Latest news with #LilyKing
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Lily King's parents call for caution after allergy death on holiday
The parents of a teenage girl who died in Morocco from an allergic reaction have urged others to be extra cautious eating out while on King, 18, from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, had gone for a drink with her mum Aicha, who comes from Morocco and speaks fluent Arabic."The restaurant staff said we had to eat something, and I told them she had allergies and we would rather not eat, but they insisted it would be fine. I told them to be careful and they didn't listen," Aicha told the inquest at Milton Keynes Coroner's Court this week confirmed Lily died on 23 June 2024 from a cardio-respiratory arrest caused by anaphylaxis and triggered by food. "Every time you eat out, especially abroad, it's Russian roulette," said Lily's dad Michael."Most restaurants in the UK are very careful, but many other countries don't have compulsory training programmes for staff around allergies. "Someone needs to warn people who are going on holiday to other countries – not only Morocco – to be very, very wary of eating out. Especially if you don't have the language," he said. Lily had a catalogue of allergies for most of her life, the most severe being seafood, nuts and leaving home to study economics at Exeter University, her parents said the allergies became worse."She wanted to be like her friends – a normal person. That led to her eating out more, but she was always very careful and carried her EpiPen and antihistamine suffered her first ever anaphylactic shock that year while at a festival, and was treated by St John afterwards she travelled to Morocco with her mum to visit family and celebrate completing her first year at chose a restaurant that Lily loved and had been to before. Her mother said she told restaurant staff three times about Lily's food allergies and what she could not eat, before ordering chicken and meal arrived with other food and a sauce on the plate."She literally took a tiny piece of food – we think it was carrot - and tasted it. She got an itchy tongue which she always had before a reaction."She took a Piriton (antihistamine tablet) and used her EpiPen. She said 'I'm going outside to get some air'," explained mum rushed out to join her and gave a second EpiPen injection."She was being very, very strong, because she said, 'Don't stress mum, you know I love you. I love you. I'm very sorry, I'm going', and then she passed out," she said.A trip to the hospital was then delayed by two issues, the family said. The ambulance did not arrive, and Aicha said the restaurant insisted she paid for the food before leaving in her nephew's car."The next day, she came around temporarily but then had a seizure. Later they did a brain scan, but there was no activity," said Michael. His daughter passed away in hospital four days after her visit to the restaurant."We never believed it would come to this. We're devastated."She meant the world to us, she was our baby. We had 18 marvellous years with her," he said. The family said it had tried to take the restaurant to court in order to raise the issue at a national level."We only want the Moroccan government to realise how important it is, and for their hospitality industry to recognise that restaurants should be told to educate their staff."I care about other families going through the same thing," said and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose daughter Natasha died in 2016 from an allergic reaction to a baguette, said: "Lily's family did everything they could to keep her safe. "Yet on this occasion even though Lily and her mother flagged her allergies, it still went dreadfully wrong."Lily's death highlights how dangerous food allergies can be and the potential risks of travelling abroad with food allergies." What are the rules in the UK? The UK Food Standards Agency states that food retailers and caterers are required to provide allergen information, as set out in food must:Provide allergen information to the consumer for both prepacked and non-prepacked food and drinkHandle and manage food allergens effectively in food preparationMake sure that staff receive training on allergens Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Forbes
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Olympic Swimmer And World Record Holder Lily King Announces Retirement
Often known as the breaststroke queen, Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Lily King recently announced that 2025 will mark her final season in competitive swimming. The 28-year-old had previously stated she would not be training for the 2028 Los Angeles Games but had not given a definitive timeline for when her decorated career would come to an end—until now. Despite news that the 50-meter breaststroke will be added to the 2028 Olympic Games lineup, King has confirmed she still plans to retire. Throughout her career, King has been a dominant force in breaststroke, earning Olympic medals, world titles and setting global records. With the announcement of her retirement, let's look back at the highlights of her journey in the pool, from NCAA records to Olympic gold medals. Before attending Indiana University to begin her college swimming career, King captured her first junior national title in the 100-yard breaststroke at the U.S. Winter Junior Nationals at age sixteen, setting a new National Age Group record. At the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, she won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke, breaking the meet record. King's relay team also took victory and set a new meet record in the 4×100-meter medley relay at the championship. Just before joining the Indiana Hoosiers, King finished as runner-up in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2015 World University Games. King didn't have to go far from home to attend Indiana University. She grew up in Indiana, was born in Evansville and attended Francis Joseph Reitz High School. As a freshman at the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Championships, King broke the NCAA, American and U.S. Open records in the prelims of the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 57.15. She then shattered her own mark in the final, winning the event in 56.85. King wasn't done there. She also broke records in the 200-yard breaststroke, which she won by a wide margin with a time of 2:03.59, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of the field. King continued her dominance the following year at the 2017 NCAA Championships. She set a new meet record and defended her title in the 100-yard breaststroke (56.71). In the 200-yard breaststroke, she captured the title again, setting new NCAA, meet, American and U.S. Open records with a time of 2:03.18. In 2018, King lowered her personal bests once again, breaking the American records in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 56.25 and 2:02.60, respectively. With that 200 performance, she became the first woman ever to swim under 2:03 in the event. At the 2019 NCAA Championships, King set new NCAA, U.S. Open and American records in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.88—a mark that still stands as the NCAA record today. She also won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:02.90). From 2016 to 2021, King remained undefeated in the 100 breaststroke across yards and meters—a streak that established her dominance in the event. King made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games, where she won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke, breaking the Olympic record with a time of 1:04.93. She also helped lead the U.S. team to victory in the 4×100-meter medley relay. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, King secured two silver medals—one in the 200-meter breaststroke and the other in the 4×100-meter medley relay—along with a bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2024 Paris Games, King helped the U.S. team win gold again in the 4×100-meter medley relay. She placed fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke and eighth in the 200-meter breaststroke. In total, King has competed in three Olympic Games and earned six Olympic medals, including three gold medals. She has also won 27 World Championship medals, 18 of which are gold. King still holds the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke (long course), set at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with a time of 1:04.13. She is also a current world record holder in two relays, including the 4×100 medley in both long course meters and short course meters, set in 2024 at the Paris Games and the Short Course World Championships. King recently competed at the 2025 National Championships, where she won first place in the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 29.88 seconds and finished second in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:06.02). The meet was her final competition in the United States. King is set to race both events at the World Championships in Singapore this summer, which will likely be her last competition before retirement.
NBC Sports
07-06-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Douglass holds off King to win 100m breaststroke
Kate Douglass outduels Lily King to claim victory in the women's 100m breaststroke at the U.S. Swimming National Championships with a time of 1:05.79.
