Four pioneers from four different sports all of whom trod a path where no path had previously existed. Along the way their determination not only made them legends, but gave all those who came after them the chance to see what success could look like and have something to emulate.

Women's professional sport has, for most, only been a very recent thing. Take women's rugby, the professional era which is just for the very elite in the game only started in 2019 It's meant that for many it has been quite common to juggle an elite sporting career with something a little more regular. Unless you are Shaunagh Brown, because whatever Shaunagh does, she does it with style and swagger... so we suspect our chat about her life on and off the field would have been fun even if she'd been in data entry or a tax consultant! Her career straddled the pro era and she hung up her cleats in 2023 which means she's got the chance to add to an already long and interesting CV

Women's boxing has only been in the Olympics since 2012... And Sweden's Anna Laurell Nash was there! For many years women boxing was at best frowned upon by many parts of society which added a whole level of pressure to those trying to make it succeed. What makes Anna's story so unusual that she was also pursuing a parallel career in academia. In fact now that she has hung up her gloves she holds a senior role at the Stockholm School of Economics, from where she spoke to us about where he love of pugilism started

Hannah Cox is where a pioneering spirit meets running, and exploring, and good old fashioned adventuring! Here's the facts, she recently ran 100 marathons in 100 days in India, a remarkable feet for any athlete, perhaps even more so if they only started running 18 months ago! But for Hannah this is not just a story about physical endurance and mental resilience. It's also about completing a route no one had taken before in modern times and in doing so connecting her present day life with a past she knew very little about

The world of ten pin bowling is not just a popular past time, but has a deeply competitive professional league... Before Kelly Kulick no woman had ever played on the professional tour.

PHOTO: Shaunagh Brown of England is all smiles during an England Red Roses Training Session 2022 (CREDIT: Catherine Ivill - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Winning is great, but hard work. Never loosing is much rarer and almost impossible. This week four elite sport stars who didn't just win, they dominated. But how, and what sets them apart, what got them to the top and what made them stay there!

We've had some big numbers on this show when it comes to medals, but no one comes remotely close to Jessica Long. The American swimmer has won an astonishing EIGHTY-FIVE medals at World Championships and Paralympics. FIFTY- FOUR of them gold! Jessica's story is one that has seen her overcome some of the most difficult physical and mental challenges anyone could face, but through them all she continued to dominate her sport. From being the youngest ever Paralympic gold medallist aged just 12, to a potential farewell at her home games in Los Angeles. But now a defining moment away from the pool. She's about to become a mother for the very first time!

American professor of Linguistics Deborah Tannen once wrote "The effect of dominance is not always the result of an intention to dominate" and that's true of our first guest. Canada's Camryn Rogers is the reigning Olympic and World Hammer throw champion and in a few months time she will defend her Commonwealth title. Her dominance in the sport is in stark contrast to her life growing up with her mother in Canada where times were hard. Really hard. Including a year where they lived in a car. Talking to us from her home in Texas, Camyrn talked about all her successes, and the struggles to get there.

Hamish Kerr is a man who has jumped to the top of the podium and has hung around. But I guess that's the whole point of the high jump. To get as high as possible and hang there long enough to clear the bar. At 6 foot 5 inches tall Hamish could have played basketball but instead focussed on track and field and boy how it's paid off. He is the current Olympic, World and Commonwealth Champion. And there are some indoor titles in there too just for good measure. Chatting from his home in New Zealand he told us about the impact his dominance of the sport is having on his life, and it's goes way beyond the track.

Eddy Merckx dominated cycling. Back in the 1960's and 70's the Belgium won FIVE Tours de France, FIVE Giros d'Italia, and even a Vuelta a España, so it was going to take something quite remarkable to break that dominance. Out of nowhere, that's exactly what happened when he was punched in the face by a spectator during a mountain stage of the Tour De France. The incident marked the start of the decline of a rider so dominant he was nicknamed "The Cannibal". British cyclist Barry Hoban, who passed away in 2025 was riding alongside Merckx and reflected on the day

PHOTO: Jessica Long of the United States competes at the London 2012 Paralympic Games (CREDIT: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

We start in the Arctic Circle, via the Welsh valleys, where Cath Pendleton has always loved swimming. Born from a childhood playing in the rivers of her home town of Merthyr, all through her life, her time in the water has been a sanctuary from the strain of daily life. But what makes Cath's story so remarkable is the type of open water swimming she loves the most is in the coldest waters you can find known as "ice swimming". But not content with simply finding cold rivers in Wales, Cath stepped it up a notch and journeyed to Antarctica, where she made history, almost by accident when she became the first person to swim an ice mile inside the Antarctic Circle!

