Cassie Patten, 21, a former swimming scholar at Plymouth College, has won a bronze medal in the 10K Open Water event in Beijing. An open water specialist, Cassie also made it to the 800m freestyle final in the pool last Saturday.
This is the first time the 10K Open Water has been an Olympic event. Cassie won a silver medal in last year’s Open Water World Championships.
Cassie joined Plymouth College in 2002 and was the school's first swimming scholar. Run in conjunction with Plymouth Leander, the elite swimming programme now boasts 25 swimmers who in the last couple of years have won World and European medals, competed in World Championship finals and have broken over 50 British and English records. Since 2004, fifteen have been selected for Great Britain and/or England swim teams, and national records are held by Plymouth College swimming scholars in five different countries around the world.
Now based in Stockport, Cassie is still a member of Plymouth Leander and trains several weeks a year with the club.
“Everyone here is absolutely delighted for Cassie and very proud of her”, said Plymouth College director of swimming and Leander head coach, Jon Rudd. “The school's elite swimming programme has gone from strength to strength and it is fantastic to see the years of hard work and determination by both Cassie and her coaches come to fruition with her Olympic medal. I’m sure Cassie is just the first of many Olympians who will come from the Plymouth College/Plymouth Leander programme in the future.”
20/08/2008
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