ANNA HEMMINGS

Anna Hemmings, Britain’s leading female marathon canoeist and current World Champion was told by medical experts she might never race again. In 2005 however, she signalled a miraculous return to fitness by regaining her status as the World’s leading marathon canoeist at the Marathon Racing World Championships in Perth, Australia. In 2006 she successfully defended her world title. In 2007 she went on to make it a hat-trick of three World titles in a row. This latest medal is her sixth gold since 1999, confirming her status as Britain’s most successful ever female canoeist. Anna’s achievements were recognised at the 2005 Sunday Times Sports Woman of the Year Awards, where she won the Champions Award.

Anna, 30 from London, thought she would have to retire from the sport when diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in April 2003. Following a series of failed treatments Anna began to think that her hopes of competing again were ebbing further and further away. The illness left her exhausted and aching on a daily basis as well as physically fatigued after basic light exercise. However, Anna refused to give up and in September 2004, Anna learned about ‘reverse therapy’, an innovative and highly successful new treatment. By February 2005 Anna was finally able to resume training again. She went on to win a clean sweep of National, European and World titles.

Anna first broke into the top flight of the sport in 1997 when, at the age of just 20, she won the European Championship. In 1999 she successfully defended her European crown, before going on to win the Marathon World Championships – becoming the youngest ever competitor to do so. She also became the first ever British female canoeist to win both European and World titles.

She participated in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 where she competed in the 500m singles discipline. it was at this time that she was spotted by Pindar, the print and electronic media company, who have sponsored her ever since. The following year Anna really made her mark at the Marathon Canoeing World Championships when she became only the second person in the history of the sport to win both the singles and the doubles Marathon World titles.

Anna has won a total of 11 World and European Championship medals, 9 of them being gold!

In the same year, Anna graduated from Royal Holloway College, University of London with a BSC Honours degree in Economics and Management (2:1). In 2007 the university awarded Anna with an honorary fellowship.

Over the last few years Anna realised that there are a number of parallels that can be drawn between elite level sport and business. She has consequently developed a new career of motivational speaking alongside her sporting one – and is now sharing her experiences and knowledge with a wide range of audiences ranging from CEO’s and business delegates from global companies to school children and has had enormous success in inspiring, motivating and maximising the potential of all nature of individuals.

TESTIMONIALS

Head of IS Strategy, Centrica Energy

Your presentation was highly motivational and appealed to a wide audience in a variety of different ways. You presented a number of techniques that can be applied to our business environment

 Assistant Director, Canon USA Inc

"I highly recommend Anna to speak in front of any group - she presents her story with humour, determination and focus...