Top 5 Cinderella stories in sports this decade

2) Anna Meares – Beijing Olympics 2008

Anna Meares’ return to the Olympic arena is an inspiration for all

Australian cyclist Anna Meares was a champion already, having won golds at the Olympic, World and Commonwealth stages prior to her shattering start of the year 2008.

In January 2008, while competing at the time-trial event of the World Cup in Los Angeles, she suffered a life-threatening crash. At an extreme speed of 65 km/hr, she came down to hit the hard, wooden floor of the velodrome.

With seven months to go till Beijing Olympics, Anna had a fractured vertebra, a dislocated right shoulder, multiple torn ligaments and deep abrasions all over her body. Almost incredibly, she refused to accept defeat, and was back on the saddle on time to take part in her discipline on the track.

Winning a close contest with China’s Guo Shuang in the semi-finals, Anna Meares battled her way to capture the silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Sprint, an event she would then win four years later, against arch-rival Victoria Pendleton, in London.