Planet Sport

We report from the World Athletics Championships in London and hear from 400m Olympic and now World Champion Wayde van Niekerk on being compared to the great Usain Bolt. Fans at the event tell us what they will miss most about Bolt following his retirement and we talk to South African cricket captain, Faf du Plessis, as he tells us what it means to captain the side and why his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ is the most important aspect to his life.

CrossFit is a new sport that started in the USA in 2000 and since then it has spread rapidly around the world, today established in 175 countries. It combines work outs and fitness regimes with competition. Jacob Heppner from Kansas, USA came 7th in the 2016 CrossFit Games. He tells us about his love for the sport and how he believes it is integral to his life and faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Arnold Origi plays for Lillestrom in the Norwegian League, the Tippeligaen. He has played over 30 times for Kenya, helping the national team rise from their lowly Fifa ranking of 134th in 2012 to their current position of 84th. He tells us how he first got into football as a young boy growing up in Kenya, and about his faith as a committed follower of Jesus Christ. He also talks about his extensive footballing family, including his father and uncle who were both internationals, and his cousin, the Liverpool and Belgium striker, Divock Origi.

We talk to four athletes looking forward to competing in next month's World Athletics Championships in London. South African Wenda Nel talks about her hopes in the 400m hurdles and we hear from British runner Adelle Tracey who'll be competing in the 800 metres. American sprinter Ameer Webb shares his hopes for the 200 metres and fellow American Jenny Simpson looks forward to the 1500 metres.

This week Planet Sport’s Tom Ellis reports from last Sunday’s Anniversary Games in London where many of the world’s top track and athletes were competing as part of their final preparations ahead of next month’s World Athletics Championships which will be held in the same stadium. We hear from world 100 metres hurdles world record holder Kendra Harrison and 2012 Olympic champion in the men’s 400 metres hurdles, Aries Merritt, both from the United States. We also talk to Great Britain’s double Olympic champion in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, Mo Farah, and race walker Tom Bosworth who set a new world record holder in the rarely-competed one mile race walk.

Fanie van der Merwe was the double T37 category 100 metres champion at the Paralympic Games in Beijing (2008) and London (2012). He also won the 200 metres in 2008 making him a three-time Paralympic champion. At times during his career he was also the world record holder for the men's T37 100 metres. Fanie retired after winning bronze in the 100m at the Rio Paralympics in 2016. He talks to us about his athletics career, his career highlights and his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ that directs his life.

Last month Chris Dry helped the South Africa Rugby 7s team win the World Series. In 2014 he was part of the team that won the Commonwealth Games title, ending the long-running reign of New Zealand's All Blacks. He talks to us about his life in rugby and his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ. We also hear from South Africa cricketer Mangaliso Mosehle who featured in the recent 3-match T20 series against England, about the faith that directs his life.

This week we feature cricket and football as we talk to South Africa wicket-keeper Mangaliso Mosehle ahead of this week's three-match T20 series against England, and, as Iran become the second nation to qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, listen again to our interview with former Iranian footballer and national Cup winner, David Parinejad.

As a young boy growing up in Indonesia Arthur Irawan dreamed of one day playing football in Europe. In his teens he was spotted by a football scout and joined the Manchester United Youth Academy where he made a good impression. With tight work permit controls Arthur was unable to play competitive football in England so went to Spain before returning to Indonesia where he now plays for Persija Jakarta. He talks to us about his life and career in football. We also talk to Ruhan Nel, from the South Africa Rugby 7s side that recently won the 2016/17 World Series title about his rugby and faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Legendary BBC football commentator John Motson looks back on the English Premier League season and shares his thoughts on title-winners Chelsea, the coaches of the two Manchester teams - Pep Guardiola at Man City and Jose Mourinho at United - and the players that caught his eye during the past campaign. And we talk to Billy Odhiambo, star of the Kenya rugby sevens team, about his life and rugby career.

