Mark Foster

Mark burst onto the International swimming scene, at the age of 16, representing England at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He went on to represent his country for 23 years and became Britain’s most decorated male swimmer. Throughout his remarkable career, he has won 47 major international medals; competed in 5 Olympics, been 6 times World Champion, 11 times European champion, 2 times Commonwealth champion and broke the World Record 8 times. He was also chosen as the flag bearer to lead out Team GB at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Since retiring from swimming, Mark has become a familiar face on television and his award winning partnership with Clare Balding from the aquatics centre during the Olympics in 2012, made him a household name. More recently, Mark co-hosted the BBC coverage of the World Swimming Championships from Barcelona with Gabby Logan.

In 2008, Mark entered ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ on series six and took part in the live tour in 2012. Mark’s appearance on Strictly transformed his image in the public eye from dedicated athlete to someone with a big personality, a great sense of humour and unafraid to take on new challenges way outside of his comfort zone. Mark has since teamed up with Strictly professionals, Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite to form Fitsteps. This dance/fitness programme fuses the graceful steps of ballroom with the up-tempo steps of Latin to create a fun, energetic and effective way to keep fit.

Mark’s post swimming career has seen him reinvent himself as a successful motivational speaker and is now one of the most popular speakers on the circuit. His ability to talk to a variety of audiences about a wide range of subjects, makes him a highly sought after guest speaker.

Competing for 23 years at the highest level of his sport has taught Mark many invaluable lessons about how to build and maintain a successful career. He has translated these lessons into motivational talks and interventions that are transferable to the business management environment.