Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE is one of Britain’s greatest Paralympic athletes. She competed in five Paralympic Games, winning 11 Gold Medals, and is acknowledged as one of the most gifted and courageous sportswomen of her generation.

In our short ‘See Britain’ film, she explains why the UK is a good place to be as a disabled person and how the country put disability sport on the map by hosting the first ever Paralympic Games in London in 1948. Watch the film below to find out more.

In the film, Tanni recounts her experience of growing up as a disabled child with spina bifida and how far the UK has come in the last 35 years by increasing disabled facilities and expanding access. She also discusses her sporting achievements and the thrill of racing downhill at 50miles an hour.

Tanni relishes the opportunity to be involved in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and believes the UK will show the world what it is possible to achieve on and off the track.

Tanni’s international career began in 1988 in Seoul, where she won a bronze medal in the 400m. Over the years she has won 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds, along with 13 World Championship medals. She has held numerous world records, and won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002.

In 1993 Tanni received an MBE for services to sport, in 2000 the OBE for services to sport and then in 2005 was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In March 2010, Tanni was created a life peer on the recommendation of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and conferred as Baroness Grey-Thompson of Eaglescliffe in the County of Durham.

Tanni is currently a non-executive director for UK Athletics (2007), sits on the board of the London Marathon (2007) and the Board of Transport for London (2008), and is Chair of the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation Commission on the Future of Women's Sport.

She is patron of numerous charities including Sports Leaders UK, and is a trustee of V, the Charity that helps young people become volunteers. She is vice-chairman of the Laureus World Sport Academy and a trustee of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. She is also a Council Member for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and an International Inspiration Ambassador.

Tanni has received numerous honorary degrees including honorary doctorates from University of Bath, Leeds Metropolitan University, Loughborough University, Southampton University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Wales. She is currently Pro-Chancellor of Staffordshire University. She has won the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year three times.