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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at b.

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Speaker 2: We are now just seven days away, just one week

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Speaker 2: away from the twenty twenty six Winter Olympics. This year,

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Speaker 2: of course, New Zealand is growing its presence at the

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Speaker 2: game's seventeen athletes set to compete, and someone who knows

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Speaker 2: all too well just how those athletes will be feeling,

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Speaker 2: as two time Winter Olympic medalist Nico portist and Pyeongchang.

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Speaker 2: In twenty eighteen, Nico won bronze aged just sixteen. Four

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Speaker 2: years later, he made history, of course for New Zealand,

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Speaker 2: winning gold in the half pipe in Beijing. He has

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Speaker 2: also taken home two X Games gold medals, a World's

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Speaker 2: Championship title and five World Cup medals. He's been named

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Speaker 2: as a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit

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Speaker 2: for his services to snow sport, and he's done all

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Speaker 2: of that before the age of twenty five. Last year, though,

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Speaker 2: Nico made the decision to step away from Olympic level competition,

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Speaker 2: and he's with us this morning. Killed a good morning.

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Speaker 3: Good her, good morning. How are you ja?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm really well. Thanks. Can I just ask where

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Speaker 4: in the world.

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Speaker 2: Are you right now, Nico, because something tells me it

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Speaker 2: isn't morning where you are.

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Speaker 5: No, No, it's night time where I am. So I'm

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Speaker 5: currently in Larks in Switzerland.

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Speaker 4: Oh tough, gay gay Yeah yeah, exactly. Winters around the world,

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Speaker 4: but there are worse places to be.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, No, it's pretty nice here right now. It's

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Speaker 5: had some good weather and some good snows, so yeah,

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Speaker 5: it's been good, very good.

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Speaker 2: Well, you're obviously up in the mountain every day, but

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Speaker 2: it must be a bit of a funny time at

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Speaker 2: the moment because we're a few days out from the

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Speaker 2: start of the Winter Olympics and for the first time

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Speaker 2: in a long time you aren't competing in them. How

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Speaker 2: are you How are you feeling going into the games?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? I feel I feel really good. It's really really nice.

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Speaker 5: Although yeah, I'm like like in Larks right now, is

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Speaker 5: currently where the New Zealand teams doing their peaking slash

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Speaker 5: holding camp pre Olympics, and so all of my friends

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Speaker 5: and fellow competitors and team athletes to hear right now,

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Speaker 5: and so I've been hanging out with them and actually,

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Speaker 5: like currently Zoe and Ben Barklay are sitting in my

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Speaker 5: living room.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, it's been nice.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it's been nice to hang out with them and

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Speaker 5: just like sort of feel like we're at home and yeah,

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Speaker 5: but it feels really good, you know. It feels like

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Speaker 5: again it confirms that I made the right decision to

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Speaker 5: sort of stand back, and so yeah, it feels good.

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Speaker 2: So just for our listeners who haven't like kind of

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Speaker 2: plotted that decision over the last year or two, so

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Speaker 2: just just remind us what you decided, because it sounds like,

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Speaker 2: given the heights at which you need to compete in

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Speaker 2: the freestyle half fight, it sounds like a very wise

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Speaker 2: decision to me. But just remind us what you decided.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So in October of twenty twenty four, I made

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Speaker 5: the decision to step back from competitive skiing, and then

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Speaker 5: went public with that decision in July last year of

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Speaker 5: last year.

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Speaker 3: And that decision kind of just came from having been.

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Speaker 5: In the high performance environment and the competitive environment since

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Speaker 5: I was ten and sort of you know, having the

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Speaker 5: want to move into different areas. And we're lucky that

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Speaker 5: in our sport competitions and everything, and with the support

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Speaker 5: of sponsors, we can move into different areas such as

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Speaker 5: you know, making films and doing one off projects and

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Speaker 5: that sort of stuff. So that area has always really

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Speaker 5: excited me and inspired me, and so I felt like

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Speaker 5: the time was right to step aside, and I felt

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Speaker 5: like I had done what I wanted to achieve in

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Speaker 5: the competitive side of things and wanted to.

