In this eighth episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to Helen Jenkins MBE.
Helen is two-time triathlon world champion (2008 & 2011), one of Britain’s most celebrated triathletes having represented Team GB at the Olympic Games (2008, 2012 & 2016) and Wales at the Commonwealth Games (2006).
Helen won her first senior world championships in Vancouver in 2008 and went on to place 21st in Beijing on Olympic debut. After reclaiming the world title in 2011, in a summer which included a commanding victory in the London Olympic test event, Helen then overcame injury to place fifth at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Her mantra has seen her through all of her key life moments "You've got to just concentrate on doing what you can do". This mantra helped her get through the 2012 Olympics having not been able to run for three months prior to the games.
Another memorable triumph on Gold Coast in 2016 confirmed Helen’s qualification for a third Olympic appearance in Rio, where she finished 19th.
Following the birth of her second child, Helen had a lower back fusion surgery in 2018 and has six screws and plates in her spine. This surgery stopped her competing for three years, but Helen was determined to return to professional racing and compete at the highest level. Early this year she came back to triathlon with her first Half Ironman/70.3 distance
Finding your WHY? Is so important to Helen, and Helen knows being active is really important and how it makes her feel. She knows being active makes her a better mum, wife and person.
Helen was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to triathlon.
These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.
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