Can Team GB's Golden generation conquer the world next? | Georgia Hunter Bell exclusive

0:02This is a global production.

0:05Mark Pougatch:Yesterday I decided that if I was at the Bell with 400 to go, then I was just going to send it. If you go live to the stadium, they go past you like that and you just, wow, that is, it is incredible. That race rattled me actually, it was just such an upset all around. You're like a quiet assassin, just killing the field in whatever race you're in, looking unbelievably controlled. The aim is definitely to double the 800 and the 1500 metres. I sought out advice from Dame Kelly Holmes, and if it's doable, then go for it in LA. Do you feel differently when you step onto the track? More of a mental battle.

0:44Mark Pougatch:The nerves that I feel on the start line, it takes years off my life.

0:56Hello, welcome to The Sports Agents. Enjoyed your week, Gabby?

1:01Mark Pougatch:Absolutely loved it. Yeah, it's been great. It really built and built and built and had a fabulous final Sunday night. So a little injection of athletics was definitely what I needed. Good. And Georgia Hunter-Bell's going to join us on this pod. We're going to talk football and we'll talk tennis as well and Jack Draper's injury nightmare. I just wanted to mention the cricket at the top. We talked a lot about England last week. the 100 reached its climax on Sunday which was the Trent Rockets beating Sunrise's Leeds in the women and then Manchester Super Giants beating Trent Rockets in the men so two new winners of those trophies they also do a joint men's and women's trophy now Gabby I don't know whether Have you seen this?

1:50Like the mixed relays? Like the mixed relays, yeah. So basically, for whichever team over the course of the league season, between the men's and the women's got the most points. So Trent Rockets won that. The standard of the 100 this year has been really good. The crowds have been down a little bit. I think what I would hope for now is that the squads, and I would say this from a Manchester point of view, because we've just won, but that the squads in the main stay as they are. There's so much flux in franchise cricket. And I think if you want to build fan base and loyalty and audience as well, right, we want to go and watch Tim Seifert, who is the opener for Manchester Supergiant, who won the MVP.

2:36Or if we're in Wales, we want to go and watch Phil Salt or Joe Root. I think it needs to settle down a little bit now so that kids around can go, this is our player in our city and let's go and watch them. Because if you mix it all up again and players are going here and there, it's very difficult to get that loyalty, I think.

2:57Mark Pougatch:I've watched a bit more of The 100 than I have for previous years for various reasons. I've obviously been working on other tournaments and things like that. And what I have loved about the coverage is obviously the interviews that go on while the player is in the outfield. and is, you know, that I find. And Kenny walked through the kitchen the other day when I was watching and he's like, they're playing, they're playing and they're being interviewed. Like he'd obviously not seen it either. And I think there is a willingness to experiment a bit on the coverage, which I really enjoy. And so I feel like it's, you know, it's definitely a growing force, isn't it?

3:32Look, I still think there are all sorts of problems with it and they do need to get the crowds up, I think. but the standard and the standard of fielding and in general the standard of cricket has been great and they've had a lot bigger names as well and the other one thing I want to say in cricket is Australia got beaten by Bangladesh in a test match at home which is brilliant for the global game I mean I could take the piss out of the Australians for losing and whatever but for Bangladesh to beat Australia in Australia, their first ever test victory on Australian soil and thrashed them as well by nine wickets.

4:12That's a great story for global cricket.

4:14Mark Pougatch:Okay, on today's show, we're going to be talking tennis and the serve guru who's trying to end Jack Draper's nightmare injury run. And we'll also be talking about football anniversaries. There are a couple of big ones that we should be celebrating and we are going to. But first, as Mark said before, we're going to talk a bit more athletics well I'm delighted to say the new European 1500 meter champion is with us a Georgia Hunter Bell congratulations on an incredible race an incredible victory but more importantly than that this is the morning after the night before not only do you look incredibly fresh you've just revealed to Chappas and I that you drove home through the night yes thank you very much good morning guys um i am very happy but very tired i think last night we left the stadium around midnight or just after and yeah drove home back to london so no celebrations really so when do you celebrate then georgia because one of the big things i think we talk about so much on this podcast when we have sports stars on is when they allow themselves to celebrate their achievement Yeah, well, it's a weird one for us because we're mid-season, so a few milestones have been ticked off.

