Amazing Sport Stories: Copper Bullets

BBC World Service

Sport but not as you know it. Our latest Amazing Sport Story: Copper Bullets. A nation’s dreams were shattered when Zambia’s football team was killed in a plane crash. But, against all odds, a new squad was assembled. Forget the champions. Amazing Sport Stories is about courage, underdogs, drama and myths and legends. These are global stories you’ll wish you’d known about and now probably won’t forget. There are other podcasts about gold medals and millionaire superstars. Expect the unexpected. Tales from around the world, all told in mini-seasons and one-off episodes. #AmazingSportStories Previous Amazing Sport Stories include: Chasing Mountains - Five of the world’s top female climbers are thrown into a race. But who will make history by becoming the first woman to summit the fourteen highest peaks in the world? They come from South Korea, Spain, Italy and Austria to pit themselves against some of the harshest environments on Earth, more than 8000 metres high in the Karakoram and Himalayan mountains. The Black 14 – sport, racism and protests are about to change the lives of 14 American footballers. It’s 1969 in the United States. They’ve arrived on scholarships at the University of Wyoming to play for the “Cowboys”. It was a predominantly white college. The team is treated like a second religion. Then, the players make a decision to take a stand against racism in a game against another university. BA Parker takes us back to America’s turbulent 1960s to explore the injustice suffered by the “Black 14”. The Curse of County Mayo - Is one of Ireland’s Gaelic football teams cursed? Sports reporter Dave McKenna investigates this curious case to find out if a 70 year old hex is behind Mayo’s recent failures. Frozen Out - Twelve year old Justine just wants to play ice hockey… with the boys. When she’s told she can’t, she writes a letter which will change everything. Double Olympic gold medallist and former Canadian team captain Cassie Campbell-Pascall tells the sto

  • 12 minutes 3 seconds
    Claressa Shields: Battles beyond boxing

    Claressa Shields is a legend of boxing. By the time she turned 25, she had won two Olympic gold medals, and claimed professional world titles in three separate weight divisions. But her glory came after an upbringing filled with trauma. Her home city of Flint, in Michigan, is one of the most deprived in the US; as a child, she lived in poverty, suffering abuse and violence. This is the story of how she overcame horrific obstacles to reach the pinnacle of one of the hardest sports in the world.

    Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

    30 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • 15 minutes 13 seconds
    Tackles and tailenders

    In 2003, Namibia's Rudie van Vuuren became the first - and, to date, only - man to have played at both the cricket and rugby World Cups. His feat was made all the more impressive by the fact that he was also working full-time as a doctor. His sporting career saw him take on stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Shoaib Akhtar and James Anderson; though Namibia rarely won, he still managed to find some small victories of his own. This is the story of a unique sporting life, and why he's still keeping company with big names away from the pitches.

    23 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • 17 minutes 33 seconds
    Just win the day

    On 22 March 2016, a bomb attack killed 16 people at Brussels Airport. Basketball player Sebastien Bellin was one of the survivors. He says sport, and a meal he ate the night before, helped save his life that day. This is the story of how he found a way to survive amid chaos, and what happened next: a long road to recovery, and a new sporting journey that helped rebuild his future.

    16 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • 33 minutes 45 seconds
    The Legend of Takhti: Ep 3

    Following the unexpected and shocking death of heroic wrestler Gholamreza Takhti, Tehran is a tinderbox. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the streets as tensions and rumours rise to a pitch. Everyone wants someone to blame for this terrible loss. Rana hears about those volatile days, and the state-sanctioned silence that follows. She wrestles with the myth to catch glimpses of the real Takhti, and to seek the legacy that he left behind. Through the years, quietly, the myth of Takhti as a true heroic and gentle figure endures. Gholamreza Takhti remains a figure that inspires athletes and others in Iran today. He was the first Iranian wrestler to win a medal at an international competition. Rana meets Afsoon Johnston, the first Iranian woman to do so, and hears how Takhti’s legacy shapes hers, even down to how a legendary bout plays out. And finally, Rana considers how in many ways, she feels connected to Takhti’s story. Whatever the truth, it seems that everyone has their own version of him now.

