The early life of Sophie Unwin, a visually impaired British racing cyclist who competes in para-cycling tandem road and track events is not known and as a result, there’s no information regarding her parents.
However, Unwin was born on 23 July 1994 and began paracycling after attending an open talent event in August 2020 and she won the bronze medal in the individual pursuit at the 2020 Summer Paralympics alongside Jenny Holl.
Two years later, thus in July 2022, Unwin was left in tears in the Commonwealth Games after not being awarded bronze medal despite a third-placed finish.
The tandem B sprint had four entries and rules say only gold and silver medals will be issued in such cases.
However, Unwin and pilot Georgia Holt borrowed bronze medals from team-mates Laura Kenny and Josie Knight to pose for photographs on the podium, which led to them being fined.
A CGF spokesperson said:
“In the small number of cases where there are fewer than five entries in a Commonwealth Games event, the CGF applies a medal allocation policy to maintain the integrity of competition.
“The policy – which was published in January this year – states that only gold and silver medals are awarded where there are only four contestants; and only gold medals where there are only three or two contestants.
“Unfortunately, while the athletes in the women’s tandem B sprint event were informed of this before the race, the scoreboard and results sheet incorrectly indicated that it was a bronze medal race. We apologise to the athletes involved for the inadvertent distress this has caused.”