Making Transition Worth It - with Lauryn Williams

Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author, and 2018 Academy Award Winner in the Best Documentary Feature category for his revelatory film, Icarus.

Icarus was released in 2017 and achieved huge critical acclaim having been described as “illuminating” by the New York Times and “Game Changing” by Variety due to its pivotal role in revealing evidence of systematic doping in Russia. Fogel’s Icarus premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, winning the first ever Special Jury "Orwell Award" as well as the first ever Audience Choice Award. The film was then acquired in a historic $5 million sale to media giant Netflix, before going on to secure Fogel the coveted Oscar, in what was the highlight of his career to date.

As a former standup comedian and actor, and the writer of long-running Off-Broadway show, Jewtopia, Fogel describes himself as having a “goofy” personality, a characteristic in stark contrast to the serious, thrilling nature of his recent work. 

Fogel’s most recent film, The Dissident, follows the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's effort to control international dissent. It is currently available to watch in the UK on Amazon Prime.

Player, coach, broadcaster and administrator, Katrina Adams has done it all. Adams is the former President and CEO of the United States Tennis Association—the first black woman, first former player and youngest person ever to hold the position. Adams served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as USTA Chairman and President, serving the board between 2005 and 2020.

As a professional tennis player, Adams competed for 12 years on the WTA Tour, winning 20 career doubles titles and reaching a career high of World Number 8.

She has been named on Adweek magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” list twice (2016 and 2017), Forbes magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” list in 2017 and Ebony magazine’s “Power 100” list. 

She is Vice President of the International Tennis Federation, Chair of the Billie Jean King Cup Committee, Chair of the Gender Equality in Tennis Committee and the Executive Director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program. 

She has recently published her maiden novel “Own the Arena”, which is available and out now.

In this 13th outing, Ben speaks to his Great Aunt and former Olympic Champion Fencer, Gillian Donaldson. Now 92, Donaldson (née Sheen) is a seven-time British national fencing champion, and Olympic Gold medallist in the Foil for Great Britain at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In becoming Olympic Champion in Melbourne, Donaldson was, and remarkably remains so to this day, the only Briton ever to win Gold in Fencing at an Olympic Games. 

Whilst competing at an elite level in the early days of her fencing career in England, Donaldson balanced her athletic career alongside her dental surgeon studies at University College Hospital London. Post retirement from fencing, she made the move across the Atlantic to New York with her husband, Bob, a part of the world where she has loved ever since.

Hilary Philbin, President of British Fencing has described Gillian as “an inspiration to a new generation of fencers and remains so to this day.” It is this level of praise as well as her success in competition that lead to Gillian being awarded an MBE, albeit somewhat belatedly, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2019.

Gillian has lived in New York State since the 1960’s, where she put her studies to good use by setting up a dental and orthodontic practice with her husband, and also spent time practicing dentistry on an annual basis on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas territory in the Carribean with a population of only 5,000 people.

As a self-confessed “huge fan” of Her Majesty The Queen, she remains in regular contact with the UK, flying back for special fencing events, including the 2012 London Olympics and supporting young British fencers. 

Richard “Dick” Pound, is a Canadian swimming champion, lawyer and prominent spokesman for ethics in sport. He was the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee.

At the beginning of his sporting journey, there was his successful swimming career that saw him become four-time Canadian national freestyle champion, as well as butterfly champion. Internationally, he represented Canada at the 1960 Olympics, and won four medals at the 1962 Commonwealth games.

But it’s his ground-breaking work post-competition that has seen him become as revered as he is today. During his presidency at WADA, he became synonymous with anti-doping, and in 2015, he led a ground-breaking investigation that uncovered the details of an institutionalized doping scheme within Russian athletics, which led to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency being declared non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, paving the way for the biggest sporting scandal of modern times: the Russian Doping Crisis.

TIME magazine featured Dick as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World", and current WADA President Witold Banda states “everyone who loves sport and who cherishes the values of fair play, owes a lot to Dick and what he has achieved”.

#11 -  It’s not often that a successful athlete is better known for their work after their athletic career, especially when that career involved achievements such as being the UK number 1 ranked men’s singles tennis player, reaching world number 80, winning three ATP titles in men’s doubles, and representing Britain at two Olympic Games (Seoul and Barcelona) and the Davis Cup.

However, this is exactly the case for former face of breakfast television show GMTV Andrew Castle. After retiring from professional tennis, Andrew has become one of the most recognisable faces in televised British sport, presenting Basketball, Motor Racing, Golf, and much more alongside his beloved Tennis.

 Andrew has hosted multiple game shows, and even had a strong run as a contestant in the sixth series of one of Britain’s favourite prime time shows, Strictly Come Dancing.

 He has subsequently transitioned into current affairs, hosting LBC radio’s weekend breakfast show.

 With the rapid rise of his impressive broadcast career, it’s no wonder that Andrew is a huge advocate of taking risks, chasing opportunities and having a go. After all, what’s life without that dare-devil spirit?

#010 - Rebecca Smith is a California born ex-international footballer with 74 caps for the team she captained, the New Zealand national team.

She’s represented New Zealand at multiple World cups and Olympic games, and has played professional football in 4 different countries, notably winning a Treble with Vfl Wolfsburg.

These international experiences have clearly served her well, as since retiring, she’s put her degrees (Economics, Spanish, an MBA and Masters in Psychology) to good use through managing FIFA's Women's World Cups and managing Strategic Planning in Women's Football, as well as working as a freelance sport consultant.

