:00:24. > :00:27.Welcome to World Olympic Dreams, this time from South Korea. There
:00:27. > :00:30.the last two years, we have been following athletes from all around
:00:30. > :00:36.the world as they pursued their goal of competing for their country
:00:36. > :00:41.at the Olympics in 2012. We have come to Seoul, because the next few
:00:41. > :00:48.days, for one of our athletes, are going to be his moment of truth.
:00:48. > :00:51.That athlete is Haider Rashid, a rower from Iraq. We are at the
:00:51. > :00:59.Asian Olympic qualification regatta to see if he can book his place at
:00:59. > :01:03.London 2012. Elsewhere, there is American gymnast Shawn Johnson, on
:01:03. > :01:11.her unsteady road to the London Games, as seen through the eyes of
:01:11. > :01:16.her mother. Kevin and Jonathan Borlee are identical twins from
:01:16. > :01:21.Belgium, and they meet to the sprinting legend Michael Johnson.
:01:21. > :01:27.Britain's world champion triathlete Alistair Brownlee on why Yorkshire
:01:27. > :01:37.is where the parties. And finally, the land of runners. How does one
:01:37. > :01:42.
:01:42. > :01:48.valley in Kenya produce so many It is not really enough just to
:01:48. > :01:51.show up in South Korea to witness what we hope will be Haider
:01:52. > :01:56.Rashid's qualification for the London Olympics, where there is a
:01:56. > :01:59.lovely new rowing facility and the boats are all shiny. To really
:01:59. > :02:07.understand him and the journey he has been on, you have got to go
:02:07. > :02:14.back to where it all began. Haider Rashid rose from Baghdad. He trains
:02:14. > :02:19.on the river to Greece with the rest of Iraq's growing team. -- the
:02:19. > :02:23.River Tigris. In 2008, he and his rowing partner at the time, Hamza
:02:23. > :02:28.Hussein, were two of the four athletes Beijing -- Iraq sent to
:02:28. > :02:38.the Beijing Olympics. They were given a last-minute wild card to
:02:38. > :02:38.
:02:38. > :02:42.compete and finished 13th out of 13. As I discovered when I visited them,
:02:42. > :02:49.conditions for rowing were pretty good, but it was not always like
:02:49. > :02:55.that. During the Second Gulf War in 2003, the River Tigris was part of
:02:55. > :03:01.the frontline, literally. Even after Saddam Hussein was toppled,
:03:01. > :03:08.the reverse served a darker purpose. We were still coming here and
:03:08. > :03:13.training, and we see a lot of bodies in the river. There were
:03:13. > :03:22.bodies. We could not move them, and we were still training. Just a few
:03:22. > :03:25.metres from us. This body stayed there three weeks, maybe.
:03:25. > :03:30.London Olympics offers Haider Rashid a chance to improve on his
:03:30. > :03:34.last place finish in 2008. He has moved into a boat of his own, and
:03:34. > :03:42.we will find out later in the programme if he can qualify here in
:03:42. > :03:51.Korea. Before that, let's hear about a town that has produced a
:03:51. > :03:55.disproportionate number of Olympic champions. Kenya is world renowned
:03:55. > :03:59.for its long distance runners, and the Rift Valley in particular is
:03:59. > :04:04.recognised as the cauldron from which the majority of these
:04:04. > :04:10.champions are produced. But what makes this place so special? James
:04:10. > :04:20.Coomarasamy has been to the town of Iten, the running capital of the
:04:20. > :04:34.
:04:34. > :04:44.High above Kenya's Rift Valley, they gather for their morning
:04:44. > :04:49.
:04:49. > :04:57.This is Iten, a town where running is a way of life from schooldays
:04:57. > :05:02.onwards and where the early morning soundtrack is the pounding of feet.
