Description
“I wouldn't have become an athlete if I didn't think it was something that God wanted me to do.”
Jonathan Edwards still holds the triple jump world record 27 years after leaping to victory in 1995. He has taken home gold at the Olympics, World and European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. His success, he says, was driven by the belief that he was “in tune with a supernatural being that created the Earth”. Today, he no longer holds those beliefs but looks back on how they had an impact on his sporting career.
For Jonathan Edwards, his Christian beliefs were a deciding factor in his performance as an athlete but does God play a part in sporting success?
Aleem Maqbool brings together three people with different experiences of the inter-play between sport and spirituality. Khadijah Mellah won the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood in 2019 and is the first jockey to wear the hijab in competitive British horse racing. Richard Leadbeater is a former professional footballer turned Anglican Vicar and Shameema Yousuf is a sport psychologist, and mental health therapist who looks at the relationship between performance, mental health and culture.
The panel discuss whether personal religious beliefs have an impact on sporting performance. They ask whether faith gives athletes the edge on their competitors and if sports psychology can have the same impact. When it comes to elite sport, does God have a hand in the result? Does holding a faith make a difference when you’re going for gold? Does God help you win?
Producer: Katharine Longworth
In her poem 'God's Garden', Dorothy Frances Gurney writes:
'One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.’
Join Giles Fraser and a panel of green-fingered guests as they gather together at the Aga Khan Centre in Kings Cross to reflect on the theological significance of...
Published 08/20/24
Giles Fraser explores the parallels and overlaps between spirituality/religion and psychotherapy.
Professor Josh Cohen is a psychotherapist, who believes that God can be a problematic figure in the therapy room.
Joining the discussion with Giles is Dr Jeremy Holmes, British Psychiatrist and...
Published 08/13/24