5:34Mark Pougatch:Commonwealth Games and Europeans backed back so soon. It was definitely a big kind of hump in the season, but I'm going to allow myself to, you know, have a glass of wine later tonight at dinner, but then I'm back racing on the Diamond Eats circuit next week, so can't get too carried away. You've been on the pod two or three times with us. As your success has grown and as you've kept on this path, do you feel differently when you step onto the track? And do you notice others looking at you differently? Yes, it has definitely changed. I think 2024, I was an underdog who no one was really paying much attention to.

6:16Mark Pougatch:It was kind of like, oh, she might come through for a medal and that would be amazing for her. And now it's kind of changed to going in as the favourite. I think all the championships I've done this year, I have been the favourite. um so it's interesting managing that expectation and delivering on that and also it's interesting how the field responds because they give you respects um and they also are kind of looking to see how you can control the race or what you're going to do which you can use to your advantage which I kind of did yesterday and I did at Commonwealth Games and I've been just embracing that pressure actually it used to scare me and now there is power in it and I've been enjoying kind of taking control of races a little bit more and I did it at the Commonwealth Games and I thought surely I can't do it for a 1500 for nearly four laps but I managed to do it yesterday and I was was very happy about it it was an incredible race and what it was we were with Jenny Meadows in the studio one of your coaches with trevor painter the night before and she said you'd been texting her during the men's 1500 which was a completely balmy race wasn't it it was it was mad and three yes ended up on the podium who as steve pram said we can never could have predicted and and almost the two jakes of great britain were kind of fighting each other and ended up out of the medals and did that give you a kind of okay there's another way that this race might pan out I've got to be expecting that because as you say it could work out a hundred different ways couldn't it but if you're in control yeah definitely how do you control that yeah I mean that race rattled me actually because I was looking at it and it was just such an upset all around that it really kind of reminded me that wow like anything can happen and was gutted for the Jakes of course but it was a really good lesson for me and we took a lot from that going into my race so I think they pushed from quite far out that last lap the two jakes were kind of racing each other and going quite hard from from 400 meters out which is far in 1500 and so yesterday I decided that if I was at the bell with 400 to go I wasn't I was almost trying to slow it down that first 200 so I'm not giving everything but I'm keeping that pole position and then I was just going to send it last 200 which kind of worked perfectly but I think if I hadn't watched that race and learned from that I might have got excited and emotional and carried away with that 400 to go and you know the race is one you know and the last few steps it doesn't matter where you are 400 to go so I feel bad because the jakes kind of led me to a better race plan because of what I saw that day the 800 and the 1500 meters because they are so tactical they're quite creative races I think it's different to the sprints where you're in your own lane you're getting from A to B as fast as you can and I understand why those people want to just focus on themselves but for us we're literally colliding with people we've got eight women merging into one lane like you can't just focus on yourself and I think that's what I really enjoy about middle distance is you can race it many different ways and I've been trying to practice racing in different kind of styles so for me it's almost part of the homework tuning into races like I'm a fan anyway I want to watch and see who is going to come out on top in these men's 1500 meter races but for me I'm always trying to learn and there's always something to learn and obviously for Great Britain I mean last night was was was great for the for the relays but you were the golden moment last night and I kind of said this going into an interview you'd done pre-championship that your success sometimes I feel goes underappreciated actually you know because there's a lot of attention obviously went on to the 800 and quite rightly it was an incredible race and obviously there was there's always been this noise of a world record this year from those women that they're going to push each other to that and you know keely very very well and obviously amy's winning her four gold medals you seem to kind of quietly go along you're like a quiet assassin just killing the field in whatever race you're in looking unbelievably controlled and and without fuss you know it do you ever feel like i know that you said you had a bit of FOMO in these championships because you went last.

