James Guy (swimmer)

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James Guy
Kazan 2015 - Silver medallist at the men's 400 metres freestyle James Guy small.JPG
Guy at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships
Personal information
Full nameJames George Guy
Nickname(s)"Jimmy"
National teamGreat Britain
England
Born (1995-11-26) 26 November 1995 (age 25)
Bury, England, United Kingdom
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly, freestyle
ClubTeam Bath
CoachDavid McNulty
Medal record

James George Guy (born 26 November 1995) is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in freestyle and butterfly. Guy has won gold medals representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games, the World and European Championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games.

Guy came to international prominence when he won two World Championship gold medals in the 200-metre freestyle and 4×200-metre freestyle relay event at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. A prodigious relay swimmer, in 2016, he won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay at the Rio Olympics, finishing 4th in the individual 200 metre freestyle event.[1] He helped defend the men's 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay world title in 2017, and swam the butterfly leg to help Great Britain to gold in the 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. Guy is a Commonwealth Games and seven-time European champion across various relay events.

In 2021, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Guy became Olympic champion, winning gold in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay for Great Britain with Tom Dean, Duncan Scott, Matt Richards and Calum Jarvis. He won a second Olympic title, the inaugural mixed medley relay, with Adam Peaty, Anna Hopkin, Kathleen Dawson and Freya Anderson.

Early life[]

Guy was born in Bury to Cath and Andrew Guy. His brother Luke Guy is also a swimming expert and runs a swimming club in Crewe called Crewe Flyers.[2][3] Guy was educated at Forest Preparatory School, Timperley in Trafford, Greater Manchester.[4] When he was 13, he received a swimming scholarship to Millfield in Somerset.[5][6] He was a member of Trafford Metros swimming club before he moved to Somerset.[3]

Career[]

Guy won his first major medal at the 2012 European Junior Championships in Antwerp where he finished in the bronze medal position in the 400m freestyle.[7]

In his breakthrough season in 2013, he won three medals at the World Junior Championships in Dubai, landing silver over 200m and 400m Freestyle then anchoring the British quartet to 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay gold in a Championship record. He followed that up with double gold (200m Freestyle, 4 × 200 m Freestyle) at his second European Junior Championships in Poznan.

He made his senior international debut at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, lowering his British Age Group record (17 yrs) to finish fifth in the 400m Freestyle, then setting another British Age Group record (17 yrs) as the lead-off in the 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay as the British quartet finished seventh. James became the European and World Junior Champion in the 4x200 and holds the Word Junior Record in those Events.

2014–15[]

He came to senior prominence in 2014, Guy laid down a signal of intent with a hat-trick of golds at the British Gas Swimming Championships, taking the touch in the 200m Free, 400m Free and 200m Fly, and breaking the British record in the 400m Free. He represented England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning two relay medals, lowering the British record again to claim 400m Freestyle bronze for England. Thereafter, representing Great Britain, he took silver medals in the 400-metre freestyle at the FINA World Championships in both the short course (25 metre) and long course formats. On 4 August 2015, he won the 200-metre freestyle at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, the first British swimmer to win the event in its history.

He competed for England in the 4x100-metre medley relay and the 400-metre freestyle events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he won a gold and bronze medal respectively.[8]

At the 200-metre freestyle event at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, Guy won the gold medal beating Olympic silver medallist Sun Yang of China by six hundredths of a second.[9][10]

At the same event, Guy struck gold again in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Team GB was third at the last take over, when Guy took over. He swam his 200 in a 1:44.7, the quickest time across the pool and securing Great Britain the gold medal for the first time at the worlds in this event.[citation needed]

2016 Olympics[]

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, he won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay with Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott, and Dan Wallace, and a further silver in the 4x100m medley relay with Chris Walker-Hebborn, Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott. He came fourth in the individual 200m freestyle event.[1]

2017[]

In February 2017 Guy, alongside coach Jol Fincke, moved his training base to the National Centre for Swimming at the University of Bath.[11]

At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. Guy won gold in the 4x200m freestyle with Duncan Scott, Stephen Milne and Nick Grainger in a time of seven minutes 1.70 seconds.[12] He shared the 100m butterfly bronze with Joseph Schooling of Singapore, both recording a time of 50.83 seconds.[13] In the 4x100m medley relay, he again won silver with the same Olympic line-up of Walker-Hebborn, Peaty and Scott.[14]

2018[]

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast, Australia, Guy was part of the teams that won silver in the 4x200m freestyle, the 4x100m freestyle,[15][16] as well as in the 4x100m medley, finishing behind Australia in all three.[17] He also won a silver in the 100m butterfly,[18] and a bronze on 400m freestyle,[19]

At the 2018 European Championships, Guy swam the anchor leg in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and won the gold medal with Duncan Scott, Thomas Dean and Calum Jarvis.[20] The following day he won a second gold as part of the team in the mixed 4 × 100m medley,[21] then added a third in the final day of the competition by winning as part of the British team the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay. Individually, he took the bronze medal in the 100 metres butterfly on the final night.[22]

2019[]

