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Alison Sheppard's fifth Olympics 2004

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In a sport which is noted for the short period in which competitors stay at the top level, Alison Sheppard was one of Britain's leading freestyle sprint swimmers for almost two decades, prior to her retirement early in 2005.

Born in Glasgow in November 1972, Alison is a great niece of former Formula 1 motor racing world champion Jim Clark. She learned to swim at the Milngavie and Bearsden club and first emerged as a potential future medal winner at the age of 15, when she was selected for the British team for the 1988 Olympics in South Korea.

She swam in 5 Olympic meetings (a record in itself), although it was not until 10 years after her Seoul appearance that she won the first of the 16 medals she gained in Commonwealth, European and World Championships, when taking the silver medal in the 50 metres Freestyle during the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Building upon that success in 1999, she won bronze in the European Short Course Championships in the 4x50 metres Freestyle event and also finished third in the World Championships 50 metres individual Freestyle, again over the short course.

However, it wasn't only over the short course that she was challenging for honours as she finished third in the European Championships freestyle over the longer course and again finished third in the 4x100 metres Freestyle long course in the European Championships.

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In 2000, more bronze medals followed in the 2000 World Championships in the individual freestyle event and also in the 4x100 metres relay. Sheppard also reached the final of her favoured event in the Sydney Olympics, finishing seventh. She was part of the British 4 x 100 freestyle relay team that broke the national record in finishing fifth in the event.

The following year the relay squad won the silver in the 4x100m Freestyle at the World Championships.

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2002 saw her most successful year in competition ever, as she won gold in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, winning the 50 metres freestyle event, breaking both the British and Commonwealth records in the semi-final in doing so. Her time of 24.76 in the final was marginally slower than her new record of 24.68, but was still fast enough to ensure that she became the first Scot to win gold in swimming at the games since David Wilkie's triumph in 1974. She also won bronze in the 50 metres butterfly during that competition. Her success saw her honoured by being nominated to carry the Scottish flag during the closing ceremony.

Alison emphasised her continued good form by taking the gold medal in the 50 metres freestyle and silver in the 100 metres individual medley in the European Short Course Championships and then finishing second to Sweden's Therese Alshammar in the World Short Course Championships in Moscow, in the freestyle.

Sheppard broke the short-course British and Commonwealth record for the 50 metres freestyle in January 2003 and then, again over the short course, won silver in the European Championships before clinching gold in the 100 metres individual medley. Her success was recognised when she was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday honours list in June 2003.

After the disappointment of missing out on a place in the Olympic final in Athens 2004, Sheppard returned to form in 2005 as she took silver medals in the New York leg of the FINA World Cup, finishing second in the 50 metre freestyle, the 100 metre individual medley and in the 50 metre breaststroke, but following that event she decided to retire at the age of 32.

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Sheppard, who married her coach Gary Van Der Meulen in October 1999, spent much of her later career living and training in Canada, van der Meulen's home country. She credits much of her success to his decision to get her to base her training on short sprints, as opposed to the aerobic- based fitness sessions that she had previously concentrated upon.

At the time of her decision to quit, Alison was still the British record holder for the 50 metres freestyle, with her time set in the 2002 Commonwealth games and for the 50 metres butterfly with her 2001 time of 27.05 seconds.

Written by: Dave Low