Introduction
I am a Head Coach of Sarah Storey and I am really proud to present you with her life and achievements in this short paper. Sarah Storey is a British cycler and former swimmer. She is one of the most brilliant British Paralympian, multiple medal winner in both cycling and swimming. We will talk about her success in the Olympic Games and some other competitions. We will share some training tips of Sarah, too. She is a pride of the Great Britain and one on the strongest and the most inspiring women all around the world. It is a great pleasure to work with her as she is really hardworking and likes to challenge herself a lot.
Life and Career
Sarah Storey was born in Eccles, Great Britain on October 1977. She has a disability. Sarah was born with a dysfunction of her left arm that was why her arm did not develop. She started her career as a swimmer. She competed for the British swimming team for almost 14 years (1992-2005) (Sarah Storey, 2016). After 'accidently' switching swimming for cycling she became a first woman who presented England at the Commonwealth Games. Her switch was influenced by her ear infection which made her stop training in the swimming pool. At the beginning, she knew nothing about cycling, except the fact that she had a bike when she was a child. Cycling became a great discovery for her as it enabled Sarah to find her true love Barney Storey who also is multiple Paralympics winner (Bull, 2010).
Sarah remembers the time when she got better from the ear infection and was able to get back to swimming. Still. she had already broken some cycling records and decided to stay (Bull, 2010). Sarah is a really modest person she does not see herself as a warrior of some kind. She just accepted her disability and lives with it as 'normal' person (Bull, 2010). Her normal is a quite different from what people are used to.
Results and Awards
In 20 years of her career, Sara has broken 73 world record. She took part in 6 Olympic games. Sarah won 22 Paralympics Games Medals. She won five gold, eight silver, and three bronze medals for the Paraswim British team. What is more important is that five gold, three silver, and a bronze medal she won when she was only 14 years old in Summer Paralympics held in Barcelona in 1992. Sarah also won six gold medals for British cycling team. She as well earned six swimming World Championship titles as well as eighteen cycling World Championship titles. Sarah has near 150 National titles. What is even more striking she also has five able-bodied titles.
Except her sports achievements she was also honored by the Queen of Great Britain. Sarah was appointed MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1998 (The London Gazette, 1997), OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 2009 (The London Gazette, 2008) Finally, she was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by the Order of British Empire (2012), in.
Olympics in London in 2012
On the video Gold for Sarah Storey (2012), we can observe her performance and an actual winning of a gold medal for Britain in 2012. She said that the equipment they use when performing for the GB team is always designed for her in a way to make her weight be less on her elbows. Because of her disability standard designed bikes won't work.
An attempt to break an hour record
I believe, one of the hardest and the most important events in Sarah's sports career was her attempt to break a World Women's UCI Hour record. It was set in 2003 by The Dutch cyclist who struggled to ride 46.065 kilometers. In 2005, Sarah decided to try herself and beat the record. We can see her attempt on the video posted by UCI (2015). If we analyze this try we can see that she was really close. It takes her an hour to ride 45.502 kilometers. She was really close to beating the World Record. However, she came back home only with beating British record which is worth mentioning either way.
She describes this experience as the hardest in her career (Sarah Storey fails in women's hour record bid at London velodrome, 2015). And we can see it from a video. After she finished her race she was crying, her hand were shaking, and she was not able to stop and dismount by herself. Only with a help of her team, she could stand. We can see that this attempt was crucial for her. She reached a limit of her abilities there. Only, looking at her on the floor not able to move makes us understand how hard and painful it was for her. Still, her deed is admiring because not many sportsmen have experienced this. Sarah was asked a lot of times is she going to try again and actually broke that desirable record. And she has no intentions to repeat that. It was enough experience for a lifetime (Sarah Storey fails in women's hour record bid at London velodrome, 2015).
Training tips
As a sportsman, Sarah takes a lot of care of her daily timetable and food. She is a mother of a three-year-old daughter and it is really hard and exhausting. Still, she manages to do her best. She always takes care about her bike by herself. And never forgets about swimming. Before any competition, she trained as many time as she can afford. But on the actual day of a competition, she will try to have as much rest is it possible. She starts her day with a porridge and tries to be hydrated all the day long (Arthurs-Brennan, 2016). The same course of events will be after the event. Sarah will take up to two days of a rest and begin her training again. However, she will not do much celebration, she only spends her free time with her daughter and husband.
In a nutshell, Sarah Storey is a life legend of British athletics and swimming. One of the strongest women alive. The most decorated Paralympics sportsman and a loving mother and wife. A legend woman that is not done with her achievements yet. Sarah now is preparing for the Paralympics in Rio.
References
Arthurs-Brennan, M. (2016). 10 Tips for Successful Training Camps from Dame Sarah Storey - Total Women's Cycling. Total Women's Cycling. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/travel/10-tips-successful-training-camps-dame-sarah-storey-82118/
Bull, A. (2010). Sarah Storey: From Paralympic swimmer to Commonwealth Games cyclist. the Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/oct/01/sarah-storey-cycling-commonwealth-games
Order of the British Empire. (2012). Cabinet Office. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/80169/NY2013-honours-London-2012.pdf#page=1
London Gazette | The Gazette. (1997). Page 14 | Supplement 54993, 30 December 1997 | Thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/54993/supplement/14
London Gazette | The Gazette. (2008). Page 12 | Supplement 58929, 31 December 2008 | Thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/58929/supplement/12
Sarah Storey fails in women's hour record bid at London velodrome. (2015). BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/31675839
Sarah Storey. (2016). Teamstoreysport.com. Retrieved 5 August 2016, from http://www.teamstoreysport.com/sarah-storey.html
Gold for Sarah Storey. (September 2, 2012) Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4yx1vPkUsk
UCI. (Feb. 28, 2015) Full Replay - #UCIHourRecord Dame Sarah Storey - London 2015. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tgGIb24Hk