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Speaker 3: Move on to something new.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and so yeah, it's going really well.

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Speaker 4: It's so good.

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Speaker 2: It's actually a real sign of maturity to be able

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Speaker 2: to make that call. I reckon, you know, it's not dear,

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Speaker 2: I suggest you've been to the top of the world,

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Speaker 2: you know, like to be able to, you know, appreciate

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Speaker 2: what you've achieved and say, actually, there are lots more

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Speaker 2: things I want to be able to do in the sport.

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Speaker 2: I think it's Yeah, I think it's I think it's

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Speaker 2: amazing you were able to make that decision.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks, thanks Jack. Yeah, it definitely is like it

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Speaker 5: definitely was a tough decision and a lot of thought,

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Speaker 5: and at times there has been times where I've been like, oh,

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Speaker 5: my goodness, like this is a pretty big, big thing

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Speaker 5: to step away and step back from the position that

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Speaker 5: I was in.

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Speaker 3: And but it feels good.

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Speaker 5: And it feels like a new I guess It's kind

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Speaker 5: of weird because I was like, in a way, I

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Speaker 5: felt like I had my routine down and things were

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Speaker 5: going good at the time, and then.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I just took it. It was a risk, and

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Speaker 3: it was a leap in the dark and.

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Speaker 5: Something that I, you know, didn't know it was going

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Speaker 5: to work. And yeah, so it just felt good to

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Speaker 5: move on to a new challenge and to move into

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Speaker 5: I guess, new areas and learn, keep learning.

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Speaker 3: I guess.

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Speaker 2: So how different is your kind of intal state today

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Speaker 2: compared to where you would have been at exactly this

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Speaker 2: time four years ago going into the Games? Oh do

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Speaker 2: I suggest you know, comparing yourself right now with the

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Speaker 2: pressure that's facing some of your mates sitting on the

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Speaker 2: couch next to you right now.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, Look, I I I am in a different spot,

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Speaker 5: but also at the same time, I'm I kin'd of

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Speaker 5: feel as if I'm in a similar spot.

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Speaker 3: Obviously there isn't.

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Speaker 5: That Olympic pressure, which is which is awesome, But at

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Speaker 5: the same time, it's like I put a lot of

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Speaker 5: pressure on myself to scare it my best at all times,

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Speaker 5: and in order to, I guess, keep striving for the

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Speaker 5: best things that I can achieve. And so like I

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Speaker 5: am stressed, and but that's just normal, and it does

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Speaker 5: feel I guess, like a different type of stress. It's

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Speaker 5: completely on my own terms and and that and that

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Speaker 5: feels good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it feels like, you know, it feels like you

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Speaker 2: guys have really set something in motion when it comes

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Speaker 2: to freestyle skiing and when it comes to the half

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Speaker 2: Pite in New Zealand, like we've really got a kind

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Speaker 2: of I don't want to say a conveyor line of talent,

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Speaker 2: but you know what I mean.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, no, I do, I know exactly what you mean.

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Speaker 5: And it's been it's been absolutely incredible watching everyone this

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Speaker 5: past winter and all this winter that we're currently in them.

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Speaker 5: There's some pretty exciting stuff happening coming into this games.

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Speaker 5: And we've seen an incredibly successful week at the X

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Speaker 5: Games last week and then yeah, last year at World

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Speaker 5: Championships and it's kind of just taken off and that's

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Speaker 5: been it's been amazing to watch. And it's been really

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Speaker 5: really cool to see how I mean when I say

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Speaker 5: see how these athletes have developed, I think I'm speaking

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Speaker 5: about the half Fight guys and Luke Harrold and Findly

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Speaker 5: Malvile lives and seeing how they've moved up the ranks,

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Speaker 5: and because I remember when they were super young and

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Speaker 5: so now they're getting World Cup podiums and X Games

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Speaker 5: medals and World championships, and it's been an absolute honor

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Speaker 5: to watch them come up through the ranks and to

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Speaker 5: see how hard they work, and yeah.

