Eilidh McIntyre is an elite sailor who won an Olympic Gold Medal in the 470 class with her partner Hannah Mills at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Following in the footsteps of her father, Mike McIntyre, who won Olympic Gold in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics, they became the first British parent and child to win Olympic gold. Announcing her retirement from the sport in 2023, Eilidh is now a highly sought-after speaker translating lessons learned from being an elite athlete into the business world.
First setting sail on a catamaran aged eight months, Eilidh was raised on Hayling Island with direct access to the ocean. She joined the British Sailing Team aged 15, spending the next 12 years training and competing to become one of the leading athletes in the 470 class. Eilidh went on to form an early partnership with Sophie Weguelin in the 470 class, winning bronze at the 470 European Championships in 2015. Although the pair showed great promise, they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, a setback which Eilidh used to tackle her weaknesses in preparation for Tokyo 2020.
In 2017, she teamed with Hannah Mills, winning silver at the 470 World Championship in Thessaloniki and Gold at Enoshima in 2019. Achieving peak performance, the pair were selected to represent Team GB at Tokyo 2020, a dream that Eilidh had been working towards since she was a child. Sadly, that dream was almost shattered by the Covid pandemic due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. Fortunately, the pair retained their positions with Team GB and made Britain proud in the Summer of 2021, winning a Gold Medal in the Women’s Sailing 470 class.
In recognition of her contributions to sailing, Eilidh was appointed MBE in 2022. She has been featured on the cover of Chasing Tokyo and is highly sought after for campaigns, recently collaborating with Musto. Exploring the notion of living in someone else’s shadow, Eilidh hosts the podcast Out of the Shadows, inviting weekly guests to speak about their experiences. Conveying her journey of self-discovery in her speaking engagements, Eilidh covers topics such as overcoming adversity, creating a cohesive team, and turning weaknesses into greatest strengths, tailoring her presentations to suit her audience.
How to hire Eilidh McIntyre
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Eilidh McIntyre for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
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Eilidh McIntyre's official speaking topics include:
Overcoming Adversity
- How I overcame adversity and never gave up on my Olympic dream. This will include missing out on the 2016 Rio Olympics selection, how I bounced back and most importantly how I learnt from this experience. I will also talk about 2020 dealing with the COVID postponement, the uncertainty and continuing to push in the most unusual of environments.
Creating a Cohesive Team
- The importance of creating a team but more than that the environment a team needs to thrive. I’ve been a part of a destructive team where no matter how good we performed we always fell apart under pressure. I’ve worked with some incredible coaches but the environment we were working in was unhealthy. And I’ve been in a fantastic team where we’ve fought for truth and honesty and worked on our own weaknesses in order to create the strongest team.
Turning your Biggest Weakness into your Greatest Strength
- This has been a life long journey of turning my greatest demon, my destructive desire to win, into my greatest strength. How I stopped suppressing my passion and learnt to control it and draw on it every single day. My aggression as a child turned into a lack of confidence as an adult. I couldn’t be prouder of who I was at the Olympics. I was Bold, Brave and composed. Despite all the other lessons in my career this is what made me and this is what got me gold.
- 2021 - Silver, Vilamoura, 470 European Championships
- 2020 - Gold, Tokyo Olympic Games
- 2019 - Silver, Sanremo, 470 European Championships
- 2019 - Gold, Enoshima, 470 World Championships
- 2017 - Silver, Thessaloniki, 470 World Championships
- 2015 - Bronze, Arhus, 470 European Championships
- 2013 - Bronze, Formia, 470 European Championships
