Sarah Storey
© • Getty Images
Sarah Storey in action on stage four of the Tour de Freestate.
© • Cyclenation
Great Britain’s Sarah Storey has won 22 Paralympic medals in both swimming and cycling since her Paralympic Games debut as a 14-year-old in Barcelona in 1992.
The 35-year-old, who was born with a congenital abnormality of the left hand, competed at Beijing and London in cycling – winning six gold medals across the two Games.
In 2008, she won gold in both the time trial and individual pursuit races on the track. Four years later, Storey won four gold medals in front of her home crowd in London. Storey equalled the British record for modern Paralympic victories joining swimmer Dave Roberts and wheelchair racer Tanni Grey-Thompson in winning 11 titles.
Her storied athletic career actually began when she was fast-tracked onto the British Paralympic swimming team at age 14.
She won five medals – including two golds – at the Barcelona 1992 Games in the pool, and then another five at Atlanta 1996 – three of which were gold. Her success in the pool continued with two silvers at Sydney 2000 and two silvers and a bronze at Athens 2004.
After suffering from a serious ear infection in 2005 that kept her out of the pool for several months, the Manchester native began to cycle to keep fit. She immediately fell in love with it, and a few months later decided to dedicate herself to the bike for good.
Storey has become so good on the bike that her time in the Individual Pursuit final at the Beijing 2008 would have been a top-eight finish in the Olympic finals. She now competes against able-bodied athletes, too, and became the first cyclist with a disability to compete for Great Britain at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where she finished sixth overall.
Following the 2012 London Games, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours.
Storey was a nominee for the 2008 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Storey, who is married to para-cycling sprint pilot Barney Storey, is expecting her first child in the summer of 2013.