:05:02. > :05:06.A quarter of the population here are committed athletes. That
:05:06. > :05:11.dedication has brought medals and riches for some and inspired others
:05:11. > :05:18.to follow in their footsteps as a way to escape poverty. What do you
:05:18. > :05:24.hoped to do with your running? hope to improve my life, my living
:05:24. > :05:29.standard, help my family and help others. And Iten's aspiring
:05:29. > :05:33.athletes are helped by the presence of so many medalists in their midst,
:05:33. > :05:39.taking advantage of the thin air, the simple diet and the general
:05:39. > :05:44.hunger for success. Here at Iten's basic running track, you get a
:05:44. > :05:48.sense of what makes this place a special. Elite Kenyan athletes,
:05:48. > :05:57.international athletes, world champions and schoolkids are all
:05:57. > :06:01.here, united by their passion for the sport. Driving out of Iten, we
:06:01. > :06:09.are off to meet a young girl who hopes to leave her poor rural
:06:10. > :06:14.surroundings and joined the ranks of Kenya's champions. When 12-year-
:06:14. > :06:19.old Nancy Jeepcho returns home after her bare foot journey from
:06:19. > :06:24.school, she changes straight into her running gear. Then it is time
:06:24. > :06:29.to warm up for her second training session of the day. She would run
:06:29. > :06:33.to the local well at 5am to fetch water for her grandmother. Her
:06:33. > :06:37.talent has already brought her victory in the National Primary
:06:37. > :06:41.School's championship. Expectant villagers hope that in the future,
:06:41. > :06:48.it could also bring an end to their hardship. This village is not well
:06:48. > :06:53.developed. We don't even have electricity. We don't have a good
:06:53. > :06:58.means of transportation. So we are looking forward to her coming back
:06:58. > :07:06.and helping the community. She will be a role model and then she will
:07:06. > :07:10.come and eradicate the poverty in this village. But for the moment,
:07:10. > :07:15.that weight of responsibility does not seem to be putting Nancy off
:07:15. > :07:20.her stride. She has a quiet confidence in her future success.
:07:20. > :07:30.For her, running is not just a way of life, but a way of changing
:07:30. > :07:51.
:07:51. > :07:54.Back in Korea, Haider Rashid, a rower from Iraq, is preparing to
:07:54. > :07:59.qualify for the London Olympic Games. Earlier, we heard about his
:07:59. > :08:04.training base in Baghdad. They don't have an Olympic-sized rowing
:08:04. > :08:09.lake in the city. They have to train on the River Tigris. For most
:08:09. > :08:15.athletes qualifying for the Olympic Games can be a six-month experience.
:08:15. > :08:19.For Haider Rashid, it all boils down to this one event in Korea. If
:08:19. > :08:28.he has a good week, he is going to be games. If it is bad, his dream
:08:28. > :08:34.ends here. To date, Haider Rashid has failed to qualify for the
:08:34. > :08:39.Olympics. This is his last chance, and he is going up against Asia's
:08:39. > :08:44.best rowers. So far, it is looking good. This is the opening round. He
:08:44. > :08:51.needs to finish in the top two to get to the semi-final. His first or
:08:51. > :08:57.second at the moment. And Haider Rashid keeps the momentum going,
:08:57. > :09:03.crossing the line first, seven seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
:09:03. > :09:09.It was a good race. I finished first place. The day after tomorrow,
:09:09. > :09:13.we have the semi-final. We will see how Haider Rashid get some later.
:09:13. > :09:19.Another of our athletes aiming for Olympic qualification is American
:09:19. > :09:26.gymnast Shawn Johnson. If she does make it, it will crown an amazing
:09:26. > :09:31.comeback from a horrific injury. Her career has literally been in
:09:31. > :09:37.the balance since she blew out her knee while skiing in 2010. Sadly
:09:37. > :09:42.for her, the injury never fully went away, so she now has decided
:09:42. > :09:48.to retire. But how has this incredible journey you affected
:09:48. > :09:57.those closest to her? World Olympic Dreams went to Des Moines, Iowa, to
:09:57. > :10:02.meet her mother, Terri, who has been with her every step of the way.
:10:02. > :10:08.Billie-Jean King started to follow me on Twitter. To me, she has just
:10:08. > :10:15.shone. I still have a hard time believing that she has done the
:10:15. > :10:19.things she has done, because she isn't any different, except for the
:10:19. > :10:24.things we have had introduced to our life that we were not used to.
:10:24. > :10:34.Nothing has changed, except that a lot of people know who she is an
:10:34. > :10:54.
:10:54. > :10:58.think she is cool, which made me Going back home has meant the
:10:58. > :11:04.comfort of my parents. It is the one constant I have had through
:11:04. > :11:09.everything. I don't think anybody else gets it quite like they do.
