Ella Eyre has explained why she called time on a swimming career to pursue singing.
The Waiting All Night musician, 26, had initially hoped to pursue her passion in the pool but was advised by a doctor to quit or risk losing her hearing.
Speaking on the first episode of the Dangerous Dinners podcast, she said: “I did not turn my back on my swimming career. My swimming career turned its back on me.
“I got such bad ear infections because I was training a lot.
“I was in the pool four hours a day so I was training two hours in the morning going from school and then two hours after school and then on the weekends competing.
“But then I was spending so much time in the pool that my ears were getting infected so badly that I was missing training and then eventually my timings were getting slower.
“And spending that much time in a swimming pool when you’ve just discovered cigarettes and boys doesn’t really hang in there.
“But also, disclaimer, I got advised by a doctor to quit otherwise I was going to potentially lose my hearing eventually.”
Eyre said she used to compete in butterfly and explained: “There’s logic behind it because I chose it because there’s not many people that can be bothered to do it, so I don’t have that many competitors.
“So at one point I was like the fourth fastest person in London.”
The first episode of Dangerous Dinners Podcast is out now on iTunes, Spotify and Google.