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Sportshour: Grand National: The Female Riders Making Huge Strides

Discussion & Talk

Grand National: The Female Riders Making Huge Strides

14/04/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - Sportshour, Grand National: The Female Riders Making Huge Strides

Hear from the first ever female jockey to ride in the Grand National.

When the 38 runners and riders gather at the starting line at Aintree, it will be a Grand National like no other seen in the past 30 years.  For the first time since 1988, three female jockeys will be in their number. We speak to the first ever female rider to take part in the race in 1977, Charlotte Budd now known as Brew on her memories of that iconic race and how the sport is now heading in the right direction with gender equality.

Australian weightlifter Tia Clare Toomey was asked whether she wanted to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games, just a week on after tragically losing her cousin in a car crash. Tia Clare wanted to compete and make her cousin proud. Her cousin Jade was meant to be in the stands cheering her on. Tia went on to lift her personal best 114kg in the clean and jerk to win gold in her home Games. She was also declared the Fittest Woman on Earth last year, when she won the 2017 CrossFit Games. She tells Shari how she has coped with the tragic loss and using it as an inspiration to become Olympic champion.

At the age of 71 years old, Sue Curran is representing New Zealand in Lawn Bowls but that is only half the story. Sue only took up the sport six years ago, but she has participated at two Commonwealth Games. Sue is visually impaired and describes to Shari how much of an obstacle that is to her sporting career and how the sport helped cure loneliness following the death of her husband.

Until three years ago, Jessica Lovett Murray had never run more than a few kilometres at a time - growing up in Australia's second-smallest state, Victoria - she participated in team sport but after the birth of her son, Jessica found the barriers too great to return back to sport - that all changed though with the help of the Indigenous Marathon Foundation team. Now she has completed the New York Marathon. Jessica's success story has been chosen by Australian campaign ThisGirlCan, which builds on the UK-based campaign of the same name. It is designed to help women free themselves from the fear of judgement. Research has found that more than 41% of Victorian women over the age of 25 are too embarrassed to exercise in public, with one in five doing no physical activity during a typical week. We speak to Jessica about her personal journey and how she has overcome anxiety/depression through the power of running.

Like many teenage boys, Soufiane Touzani was addicted to football. But aged 14 he was diagnosed with a curvature of the spine and advised not to play the game. So he picked up a ball and started performing tricks and is now regarded at the pioneer of freestyle football. His video blogs went viral and is admired by one of the best players in the world like Christiano Ronaldo and Neymar.

She has showcased her talent in the greatest show on earth culminating in securing silver at two Olympic Games - she is also a triple world champion in long jump.... Now Fiona May is head of anti-racism in the Italian Football Association and if that's not enough, she is also studying for a Masters in International Sports Governance. You would be forgiven to assume that Fiona is a well driven, ambitious woman full of confidence breaking down stereotypical barriers.

However, despite all her success, confidence is an ingredient she feels she lacks – hear her interview with the BBC’s Mani Djazmi.

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