10:49Mark Pougatch:Yeah. Do you sometimes feel I wish the 1500 was the middle of the week and everybody could talk about me a bit more? I really do want to experience the championships where I'm not the last night. I was the last night at the Olympics. I was the last night in Worlds in Tokyo last year. And I was the last night at Europeans. And you are just raring to go by the time you get out there. But I would love to go early and then be able to kind of celebrate and see other people's successes and yeah come in and speak to you guys because by the time I'm done yeah everyone's everyone's right like by the end of the week yeah now of course it could work to your favor if you decide that you're going to double up in LA because you will want a nice spread of the 8 and the 15 you'll want one at the beginning and one at the end yeah so that you can manage that yeah from what I understand the schedule in LA would work for you to do that it would it would and the double is definitely something that we've spoken about for a while there was a lot of back and forth whether I would double at Europeans but in the end it was just too much to do Commonwealth Games and double at Europeans I think I would be pretty broken if that was the case but the aim is definitely to double next year i need to try it out before i go for it and um i saw out advice from dame kelly holmes last year when i was deciding whether i should double from i think exactly everyone was giving opinions on it and i thought you know what i'm gonna go to the people that actually really know what they're talking about here and um she gave great advice and just said you got to practice this before you go to the olympics you can't be trying it for the first time so the goal would definitely be to try it in Beijing next year I think we're waiting for that schedule to come out but that is the goal for next year to to practice that double and if it's doable then go for it in LA hopefully um providing you know I'm still healthy and everything on that and I appreciate obviously it's a very different discipline sprint and a middle distance but Greg Rutherford made the point to Gabby on on telly actually when talking about Amy Hunt that to do what she's done just just from the perspective of how she manages her recovery at the end of every day that she has raced.

13:08And bearing in mind, she didn't have to, but she went in the heat of the women's 4x1 as well.

13:12Mark Pougatch:Yeah, yeah. Athlete to athlete, how much does that impress you, how she's managed, let alone the achievements, but how she's managed her week? Yeah, I think it's so impressive. And she has been in that stadium basically every day. If she wasn't racing, then she was coming back for medal ceremony or media. So it's more like managing the emotions of coming up and down. Of course, she's got to be on top of her body. And I think for us, when we look at it, for me doing the double, I actually think my body could handle the rounds and everything. The thing that I really need to work out is this falling asleep after races.

13:50Mark Pougatch:So it's really difficult to fall asleep, especially if you have an evening race. Like last night, I got an hour sleep because you're just so full of adrenaline. um and then you know the schedule for LA would be I think it's 1500 meter final on the night and then next day in the morning 800 meter heat so I can't be having one hour sleep so it's almost like working out how I can get my body to calm down practicing that and having that routine that she obviously has got down to be able to execute something like that and that's such an issue for for professional athletes like in a range of sports i mean yeah and most of the other sports i mean footballers have issues with sleep after they're not playing for four days but then yeah they're not playing yeah but it's a huge issue for for professional sportsmen and women it absolutely is and say if you're on at 11 a.m then that's an early wake up you've got to have breakfast you've got to get to the stadium you've got to work in your warm-up ahead of the call room time so you could easily be looking at a 7 a.m alarm if not earlier and yeah that's tricky that is really tricky so it's something that we've got to work out um but we're up for the challenge I think it's something that I absolutely want to try it was such a huge part of British history in athletics the way how you know um Sebco, Steve Cram, Steve Overt, Dame Kelly Holmes of course like all these people did it the events were different back then because it was a bit more tactical these races and now they're pretty much flat out sprints but it's honestly yeah um but it's something that yeah i really really want to try it's still gabby it's still it's still on that it never ceases to amaze me you know because now on the television you obviously get average speed you know average speed per lap and it honestly it never ceases to amaze me that it is it is always faster than the fastest speed you could get on a treadmill that mere mortals can do for about 10 seconds and then fly off fly off i know in george's interview last night pre-race she'd said look i know it looks like we're just jogging but we're not honestly i can assure you if you go live to the stadium you they go past you like that and you say wow that is it is incredible but you you particularly I mean the grimacing that was going on in the women's faces around you to try and get anywhere near you at the end of that race was incredible and you just look so serene and I know that's because what you do in training makes race day probably a lot more comfortable because I've seen that incredible footage which we showed a couple of times and you can see on iPlayer of behind the scenes at M11 where you train with obviously the like Healy Hodgkinson and the pain I mean it is the hurt locker isn't it that you get put through yeah yeah the rain was definitely a paid actor that day it made it a lot more dramatic that the fact that heavens were just opening while we were collapsing all over the track and I think I was getting sick in there as well um but yeah the training I was literally thinking about going into the race um yesterday I was thinking of a training session that we had and I was thinking oh this is going to be nowhere near as bad as that I would much rather do this race right now than do that session again right now so it definitely helps but you know I am grimacing in those races where I'm completely redlining yesterday was a tactical race which means you're only in pain for that kind of short period but there'll be lots of races this season where it's going to be as hard as you can go from the gun which is really fun to do actually it's really fun to see where your body's at but yeah you will see some grimaces from me in those races go on then because you said you've looked at some of the training sessions that are coming up what what's the one what's the one that you've looked at where you've where you're properly already grimacing ahead of it what what's involved yeah i couldn't possibly reveal all of our training but um one session that is my least favorite session is four sets of 500 meters flat out um off kind of healthy recovery but 500 meters is a horrible distance because it's quite long when you're sprinting as hard as you can go and um four of them trev just puts that fourth one in to basically have us running through treacle at the end and it's more of a mental battle like that's what he says like this is more mental toughness getting yourself ready for it and honestly the nerves that I feel on the start line for that session it takes years off my life just like being so nervous because I know the pain that's about to come congratulations Georgia amazing way to end it I know we've discussed you being last on but it was a major way to end end on a high good luck with that horrific training session that It made me feel nervous and sick.

