Dame Sarah Storey

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book, and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:44

My castaway this week is Britain's most decorated Paralympic athlete, Dame Sarah Storey. Her medal haul is gargantuan. 17 Olympic gold medals, 8 silvers and 3 bronzes for both swimming and cycling, brought home from eight Olympic Games during an elite sporting career that so far spans an incredible 30 years, starting when she was just 14. On top of that are her World Championship titles, 43 of them, and her 77 world records. Her recent victories have been notched up after giving birth to two children and while working at the grassroots as active travel commissioner in her home city of Manchester.

Presenter1:24

The road to success hasn't been smooth. Her early achievements marked her out as a target for jealous school bullies. She battled disordered eating and chronic fatigue syndrome in her teens, as well as the ear problems that threatened her hearing and prompted her to switch from the pool to the bike. Through it all, she says, I just wanted to be a British athlete. I couldn't have imagined having eight games, let alone winning medals at every games and 17 of those medals being gold. It's the dream I didn't have coming true. Dame Sarah Story, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you very much. So Sarah, let's start in that moment on the podium after a win. You're better qualified than pretty much anyone to tell us how it feels standing there hearing the national anthem.

Dame Sarah Storey2:09

It's a moment where you get goosebumps. It's really difficult to explain and it's actually one of the reasons I wanted to become an athlete because when I was watching the 1984 Olympic Games I was listening to athletes trying to explain it to me as a six-year-old and I was not really getting what they were saying and I thought actually I need to find this out for myself and it's that moment where everything has come together. There's a huge sense of relief because you've been building up to that moment of crossing the finish line for such a long time and you've never dared to allow yourself to think about what a podium might look like. And there you get to make just some incredible memories and you think about looking out across a sea of faces except in Tokyo perhaps not quite so big a sea. That was the lockdown games when you didn't have that audience with you. Yeah, so the lockdown games we just had, we had no spectators, we had the support staff and I have to commend everyone at the British Paralympic Association because for my third gold medal which took me to that title of 17 in total, they brought as many people as they could to that start finish straight because that's where the podium was going to be. And there was a sea of faces because they'd put such a huge amount of effort into marking this incredible moment of me surpassing the previous best ever athlete who had 16.

Presenter3:27

So that really matters, looking at being able to see people looking back.

Dame Sarah Storey3:31

Oh, hugely. And I don't think you really realise it until there is no one looking back. And at the track in Tokyo, there was nobody in the stands. And there was a few people dotted around the start, finish, straight, and in that home straight. And that's where I crossed the finish line to win my first gold medal in Tokyo. But when you ride round the track to the back straight, it was empty, completely empty. So you might as well have been in a training session. And I think I've had training sessions with more people watching.

Presenter3:58

We are in an Olympic year, Sarah, so I want to ask about that. I wonder how you're feeling about the prospect of being selected for what would be your ninth Olympics, Paris 2024.

Dame Sarah Storey4:07

I never imagined that I'd be continuing to compete beyond Tokyo, really, in the build-up to Tokyo before the pandemic. And then, when nobody could come to the Games, and my little boy, who would have been three at the Games, couldn't be there and desperately wanted to be, it was just too much to say no and not try again. Unfinished business. Unfinished business. And also for him, because his sister had been at the Rio Games and she was three years old there. She famously sang Let It Go instead of the national anthem in the track. From Frozen. From Frozen, absolutely. Having your children on the roadside is just the biggest thrill as a parent. You're here to share your music with us today. So, disc number one, what's it going to be?

Dame Sarah Storey4:51

Disc number one is Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. It really has punctuated my entire life and there was a point in my teens and early 20s where if this came on anywhere then me and my circle of girlfriends would ring each other up and just play it to each other. So obviously that was post 96 when mobile phones were available. We would just ring each other up and blast it down. Terrible singing on my part. They were far more tuneful. So this is for your girlfriends? It is. So I have three girls who are my bridesmaids along with my sister and we were all each other's bridesmaids as well. So in our 20s and we were just hanging out and enjoying this and if we weren't together at a party then we felt like we were when the other one rang us up. The clarion called to the dance floor I'm sure. It absolutely was. Fling your handbags down. We're going out there. We're dancing.

Speaker 15:14

Bayworth.

Speaker 15:42

Difference if we make it all night. We got each other, and that's the life overlooked.

Speaker 15:51

Well give it a shot

Speaker 15:55

We're halfway there, right?

Speaker 16:01

Take my hand, won't make it, I swear.

Presenter6:10

Living on a Prayer, Bon Jovi. Sarah, you were born in Manchester in 1977, the eldest of three children to John and Mary. Were you a s-

Dame Sarah Storey6:19

Sporty family? More of an outdoorsy family, I think it would be fair to say. There was nobody competing in sport. We used to go away to the Lake District to North Wales. My dad worked in Aberdeen in the summer quite often, so we'd be up there. And I'd did the Kiddies Highland Games one year. He was also superintendent of our church youth club, so we'd do lots of away weekends with the youth club, and we'd be like outdoor activities like canoeing and rock climbing and ab sailing and that kind of thing. So I was always outside and doing sport and sporty activities. So

Presenter6:50

The first book that you had substantial success in was Swimming. At what point did you realise that you were really talented at it, like better than the other kids?

Dame Sarah Storey6:59

Well, we had a school swimming club which was born out of a tragedy in our village. So not many primary schools even then had a school swimming club, but it was set up by the parents of the school in response to a drowning in our local canal. The idea was that no other child would ever have that tragedy, no other family would ever experience that tragedy. There had been a little boy that lost his life. A little boy called Carl had lost his life and they had a cup called the Carl Bailey Cup. And I first won that trophy in my year four.

