The 30 medal sports legend you may not have heard of

A Paralympic veteran, Sarah Storey tells Luke Baker why we struggle to celebrate para-athletes doing incredible things

- Luke Baker

By any objective measure, Dame Sarah Storey might be Great Britain's greatest sportsperson. Her incredible tally of 19 Paralympic gold medals puts her joint fifth on the all-time list and is comfortably clear of any other British Olympian or Paralympian.

When silvers and bronzes are taken into account, she actually has 30 Paralympic medals accrued over a 32-year period from Barcelona 1992 to Paris 2024 – giving her longevity at the elite level that few, if any, other British athletes can match.

That frankly ridiculous haul also comes from both swimming and cycling – when mastering one sport is hard enough, conquering two is truly remarkable. Given her accomplishments, Storey should be a household name, an instantly recognisable face and one of the first names to pass the lips of those discussing GB’s greatest sporting star.

Yet somehow, the 47-year-old flies slightly under the radar. She’s hardly an unknown, having received a damehood after London 2012 and been nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year (Spoty) on four occasions (although she is yet to finish in the top three), but still hasn’t truly broken through into the public consciousness in the way many lesser sporting lights have.

She was due to appear on ITV’s reality show Dancing on Ice this winter but was forced to pull out earlier this month after fracturing her left ankle in training.