Sarah Storey of the Great Britain team celebrates after winning the gold medal during the UCI Cycling World Cup Women's Team Pursuit final at Alcides Nieto Patino velodrome on Dec. 1, 2011 in California.
Sarah Storey has a habit of winning—no matter what the sport. Born without a left hand, she won two gold medals at the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona. She wasjust 14 years old. After winning a total of ten more medals in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, she seemed a lock for more swimming success in Beijing. But several months after the Games a series of ear infections forced her out of the water. “When my ears were bad in 2005 and I didn’t have the opportunity to be in the pool training, I used a bike to stay fit,” she told the BBC last July. “I suppose you could say it got out of hand. By the time my ear infections had gone I was a world record holder on the track.” She won gold in both the time trial and individual pursuit events in Beijing.