Sporting Witness Podcast
Eye-witness accounts from sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped sport through the eyes of the people who were there.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.
Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created.
Episodes to download
-
The first woman to play in the NHL
Thu 18 Feb 2021
Manon Rhéaume became the first and only woman to play in the National Hockey League
-
Nova Peris - Australia's first aboriginal Olympic champion
Thu 11 Feb 2021
How the hockey-player from Darwin broke barriers by winning an Olympic gold medal in 1996
-
The NFL's Rooney Rule
Thu 4 Feb 2021
The activist and champion who pushed for American football's landmark diversity policy
-
Mianne Bagger - Golf's transgender pioneer
Thu 28 Jan 2021
In 2004, Mianne Bagger became the first transitioned woman to play professional golf
-
The woman who won the Paris-Dakar rally
Thu 14 Jan 2021
In January 2001, Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt won one of the biggest races in motorsport
-
Brad Snyder - From the battlefield to Paralympic gold
Thu 7 Jan 2021
The American serviceman who won swimming glory a year after being blinded by a bomb
-
Cameron Hughes - sports entertainer
Thu 31 Dec 2020
The Canadian who's made a career out of dancing at big sports events around the world
-
Joey Dunlop - Northern Ireland's motorsport hero
Thu 17 Dec 2020
The motorbike world champion whose high-speed triumphs united a divided country
-
Stop the Springboks
Thu 10 Dec 2020
How campaigners used direct action to stop South Africa's apartheid teams touring the UK
-
Learie Constantine - West Indies cricket pioneer
Thu 3 Dec 2020
How the West Indian all-rounder took England by storm in the 1920s and 30s.
-
Maradona and the "Hand of God" goal
Thu 26 Nov 2020
Ex-England striker Gary Lineker on Maradona's legendary World Cup quarter-final in 1986
-
Judit Polgar - the chess champion who defied stereotypes
Thu 19 Nov 2020
How the chess prodigy overcame sexism in her sport and defeated the all-time greats.
-
The 'Blind Maradona'
Thu 12 Nov 2020
The story of Silvio Velo, the captain of Argentina's world-beating blind football team
-
India's Queen of the Oceans
Thu 5 Nov 2020
How Bula Choudhury was the first woman to swim straits of the world's seven seas.
-
Natalia Partyka - Youngest paralympian
Thu 29 Oct 2020
The Polish table tennis champion who began her Paralympic career aged just 11.
-
Viv Anderson - first black England footballer
Thu 22 Oct 2020
In November 1978, the defender became the first black Englishman to play for his country.
-
Surfing the world's biggest waves
Thu 15 Oct 2020
Garrett McNamara broke the world record for biggest wave ever surfed in 2011 at Nazaré
-
Africa's football revolution
Thu 8 Oct 2020
Ex-Premiership star Kolo Toure on how a team in Ivory Coast modernised football in Africa
-
South Africa's black rowing hero
Thu 1 Oct 2020
How Sizwe Ndlovu became the first black African to win an Olympic rowing gold in 2012.
-
Cathy Freeman
Thu 24 Sep 2020
The aboriginal runner who became the hero of the Sydney Olympics in 2000
-
Cycling's 'Everesting' challenge
Thu 10 Sep 2020
Why cyclists in lockdown are riding the equivalent of climbing the world's highest peak
-
Lucy Ejike - Nigeria's powerlifting hero
Thu 3 Sep 2020
The story of Nigeria's most successful female paralympian.
-
Tasha Danvers - motherhood and elite performance
Thu 27 Aug 2020
The British hurdler who overcame private emotional struggles to win an Olympic bronze
-
Chak de India!
Thu 20 Aug 2020
How India's female hockey stars inspired a generation of sportswomen and a Bollywood film
-
Tears of a weightlifter
Thu 13 Aug 2020
In 2008, Matthias Steiner overcame personal tragedy to win an emotional Olympic gold
-
The first woman to climb Everest
Thu 6 Aug 2020
Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest
-
Coe vs Ovett
Thu 30 Jul 2020
British runner Sebastian Coe remembers his rivalry with Steve Ovett at the 1980 Olympics
-
Afghanistan's cricket heroes
Thu 23 Jul 2020
How Afghan cricketers lifted the nation's spirits by reaching their first big tournament
-
Beckham in Hollywood
Thu 16 Jul 2020
The glitz and glamour of David Beckham's signing for Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007
-