Ellie Simmonds

Speaker 30:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Presenter0:05

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were castaway to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:43

My castaway this week is the Paralympian Ellie Simmons. Growing up in the West Midlands, she was a water baby. Her family house had a pool at the bottom of the garden. I sensed swimming was good for my body, she remembers, and I loved being able to move fast. And boy, was she fast. Before she hit double figures, she was swimming competitively, showing the ferocity and speed that would later see her likened to a piranha in the pool. By 2008, at just 13 years old, she was the youngest competitor at the Paralympics in Beijing. She won two gold medals, gaining national attention when she burst into tears of relief after her victory was announced. A few months later, she became the youngest person ever to receive an MBE. By 2012, she was the poster girl for the London Paralympics, where she won another two gold medals in World Record Times, followed by another gold and another world record in Rio in 2016. She announced her retirement from competitive swimming last autumn at the age of 26. More recently, she presented the BBC One documentary, A World Without Dwarfism, exploring a controversial new drug that some argue could bring an end to achondroplasia, the genetic condition she was born with, and the most common cause of the disability that has restricted her growth, though not her progress. She says, I've always been focused ever since I was a young girl, and I've always been really determined. Ellie Simmons, welcome to Desert Islandists.

Ellie Simmonds2:08

Oh, wow. Thank you.

Presenter2:09

Ever so much for having me on. Ellie, all that focus and determination was of course very necessary throughout your career as an athlete, but I wonder how it's serving you in retirement. You're just six months in. Have you got used to not getting up at half past four in the morning yet?

Ellie Simmonds2:24

Actually so nice to have extra sleep now. I'm not tired. I've got more energy. But yeah, also I do miss that routine that I had for so, so many years.

Presenter2:25

I

Presenter2:33

Mm-hmm.

Ellie Simmonds2:34

Yeah.

Presenter2:34

hall of medals, world records, international championships, or victories left, right and center. You've been to four Paralympic Games, five gold medals won there alongside all your other successes. I wonder which victory meant the most to you? Which was the sweetest?

Ellie Simmonds2:36

Records

Ellie Simmonds2:37

I saw it.

Ellie Simmonds2:50

Oh, I'm gonna I have to say it London 2012 that 400 metres freestyle. I remember going to the Aquatic Centre in Stratford and just seeing it as a building site. So I think it wasn't just about those games but it was the whole journey going into it. London 2012 made Paralympians household names so it was going in as favourite really for those games.

Presenter3:10

You were the poster child. There you were, off on the s the side of the the stadium as people walked in.

Ellie Simmonds3:11

Mr. Child, there you are off on the

Ellie Simmonds3:14

Yeah, I remember actually being in the Paralympic Village and other teammates and athletes I remember saying I had not been to the Aquatic Centre yet and we'd been training at a different pool in in London and I remember everyone was like, wow, Ellie, your face is is on this massive poster and I was like, oh, that's cool Like I was trying to stay focused but then I remember going on the bus and on the side of Westfield and I was like blinking, Nora

Presenter3:41

All right, we've got the music to hear from you today as well, Ellie, so let's dive into your first disc, shall we? What's it gonna be?

Ellie Simmonds3:47

This is Heather Small Proud. This was the song that I think they used in the bid for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. I think that was in 2005. I remember the likes of David Beckham, Kelly Holmes, being on the TV screen and London won. This whole song just brings me back to that 2005 moment and that London 2012 and the whole words just mean so much to me.

Speaker 34:13

I'm on my way, can't stop me now.

Speaker 34:18

And you can do the same

Speaker 34:23

What have you done today to make you feel around?

Speaker 34:29

It's never too late to try What have you done today to make you feel right?

Presenter4:41

Heather Small and Proud. So, Ellie Simmons, you're the youngest of five children, I think, born 1994. So, it's quite a big family, but there are quite large gaps between siblings, I think. What are your earliest memories of life with your brothers and sisters? Loved it.

Ellie Simmonds4:51

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds4:57

It gets me quite emotional when I talk about my family'cause I just love them so much. We're very active family. We're always out. Like I remember my dad just put me on a bike and I was riding round and that's how I learnt and I was very determined and we're always outdoors. We were always like adventurous.

Presenter5:14

activities, but swimming was different. That quote from you at the beginning, you said that you had this sense that swimming was good for your body. Tell me about that. Did swimming bring a sense of freedom? Was it a sense of release? What?

