Nicholas Gillingham, MBE (born 22 January 1967) is an English former competitive swimmer, active in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Walsall, he represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA World championships and European championships, as well as representing England in the Commonwealth Games. Medalling in two Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992, he was a World (short course), European and Commonwealth champion in his specialist event, the 200 metres breaststroke. His career broadly overlapped with fellow British breaststroker and Olympic 100 metre breaststroke champion, Adrian Moorhouse.
Swimming career
Olympic Games
Gillingham participated in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1988. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he won the silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke in a Commonwealth record of 2:14.12,[1] followed by a bronze medal in the same event four years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona in another Commonwealth record of 2:11.29.[2] Although better known as a 200m breaststroke swimmer, Gillingham was also a world class 100m swimmer and was ranked first in the world in 1992 with his Commonwealth record of 1:01.33 from the British Olympic trials. However, he sustained a leg injury during the Olympics which impaired his performance in the 100m final where he finished 7th, half a second slower than his heat time.[3]
In August 1989 in the European Championships, he equalled the existing world record in the long-course 200-metre breaststroke in a time of 2:12.90,[7] only to co-hold it for a single day before the other record co-holder, American Mike Barrowman, lowered the record again.
He was trained by Tim Jones and also won the world title at the first inaugural 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca. He broke three world, ten European, nine Commonwealth and seventeen British records during his career and won 17 major championships.
Gillingham was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours for services to swimming,[17] and retired from full-time competitive sport in 1996. After retiring, he established a sports communications business focusing on sports marketing, development & events. Recently, Gillingham took part in a scheme called Young Ambassadors, promoting youth sport development in the North East of England at Loughborough.