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22 August 2017Sprinting his way onto Strictly 2017, it's Paralympic Champion Jonnie Peacock!

Jonnie said, “The opportunity to be the first contestant with a disability to take part in Strictly’s main show was too good to turn down. I’ve got no previous dance history outside of the occasional ‘worm’ at a mate’s party and I know this will be a challenge and a new experience. I can’t wait to see what I can achieve and how far I can push myself.”

He sensationally won his first Paralympic Gold medal in London 2012 in front of 80,000 people and has gone onto to win every major event that he’s entered, including the 2016 Paralympic Games and the 2017 World Championships in London this summer.

Jonnie, a below the knee amputee, contracted meningitis at the age of five, but has bounced back to become one of Britain’s best known and most successful Para Athletes, breaking the World Record in 2012, setting a Personal Best for the 100m of 10.64 seconds this year and being awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Year’s Honours for services to athletics. Away from the athletics track Jonnie wants to be an inspiration to young people of all abilities and is passionate about building the profile of disability sport both in Britain and around the World.

We can’t wait to see if he is first out of the blocks to get a 10!

Jonnie joins Debbie McGee, Chizzy Akudolo and Charlotte Hawkins as Strictly’s Mega Monday celeb announcements. Brian Conley, Susan Calman, Aston Merrygold, Simon Rimmer, Joe McFadden, Reverend Richard Coles, Gemma Atkinson, Ruth Langsford, Davood Ghadamiand Mollie King complete the line-up so far.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlycomedancing/entries/b12ffee3-c950-4f74-b5f4-b1251660e295