Hannah Cockroft, Alfie Hewett and 23 other ParalympicsGB athletes you need to know about

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The 2024 Paralympics started on Wednesday, August 28. There are more than 500 gold medals up for grabs and a large number of them will be going to British athletes.

ParalympicsGB finished second in the medal table at Tokyo 2021, with 41 gold medals. Only China (96 Gold medals) won more. The United States, with 37 golds, were third.

The British team were also second behind China in 2016 and third behind China and Russia in 2012.

You can also read our complete guide to the Paralympics, and, from next week, our run-down of the key events. See below for the athletes to watch.

Hollie Arnold

F46 Javelin
This will be Arnold’s fifth Paralympics, after she made her debut in 2008 in Beijing at the age of just 14. Arnold broke the world record at Rio 2016 and was appointed as an MBE in 2017. Away from sport, the Grimsby-born athlete became the first Paralympian to appear on ITV’s ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!’ in 2020. Arnold says she has fallen back in love with the sport, after winning her sixth World Championships in Kobe, Japan earlier this year.

Matt Bush

Taekwondo
The former shot putter switched to his new sport in 2017 after it was added to the Paralympic roster, and has taken it by storm since. Bush became Britain’s first male Para-taekwondo athlete to win gold at the World Championships in 2019, and then became a two time world champion in 2023. This will be the Welshman’s first Paralympics, after he was forced to withdraw from Tokyo 2020 with an ACL injury. In normal life the 35-year-old works for his family business delivering cheese and dairy products.

Ellie Challis

Swimming
A quadruple amputee, Challis was the youngest member of ParalympicsGB at Tokyo 2020, where she won silver in the S3 50m backstroke at the age of 17. Challis decided to pursue Para-swimming professionally after attending the London 2012 Paralympics, having begun swimming after being inspired by the story of a dolphin that had its tail amputated. The swimmer from Clacton-on-Sea was just 16 months old when she contracted meningitis, resulting in the amputation of her limbs.

Sarah Storey

Cycling
Dame Sarah Storey is the most successful British Paralympian of all time, having won a remarkable 17 gold medals. The 46-year-old made her Paralympic debut at Barcelona 1992 as a swimmer, at the age of just 14, and went on to win five of her Paralympic golds in the pool. She made the switch to cycling in 2005, following a persistant ear infection, and maintains a 100 per cent Games record on a bike across her 12 races. The mother of two was born without a functioning left hand. She spoke to Telegraph Sport about still being unable to make money from cycling alone.

Rachel Choong

Badminton
The 30-year-old from Liverpool is one of Britain’s most successful badminton players, with ten world and ten European titles under her belt. Choong has a rare form of dwarfism called 3M Syndrome, and believes playing against non-disabled people in the earlier stages of her career helped her develop into the player she is today. She nearly gave up on her dream of being a Paralympian after her events were not included at Tokyo 2020.

Hannah Cockroft OBE

Para-athletics
Cockroft is unbeaten at the Paralympics, having won seven gold medals across three Olympic Games. The Halifax-born racer has dominated the T34 wheelchair category, holding world records for the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m. Cockroft was made an OBE after her incredible double gold at Tokyo 2020, and has said she is hungry for more success going into Paris 2024. After the Games, Cockroft will be getting married to T54 wheelchair racer Nathan Maguire. She told Telegraph Sport that her recovery from near-death experiences makes her “better than Jesus”.

Funmi Oduwaiye

Para-athletics
The 20-year-old took up Para-athletics in 2022, following multiple surgeries on her legs to correct a condition called knock knees. The Welsh competitor was formerly an impressive basketball player, and was named one of the players of the tournament for the under-18 European Championships in 2019. Now targeting shot put and discus, Oduwaiye says she has always known she was destined for greatness. She is one of several athletes followed by Channel 4 for a documentary series about the build-up to Paris 2024.

David Smith

Boccia
Smith is the most successful boccia players in British history, having already won five medals across four Paralympics. Awarded an OBE for his services to boccia in 2022, Smith is aiming to go one better than Adam Peaty and make it three golds in three successive Games. Away from sport, the Swansea resident is a Parkrun marshall and has a passion for World War II aircraft.

Claire Taggart

Boccia
Taggart made history at Rio 2016, when she became the first person from Northern Ireland to compete in boccia at the Paralympics. The 27-year-old was immensely proud of this, naming her border collie Rio as a tribute. Taggart’s connection to the Brazilian city grew even stronger when she won the 2022 World Championships in Rio.

Iona Winnifrith

Swimming
Tonbridge-born Winnifrith is set to make her Paralympic debut as the youngest member of the GB swim team. The 13-year-old has already had an impressive start to 2024, becoming a double European champion.