Last month Neil Powell guided South Africa's Rugby 7s team, the Blitzboks, to success in the HSBC Rugby 7s World Series. After coming second in the ten-tournament series for the past four years it was a sweet success to finally win the title. Just before the final round of the series in London in May, Planet Sport's Norman Brierley spoke to Neil about his life in rugby and his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ that directs his life on and off the field.

This week we're at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series finals in London. We hear from a member of the series winning South African side, Sivewe Soyizwapi, and the Impact Player of the London tournament, Dan Norton. We also hear from Kenya's captain, Andrew Amonde, and fans at the event share their enjoyment of the sport.

Most sprinters have retired by their mid-30s but today at the age of 41 Kim Collins is still competing at the highest level. The 2003 World 100m champion from St Kitts and Nevis spoke to reporters before the recent IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha about his advice for young athletes coming into the sport and European Athletics' proposal to wipe out all world records before 2005 due to concerns about the efficacy of doping controls at that time. And former Dutch long distance runner, Jos Hermens, talks about his role today as a coach and manager to many of today's top athletes.

High jumper Erik Kynard from the USA won silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In 2016 he added a bronze medal to his collection at the World Indoor Championships in Portland. Erik spoke to Planet Sport's Stuart Weir at last week's IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha about his journey as an elite sportsman from his early days discovering the sport to his memories of his silver medal winning performance at the London Olympics. He also talks about the role of faith in his life.

Julian Bolling is a former Sri Lankan swimming champion. In the 1980s and 90s he won 15 titles in four editions of the South Asian Games. he represented his country in three Summer Olympics. Today Julian is a swimming coach based in Colombo. In this week's programme he tells us about the impact of the devastating tsunami that hit Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004 and how his Rainbow Swimming Academy have been helping people, and especially children, since then to overcome their fear of the sea.

We hear from participants and spectators at last Sunday's London Marathon. We talk to the winners of the men's and women's elite races, Daniel Wanjiru and Mary Keitany from Kenya and pre-race favourite Kenenisa Bekele from Ethiopia about running the second fastest marathon last September in Berlin and his career highlights including world records and Olympic titles. Two top Kenyan athletes talk about their anger and disappointment following the suspension of last year's London Marathon winner and 2016 Olympic champion, Jemima Sumgong following a doping offence and in the second part of our interview with Julian Bolling the former Sri Lankan swimming champion tells us about his journey to faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Sri Lankan swimmer Julian Bolling won 15 gold medals in 4 editions of the Asian Games between 1984 and 1991. He also represented his country in three Olympic Games. Today he's a swimming coach in Sri Lanka. In the first part of his story he tells us about his sporting family and life as a national swimming champion. We also hear the concluding part of our interview with former Bayern Munich and Ghana defender, Sammy Kuffour, in which he tells us how his faith helped him after the tragic death of his 15-month-old daughter in a swimming pool accident in 2003.

With the new F1 season underway we're joined by former F1 driver Alex Dias Ribeiro to assess how the recently introduced modifications to the cars this season are likely to affect the race for this season's Championship. And in the second part of our interview with Sammy Kuffour, the former Bayern Munich and Ghana defender tells us about his tough upbringing in Kumasi when his mother had to sell the family television set to buy him a pair of football boots.

Last season Manchester United sacked manager Louis van Gaal despite winning the FA Cup when the club finished 5th in the Premier League table and missed out on a lucrative Champions League place. Van Gaal was replaced by Jose Mourinho but this season United are still under pressure and outside the top four places so what, if anything, has changed? Our Chief Football Correspondent Stuart Weir investigates. And we talk to former Bayern Munich defender, Sammy Kuffour, who was on the losing side when Manchester United scored two injury time goals to win the 1999 Champions League final.

We look ahead to the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast Australia that gets underway in just over a year's time from 4-15 April. We talk to the Chairman of Gold Coast 2018, Peter Beattie, to find out what the event and location have to offer athletes and visitors. One of the top sports on show will be Rugby 7s and we hear from two of the gold medallists from the 2014 Rugby 7s competition in Glasgow, Kyle Brown and Seabelo Senatla from South Africa.