Anna Hemmings MBE
Anna Hemmings, Founder and Director of Beyond the Barriers, performance coach and speaker, is best known as Britain’s most successful ever female canoeist, a two time Olympian and 6 times World Champion. Anna is passionate about helping others overcome their own barriers and getting the best out of themselves and is adept at translating the lessons that she learned in sport into the business world. She is an excellent workshop facilitator, performance coach and Master Trainer for HeartMath. She is an entertaining corporate speaker and inspires audiences with her tale of triumph over adversity. In April 2003, Anna was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and was told by medical experts she might never race again and was burdened by this illness for two years. She also learned a tough lesson in the dangers of losing the ‘work-life’ balance and the importance of health and happiness to your ultimate performance.
Despite being told there was no solution to the illness, Anna was determined to find a way out and together with her ‘never give up’ attitude she was able to make a full recovery. She went on to win a further 3 World titles in marathon canoeing and become an Olympian for the second time, competing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Anna won a staggering 11 World and European Championship medals throughout her career. Her achievements were recognised by various bodies including The Sunday Times Sports Woman of the Year Awards where she won the 2005 Champions Award and by the BBC when she was voted 2007 BBC London Sports Personality of the Year. In the 2010 New Year’s honours list she was awarded an MBE for services to sport.
Anna also works as a presenter and commentator for BBC and Eurosport. Anna is an athlete mentor for the Jaguar Academy of Sport.
In 2001 Anna graduated from Royal Holloway College, University of London with a BSC Honours degree in Economics and Management (2:1). In 2007 the University recognised Anna’s achievements and awarded her with an Honorary Fellowship.
“Anna’s stories of discipline and focus were very well presented. She was able to take examples from the very competitive world of sports and use them as great tools that could be applied to both business and personal endeavors. I would welcome the opportunity to hear her speak again; I highly recommend Anna to speak in front of any group—she presents her story with humor, determination and focus.” Mary Kay Galvin, Assistant Director, Special Accounts Channel, Canon USA, Inc
www.annahemmings.com
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