Former Welsh paralympic-cyclist Mark Colbourne MBE, from Tredegar, who competed for both Wales and Great Britain.

1. Commonly known as Mr Nice Guy to everyone within the community of Tredegar, my late father Cecil was a true gentleman in every way.

He worked for Corus then the British Steel Company for 40 years and happily provided me and my mother Margaret with great lasting memories of generosity and fun.

My fondest memories of growing up as a child, was an environment full of space and freedom, which I feel made me into the person who I am today.

The long summer days we spent in Tredegar Park and swimming for endless hours in the bitter cold outdoor swimming pool, which was the mecca for me and my young friends.

My late father didn’t realize for one moment that all the key messages he gave me as a child, would stay with me until I really needed to call on them albeit 35 years later.

2. The other inspirational figure in my life is my mother Margaret. She like my dad has always been another go-to person and hero who, when in times of need, has always been there for me.

A naturally hard working individual, who always has a smile about her every day. But you daren’t cross her, as you would see the Irish character in her appear very quickly.

I can only thank both my parents for my happy and positive upbringing, and for supporting me all through my schooling when most of the time I only wanted to take part in sport and captain Wales at rugby.

The rock by my side that nurtured me from a child when times were tough in the South Wales valleys, really showed her compassionate true colours later in my adult life when the almost impossible happened.

3. Life in May 2009 for me changed almost in an instant, when my Paragliding canopy collapsed over the Gower peninsula and I crashed to the ground and broke my back.

I cannot imagine the look on my mothers face when she was told I was in hospital that night.

Seeing as I was never ill as a child or had any accidents as an adult, mam and dad must have known it was really serious for me to be rushed into Swansea Hospital that afternoon by means of the Wales Air Ambulance.

I remember the flood of tears running down mam's face when she arrived at my bedside, seeing her only son paralysed before her must have hurt more than I can imagine.

The six months I spent in hospital was really tough for me physically and mentally, because I hated the fact that I knew I was going to be disabled for the rest of my life and my passion for sport was going to take a back seat - or was it?

4. Twelve months after my near fatal crash and having spent hundreds of hours of rehabilitation learning to walk again with walking aids, I finally felt there was an opening for me to focus on something positive - the iconic London 2012 Paralympic Games.

This once in a lifetime dream could become a true reality with lots of hard work and dedication.

Thankfully due to my cycling muscles still working and with the help of Disability Sport Wales, I had the chance to have a normal sort of life again and focus on the big one.

I do think that if my crash had never happened the world of cycling might never have known that I existed.

Sadly the week I won the World Championship pursuit title in Los Angeles, my mother and I lost my dad to his fight against stomach cancer, which was a terrible shock.

But most of all, it was a gap in our lives that we could never fill.

5. Who would have thought that only three and a half years after my near fatal crash at Rhosilli beach, I would be standing on the podium as a World and Paralympic Champion and double world record holder in Para-cycling!

That amazing summer of 2012 will always hold unreal memories for me but I do wish that Mr Nice Guy could have been there to see me live out my childhood dream.

What’s next for me? I received in May 2013 the MBE for my services to cycling and then decided in August 2013 to retire from the World Class cycling program and focus on a career as an international speaker, plus, launch my own cycling

camp company to give back to the sport that gave me my new lease of life.

In March 2015 I launched www.globalcyclingcamps.com to ensure my legacy in the sport lived on.