Simon Barnes introduces a new series challenging conventional thinking about sport, and in this first episode he argues that sport is feminism in action.

"The truth of sport is that sport is always what it is," Simon argues, and from the end of the corseted tennis player to the 2012 Olympics, he explores how female athletes have repeatedly confounded attempts to turn sport into a place where men can be blokes and women are not only barred but happy to be barred.

Speaking to Nicole Cooke, one of Britain's greatest cyclists, about her life in sport, Simon argues that sport is feminism in action, because it can't help it.

Producer: Giles Edwards. Show less