Keri-Anne Payne

South African born swimmer and Olympic speaker Keri-Anne Payne is a European championship swimmer known for her incredible open water and marathon swimming abilities. Available for hire as a sports speaker Payne now lives in Scotland with her husband, fellow Olympic speaker and former swimmer David Carry.

Returning to the UK with her parents as a young child Keri-Anne Payne began swimming at just four years old and was noticed by British Swimming's national performance director Bill Sweetenham at a training camp at eight. Keri-Anne Payne broke her first record at just fourteen years old when she smashed the British Junior 800m freestyle record, and went on to make significant waves amongst the swimming community throughout her adolescence.

Living in Heywood, Greater Manchester Payne began being coached by Olympic speaker and swimming expert Sean Kelly who encouraged her to take up open water swimming after her funding was cut in 2006 when she failed to secure a medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Payne became the first Brit to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics when, in Shanghai in 2011 she took her second World Champion Open Water 10K win. Keri-Anne Payne represented team GB in the London Olympics eventually placing fourth, a mere four seconds behind the victor, Tunisian sports speaker and world record breaker Oussama Mellouli.