Presenter7:15

So had been a

Speaker 17:15

Uh

Speaker 17:16

Hello

Dame Sarah Storey7:25

So the year fives and sixes were a little bit disgruntled at the year four winning, and then I won it again in year five and again in year six. What point did you realise? That the Olympics When did that Happened? Did everybody watch? John?

Dame Sarah Storey7:38

The first games I remember watching is 1984. But what I didn't realise was the Paralympics was a thing because I had never really been given any inkling that any sport was possible for people who weren't two arms, two legs, full able-bodied people. So I looked at the Olympic Games and thought, I wonder if I could go to the Olympics. And it wasn't until around 1990 that I watched a TV programme about a young lady who was hoping to qualify for the Paralympic team in 92. And she was missing part of her arm. And I was born with my left arm shorter than my right, no left hand, not fully formed. And so I was like, I wonder whether it counts for people like me. I'd never seen myself as any different to anyone else. I knew that I just did things a little bit differently sometimes. But because I was swimming just as quickly, if not faster, than everybody that I knew, it hadn't really crossed my mind.

Presenter8:29

When you were born, your left hand had been caught in the umbilical cord in the room, so it didn't develop fully. And I wonder about the conversation around that within the family. Like when did you notice how did your parents explain that to you and how did you feel about it?

Dame Sarah Storey8:43

Yeah, no one really knows. It may well have been the umbilical cord, it could have been fibrous mesh within the womb. It was just one of those things, and doctors said it might have been this, it might have been that. And we were never really that bothered to know why. It was just something that had happened, and it wasn't holding me back. I was, you know, perfectly happy. There were times where I wondered if I should have a prosthetic, would that make life easier? I'd never be a concert pianist, but I'm not very musical, so that didn't matter. And I was, you know, enjoying sport and very sort of dexterous. So nobody really sort of made any big deal about it. My grandma had worked with quite profoundly disabled children and children with behavioural challenges and their families. And she said to my parents, Sarah's fine, just carry on. You know, you don't need to make any special concessions. I learned to carry plates on one hand, and they were absolutely horrified that that was my left hand.

Dame Sarah Storey9:33

I left a little paw, as we call it, at the base of my hand. And they were like, that's just not safe. I'm like, you watch me. Like, I just carried on as a normal child. There were gadgets. So if I was going to learn, like all children, to eat with a knife and fork, there was a gadget that we still have, actually. It's a little bit of a metal thing with plastic over the top to make it less harsh to work with, I suppose. There was a gadget for helping me hold a skipping rope. And if I forgot that, I just used to tie the rope around my hand. So there's little gadgets, if you like, but there was nothing that was more just.

Dame Sarah Storey10:09

I don't know, just a bit of fun, and I used to love watching Inspector Gadget as a child, so it was all just quite cool and normal. It's time to

Presenter10:16

For disc number two, Sarah. What's next to go to the island with you?

Dame Sarah Storey10:20

So my second choice is Spinning Around by Kylie Minogue. Kylie is for someone I've known all my life, not she doesn't know me. I've watched her from her time as an actress on Neighbours all the way through her career and I've been to see her in concert a few times. And she played at the Paralympic Games opening ceremony in Sydney in two thousand as well.

Presenter10:37

What was that like?

Dame Sarah Storey10:38

Oh amazing. And we lost all the boys. They just ran to the front of the stadium. And we were all supposed to go back to the village together on the same bus, but we never found them until the following morning when we woke up and like, where did you lot go? And they're like, well, Kylie was on stage. Where did you think we were?

Speaker 110:52

Yeah.

Speaker 110:54

Spin it on

Speaker 110:56

Move out of my way I know you're feeling me culture like it like this I'm breaking it down I'm not the same I know you're feeling me culture like it like this

Speaker 111:11

Julia

Speaker 111:14

Back in the day

Speaker 111:17

True my old bros got myself better I got something to say

Presenter11:25

Kylie Minogue and Spinning Around. So Dame Sarah Story. So many sport and success stories start with the support that athletes have had from their dedicated team and their family members. Yours is no different. So I want to ask a bit more about your mum and dad, Mary and John. How hard did they work to help you achieve your dreams?

Presenter11:43

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey11:43

My parents were always there with that support. They always made sure I led them, but they were always there as that backup. So I had to get my swimming bag ready. I had to make sure it was empty and that the towels were in the washing machine. And I just had to be the lead. I had to write the checks, and dad would sign them. I had to fill out the forms, but he would always be there to take me places if it wasn't my mum. And they also had to balance it between me and my younger brother and sister. My sister's 20 months younger, and my brother is just over five years younger. So they had a huge balancing act when I started, you know, training here, there, and everywhere. How did that work? Because you know, it's lots of very early mornings. I mean, the thing about training for swimming is that you've got to go to a pool. No, it did. And they told me that I wasn't starting morning training until I was old enough. And I was like, well, what's old enough? And they're like, well, we'll tell you. And actually, it was a way to protect me. I think I found this out with my own daughter: there's a tendency to try and push children into starting morning training very young. And I don't think it's particularly healthy. They had very sort of strict boundaries about what they were prepared to do for the family's sake as well as also my own growing. So I didn't start morning training until after my first games in Barcelona. So I was probably 14, 15 years old. And my mum specifically got a job that would work around my training. So she could take me from the pool to drop me at school that was on the way to her work. And then the working hours were so that she could leave in time to pick me up and take me back to the pool. Then she would go home and sort my brother and sister out, and then my dad would pick me up on his way home from work. Apparently, your first swim club coach told you that you left it too late to ever achieve anything because you were 10. Yes, I don't know who it was at the club said to my mum, don't get your hopes up because she has started training a little bit too late to amount to anything. And so it was like red rag to a ball, really. The club was brilliant. They quickly realized that I was very focused. Within three months, I'd caught up to the children of my own age, and I quickly moved up a group. I think every three months I moved up to a different group. So I was at that point swimming in our local swimming club, and I asked the coach who had previously been a Deaf Olympian whether there was any information that he could share. And back in those days, there were no websites, there was just leaflets and writing snail mail. And he gave me a snail mail address for the lady who coordinated the Northwest Disability Swim Squad. And 18 months later, she wrote back to me. So I did you keep writing to her? I kept writing. Every time I did a personal best time in the pool over any distance, whether I thought it would be a distance in the games in Barcelona or not, I wrote a letter. So I don't know how many letters I wrote to her, but I did quite a lot of swimming galas in that period. And she eventually wrote back with the information that the following week was going to be a swimming gala that would select the Northwest team to go to the National Championships.