Rebecca has been foraying into the world of media, co-founding JAMAA Sports Productions, an award-winning production company that aims to highlight the entire journey of the athlete, not just the game, as well as becoming Global Executive Director of Women's Game for the successful football storytelling authority that is COPA90. 

She isn’t new to the podcasting world either, she hosts her own podcast ‘The Players Podcast’ which is available on BBC. Very much a woman of “many hats” as she puts it. Don’t miss this episode with a true progressive of the 2021 sporting world.  If you'd like to get the links and show notes for this episode, head to:

http://bennichols.co.uk/no-distinction-with-rebecca-smith

#009 - As the former World Number 4, Todd Martin was a proud member of the golden club of American ATP stars in his nation’s tennis heyday: the 1990s. The self-described “Fifth Beatle”  was in good company during that glorious era for the sport, as he sparred against compatriots Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang for what became that elusive Grand Slam title. 

To many, he was the ‘nearly man’, but to himself, the eight ATP tournament titles, the near misses and the two Grand Slam Final losses made him the person he is today. Michigan-born Martin is today CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Rhode Island, where he also serves as Tournament Director of the post-Wimbledon Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open.

With this, and his own eponymous Youth Leadership Trust helping underprivileged kids through tennis, Martin has, in his own words, led “a charmed life”. 

With all this already achieved in life, this 50-year-old and true gentleman of the sport has much more to accomplish in the years ahead.

If you'd like to get the links and show notes for this episode, head to: 

http://bennichols.co.uk/the-fifth-beatle-with-todd-martin 

#008 - The GOAT (Greatest of all Time), two-time Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion in the triple jump and five-time World Athletics Diamond League Champion. What else is there you can say about Christian Taylor?

Quite a lot, as it happens. The 10-time NCAA All American recently founded and became President of his own progressive athlete union, the Athletics Association aimed at giving athletes a greater say over the future of track and field athletics. Set-up in response to World Athletics’ decision to cut Taylor’s trademark event, the triple jump, from the Diamond League Finals, Taylor’s new athletes rights movement boasts Adam Gemili, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Shelly-Ann Fraser Price and Emma Coburn amongst its ranks. 

Born to Barbadian parents in Georgia, USA, Taylor is a true internationalist, and relishes the opportunity he has had to travel and live all over the world - the education of life - which led to him meeting his fiancée, the Austrian athlete, Beate Schrott. 

As someone that wants to give the next generation better opportunities than he had, Taylor is mindful of the issues that today’s instant gratification culture poses on the younger generations, not least the dangers presented by social media and the impact new technologies have on getting young people to play sport. 

Christian Taylor is an athlete going places in life after sport, but he’s not done yet. With the postponed Tokyo 2020 (or is Tokyo 2021) around the corner, he has one more Olympic Gold Medal in his sights. 

If you'd like to get the links and show notes for this episode, head to: 

http://bennichols.co.uk/the-education-of-life-with-christian-taylor 

#007 – Born without legs in Lebanon, and moving to England at just six months’ old, the word ‘hardship’ doesn’t feature in Ali Jawad’s vocabulary. The Briton, who during his teens was diagnosed with uncurable Chrom’s disease has always grasped life with both hands, a skill evident by his determination to secure the Para-Powerlifting Silver Medal for Team GB at the Rio 2016 Games. 

Today, he is one of Britain’s most ambitious athletes, and in an era when free speech is under increasing threat, a fierce defender of the uncensored athlete voice. His passion for overhauling an athlete-light anti-doping system and advocating for athlete rights has grown no end in the past couple of years, as Ali has taken on prominent athlete committee roles at UK Anti-Doping and Global Athlete. 

Ever one to defy the odds, Ali has refused to be a victim of the Covid-19 global pandemic downturn that has affected so many; seeing what is a challenging year to so many as a year of opportunity to spur him on to new ventures including an upcoming mobile App he is set to launch next year.

With a plethora of projects on the go, Ali is now targeting going one better than Rio by securing Gold Medal at the Tokyo 2020 (or is 2021?) Games next year. 

If you'd like to get the links and show notes for this episode, head to: 

http://bennichols.co.uk/free-speech-champion-with-ali-jawad 

#006 - Our first Doctor to feature on Athletes: The Other Side, Matt Hanson is a professional triathlete and coach for triathletes, cyclists and runners. 

Hailing from Minnesota, Matt is one of life’s achievers and an Ironman guru. With an extensive background as an athlete, he is a highly-educated figure when it comes to anything sports-related.

As an athlete, he came from the sport of wrestling, yet it is running that has always a been a passion of his. In 2014, his first year as a pro, Matt set 3 run course records and won Ironman Chattanooga (in Tennessee). He has since tallied 10 professional wins, including 3 North American Championship titles. 

Remarkably, this former Professor of Exercise Science also owns the fastest ever time at an Ironman-branded, full distance event (7:39:25) where he also clocked the fastest ever marathon off the bike with a 2:34.

Today, he has his own coaching business for athletes from a plethora of sports, not least cycling, swimming, running and triathlon itself. The business offers customized training strategies that covers nutrition, training strategies, race plans – and anything the modern-day athlete might need in 2020. He does all this from a city of 10,000 people – Storm Lake in Iowa.

If you'd like to get the links and show notes for this episode, head to:  http://bennichols.co.uk/the-iron-man-with-matt-hanson/