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. She will begin studying for GCSEs there later this year.
The evening at the aquatics centre was mainly disappointing for home fans, with Robbie Renwick, Gemma Spofforth and Liam Tancock finishing outside the medals in their finals, the 200m freestyle and the women's and men's 100m backstroke.
In contrast, Meilutyte, who turned 15 only five months ago, led her final from the start, thrilling a partisan and, by now, not so fussy home crowd. Her time of 1.05.47 was slightly outside the new European record she set in the semis. Meilutyte moved from her home nation with her father in search of better training and coaching facilities, initially going to Lipson Community College, a local academy.
She is now on a boarding scholarship at Plymouth Collegean independent school – where annual fees are about £24,000 a year – that for the past decade has established itself as a base for elite young athletes, primarily in swimming but also in fencing and modern pentathlon.
Meilutyte is among around 60 pupils from the 520 at the school who form part of the elite sports programme, which has already produced an Olympic medallist in Cassie Patten, who finished third in the 2008 10km open water swim.
Plymouth College is in the somewhat unusual position of fielding four athletes in the 2012 Games. As well as Meilutyte and Daley, another 15-year-old, Jamila Lunkuse, will swim in the 50m women's freestyle for Uganda, while Jade Howard, 17, is Zambia's entrant in the 100m equivalent. Neither is likely to reach the finals.
The specialist boarding section for athlete pupils allows them to keep such antisocial practices as 5.30am training sessions without bothering other students, said Stephi Baker, a spokeswoman for the school. The syllabus also permits them to catch up with lessons missed while at competitions. The school has its own 25m pool and is a short walk from a new £46m complex with a 50m pool.
"The fact we have so many elite athletes means they don't stand out, they're part of a bigger group," Baker said. "Obviously, Tom has a particularly high profile, but even he is just a normal part of the school."
Daley moved to the college three years ago after experiencing bullying at his previous school due to his fame. Despite their age difference, he and Meilutyte know each other well, said Baker. "When I ask them what they talk about, they say it's never about the Olympics or competition – just normal teenage stuff."
Baker tried to interest the media in Meilutyte's potential shortly before the Games, with little response. That all changed on Sunday evening when she qualified for the 100m breaststroke final nearly a second faster than anyone else.
Few were more surprised than her British coach, Plymouth-based Jon Rudd. He said: "We thought she could go under the 1.07 mark, but to miss out 1.06 completely and go straight to 1.05 was a bit more than we thought."
Such success so young, particularly in women's swimming, can bring suspicion. However, John Leonard, the hugely experienced US coach who called the gold medal-winning performance of 16-year-old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen in the women's 400m individual medley "unbelievable", takes a different view on Meilutyte.
He told the Guardian: "No one has seen anything from the Lithuanian girl that says this is a historic anomaly. She is just very good and very fast."
Both her coach and her school describe Meilutyte as hugely focused for her age, Rudd said: "She does not worry about other athletes, and that is the sign of a great athlete."
Baker agreed: "If there was one pupil I thought would do well, it was her. She's very focused, incredibly so for someone of her age. I once asked her if, with all the training, she missed doing the usual teenage stuff. She said, 'Look, it's only for a few years – I'll have plenty of time to party when it's finished. But my goal is to win an Olympic medal.' It's a remarkable attitude for a 15-year-old."