Sportshour BBC World Service

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Bára Votíková tells Sportshour's Caroline Barker about how she balances her football career alongside being one of the Czech Republic's best known and most followed content creators. She tells us about using her social media platforms to advocate for gay rights, and how she deals with the haters.
New Zealand pole vaulter Eliza McCartney is about to take a leap of faith ahead of the Paris Olympics. Since winning bronze at the 2016 Games in Rio, the 27-year-old has suffered many years of injury frustration. However 2024 brought silver at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow - her first international podium finish in six years, since taking Commonwealth silver on the Gold Coast. She tells us about life on the road with a massive stick!
When French midfielder Aurelien Tchouemeni was asked earlier this season by his team Real Madrid to play a match for them in central defence, all he needed to help him prepare for the game was a virtual reality headset in his living room. But, does the technology really work and how can it help improve players skill set? Sportshour’s Andy Jones tried the new tech out to see if he could go from his messy living room to just plain old Messi.
Photo: Barbora Votikova, celebrates the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter Final First Leg match between Bayern Munchen and Paris Saint-German March 22, 2022 (Credit Arthur Thill ATPImages/Getty Images)

Please note: This episode contains discussions and references to mental health and drug abuse. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide: www.befrienders.org
For 10 years, quarterback Erik Kramer had it all - fame, fortune and the chance to land the NFL's biggest prize with the Detroit Lions and then the Chicago Bears. Despite the trappings that success brings, Kramer carried a burden - crushing depression that worsened following personal losses after retirement. He's been telling Sportshour's Caroline Barker about what led him to the depths of despair and redemption.
India's premier triathlete Pragnya Mohan is attempting to qualify for Paris and become the first Indian triathlete to compete at an Olympic Games. If she does, she hopes it will produce the kind of media exposure which will encourage other girls to take up professional sport in her country, despite the challenges, something she had to overcome herself. As a young girl she repaired an old abandoned bike and set to work on her dream. Now she runs a project aimed at giving every girl in India access to a bicycle

We find out about the most dominant football team you have never heard of... The women who played for them and the woman who is trying to make sure the world knows their story... back in the 1960's women were banned from playing football in the UK, but that didn't stop some teams from trying... and one team showed the way. Manchester based Corinthians. In fact, they conquered the world! Now a film is being produced to share this forgotten piece of football history. We speak to a former player and the film's producer
Photo: Erik Kramer #12 of the Chicago Bears sets up to pass against the Minnesota Vikings during an NFL football game on September 3, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Kramer played for the Bears from 1994-1998. (Credit: Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

In March 2024 Camille Heron cemented her place as the greatest Ultra Marathon runner of all time. She broke the six day world best, clocking an astonishing 560 miles. That's further than running from New York to Washington and back in 6 days, roughly the distance of Accra to Lagos and back in SIX DAYS!! She's been telling Sportshour's Nishat Ladha about her achievement.
As Cambridge and Oxford line up against each other, who will mastermind their way to victory in the 2024 University boat race? Oxford Women's President Ella Stadler takes on her Cambridge counterpart Jenna Armstrong in special edition of Sportshour's University Challenge.
Football means a lot of things to different people and for many it's an integral part of life. It certainly is for author Mark Davies, who a few years ago was diagnosed with an incurable cancer. His whole world changed forever, except for one thing, one constant. Football was his crutch that, as it turned out, supported him through the very darkest times and it's why he wrote his book "A Love Letter to Football"
Jeanee Crane-Mauzy is hoping to compete at the next Winter Olympics for the country she has just taken citizenship for, Vanuatu. The South Pacific islands, not known for its winter sports, is under major strain fighting the effects of climate change. Jeanee, who has competed at the Freestyle Ski World Cup in the Ski Halfpipe, is hoping to raise awareness of the situation by competing on the world's biggest stage for her newly adopted country at the Games in Italy in 2026.
Photo: Camille Heron completing her record breaking run. Credit: @runcamille/Instagram)

Rikke Sevecke was living the dream! She'd fought the odds to make it into professional football despite all the barriers in her way. She'd played in England for Everton and represented her country, Denmark at the World Cup, and had just signed for one of the biggest teams in America. Living the dream. Then just two months ago in January 2024, out of nowhere, she was ordered to stop playing, immediately. It had taken just one phone call from a doctor to bring her world crashing down around her. Rikke had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition, and if she carried on playing it could have proved fatal. She's been speaking to Sportshour's Caroline Barker about how she is coming to terms with the life changing moment.
US women’s scrum half Alena Olsen on channelling the heart break of missing out on the Tokyo Games, by putting in everything she can into making the Paris Olympics, as part of the US Women’s Sevens squad. She's tells us that despite being a part of the bronze medal winning World Cup team in 2022, her Olympic dreams still hang in the balance.
What does it take to become the NFL's fan of the year? Comedian Tom Grossi knows, he picked up the award last year after he successfully completed seemingly impossible challenge of visiting all thirty NFL stadia in just thirty days?! But it came at a cost and he has the scars to prove it!
Photo: Denmark's Rikke Sevecke is on hand as Xu Huan of China PR fails to save a shot on goal during the FIFA Women's World Cup match between Denmark and China at Perth Rectangular Stadium on July 22, 2023 in Perth, Australia. (Credit: by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Sport, racism and protests are about to change the lives of “the Black 14” American footballers. It’s 1969 in the United States. They’ve arrived on scholarships at the University of Wyoming to play for its Cowboys American football team. It was a predominantly white college. The team is treated like a second religion. Then, the players make a decision to take a stand against racism in a game against another university.
This is episode one of a four-part season from the Amazing Sport Stories podcast.
Content warning: This episode contains lived experiences which involve the use of strong racist language.

Rikke Sevecke was living the dream! She'd fought the odds to make it into professional football despite all the barriers in her way. She'd played in England for Everton and represented her country, Denmark at the World Cup, and had just signed for one of the biggest teams in America. Living the dream.
Then just two months ago in January 2024, out of nowhere, she was ordered to stop playing, immediately. It had taken just one phone call from a doctor to bring her world crashing down around her. Rikke had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition, and if she carried on playing it could have proved fatal.
She's been speaking to Sportshour's Caroline Barker about how she is coming to terms with the life changing moment.
Photo: Rikke Sevecke #4 of Denmark goes forward during a FIFA World Cup 2023 Group D match between Denmark and China PR at Perth Rectangular Stadium on July 22, 2023 in Perth, Australia. (Creidt: Daniela Porcelli/ISI Photos/Getty Images)