Behind the Dream

Dr Markus Rogan is a former Austrian swimmer and now clinical psychologist. He competed in 4 x Olympic Games, winning silver in the 100m and 200m Backstroke in Athens 2004; became World Short Course Champion in 2008, the year he also broke the World record in the 200m, and was multiple European Champion over his almost 10 year career.

However impressive these achievements are, it is Markus's honesty (and vulnerabilit...

Protea netball goal shooter Lenize Potgieter has played internationally for over 8 years, earning 39 caps for South Africa and playing in the professional netball leagues around the world.  At 1.88cm tall, she is both a strong physical and motivation presence on the court, which has earned her Most Valuable Player at many international tournaments. 

Playing for the Adelaide Thunderbirds, she woke up on her birthday last ye...

Been given the honour of carrying the South African flag at the Tokyo Olympic Opening Ceremony came as a huge surprise to Phumelela Mbande. So began a rollercoaster ride of an Olympic experience for the SA Hockey team vice-captain - one she is still coming to terms with. 

An outspoken mental health advocate, Phumelela very courageously talks about the difficulties in coping with the grief and sadness she felt post-Tokyo af...

Samkelo Radebe had both his hands amputated as a young child when a game with his brother and friends went  badly wrong and 11 000v of electricity surged through his body.  But even then, his optimistic and pragmatic nature helped him through the 9 month hospital recovery and eventually took him to the top of the sporting world.

First representing South Africa at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games where he won silver in the...

Aaron Peirsol  - one of the greatest backstroke swimmers in history -  is a 5 x Olympic Gold medallist and 3 x Olympian. He broke the world record in the 100m and 200m backstroke a combined 13 times, and still holds the world record  in the 200m backstroke (which he set in 2009 in a time of 1:51.92). Across major international competitions he has 36 medals, 29 of which are gold. 

After an incredible 11 years international ...

Shireen Sapiro is a 3 x Paralympic swimmer, and former 100m Backstroke World Record holder - a record she broke at 17 years old, only 4 years after a devastating boat accident almost took her her life, slicing her in half, shattering her pelvis and leaving her left leg paralysed. 

After a super-human effort to make it to Rio 2016 for her 3rd Paralympics, Shireen retired from swimming and in this episode she talks so honest...

Roland Schoeman has been to an incredible four Olympic Games and is one of South Africa's most decorated Olympians. In Athens 2004, he was part of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay that won Gold against the heavily favoured Americans and Australians, and also came away with 2 individual medals - a silver in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m.  Over his almost 16 year career, he broke 5 world records and was multiple World and...

Malcolm Lemmons is a former professional basketball player and through his experiences as an athlete, found his mission and purpose which is to educate and empower athletes to be great both in and out of sports. He has written 2 books, is a well known speaker and entrepreneur, and recently launched @AthletesUnheard  which is a platform to share stories as a way to de-stigmatise mental health struggles in athletes. 

In this...

It is hard to overstate Kami Craig's accomplishments. She is considered to be one of the greatest ever Water Polo players and her incredible list of accomplishments over the course of her 13 year international career includes 2 x Olympic Gold medals, 1 x Olympic silver medal, 3 x World Championship golds and 2 x World Cup wins. 
In this episode Kami talks about the feeling of belonging Water Polo gave her (after being diag...

Bruce MacLarty is widely considered to be the worlds best Polocrosse coach, and when you look at his win record, he is certainly one of the most successful coaches around across all sports. He has lead South Africa to back to back World Cup titles as well as multiple international series wins over the 8 year period he has been in charge of the national side. 

In this episode Bruce talks about the psychology of a high perfo...

"It was pure excitement" is how Lawerence Brittain describes the moment he and rowing partner Shaun Keeling realised they were going to win the silver medal in the Coxless Pair at the Rio Olympic Games. Fulfilling a childhood dream is exciting enough, but add to this the fact that Lawrence was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma just 2 years before the 2016 Games and you can begin to understand quite what that medal me...

In this special, and quite harrowing episode, former elite South African gymnast Glenn Joselowitz courageously shares his story of sexual abuse by his coach when he was a young athlete, and how he ultimately found healing and peace.
It took Glenn many years to speak about what happened to him, but now freely tells his story in the hopes that it will help others that may have also gone through the same experience, and to highlig...

Shaun Tomson is a true sporting legend. Not only has he been named as one of the 25 most influential surfers of the century and one of the top 10 greatest surfers of all time, he is also considered the architect of the modern professional surfer.  He is described at the ultimate stoked surfer, and when asked what gave him an edge on other competitors he says "I just loved it more".Over his 14 year professional career he b...

Born in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, Odwa Ndungane and his twin brother Akona initially dreamt of a career in football, but went on to become the only twins ever to play for the Springboks. 

During his remarkable 17 year career, Odwa earned the reputation as one of the most professional, humble, hardest working and dependable players on the rugby field. After a difficult start at the Sharks when he wondered if he was on th...

Lancashire cricket captain Dane Vilas has had nothing short of an exceptional career - scoring over 15 000 runs (with a First Class high score of 266 and List A score of 166) and taking over 500 catches. However, the Johannesburg born wicket-keeper batsman has had his fair share of ups and downs. 

Being awarded the Newcomer of the Year in 2009, Dane was called up to the Protea squad in 2012, making his international debut ...

From growing up in the small coastal town of Amanzimtoti on the Kwa-Zulu Natal South Coast, Penny Heyns went on to re-write history in the swimming world. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games she became the first woman ever to win both the 100m and 200m breaststroke, she broke 14 world records in a 4 year period, and remains the only person ever to hold world records in all 3 breaststroke distances (50m, 100m & 200m) at the same t...

After making his first class debut in 1998, spinner Paul Harris went on to have a 15 year professional cricket career, taking over 100 wickets for South Africa (and close to 400 in domestic cricket) and was named Newcomer of the Year in 2007 by Cricket South Africa. 

Paul, by his own admission, was an intense competitor that loved the game and it was a big adjustment to 'normal' life when he decided to leave the ...

After playing for his home town club TPS Turku for 4 years, goalkeeper Peter Enckelman signed his first Premier League contract with Aston Villa. He went on to play for another 15 years at various clubs including Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City and St Johnstone FC, and  was also a member of the Finnish football team for 10 years. 

In this episode Peter talks about what drove him during his football career, gives an interest...