Tom Dean (swimmer)
Thomas William Darnton Dean (born 2 May 2000) is a British competitive freestyle swimmer. He is the 2020 Olympic Champion in both the 200 metres Freestyle and the 4 x 200 freestyle relay (July 2021). He has represented Great Britain at the European Junior Championships and the European Championships. He also competed at the 2020 European Championships where he won three gold and two silver medals in the team events and one individual bronze in 200m freestyle. Early life. Dean was born to Jacquie Hughes and Jonathan Dean in London, the second of five children. He  grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and was a pupil at the Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He took up swimming when he was eight, and joined the Maidenhead Marlins. He went to study mechanical engineering at the University of Bath in 2018 while training at the National Centre for Swimming in Bath. Career. At the 2017 European Junior Championships, Dean won the gold medal in the 200m Individual Medley and the silver medal in the 400m Individual Medley. At the 2018 European Junior Championships, Dean retained the gold medal in the 200m Individual  Medley, breaking a European Junior record in the process. He also won two bronze medals, in the 400m Individual Medley and the 4x200m Freestyle relay. Dean was selected for the British team for the 2018 European Championships, his first senior competition, where he participated in the 200m Individual medley, 400m Individual medley, and won gold as part of the 4x200m freestyle team. In May 2021, Dean won gold as part of a team in mixed 4 × 100 metre and mixed 4 × 200 metre freestyle, as well as silver in the men's 4  × 100 metre freestyle and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays at the European Championships. He also won an individual bronze medal in the 200m freestyle. On 27 July 2021, at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Dean won the gold medal in the 200m freestyle, with his teammate Duncan Scott winning the silver medal. He then won gold in the men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay together with James Guy, Duncan Scott, and Matt Richards in a time of six minutes 58.58 seconds. Dean became the first male British swimmer to win two gold  Olympic medals at the same games in 113 years, a feat later equalled in the same week by James Guy and Adam Peaty. Dean was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to swimming.