer, in 2016 after only 18 months of marriage.
She revealed that her daughter has started swimming lessons, having first been thrust into a swimming pool at three weeks old.
But the sportswoman, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, joked that Summer is unlikely to follow in her footsteps.
‘She has always loved the water, she just has no technical ability at all,’ she said. ‘She styles her own sort of stroke. She’s really come on, bless her.’
‘My body is not in the shape it used to be’