Peerless Storey holds off Grey-Thompson
S arah Storey is near peerless as a Paralympian, given her longevity, medal tally and ability to cross into able-bodied sport at the highest level. The straight-talking, ultracompetitive Mancunian has come full circle from the teenager who started her Paralympic career aged 14 in Barcelona as a swimmer.
But it is a close-run thing with wheelchair racer Tanni GreyThompson, who was the athlete who put Paralympic sport on the map for many years between Barcelona and Athens, years when there was still a dearth of sponsorship for sportspeople who are now fully recognised as having a powerful message in society. GreyThompson certainly has that – and some.
Another wheelchair racer, David Weir, the winner of four golds at London 2012, marathon and track sprinting, and marathon titles around the world, had to be in the mix, and so, too, Jonnie Peacock, who has an impeccable record at major events. Including world championships, the single-amputee sprinter has never lost a major race. Peacock retained his 100m title in Rio de Janeiro, having burst on to the scene with gold in London at the age of 19.
But no one has matched Storey, who swam in an arm-amputee class and won five gold and eight silver medals over three Paralympic Games. Nine years ago, then 27, Storey switched to track cycling with the Beijing Games in mind.
Remarkably, Storey discovered her cycling ability by chance. After a chronic ear problem had forced her to retire from swimming, she took up cycling at the nearby Manchester Velodrome. By the time she had recovered from the ear infection she 1 Sarah Storey 2 Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson 3 Dave Weir 4 Jonnie Peacock 5 Dave Roberts 6 Hannah Cockroft 7 Eleanor Simmonds 8 Mike Kenny 9 Isabel Newstead 10 Chris Holmes was a world champion para-cyclist, a domination she has maintained at every Games since.
Storey’s time in the 3km race at the Beijing Paralympics would have earned her seventh place in the women’s Olympic event. Between Beijing and London, she stripped 2.5sec from her winning 3km pursuit time, which would have placed her fifth at the Olympics.
What holds her back from surpassing ‘able-bodied’ sprint cyclists on the track is her grip on the handlebars, the part of the race in which riders focus on power from the start. Effectively with no hand and fingers, Storey can only balance her left arm on the bars, with no grip. Once away, she has all the power and speed which make her a world-class athlete, Paralympic or Olympic.
In 2010, Storey competed at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi – the second Paralympian to represent England in an able-bodied competition alongside archer Danielle Brown. Brown won team gold; Storey finished outside the medals but still ranked in the world’s top 10 in the 3km event.
In London, she claimed four gold medals and was made a Dame of the British Empire. In Rio de Janeiro Storey bagged another three gold medals, taking her to 12, passing GreyThompson and Dave Roberts, the swimmer, who both reached 11.
Major changes have taken place throughout Storey’s Paralympic career – notably the professionalism which now exists within Paralympic sport disciplines, given the parity and equanimity the athletes now have with their Olympic counterpart.
It has also facilitated a blurring of the edges between disability and ablebodied sport. Storey has been at the forefront of that.
For Storey, it is a case of ‘who dares wins’, aligned with meticulous preparation, down to having her daughter between Games, and living and breathing cycling alongside her husband Barney, a former guide for impaired-vision tandem cyclists. They are a team with unshakeable self-belief – and Storey is expected to be a force in Tokyo in 2020. Mike Kenny, a GB Paralympic swimmer, holds the record for most golds, with 16 between 197688, but it would be no surprise to see cycling’s Dame overhaul that tally.