Rebecca Adlington OBE, Great Britain’s most successful female swimmer, has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the 2025 BMF All Industry Conference in June.
Rebecca was just 19 years old on her Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008. In a sensational double, she won the 400m and 800m freestyle events, and broke the world record for 800m. She became the first woman to take Olympic swimming gold for Great Britain in over 40 years and the first in a century to secure two wins at the same Games.
Rebecca continued her success, winning titles at the Commonwealth Games, European and World Championships, before adding to her Olympic medal tally at London 2012 with bronze medals.
Since retiring from competition, she has combined a media career as a BBC sports commentator and pundit with work for charities and schemes to promote swimming and sport in general. Her Swim! programme delivers proven child-led courses, by experts in premium and family-friendly centres, to provide a best-in-class learn to swim experience for 0-11 year olds.
As an elite athlete, Rebecca faced her fair share of sudden and unexpected setbacks and has dealt with change and the stress that comes with this throughout her journey from sporting success to business owner. Rebecca’s keynote session – sponsored by Specialist Driver Resourcing – will reflect on her experiences and the importance of finding focus and mental resilience when there are so many uncontrollable factors.
John Newcomb, BMF CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Rebecca as our keynote speaker in Barcelona. Her experience in learning to recognise and focus on what is truly important to overcome unforeseen challenges resonates with both sporting and business success.”
Taking place in Barcelona from 12 – 15 June, the 2025 BMF All Industry Conference is now fully booked. However, for merchants or suppliers that haven’t secured a place, the BMF has opened a waiting list for the event.
Please email June.Upton@bmf.org.uk to be added to the waiting list.
The BMF thanks headline sponsor, ACO, and key sponsors BMN, Breedon, Intact, Klipboard (formerly Kerridge Commercial Systems), Knauf, Knauf Insulation, Marsh, Polypipe, Unilin and Velux.
For full information on the Conference, please visit www.bmfconference2025.co.uk
Total BMF membership (as of 1 January 2025) stands at 1,020 merchant, supplier and service companies who together have combined sales of over £51.6bn and employ nearly 198,000 people in the building materials industry. The BMF’s 535 merchant members, including 81 from Ireland, operate from just under 6,500 branches across the UK and Ireland.