:11:09. > :11:13.They have seen the good days and the bad days and in good years and
:11:13. > :11:23.the bad years. They have gone through everything with me. It is
:11:23. > :11:24.
:11:24. > :11:34.like they have been training for it themselves.
:11:34. > :11:36.
:11:36. > :11:46.I think I have done this drive thousands of times since I started.
:11:46. > :11:54.
:11:54. > :12:01.Twice a day, every day for the past, oh, my gosh, 17 years. Oh, my gosh.
:12:01. > :12:08.It is wonderful watching people love something that means a lot to
:12:08. > :12:12.me, which is her. Watching her on the be more doing gymnastics, there
:12:12. > :12:18.is danger to it. I never got comfortable with it. I never found
:12:18. > :12:28.a comfort zone watching her do it. I just always say it's a little
:12:28. > :12:29.
:12:29. > :12:33.prayer that I hope she is safe. When I saw Shawn Johnson get her
:12:33. > :12:39.gold medal, I was just so relieved that it was all over. Isn't that
:12:39. > :12:44.awful? Through every second, my mom has been there. And knowing she has
:12:44. > :12:48.been there has given me something to fall back on. At the end of the
:12:48. > :12:52.day, I am not a gymnast to her, I am just her daughter. And having
:12:52. > :12:56.that constant in my life, the one who supports me, no matter what,
:12:56. > :13:00.and wants to see me be happy as a person and not as this Olympic
:13:00. > :13:07.gymnast, it means the world to me. Since I was little, they have
:13:07. > :13:11.taught me that it is not about the material things, the titles and or
:13:11. > :13:17.the Olympics or gymnastics, it is about the person you are at the
:13:17. > :13:21.heart you have. What I am most proud of is who she is as a person
:13:21. > :13:31.versus what she has done and accomplished. She is still a nice
:13:31. > :13:40.
:13:40. > :13:44.person. She has a good heart. I am real proud of that.
:13:44. > :13:48.Just a few hundred miles away, a pair of identical twins from
:13:48. > :13:52.Belgium have been getting stuck into their summer training camp.
:13:52. > :14:00.Kevin and Jonathan Borlee are going for 400 metre gold, and they have
:14:00. > :14:09.enlisted the help of a track and field legend, Michael Johnson.
:14:09. > :14:19.is one of the greatest runners of all time. Kieron fox caught up with
:14:19. > :14:36.
:14:36. > :14:43.This is track-and-field, American style. In the US college system,
:14:43. > :14:47.athletics is serious business. In the Texan heat, the competition and
:14:47. > :14:54.set up would be the envy of some nations. This is where Belgium's
:14:54. > :14:58.twins have come to prepare for the London Olympics. But here, not even
:14:58. > :15:04.Kevin, the European 400 metre champion, is guaranteed a wind.
:15:04. > :15:14.Second place will have to do for now. Brother Jonathan fared better,
:15:14. > :15:15.
:15:15. > :15:20.with a winning personal best in the Brothers are in Texas, along with
:15:20. > :15:27.the rest of Belgium's 400 metres squad, to train in the shadow of
:15:27. > :15:33.this man. 400 metres's greatest ever exponent. Michael Johnson to
:15:33. > :15:40.go Olympic sprinter and to new levels -- Olympic sprinting. If the
:15:40. > :15:46.brothers need inspiration, it is here in abundance. We are going to
:15:46. > :15:56.have a lot of pressure coming to the Olympics, so we have to be able
:15:56. > :15:56.
:15:56. > :16:01.to handle it and I am sure he can teach us some great... Tips. Yeah.
:16:01. > :16:07.At the centre, athletes of many sports work on conditioning and
:16:07. > :16:11.mental preparation. For three weeks, the twins will hone their
:16:11. > :16:15.athleticism. They are obviously unique because you have some twins
:16:15. > :16:19.that are talented, coming from a country that is not known for
:16:19. > :16:24.producing great 400 metre runners. It will be interesting to see how
:16:24. > :16:28.they perform in the summer. They are in the top five in the world
:16:28. > :16:33.but if they are to turn rankings into medals, they hope that common
:16:33. > :16:37.to the Michael Johnson performance centre will make a difference.
