Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan is to front a new BBC One documentary looking at the issues and emotions involved in retiring from a successful sporting career.
In a thought-provoking documentary to air on May 9, Sporting Heroes: After The Final Whistle looks at life after sport and the challenges that competitive athletes face once their career is over.
Travelling the across the world, he meets some of the biggest names in world sport and investigates the many different issues that top sports stars face when retirement finally beckons.
The TV pictures that showed an emotional Vaughan announcing his retirement from the England captaincy in 2008 revealed the former Ashes winning captain in a new light.
Throughout his stellar England cricket career he was admired as a solid and calm head, but at the moment he relinquished the captaincy he suddenly appeared vulnerable.
Having undergone an emotional journey when he retired, Vaughan asks how retirement from top level sport changes the way you look at life and how the world defines you after your career is over.
He also talks to top sports people about the inevitable moment when have to leave their chosen profession and embrace a new life.
Featuring professionals who are recently retired, soon to be retired and long out of their sports, the 50-minute documentary looks at how they coped with those changes and how they view the future in the light of profound changes to their working and personal lives.
The documentary features impactful interviews with tennis legend John McEnroe, Open golf champion Darren Clarke, former England football captain Tony Adams, and former world heavyweight champion and successful businessman George Foreman.
Also featuring will be 2003 Rugby World Cup winner turned City stock-broker Josh Lewsey, Olympic badminton silver medallist, mum and ambassador Gail Emms, Vaughan’s former England team-mate Matthew Hoggard, inspirational disabled rugby player Matt Hampson and former boxing champion Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham.
All of them have dealt with the inevitable changes that transpired in different ways and all of their stories give a fascinating insight into how very different sports people deal with the major issue of retirement.
Sporting Heroes: After The Final Whistle Wednesday 9th May – BBC One – 10.45pm-11.35pm Produced by Northstar Television for BBC Sport .
