London Paralympics 2012. A crowd of 17,500 cheering you on. You’ve just broken a world record and won your second gold medal of the Games.
This was something Ellie Simmonds dreamed about since watching her heroes swim on the TV as a young girl. But Ellie made this her reality. She earned two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal during those Games; setting her own PB’s she is yet to beat to this day. But what stood out to Ellie was the electric atmosphere, the unity, and the realisation that the athletes had shown so powerfully what can be achieved. What is possible, whether you have a disability or not.
Ellie’s love for swimming started when watching her older sister from the side-lines at the pool. She wanted to do it too and took to it immediately. Her competitive nature meant she pushed herself to keep improving, but it was seeing the Paralympic swimmers of Athens 2004 on her TV at home that really pushed her to take it to the next level.
Ellie sacrificed a lot, moving away from home and committing to a regimented routine that saw her training in the early hours as well as the late. But just four years after watching the athletes from her sofa, Ellie’s breakthrough came in 2008 at the age of 13, when she competed at the Beijing Paralympics winning two gold medals and becoming the youngest British athlete to win a Paralympic gold medal. This also earned her the prestigious BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award.
Training for something so fiercely, so intensely, a lot of what helped Ellie achieve so much was winning those tough mental battles. Not turning the alarm off, not skipping a training session, not giving up. She had buckets of self-motivation and belief that she could achieve something extraordinary. And she did. Repeatedly. But even someone as motivated as Ellie needs a break, and in 2017 she took the year off to travel the world; one of the best decisions and best years of her life.
Since retiring from competitive swimming in 2020, Ellie’s legacy continues to inspire future generations of athletes. She proves that with determination, self-belief, and hard work anything is possible.
