Mark Foster
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One of the most successful British swimmers of all time
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Competed in 5 Olympics, 6x World Champion, 11x European champion and more...
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Long-term brand ambassador for Wellman nutritional products
Copyright © John Sanders
Mark Foster 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 Foster 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. Mark then co-hosted the BBC coverage of the World Swimming Championships from Barcelona alongside Gabby Logan.
To add to Mark's TV appearances, he has been a regular participant on Countdown, Question of Sport, Come Dine With Me, Celebrity Masterchef as well as a host of other charity shows and campaigns.
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 Foster is passionate about fitness and promoting healthy lifestyles. He is a long-term brand ambassador for "Wellman" nutritional products and works closely with British Gas, the principal partner of British Swimming, as a brand ambassador for ‘Swim Britain' an initiative to get the nation fitter and healthier by inspiring 500,000 people to swim more often.
Motivational Speaking
Mark Foster’s post-swimming career saw him reinvent himself as a successful and highly sought-after motivational speaker and is now one of the most popular speakers on the UK speaking circuit.
He uses his experiences as an athlete and world champion to inspire businesses, staff teams and diverse audiences across a wide range of industries on how to motivate and improve performance.
Competing for 23 years as an elite athlete at the highest level of his sport has taught Mark many valuable lessons about planning, strategy, commitment, focus and developing the right mindset.
He has translated these lessons into motivational presentations and interventions that are transferable to the business world. Speech topics and themes covered include:
— Discipline and Training
— Mind Set and being prepared
— Partnerships and Team work; strengths and weaknesses in the team environment
— Peak performance
— Goal setting and delivery
— Learning from mistakes and dealing with setbacks
— Working outside you comfort zone
— LGBT & Acceptance in Sport
After Dinner Speaking
Through his inspiring, entertaining and motivational after dinner speech, ‘Reach For The Stars’, audiences learn how Mark Foster's father's fear of water pushed him to learn to swim at 5 years old, how he almost spent his career working in a council office and the truth behind ‘that’ fishnet string top on Strictly Come Dancing.
LGBT
In 2017, Mark Foster took the brave decision to come out to the world as being gay. The revelation has seen him voted Man of the Year by Winq Magazine in that same year and in 2018 he became LBGTQ+ ambassador for Barnardo’s. Mark is now a popular speaker on the corporate circuit addressing diversity issues in the workplace and campaigning for LGBT rights and acceptance in sport.
Sponsorship & Brand Partnerships
Mark is a model and brand ambassador for the British designer Ted Baker and has inspired a specific T for Tall men’s clothing range, available online and in Ted Baker stores across the world.
Mark is also a long-term ambassador for Wellman Nutritional Products, and has fronted high-profile campaigns for Marlborough Classics, La Redoit, Just for Men and Braun.
Speaking clips
Fireside chat/interview
Exclusive interview with Mark Foster
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Mark Foster helped us launch our campaign to cut Britain's hot water usage and was an inspiring and engaging speaker. He was very easy to work with and went the extra mile to make sure that he completely understood the campaign before the speech on the day and by using the products in his home. He made sure that all of our key messages were included in an entertaining and interactive speech.
Mark Foster MBE spoke at our annual conference and was a huge hit. He managed to combine inspirational messages with funny moments from Strictly and great interaction with the audience.
Mark Foster was invited to address a delegation of 200 sport industry professionals at our flagship conference, Sports Marketing 360. He offered an entertaining, insightful and honest account of his relationship with the commercial aspects of sport. It led to a lot of questions from the delegates and a number of talking points for the ensuing panel discussion. SportBusiness Group has worked with a number of high profile athletes in a professional speaking capacity and would consider Mark one of the best.
Mark Foster was a brilliant host, very professional and down to earth and made time for everyone at the event.
With over 300 people in the room, Mark Foster used different techniques to keep everyone engaged and interested in what he was saying. With mostly business men and sports fans in the room Mark was able to conduct himself in a manner that suited both parties and children. Mark's experience in life after sport was extremely interesting and our 1st team players took this in as something they need to start thinking about as well. The interactivity that Mark had with our guests was exceptional and spent over an hour signing autographs and having photos and it was a pleasure to host him and have him as our guest speaker.
Mark recently presented at our commercial conference. He listened carefully to my brief and delivered a session that landed all the messages superbly. Mark was keen to participate and add value to the whole conference. He willingly participated in breakout sessions and helped to facilitate some great discussions. The success of a good speaker is not just the impact they have on the day, but the impact they have in the following weeks. My team still refer to Mark's session – clear indication of a job well done.
Can you please pass on my thanks to Mark Foster for Friday night. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and he courted the audience perfectly. Timings ran over a bit but he just took it all in his own stride.
How to book Mark Foster for your event
To book Mark Foster, please submit an online enquiry to booking.agent@nmp.co.uk or contact one of our booking agents on +44 (0)20 3822 0003.
Olympic silver medalist and winner of two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games
British Olympic multi-gold medal swimmer
British Olympic open-water swimmer and Beijing 2008 silver medalist
World record-breaking ultra endurance cyclist and adventurer
Commonwealth and World Champion swimmer
From attempting suicide twice to running 401 marathons in 401 days
