WHEN Tanni Grey-Thompson won four gold medals at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000, she became a national hero.

For most people, it was the first time they had heard of the Redcar-based wheelchair athlete - even though, by then she had been at the top of her profession for a decade. She had ten medals under her belt and numerous British and world records to her name.

If she had been a mainstream athlete, she would undoubtedly already have been a household name but because the Paralympics had such low profile, she seemed to be an overnight sensation.

Even when she came third in the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2000, Tanni, now 35, found herself a victim of ignorance.

The BBC had not thought to provide a wheelchair ramp and, rather than receive her award on stage with the other winners, she had to remain in her seat.

It caused an outcry and the BBC received hundreds of complaints about the way she was treated.

In her autobiography, Seize the Day, she recalled: "People expect me to be furious and bitter that my big night was marred but I'm not. Instead, I was hugely encouraged that such a mundane thing could spark such an outcry.

"Winning the award and the furore that followed made me appreciate just how far I had come, but it had been a long, long road."

Born with spina bifida in Cardiff in 1969, she did learn to walk but around the age of five was using a wheelchair. By the time she reached 13, she had undergone two major operations.

Her autobiography, Seize the Day, is a frank, unsentimental account of her rise to the top of international athletics and her fight against discrimination, both in her professional and her personal life.

She admitted: "For me, disability has not been about overcoming things. That is why I find it hard to understand when people say I'm such a role model.

"I'm just an athlete who happens to have a disability. If people do see me as an inspiration I'd hope that it is because I'm good at what I do, not because I'm supposedly brave and wonderful."

And that seems to be the key to her success.

There is no self-pity nor bitterness. Although she is occasionally angry, she is never negative.

Tanni recounted her experiences at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1989 where she and fellow Welsh wheelchair athlete, Chris Hallam, had trouble even getting hold of a team tracksuit: "The Welsh Commonwealth Games Association refused to give either of us any kit because their view was we were Mickey Mouse athletes.

"We had no recognition but they eventually gave us one vest between the pair of us."

The world of disabled athletics is as competitive and challenging as anything seen during the Olympics in August, but even after her headline-grabbing triumph at Sydney 11 years after her Commonwealth Games experience, Tanni and her team-mates were still not on a par with able-bodied competitors.

No one had thought to label the athletes' wheelchairs and several were left stranded at Heathrow Airport until their chairs were found. Tanni had to hitch a piggyback ride with a friend to take part in a TV interview.

Rather than complain about such discrimination, she has taken on an active role on various sports administration bodies.

She plays an active role within sports administration, including membership of the United Kingdom Sports Council, the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games Organising Council Association and patronage of the British Sports Trust.

Tanni has appeared on many high profile media programmes such as Grandstand, Question of Sport, Radio 4's Woman's Hour and BBC Radio Five Live. She is a respected authority on disability sporting issues and regularly broadcasts on BBC2's From the Edge.

You are as likely to find her on a national stage as you are on a North-East one.

Redcar-based, she is a regular competitor in the popular Redcar half-marathon, often using the event as vital preparation for the London Marathon.

She took part in her local event on - just six weeks after giving birth to daughter Carys - and went on to win the world famous event in the capital a month later in two hours and 22 minutes, winning the race for the sixth time and finishing ten minutes ahead of her nearest rival.

Last night's glory in the 100m came after seeing her hopes of four gold medals ended in a disappointing 800m final on Monday.

She finished well down in seventh place and admitted: "I knew it would be my most difficult event but I don't think I've had so bad an 800m race in a long time."

She still has two events left - don't rule out a hat-trick.