I wouldn't swap one of my golds to change any of it: Cycling champion Sarah Storey reveals how jealous school bullies spurred her on to Paralympic glory

PUBLISHED: 05:16 EST, 10 September 2012 | UPDATED: 06:41 EST, 10 September 2012

She’s become a household name since picking up four medals at this year's Paralympics, and cycling champion Sarah Storey says her phenomenal success was inspired by the bullies who tormented her at school.

The 35-year-old, who now has 11 Paralympic gold medals, has revealed that the constant taunts from her classmates helped spur on to glory.

‘All the name-calling and loneliness toughened me up and made me strong enough to achieve all I have,’ she says during an interview with The Sun. ‘I wouldn’t swap one of my golds to change any of it.

Bullying torment: Sarah Storey poses with all four of her Paralympic gold medals from the London 2012 games

Golden girl: Sarah pictured with fellow champion David Weir during the Closing Ceremony

‘When I was at my lowest, my parents told me to keep looking to the future - that everything would be all right. I managed to believe them and do just that.

‘It was the best lesson anyone could have taught me.’

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Sarah, who was born without a functioning left hand after her arm failed to form properly when she was in the womb, begun her career as a swimmer and won two golds, three silvers and a bronze at the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona when she was just 14.

However her success made her an outcast at school and she was alienated by the other girls, who would follow her into the toilet and shout abuse at her as she hid inside the cubicle.

Inspirational: The athlete celebrates with her nephew Gethin after winning the women's individual C4-5 Road Race

Proud auntie: Celebrating with her nephew Gethin after winning the women's individual C4-5 Road Race

‘They’d call me weird, and accuse me of being big-headed when I couldn’t have kept a lower profile,’ she says.

‘They even hated me for coming to school with wet hair after training. It was horrible.’

Sarah eventually began skipping lunch at school in order to avoid the bullies and her weight decreased dramatically.

Her concerned mother took the teenager to see a doctor, who warned her to ‘sort herself out’.

Sarah, who grew up in Cheshire, slowly regained the weight and left her tormentors behind when she went to college.

In it to win it: She now has 11 Paralympics gold medals

She continued to compete and won three golds at Atlanta in 1996. But her swimming career finally came to end due to persistent ear infections.

Sarah decided to switch to cycling and has never looked back.

‘As long as I was successful I didn’t mind what sport it was in,’ she said.

She went on to win two gold medals at Beijing in 2008, and added four more titles to her collection during this year’s competition.

The athlete, who is married to fellow cycling gold medallist Barney Storey, is now looking forward to spending some quality time with her husband.

‘I’m looking forward to sitting down with our cat, Alfie, on my knee, and chatting about it with Barney.

‘But I’ll miss all this - it’s been one of the most incredible experiences of my life.’

Team Storey: Sarah with her cycling champion husband Barney

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Comments (10)

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

how pretty is she!

- n.d , Bradford England, 10/9/2012 16:58

Click to rate Rating 77

Living well truly is the best revenge. Well done! :-)

- mmc561 , South FL, 10/9/2012 16:28

Click to rate Rating 86

i feel humble and in awe of these paralympians they are all legendardy in there sports and i take my hat off to them for doing what they do :)

- gazza , sussex, United Kingdom, 10/9/2012 15:34

Click to rate Rating 62

An amazing athlete and a beautiful woman. Children can be so cruel and hopefully they will now look back with shame and regret. She is an inspiration to everyone, especially bullied and disabled children.

- Tigerbob , Glasgow, United Kingdom, 10/9/2012 14:38

Click to rate Rating 73

The bullies must have been leading such sad lives with no achievements to speak of to be this jealous of her. I hope they are still sad, they deserve it. I have no doubt they are still non-achievers so they must be more jealous than ever. Good!! I have just seen Sarah at the procession in London. What a smile! And well deserved. Barney looked pleased too.

- slimandy , cheam, United Kingdom, 10/9/2012 14:31

Click to rate Rating 54

Must be nice to know the bullies are having to look at her pictured with her gold medals many times a day as they scan newspapers through their tills at the local supermerket.

- help123 , London, 10/9/2012 13:51

Click to rate Rating 63

I would love to know what those bullies have since made of their lives, not much I expect. Whereas on the other hand, Sarah is an incredible athlete, and an inspiration to millions. I think they call that sweet, sweet revenge!

- Josephine29 , Los Angeles, United States, 10/9/2012 13:24

Click to rate Rating 199

What a women!! A true inspiration. I hope that after these wonderful games that we have more stories about people like Sarah, instead of the usual zlisters and what Kate wore.

- lily , England, United Kingdom, 10/9/2012 13:08

Click to rate Rating 116

11 Golds and not yet a Dame. Kelly Holmes only needed to win two in one games to get hers. Not very fair is it?

- Russkijim , Moscow, United Kingdom, 10/9/2012 12:37

Click to rate Rating 196

And what´s the betting those who bullied her will now be running around telling everybody that they were good mates at school?

- steve , essex, 10/9/2012 11:58

Click to rate Rating 334

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