The Long Game: Sports Stories of Courage and Conviction
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The Long Game: Sports Stories of Courage and Conviction
On The Long Game, we highlight stories of courage and conviction on and off the field. From athletes who are breaking barriers for women and girls to a Syrian refugee swimmer who overcame the odds to compete at the Paralympics, The Long Game examines the power of sport to change the world for the be...
Recent Episodes
24 episodesBoxing Provides a Path out of Poverty for Girls in Pakistan
Aliya Soomro was not yet ten years old when she heard that a boxing coach near her home was training young girls. Aliya lives in Lyari, a densely popu...
Football Opens Path to Reconciliation
Eric Murangwa Eugene was a 19-year-old goalkeeper for Rwanda’s most beloved football team when the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsis began. On...
TIBU Africa Changes Lives Through Sports
Earlier this year, Ibtihaj Muhammad traveled to Morocco to meet with 18 young sports entrepreneurs living and working in North Africa. The program is...
Athletes Join the Fight for Women's Rights in Iran
At first glance, the protests in Iran might not seem like a sports story. But in the lead up to the Qatar World Cup, there were calls to bar Iran from...
Biking Through the Pain of War
In 2015, Rebecca Rusch and Huyen Nguyen set out to bike 1,200 miles of the Ho Chi Minh Trail as strangers from once-opposing countries. They two cycli...
A Soccer Star Gives Back to Sierra Leone
When Michael Lahoud was 6 years old, he fled civil war in Sierra Leone and came to the United States. He felt scared and alone. But with help from his...
Bobsledder Kaillie Humphries and the Fight Against Abusive Coaching
Bobsledder Kaillie Humphries won her third gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics. But, for the first time, instead of singing along to “O Canada” dur...
Lina Khalifeh: SheFighter
When Lina Khalifeh was young, all she wanted to do was play football with the boys in her neighborhood in Jordan. But the boys bullied her, and her fa...
Using Football to Spread the Word About the Plight of the Rohingya
Robi Alam is a Rohingya refugee. His family fled violence and persecution in Myanmar. A decade later, Robi was born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. L...
Nneka Ogwumike on Brittney Griner and the Politics of Pay Inequity
On today’s show, host Ibtihaj Muhammad interviews Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, about the effo...
Trailer Season 2
On The Long Game, we highlight stories of courage and conviction on and off the field. From Rohingya refugees who play soccer to share their story of...
How a Former NFL Player Tackles Environmental Racism…With Help from a Cartoon
It’s no coincidence that factories and toxic waste facilities have been built near poor communities and communities of color. It’s part of the larger...
Why Intersex Athlete Annet Negesa is Telling Her Story
In 2012, Annet Negesa qualified to represent Uganda in the 800-meter run at the London Olympics. But just weeks before the Games, she got a call from...
How A Chilean Women’s Soccer Player Scored For Gender Equality
For as long as she can remember, Iona Rothfeld has loved playing soccer. But in Chile, soccer is considered a “boys” sport. When she was 13 years old,...
A Syrian Paralympian Who Competes For All Refugees
Ibrahim Al Hussein grew up watching the Olympics on TV. He was a swimmer. And he dreamed of someday being one of the athletes up on the podium. But Ib...
How Mohamed Salah changed attitudes. Other athletes can too.
Mohamed Salah is one of the best forwards in the English Premier League. He is a Muslim, playing in a league that has a reputation for racism and Isla...
The Unstoppable Spirit of Paralympian Scout Bassett
When it comes to dealing with adversity, Scout Bassett has had more than her fair share. Born in Nanjing, China, she was abandoned after losing her le...
From a War Zone to the FIFA Boardroom, a Female Footballer Finds Her Way
Honey Thaljieh grew up in a war zone. One day, on the streets of Bethlehem, she passed by a group of boys playing football. By chance, they passed her...
How South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup Win is Still Felt Today
The 1995 Rugby World Cup marked the end of apartheid and South Africa’s return to the international sports stage. The home team -- the Springboks -- w...
I Never Felt More Like Myself: A Professional Basketball Player’s Hijab Journey
Whenever an athlete steps onto a field, court, or fencing strip, they bring with them all that they are: their background, their lived experiences and...
World Cup 2022: Can Mega-Event Activism Actually Lead to Lasting Change?
There’s an upside to hosting a mega-sized sporting event. Governments plan new roads and train stations and airports. Corporate sponsors and foreign i...
Cricketers Lead the Way for India and Pakistan
The rivalry between the cricket teams of India and Pakistan is a little like if a billion people tuned into a Red Sox - Yankees game. Add in nationali...
Olympic Judoka Fights for Women in Afghanistan
Growing up in Afghanistan, Friba Rezayee didn’t always do as she was told. She didn’t enjoy the games the girls were supposed to play. So she played o...
Trailer: The Long Game
On The Long Game, we highlight stories of courage and conviction on and off the field. From athletes who are breaking barriers for women and girls to...