LONDON Nine-time Paralympic gold medalist Tanni Grey-Thompson has called for more young British disabled athletes to take part in sports.

Grey-Thompson, 31, said that without younger athletes, future Paralympics teams might not be able to match the stunning Sydney 2000 performance that took Britain to second place behind Australia in the medals table.

"The actual average age of the British Paralympics athletes is getting older and older. We're not getting young people in," she told Reuters on Friday.

"We certainly need to do something about it over the next two to four years. That's the big challenge for the governing bodies of sport."

Grey-Thompson, who won four titles in Sydney, said young athletes needed to be protected.

"We must make sure we protect them, give them good opportunities and make sure they are really well coached," she said.

"If they don't learn good skills when they're very young, they'll never get to the top, and that's the important bit."

Grey-Thompson said she could retire after the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

"I'm definitely going to compete until 2002. Then I don't know," she said.

But the athlete who has won four London marathons and broken 20 world records has already kept competing beyond her expectations.

"Seeing how the Australians reacted convinced me I could do another two years. And then it is only another two years to Athens."

Meanwhile, Grey-Thompson is enjoying post-Sydney fame.

"Everywhere I go ... people recognize me, which is slightly bizarre," she said.

Grey-Thompson, who carried the Union Jack into the Sydney Olympic Stadium, finished third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in December, behind Rower Steven Redgrave and heptathlon champion Denise Lewis.

"It was just so exciting for me as an athlete to come third," she said.

(Reuter)