Unbeaten in seven years at the National Handcycling Championships, Nigel Barley put his winning nature to the test at his first Paralympic Games in London and was successful, snatching a silver medal in the hand-cycling time trial. It was the first Paralympic medal Australia had ever won in hand-cycling.

As a 26-year-old, Nigel broke his back when he fell off a three metre high roof while at work, landing on a hammer. After a year spent weighing up his options, he decided to take up hand powered cycling. Nigel went on to break the record for non-stop hand cycling in 2004, riding 462km in 24 hours. His performances in road competition events were impressive too, nailing gold medals in both the road race and road time trial at the 2009 National Championships, before backing up with the same results at the 2009 Arafura Games.

He has continued to increase his speeds, riding in a specially modified carbon fibre cycle, valued at over $20,000. He went on win silver and bronze at the 2011 UCI Para-cycling World Cup in Sydney and placed sixth in the road race and seventh in the road time trial at the 2011 UCI Para-cycling World Championships in Denmark. This string of notable results netted Nigel the 2011 WA Sportsperson of the Year award.

Away from the bike, Nigel often spends time walking his two dogs - an Australian bulldog named Voodoo and a chocolate Labrador named Coco. He relaxes by watching Discovery Channel show, Deadliest Catch and lists Swiss lakeside city Lucerne as his favourite holiday destination.    

After an event, Nigel makes sure he runs through an ingrained routine, showering in his race clothes when he gets back to his room. He then washes the race clothes and competes in them the next day.