8 August 2026
Available for over a year
In 1976, women's basketball made its Olympic debut.
Men's basketball had been part of the Olympic programme since 1936, yet it took another 40 years before women were given the opportunity to compete.
The first women's Olympic basketball game was played between the United States and Japan. Juliene Brazinski Simpson, co-captain of the US team, speaks to Stefania Gozzer about that historic moment.
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: The US women's basketball team playing against Bulgaria in Montreal in 1976. Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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