Professional athlete Ellie Cole has taken the I’m A Celebrity Australia jungle by storm with her easygoing nature and relaxed attitude.
Now retired, Ellie competed in the Paralympic games and has won multiple medals in various international competitions.
Find out more about I’m a Celebrity Australia contestant Ellie Cole.
Ellie’s back story
Ellie was born on December 12th 1991, and at two years old she was diagnosed with cancer. She had a rare tumour called neurosarcoma that was wrapped around the nerves in her right leg.
She tried chemotherapy to tackle the cancer, but it was unsuccessful and she underwent surgery to amputate her right leg above the knee to stop the cancer from spreading in 1994.
The surgery was successful and her mum enrolled her in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program.
Ellie’s swimming career
Swimming was only originally meant to be Ellie’s rehabilitation, and her instructors expected her to take up to a year to be able to swim in a straight line, but it only took her two weeks.
Because of Ellie’s obvious skill in the sport, she continued swimming and competed in her first competition in 2003, at 12 years old.
Ellie first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships and won a silver medal.
In 2010 she won bronze medals in the 100 m Freestyle S9 and 100 m Butterfly S9 events at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
She won various competitions after that and was accepted into the 2012 London Paralympics. There, she competed in eight events and won six medals – four of which were gold.
From there, Ellie competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham, England. She announced her retirement after the English games.
Ellie’s personal life
Ellie and her partner, Silvia Scognamiglio met at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and have been together ever since. Silvia was an events planner for the games, and Ellie cleaned up at the event with multiple gold medals.
Ellie told her I’m A Celebrity campmates that she didn’t tell her mum about her same-sex relationship until years after she’d gotten together with Silvia.
“I knew that she didn’t approve of same-sex relationships, but it’s not nice hiding a part of yourself from your parents.”
“My mum didn’t find out until we actually bought a house together, like years later.”
Ellie explained that her grandmother was supportive, and her mother eventually came around and now shares a good relationship with the couple.
Ellie and Silvia welcomed a baby boy Felix Parker Cole in February 2024.
Watch I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Australia season 10 at 7.30 pm Sunday – Thursday on 10 and 10Play.
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