The 19-year-old was a household name and in demand. She’d helped inspire the British team to its greatest performance at the Olympics in 100 years.
She’d become a role model for teenage girls, with an outgoing, fun-loving personality and an obvious warmth, quick to thank her mum, dad and coaches, emphasising that hers wasn’t instant, fleeting X-Factor fame but had been wrought of countless hours of hard work and dedication.
The homecoming was quite an event: the town mayor gave her a pair of those designer shoes, in gold of course, for the open-top bus ride, but not all the attention that came with her success was welcome.
The sort to wear her heart on her sleeve, she was upset and annoyed at the disparaging remarks made about her appearance by the comedian Frankie Boyle during an episode of Mock the Week, which earned him a rebuke from the BBC Trust.
Her pursuit of the complaint about that joke showed both a steely edge to her character and a certain vulnerability. Some might have shrugged it off but she fought for a principle., external
The shortcomings in the British Swimming squad were masked by Adlington’s performances, which helped the organisation hit its medal targets, and keep a sustained level of funding for the London Games.