Ellie Simmonds5:26

Wasn't it?

Presenter5:26

One thing was

Ellie Simmonds5:28

I got amazing social life there, friends, swimming at Balmere Swimming Club. I remember going to Windley Leisure Centre half an hour before my training would begin so we could play in the changing rooms and run outside, run up and down, swim in the pool for about an hour or an hour and a half, depending on the time, and then I would always be the last one in the changing rooms'cause I was playing. But I think for me swimming was just

Speaker 15:42

For a ba

Ellie Simmonds5:51

It's that clearness. There's no impact on the body. It's very much the buoyancy, the feeling of freedom in the water when you've got all these people watching you, the crowd.

Ellie Simmonds6:02

they're blanked out to me and I think that's what it was like as a kid. I was just able to just go up and down, up and down, not thinking about anything, that freedom, being able to perfect the strokes, thinking about the drills. I was a I'm a perfectionist even now.

Presenter6:16

So, Ellie, your parents are of average height and you and your older sister both have achondroplasia. When did you first start to become aware that you were smaller than the people around you?

Ellie Simmonds6:26

My parents, they've always like told us that we're different, you know, we've got a chondriplasia, a form of dwarfism. I've been involved in dwarf sports associations since I was a dot really. I think you were two when you you first swung

Presenter6:37

Two when you you first swung compared.

Ellie Simmonds6:39

Yeah, since then. So I've been around like people the likes of me in that community. So I've always been aware. But I remember I was in um Hydeville Tower School in their playground. I think it was like year one or year two. I remember being in the corner of the playground. I think we were playing like hide and seek or something and I was the the one that was counting the seeker and I remember thinking like

Presenter6:39

But he

Presenter6:59

You better seeker.

Ellie Simmonds7:02

Oh wow, like I'm small. But that's all I remember thinking the thing.

Presenter7:05

It wasn't positive or negative, it was just that realisation.

Ellie Simmonds7:07

No, just like yeah, just that realization, like, oh, I'm small, like I'm a lot smaller than my classmates.

Presenter7:14

Alright Ellie, it's time to hear some more music. This is your second choice today.

Ellie Simmonds7:18

So I've gone for Own It by Stormsey featuring Ed Sheeran and Burner Boy. This was a song that I played a lot in lockdown. My coach was like, just escape London for a bit, just come go home to my parents' house in Aldridge for a weekend, not thinking that four months later I'll still be at my parents' house. We had four months where we weren't able to access swimming pools. There was the uncertainty of where the Paralympics are going to be on. Then finding out they were delayed a year and I was able to stop. I was able to just be with my parents and what was that like for you? It was just amazing. Like we got so close. I turned their their kitchen into a bit of a gym because no access to a swimming pool. Remember putting these headphones on.

Presenter7:50

What's that like for you?

Ellie Simmonds8:00

In the mornings I would do a gym session or a workout and this song I remember like rapping to it and it just reminds me of that lockdown era, doing pull ups in my my parents' um the door frame and

Speaker 18:13

Bug loving when I put you in your place I can tell you love it just by looking in your face It's the way that you wind up your waist I'm so in all girl you never have to worry about nothing you know it's rules you know you're not

Speaker 18:23

And I'll use this one

Speaker 18:26

We gon' fire

Speaker 18:28

Show me how to control it, can go in, stay

Speaker 38:31

Hey man.

Speaker 18:31

Hi, I'm a

Speaker 18:33

Yeah.

Speaker 38:33

Oh yeah.

Speaker 38:35

I put my hand there

Speaker 38:39

I'ma be that by the way.

Presenter8:43

Own it, Stormzy, featuring Ed Sheeran and Burner Boy. Ellie Simmons, the Paralympic movement really has flourished over the past decade. So young people today have got sporting heroes like you, like Hannah Cockroft, Johnny Peacock, just to name a few to look up to. But who were your role models when you were growing up?

Ellie Simmonds9:01

I remember sitting on the sofa watching Athens 2004 Olympics and Paralympics. I remember Kelly Holmes coming away with two gold medals and just being absolutely incredible. But then sitting on the sofa watching Athens 2004 Paralympics, watching Nairi Lewis swim her 100m backstroke S6. I remember seeing her get her gold medal.

Ellie Simmonds9:22

And I said to my mum, Oh, how old do you have to be to go to a Paralympics? Like, what do you have to do?