There are some things that seem just too difficult for humans to achieve, but there's probably nowhere quite like the Paralympics to leave you slack jawed in amazement at people not just doing, but excelling at things you thought impossible. To that end I urge you to seek out footage of snowboarder Noah Elliot and remember he is an above the knee amputee. From his home in Colorado we chatted about life on the slopes and so it seemed only right to start by talking about winning gold in Milan Cortina in March.

There are few professions as seemingly cold as the world of corporate law. Rose Harvey's escape from the daily pressures of this high stakes career was to go running. That sliding doors moment in 2020 certainly raised the temperature taking her into the heat of Olympic competition.

It's probably the most infamous story in Winter Olympic history and in this case one of the protagonists must have had ice running through her veins... In 1994, ice skater Nancy Kerrigan, was clubbed in the knee shortly after a training session. The attack put the Olympic hopes of the American golden girl in jeopardy. To everyone's shock the plot was traced back to one of the support staff of Kerrigan's rivals. Mary Scotvold was Kerrigan's coach.

Photo: Gold medallist Noah Elliott of Team United States poses for a photo with his medal on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Para Snowboard Men's Banked Slalom SB-LL1 on day seven of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games (CREDIT: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Do you ever find yourself thinking back to the good old days, whenever they were, and thinking about someone you've not seen for a while and wondering "What ever happened to" Well this week we hear from four former elite sport stars who are now enjoying a very different career to the one you knew them for!

First up a chat with an Australian about cricket, not that unusual you might think but this has nothing to do with wickets and wides. Zach Schubert grew up rural Southern Australia with a burning ambition, fuelled in part by seeing his cousin represent Australia playing hockey at the Olympics... But Zach had no idea just how arduous and tortuous his journey to get there would be! But get there he did, when in 2024 in Paris right in front of the Eiffel Tower he stepped on to the sand with team mate Tom Hodges to take part in the Beach volleyball. He tells us about that and now having retired about the cricket and cockroach farm he created.

Growing up Joe Balnton only had one goal, to make it to Baseball's big league. And he did, being drafted in 2003 to the Oakland A's. It started a life long love of California that is still a massive influence in his life, but before he could retire he had World Series to win! And he did that playing for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. He made history too because after pitching well in Game 4, it's what he did with the bat that he's be forever remembered. For the first time in his MLB career he hit a home run! It was the first home run scored by a pitcher in the World Series since 1974 and no one has repeated the feet since!

Josh Navidi is the rugby union player who despite having hung up his cleats, is still playing in front of a packed stadium on match day!? Born in Wales Josh lived his formative years in New Zealand before returning to the UK and eventually pulling on the red shirt of Wales. Despite a very pregnant pause between his first call up and his second cap, Josh had a hugely successful career, winning almost everything that the game has to offer. So how, despite having retired through injury can you still see him perform on matchdays. In fact when he spoke to us he was right outside the nation stadium preparing to wow the crowd again this time with his ability to get the party going with his DJing skills!

Faramarz Assef was one of Iran's most famous pop singers during the time of the Shah, but what most of his fans don't know is that he used to be an international athlete.

