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Oct 2024
32m 19s

Elise Christie: The Olympic speed skater...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

World champion speed skater Elise Christie represented Great Britain at three Winter Olympics, but after announcing her retirement from the sport she worked three jobs and slept in her car. She tells Sportshour’s Caroline Barker how the content creation site Only Fans has helped her take back control of her life and what’s next after ruling out a return to the ice for the 2026 Winter Olympics with either Great Britain or Belgium.

If you have been impacted by Elise's story then help available in the UK can be found at bbc.co.uk/actionline. Help and support outside the UK can be found at befrienders.org.

Will more professional footballers become referees? Former Trinidad and Tobago international Chris Birchall played with David Beckham at LA Galaxy and against England at a World Cup, but after retiring from professional football, he's now a qualified referee. To mark International Referees' Day, he explains how he’s part of a programme that could take past and current players all the way to the Premier League as elite referees.

Not many, if any, sports teams in the world are fully owned, managed, and coached by an all-female team... well, New Zealand women's basketball team BNZ Kāhu have changed that. Hear from head coach and co-owner Jody Cameron on the impact they’re hoping to make and how she juggles co-ownership and being head coach.

Plus, ahead of Finland versus England in football’s Nations League, Sportshour’s Alex Seftel finds out why British players are heading to Finland's top division.

Image: Elise Christie of Great Britain leads during the Ladies’ 500m Short Track Speed Skating qualifying on day one of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 10, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

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