Against The Odds

They were the key players in a golden era of Formula One, the fascinatingly flawed Brazilian genius Ayrton Senna and his great rival, the meticulous Frenchman Alain Prost.

In this episode we track Conor McGregor's unprecedented rise from plumber's apprentice to the biggest MMA celebrity in the history of the sport, we follow Xiong Jingnan, the first Chinese MMA champion in the world who competes to honour the memory of her grandparents and take a look at how Holly Holm became the only person to hold championship titles in both boxing and MMA.

We examine the admirable career of golf's Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus; we discuss left handed, long hitting funnyman Phil Mickelson's triumphant career; and we marvel at humble Rory McIlroy's phenomenal achievements at an early age.

Lewis Hamilton has the once seemingly unattainable records of the great Michael Schumacher in his sights ... but the Brit has had to endure a tough upbringing and a rocky relationship with his father to climb the mountain and Niki Lauda, the 3- time F1 champion who survived a horrific fireball crash at the 1977 German GP only to return to racing just six weeks later.

On this episode we look at the remarkable career of Allyson Felix, the greatest female track and field athlete in Olympic and world championship history plus Britain's cycling royalty, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny, who found each other and a dominance of the sport which has never been seen before.

On this episode we take to the links and marvel at Seve Ballesteros, the man who made the Ryder Cup a contest, and Greg Norman, the Great White Shark who shook up the establishment.

The two women who changed tennis, Serena and Venus Williams, Britain's world-beating triathlete, Alistair Brownlee, and the king of table tennis, Lin Dan.

On this episode of Against the Odds, we salute the superstars of tennis, celebrating the off court bravery of Martina Navratilova, the relentless winning of Novak Djokovic, and the all round greatness of the man who ushered in the modern professional era, Rod Laver.

This week on Against The Odds . . . the perfect gymnast. Nadia Comaneci was the first to score a perfect ten in the Montreal Olympic Games. But her life in Romania away from the spotlight was far from perfect. Until she found her escape. Plus the face of the London Olympics, Jessica Ennis-Hill.