    You can listen to this podcast in Persian here: https://www.bbc.com/persian/podcasts/p0703hz7

    9 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • 42 minutes 58 seconds
    The Legend of Takhti: Ep 2

    Heroic wrestler Gholamreza Takhti is dead. Rana Rahimpour goes back to that terrible night in January 1968, hearing from perhaps the last person to see him alive. We speak to his teammate Abdollah Movahed about the immediate impact of his death, and then take a closer look at his relations with Mohammed Reza Shah. Everything in Iran is political, and sport is no exception. To understand why, Rana takes us through the story of Mossadegh, Iran’s National Front, and how the wrestling houses were co-opted by forces much bigger than themselves. She explores Takhti’s own political leanings, as wrestling, politics and power all combine in an explosive and volatile situation, and the many ways that the regime exerts influence on its athletes. Takhti is unstoppable in the ring, but outside of it, gradually everything that makes him a great man is being taken away.

    You can listen to this podcast in Persian here: https://www.bbc.com/persian/podcasts/p0703hz7

    2 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • 39 minutes 37 seconds
    The Legend of Takhti: Ep 1

    Gholamreza Takhti is a hero. In Iran, a nation full of wrestlers and wrestling fans, he’s the most beloved wrestler of them all. But unexpectedly, tragically, the great champion is found dead in a hotel room in Tehran, in the early days of 1968. Presenter Rana Rahimpour grew up with Takhti’s legend all around her; his image plasters her childhood memories. But now she wants to understand how Takhti, and wrestling, became so intertwined with Iranian history and why this man, amongst all others, became such a figurehead.

    #AmazingSportStories

    26 August 2024, 12:30 am
  • 2 minutes 12 seconds
    Trailer: The Legend of Takhti

    Exploring Iranian wrestling legend Gholamreza Takhti’s journey in life, death and his legacy. The Iranian wrestler was the people's hero: a multiple gold Olympic medal-winner, who embodied the spirit of Iran. He was well loved, even by those who fought against him.

    Then, in January 1968, Takhti was found dead in a Tehran hotel room. He was 37.

    Presenter Rana Rahimpour delves into the man behind the myth and sheds a light on the complex relationship between Iran and its heroes. Sport, politics, and power wrestle with each other, as we get to the heart of what it means to be a hero and how we can hold onto them.

    Presenter: Rana Rahimpour Producer: Lucy Greenwell Sound design: David Crackles

    19 August 2024, 12:30 am
  • 16 minutes 22 seconds
    The Olympic defectors

    Iraqi weightlifter Raed Ahmed was proud to carry his country's flag at the opening ceremony for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. But the honour came with a strict instruction: he was not to look at the American President, Bill Clinton. Iraq's Olympic Committee was led by Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, a man with a reputation for brutality.

    But Raed had already begun to think of escape. And that night, with a single glance, he made up his mind. This is the story of how he took the most dangerous decision of his life, and what happened next.

    Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

    12 August 2024, 12:30 am
  • 13 minutes 56 seconds
    Breaking the Olympics

    Breaking, or breakdancing, has its origins in the gang culture of 1970s New York. It evolved on the floors of huge parties, where dance replaced violence as an outlet for neighbourhood bravado. But artist and entrepreneur Michael Holman saw an opportunity to turn the nascent culture in something much larger, a scene that could have global appeal.

    Four decades later, breaking makes its debut as an Olympic sport, with competitors from all over the world bringing their best moves to Paris to compete for gold. This is the story of how it got there. Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

    5 August 2024, 12:30 am
  • 17 minutes 6 seconds
    The business of losing

    Since the 1950s, basketball's Harlem Globetrotters have entertained audiences with their showboating, dunks and pranks in exhibition games all over the world. Their perennial opponents, the Washington Generals, have endured more than 17,000 defeats at their hands, with crowds booing and mocking them as the Globetrotters bamboozle them with flashy skills, tricks and dribbles.

    So what's it like to play for a team whose only job is to lose? Some former Generals say it's one of the best jobs they've ever had, even if it did involve being humiliated on the court every night.

    That is, except for the one night that it didn't...

    Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

    29 July 2024, 12:30 am
  • 15 minutes 1 second
    Around the world in 200 marathons

    In 2016, Nick Butter was searching for a way to raise £250,000 for a prostate cancer charity. He knew he wanted to undertake some kind of running challenge, but wasn't sure what - until he discovered nobody had ever run a marathon in every country in the world. Two years later, he headed to Canada to embark on an epic journey, not realising just how challenging it would be. On his travels, he would be shot at, mugged at gunpoint and attacked by dogs, in addition to pushing his body far beyond anything he'd ever endured. But did he reach the finish line?

    Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

    22 July 2024, 12:30 am
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