#257 Personal Best with Marc Woods

A county standard swimmer as a teenager, Marc had his left leg amputated because of cancer when he was 17. His dream became to simply be the best that he could be and just 18 months after he finished his chemotherapy he was selected to represent Great Britain.

Marc competed internationally as a swimmer for 17 years; winning 12 Paralympic medals from 5 Games and a further 21 from World and European Championships. In the past, he has held world records for 200m, 400m, 1500m Freestyle, as well as being part of the team that held the world record for 4 x 100m Freestyle. Since retiring from swimming in 2004 he has worked for both the BBC and CH4 at the Paralympic Games in Beijing2008, London2012 and Rio2016 and most recently Tokyo2020

When Marc retired from international swimming he embarked on a series of new challenges, including trekking in Nepal, Ecuador and Peru (the Inca Trail) and developing his mountaineering skills.

To date, he has climbed the world's highest volcano, Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Mont Pelvoux, part of the Massif des Ecrins in France and the 22,200ft Mera Peak in Nepal.

"Whether you succeed or fail to achieve specific goals you have to replace them. Turning my attention to mountaineering after I retired from swimming refocused my energy. In doing this I came to realise that focusing on achieving my potential was both more sustainable and rewarding than obsessing on specific outcomes like winning a Gold medal or summiting a peak."

But not forgetting in 2005 he wrote Personal Best, a combination of my life story and personal development advice and more recently Beyond The Call

For more information about James Roberts (the host of the podcast), visit jamesowenroberts.com and connect with him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram