Hailing from the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Amanda Reid started as a talented short-track speed skater, but her first Paralympic appearance was in swimming at London 2012.

After switching to cycling, Reid won her first international medal at the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in the C2 500m Time Trial.

She followed up with her second Paralympic appearance – albeit in a different sport – taking silver in the C1–3 500m Time Trial at Rio 2016.

Emily Petricola had always been involved in sports, but in 2007, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 27.

Petricola has described MS as an “invisible disability”; it affects every aspect of life in unpredictable, unseen ways: from tremors to sight loss to extreme fatigue and much more.

Determined to continue her sporting pursuits, in 2015 she began training with five-time Olympic cyclist Shane Kelly. Within three years, she was on a world championship podium, winning silver and bronze at the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.

Meg Lemon sustained a brain injury when she was hit by a car while riding her bike to work. The injury permanently weakened the right side of her body.

After getting back on the bike as a form of physical and mental rehabilitation, she began enjoying para-cycling success on both road and track.

She won her first national title on the track in 2016 and on the road in 2017 – the first of many to come.

2017 was also the year she made her international debut, taking three wins at UCI Para-cycling Road World Cups and three bronze medals at world championship level.

From the age of 10, Darren Hicks loved riding BMX bikes.

However, his life was upturned in 2014 when his right leg was amputated after a terrible motor accident. The brakes failed on the truck he was driving, causing it to hurtle down a freeway and crash into stationary cars, killing two people.

It was a dark time, but cycling helped him work through his grief.

Hicks initially rode using a prosthetic leg, but, at the suggestion of coach Loz Shaw, he found he could ride faster using just his left leg.

Born in Melbourne with cerebral palsy, Paige Greco was always an active and sporty child. She initially focused on para-athletics – particularly running – but switched to cycling in 2017 after missing her goal of competing at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

In 2018, Greco moved to Adelaide to complete a degree in Exercise Sports Science and to focus on her cycling with the South Australian Sports Institute.

Donohoe grew up in the Northern Territory dreaming of becoming an elite sportsperson. However, a freak accident at age 15 almost cost him his right arm: a rope swing wrapped around his arm as he jumped into a creek, severing most of his biceps and triceps.

He had begun cycling a few years earlier through a triathlon club. So, after his accident, he made it his goal to get back on the bike.

Born in 1961, Carol Cooke was a talented swimmer but failed to reach the Olympics when her native Canada boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games. She worked as a police officer for 14 years, including a stint undercover with the drug squad.

In 1994, she moved to Australia with her husband. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998.

In 2006, Cooke took up rowing, but her team narrowly missed qualification for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.