Tokyo 2020: ParalympicsGB's best quotes

After 124 glorious medals, Tokyo 2020 will be impossible to forget after 12 days of countless memories.

From Dame Sarah Storey’s record-breaking 17th gold to the breakthrough of a brand-new generation, Tokyo delivered an epic Games.

But just as memorable are the thousands of interviews given by our athletes and in Japan we were treated to some classic one-liners, raw reactions and powerful messages of hope.

Here are some of the best.

“I’m a spring chicken. There’s a guy here that was a swimmer the same time as me and he’s 64, Heinz Frei won a cycling medal at 63 too. It’s a family decision but we’ve talked about Paris. I’d love to have a big ride from London to Paris, towing my bags behind me to the Games.

- Dame Sarah Storey becomes ParalympicsGB’s greatest ever Paralympian - and insists the story isn’t written yet.

“I’m just so emotional because there were so many times when I thought, if I have to crawl to the starting block on my hands and knees I will do it. And I’m just so proud of myself getting this far because I’ve been in agony this past year. This is a story of triumph. This is not a story of defeat. This is just showing people that what threatens to weaken you will not overcome you. You will conquer. You are in control.”

-Ellie Robinson’s powerful story of perseverance after defying the odds to make the Games following the progression of Perthes’ disease in her right hip.

“I totally expect there to be a young boy or girl seeing me and going on to be better than me and that’s what I want to see.”

-Kadeena Cox, Britain’s first black cyclist to win an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal, wants to inspire the next generation of black cyclists after defending her C4-5 500m time trial gold.

“I’ve been on a losing semi-final team five times, that hurt. I didn’t shed a tear and I wasn’t angry, this was just a massive game to focus on and we’re here again with a Paralympic medal. I thought this would be my last Paralympics but it’s only three years to Paris, my heart is set now. I want to go out on a high and just play in a Paralympic final, that’s still my greatest dream.”

- The legendary Terry Bywater helps lift his team to claim men’s wheelchair basketball bronze - and he is already thinking of Paris, just 1,088 days away and counting.

“I hope I can inspire girls to give it a go. Wheelchair rugby is for everybody, for all of us: young girls, young boys, youth, everybody. I’d love more women in my sport. Women can match the men. It’s about tactics, skills, using the brain. The men have their testosterone flying around everywhere, the big hits – but it is not always about that.”

- Kylie Grimes becomes the first woman to be part of a gold medal winning wheelchair rugby team - as ParalympicsGB medal for the first time in Murderball and the colour is gold.

“I came up for a corner, which I had no right to do as a right back, the ball popped out to the edge of the box and I volleyed it, it was the best goal I ever scored in my career. As I contacted the ball, I was tackled and his studs went straight through my tibia and fibula, it was a clean break. I went to stand up and my leg turned around the wrong way. I didn’t expect nine months later I wouldn’t have a leg anymore.”

- Rob Oliver recalls the accident that took him from non-league football to the Paralympics. Five years ago he was the only member of the canoe slalom team not to medal. In his last ever race, he claimed bronze.

“He knows what this feels like more than anyone else, he lost a World Cup final and I’ve just lost a Paralympic medal. If there is anyone who is going to be able to pick me up and make me realise how far I’ve come it’ll be him. He told me that I can compete, he told me to be the competitor I am. I had that fire in me but it just wasn’t enough.”

- Zak Skinner, whose Dad is one-time England rugby international ‘Mick The Munch’, missed a long jump bronze by just two centimetres, the powerful way he spoke afterwards underlined why he’s a big name for the future.

“I think I’m more like Ronnie O’Sullivan or, perhaps, Ronaldo. I like to be creative and I always want to put on a show. I like to play well but I also prefer to win.”

- David Smith did it his way to win a third Paralympic gold, becoming Britain’s most successful boccia player of all time after a pulsating BC1 final

“I never expected to do this as a job. It’s my hobby. I love it because I love judo. And to stand here and talk to you now as a Paralympic champion … I’m lost for words. I just want a pork pie.”

- Chris Skelley won Paralympic judo gold at the spiritual home of the sport but his heart was in Melton Mowbray.

“If you want to marry me and make me a millionaire, I’d still train horses. It’s them that I love.”

- Sir Lee Pearson, now a 15-time Paralympic champion after a trio of Tokyo golds, wouldn’t swap his sport for all the money in the world.