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Sportshour

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Live Saturday morning global sports show with reports, debate and humour

Live Saturday morning global sports show with reports, debate and humour.

Sportshour: Passport Control

Passport Control

06/12/2014

BBC World Service - Sportshour, Passport Control

Why Roman Kreuziger has taken the extraordinary step of revealing his biological passport

Why Roman Kreuziger has taken the extraordinary step of revealing his biological passport.

In the week of allegations of systematic doping in Russian athletics we look at whether the use of biological passports will give authorities the upper hand in the battle against the cheats. We hear from elite Czech cyclist Roman Kreuziger, who has just published details of his biological passport online. The publication of this record of his biological make up over the course of his career is part of Kreuziger’s attempts to convince authorities he is not a drugs cheat. Despite not failing a drugs test, the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA does not believe him and point to anomalies in his biological passport as the basis for their case to ban him. So should an athlete be banned even if the authorities cannot prove any banned substance has been taken? South African sport scientist Ross Tucker and sport criminologist Dr Nic Groombridge debate the issue.

FA Cup at the Edge of the World
Ever since the Royal Engineers made the first FA Cup final in 1872 the British armed forces have been associated with the FA Cup. Although it has been many years since a team representing the armed forces has played in the competition, their love of cup football has continued. As the British Navy sailed around the world, they would often disembark in distant lands with a shiny trophy and the offer of a football match, leaving the cup once they had sailed on. That is how the International Friendship Cup started on a remote island in the US state of Alaska. We went to watch this annual football match inspired by the FA Cup. 

Loneliness of the Long Distance Running Coach
The bond between and an athlete and their coach often stretches beyond the track. A coach needs to understand more than just an athlete's physical limits, whilst the athlete has to have complete faith in the methods of the coach in order to build success. That relationship is at the heart of what helped some 900 people coached by John Honerkam to complete the New York marathon last month. What makes his coaching all the more remarkable is Honerkamp never actually meets any of the people he trains.

Atdhe Nuhiu 
Footballer Atdhe Nuhiu was born in Kosovo but had to flee the war-torn country. His family made their way to Austria and a new life. He tells us about his traumatic childhood and his hopes to play for the Kosovan international team as well as Austria.

Blind Cricket World Cup
We hear from the England team taking part in the 4th Blind Cricket World Cup in South Africa. England take on Pakistan in Saturday’s semi-final.

FA Cup Dreams
One team hoping for FA Cup progress is Tranmere Rovers. Forever in the shadow of neighbours Liverpool and Everton, victory on Saturday could set up a tie against one of those two big teams. It would be especially sweet for Tranmere winger Abdulai Bell-Baggie who knows his success could provide just a fleeting moment of light relief for his native Sierra Leone.

Sporting Witness
Shaiza Khan and Kiran Baluch are pioneers of women's cricket in Pakistan. They set up a team in the face of religious opposition and death threats; both went on to set world records in their sport and become two of the first female members of the MCC.

(Photo: Czech Republic's Roman Kreuziger celebrates after crossing the finish line of the 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2012. Credit: Luk Benies/AFP/GettyImages)

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