Rugby World Cup winner and Olympian Heather Fisher discusses what identity means as a woman who looks and feels different.Under the scrutiny of world-class performance systems from the age of 16, her journey to self-discovery has been a bumpy one and rarely in her control.25 years on she finally feels able to be herself and is ready to share a whistlestop insight about into her story.
Birmingham-based Rugby World Cup winner and former GB bobsledder, Heather is an accomplished elite athlete, motivational speaker, LGBT advocate and media personality.After a difficult start in life and teenage struggles with anorexia , Heather quickly found she excelled in the sports arena. Breaking her back in four places in her late 20s left her in a full-body cast for 18 months and triggered alopecia which impacted her self-confidence and perception of herself. Never to be held down, she returned to win win the 2014 Rugby World Cup and four Six Nations, medalling at the Commonwealth Games and representing Team GB in the Olympic Games Rio 2016.Since retiring as an athlete, she has become an accomplished motivational speaker, MC an event host and has taken on a number of TV and radio opportunities. Building on her stint on Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins, she became a celebrity warrior on BBC survival show Go Hard or Go Home. Heather also does extensive charity work raising money for young people with autism and for those with alopecia. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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