Stephen Milne
Swimmer
highlights - 2016 Rio summer olympic games
"I'm unbelievably proud to have been selected to represent Team GB at the Olympics in Rio. 10 years ago I didn't really know what it would mean, but today I do. Although I swam a new personal best and broke the Scottish record in the 400m freestyle, my goal was to reach the final in my individual events and I was disappointed to have missed by such a small margin"
Following on from their World Championships success in 2015, Team GB’s swimmers produced their best Olympic Games results in the pool since 1908, with a haul of one gold and 5 silver medals.
400m freestyle
A new Scottish senior record and personal best time of 3:46.00 in his Olympic debut wasn't quite enough to secure a second swim for Stephen on Day 1 in Rio as he finished 6th in his 400m freestyle heat, just 0.57s short of qualification for the final.
1500m freestyle
Drawn in the outside lane of the fastest heat of the 1500m freestyle, Stephen produced a season's best performance of 14:57.23 to finish 10th overall, clawing his way back from 7th position at half way to finish 4th in his heat, only 1.83s away from a place in the final.
"Having the chance to compete in the 4x200m freestyle relay, winning the silver medal with the team and getting my name in the British record books for the first time - there are no words to describe it. It had been my dream for so long to win an Olympic medal that I still can’t really believe it happened. When we were on the podium I tried to memorise every tiny bit of that moment. It was a massive privilege to be part of it."
The British men got off to a good start in the heats, with Stephen clocking up his second new lifetime best of the Games with a 1:46.70 lead off leg. Followed out by fellow scots Robbie Renwick, Dan Wallace and Duncan Scott, the team qualified fastest for the final in 7:06.31, slashing almost 3 seconds off their previous Scottish record of 7:09.18, set in Glasgow at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Lining up alongside a host of 200m freestyle specialists in the evening final, including the USA's individual bronze medallist in the adjacent lane, Stephen produced another strong leadoff of 1:46.97. With Scott and Wallace out next, and 200m freestyle individual World Champion James Guy on the final leg, the team came home to claim an historic Olympic podium finish in the event, taking the Silver medal in a new British record of 7:03.13
Rio 2016 Men's 4x200m freestyle relay silver medallists
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