Ellie Simmonds9:28

And she was like, You just have to be really good. I think you could go any age. That switch was like, Light bulb moment. Yeah, light bulb moment was like.

Presenter9:31

Switch was a little bit more.

Ellie Simmonds9:35

I want to be a Paralympian. I want to get a Paralympic gold medal. Like, that is my dream. It started on that sofa.

Presenter9:42

You've put a lot of hard work into your career, but so have your parents, Steve and Val. I mean, the logistics of farrying you around as a young person and all those early starts must have been Punishing for them too you must be so grateful to them.

Ellie Simmonds9:55

Now as a twenty seven year old, you realize what they gave up, you know. I wouldn't have got to the Paralympics without them. I just can't thank them enough for everything. Like, they are my rock. And in the c

Presenter10:06

case of your mum actually moved to Swansea with you so that you could train in the world class facilities there, the pool there. Your dad had to stay behind because his business was based where you were growing up in the Midlands. You were just eleven. How did you adjust to being away from home and the rest of the family?

Ellie Simmonds10:23

I'm very lucky that it was the perfect time. My sister Katie was just going off to university, so it would have only just been me, my mum, and dad at home. And we just thought, why don't we just do it? Why don't we make this moose? Swansea is a beautiful place. They've got a great school there for me. I can get moose school, still focus on having an education. Me and my mum, Sunday night, we would drive to Swansea. I would train to school Monday to Saturday morning, and then we'll drive back home. So it was a three-hour drive. Yeah, three-hour drive. I remember just sleeping in the car. My mum knew the route so, so well in the end. And she was so happy when I passed my driving test in January of 2012. All right.

Speaker 110:53

Three hours, yeah.

Presenter11:00

Yeah.

Presenter11:04

And

Presenter11:06

Ellie, it's time for your third

Ellie Simmonds11:08

Yeah.

Presenter11:08

Disk to disk What are we going to hear next and why?

Ellie Simmonds11:10

This is Britney Spears Toxic. It reminds me so so much of the early days in swimming. The whole time where it was just the most incredible team, both in Swansea and the Paralympic team and the whole world-class programme. And we used to always do initiations. And I remember me. Hang on a minute, what? Yeah, I know. It varied from karaoke to dancing to dance. Me, Rhiannon Henry, Claire Cashmore. We had already been on the team for a couple of years, and especially those two girls, they went to Athens and we put our hands up saying, Why don't we do like the first initial like

Ellie Simmonds11:43

like show really to to start this initiation of so we like dressed up we got our um little hand luggage suitcases we dressed like pigtails on the side with boppers on our head bright red blusher on our cheeks freckles like the love freckles type thing put our shorts on really really high you know when you dance like really like and we were like saucy dancing yeah saucy dancing that's the word saucy but it wasn't really like that but we weren't because it was just absolutely hilarious and it was to Britney Spears toxic we had a routine you know I could probably do the routine now if it I think you should do it and Desert Islanders

Presenter12:06

Yeah, saucy dancing, that's the word. Saucy dancing.

Presenter12:19

Yeah.

Presenter12:22

Listeners should all sort of dance along at home.

Speaker 312:29

Talk to Second Guy.

Speaker 312:35

I'm a dick ticket to you, but you know that you're trying to see

Speaker 312:42

My love.

Speaker 312:43

Don't you know that you're time to see?

Speaker 312:53

Ms. Giddle

Presenter12:54

Yeah.

Presenter12:56

Britney Spears and Toxic. So Ellie. Obviously, you are gorgeously chatty and friendly, and it's so clear that you have all these people in your life, lovely relationships with them that you care about immensely. But I also know that your competitive strength is a mile wide. Oh, hugely. I've read interviews where you describe your rivals as your enemies.

Ellie Simmonds13:09

Oh hugely.

Speaker 113:11

Uh

Ellie Simmonds13:12

I frank

Speaker 113:12

Yeah.

Presenter13:16

Bit tongue-in-cheek, but still, you do say it. Are there two Ellie's? There's kind of Ellie in the pool and Ellie out of the pool. So tell me about the other Ellie.

Ellie Simmonds13:22

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds13:24

Very focused. In some sense, when I'm in the pool, a bit selfish. I think I noticed that more and more now I've left. Very, very competitive. I remember, like, as a kid before making Beijing 2008, I had like a whole list of all the swimmers that I wanted to beat. And it was it, was it? It was probably on like a little notebook. But I remember I used to tick them off every time I won or beat them.