Presenter14:12

Do we actually

Presenter14:39

And that incredible persistence that you showed in continuing to write letters every time you made a personal best, you improved your time for eighteen months before you got a reply.

Dame Sarah Storey14:49

Yeah, I was so determined that I wanted to find out whether this was an option. I was just so set on becoming a British athlete. I wanted to know what it felt like to pull on a track suit, to walk out, you know, in a stadium, to potentially try and make a podium. And I had teammates at Stockport Metro, which was my swimming club, who were on the English youth team, on the British youth team, who'd gone to British junior champs and World Junior Champs. And they were kind of following their path. And by that point, sort of being 10 when I started and then 12 when I realised the Paralympics existed, the difference in the length of my arm was starting to show in my times. So I was nearly quick enough. I nearly made a national qualifying time, but I was just missing out. And it was just clearly showing that there was always going to be a disadvantage to not having two full paddles.

Presenter15:37

And back then, you know, as a teenager, I think training was a very solitary affair for you. You spent a lot of time by yourself. You must have needed a huge amount of discipline. I wonder how that shaped you as a person?

Dame Sarah Storey15:48

Swimming is a very solitary sport. Although you're in a swimming lane with, I don't know, up to eight, ten people, if you're in a busy, busy session, you have to be comfortable in your own head because when your head's in the water, you're following the black line. It's all about you and what you're doing. So I developed techniques to I used to do my homework in my head and then it'd be quicker to write down when I got home. How do you do homework in your head? Mass problems as well, apparently.

Presenter16:07

What do you do?

Dame Sarah Storey16:11

Well the thing is is I always think that every swimming session is a maths problem because you need to keep count. So if you're doing twenty one hundreds off one minute thirty that's harder to count actually than one minute fifteen because there's four one hundreds every time you go round the clock. It just used to get you thinking about numbers. It was rehearsing French verbs, German verbs, you know, the mon marmais and

Presenter16:32

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey16:32

Seven

Presenter16:32

Yeah, but apparently I I read that that Barney Ruth was saying you've got this photographic memory and that that was when that developed. So you could visualize your sheet of homework and you'd start working on the the mass problems that you were gonna just fill in.

Dame Sarah Storey16:45

Any homework sheet, I would have a picture of it in my head and I'd I'd just remember what it looked like. And that really helps me now'cause I can look at a course map. I do occasionally have to check, but I can pretty much memorize it within one loop and then um know what I'm doing. We've got Symbol music from

Presenter17:00

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey17:01

You know.

Presenter17:01

Uh

Dame Sarah Storey17:01

Same set

Presenter17:01

There is story, and uh I think it's a Manchester band that you've chosen next.

Dame Sarah Storey17:05

Yeah, I've chosen take that. It only takes a minute. They sort of started and became big as I started and I didn't become quite so big.

Dame Sarah Storey17:13

But they were just always there, the music was always there on poolside when you're going to events. They're always on the radio, always in the background. And I've always watched been to a couple of concerts as well. And it was another another group that would always get us out on the dance floor.

Speaker 117:28

It only takes a minute, girl

Speaker 117:32

Survival

Speaker 117:34

To find enough

Speaker 117:36

It only takes a big girl

Speaker 117:39

To fall in love

Speaker 117:41

Forget

Speaker 117:51

What's an hour of the day?

Speaker 117:55

We throw at least one away

Presenter17:59

Take that, and it only takes a minute. Dame Sarah Story, your first Paralympic success was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. You won seven swimming medals in total, including two golds. You were just fourteen years old. I mean, how did your friends and family react to coming home with that medal haul?

Dame Sarah Storey18:19

Oh, everyone was just so excited. And I think it was a bit of a shock. Everything happened so fast.

Presenter18:24

So things were going swimmingly, poolside, but you were, after that, you started to struggle a bit at school. What was happening?

Dame Sarah Storey18:31

What's going on? Well, I came home from the games with two golds and three silvers and a bronze, and the school were obviously immensely proud. But then the school said, Well, we think the best way to go would be to come in, show you medals, and then just put them away and don't mention it. So I was like, okay, no problem. And I didn't have any expectations of what things would be like. But that was sort of a blessing and a curse because I put them away and I didn't mention it. So then I was being all, you know, prim and not mentioning it. But equally, if I'd been talking about it all the time, I'd have been a show-off. So this is the perception of other kids at school, is it? Yeah, absolutely. And that teenage challenge, I guess.

Presenter19:07

So how bad was the bullying, Sarah? How serious was it?

Dame Sarah Storey19:10

So it was mainly mind games, I guess you could say. I was the walking conversation stopper. So I'd walk into a room and everyone would just stop talking and pretend they were working. The girls would rearrange things so that I was always sat by myself or have to sit with the boys. So then rumours would start about me and a boy or none of it was ever true. And because I was sporty, I'd go for runs at lunchtime to avoid things or I'd go for a walk. Once I was allowed out of the school premises after a certain age, you were given permission to go out. I'd go and go for a walk instead so I didn't have to face it, or I'd go to the library and do some work.

Presenter19:44

I think your self-esteem at that point in your teens is really can be quite fragile. What kind of impact did it have on you, that what you were going through?

Dame Sarah Storey19:53

Yeah, it wasn't great. I mean, I'd be in a cubicle in the toilets and I'd hear them talking about me, who does she think she is, and all sorts of, you know, nasty things about me and what I was or did or had done. And none of it was ever true. It was them making things up to try and, you know, justify their behaviour, I guess. So I just withdrew. I used to try and control it through controlling my diet. And I thought, well, I need to be even more professional. And I was a good runner. And obviously, the lighter you are in running when it's hilly at cross-country, the better. So the lighter I got, the better I got at cross-country running. So it was almost a rubber stamp that I was doing the right thing, even though I clearly wasn't doing the right thing because I was getting thinner and thinner and thinner. So the disordered eating came out of that desire for control, would you say? Definitely out of a desire for control to feel as though, well, if they don't like me for being an athlete, they'd, you know, make fun of me for turning up with wet hair at school, a bright pink face from chlorine damage, I suppose you could say. Moisturizers weren't kind of as commonplace back then. You certainly looked like you'd been dragged through a hedge backwards if you'd been morning training. Just picked on for my appearance, picked on for being different, picked on for never being available to do things. And of course, once you aren't available a few times, you get uninvited permanently. So don't invite her. She's a weirdo, sort of thing. So I just, yeah, withdrew and used the control of my eating as a way of feeling as though I was back in control.

Presenter21:06

Hmm.

Speaker 121:06

Yeah.

Presenter21:15

And at what point did it become a problem that that you noticed, that other people around you noticed? Because, you know, you said you were you were losing a lot of weight.

Dame Sarah Storey21:22

I knew it wasn't the right thing long term, but I was also getting success on the cross country. And I won the Latin local league and I was running for the county. So I kind of justified it by the sporting success. And I knew sport would last longer than school. So I was like, well, maybe I could be a cross-country runner if the swimming doesn't work out, sort of thing. It was like just a silly pipe dream. But it was probably when I went to the National Junior Swimming Championships in the February of 1993 that the other parents of my friends in the swim team asked my dad if I'd been ill over Christmas because I looked so gaunt. He was like, No, no, no, Sarah's fine. She's doing really, you know, cross-country's been going well. And then he looked at me and realized that I was actually taking

Presenter22:03

So it happened gradually, he hadn't seen it.

Dame Sarah Storey22:05

Yeah, so it happened gradually and I was well. It wasn't like I was ill. I was just very, very, very, very thin.

Presenter22:12

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey22:12

What help What was available for you and what did your parents do? When we got home, mum booked an appointment with a GP and she said, We're going to go and talk to Sheila, who was our family GP. And she took one look at me and said, You could do with a jam sandwich. And she said, I want you to keep a food diary and I want you to start to get control of this in a positive way for your sport because this isn't sustainable. And she said, If you don't, then I'll have to refer you on for disordered eating. And that gets to the point where you get diagnosed with one of the conditions that you can be diagnosed with. And then being discharged from that is a long process because you have to go through so much more counselling. So she said, If you get this sorted now, you won't have to go through all of that process. And.

Presenter22:55

Psychologically, that turned out to be very beneficial. Her approach really worked for you. What was it, do you think, about what she was offering you that clicked?

Dame Sarah Storey23:04

It was the long-term issues that my sport would suffer. I mean, I wasn't having periods that they'd stopped. So I knew that that wasn't right. But she just spoke very logically, which appealed to me as an athlete who's very logical and very methodical about the way I did things. And the way that she said it was, like, you're risking your entire sporting career here. You need to get control of this now so that you're not inconvenienced because if you have to go through the processes to be discharged from whatever condition they diagnose you with, that eats into the time you have available to do your sport. It's not going to be an easy process. How long did it take to recover?

Presenter23:09

Mm-hmm.

Dame Sarah Storey23:45

Not very long in the grand scheme of things, I always had to check myself because I was very easy to slip back into that. And I think it's still the case now. You could easily slip back into that mindset of controlling your eating to control something else. So it's something you have to stay aware of even now? I stay aware of it very much so, especially in cycling, because if you're coming up to a hilly event, the assumption is that the power to weight is better if you're lighter. But actually, being powerful also contributes to being your power to weight ratio.

Dame Sarah Storey24:15

Uh

Presenter24:15

Sarah, it's time to go to the music. We've got to get uh room for this, so disc number four.

Dame Sarah Storey24:20

What are we going to hand?

Presenter24:20

Next and why.

Dame Sarah Storey24:22

So we're going to hear Boyzone a different beat. I actually met Boyzone on Knoll's House Party in 1996. They were playing this particular song on that show, and I was on Knoll's House Party after the games in Atlanta. I was the most successful British athlete at those games. Sarah, is it not right that.

Presenter24:38

Your housemates at uni that you were living with at the time ended up watching this episode of Knoll's House Party and you hadn't told them that you were a successful Olympian, you hadn't told them at all about this other side of your life and they all discovered it by watching you that T V with Mr Blobby.

Dame Sarah Storey24:54

That's right.

