Dame Sarah Storey: I was choosing children’s school shoes while at Paralympics

Dame Sarah Storey has revealed she was helping to choose her children’s school shoes over WhatsApp message during the Paralympics.

The cycling star wrote her name into the history books by becoming the UK’s most-successful Paralympian during the Tokyo games.

But the 17-time gold medallist, who is mother to daughter Louisa, eight, and son Charlie, three has revealed she was also helping out with childcare duties while she was in Japan.

Describing how she and former former Paralympian husband Barney and she chose the shoes for the children via WhatsApp messages during the games, she said: “We share everything as a team.

“Cleaning and making sure the washing doesn’t pile up are the things that get left in our house, so we can try to make sure everything else is done and that we’re present with the kids.”

Reflecting on her medals, she said: “They represent a lifetime of work and commitment to something I have thoroughly enjoyed putting so much time and energy into.

“They are all incredibly special and now to be able to share winning them with my own children is an even greater feeling that I could ever have imagined.

“Louisa and Charlie really enjoy being able to handle the medals, they are very careful with them, as they know how precious they are!”

She added: “Charlie keeps telling me: ‘It’s so good to have you back, Mum!’ And Louisa has talked about how inspired she is by watching the competition.

“They both know what goes into being an athlete, they know we have to do a lot of training and all of that work pays off.”

The full interview is in Hello!, out now.