James Gibson (swimmer)
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | James Gibson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |
 Great Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
6 February 1980 Chelmsford, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg (180 lb; 13 st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Loughborough University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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James Gibson, MBE (born 6 February 1980) is an English former competitive swimmer and breaststroke who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA world championships and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. He is a former world, European and Commonwealth champion in the men's 50-metre breaststroke event, and now serves as a swimming coach.
Born in Chelmsford, Essex, and raised in Witham. He first started swimming at Witham Dolphins swimming club in Essex and is now the clubs lifelong president, Gibson's primary swimming stroke is the breaststroke and he competed in the 50-, 100- and 200-metre events. In 2003 he became world champion at 50 metres (long-course). He was 6th in the 100 metre event at the Athens Olympics in 2004. A year earlier, at the 2003 Summer Universiade, he won titles in both the 50- and 100-metre breaststroke.
In choosing three words to describe himself, Gibson has said, "confidence, positive and pecs",[1] referring to his prodigious pectoral muscles. On a 2003 edition of the sports-comedy quiz show They Think It's All Over he admitted to rippling his chest muscles before races in order to "freak out" the opposition.
He was appointed MBE in the 2004 New Year's Honours. Gibson's club was Loughborough University where he was coached by Ben Titley. He now coaches himself at Loughborough, being the head coach of the National Sprint team.
Personal bests and records held
| Event | Long course | Short course |
|---|---|---|
| 50 m breaststroke | 27.46 | 26.94 |
| 100 m breaststroke | 59.68 | 57.91 (2008) NR |
| Key NR:British | ||