Dame Sarah Storey24:55

Yeah, exactly. So I went to university straight after the Games in 1996. I was living in a house with five other people. I was studying sports science at Leeds Metropolitan University, as it was called back then. And when people were introducing themselves, I said I was a summer and I'd been to the States over the summer. And I didn't really elaborate over why I was in America. And I just got on with the job and I wasn't training quite so much because it was the period directly after the Games where you didn't need to train quite to the same level. And then I appeared on Noel's house party and that's how they discovered what that trip to America had actually been about. It just points to the difference in coverage that there is now. It was easy to fly under the radar and after my experiences at school I decided like not to make a big deal out of it but they made a big deal out of it and became incredibly proud and were quite happy for me you know to kind of show off which was against my nature I suppose.

Speaker 125:47

How many teas was face?

Speaker 125:52

Let's understand its grave

Speaker 125:58

Each day one at a time

Speaker 126:04

Each life improved enough

Speaker 126:11

Let's take a stand and look around us now.

Speaker 126:16

Let's change your standing up around us now. Beep follow, beep follow, beep follow

Presenter26:23

Boys Own and a different beat. So Sarah Story, you went to study sport and exercise science at Leeds Beckett University. And how did all of that combine with your training schedule? So your studies might have helped in one way, but I did read that despite the fact that you were already a medal winner, you found it hard to find a coach.

Dame Sarah Storey26:41

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey26:41

So I chose the university because they had such a hugely successful swimming club, but the coach didn't want to coach me.

Speaker 126:47

Why not?

Dame Sarah Storey26:47

Why not? He said that he only the coach swimmers on the Olympic team and that I would need to go to the other coach who was coaching at different times of the day, quite late sessions as well. And he wasn't very supportive. And I had gone over and not interviewed the club, but I'd gone to do my due diligence to double check that if I chose this university, would my training be on a par with how it had been when I was training back in Stockport? So in the end, because

Dame Sarah Storey27:13

It didn't really work out. I had some pool time available during the daytime thanks to the the the swimming pool where we trained. They gave me some pool time just after lunch, which fitted in with my lectures. And then I would also commute back to Stockport. But you were already a a Paralympic medal winner. I was, yeah, I was five time Paralympic gold medallist.

Presenter27:32

Was that not tempting to him? How many of those did he?

Dame Sarah Storey27:34

Yeah.

Presenter27:34

Of walking into the swimming

Dame Sarah Storey27:35

Uh

Presenter27:35

Yeah. Got a Every day, I mean I

Dame Sarah Storey27:36

Yeah.

Presenter27:36

I'm just trying to get a sense of, you know.

Dame Sarah Storey27:39

It was not the best situation, but I was powerless to do anything. It was, he was the head coach. It was his decision. The squad he put me with, lovely coach, but the times of day that I would need to train and the length of sessions and the number of summers just wasn't conducive to the high-quality training I'd had prior to going to university. Many of the sessions were finishing at like 10 o'clock at night, and I'd have to be back in the pool at quarter past five. Quite a few sessions were being done in the diving pit, which hadn't got proper lane ropes. The diving pit wasn't a full 25 metres across. And in the end, it got to the point where really I needed to be back where someone could look after me. So I used to commute back to Stockport. I went back to live at my mum and dad's, although I kept my house in Leeds. I would stay at my mum and dad's if I had a morning session, do my morning training from half five till eight. I'd then commute over the motorway across to Leeds, do my lectures. I'd be in Leeds 10 till two, and then I would go back to Stockport for a half past four session in the afternoon.

Presenter28:41

What kind of rest were you getting at this point?

Dame Sarah Storey28:43

I was just so on edge all the time. I was just running on adrenaline. I managed to maintain that schedule. I did a lot of sleeping at weekends for probably the first half of my second year. But as I got into 1998, I realized I was, you know, really running on empty. And then by the October of 1998, when I was going to the World Championships in New Zealand, I was really quite poorly, but I didn't really want to admit it. So I, yeah, basically developed chronic fatigue syndrome and I raced at the World Championships in New Zealand. And it got to the point where I was so unwell that I wasn't able to use the lift. My ears were affected by the virus. And if I went in the lift, I got really unsteady and I'd fall over. And everyone was laughing at me. Like vertical. I'm really no idea. I was also unable to wake up. So I would fall asleep and I'd fall into a really deep sleep.

Presenter28:47

Probably.

Speaker 128:47

Uh

Speaker 129:30

And everyone was laughing at me.

Presenter29:31

Like vertical

Speaker 129:32

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey29:39

But I would be dreaming of falling, but then I would try and wake up, and I'd feel like I was paralyzed to the bed. And my roommate would be trying to wake me up. She said, You're screaming, Sarah, you're screaming, you're having a nightmare. I'm like, I don't know, I don't know. And my mum took me to Northwick Park, where the British Olympic Medical Centre was, and they did some tests and they did some heart tests. And they said, You're very unwell. And if you don't stop, this virus will attack your heart and you'll end up with myocarditis. You're an athlete that's very fragile right now, and you're sort of quite brittle immune system. And we need you to take six weeks' complete rest, and then we can reassess how we build you back up again. Having someone.

Dame Sarah Storey30:21

Say, yes, we believe you, yes, you have got something wrong with you, was like a huge relief. There's a huge weight taken off my shoulders because there was an explanation for why. Because previously I just thought I was unfit, I wasn't swimming fast enough, I wasn't racing fast enough, I wasn't functioning properly, and I just thought that I was unfit. So I trained more, and that was the worst thing I could have done.

Speaker 130:42

Mm-hmm.

Dame Sarah Storey30:44

So how long did it take to come out the other side of it? Probably four years in total, if I kind of look back. But in the process, was like, well, what can I do? What can I do? And I'd been training on a bike and the periods of time where I was out of the water. So I just kept going down to the Velodrome more and more. And at that point, British Cycling had spotted I'd been on the Velodrome. I'd met the cycling team in the village in Athens and they were in the apartment above. And so they asked me if I'd like to do a trial over 3,000 metres. And when I did the trial, the time was a second outside of the world record.

