Marc Woods

Marc Woods is a former British swimmer, who competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 12 medals.

Early life

A swimmer at county-level, Marc developed cancer as a teenager. Aged 17, he had his left leg amputated as a result of the cancer and did not know how long he could live. The day after having his stitches removed, he returned to the pool as part of his rehabilitation. Within a year, he was swimming faster times with one leg than he previously had with two, and just 18 months after he finished his chemotherapy he was selected to represent Great Britain.

Career

Woods subsequently competed at European & World Championships and Paralympic Games. In his 17 years of competition he won 12 Paralympic medals from five Paralympic Games held in Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, and four of those medals being gold. Woods also won a further 21 medals from European and World Championships. After he retired from international swimming in 2004, he went on to commentate for BBC Sports in Beijing and simultaneously developed a successful consultancy business and writing book called "Personal Best." He also embarked on a series of new challenges such developing mountaineering skills by trekking on Nepal, Ecuador and Peru. He also climbed the world's highest volcano Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Mont Pelvoux part of the Massif des Ecrins in France and the 22,200 ft Mera Peak in Nepal. Woods currently works for many organizations such as the RBS, Barclays, IBM, Adidas, GSK, John Lewis Partnership, BBC, Ceridian, etc. He travels to the world and works as a motivational speaker.