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 Miracle of Istanbul
Thu 26 May 2022
Liverpool's incredible comeback to win the Champions League final in 2005
-
Ryneldi Becenti - Native American basketball hero
Thu 19 May 2022
How the first Native American to play in the NBA inspired her community in the 1990s
-
The footballer trapped in Syria
Thu 12 May 2022
How Nigerian Olaniyi Gideon was caught up in the Civil War in Syria while at a local club
-
Man City win their first Premier League
Thu 5 May 2022
Defender Micah Richards on the most exciting finish ever to the English football season.
-
Jahangir Khan: The king of squash
Thu 21 Apr 2022
The legendary Pakistani player who went undefeated for five years in the 1980s
-
Cricket in North Korea
Thu 14 Apr 2022
In 2008, a group of western cricketers took their sport to the Axis of Evil.
-
The Mozart of Table Tennis
Thu 7 Apr 2022
Swedish ping pong player Jan-Ove Waldner is a legend in his own country - and in China.
-
Tanya Streeter
Thu 31 Mar 2022
In 2002, free diver Tanya Streeter attempted to reach a record depth of 160m.
-
The women cross-country skiers who fought to race
Thu 24 Mar 2022
How women won the right to compete in the hugely popular Vasaloppet event in Sweden
-
Saving Fabrice Muamba
Thu 17 Mar 2022
The cardiologist who saved the Bolton footballer after he had a heart attack on the pitch
-
Kelly Gallagher
Sat 12 Mar 2022
How the visually-impaired skier from Northern Ireland won Team GB's first Paralympic gold
-
The first Winter Paralympic Games
Thu 3 Mar 2022
Two athletes from Finland and Britain remember the inaugural Winter Paralympics in 1976.
-
The Queen of Paralympic Snowboarding
Sat 26 Feb 2022
Bibian Mentel-Spee campaigned for her event to be in the games, then won the first Gold.
-
Dan Jansen - from tragedy to triumph
Thu 17 Feb 2022
The American speed-skater who overcame grief to win Olympic gold.
-
Morten Andersen: The NFL Hall of Fame kicker
Thu 10 Feb 2022
How a Danish kid became a record-breaking kicker in American football
-
Vonetta Flowers: The first black Winter Olympic champion
Thu 3 Feb 2022
How the American bobsledder made history at the 2002 games in Utah
-
India's Luge pioneer
Thu 27 Jan 2022
Shiva Keshavan took part in one of the most dangerous Winter Olympic sports aged just 16.
-
Novak Djokovic: The road to success
Thu 20 Jan 2022
Nikola Pilic, one of the Serbian player's mentors, remembers training him as a teenager.
-
Skiing in Afghanistan
Thu 6 Jan 2022
How an international skiing scene developed in the mountains of Bamiyan province in 2011
-
Yale women rowers protest
Thu 30 Dec 2021
In 1976, the Yale rowing team stripped naked to demand equal treatment for women's sport.
-
Nigeria's Paralympic heroine
Thu 23 Dec 2021
The shot-putter with dwarfism whose gold medal celebration went viral on social media.
-
Bangladesh's football heroes
Thu 16 Dec 2021
How the national football team helped the country's fight for independence in 1971.
-
The Tibetan football team
Thu 9 Dec 2021
How a group of exiles set up the first Tibetan national team in 2001.
-
The football wages revolution
Thu 2 Dec 2021
How England's top players fought for their salary cap to be lifted in 1961.
-
Zenyatta
Thu 25 Nov 2021
The superstar American race-horse who was the first mare to win the Breeders' Cup
-
The woman who rowed the Atlantic
Thu 18 Nov 2021
Tori Murden McClure built her own boat and became the first woman to row the Atlantic.
-
Lebanon's match-fixing scandal
Thu 11 Nov 2021
The investigation that rocked Lebanese football and ruined the country's World Cup hopes.
-
Zola Budd
Thu 4 Nov 2021
The South African-born runner remembers her famous collision with US rival Mary Decker.
-
The Dumptruck: King of sumo
Thu 28 Oct 2021
How a Hawaiian-born wrestler stormed the traditional world of Japanese sumo in the 1980s
-
Jackie Joyner-Kersee - Heptathlon Queen
Thu 21 Oct 2021
In 1988, the American athlete put in one of the greatest performances in Olympic history.