Paralympics 2021: Great Britain's greatest athlete Dame Sarah Storey could break Mike Kenny's 17-gold record

Dame Sarah Storey opened team Great Britain's medal haul at the 2021 Paralympic Games. Sarah bagged her 15th Paralympic gold medal at the ongoing Summer Games. She bagged gold after winning the women's C5 3000m individual and shattering her own world record.

Sarah retained her Paralympic title that she won at the 2016 Rio Summer Games in dominant fashion, breaking her own world record to reach the final against fellow Briton Crystal Lane-Wright.

Sarah has 29 world championship titles to her name and has broken as many as 76 world records till date. These numbers clearly show that she will go down as the greatest athlete in the history of para-cycling.

Sarah - who is already team GB’s most decorated female athlete - is now behind swimming great Mike Kenny, who claimed 16 golds in the pool between 1976-88. Sarah secured her 15th gold medal in the C5 3,000m individual pursuit on Wednesday, winning the event for the fourth Games in succession.

British Cycling chief executive Brian Facer praises Dame Sarah Storey for her role in inspiring people to take up the sport after winning her 15th Paralympic title - Britain's first gold of Tokyo 2020 🥇 pic.twitter.com/dn8Ne8uhIK

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 25, 2021

What makes Sharah the greatest Paralympian is the fact that she is not a champion in one sport but two. Yes, Sarah is a gold medal winner in Swimming as well as Cycling.

She began her Paralympic career as a swimmer in 1992, Barcelona Games. She bagged two golds, three silvers and a bronze in Barcelona. She continued swimming at the next three Paralympic Games before switching to cycling in 2005, reputedly because of a persistent ear infection.

Sarah, despite battling the chronic infection, did not give up. She swam at the 2000 Sydney Games and 2004 Athens Games, adding four more silver medals and a bronze to her rather decorated medal cabinet.

However, persistent ear problems - which reportedly could have led to her going deaf - led to a career change in 2005. That's when the world met the unstoppable Sarah Storey as a cyclist.

Dame Sarah Storey will become GB's most successful Paralympian of all-time with three golds in Tokyo.In the second part of this feature she reveals what's kept her going from London 2012 to the 2020 Games.#Paralympics | #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/YyWwhHiZGN

— C4 Paralympics (@C4Paralympics) August 25, 2021

Sarah Storey's Childhood and disability:

Sarah was born with an underdeveloped left arm. Her left arm became tangled in her umbilical cord when she was just a fetus. As a result, her hand couldn’t develop properly in the womb. Consequently, she had trouble with her hand movement. Nevertheless, the Paralympian doesn’t let it interfere with her life and sporting achievements.

If she successfully defends her time trial and road race crowns next week, Sarah will move on to 17 Paralympic gold medals, one more than swimmer Mike Kenny. Even if she doesn't reach that number, the champion will have had an illustrious career.

Her unending passion and grit for the sports has made her the most valuable athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games.