Dame Sarah Storey on BBC SPOTY nomination, LA 2028 at 50 and the family effort to get her there

Dame Sarah, who turned 47 in October, added two more streaks of cycling gold to her cabinet at Paris 2024 this summer, and has been recognised with a fourth nomination for the coveted BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, she said: "Fourth time! After London, Rio and Tokyo. It feels really good, I had a year of unprecedented success, even by my own standards, four gold medals in 24 days.

"I'm super proud of everything that led to this being possible. And super proud to be alongside the other five contenders."

Dame Sarah faces stern opposition for the top honour in the shape of the overwhelming favourite, 800m Olympic gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson, as well as teenage darts sensation Luke Littler, triathlete Alex Yee, Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham and former England Test captain Joe Root.

While she has claimed more metalware in previous editions of the Games, Dame Sarah believes 2024 was her "crowning glory" given circumstances away from the bike.

She said: "At 2012, I won four gold medals in a week. But since then, I've had two children, I transitioned to having a job in Active Travel working in the transport team in Greater Manchester, I've taken on a role at the Institute of Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University, started doing various bits of performance consultancy at Lancashire Cricket Club, and ultimately became their president, and I'm still working in my public speaking roles.

"Bringing all that together, and still achieving the results that I do, probably makes 2024 the crowning glory so far. As children get older, as any parents will tell you, you are their social secretary. You become the person that they rely on the most, not just for food, as they do when they're babies, but also for taking them for their own opportunities. It's not an easy juggle.

"Alongside all of that and my jobs, we still managed as a family to put me on the top of the podium. We continue to juggle, so it was a real team effort this year, an even bigger team effort. I just feel the pressure because I sit on the start line and think: 'Right, I can't let them down because they've done so much for me.'"

Her motivation, her fuel to keep going, time after time, Games after Games, is fairly straightforward: Dame Sarah wants to win.

"There's a photograph from me on the podium in Paris which kind of sums up the feeling, just super excited, looking at the sky. The feeling of winning is like no other.

"Having children and the experience of seeing them look at you for the first time is better. Winning is close to that feeling of a sense of enormous relief and gratitude that things have worked for the people that have contributed, but also a sense of how everything's come together at the right time. That's motivating in itself."

Dame Sarah was set to feature in the next season of ITV's Dancing on Ice, but unfortunately suffered a broken ankle in training and has been forced to pull out.

The injury has naturally disrupted her schedule as she looks ahead to competing at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles at the age of 50.

Storey gave her clearest indication to date she intends to feature at the Games in California.

"Yeah, without a doubt," she replied, when asked whether her intention prior to the broken ankle was to prepare for LA.

"Once we come out of the rehab, we'll start to look at what the race programme looks like next year, which races I want to do, and then slowly but surely build the blocks ahead of that.

"This is the first games cycle that's been normal since 2012. After 2012 I had Louisa, after 2016 I had Charlie, and then after Tokyo we only had three years to Paris. That's quite a big thing. We just have to make informed choices based on the evidence around what I need to do and which gains I can make and how.

"You search for gains in lots of different ways. Mindset is really important, physical changes, obviously, as a female who is 47 and will be 50 by LA, there are other considerations, which is where my role at the Institute of Sport comes in with research that we're going to do into perimenopause and menopause.

"All of those things are part of the bigger picture, and the jigsaw puzzle pieces are there. They just need to be looked into. It's not a quick process, neither should it be, because this is huge. Nobody has attempted nine games before, and won a medal at each one.

"Having a competitor who is French and the next big thing in Paris, it was a real highlight to compete against Heidi Gaugain, it was just a dream come true. In many ways, our careers should never have crossed – she was only 19, so that was just extra special.

"She's an immense competitor, that's why I have to work really hard to come up with a plan for whether or not LA is possible because, for me, I have a huge record behind me, and I want to retain that."

Coverage of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award will be live on BBC One from 7pm on Tuesday 17th December 2024.

Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.