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Zoe started snowboarding aged 10 on family holidays to France, entering her first competition, the British Championships, only a few months later and she came away with gold.
Over the next few years she competed more and more including at the Youth Olympics where she finished 6th.
During her first winter season in Canada aged 16, Zoe entered her first World Cup and this is when she fell in love with the event she would compete in the for the rest of her career – Snowboard Cross.
It’s an incredibly exciting event where four snowboarders race side by side down the same course going around corners and over jumps at speeds of up to 50 miles an hour.
Zoe was the first snowboarder in the world to qualify for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics which was the first time her event Snowboard Cross was included but then 4 months later she sadly shattered her foot in 8 pieces in a career threatening injury. With 10 months to go before the Olympics, Zoe was told she wouldn’t snowboard again and would be lucky to walk normally.
Despite this she remained determined to get to the games and went through 8 months of intensive rehab before making it back on snow just in time to compete and claim 15th place. This experience has made Zoe a stronger person and despite still having problems with her foot to date she achieved some fantastic results.
Zoe competed at three further Olympic Games with a top result of 8th. She is the only British snowboarder to have competed at 4 Olympic games.
Through her 16 year career she won a total of 7 World Cup podiums.
When Zoe faced funding difficulties following the bankruptcy of her national governing body after the 2010 Vancouver Olympics she turned entrepreneur and launched her own business using her experiences as a professional athlete to become a successful businesswoman as well as sports woman.
At the 2014 Sochi Olympics Zoe narrowly missed out on the final by less than 20cm in a nail biting photo finish!
Zoe’s daughter Léa was born in 2016 and she accompanied Zoe to training and competitions around the world until Zoe retired in 2018 following her 4th Olympics. Zoe worked with the BBC presenting team for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, something which she greatly enjoyed and is looking at doing more of in the future.
Zoe has visited many schools, colleges and work places in a motivational capacity in France, Canada and throughout the UK and Isle of Man with the aim to show people the joy of sport and to encourage them to participate for fun and health.
Her main passion is seeing people find a sport they enjoy, she encourages them to try lots of different sports and inspires them to get involved in none mainstream as well as mainstream sports.
Zoe’s featured topics:
Adventure
Change & Uncertainty
Inspirational Women
Olympian
Resilience & Adversity
Your presentation was very well received and I had a lot of comments from guests and staff commenting on how inspirational you are (as well as how mad you must be!
Becky Hover - BMW
We are genuinely very grateful that you attended the event, and did so with such great spirit; that you spoke to so many children; signed so many autographs and starred in so many 'selfies'. It really has made a difference!
Joanna Ross - The David Ross Education Trust
Elite Athletes for Schools and Education.
Inspirational Speakers has been providing high profile keynote speakers and entertainers for over 25 years.
Elite Athletes for schools and education.
Elite Athletes for schools and education.
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Inspirational Speakers has been providing high profile keynote speakers and entertainers for over 25 years.
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