Sportshour BBC World Service

Sportshour hears about an incredible act of generosity. Rob Adcock was set to be the first person to attend a game in every round of the Champions League without visiting the same country twice. With nine countries visited and just the final in England to tick off, he gave away his ticket – which cost more than $2,500 – to a Borussia Dortmund fan for free. Caroline Barker speaks to both Rob and the Borussia Dortmund fan, Raphael Kopp.
Austria’s Valentina Cavallar explains why she has made the switch from rowing - a sport she competed in at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games - to professional cycling and how she’s hoping to be on the start line at this year’s Le Tour de France Femmes.
British endurance runner Susie Chan shares her running adventures which have taken her all around the world, but reveals how her love for running came later in life and has helped her through some of her toughest moments.
And – with the NBA finals getting underway, Sportshour looks at whether a simple pat on a player’s back from their teammates can improve their chance of scoring a free throw? The University of Basel's Christiane Büttner tells us more about what their research has found.
(Image: Borussia Dortmund fan Raphael Kopp outside Wembley Stadium holding up his ticket on the UEFA app ahead of Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid. Credit: Rob Adcock)

Dame Kelly Holmes was the first British woman to become a double Olympic champion winning the 800 and 1500 metres at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Despite the jubilation, it was not a moment of happiness but a period of fear. A fear that she might be outed as being gay.
Revealed publicly just two years ago this month, Dame Kelly tells Caroline Barker about her renewed joy in life after coming out as gay. She explains the terror of hiding her sexuality in the British Army, where being gay was illegal until 2000 and how her story has inspired others to reach out to her. Kelly also talks about how being able to be herself has given her the confidence to do pantomime and what she wants to do next to help others.
With the Paris Olympics the first Games with equal men and women participation in sailing, World Sailing is bidding to increase female representation in the sport at all levels with a new report. Who better to explain the development of that than trailblazing Olympic gold medallist Jo Aleh, who will go to her fourth Olympic Games this summer? She'll tell us about the powerful women in the sport, her experience of gender equality in coaching and her journey to Paris.
Award winning journalist Joe Posnanski tells us why we should love baseball and divulges his equation for what he thinks makes a great sporting moment. He also shares a few of his favourite moments from the sport’s history picked from his new book “Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments”.
We’ll also find out how the iconic Champions League final music was made ahead of the biggest club game in football.
PHOTO: Kelly Holmes during The British Diversity Awards 2024 at Grosvenor House on March 20, 2024 in London, England. (Credit: Getty Images)

Taiwan badminton player Chou Tien-chen was keen to make sure he was in the best shape possible ahead of qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games. What should have been a straightforward full medical examination saw him diagnosed with early stage colon cancer. After taking a second doctor’s opinion to undergo surgery, Chou is now back playing on the world stage. He’ll explain why he kept the news from his fans and even his friends for almost a year and why he hopes his story will inspire others to undergo early cancer screening.
Lacrosse won’t be making an appearance in Paris but will be brought back into the Olympic Games for Los Angeles in 2028. As one of the fastest growing sports, it will celebrate a landmark moment in September with its first ever Women’s Box Lacrosse World Championships. Eleni Megoran will represent Australia at the Championships and tells us about how big this is for the sport and for women. Eleni also shares how she’s seen as a “cool” teacher and a trailblazer with her students in her job as a teacher.
We check back in former South African Netballer Vanes-Mari du Toit about her record breaking swim in the Himalayas. She was part of the Mad Swimmers team, who swam in a new body of water found at 6405 metres above sea level on Everest. She explains how the hike and swim were and why we need to take note..
Cuban weightlifter Ramiro Mora Romero tells us about making the Olympic Refugee Team via the circus and an army barracks. Now the British record holder in the 89kg, 96kg and 102kg weight categories ahead of Paris, explains how he has fulfilled a long term promise of making an Olympic games to his parents, who died when he was young.
Image: Chou Tien-chen punches the air when competing at the 2024 Thailand Open. (Credit: BWF/Badmintonphoto)

As flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul continues to cause devastation, Shabnam Younus-Jewell speaks to Brazilian surfer Pedro Scooby who is among a number of sportspeople from the country helping those affected.
Gaz Choudhry explains why he switched the wheelchair basketball court for the theatre stage. The two-time Paralympic medallist has recently been performing in 'Grenfell: In The Words of The Survivors' in New York, which tells the story of the Grenfell Fire that killed 72 residents of a tower block in London in 2017.
Twelve months ago, the Netherlands didn't have a women's rugby league team but now they're targeting a spot at the Rugby League World Cup for the first time. We’ll meet the three Australian born sisters – Nicole, Jessica and Claire Kennedy – who are hoping to help get them there.
And - we’ll find out about the sport of pickleball after it was announced India will launch the first-ever professional league.
Image: Aerial view of flooded houses of the Guarujá neighbourhood, located in the extreme south of Porto Alegre, on May 14, 2024 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. After several days of heavy rain, Porto Alegre and many other municipalities in Rio Grande Do Sul are flooded due to the swelling of the rivers. (Photo by Jefferson Bernardes/Getty Images)

Would you move heaven and earth to change your life? No? Well how about just your living room? When times got tough, New Yorker James Grammer found solace in sport, in particular the ancient Japanese sport of Sumo. But initially there was nowhere local to compete. While the parks were fine in the summer, the traditional sumo loincloth would be a bit chilly in winter ! So James turned his apartment into a Beya, the name for where Sumo wrestlers train. He’ll tell us the joys and drawbacks of sumo wrestling at home and his ambitions going forward as well as why he has been so keen on big contact sports growing up.
Iranian born film director Milad Alami moved to Sweden as a child refugee and his latest movie OPPONENT uses the sport of wrestling to highlight the challenges encountered by refugees across Europe. Milad draws on his own experiences to tell the story of an Iranian wrestler who worn down by the asylum process seeks out the one thing he knows and starts to train with the Swedish wrestling team. He tells us why he chose wrestling, why he wanted to highlight the challenge of refugees fitting into a new country and how important it was for him to cast real refugees in the film.
We’ll get the inside track on horse racing’s oldest racecourse, the Roodee – more commonly known as Chester Racecourse. Sportshour reporter Richard Padula finds out why former Ballon d’or winner Michael Owen is so enamoured with the sport and the course.
On Eurovision Grand Final day, BBC Sport’s music aficionado Pat Nevin casts his ear across the fancied songs for this year’s competition. Croatia are strong favourites but are they Pat’s?
Plus, what links American footballer Brandon Mebane, Footballer Douglas Luiz and Formula One Driver Daniel Ricciardo? The answer – Bellydancing and to mark World Bellydancing Day, we’ll get a tutorial from Heather Eggins from Belly Dance Heaven.
Photo: Sumo wrestlers practice in James Grammer's apartment turned sumo Beya in New York. (Credit: James Grammer)

Caroline Barker speaks to Jake Peacock on how he wants to entertain and inspire the world through his achievements in the Muay Thai ring. Peacock, who was born with one arm shorter than the other, was bullied at school and still receives negative messages on social media, but he says his greatest satisfaction comes from inspiring people.
From free classes and sharing equipment to the Olympic Games, Samantha Catantan is the first Filipino fencer to qualify for the Olympics in 32 years - and the first woman. Her qualification came after a significant injury setback and she’s not the only Catantan sibling with an Olympic dream.
Double Olympic rowing champion Heather Stanning has recently completed Marathon des Sables, a six-day footrace over 250km in the Sahara Desert. Is the “toughest footrace on earth” her toughest challenge yet?
And, 4 May is also known as 'Star Wars Day' so to mark the day Sportshour finds out more about the Stars Wars inspired sport of lightsaber duelling with France’s Celine Marie Mercier.
(Photo: Jake Peacock after winning on his ONE Championship debut against Kohei Shinjo in Bangkok in April 2024. Credit: ONE Championship)