In the 200th episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Ellie Simmonds. Ellie is a five-time Paralympic Champion and a fourteen time World Champion in the sport of para swimming. Ellie shot to fame when she won her first Paralympic Gold medal at just 13 years old at the Beijing Paralympics and after that summer success was the youngest ever recipient of an MBE, an award from the Queen at the age of 14. She then became an OBE after her home Paralympics in 2012. After announcing her retirement from the pool in 2021 she has transitioned to tv/documentary work with three documentaries to her name with My Secret Family being an awarded a BAFTA in 2024.
We discuss her journey to the Paralympics, why we are still talking about the London 2012 Games in 2025, her transition from champion to documentarian, how she decides on the stories she wants to tell and much, much more.
Follow Ellie: Instagram: @elliesimmonds
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