HAnna Cockroft hasn’t managed to take the easy route. The Paralympic champion in the 100m and 800m category 34 and world record holder in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m category 34 is spicing up her Paris experience by throwing one of the most stressful events of her life into the mix. “You know when people ask you if you have any advice for your younger self,” she says. “It would be: ‘Don’t plan a wedding in the same year as the Paralympics.'”

Cockroft’s husband-to-be is her fellow ParalympicsGB athlete Nathan Maguire, who competes in the T54 400m, 800m and 1500m and once asked her for an autograph at a meet-the-athlete event before later throwing it in the bin. The couple will marry three weeks after the Games end. “We’ve been very busy and I always remind myself that with a wedding you have no pressure, no expectations, you just have to go and enjoy the day,” says Cockroft. The pressure is now coming.

Cockroft burst into public consciousness on the chilly first night of para-athletics at London 2012 when she sped across the 100m line in her racing wheelchair with her arms raised in fearsome fashion. It was the first of seven Paralympic gold medals she has won since then and in Paris she will be looking to defend her T34 crowns in the 100m and 800m, as well as win a leg of the universal 4x100m relay.

After the Covid-affected Tokyo Games three years ago, Cockroft can’t wait to have spectators in stadiums again. “It means everything,” she says. “At the end of the day, sport is entertainment… I’m an entertainer, I like excitement. Going out on that track and not having anyone watching was really difficult for me. I remember clearly being introduced to the ‘crowd’ and I was thinking in my head, ‘What is this? Why am I here?’ It was not a pleasant experience for me.

“So I’m really excited to get back out there because that’s what we do. We want people to see the work we do, we want people to cheer us on, we want people to enjoy what we do and I want as many eyes on my sport as possible and hopefully some of those eyes will say: I can do this and I want to be part of this. The Paralympics is one of the few places where para sport draws an audience so I’m taking advantage of that as best I can.”

No longer the “very naive 20-year-old” from London, Cockroft has developed into a seasoned media performer over the past 12 years, criticising government policies towards people with disabilities earlier this year. The 32-year-old has also learned the hard way that covering Paralympic sport is not as easy as it may have first seemed.

“I had to realise that London was not a normal Games, not what the Paralympics usually offer, and I think that was quite a difficult learning process,” she says. “The more four-year cycles I did, the more I realised that the excitement, the media, the expectations, the attention, all of that was not… of course it was real, but it’s not what we usually get.

“(But) in terms of sport, I’ve seen athletics grow tenfold. In London, there were two heats for the 100m and the 200m, and this year I’ll get heats for the 100m for the first time again, so that’s really exciting for me.

“The T34 girls went from being one of the smallest classes to being one of the biggest. I think my teammate Kare (Adenegan) and I drove that. We had that rivalry, passing the crown from one to the other and I think the more you can do that, the more attention you get.”

Cockroft adds: “I’ve seen the whole Paralympic movement grow, the awareness of it. It was amazing after the Olympics to hear everyone saying, ‘Only three weeks until the Paralympics and then we can do it all again.’

“I don’t remember ever talking about the Paralympics like that. But there are a few other things that need to be addressed again compared to London 2012, because they are not where they were.”

After four games as an old hand, has Cockroft found a different role in the team? “I’m always called a veteran, which is a great privilege, but at 32 I also feel very old,” she says. “Give me a few more years.”

“Everyone always says, ‘These have to be your last games,’ but I say, ‘Don’t retire me until I retire. Thanks, I’m still going.'”

And Cockroft still has a few things to tick off. She still has an opening ceremony to attend and there’s the tempting possibility of visiting a Paris tattoo studio – if there’s time between medal hunting and wedding planning, of course.