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BBC World Service

NEW SEASON: Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team. Basketball, the Cold War, and rock band The Grateful Dead collide in this incredible true story. Presented by the late NBA star Bill Walton. Starts19 May.

Unbelievable stories from the world of sport. Amazing Sport Stories brings you the greatest twists and personal journeys from sport history. Listen for inspiring tales of courage, drama, myths and legends from all over the globe.

From minor-league underdogs to Olympic champions. These are sporting heroes you’ll wish you’d known about and now probably won’t forget.

Previous seasons include The Legend of Takhti, about the Iran wrestling hero who died under mysterious circumstances. Or The Black 14, about the group of Black American football players who took a stand against racism in the game. And Chasing Mountains, the story of five female mountaineers battling to make climbing history.

All told in mini seasons and one-off documentary episodes. #AmazingSportStories

Amazing Sport Stories, including Chasing Mountains

The final showdown. The only thing which stands between Lithuania and an Olympic medal? The Unified Team – the team representing former Soviet countries and, for Lithuanians, their former occupiers. 

Will the Lithuanian basketball team be able to beat the Unified Team with the world watching? And can they triumph in tie-dye?

The late NBA star and sports commentator Bill Walton presents this extraordinary true story which brings together basketball, the US rock band The Grateful Dead, and the fall of the Soviet Union. Bill passed away in 2024, not long after recording the series, and his family have given permission for its release following his death. 

Amazing Sport Stories brings you the greatest twists and personal journeys from sport history. Listen for inspiring tales of courage, drama, myths and legends from all over the globe. All told in mini seasons and one-off documentary episodes. #AmazingSportStories

Amazing Sport Stories: Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team is a Bespoken Media production for the BBC World Service.

Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team: Ep 3

The Lithuanian men’s basketball team are making a splash at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. But they’re about to face two of their biggest challenges…

The Unified Team is made up of athletes representing the former Soviet republics. For newly independent Lithuania, could this be a moment to prove themselves on the world stage?

And as if that isn’t enough, the US Dream Team is made up of some of the best players in the world, including Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. Will Lithuania stand a chance?

The late NBA star and sports commentator Bill Walton presents this extraordinary true story which brings together basketball, the US rock band The Grateful Dead, and the fall of the Soviet Union. Bill passed away in 2024, not long after recording the series, and his family have given permission for its release following his death. 

This episode was updated on 16 July 2025.

Amazing Sport Stories brings you the greatest twists and personal journeys from sport history. Listen for inspiring tales of courage, drama, myths and legends from all over the globe. All told in mini seasons and one-off documentary episodes. #AmazingSportStories 

Amazing Sport Stories: Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team is a Bespoken Media production for the BBC World Service.

Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team: Ep 2

Bill Walton tells the story of Sarunas Marciulionis’ journey from the USSR to the NBA. Along the way, there’s also a Grateful Dead concert…

It’s Moscow, 1989, and Lithuanian basketball star Sarunas Marciulionis is walking nervously through the airport. If all goes to plan, a new life awaits playing basketball for the NBA in the US. But first, he must cross the Iron Curtain.

Sarunas doesn’t yet know the incredible journey he is about to go on. One which will involve political upheaval, the Olympic games, the US rock band The Grateful Dead - and, of course, tie-dye. 

The late NBA star and sports commentator Bill Walton presents this extraordinary true story. Bill passed away in 2024, not long after recording the series, and his family have given permission for its release following his death. 

Amazing Sport Stories brings you the greatest twists and personal journeys from sport history. Listen for inspiring tales of courage, drama, myths and legends from all over the globe. All told in mini seasons and one-off documentary episodes. #AmazingSportStories

Amazing Sport Stories: Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team is a Bespoken Media production for the BBC World Service.

Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team: Ep 1

Basketball, the Cold War, and rock band The Grateful Dead collide in this incredible true story. Presented by the late NBA star Bill Walton. Coming soon on 19 May.

What do basketball, rock music, and tie-dye t-shirts have in common? And what about Mickey Hart, Sarunas Marciulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, and the US Dream Team? Well, they are all subject of the brand new season of Amazing Sport Stories: Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team.

It’s Moscow, 1989, and Lithuanian basketball star Sarunas Marciulionis is walking nervously through the airport. If all goes to plan, a new life awaits playing basketball for the NBA in the US. But first, he must cross the Iron Curtain. Sarunas doesn’t yet know the incredible journey he is about to go on. One which will involve political upheaval, the Olympic games, the US rock band The Grateful Dead - and, of course, tie-dye. 

