Suzanne Dando

In the 2015 New Year Honours, Suzanne was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) "for services to Charity."

A former trustee of The Baton charity, founded by friend Alan Rowe MBE, Suzanne in 2013 ran the Baton Relay, a 110-mile team run from RAF Brize Norton though the night to the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Shropshire.

A passionate supporter of the men and women of Britain's Armed Forces, Suzanne in 2010 coordinated The Remembrance Expedition in support of the Royal British Legion. Following an old wartime escape route, she led a team of women past and present from the Royal Navy, RAF and Army across the Pyrenees, raising £38,000 for the charities' proposed Battle Back Centres.

A former Honorary Vice-President of The Children's Trust, she raised over £18,000 running the London Marathon in 2008 alongside her husband Adam Reynolds and the Children's Trust former patient, Alfie Russell. In 2011, she teamed up with Alfie again when they successfully summited Mount Kilimanjaro, raising another £11,000 for charity.

Suzanne has been an ambassador of The Prince's Trust since 1999 and a Patron for Against Breast Cancer since the early 1990s. She has taken part in many of their fundraising events over the years, such as launching the Oxford Bike Ride and more recently the charity's first Breast Walk Ever, a marathon walk throughout Oxfordshire.

Her TV career started with the BBC presenting the children's program 'Stopwatch' with Daley Thompson and Janice Long. She first joined Sky Sports at the end of 1993, mainly live programs on basketball and show jumping, with the odd stint on the BBC for national and international gymnastics events. She presented the BBC2 art program, 'Awash with Colour,' and BBC's 'The Pet Set'. Most recently co-presenting Horse of Year Show 2009.

In July 1987, Dando married Graham Maclean in Westminster, a composer and songwriter. However, the marriage broke down. In September 1996 Dando married the Australian actor Bruce Roberts at Uckfield but he returned to Australia alone in the winter of 1998. At the time he said that he hoped their relationship could survive the separation. It did not and the couple divorced. Dando is now married to businessman Adam Reynolds and lives in Oxfordshire.

In 1983, Dando was the gymnastics supervisor for the Bond film, Octopussy. The following year her fitness album, Shape Up and Dance with Suzanne Dando, peaked at No. 87 in the UK Albums Chart.

In 1982 she competed in and became the BBC Superstars Champion.

In 1980, Dando won the 'Champion of Champions' title at the Royal Albert Hall. In May she became the Overall British National Champion. She led her teammates, Susan Cheesborough and Denise Jones, to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Dando improved dramatically on her standing (48th) following prelims, finishing 27th in the AA competition.

Following her retirement, Dando coached the under fives in gymnastics at the Lewisham Leisure Centre in South London. She wrote a book, "Fun Ways to Looking Good", and produced and presented her own fitness video, "Flexercise". In the early 1980s, she made several appearances for the Conservative Party, citing Margaret Thatcher as her inspiration.

Her gymnastics talent was first recognised at age eleven by her school physical education teacher Anne Billingham. She quickly passed all the BAGA awards and climbed onto the uneven bars for the first time when she was 12. In 1975 she had to leave her family home in Sussex and move to London to further her gymnastics career. She first represented her country at international level in 1976 aged just 15 where she competed for Britain against West Germany. After winning many National titles, in 1977 she was awarded a Sir Winston Churchill Scholarship Churchill Fellowship allowing her to spend time training in America in 1978. United States. She returned to America in early 1979, returning home in time to compete in the British Championships, unfortunately she sustained an injury and could not compete, which then ruled her out of the squad for the 1979 European Championships. On recovery, she went on to represent her country in the more competitive arena of the 1979 World Championships, Fort Worth, Dallas USA, gaining her F.I.G. Gold Pin.

Suzanne Jane Dando, BEM (born 3 July 1961 in Balham, London) is a former British Olympic gymnast, who competed at the 1979 World Gymnastics Championship in Fort Worth, Dallas and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Since her retirement, she has worked as a television broadcaster for a number of channels, including BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4 and Sky Sports and serves as a Patron and Trustee for a number of charities.