Planet Sport

This week’s Planet Sport comes from Birmingham in the UK and the Muller Indoor Grand Prix, which is regarded as the best one-day indoor athletics event in the world and is the fifth stop on the 2019 IAAF World Indoor Tour.We’ll be featuring reaction from the athletes, including the joint fastest woman in the world over 100 metres last year - it’s African sprint queen Marie-Josee Ta Lou.

Also fondly known as Inzi, the track and field star ended Uganda's 33-year wait for an athletics world title, winning the inaugural women's 3000 m steeplechase event, at the 2005 World Athletics Champs in Helsinki. She then went on to win the same event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Inzikuru talks to us the significance of her medals and the importance of sporting success for her country.

This week we hear from two Olympic gold medallists - South Africa’s sprint sensation Wayde van Niekerk and Team USA’s Natasha Hastings. Both athletes have suffered recent injury set-backs but are on track for a return in 2019. Many have tipped Wayde van Niekerk to be the next Usain Bolt and set alight the world of athletics with Bolt himself is backing the South African to come good this year as he returns to business. We hear whether Wayde feels the pressure of being compared to the biggest star the sport has seen while Natasha Hastings tells us, there’s more to life than sporting success.

Ruhan Nel has been a part of the Springbok Sevens team since 2014, helping the the Blitzboks to win two World Rugby Sevens series. Last year his impressive form earned him a call-up to the national 15s squad and many believe he has the potential to become a fully-fledged Springbok centre. He talks to Planet Sport's Norman Brierley about his love for the sport, his rise through the ranks and his faith which directs his life on and off the field.

Part two of our feature with former Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga. After a public protest against Robert Mugabe’s regime during a 2003 World Cup match, Olonga felt he had no choice but to go into exile. On this week’s show we hear about the price he paid for his protest, and the story of how he found a safe passage out of Zimbabwe. Olonga was the first black cricketer to play for his nation and was considered one of the fastest bowlers in international cricket. But is that how he’d like to be remembered?

At the 2003 Cricket World Cup Zimbabwean cricketer Henry Olonga hit the world headlines. During the match with Namibia he and captain Andy Flower wore black armbands to protest as what they saw as "the death of democracy" in Zimababwe, then under the rule of Robert Mugabe. Olonga received threats and was unable to return to Zimbabwe. In the first of our two part interview, Olonga reflects on his introduction to Test cricket and his actions at the 2003 World Cup which were motivated by his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

US shot putter Michelle Carter won the 2016 Olympic title in Rio, beating the two-time defending champion Valerie Adams from New Zealand with a dramatic, final throw. It was the icing on the cake for the now 34-year old athlete after previously winning the 2016 World Indoors title and bronze at the 2015 World Championships. In an interview recorded after she won bronze again at the 2017 World Championships, Michelle talks to us about what it means to be Olympic champion, captaining the US team at the 2017 World Championships and the impact of her faith as a follower of Jesus Christ on her life and sport.

British boxers Joshua Buatsi and Erick Ochieng were born in Ghana and Kenya respectively. Light heavyweight Buatsi won bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio before turning professional the following year since when he is unbeaten in nine bouts. Welterweight Ochieng won 55 of his 65 amateur fights before also turning professional in 2006, with a 16/25 win record. Joshua and Erick talk to us about their careers and the impact that their faith as followers of Jesus Christ has on their lives and sport.

2019 promises a great year of sport. Planet Sport reporters Stuart Weir and Solomon Izang Ashoms preview some of the events they are looking forward to including the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Planet Sport reporters Solomon Izang Ashoms, Norman Brierley and Liam Flint pick their favourite sporting moments from 2018 including the Fifa World Cup, HSBC World Rugby 7s championship and a moment showing that justice from drugs cheats in the world of athletics will prevail.

In the first of two special reviews of the top sporting action in 2018 Planet Sport correspondent Stuart Weir shares some of his sporting highlights from the past year from the world of football and track and field athletics.

At 15, Australian swimmer Dan Smith had the world at his feet. He was already faster than the five-time Olympic champion, Ian Thorpe, had been at the same age and he was destined for a brilliant future. But then, within a couple of years, he’d thrown it all away through drug addiction. Today, with the help of caring professionals, Dan has turned his life around and is back swimming and living a life clean from drugs. And in this week’s show, he tells us about his remarkable transformation and about his faith in Jesus, which has changed his life.

Over a 15 year career in rugby, second-row forward Dan Leo played for clubs in New Zealand, Australia, England and France. He won the first of his 39 international caps for Samoa in 2005 and went on to represent his country at two World Cups. In the second part of our far-ranging interview, Dan talks about his international career with Samoa and why the players threatened to boycott a match against England in 2015!

Over a 15 year career in rugby, second-row forward Dan Leo played for clubs in New Zealand, Australia, England and France. He won the first of his 39 international caps for Samoa in 2005 and went on to represent his country at two World Cups. In the first of our two-part, far-ranging interview, Dan talks about his upbringing in New Zealand and the highlights of his club career. He also tells us about his journey to faith as a follower of Jesus Christ and the different that has made to his life on and off the pitch.

American track athlete, Madeline Manning-Mims made history in clinching Gold at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. As a black athlete, her journey of challenging racial prejudice has left a long-lasting impact even today! She later went on to become a 4-time Olympian, a coach, a gospel singer and a chaplain.

Christabel Nettey is the reigning women's Commonwealth long jump champion. The 27-year-old from Brampton, Ontario brought home the gold medal for Canada at the Games in Gold Coast, Australia in April. Four years earlier Christabel had won bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the following year she won the Pan-American Games title in Toronto. But the intervening years have been very difficult for her as she struggled with injury and failed to reach the 2016 Olympic final. She spoke to Planet Sport's Tom Ellis a few days after winning her Commonwealth title in Gold Coast about what winning the title meant to her and how her faith has helped her to keep going despite many adversities.

The 4th edition of the Invictus Games in Sydney last week attracted over 500 competitors from 18 nations competing in eleven medal events. The Games were founded in 2014 by the Duke of Sussex, HRH Prince Harry, and both he and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, were in attendance this year in Sydney. The Games are open to all current or former servicemen and women from the regular and reserve Armed Forces who have been wounded, injured, or suffered illness as a result of war and combat. David Tyndall, a former rugby referee and current church minister in Sydney, was one of the chaplains at the event which ran from 20th-27th October and he tells us about the atmosphere at the Games and some of the competitors he met.

Tu Nu'uali'itia was part of the Western Samoa squad that famously beat Wales 16-13 in the 1991 Rugby World Cup in a game that put Pacific Island rugby on the map. Four years later he was again a member of the team as Samoa reached the World Cup quarter finals for the second successive time, scoring a try against the eventual winners South Africa in their quarter final in Johannesburg. Following on from last week's show when Tu shared his World Cup memories, this week he tells us how he first got into rugby as a young boy growing up in Auckland and how his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ directs his life today.

Pat Lam played in a total of three World Cups for Samoa and today he’s coach at top English Premiership club, Bristol Bears. He tells us about his memories of the 1991 World Cup, how the Bears are adjusting to life in the Premiership and how his faith impacts his coaching role today.

Timo Tagaloa was part of the Western Samoa team that famously beat Wales in the 1991 Rugby World Cup in what is still, 27 years later, one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition. Timo shares his memories of that World Cup and tells us about his journey to faith that came after a period in his life as a young man when he was considering suicide.