Adrian Moorhouse is a swimmer who has competed for Great Britain. He competed at the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Summer Olympic Games.
Moorhouse was widely regarded as the top male British breaststroker in the 1980s, following the success of David Wilkie at Montreal 1976 and Duncan Goodhew at Moscow 1980. He was tipped and favored for the gold in the 100 metres breaststroke final at his Olympic debut in 1984 but missed out fully, coming the race in fourth behind the winner and world-record holder Steve Lundquist by 1.5 seconds.
Seoul 1988 turned to be the most critical point of Moorhouse's swimming career. After missing the podium in Los Angeles, he entered the 100 metres breaststroke final on the first night of the competition as a slight medal favorite. Coming sixth at the halfway turn, he produced a late surge to move ahead of his challengers Victor Davis and the early leader Dmitri Volkov. Moorhouse fought off a sprint race towards the final stretch against Károly Güttler until he touched the latter out by the slimmest margin (0.01 of a second) to snatch the gold in one of the closest swimming races at the Games. His time of 1:02.04 also sliced off his own British record from the prelims by 0.15 of a second. Moorhouse succeeded Goodhew as the male British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres breaststroke until Adam Peaty attained such feat with a new world record at Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Moorhouse returned to his third Olympics in 1992 as the defending champion in the 100 metres breaststroke, but he could not replicate his glorious success from Seoul, finishing last of the eight-man final.
Olympic Results[]
| Year | Event | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Men's 100m breaststroke | 4th |
| Men's 200m breaststroke | 9th | |
| Men's 4x100m medley relay | 6th | |
| 1988 | Men's 100m breaststroke | 
|
| Men's 200m breaststroke | 17th | |
| Men's 4x100m medley relay | 8th | |
| 1992 | Men's 100m breaststroke | 8th |
1984[]
| Discipline | Round | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres breaststroke | Heats | 1:04.06 | |
| A Final | 1:03.25 | ||
| 200 metres breaststroke | Heats | 2:19.83 | |
| B Final | 2:18.83 | ||
| 4x100 metres medley relay | Heats | 3:49.86 (1:04.95 split) |
|
| Final | 3:47.39 (1:04.95 split) |
NR |
1988[]
| Discipline | Round | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres breaststroke | Heats | 1:02.19 | NR |
| A Final | 1:02.04 | NR | |
| 200 metres breaststroke | Heats | 2:18.51 | |
| B Final | Withdrew | ||
| 4x100 metres medley relay | Heats | 3:44.44 (1:02.33 split) |
|
| Final | DQ (No time) |
||
1992[]
| Discipline | Round | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 100 metres breaststroke | Heats | 1:02.09 |
| A Final | 1:02.33 |