Biography
Susie Rodgers MBE is a former Paralympic swimmer, who competed internationally for 6 years and won 30 international medals including Paralympic Gold and 5 Bronze medals at the Rio 2016 and London 2012 Paralympic Games. She specialised in the sprint butterfly and freestyle events and held numerous European and British records throughout her career. She retired in 2017 after winning Gold in Rio and leaving as undefeated European and Paralympic Champion.
Susie also has a First-Class Honours degree from Newcastle University in three languages and has worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Council during her career. She is a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Spirit of 2012, the London 2012 legacy charity and Raleigh International. She is an advisor and public speaker on various panels around inclusion and empowerment, as well as Patron and Ambassador for various charities.
Susie was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2017 for services to Paralympic Swimming. She was selected in 2018 as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, joining a prestigious group of current and former leaders on a five-year leadership programme. As part of this programme, Susie expressed her interest in raising awareness around global ocean conservation and as such, contacted the Marine Conservation Society to support their work, “I learnt to swim as a child when my family lived in Egypt. We would often travel to the Sinai and the Red Sea, where my family would go for weekend trips to give us a break away from the capital. Some of my earliest memories are of the Red Sea and jumping into this vast blue space, with nothing beneath me. I found it exhilarating and exciting at the same time. I would marvel at the marine life and be fascinated by the peaceful and beautiful world underwater. The mystery of it all, moving my body, the benefits to mental health, these are some of the reasons I continue to enjoy swimming and more often outdoor now than in a chlorinated pool. I remember after my GCSEs making the tough decision of what I wanted to study at A Level. I was so tempted to study for a degree in marine biology! At that time, I was a member of the Shark Trust and with more and more species of sharks potentially coming to our coastline, I want to do all I can to protect these and all other marine life. The risks of over-fishing, the threat to our high seas, deep sea mining, climate change and plastic pollution, all of these are global problems and require global solutions. I hope to support UK wide initiatives through MCS, as well as ones overseas as we protect a huge part of our planet that is both magical, awe-inspiring and beautiful.”
Source: https://www.mcsuk.org/who-we-are/our-ambassadors/susie-rodgers#:~:text=Susie Rodgers MBE is a,and London 2012 Paralympic Games.
