When Orla Met...

Orla sits down for a chat with YouTube cycling star, Juliet Elliott. Juliet Elliott is a former pro-snowboarder, Vogue model and bike courier. She's now a multi-discipline bike racer and one of the biggest digital influencers on two-wheels. In this conversation, we discuss her unconventional route into the world of cycling but also explore broader themes including family life, IVF treatment, and adoption. Keep up with the latest on twitter and please do leave a review on iTunes!

What does it mean to be a woman in the public eye these days, specifically in sport? It’s a question that’s come up in my chats with the likes of Judy Murray and Dina Asher-Smith in previous episodes. Sam Quek is someone who has quite a bit to say on the matter. Quek is an Olympic champion hockey player, one of the great success stories in what is a minority, amateur sport. When her moment came, Sam found the media more ready to talk about her looks rather than what she had achieved on the hockey field. Is that simply the lot of certain women in the public eye? Or can women be both sexy and sporty, and all the variations in between? We discuss this and more in When Orla Met Sam Quek. Keep up with the latest on twitter and please do leave a review on itunes!

Rod Ellingworth has been instrumental in some of Great Britain's biggest sporting successes over the past decade. He spotted nourished and coached talents that went on to win 13 World Titles, five Olympic Gold Medals and a Tour de France. This is all in addition to the five Tour de France victories he helped orchestrate in his role of head coach at Team Sky. In part 2, Rod talks about Project Rainbow and how he built a culture around the team that delivered Mark Cavendish's 2010 World Championships success...

Rod Ellingworth has been instrumental in some of Great Britain's biggest sporting successes over the past decade. He spotted nourished and coached talents that went on to win 13 World Titles, five Olympic Gold Medals and a Tour de France. This is all in addition to the five Tour de France victories he helped orchestrate in his role of head coach at Team Sky. Ellingworth provides insight into how to coach and discipline young athletes while giving them the tools they need to become champions. He cites examples from the formative years of some of the biggest names in the sport: Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas.

When Orla Met…Kelly Sotherton is a conversation about the ethical challenges faced by athletes in elite sport. Sortherton is one of only five women to have won multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon but did not receive the recognition she deserved until after she had retired when Lyudmila Blonska and Tatyana Chernova were disqualified for doping violations. In this podcast, Kelly talks through her frustrations, doubts, and what it was like to finally be awarded the medals she had trained so hard to achieve. She also discusses her attitudes towards doping today and how she thinks young athletes should be protected in the future.

In part two of When Orla Met Dr Steve Peters the internationally renowned psychiatrist continues the explanation of his theory of mind management, and how we can put it into practice. Dr Peters believes we can all achieve the state of ‘flow’ so often talked about by elite athletes as the almost mythical nirvana of high performance, and that achieving happiness can be as simple as learning to manage our minds.

When Orla Met Dr Steve Peters is a fascinating insight into the philosophy adopted by countless Olympic and World Champions, and which many credit largely for their success. In his work first as a clinical, then sometime sports psychologist, Dr Peters developed the Chimp Model of mind management as a way for us to understand and better manage our own brains. It has since gained currency in spheres as diverse as politics, finance and business and has been the subject of an international best-selling book. In this episode of the podcast Dr Steve Peters sits down to explain his theory of mind management as an introduction to how we can use it in our everyday lives.

When Orla Met…Dina Asher-Smith is a fascinating insight into the workings of a truly remarkable young woman. A history graduate from King’s College London, a darling of the fashion world who has walked Paris Fashion Week and appeared in British Vogue, and the joint-fastest woman in the world over 100m, Asher-Smith is so much more than ‘just’ a track and field athlete. In this episode, the three-time European champion talks about the lessons of American history, the need for more women in sports journalism, and her desire to break free of any mould that may have been set for her. She also talks about her record-breaking year on the track, building to the next Olympic Games, and her ambition to “run in a straight line” as fast as she possibly can!

In episode 2 of When Orla Met...Geraint Thomas, the Tour de France winner addresses the bad luck which has seemed to plague him for years, his battle to prove both fans and his own team wrong in proving he could win the Tour de France, and the truth about his relationship with fellow Tour winner and team mate Chris Froome.

When Orla Met...Geraint Thomas is a conversation with the Tour de France champion about how his life has changed since winning the biggest bike race in the world. Thomas talks about his early dreams as a young cyclist, the Olympic disappointment that still haunts him, and the extremes of his personality that drove him to the very peak of his sport.

