Mark Foster

An Olympic swimmer and multiple world record breaker, Mark Foster has grown into one of the most recognised and respected names in British sport.

He has been seen on billboards and buses for well over a decade in his multiple roles as brand ambassadors for companies including Speedo and Wellman.

Mark Foster is a smart, humorous and engaging host and speaker. He draws upon his career as an international swimmer, high-profile commentator and popular TV presenter to inspire and keep his audience hooked.

As well as inspiring individuals and teams with his sporting achievements, he also reflects on the role his personal life has played in his professional performance. Despite his achievements, it was only in 2017 that Mark Foster opened up about being gay and how that affected his career, and he now speaks to build awareness and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.

Contact Great British Speakers today to book Olympic swimmer and LGBTQ+ speaker Mark Foster for your next event.

Type Of Speaker

After Dinner Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Health & Wellbeing High Performance Influencer LGBTQ+ (Pride) Mental Health Motivational Olympians/Paralympians Presenters Resilience Speaker Sport Virtual Speakers

More About Mark Foster

Mark Foster burst onto the international swimming scene at 16 years old, representing England at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He went on to represent his country for 23 years and became one of Britain’s most decorated swimmers.

Throughout his remarkable sporting career, he won 47 major international medals, competed at five Olympic games, was World Champion six times, European Champion 12 times, Commonwealth Champion twice, and broke the world short course freestyle world record an impressive eight times. He was also chosen as the flag bearer for team GB at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

Mark Foster hire former Team GB Olympic swimmer speaker book at agent Great British Speakers

Mark Foster Television Presenter

Since retiring from swimming, Mark 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’s expertise and natural style saw him co-hosting the swimming World Championships in 2013 alongside Gabby Logan and Rebecca Adlington.

Mark reunited with Clare as a regular presenter on the Clare Balding Show (2015-2016) series for BT Sport. He has been a regular participant on TV shows including Countdown (1982-), Question of Sport (1970-), Celebrity MasterChef (2006-), Come Dine With Me (2005-), Through the Keyhole (1987-), Beat the Star (2008-), Superstars (1973-2012), The Weakest Link (2000-), Celebrity Juice (2008-), The Million Pound Drop (2010-2015; 2018-2019), and was on the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing (2004-) coming 11th.

In 2024, Mark was part of the BBC’s swimming presenting team at the Paris Olympic Games.

Mark Foster Charity Work

Since retiring from competitive swimming, Mark has taken on an enormous amount of charity work. He is an ambassador for Sportsaid and Pools 4 School – for which he regularly appears on BBC TV news and local radio shows, works alongside LGTBQ+ charity Stonewall and sexual health charity The Terrence Higgins Trust; he appeared on Let’s Dance for Sport Relief (2009-2017) in 2010, supported ActionAid’s PoverTee Day in 2009 by having a T-shirt painted on his torso, and became patron of the Anaphylaxis Campaign in memory of a friend who died from severe allergies. He won £10,000 for the charity through appearing on Who Wants to be a Millionaire (1998-). He has been a celebrity judge for the Miele Fashion Prize in aid of children’s charity Sparks, worked alongside British Gas to encourage people to learn to swim, supported Grey-Away Day to promote prostate cancer awareness, and has support Movember by growing facial hair every November. In 2013, Mark established the Mark Foster Swimming Academy for young swimmers aged 11-17.

Mark Foster hire Olympic swimmer speaker book at agent Great British Speakers

Mark Foster – Public Speaking

Mark’s post-swimming career has seen him reinvent himself as a successful motivational speaker and is now one of the most popular motivational speakers on the circuit. His ability to talk to a variety of audiences about a wide range of subjects makes him a highly sought after speaker.

In 2017, Mark came out as gay and explained that he thought his sexuality would negatively impact his professional swimming career, and that is why he hid it. But since he revealed his true identity, he has become a prominent advocate for LGBTQ+ issues.

