ELLIE SIMMONDS says she wants children and that it ‘wouldn’t matter’ if they are not average height 

Strictly star Ellie Simmonds and her partner Matt have just bought their first home, an older property that needs a lot of renovation. 

They have all the usual sort of plans — new bathroom, new kitchen — but they have some specific requirements on their to-do list.

‘We are going to lower the height of the kitchen worktops, so we don’t have to use stools and also lower the light switches,’ she says.

She nods to the light switches on the wall. ‘The rest of the world is designed for taller people but, inside our home, we can design it for us.’

Quite how much the rest of the world is ‘designed’ for taller people is being brought home to many as retired Olympic swimmer Ellie, still only 28 yet one of our most successful athletes, steps on to the Strictly dancefloor each week.

Retired Olympic swimmer Ellie, still only 28 yet one of our most successful athletes, steps on to the Strictly dancefloor each week

able-bodied parents encouraged her into every sport possible and she even had a go at ballet (which she dismissed as too dull, hilariously) but it was swimming that she seemed to be born for

able-bodied parents encouraged her into every sport possible and she even had a go at ballet (which she dismissed as too dull, hilariously) but it was swimming that she seemed to be born for

For her steps are smaller than we are used to. It’s one of the issues she and her professional partner Nikita Kuzmin, have been grappling with as they train furiously.

There has never been a Strictly contestant who has dwarfism before. Ellie, who stands 4ft tall, was born with a specific type of dwarfism called achondroplasia (which stunts growth in the arms and legs). She has never danced before.

How will this work? ‘We are going to find out as we go along,’ she says as she sits on the floor, her legs outstretched.

Maybe sitting on the floor with her is something we should all do (metaphorically speaking; although today I’m doing it for real). 

Ellie, who stands 4ft tall, was born with a specific type of dwarfism called achondroplasia (which stunts growth in the arms and legs)

 Ellie, who stands 4ft tall, was born with a specific type of dwarfism called achondroplasia (which stunts growth in the arms and legs)

She demonstrates to me how Nikita comes down to her level to study the mechanics of how her limbs move, what is physically possible and what is not.

One of the characteristics of achondroplasia is a curvature of the legs. The cha-cha-cha (the dance Ellie had to perform for her Strictly debut) requires perfectly straight legs. She demonstrates a chopping scissor motion with her arms.

‘My legs won’t do this, but we still got through the dance,’ she says. ‘The judges knew I couldn’t straighten my legs, but they obviously thought I did OK.’

She hadn’t just been worried about her legs (which were a bit wobbly through nerves, by the way, nothing to do with her condition). 

‘All week, Nikita had been saying I needed to find sass. That’s not something you ever hear a swimming coach say.’

There’s another move in the cha-cha-cha she struggled with.

‘The one where the knees come together. I can’t remember what it’s called,’ she says, lowering her voice lest Nikita hear.

‘I should know that one by now. Luckily, he’s not listening.’

But dancing technicalities aside, one of the striking things about an audience with Ellie is how at ease she is with her own body.

It’s unusual to meet a woman in the public eye who is so comfortable in their own skin.

It’s down to sport, she says, emphatically. ‘You are so busy thinking of what your body can do…’

I ask if she has ever wanted to be someone else, physically. ‘When I was a teenager, probably.

‘There was a time where I wanted to have longer legs, just so I could wear high heels or have jeans that actually fitted properly. 

Of course. But every teenager wants something they haven’t got.’

One of the great positives about her appearing on Strictly, she says, is that she can ‘answer the questions a lot of people have’.

One of the great positives about her appearing on Strictly, she says, is that she can ‘answer the questions a lot of people have’

One of the great positives about her appearing on Strictly, she says, is that she can ‘answer the questions a lot of people have’

That starts with how to address her. She doesn’t mind the word ‘dwarf’, preferring it to ‘little people’. ‘It’s what I am,’ she says.

While there were a few nasty comments on social media, of the ‘how will the dwarf do’ variety, she admits, the overwhelming reaction to her Strictly debut was positive.

Within minutes, parents of children with dwarfism were Tweeting, in tears that their children were finally seeing a version of themselves on mainstream TV.

‘It’s quite overwhelming,’ she admits. ‘When I was growing up I didn’t see that — not on mainstream TV. I think it’s changing. 

There are still those old stereotypes, like Snow White And The Seven Dwarves, but it’s changing. 

Sport has been a huge part of that, and now hopefully Strictly can be even more of a platform. It’s huge, really.’

Was Ellie being judged on her steps or her sass? It is perhaps the most contentious issue here. 

It is still not entirely clear how the Strictly judges have been advised to handle this one, but one thing is clear: she got the public vote.

Ellie was rather bemused that after her Paralympic triumph in 2012 — when she won gold on home turf at just 18 — she received an invitation to London Fashion Week

Ellie was rather bemused that after her Paralympic triumph in 2012 — when she won gold on home turf at just 18 — she received an invitation to London Fashion Week

Her partner Matt — who also has achondroplasia — was in the audience for her debut.

 He had been the one who pushed her to say ‘yes’ when the Strictly offer came in. ‘He said “you HAVE to do this”. 

Eventually, I realised he was right. Why was I even questioning it?’ she says.

She tells me that she was gutted her mum — perhaps her biggest cheerleader — was going to miss that all-important first dance.

‘She and my Auntie Jan were flying to Barcelona on holiday. It had been booked long before Strictly was confirmed. 

