Alice Dearing<\/strong> has announced her retirement less than three years after she became the first black female swimmer to represent Great Britain at the Olympics when she contested the open water in Tokyo.<\/p>\n Dearing hangs up her wetsuit on the eve of her 27th birthday following a career that has encompassed an Olympic Games and world and European Championships.<\/p>\n She was fourth in the 7.5km event at the 2014 World Junior Open Water championships, and took European Junior bronze in 2015.<\/p>\n Dearing made her senior international debut in the 5k at the 2015 worlds in Kazan, Russia, and in 2016 became world junior open water champion over 10k.<\/p>\n She appeared at World Championships in Budapest and Gwangju \u2013 fifth in the mixed 5k relay at the former in 2017 her best result so far \u2013 as well as finishing 12th at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.<\/p>\n Dearing booked her place for Tokyo – and wrote an entry into the history books – at the open water qualifier in Setubal, Portugal, in May 2021.<\/p>\n She finished 19th in the Japanese capital amid the hot water of the Odaiba Marine Park.<\/strong><\/p>\n Eva Okaro<\/strong> will become the second black female swimmer to compete for Team GB at the Olympics at Paris 2024 this summer after negotiating the sprint freestyle events at the recent British trials in London.<\/p>\n Dearing is also a co-founder of the\u00a0Black Swimming Association<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>whose aim is to highlight swimming as an essential life skill and to encourage participation as well as prevent drowning in black and minority ethnic communities.<\/p>\n