Presenter13:40

Wait, was it? Was it?

Presenter13:48

And then the laylight rush. Yeah, because it's.

Ellie Simmonds13:49

Yeah, literally. Like literally so competitive. I wasn't like that later on in my my career. It's time for some more music. Tell us about the next disc. This song, M and M, Lose Yourself.

Presenter13:51

Like literally some

Ellie Simmonds14:02

Reminds me so much of London 2012 and not just 2012 but the whole swimming career of those moments in the core room before you're about to race both Heats finals. You and your seven, eight other competitors, you go in the room like 20 minutes before you're about to get called out behind the block. I used to listen to music in the core room. This song would be the last song that I would listen to before my name would get called out because the lyrics to me it's like you've only got one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. And another part of the lyric is on the surface you look calm and ready but inside you you're about to drop bombs. So again I looked very calm probably. I don't watch myself race back I don't like see myself on TV but I remember yeah people would probably see my persona on the surface calm ready but in the inside I would be

Ellie Simmonds14:52

So nervous, so so nervous, shaking. I remember sometimes, like, feeling like, why am I putting myself through this? But that song reminds me, like, this is why I do it: adrenaline rush, that whole nervousness, excitement, everything. But I'm about to go out there, and I've only got this one shot. You've just got to go out there and give it everything you got. So, my competitiveness is linked to this song. So, it's so funny because now I don't really like listening to the song. It's only like my core room song, the song that I have to use when yeah, this is like that pumped up, competitive Ellie. This is that song where, yeah, if you want to go and get something done, you listen to this, and you're like a lion about to be unleashed.

Speaker 114:52

I see

Speaker 115:22

Yeah.

Speaker 315:33

He knows that but he's pro He's so stagnant he knows when he goes back to this mobile home That's when it's back to the lab again yo This old rhapsody better go capture this moment and hope it don't do it Lose your counter in the music the moment you own it You better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity bums once in a lifetime do it Lose your counter never let it go You only get one shot Do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity

Presenter16:04

MM and lose yourself. What was the atmosphere like as a home athlete? Because not all athletes get to experience that. A home Olympics is really special.

Ellie Simmonds16:13

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds16:14

It was just phenomenal, and that's what I think what I did differently in London 2012 to all the other races that I did. Normally, I've got both earbuds, like music earthings, in my ear, and I'm so focused on my music and so focused on my head. Whereas, London 2012, with that 70,500 people in that crowd, in that pool, I took one earphone out and left the other in. So I'd have a bit of music, I would still be in the zone, but also soaking in that atmosphere. I remember like the noise when I would walk out on poolside and it would be like a roar. I wanted to soak it in. I want to give it extra because these crowd they're here to watch me. 10 years from after London 2012 now, I still, when I'm walking around, people say, Oh, I was in the crowd. And they said, like, the roof of the pool could have just lifted because of the noise. As soon as I dive in, you can't hear them, which is actually quite nice because you can focus on your swimming. When you touch, and there's Ellie got the gold medal, or GB got the gold medal, and I would be like, like, so, so exciting and so happy. And like, the whole crowd would lift. And especially, do you know that moment when you stand on the podium? It's and you're singing that national anthem, so proud. You're getting your medal. I think everyone's singing that national anthem. It's definitely like, do you know when you've got moments that you'll take to you to your grave? It's that being on that podium.

Speaker 117:24

Boof

Ellie Simmonds17:37

And with a more

Presenter17:38

Opportunities for Paralympic athletes afterwards as well. For example, you were Joint Star Baker on Celebrity Bake Off. Congratulations. I'll go on to the chat.

Ellie Simmonds17:44

Baker on Celebrity Baker.

Ellie Simmonds17:47

Like my chocolate and orange scones are still on the BBC website now. So if you want to go. Yeah, yeah. So if you want to go and try them out, they're still there, you know. Like that's that's like up there with my medals, you know. I was so busy that one evening we all got invited to go to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen. But also I got invited to go on the James Bond premiere in the same night. So we remember, I was like, yeah, I'm double booked. Yeah, I'm double booked. I went to the Queen and I actually remember going into her toilets, quickly getting changed into a red carpet moment and thinking, your toilets are so hot. Like, why are your toilets in Buckingham Palace so hot? I was leaving the Queen early to go on a red carpet moment for James Bond. Like, that's trying to screw up.

Presenter17:53

On a golden food website.

