Jack Burnell

Jack Burnell (born 13 June 1993) is an English retired swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 10 km race at the European Open Water Swimming Championships in 2016 but was disqualified during the same event at the 2016 Olympic Games. He retired from swimming in 2021 and now works as a performance mindset coach for the football team Brentford FC.

Jack Burnell
Burnell in 2015
Personal information
Born (1993-06-13) 13 June 1993
Scunthorpe, England
Sport
CountryUnited Kingdom
SportSwimming
Event(s)Open water swimming, marathon
ClubNational Centre Loughborough[1]
Coached byDave Hemmings[1]
Achievements and titles
Highest world rankingEuropean medallist[1]

Career

Burnell competed at the Kazan World Championships, and recorded a fifth-place finish in the 10 km marathon.[2] This placing secured Burnell's place in the 2016 Rio Olympics, being the first Briton to secure his place.[1]

Burnell competed in the marathon swimming event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, with the event beginning at the Copacabana Beach.[3] In the men's 10 kilometre open water event, he was disqualified after receiving two yellow cards for unnecessary contact with other swimmers, though he initially appeared to have finished fifth alongside Marc-Antoine Olivier and Zu Lijun.[4][5] The second yellow card came close to the finishing line after a tussle with the defending Olympic champion, Oussama Mellouli, who was also given a yellow card but ultimately finished 12th.[6][7] In an angry interview following the race, Burnell claimed that Mellouli had grabbed his leg and that it may have stopped him from winning, and said the first card for unnecessary contact had been awarded when there were no other swimmers around.[8] His appeal against the judges' decision was not successful.

Burnell won a gold medal victory at the 2017 FINA World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Ahead of the World Championships in Budapest that year, he revealed that he had been struggling with "nightmares and depression" since the 2016 Olympics: "Sometimes I forget and I don't think about it for a few days, but then there'll just be something that triggers the memory. Then I'm feeling depressed about it and I think about how it was four years of hard work down the drain. I'll be laying in bed and I can sometimes feel [Mellouli's] hand on my leg. At that point it sends shivers down my spine."[9] He went on to finish in fourth place in Hungary.[3][10]

Burnell finished 24th at the Doha World Cup in March and then announced his retirement from the sport the following month, ending his bid to reach the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games.[11] He currently works as a performance mindset coach for the football team Brentford FC.[12]

Personal life

Burnell began dating English singer Ella Henderson in 2020.[13] In January 2023, he got engaged to Ella Henderson whilst holidaying in Mauritius.

References
  1. "Jack Burnell". British Swimming.
  2. "Burnell first Brit to seal Rio place". BBC Sport.
  3. "Jack Burnell | Latest Results, Biog and Events". British Swimming. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  4. Nick Hope (16 August 2016). "Jack Burnell wins silver at European Open Water Championships in Netherlands". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  5. "Rio Olympics 2016: Jack Burnell anger after 10km swim disqualification", BBC Sport, 16 August 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  6. "British marathon swimmer Jack Burnell angered by 'ridiculous' disqualification". The Guardian. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  7. "Burnell calls refereeing 'a joke' after Rio marathon swim disqualification". ESPN. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  8. "Rio Olympics 2016: Jack Burnell insists 10km swim disqualification is 'a joke'". BBC Sport. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  9. "'I can sometimes feel his hand on my leg'". BBC Sport.
  10. "Burnell misses out on Worlds medal". BBC Sport.
  11. Hope, Nick (6 April 2021). "Jack Burnell: Olympic marathon swimmer retires before Tokyo qualifier". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  12. "'Every weekend is an Olympics for Brentford'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  13. Watts, Halina; Whitelam, Paul (4 October 2020). "Ella Henderson on lockdown love with Team GB swimmer Jack Burnell". LincolnshireLive. Retrieved 14 February 2021.


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