18:50Mark Pougatch:Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Take care. Thank you.

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19:31So we're recording this pod on the 17th of August, and that marks the anniversary of two significant football events, and they're significant for very different reasons. and said, let's go to the first one. 30, God, 30 years ago, 30 years ago at Selhurst Park, this happened. Here's the time for Manchester United with Beckham. I know, I know, Gabby, it's what old people do,

20:01Mark Pougatch:but how is that? How is that 30 years ago? It's quite depressing because I remember everything about that day because I was at that game. I remember waking up that morning I just signed for Sky Sports I come to live in London I was in my flat in Richmond and I thought I want to go to a game today my then boyfriend was staying with me and I rang up Sky and I said can I get a ticket for anyone I'm in Richmond nearest game for me is Selhurst Park Man United they said yeah you can get two press passes you go to that game so it's such a random thing you know I just happened to be there and um and obviously witnessed something that we are now talking about 30 years later.

20:39Mark Pougatch:So I also remember chappers wearing plastic snakeskin trousers and it was about 30 degrees. So I just sweated profusely through the whole... It was like going in a sauna. It was like wearing a plastic bag in a sauna. That's what I did that day. It was a crime against fashion, ironically, for the man who would become a fashion icon of football eventually. So you don't still have them? Absolutely not, no. No, I don't. But it was. At some point, plastic snakeskin may come back round. So I have I have no idea. I haven't got room for all the things that might come back round, Chappas. I think, you know, even David Beckham himself probably never would have gone anywhere near them.

21:22Mark Pougatch:But we didn't know. You know, we knew about this class of 92, didn't we? We knew about this this this generation of kids who are coming through at Manchester United. But that really was the moment, I think, that he kind of launched himself into our consciousness. I think it was, for him, I think, it sort of moved him ahead of the rest of Class of 92 in profile-wise, maybe that one. Because the previous year was the don't win anything with kids season. And they'd obviously rammed that back down Alan Hansen's throat at the time. but it was just there were just two or three things I think about that goal opening day of the season sun shining the way he took it the way he then celebrated it in not a um not a running off kind of uh movement but literally standing there with his arms out wide and the floppy hair and the curtains and it was on his own really for that celebration it was very 90s when you look back wasn't it very oasis almost that celebration you know what I mean I know they're synonymous with Manchester City but it's that kind of like you know just I don't know of its time of the era and where would you run from the halfway line that's the mad thing isn't it you know normally you're I mean yeah we were all like we were all like that I mean I'm not that I've scored a goal from the halfway line from Manchester United, but it did have curtains.