:16:37. > :16:43.After four years of preparation and hard work, what they do here could
:16:43. > :16:52.be crucial in London. Training is a family affair for the brothers. The
:16:52. > :16:56.youngest brother Dylan and sister Olivia I'll already Olympic relay
:16:56. > :17:04.silver medallists. At the heart of the operation is their father and
:17:05. > :17:11.coach, a former Olympic athlete himself. I never think about
:17:11. > :17:18.beating Jonathan. Like I say, in the final, I don't have seven
:17:18. > :17:24.opponents. I have six. If he is first and I am second, I am go it.
:17:24. > :17:32.I don't even think about giving him the race. What? I just try to think
:17:32. > :17:38.about my race and focus on that and give my best. The Olympics are
:17:38. > :17:45.around the corner. Most of the training is done. For the twins, it
:17:45. > :17:49.is almost race time. My sports career came to an end
:17:49. > :17:54.eight years ago so I find myself coming to events like this and
:17:54. > :17:58.watching from the relatives safely -- safety and peace of the towpath,
:17:58. > :18:05.but I can still remember the feeling of being favourite, and
:18:05. > :18:09.that is certainly the case for one of our British athletes. He is from
:18:09. > :18:13.the sport of triathlon and his name is Alistair Brownlee.
:18:13. > :18:18.Over the past two years, we have followed him across Europe, to
:18:18. > :18:22.training camps in Lanzarote and the Swiss Alps. We have seen him emerge
:18:22. > :18:26.as one of Britain's top athletes, winning his second world
:18:26. > :18:30.championship. He is becoming increasingly in demand by the media
:18:30. > :18:40.and all the while has kept his feet on the ground and stayed true to
:18:40. > :18:43.
:18:43. > :18:52.Ed Thomas met up with him at his home in the North of England to
:18:52. > :18:57.find out why Yorkshire is where the parties. -- the heart is. Made in
:18:57. > :19:03.Yorkshire. The brothers who dominate triathlon. Alastair and
:19:03. > :19:06.Jonathan Brownlee. From a very young age I realise I had been
:19:07. > :19:12.inspired and motivated by my surroundings and that is what gives
:19:12. > :19:15.me the motivation. I want to be in the nice countryside and cycled
:19:15. > :19:20.through a particular place to see a view and that has been the most
:19:20. > :19:29.important thing to me. On top of that is that you still know your
:19:30. > :19:36.family and friends. You are just training and it is not a job.
:19:36. > :19:44.coach Malcolm Brown agrees. Better road surface than in Spain, a
:19:44. > :19:54.better climate and San Diego, deeper culture than in the Gold
:19:54. > :19:55.
:19:55. > :20:00.But no one of those advantages outweighs the accumulation of the
:20:00. > :20:04.advantages in Yorkshire. British triathlon's HQ is in Loughborough
:20:04. > :20:09.but the brothers have decided to stay close to their roots.
:20:09. > :20:13.Loughborough might offer something but at the end of the day, I
:20:13. > :20:20.trained 30 hours at every week and it is important I can do that in a
:20:20. > :20:24.place where I enjoyed doing it. former teacher also sees Yorkshire
:20:24. > :20:31.as the training ground for Alistair Brownlee's 6 as. They both have
:20:31. > :20:37.tremendous pride in Yorkshire. Allister particularly, in the
:20:37. > :20:45.Yorkshire cross country championships. He won the under 13,
:20:45. > :20:49.under 14, under 14, under 15, under 16, Under 17, under 18, under 19.
:20:49. > :20:53.When I was 11, I walked into the changing room and somebody were
:20:53. > :20:59.brought out a vest that said Yorkshire on it and they said, if
:20:59. > :21:05.you qualify and come in the top eight, you get given a vest for
:21:05. > :21:07.free. I went away and trained for a few weeks and came 7th in the
:21:07. > :21:12.Yorkshire cross country championships. That was the first
:21:12. > :21:16.time I ever decided to go away and trained for something myself.
:21:16. > :21:22.the past, Alastair has crossed the line draped in the Yorkshire flag.
