Sarah Storey is among Britain’s greatest athletes and deserves Spoty honour
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It was fitting that Sarah Storey produced one of her most thrilling finishes to claim a 19th Paralympic gold medal by overcoming 19-year-old Frenchwoman Heïdi Gaugain in the road race.
Does the great Dame of cycling now rank as one of GB’s greatest athletes in any sport after nine Games appearances? Indeed, should Storey also be a shoo-in for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year?
There is certainly an argument to be made for both. Storey, 46, ought to be recognised as a national treasure.
Another chapter in the Storey 📚@DameSarahStorey takes her Paralympic medal tally to 30 with an emphatic gold medal this morning 🔥#C4Paralympics | #ParalympicGames | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/N3lr352MhV
— C4 Paralympics (@C4Paralympics) September 6, 2024
Consistency and longevity have been the key since her Paralympics debut in swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Games, aged 14. Storey only switched to cycling – in time for the Beijing 2008 Games – after an injury kept her out of the pool. Crossing codes, the Mancunian has been even more successful. She won 16 Paralympic medals (five gold) in swimming, and has bagged 14 medals (all gold) in cycling.
As Storey said earlier in the week when claiming an 18th gold in the time trial – winning that event for a fifth time at the Games – “there’s a famous duo that did five in a row, and I’m part of their little club now.” She was referring to Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent, although the latter in fact won ‘just’ four golds. There was no comment following Storey’s latest win about “if you see me on a bike again, shoot me...” to echo the famous quote from Sir Steve.
In fact Storey has left it open whether she might compete in Los Angeles in 2028, which would be a 10th Games, at which she would be 50. How much is enough, she might ask. “Who knows. I need to enjoy this first. Never say never to anything,” she responded.
Retirement is not on her to-do list just yet. “This just needs to sink in because it was one of the most exciting races that we’ve had and from the word go it was full gas,” she added. “I just feel so, so proud.”
Outside her athleticism and dedication, Storey has kept ahead of the game, aided by her rock, in husband Barney Storey. Formerly a tandem pilot rider for blind cyclists, he won a gold at the Games at London 2012, with Neil Fachie. In Tokyo three years ago, Storey had to travel without her husband, who has often been the strategist for her. Nonetheless, she still finished with triple gold (in the road race, time trial and pursuit), getting through what she called a “jigsaw puzzle”.
As mother-of-two Storey added: “I’m labelled ‘supermum’ more frequently than superhero but it’s just one of those things people call you. Ultimately, I’m an ordinary person trying to do extraordinary things.”
To describe Storey as understated would be an almost comic understatement in itself. Born in Lancashire without a functioning left hand after her arm became entangled in the umbilical cord in the womb, Storey has never allowed her glories to go to her head.
Like former wheelchair racer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson – who claimed 11 golds – it is expected that Storey will continue to campaign for accessibility, already holding a role in policy-making groups. There is legacy there for Storey as much as in sport.
“I try to do that as best I can with my role on the Department of Transport Board, and also my job in active travel in Greater Manchester,” she said this week. “I think with technology we could have automated systems that would know when a wheelchair user is on a train, for example. The lack of spontaneity for travel for people with disabilities needs to change. If you provide the opportunities for people with disabilities to thrive in sport, it’s a metaphor for what could happen in the rest of society. So we have to make those translations.”
Spoken like a true champion. On the track, the road, and in life. And an athlete who belongs in the pantheon of GB greats, let alone one who deserves to be honoured through Spoty.