Cassandra Lily Patten - Olympic champion freestyle swimmer and coach

Cassandra was born on 1st January 1987 in Cardinham, Cornwall.

Her first swimming lesson took place with coach Phil Goldman at Lakeview Country Club in Bodmin when she was just five years old!

Phil later took her to Bodmin Swimming Club where he was head coach. Over the next 8 years he took her to National age group finalist in the 200m butterfly.

At the British Championships in 2006 she won a bronze in the 400 m and a silver in the 800 m.

At the British Championships in 2007 she won a bronze in the 400 m freestyle and a silver in the 200 m butterfly. In her third year at the championships she won silver in the 800 m freestyle.

She won a silver medal in the 10 km freestyle at the 2007 World championship at only three seconds behind Larisa Ilchenko, the gold medalist.

Cassandra represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in the 800 m freestyle and also in the 10 km open water swimming event, where she won a bronze medal.

She currently lives in Liskeard, Kernow and sadly had to retire as a result of an ongoing shoulder problem.

This article has been kindly provided by Kernow Matters to Us and is part of the series on Famous Folk of Kernow (Cornwall).