The Winning Mentality

After more than 3 decades at the top of rugby league in Australia and England, Tony Smith has a wonderful insight into the great sporting debates. Is the scoreboard king, or should sport be entertainment? How do teams create a winning culture? How do you measure success? What keeps sportspeople motivated and engaged? This is fascinating stuff, from a thoughtful and articulate man who's been there and done it.

Stefan Vuckovic is the first man ever to win an Olympic silver medal in Triathlon. The sport made its debut at the Sydney Games in 2000 and in one of the best moments of that wonderful event, Stefan grabbed a German flag just before the triathlon finish line and danced the last 50 metres of the race, waving the flag and celebrating. On today's show we reflect on that incredible moment, the journey that led Stefan to it, and what happened next.

Margaret Bowling has combined a career as a television producer with a series of extraordinary ocean rowing adventures. She was the first Australian woman to row an ocean, the first Australian to row an ocean twice, and more recently attempted to row the notorious Bass Straight. She's got a pretty unique insight, and a great way of delivering it. Enjoy.

Kriss Akabusi is a European and World Champion, an Olympic silver medallist, a television presenter, a motivational speaker and a businessman. When he was growing up in a children's home in London the odds were against him succeeding in anything, but his sheer passion coupled with an extraordinary work rate allowed him to live his dreams. Listening to him speak is an extraordinary experience and today you'll hear him discuss his childhood, athletic career and life outlook, all discussed with the passion, enthusiasm and humour which he's famous for.

Mike Brace CBE was blinded at age 10 and has since gone on to be a 6 time Paralympian, an integral part of the London 2012 Olympic bid team, and a participant in 50 sports. His sporting career has been - by any standards - extraordinarily long, varied and successful but he remains humble, self deprecating and very funny. If this doesn't get you off the couch and spur you into action, nothing will.

Dan John is a legend of the coaching and strength training worlds. He combines weekly coaching workshops with lecturing and writing, and remains as passionate about his work as ever. He's vastly experienced, wickedly funny and full of brilliant, common sense advice. Enjoy.

Robbie Shone is a cave explorer and cave photographer. He's explored caves on 6 continents and continues to push the envelope of underground exploration and photography. It might sound like your idea of hell, but Robbie's passion for what he does might just inspire you to explore the underground world...

As a former Land Speed Record holder, Richard Noble is a member of one of the World's most exclusive clubs. His passion and determination saw him claim the record in 1983 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, and 15 years later he was back, this time masterminding the World's first supersonic car (Thrust SSC). You'd have thought that the sound barrier was the final frontier of Land Speed Records but Richard is once again striving to go further; he is now in charge of the Bloodhound SSC Project, which is aiming to create the first 1000mph car and with it, inspire a generation of engineers and scientists.

Peter Koren runs his own gym and in under 2 years has created a whole community around it through sheer hard work and passion. He promised himself early in life that by age 30 he wouldn't be working for anyone else and he managed it, via boxing camps in Thailand and a nomadic wander through Europe. If you ever wonder where hard work, enthusiasm and charisma can get you, this is your answer.

To call Phil Liggett a legendary cycling broadcaster would be to undersell him - he is "The Voice of Cycling". He covered his first Tour de France in 1973, hasn't missed one since and isn't planning on missing one anytime soon. We tracked him down in Melbourne, Australia, to find out how he got started in cycling and where it's led him since.