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What Difference did the World Cup Make?

Did the social issues highlighted during the 2014 World Cup have any lasting impact?

The world's media descended on Brazil for the World Cup earlier this year. With it a light was shone on some of the social issues affecting the country and the wider world. Nowhere was that more obvious than at the Street Child World Cup - a competition which drew 290 street children from 19 different countries. So what happened when the competition finished and the media left? Sportshour’s Joel Hammer has tracked down some of the children from El Salvador who took part to see if their lives had changed at all.

How Not to Own a Horse
Horse racing is one of Jamaica's most loved sports. In the 19th Century the country was home to the world's largest stud farm but many in the local racing scene are worried the nation's proud equestrian past is being eroded. The country has a system which means ownership is cheap and the sport of kings is open to those who often can not afford it. This is putting the animals at the heart of the sport at risk.

The Other ‘Special One’
The growth of women's football has for some time been led by the USA. The country continues to be a proving ground for some of the brightest minds in the game - like Emma Hayes. Emma is Jose Mourinho's counterpart at Chelsea, looking after their women's team. Emma had to leave managing in her native England to further her career in the US and now she is the only female manager in the English Women's Super League.

No Kill Joy
"The King of the Mountains" is a label most associated with men on two wheels in the Tour de France. However, there is now a new kid on the block - Kilian Jornet, and he is doing it without a bike! Jornet is an endurance athlete. He is the fastest man to run up and down Mount Kilimanjaro. A world champion in ultra-running, climbing and ski mountaineering, he has been described as "the most dominant endurance athlete of his generation". So what drives him to such extreme endeavours?

Unstoppables
Sport is often at the forefront of breaking the barriers between the able body and disability communities. The latest evidence of that is documented in a new film to be released early next year - Unstoppables. It tells the story of a cycling club in Barcelona where people of all abilities train and compete together and for whom cycling has changed their lives. We speak to Richard Galvani the executive producer of the documentary and Raquel Acinas one of the star riders for the team.

Cool Swimmings?
How will Alia Atkinson’s victory at the World Short course swimming championships change the face of swimming? The first black woman to win such a title, the Jamaican tells us of her delight and greater goals, to translate the country's sprinting dominance into the Olympic pool.

Sporting Witness
We go back 30 years to when Michael Jordan joined the Chicago Bulls and became the biggest star in the history of basketball.

(Photo: The El Salvador team from the Street Child World Cup celebrate their 3rd place finish. Credit: Toybox)

55 minutes

Last on

Sat 13 Dec 2014 10:05GMT

Broadcast

  • Sat 13 Dec 2014 10:05GMT

Podcast