Cassandra Patten
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Cassandra ("Cassie") Lily Patten (born 1 January 1987 at
Cardinham Cardinham () (the spelling 'Cardynham' is almost obsolete) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and a village in mid Cornwall, England. The village is approximately three-and-a-half miles (6 km) east-northeast of Bodmin. The hamlet ...
,
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, United Kingdom) is a British
freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...
swimmer and coach who won the bronze in the 10 km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


Early life

Her first swimming lesson took place with Dave Darborne in Bodmin when she was five years old. She joined Bodmin Swimming Club. She stayed there for the next eight years where, aged 13, she went to her first national age group championships where she came 5th in the 200m butterfly. Aged 14, she attended
Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational private school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Colleg ...
as a swimming scholar. She enjoyed her time at the school and she was made senior prefect and the house captain of Chaytor's House. Patten was coached by Jon Rudd, Amanda Booth and Jo Johns in the highly successful Plymouth Leander Swimming programme at this time. Aged 19, she moved to Stockport Metro Swimming club outside Manchester, to be coached by Sean Kelly. He moved her away from the 200m butterfly and trained her to become a distance freestyle swimmer. Shee would often swim 80–100 km per week at the Grand Central Pools in Stockport. Kelly was her coach at the Beijing Olympics.


Swimming career

Patten was a late developer in swimming. She won her first national medal, a bronze, in 2003 aged 16, in the 200m butterfly. Also in 2003, she first represented Great Britain at the European Championships in Dublin. The next year was her most successful in her youth career. At the 2004 Youth National championships, she won four golds (100m and 200m butterfly, 400m and 800m freestyle) as well as two silver (200 freestyle and 400 individual medley). She also qualified for the World short course Championships in Indianapolis, where she came 4th in the 800m freestyle. At the British Championships in 2006, she won a bronze in the 400m and a silver in the 800m. At the British Championships in 200, she won a bronze in the 400m freestyle and a silver in the 200m butterfly. In her third year at the championships, which doubled as the 2008 Olympic trials, she won silver in the 800m freestyle and qualified to represent Team GB in this event. Her open water career started in 2006 when she competed in several world and European Cup events. In her first year open water swimming, she was the overall best female in Europe and took home the LEN cup. She won a silver medal in the 10 km freestyle at the 2007 World championship, only three seconds behind
Larisa Ilchenko Larisa Dmitriyevna Ilchenko (; born 18 November 1988) is a Russian long-distance swimmer. She won eight world titles and a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 Olympics. Biography Ilchenko dominated long distance swimming since her first ...
, the gold medallist. Patten represented
Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (B ...
in the 800m freestyle and also in the 10 km open water swimming event, where she won a bronze medal. Her international swimming career lasted eight years and she competed in one Olympics, eight World championship events and ten European Championship events.


Post swimming career

Since retiring from swimming, Patten has taken up coaching which has seen her travel all over Europe delivering coaching sessions, with various companies including SwimQuest, Speedo, Zoggs, Swim Smooth and British swimming. Alongside her coaching career, she has a growing career as a sports commentator. Patten was the lead swimming pundit at the London Olympic Games for Sky Sports News in 2012 and commentated on the 10 km open water marathons in Hyde Park. Patten has a swim coaching column in Outdoor Swimmer magazine.


Personal life

Cassie is married with two children and lives in Oxfordshire


See also

*
List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women) This is the complete list of women's Olympic medalists in swimming. Women's events 50 metre freestyle 100 metre freestyle 200 metre freestyle 400 metre freestyle 800 metre freestyle 1500 metre freestyle 100 metre backstroke 200 ...


References


External links


British Olympic Association athlete profile


{{DEFAULTSORT:Patten, Cassie 1987 births English female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Living people Female long-distance swimmers Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain People educated at Plymouth College Sportspeople from Cornwall Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming British long-distance swimmers 21st-century English sportswomen