Planet Sport

On this week's episode of the Hot Topics series, we look at the rise of interest in Cricket and ask, could the sport he set for world domination? Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo offer up their insight, plus we want to hear from you!

On this week's episode of the Hot Topics series, we look at the ways in which we could start to eradicate racism from world sport. Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo offer up their insight, plus we want to hear from you!

On this week's episode of the Hot Topics series, we look at how athletes could best use their social media, after recent examples where posting has landed players in a fierce media storm! Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo offer up their insight, plus we want to hear from you!

On this week's episode of the Hot Topics series, we're asking if it's fair for pro athletes, who have a faith, to pray to win? We discuss whether this matters depending on what your beliefs are and whether this does happen in locker rooms! Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo offer up their insight, plus we want to hear from you!

On this week's episode of the Hot Topics series, we're asking if we are taking mental health in pro sport seriously enough? Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo have their say, plus we want to hear from you!

On this week's episode of the Hot Topics series, we focus on Boxing and we're asking if the sport itself is dangerous and morally wrong? Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo have their say, plus we hear from former IBO Welterweight World Champion, Chris ‘The Heat’ Van Heerden!

In this first episode of our brand new Hot Topics series, we start by looking at wages in football, and we're asking if the big bucks earned by top players are justified, or if the world has just gone crazy? Our panel of Andy Searles, a chaplain in Major League Soccer and Journalist Russ Bravo have their say, plus we want your thoughts!

This week on Planet Sport we hear from one of the greatest female long-distance runners in history, Kenya’s Tegla Loroupe. During her successful sports career from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s, Tegla Loroupe won two World Championship bronze medals in the 10,000m, she holds world records for 25 and 30k, set two marathon world records, and was the first African woman to win the New York Maratho...

This week on Planet Sport we speak to three-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion in the triple jump Christian Taylor. The American track and field star has a personal best of 18.21m, which makes him the second best triple jumper of all time, after Jonathan Edwards who jumped 18.29 metres back in 1995. It’s a record Taylor has been chasing and desperate to beat since his first world ti...

This time around we speak to South Africa rugby sevens star Siviwe, also known as Shakes Soyizwapi. The Blitzboks have just claimed their first Canada Sevens title in Vancouver beating France 21-12 in the final of the sixth tournament in the World Rugby Sevens Series. The first tournament win for the Springbok Sevens since June last year, when they clinched the Paris Sevens and with it the World S...

The left arm spinner who retired in 2013 was only the second Zimbabwean cricketer to have played in the IPL and came to be known as the second best spinner in the history of Zimbabwe cricket after the legendary Paul Strang. An intimidating character on the field, Price overcame the odds as a child - having been born two months prematurely he contracted meningitis when he was a few months old and w...

On this week's show we hear from 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya. The South African is seeking to overturn a regulation proposed by the governing body of athletics - the IAAF - to restrict the levels of testosterone in female athletes. We talk about her success so far as an athlete, her hopes for the future and about the importance of respect.

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 h...

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 fa...

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...

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 i...

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 Cham...

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 thei...

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 li...

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 agains...