Ellie Simmonds

I love 'Come Dine With Me.'

— Ellie Simmonds

I love the 400m.

— Ellie Simmonds

I've always been focused.

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm quite shy at school.

— Ellie Simmonds

I have grown up in a positive household.

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm the baby of the family and love it.

— Ellie Simmonds

I wear adult sizes but chop off the arms and legs.

— Ellie Simmonds

I didn't really come on the scene nationally until 2008.

— Ellie Simmonds

I hated Rio and I hated everything about it.

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm a big, big fan of cheesecake, so I love baking that.

— Ellie Simmonds

I feel I cope with pressure quite well.

— Ellie Simmonds

I have a coach, a physio and a psychologist.

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm lucky I've been able to take control, as an older athlete, and pick who I work with.

— Ellie Simmonds

If you've got a disabilty you're normal, it's just something that's different.

— Ellie Simmonds

I love the ocean and I'm passionate about conservation and the environment.

— Ellie Simmonds

My school have been so supportive in the balance between my sport and my studying, ever since I won the two golds…

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm OK travelling, meeting people, seeing the world with my own eyes.

— Ellie Simmonds

I don't want to be stuck up. I'm just a normal person. My friends think of me as a normal friend, and…

— Ellie Simmonds

Being at home gives me such a big buzz and just makes me want to perform.

— Ellie Simmonds

It can feel a bit surreal. Sometimes you're talking to famous people and you think, 'Oh gosh, I'm talking to Lewis Hamilton.'

— Ellie Simmonds

Four Games is incredible. Especially as an nine-year-old watching Athens 2004. To think as a kid then I would not just go…

— Ellie Simmonds

On a typical Monday I swim from six until 8am. I go from there to the gym and do a session from…

— Ellie Simmonds

In China they don't mind getting their cameras out, but I try to go with the flow. In countries where there is…

— Ellie Simmonds

It's important to give kids a variety of sports. Everyone is an individual, everyone is different but there is a sport out…

— Ellie Simmonds

My plan of going to Tokyo has gone out of the window, but I was able to spend three to four months…

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm studying psychology at Loughborough and there are so many sportspeople here - you actually see top athletes walking around - but…

— Ellie Simmonds

I think people shouldn't think 'I'm not normal, I've got a disability.' Overcome that, go out there and enjoy your life and…

— Ellie Simmonds

It's nice to hope to inspire people out there who maybe have a little less motivation or who are low in confidence…

— Ellie Simmonds

As an older woman now, I feel the pressure more, I feel all those different aspects, I'm more aware of that. Whereas…

— Ellie Simmonds

I spoke to my parents and my agent a year before Rio. I was like: 'I don't want to do this. I…

— Ellie Simmonds

I jumped into my parents loft where I was actually able to go through all my cards, all the newspaper cuttings that…

— Ellie Simmonds

Swimming outside the pool is scary. I don't like not knowing what's underneath me - it's quite dark in lakes. I swam…

— Ellie Simmonds

People come up to me and say, 'You're that swimmer.'

— Ellie Simmonds

I made my first World Championships team at 12.

— Ellie Simmonds

The highlight of my career was London 2012.

— Ellie Simmonds

Going into Beijing I was like 'what's a Paralympics?'

— Ellie Simmonds

I'm a Scouts ambassador and I help out with dwarf sports.

— Ellie Simmonds

I didn't just swim when I was younger. I did ballet, horse riding, everything. I was very active.

— Ellie Simmonds

In Beijing when the Chinese athletes had a massive roar that gave me a buzz pretending they were shouting for me.

— Ellie Simmonds

It drives me forward knowing people are watching me and I have to swim well.

— Ellie Simmonds