Inspirational Diversity Champion – August 2014

ellie simmonds

On 30 August it is National Paralympic Day and with this in mind we have chosen Ellie Simmonds as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month.

Ellie is a British Paralympian swimmer who has achondroplasia dwarfism. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Great Britain, despite being the youngest member of the team, at the age of 13. In London 2012 she was again selected for the Great Britain squad, where she won another two golds setting a World Record in the 400m freestyle.  In addition, she has won ten gold World Championship titles.

Ellie started swimming at the age of five and competed against able-bodied children at the age of eight. At ten years old, Ellie’s talent was spotted at a disability event and she was entered onto the British Swimming talent programme. She worked her way through to be selected as the youngest member of a senior British Swimming squad for the 2006 IPC World Championships at 12 years and three weeks.

Ellie swims in the S6 disability category.  This category is for swimmers with short stature, amputations of both arms or moderate coordination problems on one side of their body.

In 2008 Ellie was voted BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and in 2009 she was awarded an MBE becoming the youngest person ever to do so.  In the 2013 New Year Honours she was award an OBE for services to Paralympic Sport.

To find out more about Ellie and her achievements here http://www.elliesimmonds.com/