Dame Sarah Storey31:18

They're like

Dame Sarah Storey31:20

Well, where did that come from? And I was like, I don't know. And they were like, right, well, we need to sort of tidy you up a bit. I mean, I was a swimmer on a bike. I had no technical skills. I didn't look right. You know, and so three weeks later, I was at the European Championships, having watched the Tour de France to kind of understand what cycling was about. And I was racing for events. One door closes and

Presenter31:41

Another door opens. I want to come back to what happened next in a moment, Sarah, but it's time for some more music for

Dame Sarah Storey31:47

What's your next track? This is the one by The Stone Roses, and it's an amazing track. It was a track that Barney and I walked out from the church to at our wedding. And it's also the track that Manchester United walk out to when they're going to play in Old Trafford. I'd had season tickets at Old Trafford when I first met Barney. He was always a football fan. His main team was Bournemouth, but he supported Man United on the quiet. And when I said, Do you like football? I've got tickets at United. He was nearly proposed on the spot. We used to go to Old Trafford after training and watch the team play. And I was living in Eccles at the time, so it was just down the road. And my swimming club had previously been sponsored by Manchester United, so I was surrounded by Manchester United fans.

Speaker 132:29

This is the floor, this is the floor.

Speaker 132:35

This is the one, this is the one she's waiting for

Speaker 132:44

This is the moon, this is the moon, this is the moon.

Presenter32:58

The Stone Roses, and this is the one for Barney. He is your co-pilot, really, isn't he?

Dame Sarah Storey33:04

Oh, he is. Well, he's the pilot. I have to go on the back of the tandem if we go out on the tandem. We have done it once or twice, and Barney is the pilot. Barney and I, I think we're always meant to be together. He was a cyclist when I first met him. I met him on a training camp. There was a multi-sport training camp in Cyprus. How long have you been together now? So we got together in March 2005. So I just about started to do a little bit of cycling, but I was still a swimmer. Yeah, so it's 19 years.

Presenter33:30

So it was two thousand and eight that you joined the British cycling team, or in time for the two thousand eight Beijing Olympics. And it seemed back then that just being in the team was enough to guarantee a medal. Did power athletes have comparable resources and support to

Dame Sarah Storey33:45

Able-bodied athletes at that time? Yeah, so after the National Lottery Programme started in 1996, 97, the teams were kind of funded in the same way, and athlete funding became, you know, the same across both sports. So I got my first pair of bespoke handlebars in the run-up to Beijing for the track. And then we did another set that was going to work out on the road as well. But it was an amazing setup, and the skin suits, and we always have that kind of step-up in equipment in Olympic year. So just recently, I've been in the wind tunnel. So it's refined all the time. So now I'm selecting the actual material and how I want that suit put together. And it's bespokely fitted to me for the games time. Tomas back to your love of Inspector Gadget as a child. Hugely. Like they really appealed to me. I think the thing about the aggregation of the sum of marginal gains, each bit of equipment needed to be refined, and you, as an engine, was one part of that bigger picture. But being able to select things that were going to work for you. And what kind of experience was Beijing? How did you get on?

Dame Sarah Storey34:46

Beijing was amazing. So, Barney and I won gold on the same day at the Velodrome. That was his second gold medal, and I only had one at that point. But fortunately, I still had the Road Time Trial to go, and I was able to win the Road Time Trial. And Beijing was kind of a watershed moment for parasport, I think, in China, because you know, disabled people weren't treated in the same way. I remember revisiting Beijing with the British Council 12 months after the Games and visiting a disabled sports club that specialised in table tennis. They said that the transformation and the way that they were valued in society was just almost immeasurable once the Games had happened because people saw successful people with disabilities and realised that they were people and they weren't something to be ashamed of or hide away, as perhaps had happened in the past. And Sarah that

Presenter35:32

That Games was followed by yet another watershed much closer to home because the next was London twenty twelve, a very, very successful Paralympics for you personally, but I wonder how important you see that Games as for the Paralympic movement as a whole.

Dame Sarah Storey35:47

London 2012 was a games that everybody marks in the sand, whether it's an athlete that's now competing who'd watched those games and was inspired by it, or whether it's, you know, everyone knows where they were at some point during the games that was important to them. And most importantly, I think Lord Coe led with it, it has to be called the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. It's not the London Olympic Games and the London Paralympic Games. It's one games that are taking place over a period of, you know, six weeks with a little gap in the middle. And it was the most astute thing anyone could have said because suddenly everyone was realizing that it was just one Games. We'd always known as athletes because we'd been training with our colleagues from Olympic programmes. But for the general public to view it in that way for the first time was transformational. And at London.

Presenter36:35

And in twenty twelve you won four gold medals. And there was a new role on the cards for you at home because in twenty thirteen you and Barney became parents to your daughter Louisa. Was it a difficult decision to to have children alongside your hugely successful cycling career, which must have seemed

Dame Sarah Storey36:52

like it was at its peak.

