I went on to win the junior national racer title at 15. In total, I’ve won 16 Paralympic medals (11 gold, four silver and a bronze) and 13 World Championship medals (six gold, five silver and two bronze) in my 23-year career. That feeling of exhilaration during a race never leaves you. Despite hanging up my racing wheels over a decade ago, I still get a buzz when we enter an Olympic and Paralympic year.

The 2020 Games in Tokyo feel particularly special: there have been an unprecedented number of ticket requests for the Paralympic Games (over 3 million, compared to the 2 million sold for Rio) and the number of female athletes is almost equal to men for the first time. The Paralympics defined my life, but they also reach into homes across the nation, redefining public perception of what’s possible. And against the backdrop of modern feminism, which has come a long way since the last Games, we need to champion what women can do.

Yet, we have a problem with physical activity in the UK. Sport England’s Active Lives survey shows 26% of women are inactive. Things are improving, albeit slowly: it’s worth noting that there were 142,000 fewer inactive women in 2018/19 than in the previous year, and weights and interval training are showing a significant increase in popularity. But we can do better.

Paralympian, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, on encouraging women to be more active