:21:22. > :21:26.Will he do it again at the Olympics? I would if I could. I
:21:26. > :21:30.don't want to be thinking too far ahead. I don't think you are
:21:30. > :21:40.allowed to because the Yorkshire flag is not recognised by the
:21:40. > :21:52.
:21:53. > :22:00.authority and the Olympic and Back to our final part of the
:22:00. > :22:05.programme and the moment of truth for the Iraqi roller. It is seven
:22:05. > :22:11.minutes to go before the race and to be honest, the closest I can
:22:11. > :22:16.compare this to is actually a bracing myself. You get butterflies
:22:16. > :22:26.and you start thinking about what will happen in the race. I am
:22:26. > :22:29.
:22:29. > :22:39.really really wanting him to do well now. 2000 metres now lie
:22:39. > :22:40.
:22:40. > :22:45.between Haider Rashid, and his Normally at a big rowing race like
:22:45. > :22:51.an Olympic Games, you would have live TV pictures coming back from a
:22:51. > :22:56.card or a boat. Here we have just got a fixed camera and then one may
:22:56. > :23:02.be 1,000 metres, so we have to wait three minutes for any more
:23:02. > :23:12.information. In the meantime on stage we have got Korea's Got
:23:12. > :23:24.
:23:24. > :23:29.We have just had eight picture at 1,000 metres. I reckon he is in
:23:29. > :23:39.second place. Having won his heat, he now needs to finish in the top
:23:39. > :23:49.three of this race to qualify. Go for it. Come on. No! Come on! No!
:23:49. > :24:21.
:24:21. > :24:30.Come on! Oh my God... This is I finished fourth place. It was
:24:30. > :24:38.7.11, and I was 7.12. Disappointed. Do you want to carry on with the
:24:38. > :24:48.sport? Yeah. Sure. I will stay with the sport. It is not the end of the
:24:48. > :24:48.
:24:48. > :24:55.world if I don't go to the Olympic Games. We have the Arab Games, we
:24:55. > :25:02.have championships, we get medals, it is OK. It is important for us. I
:25:02. > :25:07.have to train more. I do hope that Haider Rashid has enjoyed the
:25:07. > :25:12.attempt to get the Olympic Games and it should have been possible
:25:12. > :25:17.for us to write out a list of 26 people and all of them would make
:25:17. > :25:21.it to the Games and win medals. I have always been keen on the idea
:25:21. > :25:26.that we should be interested in the people who try their hardest and
:25:26. > :25:31.just fall short and of course, that is what we have seen today. I hope
:25:31. > :25:35.that wherever you are in the world, whichever flag you are waving,
:25:35. > :25:45.whichever athlete you are supporting, you are going to love
:25:45. > :26:09.
:26:09. > :26:14.I have got some good news to show you at the end of this forecast,
:26:14. > :26:24.but before that happens, some bad news. We don't want any more rain
:26:24. > :26:25.
:26:25. > :26:30.Various parts of the UK are expected to see significant amount
:26:30. > :26:40.of rain as we go through the night. Many places will get a soaking
:26:40. > :26:44.
:26:44. > :26:54.overnight, widely 20 mm and double The rain will start to clear a way
:26:54. > :27:03.A dam start across parts of the South East. -- damp start. The rain
:27:03. > :27:07.will not stay around, sunshine for all of us, but showers in some
:27:07. > :27:12.places. Southern counties can look forward to a fine afternoon, this
:27:12. > :27:19.is 2pm. The threat of cloud to the far south-west but it looks like it
:27:19. > :27:29.will stay dry. The risk of showers in Wales but isolated. Thankfully
:27:29. > :27:30.
:27:30. > :27:33.More showers through tomorrow across parts of Scotland,
:27:33. > :27:43.particularly on the eastern side and these could align themselves
:27:43. > :27:53.into heavy downpours, into north- The cricket starts in the afternoon,
:27:53. > :27:55.
:27:55. > :28:02.Monday is looking fine. The start of the new working week. Any
:28:02. > :28:08.showers will be isolated. It will feel more comfortable. A sign of
:28:08. > :28:16.things to come. Good news of course for Wimbledon. The first two days
:28:16. > :28:21.should be largely drive. The BBC has it covers. You can see this
:28:21. > :28:26.bubble of warmth developing through next week. It will turn