On the Podium

Derek Loccident was a college American football player when, in 2018, an accident changed the course of his life. But despite becoming a below-the-knee amputee, he refused to give up on returning to the football field, and ended up exceeding everyone's expectations. Then another opportunity arose that set him on a path he'd never expected - competing at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Eliza Skinner and Ed Harry hear Derek's story, from ...

Puerto Rican tennis player Monica Puig wasn't ranked among the favourites for the women's singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Though she was in the best form of her life, she hadn't been seeded in the draw, which contained multiple Grand Slam champions and finalists, including both Venus and Serena Williams.

Nobody knew that she was about to have the best week of her career - including Monica herself. When she beat reigning French Op...

Noemie Fox grew up in a family of canoeing and kayaking champions, but she didn't believe she could become one herself. She struggled to master the skills that seemed to come naturally to her relatives, and felt like she didn't have what it took to reach the top.

Then, in her mid-20s, things began to change. With the addition of the chaotic, high-intensity discipline of kayak cross to the Olympic programme in Paris, Noemie seized h...

Ntando Mahlangu was born with fibular hemimelia, a condition that meant his legs didn't develop fully below the knees. After spending his childhood in a wheelchair, he made the decision to undergo amputation aged 10. When he received his first set of prosthetic "blade" legs, his whole world changed - and four years later, he was on the podium at the Rio Paralympics, with a silver medal around his neck for finishing second in the T4...

Men's pole vaulting has been part of the Olympics since the inaugural modern Games in 1896 - but there was no women's competition until more than a century later. When America's Stacy Dragila became the first woman to win gold in the event at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, it was the culmination of years of campaigning from athletes and coaches, who'd been training for an opportunity they were never sure they'd get. As she stood on t...

Jess Learmonth was a talented junior swimmer, but aged 15, she decided she'd had enough. Over the next few years, she and her partner worked in supermarkets, and travelled through Asia. When they returned home, Jess realised she wasn't done with sport yet - but she didn't expect that her desire to get back into shape would eventually lead her to the top step of the Olympic podium.

Eliza Skinner and Ed Harry hear how Jess's decision ...

John McFall's life changed forever when, at the age of 19, he lost the lower part of his right leg in a motorcycle accident. His dream of joining the British Army was over - but sport gave him a way to find the challenges he'd been seeking. A little over eight years later, he sprinted to bronze at the Beijing Paralympics. Then he left the track behind, and turned his attentions to a new challenge: training as an orthopaedic surgeon...

Eliza Skinner and Ed Harry meet more amazing Olympic and Paralympic athletes ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. New episodes from Thursday 27 June.

Paralympic sprinter John McFall left athletics behind to become an orthopaedic surgeon - and is now setting his sights on outer space. Triathlete Jess Learmonth nearly abandoned her sporting dreams to work in a supermarket, until an epiphany led her back. Stacy Dragila had to conquer stereot...