The 15-year-old Lithuanian defeated a vastly more experienced field to win the women’s 100m breaststroke title After a disappointing day in the Olympic pool, Britain did not win a medal, but got the next best thing: a claim on the hottest property in women’s swimming, 15-year-old Ruta Meilutyte, who defeated a vastly more experienced field to win the women’s 100m breaststroke title. While she is indisputably Lithuanian – there’s not even a convenient British grandparent – Meilutyte has spent the past three years studying and training in Plymouth. Seemingly more unlikely still, she attends the same school as Tom Daley, the British diver who finished a disappointing fourth in the synchronised 10m platform diving earlier in the day.

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