2024-08-28 21:54:31
- The legendary British woman will participate in the record ninth Paralympic Games, to attract the attention of the world to the performances of disadvantaged athletes
The Paris Olympics turned out to be an explosion of emotions, a feast for the senses and an important victory for the free world over the troll army. On French soil, titans of the rank of Armand Duplantis, Léon Marchand and Carlos Nassar performed heroics impossible for mere mortals. It was also there that an unprecedented hysteria broke out about the chromosomes in Imane Khalif’s body. And what about the France-USA basketball final or the Tom Cruise show during the closing of the games? Yet any miracle these days really doesn’t last more than three days.
That’s how long it took humanity to leave behind the glamorous sports forum and submit to the usual bitisms. And so, staring at the hectic everyday life, the world will miss the Paralympic Games starting in the French capital. This is unlikely to surprise or anger the participants in them. Disadvantaged athletes are used to low interest and neglect from sponsors. Not to mention that their countries allocate many times less funds for the support of the Paralympians and especially for financial incentives for the winners.
Sarah Storey is trying to turn the tide of the high-flowing river of indifference.
For many years now, she has been doing everything in her power to direct the spotlight in the direction of all those girls and boys who have found the strength to overcome physical and mental limitations to take to the sports field. Her story is a fitting textbook for all who, in one way or another, are seduced by the thought of always seeking the softness of bread. Punished by fate even in her mother’s womb, she then goes through a nightmare childhood, but shakes off her complexes and reaches her ultimate goal of being much more than the “normal” around her. Now Sarah is preparing to compete in her ninth Paralympics to protect those we instinctively look away from. No one could pass her by with concern or, even worse, with indifference. She gets too tall every time she steps on her successes. The Great Briton has won 17 gold medals and a further 11 silver and bronze medals in swimming and cycling events at the Paralympic Games. Now 46, she is looking forward to taking on the best again at the Paralympics in Paris. She has long proven to herself that high obstacles often arise in life precisely to be overcome.
The first trial struck her even before she was born. The baby’s left arm becomes entangled in the umbilical cord and after birth fails to develop into anything more than a useless appendage. The parents love their daughter madly and try their best to instill in her that she is no different from the others, but at school the children obey other, much crueler rules.
Because of the constant teasing, little Sarah lives in constant stress, which makes her susceptible to severe eating disorders. But she somehow manages to survive and turns to sports, where they do not judge by appearance, but by success. He chooses swimming, although in the pool both hands are equally important. However, Sarah managed to find her style and at 12 she already won her first significant successes, and at 14 she caused a real sensation at the Paralympic Games in Barcelona, winning two gold, three silver and one bronze medal. In the next three Paralympics, she is again an absolute hegemon in the pool, but a chronic ear infection forces her to give up swimming sports.
The indomitable Brit didn’t waste a minute in pointless whining and turned her attention to cycling, and before long the medals were piling up on her chest again. In her fifth Paralympics, she won the individual pursuit in a time that would have placed her eighth in the Olympic final , held a few days earlier in Beijing. Even more impressively, just a few days after returning from the Chinese capital, she competed in and won the national 3km pursuit championship, competing with non-disabled athletes. She later became the first disabled cyclist to compete for England at the Commonwealth Games. More and more accolades and many more medals are piling up at the next Paralympics. And so until 2022, when the cyclist, who has already earned her status as a legend, suffers a serious accident.
She was extricated from the crushed sheets with three broken ribs, a punctured left lung and a severe concussion. Doctors do not give any guarantees to their patient that she will be able to return to her previous rhythm of life. Sarah Story patiently listens to the medical forecasts, but inside she knows what the outcome of this battle will be. The Brit returned to the track and managed to prepare well enough to earn a place and compete in her ninth Paralympics. And this is not just a fad or an attempt to earn a place in British sporting history. The 17-time gold medalist hopes with her appearance in Paris to draw the attention of the rest of the world to the performances of the Paralympians. As already mentioned, they have always been more or less ignored by the heads of federations, by sponsors and fans. Their situation has become even more complicated during the covid pandemic. Now all these brave men and women need to be supported and applauded. Sarah will be there to compete, win and prove to those around her that her successes are even more significant than those of the competitors with two legs and two arms.