The popular, critically acclaimed podcast series When Orla Met…is back for a second season, and Orla has once again spoken to a host of top athletes and fascinating characters from the world of sport, to find out more about what drives them to phenomenal lengths and success, what it takes to make it to the very top, what lessons we can learn in dealing with setbacks, and how we can all find inspiration in the pursuit of excellence. In this season, Orla explores themes that expand beyond the boundaries of sport - the role of women in society, what kind of personality traits it takes to excel, how we can train our brains to be more successful in our own lives, the universality of cheating. Featuring, among others, Tour de France winner and BBC Sports Personality of the Year favourite Geraint Thomas, triple European Champion sprinter and fellow Sports Personality of the Year front-runner Dina Asher-Smith, world-renowned psychiatrist and author of 'The Chimp Paradox', Dr Steve Peters, Team Sky and British Cycling head coach Rod Ellingworth, triple Olympic medalist Kelly Sotherton and Olympic hockey Champion Sam Quek. When Orla Met…is a conversation with people from the world of sport, about sport, but it's not just a sports podcast. It's a podcast for anyone interested in stories, in the fortitude and frailties of those who push themselves to the limit. It's a chance to get to know some of the biggest names and brains in sport along with Orla, and to learn a little more of the motivation, fears and discipline that drive the ordinary to become extraordinary, to become the very best.

When Orla Met Jonnie Peacock is an insight into one of those rare people in life who genuinely don’t seem to see hardships as obstacles, who simply deals with life as it comes to them, rather than over-thinking, over-worrying, or asking ‘why me?’ As a five-year-old Jonnie lost his leg to meningitis, but rather than allow it to hold him back, he threw himself into all kinds of sport, ignored the bullying that came his way, and started out on the journey that would see him become double Paralympic and World Champion.

In the second part of When Orla Met Jonathan Vaughters the cycling team manager and confessed doper debates the Darwinian urge to gain advantage, the justice of the penalties imposed on Lance Armstrong, and the need for both society and sports teams to believe that sport can be clean.

When Orla Met Jonathan Vaughters is a thoughtful discussion with the former professional cyclist, confessed doper, and current cycling manager about the idealism and practicalities of clean sport. Does it exist? Can it exist? And where do we draw the line from eating cheese, to injecting performance enhancing drugs?

When Orla Met Mark Cavendish is a conversation with one of the most successful cyclists of all time, and his mum. Despite his fame and fortune Cavendish still feels most at home on the Isle of Man, where he grew up and where he still has a house opposite his mother. Orla meets both Mark and his mum and chats about his drive as a child, his ongoing need to win, and the challenges of spending so much time away from family and loved ones.

When Orla Met Lizzie Deignan is a chat with one of the top cyclists in the world about the challenge and excitement of impending motherhood. Lizzie shares her joy at starting a family, and her plans to juggle her new role, with that of being a professional cyclist. She also talks openly about her “horrendous” experience before the Rio Olympics when it was reported that she had missed three anti-doping tests in a year, despite having her name cleared in court, and her disappointment in the UK Anti Doping Agency for their role in the matter.

When Orla Met Maggie Alphonsi is an inspirational conversation with the World Cup winning rugby player, who became the face of international women’s rugby. Maggie opens up about her childhood on a council estate in North London, as the daughter of a single-parent mother who sacrificed everything to give her child the best start in life. Born with a physical disability, she talks about the freedom she found in sport, and her good fortune in having a PE teacher who changed her life. Maggie’s is a story of self-improvement, of learning to take the good from the bad, and of always keeping the faith that you can one day, after a lot of hard work, disappointment and failures, become the very best in the world.

In Part 2 of When Orla Met Judy Murray, the mother to two World Number 1 tennis players shares her compelling theory on the power of sport for children, and the need to teach competitiveness from a young age. "I've always felt in life that you learn much more from the defeats, the losses, the disappointments, than you do from the wins". The former Scottish Tennis Coach also has novel theories on how we can encourage more girls into sport, and how she's preparing her "army of women, ready to take over the tennis world."

In Part 1 of When Orla Met Judy Murray, Judy lays bare the sacrifices she made to give her Grand Slam winning sons the best start in life, and the lessons she's learned along the way. Judy shares her experience of motherhood, coaching, and teaching her sons to 'love the torture of hard work'. Having been portrayed for years as the pushy, tennis mum, the former Scottish National Coach confesses 'nothing could be further from the truth.'

In Part 2 of When Orla Met Pippa York, Pippa reflects on the ongoing lack of openly gay athletes, and the perceived lack of team support for anyone wishing to come out. She talks about the transition of fellow elite athlete Caitlin Jenner, and the implications of the huge amount of media coverage afforded to it, and also shares her thoughts on life back in the public eye, and back in the sport of cycling.