Speaker 118:13

Yeah.

Presenter18:14

Double books.

Presenter18:32

Actually, trying to squeeze in the Queen and James Bond on the same night.

Ellie Simmonds18:34

Literally, that's how crazy my life was after 2012.

Presenter18:40

Uh

Ellie Simmonds18:40

I like it.

Presenter18:40

I think we better have some music. What are we going to hear next?

Ellie Simmonds18:43

So, we're gonna hear a Cold Play Paradise. This song reminds me of the closing ceremony, and not just the closing ceremony, the whole Paralympic movement and the whole Paralympics. Because this closing ceremony, you had the likes of Coldplay, but also Jay-Z, Rihanna, you know, them two individuals attending a Paralympics closing ceremony. That shows that, like, the Paralympics means something and it showcases what the Paralympics is. But also, as well, it reminds me of like my teammates. And we changed the song actually. So, do you know how it's like Para, Para, Paradise? We actually changed the song to Para, Para, Paralympics. And it was just like this song, and it reminds me of the team and the whole Paralympic movement.

Speaker 319:38

Uh

Presenter19:52

Cold play and paradise. You're obviously incredibly disciplined, and I know that at one point around then, you kind of knew where you were going to be for the next four or five years. It was all mapped out. But of course, there are always factors that you can't control. And I know that things didn't go so well with the preparation for Rio 2016 due to what's been described as a hostile environment on the coaching squad.

Ellie Simmonds20:13

What exactly was going on? That was a a horrible time. I left Swansea in twenty thirteen, went to Loughborough for some time and again that didn't really work out. So I moved to Manchester to our high performance centre two years before Rio twenty sixteen. there was other Paralympians there. We had a really good group, but also it was definitely, like you say, a very hostile environment. There were certain individuals that, yeah, made it not nice at all. And I think it made me realize, I think looking back now that

Ellie Simmonds20:46

I'm aware now of those types of individuals that are not.

Presenter20:48

So this is in the support network in the US.

Ellie Simmonds20:49

Yeah, yeah, so there was a coach there that was not a nice guy at all, but he put the pressure on us. And I think for us, it was especially for me, I can only talk about myself, but we would walk into the pool, we were treading on eggshells, we didn't know if he was gonna be happy with us or he was gonna be in a mood with us, and that's so hard when you're spending the life at your pool. And he definitely he knocked my confidence hugely. And I'm finally trying to get over it now. I think now I've left the sport, you realize actually they he had a bit of a grip on me. It's hard to talk about it really, because you have those moments that like you try and like

Ellie Simmonds21:26

close the door to, do you know, when when the person's like knocks the confidence and especially in a sport that I thought I was quite good at, my parents were my rocks during that time. Did you talk to them about what?

Speaker 121:28

What has forgotten?

Presenter21:36

Right.

Presenter21:37

Uh

Ellie Simmonds21:37

Yeah, yeah. But there's again, there's not a lot that you can do really, because I remember I got ru like IBS really bad because I was so stressed and I remember like crying down the phone and yes, you've got to be driven, yes, you've got to get the work ethic, but also there's that balancing act and I think a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer. I still came away with gold and bronze medal and a P B and things like that, but I know that if I was probably in a better mind frame, I probably would have swam a lot, lot faster.

Presenter21:38

You

Ellie Simmonds22:09

Ellie, let's take a minute for some music. Disc number six, what have you got for us? Katrina and the Waves, Walking on Sunshine. I love this song. It shows as well, like even through the darkest times, there's always going to be that spark of sunshine and just that whole groundiness. But also, this song reminds me of my dad. Without them, and especially the lights of that relationship that I have with both my mom and my dad, I wouldn't have got through not just the good times but the bad times. You know, they're at the end of the phone when I need a cry, they're at the end of the phone when I'm joyous, when I'm bouncing, when I've got amazing news to tell them. I'm like, ring them up, dad, dad, oh my gosh, this have you heard about this?

Speaker 122:39

Ah

Presenter23:21

Katrina in the waves and walking on sunshine. So, Ellie, you decided to take a year off from swimming after the 2016 Games to go traveling. Where did you go?

Ellie Simmonds23:30

It was just the most incredible year ever. Like, I think I really found myself that year. And I think n like with the confidence being not the year before, but then I got my confidence back, you know, being

Presenter23:42

What a brave thing to do, especially when you've had such a difficult experience, to decide to go travelling on your own and also to let go of that timetable, having been so regimented.

