The Paralympic swimmer on being a teenage champion, seeking her birth mother, and the joy of retirement

Born in Walsall in 1994, Ellie Simmonds is a retired Paralympic swimmer and TV presenter. She moved to Swansea when she was 11 to train with the GB squad and at 13 was the youngest member of the British team at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, winning two gold medals. She won two further golds at London 2012, breaking two world records, and a fifth gold at Rio 2016. Since retiring in 2021, she has presented for BBC Sport, and her documentaries include A World Without Dwarfism? and Finding My Secret Family. Along with Stephen Fry and Mo Farah, she takes part in Celebration Day on 25 May, to honour those who are no longer with us.

This is me in my grandma’s garden in Walsall. I have happy memories of being there – we would bake cakes or play outside all day. It’s a typical image of me aged four – energetic, non-stop and vibrant. Mum says I was never one to sit inside and watch TV, despite her efforts to occasionally get me to chill out on the sofa. Screen time wasn’t for me.