The late NBA star and sports commentator Bill Walton presents this extraordinary true story. Bill passed away in 2024, not long after recording the series, and his family have given permission for its release following his death. 

Amazing Sport Stories brings you the greatest twists and personal journeys from sport history. Listen for inspiring tales of courage, drama, myths and legends from all over the globe. All told in mini seasons and one-off documentary episodes. #AmazingSportStories

Trailer: Bill Walton’s The Grateful Team

Claressa Shields is a legend of boxing. By the time she turned 25, she had won two Olympic gold medals, and claimed professional world titles in three separate weight divisions. But her glory came after an upbringing filled with trauma. Her home city of Flint, in Michigan, is one of the most deprived in the US; as a child, she lived in poverty, suffering abuse and violence. This is the story of how she overcame horrific obstacles to reach the pinnacle of one of the hardest sports in the world.

Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

Claressa Shields: Battles beyond boxing

In 2003, Namibia's Rudie van Vuuren became the first - and, to date, only - man to have played at both the cricket and rugby World Cups. His feat was made all the more impressive by the fact that he was also working full-time as a doctor. His sporting career saw him take on stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Shoaib Akhtar and James Anderson; though Namibia rarely won, he still managed to find some small victories of his own. This is the story of a unique sporting life, and why he's still keeping company with big names away from the pitches.

Tackles and tailenders

On 22 March 2016, a bomb attack killed 16 people at Brussels Airport. Basketball player Sebastien Bellin was one of the survivors. He says sport, and a meal he ate the night before, helped save his life that day. This is the story of how he found a way to survive amid chaos, and what happened next: a long road to recovery, and a new sporting journey that helped rebuild his future.

Just win the day

Following the unexpected and shocking death of heroic wrestler Gholamreza Takhti, Tehran is a tinderbox. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the streets as tensions and rumours rise to a pitch. Everyone wants someone to blame for this terrible loss. Rana hears about those volatile days, and the state-sanctioned silence that follows. She wrestles with the myth to catch glimpses of the real Takhti, and to seek the legacy that he left behind.
 
Through the years, quietly, the myth of Takhti as a true heroic and gentle figure endures. Gholamreza Takhti remains a figure that inspires athletes and others in Iran today. He was the first Iranian wrestler to win a medal at an international competition. Rana meets Afsoon Johnston, the first Iranian woman to do so, and hears how Takhti’s legacy shapes hers, even down to how a legendary bout plays out.
 
And finally, Rana considers how in many ways, she feels connected to Takhti’s story. Whatever the truth, it seems that everyone has their own version of him now.

You can listen to this podcast in Persian here: https://www.bbc.com/persian/podcasts/p0703hz7

The Legend of Takhti: Ep 3

Heroic wrestler Gholamreza Takhti is dead. Rana Rahimpour goes back to that terrible night in January 1968, hearing from perhaps the last person to see him alive. We speak to his teammate Abdollah Movahed about the immediate impact of his death, and then take a closer look at his relations with Mohammed Reza Shah.
 
Everything in Iran is political, and sport is no exception. To understand why, Rana takes us through the story of Mossadegh, Iran’s National Front, and how the wrestling houses were co-opted by forces much bigger than themselves. She explores Takhti’s own political leanings, as wrestling, politics and power all combine in an explosive and volatile situation, and the many ways that the regime exerts influence on its athletes. Takhti is unstoppable in the ring, but outside of it, gradually everything that makes him a great man is being taken away.

You can listen to this podcast in Persian here: https://www.bbc.com/persian/podcasts/p0703hz7

The Legend of Takhti: Ep 2

Gholamreza Takhti is a hero. In Iran, a nation full of wrestlers and wrestling fans, he’s the most beloved wrestler of them all. But unexpectedly, tragically, the great champion is found dead in a hotel room in Tehran, in the early days of 1968.
 
Presenter Rana Rahimpour grew up with Takhti’s legend all around her; his image plasters her childhood memories. But now she wants to understand how Takhti, and wrestling, became so intertwined with Iranian history and why this man, amongst all others, became such a figurehead.

#AmazingSportStories

The Legend of Takhti: Ep 1

Iraqi weightlifter Raed Ahmed was proud to carry his country's flag at the opening ceremony for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. But the honour came with a strict instruction: he was not to look at the American President, Bill Clinton. Iraq's Olympic Committee was led by Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, a man with a reputation for brutality.

But Raed had already begun to think of escape. And that night, with a single glance, he made up his mind. This is the story of how he took the most dangerous decision of his life, and what happened next.

Audio scenes have been re-created. Let us know what you think #AmazingSportStories

The Olympic defectors

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