Paralympic cyclist Jody Cundy's union jack-inspired leg

Image caption, Cundy helped create the "eye-catching, iconic design"

A Paralympic cyclist has revealed a "new leg for London" featuring a design inspired by the union jack.

Five-times Paralympic gold medallist Jody Cundy will wear his red, white and blue limb when he competes at the 2012 Paralympics in London.

The 33-year-old, who is based at Manchester Velodrome, said the design was "stunning".

The leg also features the names of those who have helped Cambridgeshire-born cyclist achieve his golds.

The limb has been produced by Icelandic prosthetics company Ossur, which also makes the carbon fibre blades which South African athlete Oscar Pistorius uses to run.

Cundy helped with both the artistic and the technological design of the leg.

"It's a refinement of the leg I had in Beijing with new positioning and alignment and refined aerodynamics," he said.

"I think the leg looks stunning and it is a thank you to everyone who has helped me on my journey to the Games, right from when I started competing up until now."

'Creative freedom'

The limb's artwork also includes 10 panels, one for each of his Paralympic and world championship gold medals.

Cundy added that he had loved customising the leg.

Image caption, The leg features 10 medal badges, one for each of Cundy's gold medals

"With so many restrictions on kit and other pieces of equipment, it's nice to have a bit of creative freedom and stand out from the crowd."

The leg's designer Gary Forshaw said: "In the initial meetings we had to discuss the design, Jody already had a fairly good idea of what he wanted.

"From there, it was just a case of getting those ideas on paper and then eventually on to the prosthesis.

"The aim was to create an eye-catching, iconic design, and to find a way to include all the names without distracting too much from the overall look.

"Hopefully we've managed to achieve that [and] I think it looks great."