22:52So, you know, that was very much the look for Midnight.

22:56Mark Pougatch:Also on this day, a shaggy-haired Argentinian teenager wearing a very baggy shirt made his international debut. And to tell us more, the author of Messy Mania, which kind of gives the game away, and Fox Sports soccer writer Luis Miguel Lecheguerri is back on the podcast. It's lovely to see you. 21 years since the genius was unleashed on the world. But that moment, that match actually, wasn't without drama. It was not without drama. 21 years, Gabby, that's ridiculous. A whole person that can drink legally in the United States a time ago for Messi to make his debut for Argentina. But as you mentioned, there was so much in regards to this debut.

23:41First of all, Messi's 2005 was extremely memorable. First goal for Barcelona, thanks to that great assist from Ronaldinho. an improved contract as well. He essentially single-handedly won the Under-20 World Cup for Argentina as well. So there was a lot to remember. And Argentina under Jose Pekerman had lost in the Copa America final to Brazil in 2004. They had just lost as well that summer in 2005 in the Confederations Cup. So this was a big moment for Lionel Messi. His debut against Hungary, which actually was Maradona's debut as well. He made his debut as well against Hungary in 1977. so there's a lot of similarities here.

24:21Messi came in on the 63rd minute and he lasted 50 seconds in that game as he received one of, I believe, only three red cards in his professional career. It was a stray elbow, wasn't it, Luis Miguel, after he'd had his shirt pulled? Yeah, that's exactly what happened. Basically, Messi was driving towards goal with that quintessential determinant glued to the ground, nothing can stop me mentality, right? where once again it was too much for the Hungarian defender who just couldn't stop him. And as many would discover in the future, Chappers, for the next two decades, nobody could stop him. But in that situation, he holds on to his shirt, the defender.

25:01He holds on to Messi's shirt that he's driving forward, and that was the foul. Messi tried to escape, so he lifts his arm and manages to hit the Hungarian defender in the face. But it's so loose, and really what sold it was the performance of the Hungarian defender who fell after the foul, the German referee created this courtroom drama in that moment where everybody, all the Argentinians surrounded him saying, please don't send him off. He's 18 years old, please. And obviously he was going to send him off. But actually, I really believe, Gabby and Chappers, that what the Hungarian defender did in that moment was a favor to Messi because from that moment in the entirety of his career, Messi would now drive towards goal.

25:40And for so many moments, you would see Messi's shirt being pulled off. But now Messi would not lift his arm. He would just continue to drive forward, what actually ended up becoming one of his most incredible goals two years later in 2007, when he scored that solo magic goal against Getafe. So everything points to the direction of learn your lesson, Hungarian defender, because you just unleashed a monster.

26:02Mark Pougatch:And as a result of that, he ended up not playing a friendly against England that November because the red card obviously meant he was going to miss matches, but not a World Cup qualifier. So he would then have to wait, or we would have to wait, 21 years to this World Cup for him to play against England. That's a great note. I didn't even realize that. That's right. England would be spared, I guess, in that summer for at least another longer time. But it speaks to the fact that that 2005 year and what would happen for the next two decades would obviously become history. And it all began with a red card in less than 50 seconds.

26:41the the modern day messi the current messi is obviously dealing with the the grief of the the loss of his father recently which from what we read and i'm always a bit i'm always slightly low to go down this right because road because his grief should be private and whatever he decides to do he then decides to do but let's just say we everybody understands it's leading to a point of reflection for him and what he is going to do. Yeah, well said, Chapters. I'm actually glad that you brought this up because it's very important to understand that at the end of the day, Messi or whoever, we're just human beings dealing with, you know, very personal things.

