16. Ellie Simmonds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rnoBgrQ7G4 Sport - Swimming Given that NBCs coverage in America was nonexistent, it seems that only in the host nation of the UK were the Paralympic Games, for athletes with physical or mental disabilities, treated on an equal footing with the Olympics. Their loss, as the sport on offer was of a similarly high standard, epitomised by South African blade runner Oscar Pistorius, who has proven himself capable of competing with his able-bodied counterparts, but also by several British competitors, including the then-seventeen year old swimmer Ellie Simmonds, who, at four feet tall, has a form of dwarfism. Not that this impeded her ability in the pool in any way, as her efforts saw her take two gold medals, a silver and a bronze back to her home in Swansea, part of a huge haul of medals earned in the pool by the nations Paralympians, in comparison to the total of three won by able-bodied athletes Michael Jamieson and Rebecca Adlington. 15. Alistair Brownlee/Jonathan Brownlee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGnMvNSlR-8 Sport - Triathlon Though not quite up to the length of an Ironman competition, an Olympic triathlon is nothing to be scoffed at, incorporating a 1500m swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run, pushing the human body to its limit as competitors fight their way through three fast-paced events back to back. Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee makes all three look easy, however, having finished the final stage of the Olympic run in a time of 29:07, just under a minute and half slower than the gold medal-winning time for the 10000m athletics event, which neglects to have its competitors compete in a bike ride four times as long beforehand. Alistair took part alongside his brother, Jonathan, who took bronze in the event after being made to take a time penalty, but later won two golds at the subsequent World Championship to compensate). The two brothers wouldve crossed the line together were it not for Jonathan being forced to fall back, however, and have brought success to the UK in a sport where nobody had ever won a medal before. They may do so again in four years time, given their current levels of performance quality.