Already missing the Olympics? Help is at hand – the Paralympics start on 29 August on Channel 4. Clare Balding will return to present proceedings, assisted by wheelchair basketball hero Ade Adepitan – and they will be describing a group of athletes whose travails are even more inspiring than those of their able-bodied counterparts. Here are 10 of the best:
1 Pierre Mainville, Canada (wheelchair fencing)
In 2001, Mainville was being driven through Montreal when his car was shot at by the driver's jealous ex-boyfriend. He was paralysed from the waist down, and later took up wheelchair fencing to keep fit. The sport is similar to conventional fencing – except that the competitors' position is static.
2 Tatyana McFadden, USA (wheelchair racing)
McFadden is a champion at both 100m sprints and 26-mile marathons. Born in Russia with a hole in her spine, McFadden spent her first six years in an orphanage before being adopted by a US state official. Alongside her record-breaking racing career, the 23-year-old campaigns for greater sporting provision for young people with disabilities.
3 Oscar Pistorius, South Africa (running)
Born without calf bones, Pistorius's legs were amputated below the knee before he was a year old. Nicknamed the Blade Runner, Pistorius runs with the help of blade-like prosthetic limbs, and is now the world-record holder in the 100m, 200m and 400m. Despite considerable resistance, he also competes in able-bodied competitions and in 2011 was the first amputee to win a medal at the able-bodied world championships.
4 Natalie du Toit, South Africa (swimming)
Eleven years ago, aged 17, Du Toit was scooting from her swimming practice to school when she was hit by a car. Her left leg was amputated, but she carried on swimming regardless and has since won 10 Paralympic medals. She has competed at the Olympics, too, finishing 16th at the 10km open-water race in Beijing in 2008.
5 Tom Aggar, GB (rowing)
Once a promising squad player for premiership rugby team Saracens, Aggar was on a night out in 2005 when he slipped, fell eight feet on to concrete, fractured his back and paralysed his legs. He took up rowing to keep fit – and hasn't lost a race in five years.
6 Martine Wright, GB (sitting volleyball)
Wright lost her legs in the 7/7 bombings in 2005. This isn't a handicap in paralympic volleyball, where some part of an athlete's bottom must touch the floor at all times. The sport is one of the few in the Paralympics in which athletes of any disability can compete against each other.
7 Peter Norfolk, GB (wheelchair tennis)
Known as the Quadfather, quadriplegic Norfolk is already a double-gold winner at the Paralympics despite being unable to use his legs and one hand. Now 51, Norfolk has competed professionally for more than two decades, and will likely compete in this year's final against longtime US rival David Wagner.
8 Nigel Murray, GB (boccia)
Murray is the world's best player at boccia, a sport similar to bowls that is predominantly played by people with cerebral palsy or motor disabilities.
9 Chen Liangliang (goalball)
The hero of China's triumphant goalball team in Beijing. Designed for blind athletes, goalball is a three-a-side game comparable to handball, in which competitors attempt to hurl a ball filled with bells into the opposition goal.
10 Lee Pearson, GB (equestrian)
Pearson was born with malformed muscles in his limbs, but grew up to be a prolific dressage champion. An extrovert who enjoys jet-skis as well as horses, he so charmed Margaret Thatcher as a child that she carried him up the stairs of 10 Downing Street during a charity event.
