Liam Tancock

1. Liam Tancock

2. Liam Tancock is born on the 7 may1985 in Exeter England • Liam Tancock is an English backstroke swimmer who specializes in the 50 m and 100 m events.

3. Learning to swim • Watching his brother learning to swim was the hardest thing, as he just wanted to jump into the pool too. But as he was two years younger than Ryan he had to sit on poolside with his mum and wait his turn. However after a year, his persistence paid off and he started learning to swim a year below age. From then on it was in his blood. He moved up through the different levels within his local swimming club Exeter City and enjoyed every minute. Exeter City was his first swimclub.

4. Early mornings When his school friends were tucked up in bed he was getting up, having his hot chocolate and heading off to an early morning session. He knows this sounds terrible to most, however he loved it. Training used to be from 6 – 7:15am then his dad would drive him and Ryan back home for breakfast before he went off to work and they went off to school. He started with one early morning session a week as he was young and his parents didn’t want to push him and thought it might be too much, but as soon as he could, he went to more.

5. School He’s always had a great group of friends growing up, and he enjoyed going through the school years. He used to like that fact that at 9am in registration he had already been up for three hours when his class mates have just woken up and used to come in yawning. However one draw back was he was always hungry and by break time he had eaten almost all of my packed lunch. The schools he went to: Ladysmith First School, Ladysmith Middle School, St Lukes High School These schools are still around, but have changed somewhat since he was at them. However he did enjoy his schooling years, and both his friends and the schools always seemed to care about his sport and helped as much as they could.

6. Growing up He loves Exeter and growing up there was brilliant. Being so close to the countryside was great too and he enjoyed taking their childhood pet Bonny the dog on family walks. Whether it was on the cliff tops of the Devon coastline, or in the beautiful Dartmoor National Park. One of his favourite things is going to the beach. Exmouth and Sandy Bay were my locals, but his favourite has got to be on the North Devon Coastline, Croyde Bay.

7. Holidays Each year he was lucky enough to go abroad for their family holidays. They did everything from camping in France to one of our best holidays in Australia. They went to Australia for Christmas and new years at the end of 1999. So he saw the millennium 10 hours before his friends. It was amazing seeing the different wildlife and the world class beaches. Whilst over there he brought himself a Surfboard and what better place to do it than the Mecca for surfers, that is the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise.

8. Sports Growing up he really enjoyed playing sports, and he was always playing something. However the two sports that stood out for him were Rugby and swimming. From the age of 10 -14 he played for Exeter as a winger. It was great fun and he enjoyed training and playing games on Sundays. He particularly like the fact that his dad took him and seemed to enjoy himself too. It was very different than swimming, firstly as it’s a contact sport, but it was also team focused. It was nice on a cold winter’s morning to come back to a hot shower and my mums famous roast dinners.   When he was between the ages of 14 and 15 he felt he had to choose between rugby and swimming. And obviously he chose swimming. And he has never looked back!

9. The major competitions • Competition   AreaCountry • World Championships 2008 (SC)  Manchester  England  • The Olympia (LC) 2008 Beijing China •  British Olympic Trials 2008  Sheffield  Engalnd  •  European Championships 2008 (LC)  Eindhoven  Holland •  Japan International 2007 (LC)  Cheba  Japan  •  World Championships 2007 (LC)  Melbourne  Australia •  European Championships 2006 (SC)  Helsinki   Finland •  European Championships 2006 (LC)  Budapest  Hungary •  World Championships 2006 (SC)  Shanghai  China   • Commonwealth Games 2006 (LC)  Melbourne  Australia •  European Championships 2005 (SC)  Trieste  Italy   • World Student Games 2005 (LC)  Izmir  Turkey   • World Championships 2005 (LC)  Montreal  Canada       • First Junior International: • Edminton Junior International (LC)  Edminton  Canada     • Other Internationals: •   World School Championships (LC)  Cannes  France European • Youth Olympic Festival (LC)  Murcia  Spain      

10. The results • DateCompetitionWhereEventMedal • Apr-08 World Championships Manchester 100m Backstroke Gold • Apr-08 World Championships Manchester 50m Backstroke Silver • Apr-08 World Championships Manchester 200m Individual Medley Silver • Apr-08 World Championships Manchester 100m Individual Medley Bronze • Apr-08 British Olympic Trials Sheffield 50m Backstroke • Aug-07 Japan International Cheba, Japan 100m Backstroke Gold • Aug-07 Japan International Cheba, Japan 200m Individual Medley Gold • Mar-07 World Championships Melbourne, Australia 50m Backstroke Bronze • Mar-07 World Championships Melbourne, Australia 100m Backstroke Bronze • Dec-06 European Championships Short Course Helsinki, Finland 50m Backstroke 4th • Aug-06 European Championships Long Course Budapest, Hungary 4x100m Medley Relay Bronze • Mar-06 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 50m Backstroke Silver • Mar-06 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 100m Backstroke Gold • Mar-06 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 4x100m Medley Relay Silver • Dec-05 European Championships Short Course Trieste, Italy 50m Backstroke Bronze • Dec-05 European Championships Short Course Trieste, Italy 4x50m Medley Relay Bronze • Dec-05 European Championships Short Course Trieste, Italy 4x50m Freestyle Relay Bronze • Aug-05 World Student Games Izmir, Turkey 50m Backstroke Gold • Jul-05 World Championships Montreal, Canada 50m Backstroke Bronze

11. Liam in Beijing