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Speaker 3: It's been really really cool.

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Speaker 5: And then just seeing everyone else work so so hard

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Speaker 5: as well has been really really inspiring. And then just

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Speaker 5: continuing to perfect their craft, and yeah.

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Speaker 3: It's just cool. I have a very very inspiring group

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Speaker 3: of people around me, and that's set.

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Speaker 4: Do you reckon?

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Speaker 2: It's a young person's sport, like an especially young person's sport,

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Speaker 2: just to have the I mean not only to have

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Speaker 2: the hamstrings, but to have the kind of mental capacity

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Speaker 2: to throw yourself into what was it like a you

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Speaker 2: were doing like sixteen twenties double cork sixteen twenties. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: just to be able to like put everything else out

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Speaker 2: of your mind and be like, oh, yeah, I'll just

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Speaker 2: throw myself into this. It feels like the sort of

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Speaker 2: thing that you're less likely to do once, you know,

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Speaker 2: hit your thirties.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it is in a way, you know,

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Speaker 5: it is a really young people's sport and people peek

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Speaker 5: around their sort of mid twenties, early to mid twenties,

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Speaker 5: and and I think that, you know, that does have

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Speaker 5: its demands on the body that the young body can

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Speaker 5: only you know, you know, the young body can handle

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Speaker 5: those and I think that that's a massive part of it.

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Speaker 5: But also at the same time, it's like I feel

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Speaker 5: like it's it just takes so much time to really

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Speaker 5: perfect and to progress in the squat, And so I

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Speaker 5: think starting so young is key, and especially nowadays seeing

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Speaker 5: the level being so high, it's important to start from

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Speaker 5: a young age. And yeah, I would say that the

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Speaker 5: guys that are doing this are they're extremely trained and

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Speaker 5: not only their physical ability, but also the way that

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Speaker 5: they can handle these situations mentally and to put themselves

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Speaker 5: through this and I guess make the decisions at the

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Speaker 5: right time. And so it is definitely a young person's sport.

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Speaker 5: But I would say that they are definitely the guys

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Speaker 5: at the top right now are old heads and young bodies.

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Speaker 2: Yeah right, Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, from an outsiders perspective,

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Speaker 2: it almost feels like that mental component is the greater component,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 4: To be able to set out and always of the

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Speaker 4: world and.

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Speaker 2: And and you know, just you know, to throw throw

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Speaker 2: yourself into your best run must be an incredibly difficult thing.

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Speaker 2: So what advice do you offer like younger or up

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Speaker 2: and coming freestyle skiers or indeed the New Zealand team

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Speaker 2: about the mental side of things going into an Olympics.

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Speaker 5: I think, I think the biggest thing that I learned

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Speaker 5: in the whole process and going into the Olympics and

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Speaker 5: was to to just worry about yourself and worry about

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Speaker 5: your own performance. And you know, there's all these external factors,

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Speaker 5: whether it's interviews, whether it's at the Olympics, or whether

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Speaker 5: it's you know, just go and skin on every day basis,

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Speaker 5: it's there's a lot of external stuff that can sort

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Speaker 5: of come into play.

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Speaker 3: So I think the biggest skill that I took.

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Speaker 5: Out of it and learned in the whole process was

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Speaker 5: to just worry about what you're doing and your process

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Speaker 5: and be driven by your own process rather than someone

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Speaker 5: else's goals or ambitions for you. And so yeah, I think,

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Speaker 5: I think, I think, Yeah, I guess to sum it up,

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Speaker 5: it's just worry about yourself.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and and do what you can and.

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Speaker 4: Try to shut everything else out, Yeah.

