The Black Country-raised Olympic sprint champion Mark Lewis-Francis is the latest guest on the Birmingham 2022 podcast series 22 Voices, featuring sporting legends and cultural trailblazers in the run up to the Commonwealth Games. 

In an honest and open chat, he talks about how athletics turned his life around as a teenager growing up in Smethwick, his journey to becoming Olympic champion aged just 21, and how he wishes he could dust off his spikes for Birmingham 2022!

Mark Lewis-Francis also reflects on the injury problems that cut his career short, the impact of the death of his childhood coach Steve Platt, how Linford Christie helped resurrect his career, and the quieter life he now enjoys in South Wales with his partner and four children.

He also speaks about the Black Lives Matter movement sparked by the death of George Floyd, and his own experiences of racism in the West Midlands. 

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