Olympics: Rebecca Adlington takes gold for Britain in 400m freestyle

Adlington is ranked first in the world in the 800m but this 400m performance came as a surprise. "I'm a bit disappointed,'' she joked afterwards. ''My time was a little bit slow. I absolutely raced it. That's what you have to do.''

Britain's Jemma Lowe, meanwhile, finished sixth in her first Olympic final, the 100m butterfly, recording a creditable 58.06sec. But she was nowhere near the Australian world champion Libby Trickett, who pulled clear to win in 56.73sec with the American Christine Magnuson taking silver and fellow Australian Jessicah Schipper the bronze.