Swimmer. Born in Glasgow, Sheppard was educated at the High School of Glasgow and learned to swim with Milngavie & Bearsden Amateur Swimming Club. Sheppard went on to bring home a gold medal for the 50m freestyle from the 2002 Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester, the first medal by a Scottish female swimmer since Helen Orr Gordon in 1952. Sheppard also took the bronze in the 50m butterfly. She had previously won a silver medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and also holds the remarkable record of having taken part in five consecutive Olympic Games for Great Britain, between 1988 and 2004.
She was awarded an MBE in 2003 and inducted in the Scottish Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010. Having retired from competitive swimming in 2005, she now lives in Cambusbarron and teaches swimming in Stirling.
