Medal of honour! Vicki Carter ‘thrilled’ to collect award for services to LGBTQ sports
Vicki Carter has spoken of her pride upon receiving the British Empire Medal; the former co-chair of Out for Sport and Out to Swim has been a leading light in LGBTQ sports in London and the South-East…
Having made a significant impact in advancing LGBTQ inclusion in sports, Vicki Carter is celebrating a notable achievement.
The former co-chair of Out for Sport and Out to Swim has received the British Empire Medal (BEM) in a ceremony at the Tower of London for “services to diversity in swimming, to the LGBT+ community, and to older people.”
For decades, Vicki has been a powerful force for change, teaching children and adults at Kings Hall Leisure Centre in Hackney and setting up groups delivering swimming lessons to marginalised people, alongside her leadership roles.
She was there in the early days of Out to Swim, as co-chair and as press and publicity officer, while also swimming in and organising competitions across the world.
Twenty years ago, Vicki noticed that the Out to Swim membership was not very diverse, and set up swimming lessons to bring many hundreds of new swimmers into the club, including women and people of colour. It remains a hugely important part of the club.
Her time as co-chair of Out for Sport marked an important chapter in the charity’s story. Vicki championed a culture of collaboration, visibility, and belonging. She led Out for Sport with humility, warmth, and fierce commitment.
Current co-chair, David Lionetti, said: “Vicki didn’t just lead Out for Sport – she lifted it. Her belief in the power of inclusive sport to build community and change lives is something we carry forward every day.”
She has volunteered throughout her life in many domains: Lesbian and Gay Switchboard; community radio stations Fem FM and Brazen Radio; mentoring children in care; visiting older people, and helping to host Mental Health Swims.
In all of these, she has empowered people to find confidence, supported mental well-being and encouraged independence.
Her leadership has been recognised with prestigious honours: ASA Swimming Teacher of the Year in 2010, Opening Doors Volunteer of the Year, and the honour of running with the Olympic torch in 2012. She also won a very prestigious Sony Award for Euromix from her time at the BBC.
Vicki’s impact isn’t limited to advocacy and leadership. She has pushed her own limits by swimming the English Channel and completing the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island. These incredible achievements inspire everyone she meets, showing the power of courage, dedication, and heart.
The SwimOut podcast – the legacy of the Channel swimming collaboration with Hunter Charlton – brought their voices to a wider audience, shining a light on open water swimming and inclusion. It was a finalist at the British Podcast Awards in 2021 and a WOWSA (World Open Water Swimming Association) nominee in 2022.
Vicki embodies what it means to lead with kindness, courage, and an unshakeable commitment to the community. Her British Empire Medal honours a lifetime of service; it’s a celebration of a truly remarkable person who has made sport more welcoming, inclusive, and full of joy.
Sports Media LGBT+ caught up with Vicki to get her reaction…
Congratulations Vicki! This is a wonderful and deserved recognition. When did you learn you would receive the BEM?
Vicki: Thank you! It was in the spring, and I saw I had an email from the Cabinet Office and thought, “oh my God, why have I got this?!” I read it and thought it was a joke!
But of course it wasn’t, and you just feel so honoured and thrilled. It’s really lovely. The news was embargoed until the announcement in The King’s Birthday Honours in June, so it was strange not to be able to tell anybody.
Now that you’ve had the presentation at the Tower, how do you feel?
It’s very nice to feel ‘seen’ – not just within my community, but by society, the government, the King… it made me feel like, actually, I’m doing a good job! I should do more and I mustn’t stop!
Sometimes you slog away at some of this stuff, and a lot of it is really very thankless and goes unseen, and you don’t know if you’re having an impact. So yeah, it’s really great to feel seen.
What are you proudest of, looking back?
I’m proud of keeping Out for Sport going, following in Ivan Bussens’ footsteps with that. I think it’s really important [the volunteer-run umbrella organisation for LGBTQ-inclusive sports clubs and teams in London and the South-East was founded in 1998 and became a charity in 2022 – Ed].
I’m also very proud of the swimming lessons I set up at Out to Swim because they are slowly changing the diversity in the club. It’s hard to get a diverse swimming club going – we’re working hard at it, and the lessons are a big part of that.
When Out for Sport started, there was just a handful of teams, and society looked quite different for LGBTQ people, even in London. Now the OFS website lists 45 clubs, across around 30 sports! At the same time, it seems in many ways like LGBTQ rights are now in reverse, and sports is being used as a wedge issue. What’s your view on that?
Yes, I think there have been struggles around inclusion in every sport. It’s very difficult, and people feel very upset. That’s different from when I was young, when it was really the AIDS crisis which made us very angry. We had to rally and work together.
With some of the issues today, it seems to be harder for us to pull together as a community, and that makes it even more difficult.
Looking back, where have you found joy?
The biggest moment in my swimming career was going to the Gay Games in New York City in 1994, when I just suddenly felt like I was part of this enormous global movement, bringing people together.
It was just overwhelming and so exciting. I was in my early 30s and thought, ‘we’ve got to make our club bigger and better’ – and that’s what we did!
Swimming the English Channel was also a very big moment for me. I suppose it did transform me in a way, because having been quite an average swimmer, I had found my niche. So that was really lovely to find the thing that I was good at.
I might have been well into my 50s, but I finally found it!
And any near misses?
There was a massive push for London to host the Gay Games in 2018, but it was Paris that won the bid. The disappointment of losing was really tough, and a lot of the people who’d been very involved in that fell away.
It was very sad to lose them and to lose the momentum that we’d had at that point. We did try to bid again for a EuroGames [in 2025], but again, we were outbid. So it’s been hugely disappointing to not see the Olympic Park used as it should have been, for us.
But I’m confident about the future, and I hope we will come together and go for a London bid again someday. At that point, maybe I’ll jump back in, maybe I won’t. I don’t know!
What are your plans for the future?
I want to keep working within Out to Swim at the moment and keep going with my SwimOut podcast.
Recently, somebody sent me a survey about working intergenerationally, and they said, ‘did I ever spend time with people who are not of my generation?’ And I said, yes, a lot, because I swim with them!
Being in a swimming club is really such a joy because you get to meet people from all different walks of life, of all different ages and backgrounds.
It’s fantastic to be part of that, so I’m going to focus my attention back on the club.
With thanks to Oonagh Gormley.
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More content…
Vicki’s interview about Out to Swim for 1000 Londoners (March 2018)
Swimming the Channel: Out for Sport awards nominee Hunter Charlton’s story (Sky Sports, November 2019)
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