Caitlin McClatchey
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Caitlin McClatchey (born 28 November 1985) is a British former swimmer. Representing Scotland, she won two gold medals at the
2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...
, in the 200 metres freestyle and 400 metres freestyle. Representing Great Britain, she won bronze medals in the 400 m freestyle at the 2005 World Championships and 2006 European Championships. She has also competed at three
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
and reached the Olympic 200 m freestyle final in 2008 and 2012. She is a former British record holder in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m Freestyle. She graduated with a politics degree from
Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...
in 2011.


Personal life

McClatchey was born in
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
, Hampshire, England and raised in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, making her eligible for the England team. However, she chose to follow in the footsteps of her parents, John and Louise, who swam for the Scottish team at the
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
and 1974 Commonwealth Games respectively. Her uncle Alan McClatchey was an Olympic bronze medallist in
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
. She competed in
cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...
before opting to concentrate on swimming. She is a member of the University of Edinburgh swimming club, having previously been a member of Northampton swimming club. McClatchey has been in a relationship with fellow swimmer
Liam Tancock Liam John Tancock (born 7 May 1985) is an English former competitive swimming (sport), swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. He specia ...
since 2006. They married in 2019. She started studying for a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in Performance Psychology at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
in January 2013.


Career

McClatchey competed at her first Olympics in Athens 2004, finishing fifth as part of the British team in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. In 2005, she won a bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle in the 2005 World Championships. Competing in the 2006 Commonwealth games, McClatchey made national headlines by winning two gold medals. McClatchey won her first Commonwealth gold in the 200 m freestyle, defeating Australian favourite Libby Lenton. In the 400 m freestyle she narrowly shaded a 3-way sprint for the line, winning in a time of 4:07.69. Also in 2006, she won a European Championship bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle. McClatchey competed in the 2007 World Championships, but did not win a medal, placing 7th in the final of the 200 m freestyle and failing to reach the final in the 400 m freestyle. She swam in the British team that came 5th in the 4×200 m freestyle final, setting a new British record. McClatchey was disappointed in her results and said that she needed to revise her training schedule to build up muscle. Selected for the
2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...
she finished sixth in the 200m freestyle being the only Briton to reach the final. She was also selected for the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team that was widely tipped for a chance of winning a medal, but a gamble to rest top swimmers; including McClatchey in the heats backfired and the team failed to qualify. This was particularly disappointing as McClatchey had already pulled out of the 100m freestyle individual event to concentrate on this. In 2009, she was a member of the British teams that set the UK records in the 4 × 100 metres and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays. As of 2014, both records still stand. She is also a former UK record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 m freestyle. McClatchey competed for Scotland in the
2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...
in Delhi, reaching the semi-finals of the 100-metre freestyle, finishing fifth in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay, fifth in the 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay, and fifth in the 4 × 100-metre medley relay. At the 2012 Olympics in London, McClatchey reached the 200 m freestyle final, finishing seventh. She was also a member of the British teams that finished fifth in both the 4 × 100 m freestyle and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays. In late 2012 McClatchey moved from Loughborough University, where she had been based for the previous eight years, to
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, after her coach Ian Armiger became head coach for the
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
. In Edinburgh she was coached by the head of performance swimming at the University of Edinburgh, Chris Jones. McClatchey announced her retirement from competitive swimming in June 2015.


Honours

McClatchey was inducted into the Scottish Swimming Hall of Fame in 2018.


See also

* Commonwealth Games records in swimming * List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women) * List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women) *
List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (women) This is a list of women's Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (sport), swimming from 1930 to 2022. Current program 50 metre freestyle 100 metre freestyle 200 metre freestyle 400 metre freestyle 800 metre freestyle 50 metre backs ...


References

* * *


External links


British Swimming athlete profileBritish Olympic Association athlete profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClatchey, Caitlin 1985 births Living people English people of Scottish descent Scottish female freestyle swimmers Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Alumni of Loughborough University Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Olympic swimmers for Great Britain People from Brixworth British female freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Scottish sportswomen