Sarah Storey
Sarah is one of the greatest Paralympians this country has ever seen and was already a successful swimmer when she took up cycling in 2005. She had won five Golds, eight Silvers and four Bronze medals over four Paralympic games from 1992 to 2004.
Fast facts:
- Sarah is married to Barney Storey, himself a double Gold winner at the Beijing Paralympics
- She describes herself as 'a motorbike', and has a simple yet effective approach to training: 'go faster, be stronger and don’t give up.'
Sarah was always interested in cycling, and when an ear infection stopped her training in the pool she used her bike to stay fit. It was then she met husband-to-be Barney Storey, who won two Paralympic golds in Beijing as a tandem pilot for blind cyclists. Sarah had a natural ability, and with Barney's guidance sped through the world para-sport rankings, quickly breaking her first world record. Once her ear infection had cleared, she decided to stick with the new challenge of cycling.
Sarah joined the GB Paracycling Team in 2005 and has since won multiple world and two Paralympic titles. At the 2008 Paralympic Games she won gold in the women's individual pursuit – in a time that would have been in the top eight at the Olympic finals – and the road time trial.
In 2010 Sarah’s career reached a new height when she was selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and compete against able-bodied athletes. She and archer Danielle Brown were the first disabled athletes to be selected for the Games by England.
Sarah was hoping to make history in 2012 by being the first cyclist ever to compete at both the Olympics and Paralympics. Her chances increased after taking Team Pursuit Gold at the 2011 Track World Cup round in Manchester. But her dream of an Olympic and Paralympic double at London 2012 came to an end later in December when the Women’s Pursuit Team was narrowed down to four riders – Joanna Rowsell, Dani King, Wendy Houvenaghel and Laura Trott.
Sarah more than made up for this by dominating the 2012 Paralympic games. She won four Gold medals from four events to become Great Britain's most decorated female Paralympian. This included a brilliant World Record in the C5 Women's Individual Pursuit. This led to her being given the honour, alongside David Weir, of carrying the GB flag into the stadium in the closing ceremony. She was also one of the ten athletes nominated for the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
During her incredibly successful career as a professional cyclist and swimmer, Sarah has broken an amazing 72 world records. Sarah was appointed MBE in the 1998 New Year Honours list, and awarded an OBE in 2009 for her services to disability sport.
