In 2009, Ram Barkai, a swimmer from Cape Town, in South Africa, broke the world record for the longest swim in freezing cold water.

He completed the endurance feat wearing only a cap, goggles and standard swimming costume.

Delighted with his achievement, he had a ‘Mandela moment’ and began promoting a new extreme sport which he called ice swimming. Within a few short months, the ice mile was born.

Ram tells Hunter Charlton about the brutal challenge. An Ember production.

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.

(Photo: Ram Barkai diving into Queen Maud Land, Antarctica in 2008. Credit: Patrick Woodhead)