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Guy won a bronze as part of the GB team in the 4 × 100 m mixed medley relay.[23]

In the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay, he was part of the team together with Adam Peaty, Duncan Scott and Luke Greenbank. They won the final in a European record time of three minutes, 28.10 seconds, and the win is Britain's first gold medal in the event at the World Championships.[24][25]

2021[]

At the European Championships held in Budapest in May 2021, Guy won three gold medals as part of the British team in the men's 4 x 100 m medley, mixed 4 × 100 metre medley, and mixed 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays.[26][27][28] He also won two silvers in both the men's 4 × 100 metre and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays,[29][30] as well as an individual bronze in 100m butterfly.[31]

At the Tokyo Olympics, Guy swam the second leg in the final of the men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and won his first Olympic gold with Tom Dean, Duncan Scott, and Matt Richards in a time of six minutes 58.58 seconds.[32] He then won a second gold, swimming the butterfly leg in the mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay, and set a world record time of 3 minutes 37.58 seconds together with Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, and Anna Hopkin.[33]

See also[]

  • List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Goodwin, Stuart (14 August 2016). "Team GB's medley relay silver brings up best Olympic swimming haul since 1908". The Guardian.
  2. ^ Gilmour, Rod (15 June 2016). "James Guy: 'My boxing grandad is my inspiration'". The Daily Telegraph.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Baxter, Trevor (12 June 2014). "James gets a kick out of winning". Manchester Evening News.
  4. ^ "Former Forest Preparatory School pupil wins silver for Team GB at Rio Olympics | Forest Preparatory School". www.forestschool.co.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  5. ^ "British talent pool makes a splash". The Sunday Times. 31 July 2016.
  6. ^ Gilmour, Rod (20 May 2016). "Top Guy angles for Olympic swimming glory in Rio". The Daily Telegraph.
  7. ^ "James Guy Bio". Swim Swam.
  8. ^ "James Guy biography".
  9. ^ "James Guy wins World Swimming 200m freestyle gold". BBC Sport. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  10. ^ "James Guy wins historic freestyle gold as Adam Peaty sets breaststroke record". The Guardian. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  11. ^ "World Champion James Guy and swim coach Jol Finck loving 'fresh start' at University of Bath". Team Bath. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  12. ^ Hope, Nick (28 July 2017). "World Swimming Championships: Great Britain claim gold in 4x200m freestyle". BBC Sport.
  13. ^ Hope, Nick (27 July 2017). "World Swimming Championships: Britons Ben Proud and James Guy win bronze". BBC Sport.
  14. ^ Hope, Nick (30 July 2017). "World Swimming Championships: Adam Peaty helps GB to men's 4x100m medley silver". BBC Sport.
  15. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Duncan Scott and Siobhan-Marie O'Connor claim swimming gold > Relay silver for England". BBC Sport. 8 April 2018.
  16. ^ "English men win relay silver to close second day on Gold Coast". Swimming.org. 6 April 2018.
  17. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Ben Proud claims gold, Caster Semenya breaks record". BBC Sport. 10 April 2018.
  18. ^ "Guy claims silver to boost medal tally". Swimming.org. 9 April 2018.
  19. ^ "England's Guy edged into 400m freestyle bronze". BBC Sport. 5 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Duncan Scott, James Guy Propel Great Britain to Men's 4×200 Free Relay Win". Swimming World. 5 August 2018.
  21. ^ "European Championships 2018: Peaty, Anderson, Guy & Davies win mixed relay gold". BBC Sport. 6 August 2018.
  22. ^ "European Championships 2018: Adam Peaty & Ben Proud win gold for GB". BBC Sport. 9 August 2018.
  23. ^ "Watch: GB clinch bronze in 4x100m medley relay". BBC Sport. 24 July 2019.
  24. ^ Field, Pippa (28 July 2019). "Adam Peaty: Winning relay world title with Great Britain 'better than Olympic gold'". The Telegraph.
  25. ^ Byrnes, Liz (28 July 2019). "Scott Splits 46.14 To Overhaul Adrian As Great Britain Take Gold in 4×100 Medley Relay: Russia Third". Swimming World.
  26. ^ "European Swimming Championships: GB win silver in men's 4x200m freestyle". BBC News. 19 May 2021.
  27. ^ "Adam Peaty shines as GB keep up perfect mixed medley relay record at European Swimming Championships". Eurosport. 20 May 2021.
  28. ^ Hope, Nick (23 May 2021). "European Aquatics Championships: Adam Peaty helps Britain win men's 4x100m medley gold". BBC Sport.
  29. ^ "European Swimming Championships: Great Britain win silver in men's 4x100m freestyle". BBC Sport. 17 May 2021.
  30. ^ "Great Britain on the podium again with men's relay silver". Swimming.org. 19 May 2021.
  31. ^ "2021 European Championships: Day 7 Finals Live Recap". SwimSwam. 23 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Toyko 2020: Bury swimmer James Guy wins Olympic gold with GB relay team".
  33. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Great Britain win 4x100m mixed medley relay gold". BBC Sports. 31 July 2021.

External links[]

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