Dame Sarah Storey36:53

Well, it did seem like it was at its peak, but I also thought that if I can't come back after having a baby, then I've done everything and more. And so it seemed like the right opportunity. I was 35, was very aware of the geriatric mother kind of title that you get as a female. And so I just thought, well, I want to be a mum. I'd always wanted to be a mum. And I said, I didn't know if I was coming back. I'd like to try and come back and compete again. And when I was pregnant, Barney would come out training with me. And he said, You're coming back. I mean, you're half-wheeling me and you're eight months pregnant. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to the next race because I hadn't raced at all in my first pregnancy. My second pregnancy, I did race, but my first pregnancy, I fell pregnant straight after the games, and it was sort of a rest period then. So I was trying to get a fit while I was sort of four or five months pregnant. Yeah, I'm trying to get the timeline right because there was a games in the middle, there was Rio in the middle of the two kids, right? So Louisa was 2013, and then we had she came to Rio with us in 2016. And then Charlie arrived in the latter part of 2017. And then back to Tokyo for more gold medals. And then Tokyo. So, yeah, I mean, I knew when I was pregnant with Charlie that I was going to continue to compete, having had the experience I'd had with Louisa and coming back from that pregnancy, I knew that there was no way this pregnancy was the final, that this wasn't the end of my career. And I was really enjoying myself, and I still do enjoy myself. And I think that's the kind of main ingredient to continuing in any career is if you're enjoying what you're doing. Why stop? It's time for some more music, Sarah. What have you got for track number six and why are you taking it with you? Well, I'm taking this one with me because it's an anthem of the London Games, David Bowie's Heroes. Just every time I hear that song, I just think about the London 2012 Games, everything that the Games encapsulated. So I just, yeah, a song that you can't really ever leave behind.

Presenter37:44

Of the ticket.

Speaker 138:47

Uh

Speaker 438:47

No nothing.

Speaker 438:50

Her drives and the way

Speaker 138:52

Yeah.

Speaker 138:55

We can beat them.

Speaker 138:59

Just for one day.

Speaker 139:04

We're all

Speaker 139:07

Just for one day.

Presenter39:16

Heroes by David Bowie. Dame Sarah Storey, you've been the active travel commissioner for Greater Manchester since May 2022, following in the footsteps of fellow cyclist Chris Boardman. What's the key to persuading people to get behind the idea of active transport, going by foot or bike? Because it does involve changing things and people can be quite change-averse.

Dame Sarah Storey39:37

Yes, that it's offering more more choice, I think. If you walk out the house in the morning, you could choose to jump in the car. But if for example, when I'm going to work in Manchester,

Dame Sarah Storey39:48

If I'm forced to use the car, it's like the worst thing because I know that it's not going to be a pleasant journey. I can't do any work on the way in. If the trains are on strike, that's the worst thing because the bus will take two hours from where I live because I need to change. So it's really important when you remove a mode, you realize just how important that choice is. And that's really what active travel is about: making it feel safer because a lot of people cite safety as the reason they can't do something, making it more convenient, spreading the cost, not in terms of pounds, but spreading the inconvenience across modes. There's so many different things that come into play. It's not as simple as just building bike lanes or just widening footways. It's about everything that comes with that: safe places to park your bike, making sure that you've got enough drop curbs for people with wheelchairs, making sure it's accessible for visually impaired people as well. So there's a lot of things to consider. What will success look like in a city and around about? Well, in cities, I think success looks like it is doing in London now. Far fewer vehicles in certain parts. It's much quieter, much cleaner air because there are less vehicles. And there are people choosing to use walking for journeys or cycling. And different types of bikes. When you walk past a bike stand and you see cargo bikes, you see trikes, electric trikes, which are brilliant and used so much more in other parts of the world. I was in Quebec for a race a couple of years ago, and there's a gentleman on an electric trike, and he had a really good, sturdy basket, if you like, on the back, but that's how he put his shopping. And he went shopping on this trike because it was just him now at home, and that's all the space he needed. It's probably worth mentioning too.

Presenter41:26

Sarah, that you did cycle here today to the studio where we're speaking. And obviously, you're out on the bike training a lot, and I know you like training outdoors more than indoors, but there is some footage on social media of your account where the weather when you're out in it looks absolutely horrendous. On those days, how do you gee yourself up and persuade yourself?

Dame Sarah Storey41:29

Thank you.

Dame Sarah Storey41:45

Because you must have days when you don't feel like it. Oh, everyone has days they don't feel like it. I think, you know, well, I had to compete in Tokyo in absolutely horrendous conditions. That was fog and driving rain. 17 degrees, driving rain, riding around corners with my eyes closed. I've got a photograph of that. But you have to be able to train and race in all conditions. You also have to make good decisions. And I do like training outside, but a couple of years ago, I was re-reminded of the importance of making a good decision when I crashed on black ice. I'd not got my mobile phone with me. I'd actually forgotten to put my Gilet on over the top. It was a slightly warmer day than I'd anticipated. And my food and my mobile were in that Gilet. And I forgot to put it on. So when I crashed and reached in my back pocket, I was like, oh dear, I can't contact anyone. I'm going to have to get myself home. I was right out in the middle of Cheshire. I say, well, do I go to my friend's house? Do I go to school? And I was like, well, actually, all of those roads might be icy as well. So I'm just going to have to find the main roads and kind of trundle home. So you do have to make good decisions about the safety of going out when the weather is absolutely horrendous. But yeah, sometimes you just got to pull your socks up and get on with it.

Speaker 141:53

This is

Speaker 141:54

Drive in revenue and integrate.

Dame Sarah Storey42:51

It's time. Have some more music, Jamie. Sarah Story. Seventh choice Today.

Presenter42:55

What are we gonna hear?

Dame Sarah Storey42:56

And why? Yeah.

Presenter42:56

Yeah.