I’d been saying “terrible timing, Mum”. But as it happened, the flight was delayed, so they were watching it on their phones.’

Doubtless zooming in to see the work of the famous Strictly costume ladies, too. Ellie reveals that, back in the real world, her mum and Auntie Jan — who are regular height — have been her personal seamstresses since she was a child.

‘Obviously on Strictly, the dresses are made for you, but all my life Mum and Auntie Jan have adapted my clothes. 

I’ve bought all my clothes and handed them to them to take up the legs and make them fit me.’

They still do this? You are 28! ‘I know! I can’t sew on a button. Maybe I will have to start learning.’

Maybe she won’t have to. Ellie was rather bemused that after her Paralympic triumph in 2012 — when she won gold on home turf at just 18 — she received an invitation to London Fashion Week.

While there were a few nasty comments on social media, of the ‘how will the dwarf do’ variety, she admits, the overwhelming reaction to her Strictly debut was positive

While there were a few nasty comments on social media, of the ‘how will the dwarf do’ variety, she admits, the overwhelming reaction to her Strictly debut was positive

It marked the start of her journey from a somewhat niche sport into not only mainstream sport but mainstream entertainment.

She’s perfectly capable of going giddy at a dress and her first Strictly gown was a gold number, with added glitter, to be fair.

‘It was the dress of dreams,’ she says, swooning a little. ‘I didn’t want to take it off.’

Her arms are a sort of goldy colour too, the result of the obligatory fake tan. Then there are the shoes. 

She wears a size 2 and her tiny dance shoes are made to measure, although her relationship with them is still a tad unhappy. 

‘They have given me blisters, so I am trying to wear them in. I’ve even brushed my teeth in them,’ she says.

In short, she’s throwing herself into the Strictly experience in the same way she hurled herself into a swimming pool as a child. 

The energy and drive she exudes is palpable, even when she’s sitting still.

‘My parents have always said if I had been born first, I’d have been the only child,’ she admits. ‘I did just have natural energy. 

It’s why they tried to direct it into sport — to give it somewhere to go.’

This sounds like you are describing a puppy, I say. ‘It was like that, but I will be so grateful for them for doing it. It was the making of me.’ 

Her able-bodied parents encouraged her into every sport possible and she even had a go at ballet (which she dismissed as too dull, hilariously) but it was swimming that she seemed to be born for. 

The Simmonds family had a pool in their garden, which makes them sound very grand ‘but it was only a small pool’.

They also had a caravan in Wales, ‘which was near the sea. I was always in water, basically, and my parents encouraged it because they could see my confidence growing the older I got.’

This was no ordinary supportive swimming mum, though. When it was clear that Ellie would be a good enough swimmer to represent her country, she and her mum even moved from their West Midlands home to Wales, spending weekdays in Wales (where her coach was based) and travelling home at the weekends.

That was only possible because she was the youngest, she admits. The older children, Ellie is the youngest of five, having left home.

It’s possibly significant that Ellie’s dwarfism did not come as a shock to her parents. Although three of her siblings do not have the genetic condition, her sister Katie, who is five years older than her, does have achondroplasia.

By the time, Ellie was born, her parents Steve and Val were already involved with the dwarfism community. 

Interestingly, even as a young child she attended a summer camp run by another couple called Arthur and Penny Dean, founders of the Dwarf Sports Association charity. Their son? None other than Matt, Ellie’s partner.

‘I have known him forever,’ she says. ‘We were friends first and then we were more than friends.’ It is Matt who made her the packed lunch she is eating today.

Does it help that he has the same disability (as do his parents)? ‘Of course, but it’s also nice that he’s not in that sporting world and we’re very private. 

We don’t post anything on social media, or anything.

‘Here I’m Ellie. I’m doing Strictly, doing media stuff, but at home I can just be away from all that. 

By 13 she was the youngest member of the British Paralympic Team; by 14 she was the youngest person ever to receive an MBE

By 13 she was the youngest member of the British Paralympic Team; by 14 she was the youngest person ever to receive an MBE

He’s just got a normal day-to-day job, and he’s grounded. I think you need that perspective in your life. He’s very chilled and that really helps me.’

Much of Ellie’s life has been lived in the spotlight. By 13 she was the youngest member of the British Paralympic Team; by 14 she was the youngest person ever to receive an MBE.

How did that not go to her head? Sport, she says. ‘I was in that bubble.’ It also meant — and perhaps this explains why she has not experienced the bullying that a lot of people with dwarfism have.

She made a powerful documentary last year about her fears over the use of hormone treatment to ‘cure’ dwarfism, arguing that her dwarfism has made her who she is. 

‘If that drug had been around when I was a child, who would I be?’ she asked.

And now? Presumably if she and Matt make the decision to have children, they would have to take the genetic lottery into consideration? 

‘Yes, and you don’t know what you would get. You could have a child who is a dwarf, or a child of average height.

‘We could get a double dose. You just don’t know.

‘I would like to have children in the future, though, and what I do know is that I would love that child whatever, just as my parents loved me. 

You don’t know until you have a test, when that baby is growing inside you.’

But whatever that test said, for you, it wouldn’t matter? ‘Absolutely’.

We finish up by chatting about last year’s Strictly winner — who had a different sort of disability. 

Yes she would love to use her Strictly platform as Rose Ayling-Ellis did, incorporating her disability into her dance.

‘I just have to make sure I stay in long enough to do that,’ she says.

  • Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC1 tonight at 6.30pm

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