More insults for Olympic swimmer

Frankie Boyle has launched a new insult against Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington – three years after being criticised for cracking similar jokes about her looks.

On Twitter, the 39-year-old comic said: 'I worry that Rebecca Adlington will have an unfair advantage in the swimming by possessing a dolphin's face.'

Boyle’s 800,000 followers retweeted the comment almost 3,000 times from

The comic previously ran into trouble after saying on Mock The Week that Adlington, then 20, resembled 'someone looking at themselves in the back of a spoon' and suggesting she must be ‘dirty’ in bed to get an attractive boyfriend.

The BBC Trust criticised the joke after receiving 75 complaints, but no further action was taken against him. At the time, Boyle blamed Mock The Week producers for insisting panellists comment on trivia rather that the big stories – not an excuse he can use this time around.

Of the first joke, Adlington said that Boyle had 'humiliated' her for simply trying to be a world-class swimmer, and her looks shouldn’t be considered important.

But later she admitted: ‘I cannot say I don't laugh when a comedian tells a joke about someone else. So it would be hypocritical to turn round and say you can't joke about me.’

Published: 28 Jul 2012