Anna Hemmings MBE, OLY
Britain’s most successful ever female kayaker, a 2 time Olympian and 6 times World Champion
Anna inspires audiences with anecdotes from the World Championship and Olympic Games; hers is really a tale of triumph over adversity.
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Anna Hemmings MBE, OLY's 2025 biography
Who is Anna Hemmings?
Anna Hemmings is Britain’s most successful female marathon kayaker with a staggering eleven World and European Championship medals, 9 of them gold. She is now a leading inspirational speaker on resilience and high performance.
By the age of 24 Anna had been World Champion 3 times and competed at the Olympic Games. In 2010 she was awarded an MBE for her services to sport. She achieved this success against all the odds. She was told by the British head coach that she was not big enough or strong enough to be a great kayaker. She proved him wrong. At the peak of her career, Anna was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was told by medical experts she might never race again. She battled her way to full recovery and went on to win a further 3 world titles and compete at her second Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.
Since retiring from sport Anna has become recognised as a specialist in the field of resilience and the psychology of high performance. She is an accredited Performance Coach and founded Beyond the Barriers high performance training consultancy. Anna has worked with CEO’s and senior leaders through to middle management, designing and delivering resilience, leadership and high performing teams programmes. She works globally with leaders and teams helping them develop the skills, attitudes and behaviours to deliver exceptional performance.
Anna’s unique combination of experience in elite sport combined with 12 years leading a successful business and working alongside senior leaders, gives her a broad understanding of the challenges that leaders and teams face and how to overcome them to deliver outstanding results. Whether its building confidence, engaging teams or developing resilient leaders, she is passionate about helping others succeed at the highest level.
With 18 years of experience on the speaker circuit, Anna’s speeches and masterclasses have been enjoyed and valued, in more than 15 different countries, across different industries from banking and telecoms, to healthcare and retail. These global brands have trusted Anna to inspire their people to achieve more: IBM, Unilever, Vodafone, Balfour Beatty, Novartis, Roche, British Airways, Deloitte LLP, RBS and many more.
Key insights from Anna’s engaging and thought provoking speeches are brought to life through entertaining anecdotes from her journey in sport and business. She has a proven track record as an accomplished, inspiring and humble speaker. She makes sure that she has a clear understanding of the audience, the company and their industry; ensuring that each presentation is relevant and designed specifically for the client.
Anna’s sporting achievements were recognised at the Sunday Times Sports Woman of the Year Awards, where she won the 2005 Champions Award and then again in 2007 when she was voted BBC London Sports Personality of the Year.
Anna Hemmings will support you on your journey to high performance with speeches, masterclasses and 1:1 coaching.
Anna Hemmings MBE, OLY's 2025 talks & topics
Peak Performance Unleashed: Unveiling Olympian Strategies
In this inspiring and engaging speech Anna reveals the thinking, methodology and techniques that she used to fulfil her dream of becoming an Olympian and how she won 6 world championship gold medals and more importantly, how those strategies can be applied directly to your world.
In this new speech, developed specifically for the Paris 2024 Olympic Year, Anna will ensure that delegates walk away ready to unleash their inner Olympian, feeling empowered and with belief in themselves and their ability to achieve more than they imagined.
Key insights from this thought provoking speech are brought to life through entertaining anecdotes from her journey as a two time Olympian and multiple World Champion.
Audiences will learn how to:
- Develop a winning mindset
- Build unshakable confidence
- Thrive under pressure
- Develop the non-negotiable behaviours of an Olympian
- Overcome fear and step out of your comfort zone
*This speech can also include a guided visualisation to help you think, behave and perform like an Olympian. You will build absolute confidence and clearly visualise your goals and how you will achieve them.
Visualisation training was at the foundation of Anna’s mental preparation for competition and is an invaluable tool that can be easily applied with great success in any walk of life.
Getting the competitive edge
Exceptional individuals are not born they are made. Anna’s mission is to provide clients with the key skills and mindset required to succeed at the highest level. In this inspiring speech she reveals the thinking, methodology and techniques she used to become a world champion 6 times and how those strategies can be applied directly to the business world.
Audiences will learn:
- What does a winning mindset look like and how to develop it
- Techniques for sustaining high performance and success year after year.
- The power of extraordinary goals
- How to prepare like a pro and execute exceptional performance
- How to achieve constant and never-ending improvement (CANI)
- Non-negotiable behaviours of a champion
Resilience: Success in the Face of Adversity
Resilience is a game changer, it’s what will give you and your teams the ability to think clearly and strategically, to make rational decisions and emerge stronger.
Having had her own struggles and overcome adversity, performed under pressure in challenging environments and studied and worked with resilient leaders and teams over the last 14 years, Anna knows how to support organisations and equip them with the tools to boost resilience.
In this inspiring keynote she presents highly effective and practical techniques to ensure you are well equipped to thrive through turbulent times.
Audiences will learn:
- How to develop a resilient mindset
- Overcoming adversity and bouncing back stronger
- Thriving in the face of challenge and setback
- Techniques to perform under pressure
- Going from destructive to supportive thinking
- Managing perspective and focus of attention
Building World Class Teams
High performing teams are finely tuned, they consistently perform at a high level, they achieve outstanding results and it doesn’t happen overnight but with the right tools and mindset it is possible. Anna’s simple, practical and powerful tools are a fusion of the latest research and science of performance together with pioneering principles from the world of elite sport for the development of high performance teams in the business world.
Although Anna didn’t compete in a traditional team sport, she didn’t reach the highest level on her own, when she made the GB Team she was a part of a professional set up with sports scientists, physios, nutritionists and sports psychologists; team work has been a fundamental part of her success. Anna won one of her 6 world titles in the doubles with her partner Helen Gilby and competed at the Olympic Games in Beijing in the doubles too, giving her first-hand experience of what it takes to build a cohesive, motivated and high performing team.
The core of this speech is built around the framework of the 5 Behaviours of a Cohesive Team Model (which Anna is an accredited trainer) and is illustrated through inspiring anecdotes from Anna’s journey in sport and business.
Anna will explore:
- What does a high performance culture look like and how to develop it
- Why trust is at the foundation of a high performing team and how to build it
- The importance of focusing on collective results
- Embracing accountability for enhanced performance, higher standards and quality of work
- Encouraging healthy conflict and debate for more innovative and creative ideas
- Developing commitment for better, faster decisions and complete buy-in
The Resilient Leader’s Toolkit
The businesses who thrive through periods of adversity and rapid change are the ones who have resilient leaders who drive them forward. Resilience leaders are more effective under pressure, have the ability to think clearly and make rational decisions in the face of challenge and create opportunities for growth. Using the Resilient Leaders Elements framework Anna will share how you can become a resilient leader. She will take you on an inspiring journey and reveal the behaviours, actions and strategies that leaders need to be resilient and have impact.
Audiences will learn:
- The importance of clarity of direction and a unifying purpose
- The power of authentic leadership and building strong relationships
- How to develop leadership presence even when you’re not in the room
- How to engage and motivate teams by understanding what drives us and others
- Strategies for resilient decision making and thinking correctly under pressure
- Building confidence to navigate through uncertainty and change