Thomas Young

Para-athletics
The Croydon-born sprinter burst onto the scene when he won the T38 gold in the 100m and 200m at the 2018 European Championships. Young will be looking to defend his gold medal, after winning the men’s T38 100m in his first ever Paralympics in Tokyo, at the age of 21. The reigning champion has said he is incredibly excited to race in a full stadium in Paris, after crowds were not allowed in Tokyo.

Sammi Kinghorn

Para-athletics
As a teenager, Kinghorn was playing on her family farm when a tragic accident on her father’s forklift truck led to her becoming paralysed. The Scot won her first two medals at Tokyo 2020 with a bronze in the T53 100m and a silver in the 400m. Off the track, Kinghorn is now a presenter on BBC’s Countryfile and lives in Cheshire with her boyfriend.

Sabrina Fortune

Para-athletics
Fortune, who won a bronze medal in Rio, broke her own world record for the F20 shot put in July, and has already won the World Championships in Kobe this year. The 26-year-old Welsh woman loves baking and sugarcraft, and has said she would like to go into the cake making business.

Daniel Bethell

Badminton
Bethell made history when he won ParalympicsGB’s first ever badminton medal with silver in the men’s SL3 singles at Tokyo 2023. The 28-year-old is a huge Bath rugby fan, and completed a master’s degree at the University of Bristol in International Commercial Law.

Charlotte Henshaw

Canoeing
Henshaw took home gold in first Games as a Paracanoe athlete, winning the women’s KL2 event in Tokyo. Paris will mark her fifth appearance at the Paralympics, having previously contested in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 as a Para-swimmer. The 37-year-old is a huge Manchester United fan, and was made an MBE in 2022 for her services to canoeing.

Sophie Unwin

Cycling
Unwin won two medals in her first Games at Tokyo 2020, taking home bronze in the women’s B 300m individual pursuit, and silver in the women’s road race tandem B. The partially impaired cyclist has said she has her eyes set on gold in Paris.

Lauren Rowles

Rowing
Lauren Rowles MBE is a two-time Paralympic champion, winning gold at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 in the PR2 mixed doubles sculls with Laurence Whitely. Rowles is now aiming to become the first para-rower to win a third consecutive Paralympic gold, alongside new partner and former Royal Engineer Commando Gregg Stevenson. Away from rowing, Rowles has recently had a child with her fiancé, Paralympic basketballer Jude Hamer. In 2022 she told Telegraph Sport about contemplating suicide after struggling to compute her success from Tokyo.

Maisie Summers-Newton

Swimming
Summers-Newton became a two-time champion in her Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020, winning gold in the SB6 100m breaststroke and the SM6 200m individual medley. Currently training to be a teacher at The University of Northampton, the 22-year-old has said she is ready to deal with the pressure of defending her Paralympic titles in Paris.

Amy Truesdale

Taekwondo
Truesdale won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020, as Para taekwondo made its debut at the Games. After being initially inspired to take up martial arts by her father for self-defence, Truesdale says Taekwondo has improved her self-discipline. The Chester-born athlete has her eyes set on gold, after admitting she was incredibly disappointed to win bronze in Tokyo, when the sport made its debut.

Piers Gilliver

Wheelchair fencing
Gilliver made history at Tokyo 2020, when he ended Britain’s 34-year wait for a gold medal in wheelchair fencing. Gilliver has said he could not leave his room for three months at the beginning of 2023, and was unable to even watch a movie, due to vicious concussion symptoms. Now back to full health, Gilliver will be hoping to retain his title in Paris.

Alfie Hewett OBE

Wheelchair tennis
The 26-year-old became the second men’s wheelchair tennis player in history to complete the career Grand Slam in July, after winning his first Wimbledon singles title. Boasting an impressive 30 Grand Slam titles, Hewitt will be hoping to add a gold medal to his collection in Paris, after picking up three silver medals in the past two Paralympics. In 2023, the Norwich-born athlete became the first wheelchair tennis player to make the shortlist for BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. In 2021 Hewett faced possible exclusion from his sport because a new classification system would render him not disabled enough to compete. Tennis authorities eventually ruled in Hewett’s favour.

Kadeena Cox OBE

Para-athletics and cycling
The ultimate all rounder. The 33-year-old became the first British para-athlete to win two golds at different sports in the same Games, during her remarkable Rio 2016 campaign. The Leeds-born multi talented athlete set up the Kadeena Cox Academy, after realising she was the only black British cyclist ever to win an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal, offering funding to talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. Diagnosed with MS in 2014, Cox is a qualified physiotherapist. She won Celebrity Masterchef in 2021.