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PEOPLE PROFILE gail emms


Badminton Olympic silver medallist Gail Emms has been a vocal advocate for school sport since her retirement from elite sport in 2008. In 2010 she wrote to David Cameron, calling for a rethink on cuts


Were you always physically active – even as a child? Yes, my mum made sure of it. She played football for England and is a human dynamo. She was, and still is even now in her 60s, a wonderful sporting role model for me. I was never allowed to sit in front of the TV.


How did your career progress? When I was seven I was beating 11- year-olds, so I knew I was good, but I never considered a career in badminton until I reached the age when a lot of girls turn away from sport. I was going through a horrible teenage phase, trying to fi t in with the cool crowd at school and being rebellious. It was 1992, I was grounded and the Barcelona Olympics were on TV. That was the fi rst year that badminton was an Olympic sport and I was hooked. It was like a light switched on inside my head and I decided that I was going to be an Olympian and go to the Olympic Games.


What do you rank as the ultimate highlight in your career? Beating my mum at badminton for the fi rst time. I was 13 and I’d been trying to beat her for nine years! Winning the Olympic silver medal in 2004 and becoming world champion in 2006 I saw as part of my job, but beating my mum was defi nitely the highlight.


How much time did you spend in gyms during your active career? I was in the gym fi ve times a week. In the mornings I’d have an on-court session, but the afternoons were spent in the gym for two hours either doing weights or CV interval training. Some days I really dreaded it. People think that athletes bound out of bed ready for training, but most of us are like sulky teenagers. You just have to focus on how great you will feel after the workout. You


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have to visualise it. That feeling of accomplishment is the most powerful motivational force there is.


What do you do nowadays – what’s your typical day-to-day? I try and keep things as varied as possible. A lot of my time is spent campaigning for school sport, so we can get more children inspired by sport. I also do TV and radio, and motivational talks.


You’ve been active in promoting sport and wrote a letter to the PM. What did you say in the letter? In 2010 Michael Gove, who is not very sporty, was going to cut school sports funding. I’m not naive, I understand that some cuts have to be made, but I wanted him to come and look at the work we were doing in schools. Unfortunately he wasn’t interested, and


was going to completely cut the £162m for school sports. I was outraged, especially with the Olympics coming up. It was ridiculous. So I got 75 Olympians to sign a letter which led to a partial U-turn. We got some funding, but not as much as I’d have liked.


Lots has been said about Olympic legacy – how do you think health clubs can do their part? They’ve got to use their imagination. There are 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports, so there’s something for everyone. Leisure centres should run demos and introduce taster sessions to allow people to take part in something new. It’s about providing lots of different


opportunities. I know it’s an effort to put on these activities, but it will pay off. The Olympics is not just about this summer – it’s about the longer term.


What’s your favourite life motto? “No matter how good you get, you can always get better” – Tiger Woods.


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