SuperHuman - Ellie Simmonds

Good morning, and welcome to our brand new inspiring story series, where we will be celebrating and sharing the stories of people with disabilities who have achieved fantastic things, and used their limitations as a strength.

Eleanor Simmonds is a British Paralympian swimmer who has won five gold medals, a variety of very prestigious awards, and beaten world records. ​

Inspiring quotes from Ellie

‘If you’ve got a disability, you’re normal’

At the very  young age of 13, she competed in the 2008 paralympics in Beijing, and snagged two gold medals. She was the youngest member of the team. In 2012, she was chosen once again to join team GB, but this time on home soil, at the London 2012 Paralympics. Here, she won two more gold medals, and to top it off, set a new world record for freestyle swimming.In Rio, 4 years later, she won yet another gold medal!

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‘You only live once, and you need to enjoy life to go out and achieve whatever you want to’ ​

As well as this, she has won 10 Gold Championship titles.

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Where it all began
Ellie Simmonds was born in Walsall, near Birmingham in 1994. She is one of five siblings. She has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. She first began to show an interest and a talent for swimming at the age of five. For a number of years, she was part of the Boldmere Swimming club in Sutton Coldfield, but when Ellie was 11, her very supportive mother moved the entire family to Swansea in order to access the city’s world-class swimming pool!

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Ellie has also won the 2008 Young Sports Personality of the Year.
In 2009, at the age of 14, she became the youngest person in history to be appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from the Queen!
Ellie also has a wide range of other long term goals that don’t involve swimming. These include attending university, pursuing her love of baking, becoming a TV presenter, or a publicist.

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‘The red carpet stuff is brilliant, but at the end of the day, it’s about getting into the water. Swimming’s my comfort zone’

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Positively Unique
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Little People UK is a fantastic charity that supports, empowers and champions people with genetic conditions similar to Ellie Simmonds. It provides an amazing support network for the dwarf community.
Check out this link for more information, and the opportunity to donate to a worthy cause...
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http://littlepeopleuk.org

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