Mark Foster – Speaking Topics

– Drive and Determination

– Going for Gold

– Legends

– Motivation

– Peak Performance

– Overcoming Adversity

Mark Foster Speaking Clients

Mark Foster has worked alongside industry giants such as British Gas, Huffington Post, Wellman Nutritional Products, Ted Baker, Jaguar, Just For Men, Speedo, , La Redoute, Lloyds Bank, Barun, BT, EE, American Express.

Having spent over two decades as an elite athlete, Mark Foster has learned valuable lessons in performing under pressure, strategy and discipline. Mark is friendly, personable, down-to-earth, accommodating and motivational. If you’re after a passionate, inspirational and successful LGBTQ+ speaker, look no further than Mark Foster.

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book swimmer and LGBTQ+ speaker Mark Foster for your corporate event.

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Testimonials

Mark was a speaker at Leicester Tigers for a game that we played against London Welsh. With over 300 people in the room, Mark used different techniques to keep everyone engaged and interested in what he was saying. With mostly businessmen 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.
Emily, Leicester Tigers

Mark was a spokesperson for Gillette’s International Men’s day campaign where we wanted to raise awareness of men’s health but importantly male role models and the impact they can have. Mark spoke eloquently about his experiences growing up and what he sees as important for kids growing up. He really nailed the messaging and as a last-minute brief to him he delivered above and beyond what we could have asked for.
Mark, HK Strategies

The event was a huge success; Mark was a great speaker and we have had plenty of compliments following the event. Please do pass on my thanks again to Mark. We all found him so approachable and he told his story to a wide-ranging audience and managed to engage everyone – pupils, parents and staff alike. He may like to know that we also raised over £3000 towards the school charities so thank you for his help in the various activities throughout the evening that supported that.
Nicki, Wycombe Abbey School

Mark was a superb speaker; open, frank, positive, constructive and enlightening, we all came away with a refreshed perspective on self-care, choosing your outlook and positive mindset – and how these approaches can help us through hard time.
Alun, Health & Wellbeing Strategy Lead, UK Home Office

He was fantastic, very personable and a brilliant speaker. He very openly shared his personal and professional stories, which were very inspiring and thoroughly engaged the audience. We’ve received great feedback.
Grace, American Express

I’d like to thank Mark for his massive contribution to our event. He was a total hit with the audience and is scoring 10/10 in our post-event survey! From my perspective, he encapsulated the brief perfectly and got all the messages I needed out to the team in a really compelling but down to earth way. His style was relaxed but he had everyone hooked from the start, right through to the end. The Q&A was a real highlight and I really appreciate him addressing the many questions from the floor in such an encouraging way. Inspirational! Mark was open, warm, friendly and extremely polite to everyone he met on the night and very accommodating to the many ‘selfie’ requests. Genuinely a lovely human being! Everyone was still talking about Mark the next day which shows the deep impact he had on the team and I’m sure this will encourage them to test themselves ‘beyond limits’ in the future.
Nathalie, BT & EE

What a brilliant day. Thank you so much for helping me out. Mark was a star and nothing but positive feedback from parents and children. They want him every year.
David, Headmaster

The feedback has been excellent!! Mark gave a very insightful and entertaining speech which was very well received and also spent time answering questions from the floor. He was happy to sign items and pose for photographs with guests which was great and much appreciated!
ACCA Cymru Wales

SportBusiness Group has worked with a number of high profile athletes in a professional speaking capacity and would consider Mark one of the best.
SportBusiness Group

Great speaker- funny, insightful, not afraid to laugh at himself and generally a very engaging presenter and presentation.
SagePay

Great speaker, held the audience, very relevant to our company event where he had a mixed motivational and educational agenda.
Blue Prism

A very chatty guy who was great company for the evening and nailed his motivational speech.
AG Barr

Mark was the guest speaker at our end of year Prize Day and celebrations. He proved to be an excellent match for the occasion, engaging with every single prize winner and addressing an inspirational speech to all pupils, parents and guests. He also gave much of himself after the ceremony, interacting with the school community for photos and autographs. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for the day, and are grateful to Champions Speakers for their continued support with our events.
Jamie, Berkhamsted Prep School