Sarah Storey

Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, (née Bailey; born 26 October 1977) is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, and a multiple gold medalist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion (2 × Pursuit, 1 × Points, 3 × Team Pursuit).

Her total of 28 Paralympic medals including 17 gold medals makes her the most successful (by gold medals) and most decorated (by total medals) British Paralympian of all time as well as one of the most decorated Paralympic athletes of all time.

She has the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in Paralympics before turning 19.

Storey's major achievements include being a 29-time World champion (6 in swimming and 23 in cycling), a 21-time European champion (18 in swimming and 3 in cycling) and holding 75 world records.

She is regarded as one of the most experienced campaigners in the history of the Paralympics as she took part at the Paralympics on eight occasions in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.

She is a current para world record holder in women's 3000m individual pursuit and hour record.

On 2 September 2021, she surpassed Mike Kenny's 16 Paralympic gold medal record to become Great Britain's most successful Paralympic athlete of all time after securing her 17th Paralympic gold medal when she won the women’s road race C4-5 event.

Storey was born Sarah Bailey in Manchester without a functioning left hand after her arm became entangled in the umbilical cord in the womb and the hand did not develop as normal.

As a schoolgirl, she was subjected to bullying by her school mates and also faced eating disorder issues at school.

She joined her first swimming club at the age of ten and was told by her coach that she had started her training too late to be good at anything.

Storey began her Paralympic career as a swimmer, winning two golds, three silvers and a bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

She made her maiden appearance at the Paralympics in 1992 at the age of 14.

She retained her Paralympic gold medals in women's 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley events at the 1996 Summer Paralympics.

Storey was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1998 New Year Honours "for services to Swimming for People with Disabilities".

Despite the ear infection triggered by chronic fatigue syndrome, she continued to participate in swimming and claimed four silver medals and a solitary bronze in the next two Paralympic Games in 2000 and 2004 before quitting the sport.

She set a distance of 45.502 km, which was 563m short of Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel's 2003 overall world record – however Storey's distance did set a new world record in the C5 Paralympic cycling class as well as a new British record.

She continued swimming in the next three Paralympic Games before switching to cycling in 2005, reputedly because of a persisting ear infection.

Storey married tandem pilot and coach Barney Storey in 2007.

At the 2008 Paralympic Games, her fifth, Storey won the individual pursuit – in a time that would have been in the top eight at the Olympic final – and the road

Storey also competes against non-disabled athletes and won the 3 km national track pursuit championship in 2008, eight days after taking the Paralympic title, and successfully defended her title in 2009.

Following the Beijing Games, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours "for services to Disabled Sport."

Storey qualified to join the England team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she was "the first disabled cyclist to compete for England at the Commonwealth Games", against non-disabled cyclists.

She was also the second Paralympic athlete overall competing for England at the Games, following archer Danielle Brown earlier in Delhi.

In 2011, Storey competed for one of the three places in the GB squad for the women's team pursuit at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Although she was in the winning team for the World Cup event in Cali, Colombia in December 2011, she was informed afterwards that she was being dropped from the team pursuit squad.

London's 2012 Paralympics Games saw Storey win Britain's first gold medal, in the women's individual C5 pursuit.

She went on to win three more gold medals, one in the Time Trial C4–5 500m, one in the Individual Road Time Trial C5 and finally one in the Individual Road Race C4–5.

She gave birth to a daughter on 30 June 2013 and a son on 14 October 2017.

She and her husband live in Disley, Cheshire.

In 2014, she added a third national track title with a win in the points race.

In 2014, Storey and her husband Barney Storey founded the Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International women's amateur cycling team, supporting the charity Boot Out Breast Cancer.

The team fielded squads in the 2014 and 2015 British road race seasons.

Storey attempted to break the world hour record at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London on 28 February 2015.

It was also her record 15th gold medal in her Paralympic career.

In the Rio 2016 Paralympics Storey became Britain's most successful female Paralympian when she won the C5 3000m individual pursuit final.

It was revealed that she ended up with chronic fatigue syndrome before her 19th birthday.

In April 2019, Storey was appointed Active Travel Commissioner for the Sheffield City Region.

She became the first athlete to win the gold medal for Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Paralympics when she defended her Paralympic title in the women's individual pursuit C5 event.

It was also her fifth Paralympic gold medal in track cycling and her tenth Paralympic gold medal in women's cycling.

During the qualifying heat event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she also incredibly shattered her own world record by four seconds in the individual pursuit C5 category.