Ellie Simmonds23:51

Yeah, I think I needed it, you know. Like I'd been so regimented and so like strict and so planned and so organized since I was a kid till when I was 21 that I needed a bit of a freedom. I needed to find who I am. I was like, where shall I fly to today, you know? I flew to San Francisco, went from San Francisco to Mexico, went from Mexico to Australia, went home and my friend was like, Do you want to come to Paris for with me? I was like, Yeah, let's go to Paris with the sport and being able to travel. I'd met so many amazing people all across the the world. You get in that with them and you message them a cheeky cheeky message like, Oh, what are you doing? Like, I'm thinking of going to this country. Like So you had kind of lily pads to hop

Speaker 124:11

Yeah.

Presenter24:37

Two you won't totally adrift.

Ellie Simmonds24:38

Two, you weren't totally adrift.

Presenter24:39

You're also, Ellie, exploring new interests. There's the most wonderful picture of you and a turtle where you're on one of your free dives. Tell me about free diving. How does it feel to do that?

Ellie Simmonds24:48

Send me back free.

Ellie Simmonds24:50

Oh, it's so liberating. It's so freeing. It's just phenomenal. How deep can you go? Because it's the depth with free diving. Yeah, yeah, so actually I think I I went to Madagascar about two years ago and I free dived

Presenter24:50

Uh it's

Presenter24:58

Yeah, yes, actually I think

Ellie Simmonds25:04

To eighteen meters. Again, that was static on a rope. And then I remember looking up thinking, Oh my gosh, this is so deep and panicking going back up. But when you're so just focussed on your own mind and so relaxed and so tranquil, when you go under the ocean, it looks so scary and so choppy with the waves, but underneath it's so calm. And I remember one time, I think it was in Mozambique, being under and hearing like whales singing to each other and just being like, Wow on

Presenter25:33

On that note, Ellie Sevens, I think we'd better have some more music. What's your seventh choice today and why are you taking it with you?

Ellie Simmonds25:39

So my song choice is Unforgettable French Montana. I think this song reminds me so much of that year of traveling. I was able to be a normal person, go partying, drinking, all that type of thing, which I've never done before. Dancing on the dance floor, having a few too many Jager bombs. That's when I've realised what Jaeger bombs actually are and they go to your head a bit. And being that whole different side of me, I was normally the Ellie Simmons, the swimmer, very strict, very focused. Whereas that year, I was able to just let loose, let be free and find me.

Presenter26:45

Unforgettable French Montana featuring Swaley. So Ellie Simmons, we've recently seen you present a documentary on BBC One called A World Without Dwarfism and in it you explore a new drug which some parents are using to help their children maximise their chances of growing, children born with achondroplasia. How did you feel about the drug when you

Ellie Simmonds27:08

You first heard about it? I was not a fan. I got really, really angry, first of all, when I first saw it. I was like, why do we need a drug that is going to change us? I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't got dwarfism. I wouldn't have met the people that I have that have the community. And it's amazing community. I'm with my partner, The Love of My Life. I met him at the charity, you know, and like it's brought so many people together. And yet, is this drug going to change that? Why would someone adult make that decision for their child to have an injection every single day to change them? And most of all, it was the unknown. What actually is this drug? And I wanted to find out more. And obviously, something that you were

Presenter27:48

Fully aware. Of how controversial this drug was among the dwarf community. How carefully did you have to navigate all of that?

Ellie Simmonds27:56

It was more the fact that I wanted to go quite neutral because I wanted to learn. I thought we were at a time of our lives where we're accepting people who are different, either religion, race, colour, disability, but still, there's so much more we can do, and that's not just with the Paralympics, but that's in society. That's whole walking down the street. And you want those people, again, with different disabilities, but for me, dwarfism, where they walk down the street and they don't get stared at, they don't get someone taking a photo of them. Just let them do their thing. They are human for this drug. It's always going to be there, isn't it? It's never going to go away now. We've just got to help people who are making that choice to maybe not go down that path, to realize, yeah, it's amazing that your child's got dwarfism or it's different. They can leave the most amazing, happy life. They can leave a healthy life. They don't need to inject themselves every single day to be happy. They can be okay without it. And you've got so many other amazing people with not just dwarfism but other walks of life that are leading the way. And it's great to see that whole diversity and a whole difference in both TV but off TV and other walks of life. It's just phenomenal.

