In a historic victory, Adlington clinched gold in the Olympic 400 metres freestyle final in Beijing yesterday, pipping America's Katie Hoff with virtually the last stroke of the race.
Adlington, 19, is the first British woman to win a swimming medal since Sarah Hardcastle took silver and bronze in Los Angeles in 1984. It is 48 years since Anita Lonsborough took gold in Rome.
Adlington said: "To get a medal in the Olympics, I'm overwhelmed, I'm so pleased. It's fantastic, we have come so far."
Speaking from the family home in Nottinghamshire, her mother Kay, 48, spoke of her pride. "When I saw her touch (the pool wall] I think, in all honesty, that was the confirmation. I wasn't sure if she had got it until that moment and then I hit the roof.
"She said she was just going to have fun with it and warm up for the 800m and see what she could do."
The Adlingtons also revealed they lost £1,100 after buying tickets to see their daughter in Beijing online. The company providing the tickets, bought in January, went bust.
However, their daughter has now managed to get them tickets, and they will fly to Beijing to watch her compete in tomorrow's 800m freestyle race.
Meanwhile, last night, it emerged that the centre where Adlington learned to swim is to be renamed in her honour. Sherwood Swimming Baths in Mansfield Woodhouse will reopen next September as the Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre.
With the difference between sporting glory and relative anonymity often resting on the smallest detail, Team GB has left nothing to chance, choosing specially tailored diets for its athletes and offering state-of-the-art "shark suits" to give swimmers the edge.
Speedo's LZR Racer suit uses Nasa technology to cut drag in the water by 5 per cent compared to other suits. Experts from the Natural History Museum worked to produce the fabric for the suits, which simulates the texture of a shark's skin.
Allan Wells, the Edinburgh-born athlete who won the 100m gold medal at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, was himself in a photo finish with runner-up, Silvio Leonard, with only inches separating them.
He said: "My race was very tight. We had the same time, but I was at one end of the spectrum and he was at the other.
"Even with the same time, there could be four inches between first and second."
Wells said that, no matter how much talent, training and technology athletes used, psychology played a major role when competing.
"Sport is as much psychological as it is physical. You have to have the ability, but if you haven't got the mental strength, that could be the difference between winning and losing.
"The problem with technology – special suits or equipment – (is] most of the opposition has the same stuff. You have to be in the zone, psychologically. You need the right people around you to make you perform."
Adlington's team-mate, Joanne Jackson, took the bronze medal in the 400m race and the British team is hopeful of more success over the coming days. Britain matched its entire medal haul in the pool from Athens in the 400m race.
Victoria Pendleton is a medal hopeful, competing in the track cycling sprint, while Gail Emms has a chance of glory in the badminton mixed doubles final on Sunday with partner Nathan Robertson.
Adlington's gold came after cyclist Nicole Cooke opened Britain's account at the Beijing Olympics. The 25-year-old from Wick in the Vale of Glamorgan triumphed in the gruelling Women's road race to become the first Welsh athlete to win Olympic gold for 36 years.
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