Stephen Clegg was still dripping wet in the bowels of the Tokyo Aquatics Centre when he set his sights on some Paralympic alchemy in Paris three years later.

Clegg finally had a medal to match his sister Libby and brother James, but turning two bronzes and a silver into gold became an almost instant obsession.

Libby is a five-time athletics medallist at these Games, including a double gold in Rio, while James won swimming bronze in the 100m butterfly at London 2012.

The talented Clegg family's sibling rivalry clearly spurs each other on, and Clegg believes he's now finally discovered the secret to topping the podium.

The 28-year-old arrives at his third Games having finally claimed that elusive global swimming title, winning world gold in his signature 100m butterfly in 2022 and then clinching the 100m backstroke title last year in Manchester.

"I went into Tokyo as the world number one, and I'd broken the world record just two months before. I was the one to beat but it didn’t happen," admitted Clegg.

"I really thought Tokyo would be it for me. The Games took their toll with all the pressure; it was extreme. The expectation I put on myself was huge; anything less than gold, I just considered a failure.

"As soon as I touched that wall and saw silver, I knew I had to stick around for another three years to win that gold medal.

"After Tokyo, it was a really tough period to process how I was feeling at the time. I was trying to focus on just enjoying the sport again and start appreciating parts of my life outside of it.

"By doing that, I rediscovered a lot of my love for the sport. It was important to find that balance between my personal life and my professional life, and not make my life wholly about swimming.

"I think that ultimately allowed me to be more relaxed approaching big competitions; for quite a while, I wasn’t looking forward to competing.”

Clegg's new mindset certainly hasn't diluted his ambition, with golds in the S12 visually-impaired 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, and 100m butterfly his lofty target.

"I'm in a good place with my head and my body. Three golds is still the very top target, but I know how competitive the field is," he adds.

Fellow Scot Neil Fachie also has new inspiration as he arrives in Paris for his fifth Games, his fourth as a cyclist, having made his debut in athletics in Beijing.

The Aberdonian turned 40 earlier this year but shows no signs of slowing down, with three gold medals at last year's World Championships in Glasgow underlining why he and guide Matt Rotherham remain the ones to beat, with ParalympicsGB team-mate James Ball arguably his closest rival.

Fachie will be joined in Paris by his wife Lora, who is looking for a third straight victory in the women's individual pursuit following success in Rio and Tokyo, and also their son Fraser, who could be celebrating his second birthday with some bling from mum and dad.

“Between the two of us, trying to train and with childcare being as expensive as it is, we can’t afford to have him in nursery five days a week," said Fachie, who like Clegg, is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing him to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

“We’ve got a nice system where he’s in a few times, allowing us to train at the velodrome, and then other days we are having to tag team essentially. One of us is on the bike while the other does parent duty, and then we swap over. It works pretty well.

“The thing I’ve noticed most is trying to recover when a very determined little man expects you to be jumping on a trampoline for three hours; it’s quite hard work.

“But equally, that has perhaps made me fitter than I have ever been because I’ve never spent so much time on a trampoline. It’s worth the peace and quiet to do it. It’s different, but I enjoy it as well.”

Fachie credits his rivalry with Ball, another track and field athlete turned cyclist, as being critical in maintaining his enthusiasm for the sport.

“It’s the reason we are both doing well internationally,” he adds. “We train together most days, and any day you come in and are not really up for it, if you see James smashing it in the gym, you think, 'I’m going to have to go hard again.'

“No other nation on the male side has the luxury of having two world-class athletes pushing each other. I think that is why we are doing so well.

“Since Tokyo, every event we have done, I’ve been lucky to win all the 1km time trials, but never by more than a tenth of a second; it’s been stupidly close. It’s essentially the flip of a coin.

“He’s aware of that and is obviously very hungry, I know that. I’ll happily keep him that way if I can. It’s all friendly until race day when we’re very much in our zone and want to go out and do the business against each other.”

Fachie and Ball's transition from athletics to cycling has been rewarded, and Kayleigh Haggo hopes her decision to learn an entirely new sport will also pay dividends as she prepares for her Games debut next week.

The 25-year-old from Ayrshire had held several world records in frame running, but her events were not included in the Paris schedule, meaning Haggo switched to boccia, which involves athletes throwing, kicking, or using a ramp to propel a ball onto the court with the aim of getting closest to a jack ball. Within three months of her first practice session, she was Scottish champion.

"I've only been playing for two years, but I'm excited to see what I can do," she said.

"Frame running was a huge part of my life, and when I found out it wasn't going to be part of the Games, I was devastated. I'd been training so hard, and it felt as if my whole world was coming crashing down and my dreams were over.

"When I started playing boccia, I never thought I could be selected for Paris, but when I thought it might be possible, I was not going to have any regrets. I left my job and dedicated myself entirely to these Games."

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