Will be held on
29/02/2012

Giles Long MBE

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Giles Long MBE is a true inspiration and over the last two years the 2012 Team have had the pleasure of working with him. Giles brings us a wealth of Olympic knowledge and contacts as well as an athlete’s perspective on the Games.

Most importantly, Giles is a superb speaker who now gives a truly heartfelt talk on his fascinating career to date – please do take time to read his full biography below.

Biography

Giles Long MBE is one of the most successful and well-respected Paralympic swimmers of our time. His journey to elite success is very different from the typical athlete. At the age of thirteen Giles was diagnosed with cancer. The bone tumour in his arm meant that his dreams of going to the Olympics, held as a seven year old boy, were shattered.

Despite the apparent end of his potential competitive able-bodied swimming career, Giles carried on swimming, finding the process of goal setting and building a team around him, in a time of rapid change, not only focussing but exhilarating.

He hit the international swimming circuit in 1993 and the success gained in France, Sweden and Malta unlocked his first SportsAid grant, which enabled him to stay in the sport whilst at university.

Giles broke his first World Record at the age of 17 and in 1996 qualified for the 100m Butterfly at the Atlanta Paralympics as the fastest man in the world.

At the Sydney 2000 Paralympics Giles again took gold, setting a new World Record in the process. With one dream realised another had to be created. With that Giles decided to go for 3 Gold medals, from 3 Paralympics, in one event. Taking hard decisions early, driving change earlier and keeping those in his team motivated, produced a performance at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 which Giles tells as a triumph in his speech.

Giles aims to reflect on his career to help illustrate to others how far the extent of each individual’s team stretches, the importance of every individual as a leader, how they can use positive change to their advantage, and the intrinsic link between being inspired and being motivated.

Having written for the Daily Telegraph, his first book, Changing to Win, was released in October 2008 and reprinted in April 2010. Based on his own story; the book provides the reader with a powerful motivational tool whilst being an entertaining read as well.

Giles has joined Channel 4, presenting the IPC World Swimming Championships from Eindhoven in August 2010, a key event in the lead up to the station’s coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics. He has presented Channel 4’s That Paralympic Show and The BT Paralympic World Cup live from Manchester. Most recently he fronted coverage from the IPC European Swimming Championships in Berlin and the European Wheelchair Fencing Championships in Sheffield.