Stephanie Morton and Zahra Nemati Race for Historic Olympic and Paralympic Gold Medal Double.

Australia’s Stephanie Morton is racing against her cycling rivals and Iranian archer Zahra Nemati to become the first athlete in history to win a gold medal at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Morton won gold at London 2012 as a tandem pilot in the 1km Time Trial with blind cyclist Felicity Johnston, and is a genuine gold medal contender in the Sprint, Keirin and Team Sprint at the Rio Olympics.

Two athletes who could prevent Morton from achieving the feat were both flag bearers at the Olympic opening ceremony.

The first is Morton’s own Team Sprint partner, national track cycling legend Anna Meares, and the second is Nemati, who won Paralympic gold in London in the individual recurve W1/W2 event and will also compete in the Rio Paralympics.

The 31-year-old Iranian achieved qualification for the Olympics virtue of numerous top 10 finishes in recent World Cup tournaments and will compete in the wheelchair which carried her around the Maracana Stadium.

The wheelchair has been part of Nemati’s life since she was involved in a car accident as a teenager, which forced her to give up on her dream of becoming an Olympian in the sport of Taekwondo, in which she held a black belt at the time.

The determination and courage she has displayed to become an Olympian and overcome the barriers imposed by a conservative, male dominated, Islamic culture in her homeland recently earned her a role as a United Nations ambassador for the empowerment of women through sport.

She is also the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the Olympic or Paralympic Games.

Interestingly, Olympic marathon legend Abebe Bikila could have beaten both women to this rare double many years ago.

A car accident forced the Ethiopian into a wheelchair in 1969 and he was supposed to compete in Archery at the 1972 Paralympic Games, but the Ethiopian team failed to arrive in Heidelberg.

Nemati begins her bid for gold in the individual event on August 11 at the Sambodromo, while Morton plans to be turning her pedals in anger at the Rio Olympic Velodrome during the finals of the Team Sprint on August 12, the Keirin on August 14 and the Sprint on August 16.

Image, Nemati, www.nbcnews.com