{"id":376407,"date":"2026-04-05T14:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/376407\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:30:07","slug":"gladiator-jodie-ounsley-looks-back-there-werent-many-girls-like-me-at-school-i-always-liked-bashing-into-people-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/376407\/","title":{"rendered":"Gladiator Jodie Ounsley looks back: \u2018There weren\u2019t many girls like me at school. I always liked bashing into people\u2019 | Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gladiator and rugby player in 2007 and 2026<\/a>Jodie Ounsley in 2007 and 2026. Later photograph: P\u00e5l Hansen\/The Guardian. Styling: Andie Redman. Hair and makeup: Jules UGC. Archive photograph: courtesy of Jodie Ounsley<\/p>\n

Born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in 2001, Jodie Ounsley is an athlete, television personality and author. A former England rugby sevens player, she is the first deaf female rugby player for a senior England side. In 2024, she joined the BBC revival of the series Gladiators, in which she competes as Fury; the same year, she was one of the presenters for the 2024 Paralympics. Her second book, Strong Girls, co-written with Becky Grey, is out on 9 April.<\/p>\n

I was six and had just got back from\u00a0karate practice when Mum said, \u201cRight, let\u2019s take a picture!\u201d Most kids would have stood politely and smiled, but my first instinct was to do the deadliest pose.<\/p>\n

This photo sums up my mentality as a little kid. I was the tough girl who loved contact sports. I was determined, fiery, fearless and wanted to get stuck into everything. Usain Bolt was my hero and I wanted to be fast just like him. There was a running joke in my family when it came to sports day \u2013 I treated it like it was the Olympics, taking it so seriously that it became borderline ridiculous. All the other kids would compete in shorts and a T-shirt \u2013 your traditional PE kit \u2013 whereas I would turn up to school in a blue muscle vest, track shorts and actual running shoes.<\/p>\n

double quotation markHaving the family I do keeps me humble. They\u2019d give me a right telling-off if I ever got above my station<\/p>\n

It was important that I was the best, especially when it came to racing against the boys. At first they were faster than me, but when I was about 12, I decided I\u2019d train hard and make it my goal to be the fastest person in my year. When the day came I was nervous, but as I crossed the finish line I realised I\u2019d won and it was the best day ever. It felt amazing knowing my body could do that if I put in the work.<\/p>\n

No matter how ambitious I was, my\u00a0family made my dedication to sport feel normal. My mum is the kindest person ever and gave me so much emotional support, while my grandparents were my biggest fans \u2013 any time I won a race they would take me out for a carvery afterwards. My weekends would be spent with my dad, training, then eating chicken nuggets and watching Britain\u2019s Got Talent together.<\/p>\n

Dad was my favourite training partner and a total inspiration. He was even on the original series of Gladiators as a contestant. He did mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the World Coal Carrying Championships \u2013 this bizarre Yorkshire event where you run a\u00a0kilometre with a sack of coal on your shoulders. Dad said the first moment he realised my future would be in sport was when he saw me pick up a\u00a0sack of carrots and run around the kitchen with it on my back. I was trying to copy him, and I kept going and going. I was totally determined.<\/p>\n

Even though it was quite unusual for a little girl to be so into male-dominated sports, dad never made me feel strange for it. He always celebrated me for being strong. When I went to high school, I started to realise that there weren\u2019t many girls like me. Most played hockey or netball, whereas I\u00a0always liked bashing into people. There were definitely times when I\u00a0doubted myself or felt different. I\u00a0tried out some other sports I was less good at, like football. I quickly realised I was too aggressive for it. I even tried ballet and tap. But everything changed when I found rugby.<\/p>\n

At first I wasn\u2019t allowed to play. I\u00a0was born profoundly deaf and had a\u00a0cochlear implant when I was 14 months old. The advice from doctors was that I couldn\u2019t do contact sports because of the risks related to having a\u00a0magnet in your head and the danger of dislodging it. But then my younger brother started playing rugby and I\u00a0went to all his games and realised I\u00a0loved it, too. Eventually my parents got sick of me nagging them and Dad found a solution: I\u00a0could play if I wore a\u00a0scrum cap. Once I started, my career took off and I\u2019m so proud that, as a\u00a0deaf person, I was able to navigate those barriers and break through. One of my proudest moments was getting my first England cap in rugby. It had been my goal, and I had reached it.<\/p>\n

When I saw that they were looking for\u00a0new Gladiators, I applied thinking nothing would come of it. I got invited to a trial, then had to meet some producers and talk about what I\u2019m really passionate about. I told them I\u00a0wanted to help other kids \u2013 that it\u2019s really important to me to make the world a better place for disabled people. I just want to make sure young people know that nothing should hold you back, no matter who you are. Obviously I did something right, because I became Fury.<\/p>\n

My Gladiator name comes from my competitive spirit \u2013 I switch into game mode when I have a job to do. As soon as I\u2019m not in that environment, I\u2019m far from angry or up for a fight. I\u2019m actually very shy, warm and chilled, and I really need the comfort of my own home. I have to push myself to be that confident person \u2013 it\u2019s a fake-it-till-you-make-it situation.<\/p>\n

The first time I got recognised, I had popped out to get some milk. I\u2019d\u00a0injured my shoulder so I was in a\u00a0sling, and I didn\u2019t look like a\u00a0Gladiator \u2013 my hair was in a right state and I was dressed in pyjamas. I\u00a0walked into the corner shop and heard these kids screaming, \u201cIt\u2019s you! It\u2019s Fury!\u201d It was a lovely moment, but being on TV would never change me. Having the family I do keeps me humble. They\u2019d give me a right telling-off if I ever got above my station.<\/p>\n

My dad died suddenly last year. We are all coping with it differently \u2013 Mum needs her own space, and my brother is 19 and back at uni surrounded by friends. What helps me with grief is having a goal and a focus, whether it\u2019s training or work, and also talking about him. But I have to be careful that I don\u2019t throw myself into being too preoccupied and not give myself any time to process everything.<\/p>\n

During times like this, I really rely on the people around me. My mum has always felt like home, and now my girlfriend Ellen feels like home, too. We met when I was 16 and playing rugby, so we\u2019ve been friends for most of my life. Now that friendship has blossomed into a relationship. It\u2019s quite overwhelming trying to be an extrovert when I\u2019m actually an introvert, but Ellen grounds me \u2013 we were always each other\u2019s safe space and she brings me comfort in a lot of chaotic situations. Recently I forgot the battery for my implant before I had a presenting job at the weekend. Ellen went straight into care mode: \u201cDon\u2019t worry \u2013 we can sign with each other and I can explain to the people at the job what\u2019s going on.\u201d Like my dad, she comes up with solutions which I\u00a0couldn\u2019t think of in the moment.<\/p>\n

If that kid in the photo could see me now, she\u2019d probably say, \u201cAre you joking me?\u201d She\u2019d be shocked and proud of everything I\u2019ve accomplished; completely mind-blown. Even in the last couple of years my confidence has grown, in the nicest way possible. But aside from that, she\u2019d be reassured that I am still the same person \u2013 I still get nerves and anxiety, like everyone else, and I still love being strong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gladiator and rugby player in 2007 and 2026Jodie Ounsley in 2007 and 2026. Later photograph: P\u00e5l Hansen\/The Guardian.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-376407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}