Planet Sport

British powerlifter Arthur White won 9 national titles, 6 European titles and 4 world titles over a 30-year career. Last time we heard how he lost his marriage and successful business following an addiction to cocaine before a drugs counsellor introduced him to Jesus Christ. This time Arthur tells us how his new faith transformed his life, how his marriage was restored and how he discovered a new...

For three decades Londoner Arthur White was one of the world's top powerlifters. Over his career he won 9 British titles, 6 European titles and 4 world titles, and he won the Open World Championship twice. Away from the sport he ran a successful business and was happily married until, in his own words, his sport became an addiction and he lost everything as he spiralled downwards into a life of dr...

This week we catch up with reigning Olympic long jump champion Tianna Bartoletta from the USA to find out how she first got into the sport and what she is doing today to encourage and inspire a new generation of young athletes. We also talk to British 100 metres hurdler and 2013 World Championship bronze medallist Tiffany Porter about her sport, ambition and faith.

Two seasons ago Crystal palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni might have thought his career was over. After over 350 appearances for the club he lost his first-team place and endured two years sitting on the bench. But now, at the age of 38, the popular player who has won the club's Player of the Year award four times, has forced his way back into the team and last month helped Palace record their firs...

At the London Games in 2012 Nijel Amos won Botswana's first ever Olympic medal when he won silver in the 800 metres. In August he came 5th in his event at the World Championships in London. Nijel tells us what it meant to win his country's first Olympic medals and about his faith and hopes for the future. 400 metres runner Baboloki Thebe has his sights set on winning Botswana's second Olympic meda...

Stanley Kebenei representing the USA came 5th in the 3000m steeplechase at this year's World Athletics Championships in London. Stanley tells us about his love for the sport and about the qualities needed to become a top steeplechaser. Unlike the USA, Ghana has never won a gold medal at the Olympics. Emmanuel Dasor is a 200m and 400m runner who is aiming to break that duck. He talks to us about hi...

In August Kori Carter from the United States was crowned world champion in the women's 400 metres hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in London. She talks to us about her win, how she started on her athletics career and about the impact of her faith on her life and sport. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio the United States won 46 gold medals but, by contrast, the West African nation of Ghana ha...

South African cricketer JP Duminy has represented the Proteas in all three formats of the game since his debut in a One Day International against Sri Lanka in 2004. At the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup the 33-year-old all-rounder became the first South African to take a hat-trick in a World Cup match. Last month he retired from Test cricket after a career spanning 46 matches, following his release mi...

This past week's World Cup qualifiers has seen teams experience the highs of qualification and the despair of missing out. Argentina left it late winning their final Group game against Ecuador to seal their qualification for Russia 2018 and there was joy for Iceland, the nation with a population of just 350,000 who also reached next year's finals. But three teams who many expected to reach the fin...

This week we meet a track and field athlete who is equally comfortable in the 100 and 200 metre sprints and the long jump. Nigerian Blessing Okagbare has been winning national, African and international titles since she was 17. Today, eleven years later, she has an Olympic medal from Beijing in 2008 and is still a major force in world athletics. At the recent World Athletics Championships in Londo...

On the 4th of April 2016 Carlos Brathwaite entered West Indies folklore when he hit four successive sixes in the final over of the World T20 Competition against England in Kolkata to help West Indies win the World T20 crown. The 29-year old from Barbados has played 3 Test Matches for the West Indies and 23 One Day Internationals but it is in the 20-overs format of the game that he has really made...

Pierre Spies played 53 times for South Africa in an international career spanning seven years from 2006 to 2013. The powerful forward played mainly as Number Eight or a flanker. Throughout his career he was hit by injuries and in August of this year he announced his retirement from the game at the age of 32 after being released by Montpellier. Pierre talks to us about the highlights of his career,...

USA track and field athlete Natasha Hastings first came to prominence as a 16 year old when she won the girls' 400m at the World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada. Since then she has progressed into a 400m relay specialist, helping the USA team to win two Olympic and five world titles, most recently at last month's World Athletics Championships in London. Now 31, she talks to us about the...

Michelle Carter from the USA won the 2016 Olympic shot put title in dramatic fashion, overcoming New Zealand's Valerie Adams with her final throw to win the gold medal and with it claim a new American record. Michelle talked to us at the recent World Athletics Championships in London where she won the bronze medal about her role as Team Captain to the US team, her passion for her sport and the dif...

This week we talk to the double Olympic and three-times world champion in the men's triple jump, Christian Taylor. Christian won his Olympic titles in 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio). His World Championship triumphs were registered in 2011 in Daegu, 2015 in Beijing and three weeks ago in London. In 2015 he recorded his personal best of 18 metres 21 centimetres at the World Championships in Beijing, j...

We talk to four of the athletes competing at last Sunday's Diamond League athletics meeting in Birmingham - Australia's 100m hurdles World Champion Sally Pearson, another World Champion Mutaz Barshim from Qatar in the high jump along with two athletes from The Bahamas, 400m runner Shaunae Miller-Uibo and hurdler Shane Braithwaite.

This week we hear the second part of our interview Faf du Plessis. The South Africa cricket captain talks about some of the players he admires most in world cricket today and shares why he believes his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ makes him a better husband, father and cricketer. We also meet British 100m hurdler Tiffany Porter at the recent World Athletics Championships in London as she te...

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...

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 Chri...

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 extensiv...

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 m...

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 abou...

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...

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.