Anna Hopkin (born 24 April 1996) is a British

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. She won gold as part of the British team at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay Mixed is the past tense of ''mix''. Mixed may refer to: * Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 2001 Census Music * ''Mixed'' (album) ...

, setting a new world record time.

Early life

Hopkin is from

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

. She attended Withnell Fold Primary School and St Michael's C of E High School, and completed her

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

Runshaw College Runshaw College is a Further education, Higher and Further Education college based in Leyland, Lancashire, Leyland, England. History Runshaw College was established in 1974. It initially catered solely for school leavers from Balshaw's Church o ...

in 2014. She graduated from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

in 2018 with a degree in Sport and Exercise Science.

Career

Hopkin competed for England in the women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, winning a bronze medal. In May 2021, at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

held in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hopkin won gold medals in women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle, women's 4 × 100 metre medley, mixed 4 × 100 metre freestyle and mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relays. Hopkin was named as a member of the British team to go to the postponed

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo. This would be her first Olympics and she joined as part of what was considered a "high quality" swimming team. Hopkin swam the anchor freestyle leg in the Mixed 4 x 100 metre medley relay, and won gold in a new world record time of 3 minutes 37.58 seconds together with

Adam Peaty Adam George Peaty (born 28 December 1994) is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in the sprint breaststroke events. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first by a male British swimmer i ...

, James Guy and

Kathleen Dawson Kathleen Mary Dawson (born 3 October 1997) is a Scottish backstroke swimmer. She won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay in a world record time. She is also the European champion at the 2020 Budapest Champio ...

. In 2023, she won the gold medal at the

2023 British Swimming Championships The 2023 British Swimming Championships were held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, from 4 April to 9 April 2023. They also doubled as the trials for the World Championships. They were organised by British Swimming. ...

in the 50 metres freestyle. It was the third consecutive time that she had won the 50 metres event. After winning both the 50 metres freestyle and the

100 metres freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics, symbolizing the pinnacle of speed and athleticism in swimming competitions. The first swimm ...

at the

2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships The 2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships (sponsored by Speedo) were held at the London Aquatics Centre in London, from 3 April to 8 April 2024. They also doubled as the trials for the 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), ...

, Hopkin sealed her place at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, she participated in the women's 50 metre freestyle competition and women's 100 metre freestyle competition, where she was eliminated in the semifinals of both.

Awards

Hopkin was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to swimming.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkin, Anna 1996 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bath English female freestyle swimmers British female freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in swimming Team Bath swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Chorley Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Arkansas Razorbacks women's swimmers Swimmers at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century English sportswomen