John-James Chalmers (born 1986) is a Scottish television presenter, public speaker, and Invictus Games medallist. He was injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2011 while serving as a Royal Marine.

Early life

Chalmers is the son of John Chalmers, Moderator of the Church of Scotland from 2014–15. He attended Strathallan School and studied at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Education in 2009. He worked as a craft, design and technology teacher at Balerno Community High School in Edinburgh.

As a Royal Marine reservist, he served in Helmand, Afghanistan with 42 Commando. In May 2011, he sustained devastating injuries in an IED blast; he suffered facial injuries, lost two fingers and his right elbow disintegrated. He remained in the Royal Marines during his rehabilitation until 2016.

Invictus Games

In September 2014, Chalmers was a medal winner in non-amputee cycling for Britain at the Invictus Games. Captaining the trike team, he received a gold medal for the Men's IRecB1 Recumbent Circuit Race, as part of a British trio who crossed the finishing line together. Earlier that day Chalmers had already won a bronze in the 1-mile time trial. He also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100m mixed relay race.

Media career

Chalmers subsequently presented National Paralympic Day for Channel 4 as well as an online show for the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. In July 2016, he returned to the 2016 Invictus Games as an ambassador, telling his story at the opening ceremony as well as working with the BBC in their coverage of the games.

The following month, Chalmers traveled to Rio de Janeiro as a presenter for Channel 4's coverage of the 2016 Summer Paralympics, as well as appearing as a guest on The Last Leg series Live from Rio. He also featured on The Superhumans Show and appeared on the BBC's coverage of Remembrance at the Cenotaph.

On 21 February 2017,[citation needed] Chalmers began presenting some of the sports segments on the BBC News channel. On 11 November 2017, Chalmers commentated on the Lord Mayor's Show in London. In 2018 he was a presenter for BBC Sport's live TV coverage of the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast.

Personal life

Chalmers is married to Kornelia; they have a daughter together.