The LGBT Sport Podcast

Are you one of those people who enjoys getting out on your bike for a good ride around where you live? If you are, it’s really not surprising. After all, it gets you outdoors, keeps you healthy, and gives you a chance to meet new people as well. CycleOut London has been providing those sort of opportunities to LGBTQ+ people in the capital for more than two decades – and this year, it’s celebrating...

It's National Coming Out Day - and we thought it was only appropriate to share some of our most memorable coming out stories from the past two years of the BBC's LGBT Sport Podcast. So in the course of this special compilation episode, you'll hear from: - MMA star Liz Carmouche - Former rugby league star Keegan Hirst - Ice hockey player Zach Sullivan - Paralympian and wheelchair basketball star Ju...

Trophies, trips and memories that last a lifetime - there's really nothing quite like a career in sport. But how hard is it to adapt when all of that comes to an end? Laura Lee is a former Arsenal and Leyton Orient footballer who now works for World After Sport - an organisation that helps prepare elite sportspeople for whatever comes next in their career. She’s our guest on this week’s cracking e...

They say that behind every great athlete, there's a great team - and in the world of British swimming, that includes Josh Rudd. He's a performance lifestyle adviser with British Swimming and the English Institute of Sport, helping some of Team GB's top swimming medal hopes get ready for the Tokyo Olympics and beyond. He’s also the brains behind Pride in Water – a new network supporting LGBTQ+ peop...

On September 25th 2018, we published our first-ever episode of the BBC's LGBT Sport Podcast. We thought that, at best, we'd last for a couple of months - and that if we reached fifty episodes, we'd have done well for ourselves. So you can probably imagine how chuffed we are to be celebrating two years of the podcast, and of telling the stories of LGBTQ+ people from across the world of sport. It's...

She spent nearly two decades as one of Britain's top field athletes, competing at multiple World, Commonwealth and European championships - as well as the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. After she put down her javelin, Shelley Holroyd turned her attention to helping young athletes and para-athletes achieve their full potential as a coach – and now, she's part of the team behind the Athletics Pride Netwo...

Professional wrestling is a unique form of entertainment - and to succeed in it, you need a unique set of skills. Charisma, athleticism and - you would think - a certain macho toughness. But for UK star Cassius, wrestling was actually the place where he learned to embrace his inner femininity, and accept who he really is. And now, he's using those traits to make an impact, inside and outside the r...

For many people, Formula 1 offers the ultimate glamorous lifestyle. Fast cars, exotic places, exciting races - what's not to love?! For many years, Matt Bishop was right at the heart of the sport - first as a journalist reporting on the action, then as the PR chief for the McLaren team - and he was at one point, in his own words, 'the only gay in the F1 village'. Matt's now the communications dire...

From the Olympics to the European Championships, 2021 is shaping up to be a huge year for sport. And in Birmingham, fans are counting down until the end of April when the city will host the Union Cup - Europe's largest inclusive rugby tournament. Teams from across the continent will take part in the event, so it seemed appropriate to make this episode about two of the people who have helped to mak...

Emma Wiggs is one of those truly extraordinary athletes that come along very rarely in life. The para-canoeist is a five-time European champion, a seven-time World Champion and the reigning Paralympic champion after taking gold in Rio four years ago. She's been made an MBE for her services to the sport - and as if that wasn't impressive enough, she also represented Para GB in the sitting volleybal...

You probably wouldn’t expect a former England rugby player to be leading research into the physical and mental impact of coronavirus in the UK. But then again, Zoe Saynor’s career has never really been done by the book. The Harlequins player announced her retirement this weekend, so what better time to sit down with an absolutely brilliant guest to talk about her life, on and off the pitch? Zoe is...

There've been plenty of bike-rides from Lands End to John O'Groats, but this one is truly unique. Paeton McGuire and their son Callum are preparing to cycle the 1000 kilometre route later this month in what's being billed as the 'Tour De Trans' - an event designed to raise awareness of the issues facing transgender people across the UK. It’s one heck of a journey – and ‘journey’ is probably the be...

