LINX are delighted to announce that it has secured Olympic swimmer Chris Cook as keynote speaker for the upcoming LINX117 member meeting on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th November.
Chris is a former double Olympian and double Commonwealth Games swimming champion. He was British and Commonwealth 100m Breaststroke record holder, and seventh fastest man in history for his event. At LINX117 Chris will take attendees on a journey through the highs, and fair few of the lows, throughout his Olympic career, and offer many helpful and valuable tips and insights relevant in a business context.
The main premise of his talk, ‘Two Lengths’, is based around the concept of ‘Keeping Things Simple’. This is the part that has audiences talking and relating to, because he shares the power and the brilliance that exists within all of us (…and our teams) when we focus on the process to deliver the outcome.
This talk is not only lifting spirits, but it’s also giving teams the chance to engage with a concept that is relevant to our everyday working lives. Make sure you register for LINX117 to ensure you don’t miss out!
Chris’s Achievements:
- 2001 – World Student Games, Finalist, 100m Breaststroke
- 2003 – British & Commonwealth Record Holder 100m Breaststroke
- 2003 – Bronze, World Student Games, Daegu, South Korea
- 2004 – Olympic Games, Athens, Greece, Semi Finalist
- 2005 – European Bronze, 4x50m medley relay, Trieste, Italy
- 2006 – Double Commonwealth Champion, Commonwealth Record Holder, Melbourne, Australia
- 2006 – Bronze, World Championship, Shanghai, China
- 2006 – Bronze, European Championships, Hungary, 4x100m medley relay
- 2006 – BBC North East Sports Personality of the Year
- 2008 – British & Commonwealth Record, (59.88) 100m breaststroke
- 2008 – Olympic Finalist, Beijing, Olympic Games, 6th Position 4x100m medley relay (British Record)
Since then…
After competing for Great Britain for nearly 10 years, Chris hung up the trunks and retired from international swimming and began working with businesses/organisations far and wide to help inspire, mentor and coach people to embrace ‘challenge and change’ for their optimal performance. Chris has built a reputation as a motivational speaker throughout the last 7 years working from referral to referral, sharing his story and the lessons learnt from the journey with over 400,000 people. Throughout this time, Chris designed and delivered an Olympic Inspiration Programme for young people (UK) which reached over 300 schools spanning 6 years.
In 2011 Chris was a lead mentor on a the ‘Sky Sports Living for Sport’ – inspiration programme across the UK & Ireland. The programme was designed to assist disengaged people from society to get back on track. This role involved training up former Olympians and World Class Athletes to deliver inspirational talks and mentoring/coaching programmes. The role involved working with the most challenging of people whilst coaching athletes to transition from sport to mentoring.
During the 2012 Olympic Games in London & 2021 Tokyo, Chris was selected to mentor and coach the next generation of Olympians on the ‘Ambition Programme’. This programme involved taking potential Olympians to experience an Olympic games. Chris’s role was to mentor athletes to maximise the whole experience and to expand their personal development.
Here and now…
Currently, Chris and his wife Erica, run their own Learn to swim business – ‘Swim Buddies’ which has seen the business (located in Darlington, UK) grow from 7 swimmers in their first week in September 2014 through to over 1000 children swimming with Swim Buddies every week.
Chris’s coaching, speaking and mentoring is centred around personal development. Whether it’s in the water helping swimmers or on dry land in business and life, Chris believes that success is something you attract from the person you become.
Keynote Speaker Sponsor
LINX would like to thank our Keynote speaker sponsor, MainStreaming, for helping us secure this presentation.
