SWIMMING HEROES! #1
First in our series on the athletes that inspire our swimmers is a swimmer who nearly quit the sport but recovered from her disillusionment to come back stronger than ever and represent Great Britain in two Commonwealth Games!

Abbie Wood
Born: 2 March 1999 (age 24 years), Buxton
European Champion Nationality: British
Height: 1.66 m Education: Loughborough University
Current team: Great Britain

Biography;
Abbie Wood was born in 1999 and she is from Buxton in Derbyshire. She is a student of Loughborough University. She competed in the women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships, in Budapest, Hungary, winning the gold medal.

Did you know?

Abbie Wood had to be talked out of quitting swimming in 2017 but she is now gearing up for her second Commonwealth Games.
Abbie rebounded from a tough start at senior level in the 2017 World Championships to represent Team England for the first time in Australia the following year. She finished sixth and seventh in her two individual medley finals on the Gold Coast but will be hoping to pick up a medal this time in front of a home crowd. Having followed her sister Lucy into the sport, Abbie was just 11 hundredths of a second away from an Olympic medal when representing Team GB in Tokyo. She was beaten in the 200m individual medley final but still recorded a personal best time.
Abbie was named as a member of the British team to go to the postponed 2020 Olympics in April 2021. That was her first Olympics where she joined an "exceptionally high quality" swimming team including Jacob Whittle, Sarah Vasey and Molly Renshaw who are also from Derbyshire and where also competing at their first Olympics.

As part of the 2021 International Swimming League, Abbie was selected to the roster of team New York Breakers.
Find out more about Abbie on the British Swimming Website below;

https://www.britishswimming.org/athlete-swimming-profiles/british-swimming-profiles/abbie-wood/