British Olympic gold medal winning cyclists Sarah Storey, Victoria Pendleton and Sir Chris Hoy during the London 2012 Victory Parade for Team GB and Paralympic GB athletes last month in London.
Making us proud
The Olympics & Paralympics are full of inspiring stories. Here are some of them ...
Tom Daley
When you do what
we do, it’s easy
to be motivated, especially
when there’s a home
Games on the
horizon and the chance to be the best athlete you can be.
His boyish good looks and tiny trunks are spoken about almost as much as his fantastic diving. The boy wonder grew up in the unforgiving public glare and was bullied at school and on Twitter. What's more, he also had to work through tragedy after his father Robert died of a brain tumour at the age of 40 last year. He endured it all with grace and dignity and won bronze at the London Olympics.
Bradley Wiggins Victoria Pendleton
With seven Olympic medals, Wiggins has become Britain's most decorated Olympian ever, overtaking Sir Steve Redgrave's previous record (with Sir Chris Hoy beating him on golds). Bradley grew up without a dad, when his father Gary walked out on the family when Bradley was just two. His father returned to Bradley's life when he won bronze in 2000. But when Bradley failed to perform at subsequent events, Gary accused him of being a failure and they never spoke again. Gary died in mys- terious circumstances in Australia in 2008. Bradley didn't attend the funeral.
David Weir
Born with a severed spinal cord, meaning he cannot use his legs, David says he has never seen himself as disabled. In his teens he became a formidable wheelchair athlete, winning the junior London marathon, but then fell headlong down the stairs and badly injured his shoulder. At 17, Weir grew tired of sport. Then, in 2000, inspired by Tanni Grey-Thompson, his passion for the sport returned and he won four golds in London.
Cyclist Victoria Pendleton had to overcome the disapproval and ostracisation of her Olympic team-mates when she broke the unwritten professional rule of falling in love with her coach, Scott Gardner in 2008. Even when Victoria won Gold in Beijing that year, all she felt was numbness because of her squad's angry reaction to news of their affair. This year she won Gold and Silver in two cycling competitions and she is now engaged with Gardner. Things do come right!
Mary King
A 51-year-old ex-chalet girl, Mary was the oldest member of Team GB. 11 years ago, when she was training, her horse bucked and she broke her neck. She managed to walk the quarter-mile to the stables but in hospital her broken neck was misdiag- nosed as whiplash. Three days later and back on a horse she felt as if her head was loose. It was only then that a consultant confi rmed the break. In London this year, she won silver for the UK.
Gemma Gibbons
Unlike many athletes at the Games, Gib- bons' parents were not in the stands to watch her secure a judo silver medal for Team GB. Her father walked out before she was born and her mother died of leu- kaemia when Gemma was 17. Spurred on by the chance to compete at her home city, Gemma won Britain’s fi rst Olympic judo medal in 12 years Overcome by emotion, Gemma knelt on the fl oor, held her face in her hands and dedicated her victory to her mother.