The former swimming star, Becky Adlington became the latest British Olympian from London 2012 to become a parent earlier this week. She and her husband, Harry Needs welcomed their daughter into the world, announcing the new arrival to the general public via social media. Adlington is in esteemed company, joining the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford who are all adding the life skill of bringing up a child to their sporting talents.

Conceived in Venice

The 26-year-old Mansfield sporting star, a keen Derby County fan, married fellow swimmer Harry in September last year.

The baby seems likely to have been conceived on the first day of their honeymoon in Venice, according to Adlington's own calculations. Unlike the Beckhams though, the couple have no plans to follow their lead and name the baby after the romantic Italian destination.

Swimming on the agenda

It seems that the loving couple are already planning on exposing their new daughter to the swimming bug that they clearly share, with her first swimming costume having already been purchased in readiness.

News via Twitter

Announcing the happy news on the birth via Twitter, she adopted a staple slice of footballing parlance by mentioning that the doting parents were "over the moon". To re-assure fans of the baby's sound health she added that "she's doing well and we're so in love."

Golden past

Adlington shot to prominence with her double gold collection in the pool at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Although she was unable to match that achievement at London 2012, she still had the not too unsubstantial consolation of two bronze medals to add to her collection.

With medals at all of the major championships already secured, including world, European, Commonwealth and of course Olympic titles during her illustrious swimming career, Adlington decided to retire from the sport in 2013 at the grand old age of 23.

Public appearances

She has subsequently appeared as an expert swimming commentator on the Television, granting the public an insight into the intricacies of the sport at the elite level. There have also been numerous appearances on programmes as diverse as the world snooker championships, ITV's chat show Loose Women and even the ultra-challenging I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!