Presenter29:13

So listen, I'm about to cast you away. Now you are my best traveled castaway for some some while, let me tell you. So I think you'll be all right with roughing it. I think you'll you'll be free diving for food.

Ellie Simmonds29:15

And he will

Ellie Simmonds29:17

Yeah.

Speaker 129:20

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds29:21

Roughing it, I think.

Presenter29:24

How will you get on on the island when it comes to setting up camp and the practical side of keeping yourself going?

Ellie Simmonds29:29

Can you stop?

Ellie Simmonds29:30

I think I'll be okay. I think I'll probably miss humans because I'm very much a social person. I love chatting. So I'll probably have to start talking to myself. And going on this island would be able to enjoy the simple things. I'll be able to stargaze. I'll be able to go for a swim in the sea. I'll be able to enjoy the sand and hopefully it's hot weather. And yeah, I think I'll be alright fending for myself. I'll make a little boat and go out fishing. And do you know, yeah, I think I'll quite enjoy it, actually.

Presenter29:57

Oh, I can't con

Ellie Simmonds29:58

Just picture it.

Presenter29:58

Just picture it. I can't wait for you, Ellie. I'm excited. One more track before we let you go, though. What's it going to be?

Ellie Simmonds30:04

Elton John, Rocket Man. I love Elton, but also I think for me, this Rocket Man, it's like now I've left that career behind, I've left that swimming, now I'm going into the next chapter, I'm going into space, I'm going into the unknown, I've retired, but now that whole world is out there, that whole excitement, that whole path, what shall I do? And this song really like resonates that with that. It reminds me of that next chapter, that next world. And yeah, this song for me is that the noodle is of life.

Speaker 330:40

A touchdown brings me round and get to find A pop a man they think I am at home

Speaker 330:49

Our rocket line.

Speaker 330:53

Good morning

Speaker 330:56

Use a very long

Speaker 331:04

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time to jock down break.

Presenter31:09

Elton John and Rocket Man. So, Ali Simmons, it's time. I'm gonna send you away to the island. I'm giving you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare to take with you. You can also have another book. What will that be?

Ellie Simmonds31:17

Shakespeare's Take Really.

Ellie Simmonds31:21

It would be the Hunger Games trilogy. After, like, twenty twelve I started to read more and this was the first three books that I couldn't put down. I would read them and be hooked on them. What about a luxury item, Ellie? What would you like? Can I have two?

Presenter31:37

You can have one.

Ellie Simmonds31:38

Yeah.

Presenter31:38

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds31:38

I can have one. I think my luxury item would probably be my diary.

Ellie Simmonds31:44

I think it's something that's always with me. I've had them for years and years and I collect them and it's great because I look back at the memories but also I write down everything on them. I'm not sure how much is going to be going on in the island to be fair. But I could like, if I see a shooting star I could write on them. And again it helps me keep organised for the future but also I'll be able to just write

Presenter31:44

Uh

Speaker 132:01

Sure, yeah.

Ellie Simmonds32:08

My little thoughts and memoirs, maybe if I want to go fishing on Monday or go digging for sand on Tuesday, I'll be able to write it down.

Presenter32:17

You can schedule your sand digging to your heart's content. I will give you a compendium of your diaries with plenty of space to schedule your your busy island life and a pen to do it with. I'll throw that in. Finally, which one track of the eight that you've shared with us today would you save from the waves if you had to?

Ellie Simmonds32:17

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds32:19

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds32:25

Yeah.

Ellie Simmonds32:36

I would save Eltinger on Rocket Man. It brings me joy, and it's a song that, yeah, I'll love on the island.

Presenter32:43

Ali Simmons, thank

Ellie Simmonds32:44

Yeah.

Presenter32:44

Give

Ellie Simmonds32:44

Uh

Presenter32:44

Very much

Ellie Simmonds32:44

Uh

Presenter32:44

Uh

Ellie Simmonds32:44

For learning to see your desert island discs. Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's been amazing. Thank you.

Presenter33:04

Hello, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Ellie and I hope she's happy pottering on her island. If you want to hear more Desert Island discs, there are more than 2,000 programmes to choose from in our archive which includes the Paralympians Baroness Gray Thompson and Ade Adepitan. You can find them if you search through BBC Sounds or on our programme website. The studio manager for today's programme was Sarah Hockley and the producer was Sarah Taylor. Next time my guest will be the actor David Harewood. I do hope you join us.