Orla chennaoui biography of george
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The Cappuccino
Listen to the Mallorca series
The sun is shining as inom touch down at Palma airport – a glorious relief from the grey, damp English winter. Rob Hatch, my guide to all things Mallorquin, is waiting in the arrival hall, fortunately without a handwritten sign that says ‘Mr Napalm.’
We head into the city to visit two velodromes – one old and derelict, the other modern and shiny – to record a piece for Sunday’s episode, which is when the five-race utmaning Mallorca concludes with the Trofeo Palma.
El Tirador has been derelict for decades and is now overgrown and broken to a point that seems beyond repair. The Palma Arena, or Velòdrom Illes Balears, is only a kilometre or so away and is where British Cycling’s era of dominance on the track really began, with a mighty haul medals in the World Championships. It’s also where Rafa Nadal faced Roger Federer in the ‘Battle of Surfaces’ tennis match when they were both at the peak of their powers. One side of the net was
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'I get abuse for the way I dress but sport's not just for men in suits!': Orla Chennaoui, TNT's new face of Premiership Rugby, on empowering female presenters
For Orla Chennaoui, there is one upside to the abuse she regularly receives on social media. ‘It’s mostly about how I look or how I dress, which is standard fare for a woman,’ sighs the new face of Friday night Premiership Rugby on TNT Sports.
‘But hopefully that means that what I am saying and how I am presenting comes across quite well. People don’t tend to say, “You are talking rubbish”, so that’s good, because that’s the bit that I am there for!
Far from talking rubbish, Chennaoui is one of the best in the business. The year-old from nordlig Ireland has just been shortlisted for sports presenter of the year by the Broadcast idrott Awards, pitting her against such industry heavyweights as Gabby Logan, Mark Pougatch and Ed Chamberlin.
‘It's really exciting and terrifying in equal measure,’ she tells Mail Sport from her h
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Orla Chennaoui
About
Orla Chennaoui
Orla Chennaoui is a multi-lingual television sports presenter, journalist, podcaster and writer, with a sideline in lifelong anxiety. As a junior athletics champion, classically-trained violinist and law graduate, Orla Chennaoui was familiar with working hard to achieve success, but only later realised her years of overachieving were rooted in an as-yet undiagnosed anxiety. A plunge into post natal depression in was the trigger for Orla to begin to understand the ways her mental health had shaped her life path, letting go of alcohol as a form of self-medication and deep-diving into research that led her to her refreshing conclusion; that anxiety can be a super power.
The need to understand and reframe anxiety is more necessary than ever. It is the number one global health concern according to the World Economic Forum, with the global rebalance increasing by 25% in the first year of the Covid pandemic. In a post-Covid era, million people worl