Gail Emms

Gail Elizabeth Emms MBE (born 23 July 1977) is a retired English badminton player who has achieved international success in doubles tournaments.

Her father owned a building firm that collapsed in the recession of the late 1980s leading to a sudden decline in the family standard of living.

Her mother, Janice Emms (née Barton), played for the unofficial England women's national football team.

Her parents divorced while Emms was in her early teens.

She and Nathan Robertson reached the semi-finals of 1994 World Junior Championships held in Kuala Lumpur.

A badminton player since the age of four, Emms was first chosen to represent England in 1995 and regularly played for her country until her retirement from professional sport in 2008.

In 1998 she graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Sports Science from Kingston University.

After graduating Emms became a full-time professional badminton player with the help of national lottery funded grants paid to her by UK Sport.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester she won a bronze medal with Joanne Goode in the women's doubles and won gold as part of the England team in the mixed team event.

In the English National Championships she won the mixed doubles three times and the women's doubles twice.

Emms attended the Dame Alice Harpur School in Bedford, a private girls' school.

Emms competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles with partner Donna Kellogg.

They defeated Koon Wai Chee and Li Wing Mui of Hong Kong in the first round but were defeated by Zhao Tingting and Wei Yili of China in the second round.

She also competed in mixed doubles with Robertson.

They had a bye in the first round and defeated Björn Siegemund and Nicol Pitro of Germany in the second.

In the quarterfinals, Emms and Robertson beat Chen Qiqiu and Zhao Tingting of China 15–8, 17–15 to advance to the semifinals.

There, they beat Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen of Denmark 15–6, 15–12.

In the final, they lost to the Chinese pair Zhang Jun and Gao Ling 1–15, 15–12, 12–15 to finish with the silver medal.

Her best results were winning gold at the 2006 World Championships in Madrid, 2004 European Championships in Geneva, and a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games, partnering Nathan Robertson in the mixed doubles.

The 2006 Commonwealth Games brought Emms a silver in the team event, a bronze in the women's doubles (with Donna Kellogg) and a gold in the mixed doubles (with Nathan Robertson).

An additional gold together with Robertson followed at the 2006 IBF World Championships.

Emms participated in the women's doubles with partner Donna Kellogg only to be knocked out in the first round by the Chinese pair Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen.

Emms then went on to win her first match in the mixed doubles with Nathan Robertson against the Chinese world number 2 pair.

Emms and Robertson won the first game 21–16 before Gao Ling and her new partner Zheng Bo hit back to win the second 21–16.

The British duo found themselves 12–17 down in the decider only to recover to win 21–19.

Emms and Robertson lost out on a medal at the quarter final stage against the world number 10 pair and eventual gold medalist Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung of South Korea.

Emms retired after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

After 2008 Emms started a portfolio career and has engaged in badminton coaching, motivational speaking, media activities, TV commentary and product endorsements.

The latter includes work for SKODA cars and Adidas.

Emms has worked as a TV presenter and commentator for the BBC, Sky and BT Sport.

She has delivered talks on performance, teamwork and gender issues at events held by many prominent clients including the Ashridge Business School, Sainsbury's and the Thames Valley Police.

Emms was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to badminton.

She gave birth to her first child, Harry, in March 2010 and to her second child, Oliver, in May 2013.

In 2013 she was appointed to the Badminton England coaching staff with a remit to develop young female prospects and mixed doubles pairs.

On 6 March 2014, she appeared on Sport Relief's Top Dog with her dog Raffa, a Westie.

They won their heat, and went on to win the semi-final against Jenni Falconer on 20 March and the final, where they competed against Sally Gunnell.

In 2015 she was living in Milton Keynes with her partner.

But loss of financial support for badminton from UK Sport in 2017 resulted in cutbacks to the coaching programmes which impacted on Emms' position.

She has subsequently been critical of UK Sport's strategy in allocating funds, suggesting that its emphasis on elite level players and Olympic medal results is inappropriate.

Emms has appeared on the sports-based panel show A Question of Sport and is a regular guest on Fighting Talk.