Photo: Wales player Josh Navidi faces the media during Wales Media access ahead of their match against the Australian Wallabies at the Hensol Castle on November 9, 2017 in Cardiff, Wales. (CREDIT: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Author Dagny Scott Barrios, once wrote “Every run is a work of art, a drawing on each day's canvas. Some runs are shouts and some runs are whispers. Some runs are eulogies and others celebrations. When you're angry, a run can be a sharp slap in the face. When happy, a run is your song". This week we go running towards hope and motivation whatever your level of fitness with inspirational runners from all over the world

Now I know you're busy, I know there are hundred and one things you have to do! Even if you wanted to go out for a run, you're just too busy! The thing is though, I'm not sure you're not as busy as Beatie Deutsch. If nothing else she's a mum of five. Ten years ago she was unfit and struggling under the stresses and strains of modern life when she sought an escape. That escape was running and within four years she was Israel's national champion and vying for a place at the Olympics. Not even being pregnant stopped her, completing the Tel Aviv Marathon seven months pregnant! Beatie is an Orthodox Jew, but for her, running isn’t separate from her religious beliefs, it’s sustained by it.

They say "it takes a village to raise a child" but that's also true of athletes too! And when the athlete is autistic, it's even more important to find the right people to support you. Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It just means your brain works in a different way from other people, but that can present challenges to what others might think of as daily activities. Adrienne Bunn is autistic but with the support of her family, including mum June, her coach Doug and many others too Adrienne has carved out a career in sport. In 2023 she became the youngest female to ever finish the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, arguably the toughest competition in sport. We caught up with Doug, June and of course Adrienne just a day after she completed this year's Boston Marathon!

The thing about running is that it almost doesn't matter where you live, or how much money you have, you can probably just step out of your house and start moving. And the challenges that elite athletes face are by and large the same as you and I. So we thought we'd bring together two women who'd never met but who share one thing. A love of running. Lucy Charles Barkley has won multiple IRONMAN World Championships - running, cycling and swimming over distances in excess of a hundred kilometres. Jenny Mannion, is about to attempt her first ultra-marathon - the standard marathon and plenty more!

It's hard to believe hearing our stories today that it's only in the last forty or so years that women's have been allowed to compete over the Marathon distance. And that's thanks in no small part to pioneers like Nina Kuscsick. Back in 1972 six women staged a sit-down protest at the start of the New York Marathon demanding the right to run in the same race as the men. Nina, who organised that protest passed away last year, but back in 2019 she spoke to the BBC.

Photo: Life Time Miami Half Marathon women's winner Beatie Deutsch, 30, of Israel, crosses the finish line at 1:16:49 during the 18th annual Life Time Miami Marathon and Half Marathon in Miami, Fla. on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. (CREDIT: Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

"It is never too late to be what you might have been" so wrote the Victorian author George Elliot. Having searched the globe for the best stories in sport we have found four people that might just force you to redefine what it is you think can still achieve in life!

First to Texas and the remarkable story of Mike Flynt. One so extraordinary that seems like the plot to a Hollywood movie, which is why I guess they did make it into a Hollywood movie! Mike's is not only a story of remarkable resilience, not to mention incredible fitness especially given his goal was to play college football at the age of FIFTY NINE! but at its heart, his is a story of redemption.

Living with pain is sadly all too common. It can affect people's ability to work, to provide for themselves or to enjoy any aspect of life especially sport, and when you have used being active to redefine your life and conquer the darkness of addiction, then it seems particularly cruel... That's was the fate that befell Meg Robson Austin... but she never allowed herself to think it was too late to win back her life and so she set about a journey that ended with her claiming the crown of the World's Strongest Woman.

Sometimes it can seem like it's too late, even before you get going. That the random chance of being born into specific circumstances can dictate large parts of your life. Arshay Cooper born and raised in Chicago's notorious West Side could easily have slipped into gang life and violence, but he carved a different path through sport, not in itself unusual , but when you find out that Arshay sporting journey was in a boat as a rower, well then you have the start of an understanding as to how remarkable his story is.

It's just over a year since the world lost "Big" George Forman, and whilst revered for his fights with Muhammad Ali, his Olympic gold in 1968 and of course his grills, it's his longevity and his "it's never too late" attitude we are focusing in on because back in 1994 George Foreman shocked everyone by winning a second world title at the age of FORTY FIVE!

