Rūta Meilutytė was born on March 19, 1997, and is a renowned Lithuanian swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and world record-holder. She currently holds the world record in the 100 metre breaststroke (short course).
At the tender age of 15, Meilutytė had already shattered eleven Lithuanian women's swimming records. Her impressive performances continued at the 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Trabzon, where she won gold in the 100m breaststroke, silver in the 50m freestyle, and bronze in the 100m freestyle.
Meilutytė's most notable achievement came at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where she won the gold medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke with a remarkable time of 1:05.47. This impressive feat made her the youngest Lithuanian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the age of 15.
In the semi-final, Meilutytė broke the European record in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:05:21, and later went on to break her own record by 0.01 of a second in 2013. The following year, she competed at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, where she set world records in the 50 and 100 metre breaststroke.
By the age of 17, Meilutytė had achieved an unprecedented feat, becoming the first and only swimmer in history to win all available junior and senior international swimming championships at least once.
