Cassie Patten

Cassandra Lily Patten (born 1 January 1987 at Cardinham, Cornwall, United Kingdom) is a British freestyle swimmer and coach who won the bronze in the 10 km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Cassie's first swimming lesson took place with coach Phil Goldman at Lakeview country club Bodmin when she was five years old. She was very nervous of water and coach Phil went in the water with her. Phil Goldman later took her to Bodmin swimming club where he was head coach. in the next 8 years he took her to National age group finalist in the 200m butterfly. Bodmin and District in Cornwall where she trained under the coaches Phil Goldman and Joe Dixon, she then attended Plymouth College as a swimming scholar from the age of 11 to 18 where she was the house captain of Chaytor's House. Cassie was coached by Jon Rudd in the highly successful Plymouth Leander Swimming [1] programme at this time.

At the British Championships in 2006 she won a bronze in the 400 m and a silver in the 800 m. At the British Championships in 2007 she won a bronze in the 400 m freestyle and a silver in the 200 m butterfly. In her third year at the championships she won silver in the 800 m freestyle.

She won a silver medal in the 10 km freestyle at the 2007 World championship at only three seconds behind Larisa Ilchenko, the gold medallist. Patten represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 800 m freestyle and also in the 10 km open water swimming event, where she won a bronze medal. She currently lives in Liskeard, a small town in the South West of Cornwall. she had to retire for an ongoing shoulder problem.

She recently hosted Crafts at the museum for two hours emongst the activities to welcome the olympic torch to her home town, and she judged St. Martins Primary School poster competition.