Canoeing: Paddle do nicely: Hemmings on course for magnificent seven

Gary Lineker calls her "the most extraordinary sportswoman I have ever met", and unquestionably she is Britain's most enduring and consistently successful one. Yet away from the waterways, few know of Anna Hemmings, despite her possessing the photogenic appeal of a top model and a masters degree in economics.

Had Hemmings, 30, been in a mainstream rather than slipstream sport, undoubtedly she would be as much a household name – and maybe even as rich – as the tax exile Paula Radcliffe, whose long-distance feats she easily emulates as the world's premier marathon canoeist.

Hemmings is currently training in Hungary, where early in September she will defend the world title she has won five times. Should she win the singles (K1) and then the doubles (K2) with her young partner and Elmbridge clubmate Louisa Sawer, 18, she will have amassed seven world championships, more than anyone in the history of the sport.

Yet four years ago Hemmings was told by doctors she might never race again after being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a debilitating illness which left her exhausted and aching every day, unable to take even basic light exercise. However, just over a year later, she learned about reverse therapy, an innovative and successful new treatment, and in February 2005 she was able to resume training again, going on to win a clean sweep of national, European and world titles.

She first broke into the top flight of the sport in 1997 aged 20, when she won her first European marathon championship, before going on to win the world championship, the youngest competitor to do so.

She also became the first British female canoeist to win both European and world titles. She took part in the 500m event in the Sydney Olympics and the following year became only the second person to win both the singles and doubles marathon world titles.

She says of her illness: "It was the most challenging, frustrating thing I have experienced. No one seemed to have the answer. It was very difficult when people kept saying to me, 'Get your act together Anna'. Then Istarted reverse therapy, which recognises that mind and body play a part in illnesses linked to a glandular disorder."

Living by the River Thames in Shepperton, she says she tried "every sport under the sun" when she was growing up, from ice skating to judo, but has been paddling her own canoe since she was eight. "At 14 I wasselected for the junior world championships and two years later I won the junior marathon world cup. After that it was canoeing for me, and I have dedicated my life to it."

Currently her training is concentrated on the sprint world championships in Duisburg, Germany, next month, for she is determined to get a place in the British team for the Beijing Olympics, as her marathon speciality is not a recognised Olympic discipline. "It's crazy. I'm going for the world championships and Olympics team yet here I am funding myself. I'm the only one of the British squad who isn't getting any support, apart from my sponsors, Pindar, but I've learned to live with that. This is not like football, where you train a couple of hours a day. I have to be out on the water, all weathers, four or five hours every day of the week."

Just as well, then, that she is self-supportive. After losing her Lottery funding through her inactivity during her illness,she subsequently establishedherself as one of sport's top motivational speakers, lecturing a range of people fromglobal business conglomerates to schoolchildren on how to maximise their potential, believing that every individual has a talent and ability to achieve beyond their imagination.

"I've always been a great all-round sports fan. Seb Coe was my childhood hero, Lance Armstrong is too." Hemmings' admiration of Armstrong is because the canoe marathon is rather like the Tour de France. "You try to hide in the leading pack in the slipstream, surfing the wave, trying to keep out of trouble and not collide, then you give it a good sprint."

It is a gut-wrenching sport, raced over 26 miles like its road-running counterpart and lasting over two-and-a-half hours. Competitors have to leave the water at four portage points andrun for some 1,200 metres carrying their boats, againstrivals who can be as treacherous as the water.

If there is a tougher, fitter, more resolute sportswoman in the land than Hemmings, we have yet to encounter her. But the nearest Britain's most successful canoeist has come to national acclaim was last year, when she was interviewed on BBC Radio alongwith a number of other unsung world champions.

The programme went out around midnight, and Hemmings recalls: "They had spent a lot of time talking to the paper, scissors, rock world champion. I thought to myself, 'Bloody hell, I've been slogging my guts out every day for 15 years, giving up virtually everything for my sport, never partying, and here I am being bracketed with some bloke who goes ching, chang cholla'!"

How Anna floats her boat

AGE: 30

HEIGHT: 5ft 6in

WEIGHT: 9st 6lb

torso: Rotation is the key element. Swivelling on hips and bottom gives longerstroke reach

LEGS: Must push on footrestto help twisting technique

SHOULDERS: Main power base for the paddle strokes

ABDOMEN: Stomach muscle strength is vital, as are well-developed back "lats"

FOREARMS: Need to be strong, as lactic acid build-up can make gripping thepaddle difficult