Natalie Washington can still remember how it felt to score her first goal back on the pitch after around two years away from the beautiful game. It was a special moment for her - not least because the last time Natalie was playing, it was in the men's leagues. She's a fascinating guest on the podcast this week, as she shares her story of what it's like to be a trans-woman in football and so much m...

Saturday 25th July is shaping up to be a big day on the footballing calendar. Players, coaches, supporters groups and fans are coming together for Football Pride - an online event celebrating inclusive football culture. The day of events includes everything from coaching and player panels to an online FIFA tournament, and Samuel Timms is one of the people who has helped to make it happen. He's joi...

You could call Sue Day a trailblazer - but honestly, that'd hardly do her justice. The rugby player captained England in both the fifteens and sevens form of the game, winning three Grand Slams and playing in three separate World Cups in the process. Away from the pitch, she's been just as impressive - becoming the first female president of Wasps, and in her current role as the Chief Financial Off...

He's a world and European medallist who has also claimed the British title on five separate occasions. In fact, it's no exaggeration to say Luke Strong is one of Britain's top trampoline gymnasts - which is even more remarkable when you consider that he once suffered a leg injury so severe that he almost had to have it amputated. Luke really does have an extraordinary story, and we're over the moo...

She was a key part of the Tottenham Hotspur Women's side for the past five years, helping them rise through the ranks and into the Women's Super League. And as if that weren't enough, Chloe Morgan is also a qualified lawyer who takes a huge amount of pride in speaking out about her experiences as an out gay player in the beautiful game. In fact, Chloe is adamant that players should always speak up...

When it comes to contributions to Irish hockey, few have done more than Nikki Symmons. She made more than 200 appearances over a career that spanned twelve years - competing in three Olympic qualifying campaigns as well as half-a-dozen Nations Championships. In 2015, she went into the European Hall of Fame - and as if Nikki's hockey career wasn't impressive enough, she's also represented Ireland i...

It's one of the most popular programmes on CBBC - the BBC's dedicated channel for kids aged anywhere between 6 and 16. Jamie Johnson focuses on life for a group of young players hoping to make it into the competitive world of pro-football - and this week, it's been making more waves than usual after one of the main characters came out as gay. It's something that's been tackled before on-screen in...

How good is sport at tackling homophobia when it occurs? Have things improved over the past few years? If so, how, and if they haven’t, why not? They're big questions - and ones that Dr Rachael Bullingham spends plenty of time looking at in her role as a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Gloucestershire. She’s a brilliant guest and someone we’ve wanted to have on t...

Devon's Jude Hamer was meant to be spending 2020 in Tokyo, competing at her third consecutive Paralympic Games as part of Britain's wheelchair basketball team. Instead, she's still in the UK - training on her own and, amongst other things using her love of sewing to make kit for frontline NHS workers, all as a result of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. It all means Jude has a little bit of spare ti...

As an athlete in an Olympic year, Tom Bosworth couldn't have hoped for a better start to 2020. The race-walker broke his own British record in the 5-thousand metres at the end of February, and then did the same in the 10-thousand metres at the start of March. It was the perfect preparation for this summer's Games in Tokyo, until coronavirus put plans for that on hold - and threw everything else up...

We've been making this podcast since 2018 - and arguably, this is our most significant one yet. What started as a little segment in a sports show has grown into a standalone podcast - and now, we're kicking off Pride Month on BBC Radio 5 Live with this special episode. It features some of the most memorable moments from more than 100 episodes - and looks at things like visibility, coming out, repr...

It's fair to say pro-wrestling is one of the more unique forms of sports entertainment out there. The villains pride themselves on being hated, the heroes do their best to get the crowd behind them - and even though the outcomes of the matches are pre-determined, they still involved real physical skill and strength from everyone involved. It's something Lewis Nicholls has loved from a young age –...

They say in sport that you're either a player or a coach - but the woman you're going to meet today is a dab hand at both. Faye Easton plays for Peterborough Ladies - and when she's not doing that, she's fulfilling her other role as the Head Coach for the South London Stags. So, it's fair to say that she's missing sport - and particularly rugby - as much as anyone at the moment, and we really enjo...