Sporting Witness

As London prepares to hold the 2012 Olympics, Sporting Witness goes back four centuries to the first ever games held in Britain - the "Cotswold Olimpicks".

The games - which included everything from tossing the caber to shin-kicking - were organised by Robert Dover in the small village of Chipping Campden.

Sarah Cuddon visits the modern version of the Cotswold Games and learns how they inspired the finest poets of the age.

PHOTO: Sheaf-throwing, an Olympic sport in the Cotswolds. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1968, Kip Keino became an inspiration to Kenyan athletes when he won gold in the 1500m at the Mexico City Olympics.

Mary Harper visits Keino at his home in Kenya to hear about his struggle to win that medal, and about his incredible life story.

(Image: Kip Keino winning Olympic gold. Credit: Tony Duffy/Getty Images Sport)

At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, the world looked on in horror as the Australian runner, Ron Clarke the race favourite, collapsed at the finishing line of the 10,000 metres. His heart had stopped.

The Australian team doctor, Brian Corrigan, ran to him and managed to get his heart started again.

Clarke had run out of oxygen because of the high altitude in Mexico City.

Sporting Witness speaks to Ron Clarke and Brian Corrigan.

This programme broadcast in December 2011.

Picture: Ron Clarke, in second place, shortly before his collapse. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

How three British women swimmers took the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics by storm.

Their names were Joyce Cooper, Jean McDowell and Cissie Stewart.

Photo: The British women's team in Holland.

At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union challenged Canada - the best country in the world for ice hockey - to a special series of matches.

The eight-game series was closely fought and went right up to the final seconds in Moscow.

Sporting Witness speaks to Paul Henderson, one of the stars of the Canadian team.

Audio courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Team Canada 72.

PHOTO: Paul Henderson (centre, in the dark jersey) playing the USSR in 1972. (HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES).

In 1976 Princess Anne became the first member of the British Royal Family to compete in the Olympic Games.

The Princess was part of the three-day eventing team in Montreal. She suffered concussion after a bad fall from her horse Goodwill.

She shares her Olympic memories with Fred Dove.

This programme was first broadcast in November 2011.

Picture: HRH Princess Anne, The Princess Royal aboard Goodwill during the Mixed Three-Day Event Team Cross-Country at the XXI Olympic Summer Games on 24 July 1976 at the Olympic Equestrian Centre, Bromont, Québec, Canada., Credit: Getty Images.

The diminutive weight-lifter, Precious McKenzie, was a prodigious talent, but apartheid prevented him from competing for South Africa.

Precious had to move to Britain and work in a factory in Northampton.

While doing so, he finally achieved international success at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.

Precious went on to become a familiar figure on British TV in the 1970s.

Emily Williams talks to him for Sporting Witness.

PHOTO: Precious McKenzie shows off his medal collection (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

At the start of the 1970s, the United States and Maoist China were cold war enemies.

Then the world table tennis championships of 1971 helped improve relations between the two countries.

Sporting Witness hears from the American ping-pong players invited on a pioneering visit to China.

In 1980, the British swimmer, Duncan Goodhew, faced a moral dilemma over whether to compete in the Moscow Olympics, which were being boycotted by the USA.

In the end, he decided to compete and won Gold in the 100m breastroke.

For Witness, David Prest hears from Duncan Goodhew and other British athletes at the 1980 games.

PHOTO: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In October 1974 one of the greatest boxing matches of all time took place in Zaire.

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman fought for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.

The President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko had paid them millions of dollars to travel to Africa.

Jerry Izenberg, who covered the contest as a reporter for The New Jersey Star Ledger, told Chloe Hadjimatheou his memories of possibly the most iconic bout in the sport's history.

Muhammad Ali died aged 74 on 3 June 2016. George Foreman died aged 76 on 21 March 2025.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.

Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the Fifa computer game was created.

(Fight archive courtesy of ESPN)

(Photo: Rumble in the Jungle. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)