PARALYMPIC champion swimmer Ellie Simmonds has become the nation’s sweetheart thanks to her impressive accolades.
The athlete has never let her size dictate her ambitions and is set to reveal her journey finding her birth mom in a new ITV documentary.
Ellie Simmonds was born on 11 November 1994 in Walsall.
She has achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism, and has been interested in swimming since the age of five.
At the age of 11 she moved to Swansea to use the city’s top swimming pool.
She is best known as a best known as a gold medal-winning Paralympic swimmer and broadcaster.
She was given an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours, and was the youngest person to ever be handed this accolade at just 14.
In the 2013 New Year Honours, she received an OBE for her services to Paralympic sport.
In 2021, she announced her Paralympic retirement after missing out on a medal in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Outside of her sporting career Simmonds studied Psychology at Loughborough University in England.
She is also very involved with charity work – with much of her focus being on sports, young people and water.
And her work with young people doesn’t stop there – Simmonds is an ambassador for The Scout Association and a Girlguiding leader in Manchester, where her pack name is Aqua Owl.
Simmonds will be featured in an ITV documentary entitled Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family set to air on July 6.
She will be discussing her journey meeting her birth mom after the young Simmonds was put up for adoption.
Simmonds was the youngest British athlete at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, and won gold medals in the 100m freestyle and 400m freestyle.
Four years later in front of a vociferous home crowd, Simmonds was on the money again, defending her 400m freestyle title with a new world record and also securing the 200m individual medley.
She also won silver in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m freestyle in London.
Simmonds defended her 200m individual medley title in Rio, winning her fifth Paralympic gold medal.
She also won bronze in the 400m freestyle in Rio, bringing up her total of Paralympic medals to eight.
Simonds swims in the S6 disability category.
In addition, Simmonds has also won ten gold World Championship titles.