Photo: NBC NEWS -- Pictured: Linebacker Mike Flynt, 59 year old Sul Ross State University football player in his first game of the year on October 13, 2007 (CREDIT: Al Henkel/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

It's amazing how many people are involved in anyone sporting endeavour... Of course the athletes are the stars of the show, but then there's coaches, physiotherapist and umpires. And beyond them there are cameramen, hot dog sellers and security staff. This week we spend some time with some of those people we don't think of as crucial to our enjoyment of sport, but without them we'd really miss them!

Benny Drawbars is a man who occupies an almost unique position in sport, one that straddles the very best "old timey" traditions of sport and the modern and exciting way we all now experience sport. How? Well each week Benjamin Wooley steps into the Climate Pledge Arena, home of NHL team Seattle Kraken, blows gently on his fingers, cracks his knuckles and morphs into Benny Drawbars, the demon organist! But is this most wonderful of traditions, heard mostly in the US at hockey and baseball games a dying art?

In some ways you could say Ken Calwell has had a career in pizza, but that would do him no justice! He has in fact he has headed up some of your favourite fast food companies, from Pizza Hut to Dominoes and now Papa Murphy... He even had a spell at Wendy's! So why would we want to chat to a man who has spent his life marketing pizza, how ever delicious that might sound!? Well he also created an advert you probably saw during the Super Bowl, the only one not "selling" a product! But first we chatted about his life before and after August 8th 1991 and what happened on that day that changed everything

To win a gold medal at the Summer Games or it's winter counterpart is a pretty amazing feet, but to win gold at BOTH, well that's the preserve of a very very few number of athletes. American Kendall Gretsch is one of them. Born with spina bifida which has severely limited the use of her legs, she won gold in the Para-triathlete in Tokyo in 2021 and has now won multiple Paralympic Winter golds, including just a few weeks ago in Milan Cortina, topping the podium in the cross-country skiing.

Imagine creating a swimsuit so good it would have to be banned?! That's what Jason Rance and his team at Speedo's research and development Aqualab did ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008. Wearing the LZR Racer swimsuit, United States swimmer Michael Phelps won a record eight gold medals at the Water Cube. Athletes wearing the swimsuit would shatter 30 world records in the space of three months. The suit developed with space agency Nasa and the reduction in skin friction drag was so significant, some called it "technological doping".

Photo: The organist for the Chicago Blackhawks plays a tune during an NHL game with the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks circa 1978 at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois. (CREDIT: B Bennett/Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images)

Sometimes the daily grind can feel like climbing the sheer face of a mountain, and all that's keeping you hanging are the very tips of your fingers. This week, four inspirational female athletes tell us their secret to what has made the difference between clinging on and fulfilling their dreams and giving up and falling down.

A couple of months ago Sasha DiGiulian attempted the latest in a long line of extraordinary achievements. She wanted to become the first woman to "free climb" the toughest route of the infamous El Capitan in Yosemite. The Platinum route. An already-difficult task was made tougher a week or so into the climb when a storm hit... There was nothing left to do other than hunker down and cling on in her tiny 4ft x 6ft "portaledge", a specialised suspended shelter used for sleeping on big-wall climbs. Sasha has been telling me all about surviving and thriving her most audacious and frightening challenging to date.

In August the inaugural season of the Women's Pro Baseball League will get underway. The WPBL is the first professional baseball league for women for more than 70 years, and for one woman it will mark a significant staging post on the way to making her dream of a game truly available to all, come true. Justine Siegal was recently announced as the Commissioner of the WPBL a fitting position for the woman who has broken more barriers in the sport than anyone else. She became the first female coach of a professional men's baseball team, the first woman to throw batting practice to an MLB team, and first female coach employed by an MLB team, and like so many with a love for the game it started as a child, with grandpa in tow!

The Portuguese coastal town of Nazaré draws, siren-like, surfers from all over the world. Why? Well it's here that the largest recorded waves are produced and crash down. Lena Kenma is one of only a handful of women who can handle such an endeavour. Born in Germany she moved to Nazaré to pursue her dream of tackling all the Atlantic could throw at her. What she found was that it wasn't Mother Nature who provides the biggest challenge to success.

In 1982 Julie Moss made history when she crawled to the finish line, having collapsed just metres from the end of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. It was her first competitive triathlon and she came second, but as she explains to Not by the Playbook's Rebecca Kesby, that heroic fight for the line changed her life, and her attitude to the sport.

