Oct 15, 2026 · 57 min · 14 segments
Olympic swimming legend Sharron Davies MBE joins Steve Harmison and Liam McKenzie on talkSPORT’s After the Lights Go Out to lay bare the brutal realities of life after elite competition. From making…
Sharron DaviesGuest
Leon McKenzieHost
Steve HarmisonHost
Sharon, we'll get on to the House of Lords in a moment, but you've recently launched a new women's sports union with the stated aim of challenging what you describe as direct sex discrimination in sport.
that yeah so i just felt there was a we needed a voice you know women's voices have just been ignored i'm passionate about girls being involved in sport you know and getting the benefits that i got from sport so and yeah we used to lose girls from sport at 14 15 we're now losing them at 11 yeah So it's a real problem, you know, and I want girls to be engaged by sport and to have fitness and health in their life because not only is it good for their bodies, it's really good for their minds.
And so I thought if I can create a space where people can come and become members, whether they are athletes themselves or whether they're parents of young, inspiring kids, then hopefully we can just give them a voice, really.
Just do what I've been doing probably for the last few years, you know, lobbying.
But I've now got the opportunity to lobby a bit stronger because obviously I've sort of been asked to go into the House of Lords, which is rather huge.
I mean, the whole point is to... is support protect and grow grow being really important to me grow female participation in sport you know give them a better profile talk about kit talk about prize money talk about you know uh media attention i mean again you know you open a newspaper any day of the week not that any of us open a paper these days but you know go online and pretend to open your paper there'll be 20 stories on men's sport you'd be lucky if there's one on women's sport So it's about trying to raise that profile again.
And then people will say, well, women's sport is actually getting better exposure.
But if I asked you to name women athletes from five other sports, you might be able to do it because you're absolutely fanatical about sport.
Even in things like track and field, a lot of people would struggle to name you half a dozen female track athletes.
Sharon, you were involved in a project many years ago, which involved the nation's favourite princess.
Sharon, we'll get on to the House of Lords in a moment, but you've recently launched a new women's sports union with the stated aim of challenging what you describe as direct sex discrimination in sport.
that yeah so i just felt there was a we needed a voice you know women's voices have just been ignored i'm passionate about girls being involved in sport you know and getting the benefits that i got from sport so and yeah we used to lose girls from sport at 14 15 we're now losing them at 11 yeah So it's a real problem, you know, and I want girls to be engaged by sport and to have fitness and health in their life because not only is it good for their bodies, it's really good for their minds.
And so I thought if I can create a space where people can come and become members, whether they are athletes themselves or whether they're parents of young, inspiring kids, then hopefully we can just give them a voice, really.
Just do what I've been doing probably for the last few years, you know, lobbying.
But I've now got the opportunity to lobby a bit stronger because obviously I've sort of been asked to go into the House of Lords, which is rather huge.
I mean, the whole point is to... is support protect and grow grow being really important to me grow female participation in sport you know give them a better profile talk about kit talk about prize money talk about you know uh media attention i mean again you know you open a newspaper any day of the week not that any of us open a paper these days but you know go online and pretend to open your paper there'll be 20 stories on men's sport you'd be lucky if there's one on women's sport So it's about trying to raise that profile again.
And then people will say, well, women's sport is actually getting better exposure.
But if I asked you to name women athletes from five other sports, you might be able to do it because you're absolutely fanatical about sport.
Even in things like track and field, a lot of people would struggle to name you half a dozen female track athletes.
Sharon, you were involved in a project many years ago, which involved the nation's favourite princess.
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