Keith Adams

A small chalk drawing of a foot from the early 16th century has just sold at auction for 23 million dollars. Nothing extraordinary about that, because it's by the Renaissance master Michelangelo. It's believed to be a study for a figure in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

But what is extraordinary is that the unsuspecting owner had submitted a photo of the sketch for an auction estimate online with no idea of what it truly was. Andrew Fletcher is the global head of Old Masters at Christie's in New York, which sold the item. He told my colleague James Menendez about the drawing's journey from online portal to auction house sensation.

Tässä kuvauksessa on hyvin nykyinen tutkimus vuodesta 2025. Se oli lähettänyt Christie's Estimate Request Portal Systemiin, ja se oli anonyyminen kuvauksessa. Se tuli huomioon minun kollegani kuvauksessa, joka meni San Franciscoon voimakkaan. Hänet tuli takaisin häneltä viikossa. Hänet otettiin Metsiin muutaman päivän jälkeen. Hänet otettiin anonyymiseen kuvaukseen, mikä oli kuvauksena Michelangelon Sistine Ceilingin kuvauksesta.

It's a study in red chalk for the right foot of the Libyan sibyl at the east end of the Sistine ceiling, one of the last figures Michelangelo painted. There are very, very few drawings for the Sistine ceiling left in existence because Michelangelo famously had several bonfires of his drawings. And while he would have made a drawing for pretty much every limb,

hand, foot, head on the Sistine ceiling, and therefore there would have been hundreds or even thousands such drawings. Only about 50 remain today, and none of them are in private hands or have come to auction, I should say. So incredibly rare. And just to pick you up what you said at the beginning, I mean, does it happen very often that a Michelangelo is sent through your sort of online portal, which presumably people send things in on spec saying, you know, I've got this, you know, is it worth anything? I mean, has that happened before?

Well, through the estimate request portal, that has not happened before as far as I'm aware. But what I would also say, Christie's did discover another Michelangelo three years ago, which we sold in Paris for about 20 million euros. And that again was hiding, unrecognized as a Michelangelo. So we've got quite a good recent history with these drawings by Michelangelo. That was not for the Sistine ceiling, however. And it's gone for way beyond its estimate, which again points to the rarity value of these drawings.

Kyllä, se oli 23 vuotta minun yrityksessäni yksi suositukseni. Meillä oli ainakin kahdeksan yksiköitä telefonissa. Meillä oli kymmenen yksiköitä yksiköissä. Se tuli 45 minuuttia, mikä on yllättävää.

Andrew Fletcher from Christie's Auction House.

Now, the Winter Olympics in the Italian Alps officially kick off today. But ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday evening, there's a somewhat bizarre story making the rounds. The World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, has had to weigh in about claims that male ski jumpers have been artificially enhancing the size of their genitals with injections of hyaluronic acid. That's before having their suit measurements taken. Apparently a bigger ski suit gives the jumper more lift.

WADA sanoo, että täytyy tutkia näitä taktiikoita, jos mitään evidenssiä löytyy, että se oikeasti tapahtui. Mutta miten tämä vaikea harjoitus voisi todella auttaa heitä? Matt Lawton on koulutuskorrespondentti Londonin järjestelmällä.

he itse asiassa yrittivät meneillään suutuja sijainnillaan, koska asia on se, että jos on enemmän materiaalia, suurta ympäristöä suutuissa, se voi todella vaikuttaa siitä, kuinka kauan skijumppari voidaan mennä. Voit käydä jonkinlainen prosessi, tai yksi suosituksista on se, että atleteet ovat laittaneet leikkiä ympäristöön, jotta se alue voisi olla isompi.

There is an obvious incentive for doing this, because there's a scientific study that we've quoted today, which says that an extra two centimeters of circumference in terms of the suit can equate to an extra five meters circumference.

Matt Lawton, The Times.

And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global News Pod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Chris Ablakwa and the producers were Guy Pitt and Stephanie Zachrisson. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Keith Adams. Until next time, goodbye.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

Lomia, joiden et soisi loppuvan. Nyt kampanjahintaan.

I'm Keith Adams, and at 4.30 GMT on Friday the 9th of January, these are our main stories. Iranians are taking to the streets in the biggest anti-government protests in years. The government in Venezuela says it's begun releasing political prisoners in order to promote peace. Colombia's president tells the BBC he believes there is a real threat of US military action against his country.

Also in this podcast... As NASA prepares to evacuate the sick crew member from the International Space Station, we'll ask how to keep a growing number of space travelers healthy.

Tensiä kymmeniä protestaatioita on otettu Iranin kaupungin suurimmalle demonstraatiolle vuosia. Rallit alkoivat melkein kaksi viikkoa sitten, kun kaupunkipuolueet rauhoittivat arvonmukaisuuden arvonmukaisuuden arvonmukaisuuden arvonmukaisuuden arvonmukaisuuden arvonmukaisuuden arvonmukaisuuden.