An Olympic hero has teamed up with a mum and daughter duo from New Malden raise money for charity.

Gold-medalist Duncan Goodhew recently met with Sue and Emily Wilson as they were announced as ambassadors for nationwide fundraising campaign Swimathon 2020, which will once again be hosted at the Malden Centre.

March will mark the third time that Sue - who manages all adult education at the Malden Centre - has taken part in the initiative, with Emily taking the plunge for the first-time last year, completing an amazing 100 lengths.

“I was delighted when asked to be an official Swimathon ambassador again, but this year feels even more special as I’m in an ambassador team with my daughter, Emily, who was inspired to take on this challenge after seeing my swim last year," Sue said.

“My love of the water has just grown and grown, I’ve lost over two stone in weight and feel fitter and healthier than I’ve felt in a long time.

"I now regularly swim in the Thames with a fabulous group of people who have become firm friends. Swimming has done so much to enrich my life and I can honestly say that I’ve never felt this confident and at ease with myself, my body image and my fitness.”

This year Sue will be taking on the epic challenge of Swimathon’s “Triple-5K”; swimming 5k on the Friday (200 lengths of the Malden Centre pool), then one on the Saturday and another on the Sunday.

Emily, a year 10 pupil at Coombe Girls’ School added: “Last year, I set out to do 1.5K in the Swimathon but pushed myself to do 2.5K, even though I’d never swum that far before.

"Now that I’m an ambassador – and as I strive to complete the 5K swim as part of my Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award - I want to raise money for the two charities as well as encouraging lots of people that are around my age to take part.

“I’m not particularly sporty, so I think if I can do this then anyone can have a go. I’m training really hard in the pool and at the gym and my swimming is improving."

The Swimathon will take place from March 27-29.