Swimmer Mel Marshall is one of the UK’s most decorated female athletes.

When John came to Colebrook Royals FC in 1997, their two teams played on substandard muddy pitches. Today, the Essex club has 33  teams, with players of all ages enjoying state-of-the-art facilities – and John has been the driving force behind the astonishing transformation.

Natasha has been a gymnast for more than a decade but two years ago, she was repeatedly hospitalised due to a series of anaphylactic reactions.

Since making his England debut in 2006, batting legend Alastair ‘Cooky’ Cook has cemented his position in cricketing history and run up impressive landmark records like no other.

Teenager Kaitlin Lafferty started tumbling when she was just seven years old and within two years she started competing.

Bengeo Tigers FC in Hertfordshire was a club with severe disciplinary problems.

After being diagnosed with early-onset dementia five years ago, aged 34, Chris has raised more than £43,000 for Alzheimer’s Research  UK by cycling around North America and Canada.

Muay Thai fighter Dakota is only 17 and she’s already gained British and European junior titles and gold medals in the last three world championships.

Tuff FC, which stands for The Unity of Faiths Foundation, was set up to combat extremism and internet radicalisation and has already prevented 10 teenagers from travelling to Syria.

Britain has developed a love affair with the world’s most famous bike race in recent years and that has deepened in 2014 after the Tour came across the Channel to wow audiences across the country back in July.