Emma’s life has not been ordinary. She is a double gold medal winning Paracanoeist and 9 time World Champion. She has represented Great Britain at three Paralympics in two different sports.
But it’s not just her achievements that are remarkable but how she has gone about them. She has had to be incredibly resilient.
She was born and grew up in north-west London. A talented all-round athlete, she opted to take a gap year before taking up a place to do Sport and Exercise Science at university. It was on that gap year in Australia that she contracted a virus that changed her life – almost overnight, she was left her without the use of her lower body. She trained as a PE teacher anyway, teaching professionally before becoming a full-time athlete in 2010, captaining the GB Sitting Volleyball Women’s team at the London 2012 Paralympics. After the London Games, she switched to the more individual sport of Canoeing, and has been World Champion 9 times in the KL2 and VL2, won gold at Rio 2016 and a gold and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games. She is now preparing for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to canoeing, she is one of 35 elite female athletes working with the Women’s Sports Trust challenging the lack of diversity in sport, particularly at a senior level and is a performance champion at Vitality.
Even now, her drive and determination to continue to progress, push her further forward. She is enthusiastic about life, infectious in her spirit and generous in sharing those parts of her own experience that help and inspire others.
Emma is a sought after speaker, superb working with small groups and teams, or headlining on the stage at larger conferences.