27:22And I relate to this a lot. I lost both my parents when I was young. And in fact, the death of my father, I wasn't in the country when he passed away we emigrated to England from South America and my father was a major reason why I was able to succeed in those early years so there's a lot of mirroring from an emotional perspective to what Messi's going through and I think that it's very important to understand that especially as I wrote the book is that Messi's father was, I mean obviously your parents are going to be very important, you know, for whatever reason in terms of impact. But Messi's father was especially so.

28:05He was the one that really did everything and anything during his childhood to make him the player that he was, even as a young kid. Even when he first entered that pitch and he created that historic moment when he took on like seven kids and he scored and then it ended up, you know, going to Newell's All Boys. Messi's father would always be there. He would never sit with the other parents. He would sit in another site just to watch him and to give him advice after a game. The growth hormone injections, they were extremely expensive at that time, specifically during a period where Argentina was going through major social and political and economic crisis.

28:40His father wasn't, you know, he also dealt with that. So he had to work extra to make sure that he paid for these injections that cost thousands of dollars. And in Argentina in the 90s and the early 2000s, that's just a lot of money. So his father did that. His father went all over the country and South America to try and get a scholarship or at least an academy placement for his son. Nobody would pay for it because they just wouldn't believe him until they moved to Barcelona. When he moved to Barcelona and he entered those first early years in La Masia, his family left back to Argentina aside from his father who stayed with him.

29:15So there's a lot here to remember on the bond that Messi had with his father. And it's very important to understand that whatever he's going through right now, like you said, Chappers, it really should remain private. And obviously, he has to make a public announcement. But that relationship that he had with his dad should never be forgotten.

29:32Mark Pougatch:Thank you so much, Luis Miguel, and for sharing your own experiences as well. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure to be here. And a quick reminder, you can catch up on all of our previous episodes, YouTube, Global Player, wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe and leave us a review whilst you're there. And up next, tennis with the Times tennis correspondent Tom Kershaw talking Jack Draper and the nightmare year of injuries that he's had and how that might change going forward.

30:07Mark Pougatch:Let's welcome Tom Kershaw, Times tennis correspondent to the podcast. Tom, I read your excellent article last week about Jack Draper, his injuries. And as Chapa's just said, introducing you why that might be about to change and found the story of Carlos Cano absolutely fascinating. We're big fans of Jack Draper. I say we. I'm kind of trying to get him on. Right. So I talk about him all the time. But I've been pretty devastated, really, about the last year because injury just seems to have plagued him. And if it's not one thing, it's another. And he slipped right down the rankings. But all hope is not lost.

30:45Mark Pougatch:And tell us a bit more about this biodynamics coach that he's going to employ. Yeah, I mean, the thing with Jack is he's had such rotten luck this last year because this injury is so complicated and it doesn't immediately show up on scans. So he could think he's found a solution. You know, he's tried changing a service motion before and that put strain on his knee. So he's tried various methods to fix the issue. And I think seeking out Carlos Cano, this very understated, quite entertaining Mexican coach who's sort of been around forever. But seemingly, you know, lots of people in tennis don't even know he exists because he's this sort of under radar figure.

31:18But he solved Arthur Ferry's issue when he had the same problem. And I think, you know, there's obviously they know each other well. And I think, you know, it's been sort of referred to him that this could be the guy who can finally sort of rid him of the woe. because he's had so many false dawns and he's, you know, as you say, he's a great character and somebody who really wears his heart on his sleeve. So like we saw in Montreal when, you know, he keeps having these setbacks and, you know, he broke down in tears on the court. It's, you know, he's desperate to play and he's gone from this enormous high of number four in the world to now being outside the cutoff for the main draw.

31:51But with Carlos, I mean, it's a longer process. He said it takes one to three months from being healthy. We don't quite know with Jack if he is healthy. I think often he's trying to play through the pain because he's just so desperate to be back out there. Carlos, in his slightly secretive way, refused to even say that he was working with Jack. So I had to get someone else to confirm that for me. But I think Jamie Murray might have given away the secret on Sky commentary, who obviously, you know, Andy's Jack's head coach at the moment and suggested that he's trying to open up his body less at the start of the serve, which means they'll stop the arm coming wider.