Who is former Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds and when did she receive her OBE?

FIVE-TIME Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ellie Simmonds won over the nation's hearts with her incredible performances.

She's set to make her debut presenting Channel 4's coverage of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

Who is Ellie Simmonds?

Ellie Simmonds was born on November 11, 1994, in Derbyshire.

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.

Ellie is 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, Ellie 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 Ellie 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 - Ellie is an ambassador for The Scout Association, and a Girlguiding leader in Manchester, where her pack name is Aqua Owl.

Soon after she retired from swimming, Ellie was announced as one of the contestants for the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

She was partnered with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin.

The pair hit it off straight away and had great chemistry together, managing to make it as far as week 7 of the show before losing out to actress and presenter Molly Rainford in the dance off.

After Strictly, Ellie featured in a 2023 ITV documentary called Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family.

Viewers were in tears as they saw her meet her birth mother for the first time.

Ellie was put up for adoption at just two weeks old after being diagnosed with dwarfism.

In the show she read an old letter handwritten by her mum in which she said she wished she'd had an abortion, or that Ellie had died.

In the lead up to the show being filmed, Ellie wrote to her mum explaining she wasn't angry at her and that she wanted to get to know her.

She sobbed as she read her mum's reply in which she said she had suffered with "guilt and self-hatred".

After the meeting, Ellie said: "It was amazing. We spoke about everything over the last five hours. We've got the same sense of humour we were laughing so much.

"I felt like her face was just like me. What touched my heart was that she thinks about me everyday and she always sees me as a daughter."

In July 2024 it was announced that Ellie would be part of the presenting line-up for Channel 4's coverage of the Paralympic Games in Paris.

The top team also includes fellow Strictly competitor, actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, as well as veteran broadcasters Ade Adepitan and Clare Balding.

What has Ellie Simmonds won?

Ellie 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, she was on the money again, defending her 400m freestyle title with a new world record and also securing the 200m individual medley.

Ellie also won silver in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m freestyle in London.

She defended her 200m individual medley title in Rio, winning her fifth Paralympic gold medal.

The swimming star also won bronze in the 400m freestyle in Rio, bringing up her total of Paralympic medals to eight.

Ellie swims in the S6 disability category.

In addition, she's also won ten gold World Championship titles.