As a 4x Winter Olympian, a career high ranking of 8th in the World, 7x British National Overall Champion and the only British female skier to ever win a run in a World Cup, Chemmy Alcott is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest ever skiers.
In a time where competing at a Winter Olympics was unusual for a British athlete, Chemmy defied the odds and pioneered a skiing movement that has inspired a generation. Resulting in not just skiers, but British Winter Sport athletes as a whole seeing the Winter Olympics as a realistic and achievable goal.
Since retiring from competing on the world stage after The Sochi Olympics in 2014, Chemmy has immersed herself in the world of TV & media, where she now presents for the BBC on Ski Sunday and commentates on the World Cup Ski Series for Eurosport amongst being a guest on many other show.
Chemmy continues to constantly push her body to the limit, competing in multiple physical challenges including the World’s Toughest Ski Race in Greenland, the 100-mile road race in London and climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, raising over £800,000 for charity in the process.
Chemmy is committed to inspiring the next generation and educating people from all over the world through sport. Most notably, she created the ‘X-Elle’ scheme, which aims to develop girl’s confidence through sports she helps give them the confidence to create big dreams and do everything humanly possible to achieve them.
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Show notes
- Who is Chemmy
- Growing up in a ski mad family
- Being inspired by her older brother
- Starting to ski at 18 months old and doing her first race at 3 yrs
- The fear of falling over
- Loving tennis and skiing
- Going to her first big event at 11 years old and winning
- Education and skiing
- Spending the summer months in New Zealand
- Female role models in skiing
- Wanting to be a speed skier
- Meeting and racing against her idol
- Breaking her neck in a ski accident…
- Having a fused neck and having to travel with an x-ray
- Fear of failure and the fear of letting people down
- Learning to control her mind and finding a way to help herself
- Only being able to ski at 80%
- Winning her run in the world cup
- What’s going through her head at the start of the race
- Trying to replicate training runs more
- Learning to stay in the present moment
- Funding your life as an Olympian
- Not getting any support from the government
- Having to back yourself and be confident
- Recovering from injury
- Having tiny daily goals
- Doing the Words Toughest Ski Race in Greenland
- Getting into endurance sports
- Making the brutal decision to retire from professional sport
- Dreaming of becoming a presenter on ski Sunday
- Wanting to become a mum
- How life has changed having 2 children
- Taking the children out skiing
- Skiing in a chilled way….
- Using sport to help improve confidence
- Keeping fit and active now
- Quick Fire Questions
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