Olympics: Adlington Still Racing for Glory After Stunning Victory

There was no tipsy swig from a half-empty bottle of bubbly; no frocked-up night on the town. Instead Rebecca Adlington celebrated winning her gold medal yesterday with a 2,000m evening recovery swim after spending several hours struggling to provide a urine sample for drugs testers.

"For once she couldn't perform," her coach Bill Furniss told the Guardian. "We were four hours in drug testing as she was called for a random blood test as well. It all got a bit manic because the press wanted plenty of time with her too."

But, although Furniss admits that the 19-year-old from Mansfield is "tired" after taking gold in the women's 400m freestyle, he is hopeful she can add to her medal tally in the 800m freestyle and the 4x200m relay races later in the week.

"She's now on a recovery program which should give her a real crack at both races," said Furniss. "Today she's going out to a quiet pool, away from all the attention, and we'll just try to train, rest and recover with plenty of good food, sleep and massage. Hopefully she'll then come back fighting in a couple of days."

Furniss, who has coach Adlington since she was 13, admitted that he had "punched the air in sheer delight" when he realized she had secured her Olympic gold medal - the first for a British woman in the pool in 48 years - by the width of a finger. "When she got out I told her: 'I just want to say: Becky Adlington, Olympic champion' because I wanted to be the first person she heard it from. What a fantastic day."

Did she always have that indefinable something that marks the exceptional from merely great? Furniss nods. "She's always had a prodigious technical talent, focus and discipline," he says, pride seeping into every first syllable. "She is a very strong-willed young woman. Those traits set you up in this game."

Such level-headed determination has helped Adlington burst through a series of training plateaus this year following a couple of frustrating seasons after suffering a bout of glandular fever.

"She now does about 70km a week - usually from 10 two-hour sessions, twice a day" explains Furniss. "There's a lot of speed work and hard endurance work off very short rest periods. It's a punishing routine but she does very well on it."

While yesterday's thrilling final-lap victory clearly proves that point, Furniss admits the race didn't go quite as they had expected. He had envisaged Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini would blaze through the first 100m, just as she had in the semi-finals, and had warned Adlington "to hang on to her". Instead, Pellegrini sat back, along with everyone else in the field, for the first 250m and Adlington only took the lead, surging from fourth place, during the course of the final length.

"It was a bit surreal because our plan for the race just didn't materialize," said Furniss. "I thought: 'What's going on here?' It was very cat and mouse, and Rebecca along with Jo Jackson [who finished in third place] were both clever to wait before coming through with those storming finishes."

Last night Paddy Power made Adlington the 7-4 favorite to collect a second gold medal in the 800m freestyle and, while many in the British set-up believe those are tempting odds, Furniss is keeping his cards close to his chest.

"I'm not a betting man but she's obviously she's got a chance," he said, allowing himself a wry smile. "But there are some big players in that race and this is a new experience for her. If she doesn't swim her Sunday Best in the 800m heats, she could end up watching the final from the stands."

Winning a gold medal can sometimes scramble an athlete's senses and alter their world forever but Furniss believes Adlington "will be totally unaffected" by the media spotlight. "This won't change her," he said. "She's a bubbly, extrovert character - a great girl."

Certainly she had the British tabloids eating out of her hand as he waxed lyrical about her love of shoes - she owns more than 30 pairs - and her dream of buying an Audi A3. "Even though Jeremy Clarkson slagged them off as chavvy, I don't care," she said, as the broadest of smiles spread across her face.

Furniss, meanwhile, has thanked the other members of the British team for their "awesome" support at the Games. "We're having a great Olympics. For the last two nights every single swimmer got through into the finals or the semis," he said. "It's unbelievable. Rebecca's performances have had a knock-on effect and all the swimmers are firing. The camp is a great place to be right now."

Britain's long wait

Anita Lonsbrough won Olympic gold in Rome on August 27, 1960. The other top stories that day were:

West Germany confirmed it may arm its forces with nuclear weapons after the head of the General Staff, Vice-Admiral Friedrich Ruge, said the country needed to be equipped 'like other Allied shield forces'

Danish cyclist Knud Enemark died after collapsing under the influence of amphetamines during the 100km team time-time trial the previous day

The AFL-CIO, American's largest trade union, endorsed Senator John F Kennedy ahead of the upcoming American presidential election

Middlesex's chances of winning the County Championship were ruined after rain forced their match against Warwickshire at Lord's into a draw

Mr and Mrs Anderson had to be evacuated after the banks of the River Spey collapsed, leaving their house in Beach Road, Kingston, dangling over a 20ft drop