Steve’s story begins in Liverpool, city of his birth in 1977. From an early age, he enjoyed swimming, joining a club in Woolton but progressing to bona fide teams like the Liverpool Penguins and City of Liverpool. He started training seriously when he was 12 years of age, and at 16 he qualified for the European Junior Championships, going on to win it the following year.
At 18 years of age, Steve left the UK to attend Florida State University, studying marketing and finance alongside his swimming. He excelled during his time in the US, winning the NCAA 200m butterfly title. Soon after he set a Commonwealth record at the 2000 US Nationals in Seattle, beating, among others, a very young Michael Phelps. Later that year he qualified for his first Olympic Games in Sydney.
He went on to win an impressive 10 medals between 1997 and 2004, including a gold at the 2002 European Championships in Riesa and silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, just a few miles from his home city, but his Olympic bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics was his greatest competitive achievement. During his career, Steve represented Team GB in the Olympics, FINA World Championships and European Championships, and also swam for England at the Commonwealth Games, making him an all-round swimming great for his country.
Following retirement from swimming, he set up Total Swimming, which brings temporary pool facilities to children in deprived areas across Britain – a company he is now Director of. He is particularly keen on all children learning to swim as early as possible because of his own narrow escape from drowning at the age of nine. He has also hosted his own BBC Radio Merseyside programme on Sunday afternoons before he joined BBC Sport covering the swimming at the Beijing 2008 Olympic games.
In 2009, Steve was diagnosed with cancer only four weeks after getting married, but following treatment, he was soon given the all-clear. He is now an ambassador for Cancer Research UK and in an effort which raised £300,000 for charity, in 2011 he teamed up with Richard Branson, Ronan Keating and other celebrities to swim the Irish Sea.
Articulate and coherent throughout his appearances, he is a charismatic and proud athlete who is determined to support and nurture athletes with the same intrinsic drive to succeed as he discovered. His values and traits as an athlete mentor and television personality translate over to his suitability as an after-dinner speaker and Olympic speaker.
