A shoeshine boy who won the World Cup at 17 and twice more after that
He learned the game with a sock stuffed with rags in a poor town in Minas Gerais and became the only player to win three World Cups, scoring in his…
Tore the same knee ligament three times and still became Brazil's greatest ever gymnast
One of eight children of a house cleaner in Sao Paulo, she survived three ACL tears that threatened to end her career before it began, then won…
Was disqualified from his first Olympic race walk and went on to win four gold medals
Thrown out of his debut Olympic race in 1992 for a technical fault, he rebuilt his technique and became the most successful Olympic race walker in…
Nearly lost his arm in a rally crash, returned to Formula One eight years later, then won Le Mans
Poland's first Formula One driver, a Grand Prix winner whose right arm was partly severed in a 2011 rally crash, he fought his way back to the F1…
Mocked for his accent and his colour, he got 3,000 hits and died flying aid to earthquake victims
A sugar-cane cutter's son who became one of baseball's greatest outfielders while enduring racism from the press, he was killed when a plane carrying…
Lost his father to prison at 16, fought depression and addiction, and won seven world snooker titles
A prodigy whose father was jailed for murder when he was a teenager, he battled depression, drink and drugs for years and kept coming back, winning…
A dairy farmer's son who beat the unbeatable Karelin, then survived frostbite, a plane crash and near ruin
The youngest of nine children on a Wyoming farm, he pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history in 2000, then lost a toe in a snowmobile…
Born without legs, he refused a wheelchair as a child and became the best wheelchair rugby player in the world
A boy from Port Macquarie who got around on a skateboard rather than accept a wheelchair, he was a Paralympian at 15 and led Australia to…
Britain's most decorated Paralympian, a champion in two different sports across three decades
Born without a functioning left hand, she won Paralympic swimming golds at 14, switched to cycling after an ear infection ended her pool career, and…
From public courts in Compton to 23 Grand Slam singles titles, one of them won while pregnant
Coached by her father on cracked public courts, she survived a life-threatening blood clot in 2011 and came back to win ten more Grand Slam titles,…
Walked away from an Olympic final to protect her mind, then came back to win three more golds
Taken into foster care as a toddler and adopted by her grandparents, she became the most decorated gymnast in history, and in Tokyo showed the world…
From hunger in a township to lifting the Rugby World Cup as the Springboks' first Black captain
Raised by his grandmother in a township near Port Elizabeth, sometimes with nothing to eat, he won a school scholarship through rugby and captained…
The first woman to referee a men's World Cup match
A referee from the Paris suburbs who worked her way up through men's lower leagues, she took charge of a Ligue 1 match, a European final and a…
Won Indonesia its first ever Olympic gold medal, in a sport just added to the Games
A badminton prodigy from West Java, she won the first women's singles Olympic title when the sport debuted in 1992, triggering street celebrations…
Won 11 Paralympic golds from a wheelchair and then took the fight into the House of Lords
Born with spina bifida in Cardiff, she became Britain's most successful wheelchair racer, winning 16 Paralympic medals and six London Marathons…
Ran to school barefoot, won the New York Marathon, then used running to make peace between cattle raiders
A Pokot girl who was told not to run, she became the first African woman to win a major marathon and set world records, then built a foundation using…
Won three Olympic heavyweight golds and turned down millions to fight Muhammad Ali
A sugar worker's son who became the first boxer to win three Olympic golds in the same weight, he refused every offer to turn professional and stayed…
Ran a marathon a day across Canada on one leg to raise money for cancer research
Three years after losing his leg to cancer at 18, he set out to run across Canada. He covered 5,373 kilometres in 143 days before the disease…
Expelled from school at 15, she remortgaged her house to skipper the first all-female crew round the world
A troubled teenager who found her way onto yachts as a cook, she bought a battered old boat called Maiden, was ridiculed by the sailing…
Born blind, she became the most decorated Paralympian in the history of the Games
Blind since birth, she swam competitively against sighted classmates in mainstream school meets, then dominated Paralympic swimming for over two…
Hid in the woods after the Soviet invasion, won four golds in Mexico and turned away from the anthem
The best gymnast in the world in 1968, she went into hiding when Soviet tanks entered Prague, won four golds weeks later, and quietly protested on…
Wore a leg brace as a child and became the fastest woman in the world
Polio left her with a twisted leg and doctors said she would never walk normally. At 20 she won three Olympic gold medals in Rome.
A fighter far shorter than her rivals who became back-to-back Olympic taekwondo champion
Starting taekwondo at 13 in Jiangxi province, she beat opponents many inches taller than herself on speed and technique to win Olympic gold in the…
Lost the ability to walk to muscular dystrophy and became Singapore's most decorated Paralympian
Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as a toddler and using a wheelchair by 13, she turned family swimming trips into a career that brought Singapore…