Presenter42:57

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey42:57

Well, this is another group of artists that have been around my entire sporting career, the Spice Girls and Wannabe. This actual song was played as I walked out to the bike to ride in the final of the individual pursuit at the 2019 World Championships on the track. The championships was happening during Storm Gareth of that year, and Storm Gareth hit the Netherlands as hard as it hit the UK. I was commuting from where we were staying to the Velodrome for my competitions because we'd taken all my equipment out in the car, which only had seven seats, and there were eight of us: my parents, my husband's parents, and the two children, and Barney himself. So the seven seats were taken up with spectators, and I was like, Well, that's fine, I'll just cycle. Amazing infrastructure in the Netherlands, and except I'd not factored in the weather. So I used to arrive at the Velodrome and wring out all my clothes into a bucket that the Swaniers kindly gave me in the track centre, and then hang my stuff to dry on the DJ booth. And so the DJ and I were having this banter about what I was doing with such wet clothes. And he said, Well, you can choose your tracks, then I don't have that's one less job for me. So I said, Oh, anything by the Spice Girls, and he came up with some banging tunes.

Speaker 144:02

Uh

Speaker 144:04

Really, really want? Don't tell me what you want, what you really, really want. I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. Don't tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

Speaker 144:13

I wanna really really really wanna zig a zig ah If you want that future

Speaker 144:18

Forget my ass.

Speaker 144:20

If you wanna get with me, better make it fast. Now don't go wasting my precious time. Get your act together, we could be just fine. I'll tell you what.

Presenter44:34

The Spice Girls and Wannabe. Dame Sarah Story, as we've heard, you and Barney have two children. You've both been successful in the Paralympics. Do they seem keen to follow in your footsteps?

Dame Sarah Storey44:45

Both Louisa and Charlie are incredibly ambitious for little people. I mean, I think most parents will say that about their children. They've got so many fantastic ideas. Louisa, first of all, wanted to be a swimmer, tried swim training, wasn't for her. She absolutely loves her dance. So she competed in 2023 in the Dance World Cup finals for her age group. And we went out to Portugal and they got a bronze medal. Charlie plays football on a Saturday. And he said to Barney the other day, I'd like to play a match. And Barney said, Well, who against? And he said, Another country. So it's kind of normal in our house that it's an international competition.

Presenter45:19

That family

Dame Sarah Storey45:20

Trophy cup Cabinets don't you'd be like Gollum's cave. Well, we actually took the trophies out that cabinet and put the Lego in it. So uh we had to do a bit of a rearranging to to get to get all the Lego in the house.

Presenter45:30

Well, it's time for a new challenge, Dame Sarah's story. Almost time to cast you away to your very own desert island. Do you look forward to the solitude there?

Dame Sarah Storey45:39

How do you feel about it? I feel as though I'm probably reasonably well equipped, although I may find out that living on my own as a swimmer and all those hours up and down the pool and all those hours now on the bike by myself, I've always trained by myself, even though I don't need to, I think it brings out the best in me. So I think I'm reasonably well equipped. I can swim, so you know, plenty of water. So, you know, who knows, I might become an open water swimmer, although I do promise not to escape.

Presenter46:04

Oh, you promise not to escape. Interesting,'cause some people say, I'm I'm absolutely going to try. And you've got the best chance of anyone, I would have thought.

Dame Sarah Storey46:11

Yeah, I guess it depends whether I see anything on the horizon.

Presenter46:14

What are your practical skills like?

Dame Sarah Storey46:16

Fair. Survival on the desert island? I'm not sure. I was a cub from the age of three because my parents were Arcalas. I'm not sure. I'm always up for a challenge in learning new skills, so I guess I'll try and make it up as I go along.

Presenter46:28

One more disc to choose before we send you away. It's your final choice, Dame Sarah Story. What a g-

Dame Sarah Storey46:34

Gonna be.

Dame Sarah Storey46:35

Well being a Manchester girl and you know working so much in the city now I've chosen a Manchester track. It's Step On by the Happy Mondays.

Speaker 146:55

By your fire

Speaker 146:56

Sure design

Speaker 146:59

Can make you forget your man, your man.

Speaker 147:05

True Stampede man.

Speaker 147:07

Speak so deeply.

Presenter47:15

The Happy Mondays and Step On. So Dame Sarah Story, it's time to cast you away. I will of course give you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare to read while you're on your desert island. You can also take another book of your choosing. What would you like?

Dame Sarah Storey47:28

Yeah.

Dame Sarah Storey47:28

So, I worked with Dr. Steve Peters extensively. He's the team sports psychologist. He's a psychiatrist who's done lots of work with different sports, and he worked with British Cycling, in particular in the run-up to London 2012. But although I've worked with him for a while, I've never read his book. I probably shouldn't admit that. So, I would take Steve Peters' book called The Chimp Paradox. You can also have a luxury item. What are you going to treat yourself to? I'm going to take Snorkel and Mask so that I can go fishing, I can look at the reef.

Dame Sarah Storey47:59

And I promised not to escape. Finally, which of these A Uh

Presenter48:02

What tracks would you rush to save if the waves were threatening to

Dame Sarah Storey48:05

to wash them away.

Dame Sarah Storey48:07

I'll probably save Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, the first track we played just so I can continue to party with the girls. Spoken like a a true swimmer at all.

Presenter48:17

Dame Sarah Story, thank you very much for letting us hear your Desert Island discs. Thank you for having me.

Presenter48:37

Hello, it was lovely to chat to Sarah, and I certainly hope she's happy swimming around the island with her snorkel, looking at all those fish. There are more than 2,000 programmes in our archive which you can listen to. We've cast away many Olympians over the years, including Dame Jessica Ennis, Chris Boardman, and Rebecca Adlington. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or on our own Desert Island Discs website. Plus, you can also find some of Sarah's favourite musicians choosing their Desert Island Discs too. We've cast away Kylie Minogue, Gary Barlow, Melanie Chisholm, and Noel Gallagher. The studio manager for today's programme was Jackie Marjoram, the production coordinator was Susie Roylance, and the producer was Sarah Taylor. The series editor is John Gowdy.

Speaker 449:44

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