Photo: Rock climber, Sasha DiGiulian climbs to gold medal at the 2011 World Championships (Credit: Matt McClain for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Risk and fear are bed fellows. It's difficult not to feel some fear when you are taking a risk... But as some people are fond of saying "The biggest risk is not taking any risk at all". So how do we best assess risk and control our fears to perform at our very best? We have lined up four amazing guests who have spent their entire lives actively putting in to practice the philosophies and theories on how best to control our fears and take the right kind of risks.

Sometimes guests really surprise us and not always in a good way! But since Not by the Playbook started exactly a year ago, we've not had the pleasure of many more fascinating people than Diego Poncelet. A two-time downhill skateboarding world champion we expected a grungy, laid back, skater boi... Well shame on us for falling for so many stereotypes. Sure, Diego hurtles down mountains at over 100 kilometres an hour, but his thoughtful philosophy that guides him through sport, and his entire life is a fascinating mix of risk taking and challenging fear.

Dr. Marcia Goddard is a neuroscientist on a mission. Having studied for many years Marcia wanted to use what she had learned in as practical way as possible. And if she could combine that with her love of fast cars, well, all the better! And that's exactly what Marcia has carved out for her career. Combining her knowledge as a psychologist she became a high performance expert coaching teams in Formula One.

Ultra marathons are as much about the mind as the physical challenge... and it's 20 years since Scott Jurek, one of the world's best ultramarathon runners, travelled to the remote canyons of Northern Mexico to race runners from an ancient Mexican tribe. The experience inspired the best-selling book, "Born To Run".

Photo: Diego Poncelet Sanchez-Cuenca, 2x World Champion Downhill Skater & Filmmaker, makes his way swiftly down a mountain run. (CREDIT: Red Bull)

When we see our sporting heroes it's often in highly pressurised situations... and yet the look calm, controlled and steely eyed... but what we see on the surface often belies the hard work, dedication and hidden struggles. It's called the "swan effect". All poise and grace on top, whilst paddling furiously underneath. This week the remarkable stories of athletes who take control despite the struggles and challenges are unseen by us fans.

Exactly two years ago we sat down with film director Helen Tither who had something of a pipe dream. To tell the story of soccer team, The Manchester Corinthians. The woman's team, based just a couple of miles from the BBC Sport Studios, dominated around the world...and all while its players including Monica Curran were officially banned from participating in the sport. Well fast forward to present day and "Corinthians: We Were the Champions" premiered on the big screen in March 2026 and so it was time to invite Helen and Monica back on the show

Joanna Garland is a young tennis player making her way up the world rankings. She turned professional more than 6 years ago, and now, still aged just 24 she is currently ranked 117th in the world. As such you might expect her life to be one full of the trappings of professional sport. Luxury travel, big pay days and an entourage. But the truth is very different. And nothing illustrates her challenges better than being inches from a life changing million dollar victory and her punishing travel schedule.

There's nothing we love more than bringing you upbeat inspiring stories that leave us feeling all warm inside...but the truth is life isn't always like that, and Elise Headley's story sadly illustrates that the dream you can spend your entire life time chasing, could leave you living a nightmare. At just 10 years of age Elise developed a love for the pool and soon it became apparent that with hard work and dedication she could be an elite swimmer and compete at the Olympics. The years rolled on and despite success, something wasn't right. What Elise reveals is a brutally honest appraisal of life as an elite athlete, and one she is sure is shared by many.

Sometimes pressure comes primarily from within yourself, sometimes its brought on by coaches, colleagues of close family... but Majlinda Kelmendi had the weight of an entire nation on her shoulders! At the Rio 2016 Olympics, she was expected bring home the first medal for Kosovo since the small country gained independence. The two-time World Champion judoka came from a nation that had endured years of oppression and war, and she'd previously had to compete under the Albanian flag.

Photo: Corinthians Ladies FC on tour at Sporting Lisbon 1958 Portugal. Featured in The Corinthians We Were The Champions. Credit/Copyright: Films Not Words/Anne Grimes