Running at the World Cup
More or Less: Behind the Stats
BBC
4.6 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 29 June 2018
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we take a look at some of the statistics which have caught our attention at the World Cup. There has been much debate in both the press and social media about the large distances which Russian football players have run in their first two games. We look at how they compare to other teams and what it might signify. Also –is it just bad luck that Germany has crashed out of the competition?
Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Producer: Richard Vadon
(Picture: Artem Dzyuba of Russia celebrates scoring against Saudi Arabia. Credit: Xin Li/Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:47.0 | We're the program that usually shines a light on the statistics and the news, |
| 0:51.0 | but at the moment we're mainly just watching football. |
| 0:55.2 | The World Cup to be exact. So far it's been a great tournament but after Russia's |
| 1:00.8 | second game there was an interesting statistical story. |
| 1:05.9 | In their first game, Russia's players had run further than any team in the competition. |
| 1:11.6 | In total, they ran 118 kilometers over the course of the match. |
| 1:19.2 | In their second game they ran the second furthest, 115 kilometers. |
| 1:25.0 | To put that into perspective, at this point in the competition, |
| 1:30.0 | on average, teams were running just 105 kilometers. |
| 1:35.0 | This made Russia look like a team of super-athletes. |
| 1:39.0 | Newspapers jumped on the story. |
| 1:41.0 | Russia leave World Cup rivals in their wake to top running stats. |
| 1:45.0 | What's behind the host's revival? |
| 1:48.0 | Only FIFA can say if Russia's form is too good to be true. |
| 1:52.0 | Some papers were hinting at what might be behind this |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.