Sports Personality 2012: Sarah Storey - "The Games touched peoples lives"
Throughout her sporting career, Sarah Storey has won five swimming and six cycling Paralympic gold medals...
"I’ve always believed that if I want to be good enough to be selected, I need to be good enough for both the Olympic and Paralympic teams. That’s why you might see me competing in the road race in Rio 2016 for the Olympic team, but you might equally find me back on the track in the Paralympics. It’s not unusual for me to be hanging out with the Olympic guys because we all train together.
"Sports Personality is a shortlist you never expect to be on, but the names that have come from the Paralympics this year are truly incredible. It’s nice that the public have started to recognise the two teams on the same page, and regard their sporting achievements as equal.
"For me, the vote in cycling should be behind Bradley Wiggins, but my husband Barney [himself a multiple-gold-winning Paralympian] said he might vote for me on the night!
"The interest since the Games has been unprecedented, and it’s been great to see how people have been able to share their own experiences. Each person who went to the Games will be able to touch someone else’s life in some way."
Her moment
Paralympic cycling golds in the C5 pursuit, 500m time trial, C5 time trial and road race
What the commentator said
"This is what the crowd came here to see, this is what the crowd expected to see. Sarah Storey has just won her fourth gold medal of the London 2012 Paralympic Games!"
Who would be your Sports Personality?
"It's not a shortlist you ever imagine to be on, when you look around and see the number of athletes who have achieved so much - especially this year. For me, the vote should be behind Bradley Wiggins. To see him win the Tour de France and Olympic double before we started competing really inspired us. Just being on the list with him is a huge honour."
Sports Personality of the Year 2012 is on 16 December at 7:30pm on BBC1