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Speaker 5: It is, and it is and but but I think

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Speaker 5: the more you tell yourself that, the more it actually

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Speaker 5: becomes a reality.

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Speaker 3: And in a way.

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Speaker 5: It's kind of shutting off the external world and what's

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Speaker 5: going on around you and and and things that you

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Speaker 5: can't control, and just worrying about what you can.

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Speaker 2: So you're still skiing all the time every day, You're

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Speaker 2: still a lot you want to you want to do

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Speaker 2: in the sport, Like, so, what what do you like? Well,

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Speaker 2: you know what else do you want to achieve in skiing?

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Speaker 2: What you know what attracts you to these days?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So, like I said before about moving from competition

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Speaker 5: into the filming side of things, I have some big

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Speaker 5: goals and ambitions and that side of things. And yeah,

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Speaker 5: I've got some really supportive sponsors that that give some

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Speaker 5: incredible opportunities and and that side of the sport. And

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Speaker 5: so I really want to push the limits and and

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Speaker 5: see what's possible and that and and yeah, and continue learning.

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Speaker 3: I guess how do.

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Speaker 4: You feel about crazy downhill skiing?

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Speaker 6: That is?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that is crazy.

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Speaker 5: I think like watching Alice Robinson and what she does

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Speaker 5: and actually spoke to the other day and I saw

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Speaker 5: her in Innsbruck and she was saying she's done like

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Speaker 5: fifteen races this season, and so that's like the the

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Speaker 5: you know, like the endurance that they have to go

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Speaker 5: from weekend to weekend or sometimes multiple races in a week.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, it's incredible.

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Speaker 5: And let alone that you know, they're risking their bodies

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Speaker 5: just as much as we are, and they're some very

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Speaker 5: very fine tuned athletes, and I think it's it's crazy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty cool.

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Speaker 4: Do you see Lindsay Vaughn and overnight?

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Speaker 3: I hope you did. Yeah I did. Yeah, Yeah that

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Speaker 3: was but yeah, yeah that was sad.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I hopefully she's okay, because yeah, it's it's so

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Speaker 6: many of the you know, so many of the different

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Speaker 6: you know, ski skiing comp peticians in the Olympics and

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Speaker 6: indeed in the X Games that feel like they are

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Speaker 6: you know that there's so much jeopardy.

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Speaker 4: Everything feels so per curious.

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Speaker 2: You're always pushing things right to the limit, right, So

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Speaker 2: it's an incredible kind of mental and physical challenge. So

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Speaker 2: heading into the Games, do you have a bit of

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Speaker 2: a like a secret Winter Olympic passion. So, for example,

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Speaker 2: I've got mates who are massive curling fans like unironic

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Speaker 2: big fans of curling really like, I think it's an

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Speaker 2: amazing sport lover. I personally am a huge fan of

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Speaker 2: the biathlon. I never watched it between Winter Olympics, but

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Speaker 2: when the biathlon's on the Winter Olympics, I can't get enough.

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Speaker 4: Is there like a sport that you look forward to?

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Speaker 3: I don't. Yeah, I really enjoy the ice hockey.

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Speaker 5: I think it's awesome to see the country's flash and

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Speaker 5: I was lucky enough to go and watch the finals

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Speaker 5: of the ice hockey in Beijing last year and last Olympics,

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Speaker 5: and that was incredible. But I do think that curling

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Speaker 5: and biathlon biathlon are dark horses and I think they're awesome.

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Speaker 5: And especially by athlon, we have like a x Kiwi

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Speaker 5: or kiwi kiwi guy competing for the US in that event,

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Speaker 5: and he's come up through the ranks and it's now

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Speaker 5: podiuming and doing World Cups or podium at World Cups,

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Speaker 5: and his name's Campbell and and he's, yeah, a legend.

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Speaker 5: He's like, they're so fit. Those guys are insane their

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Speaker 5: fitness and it's.

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Speaker 2: I think it's like I think cross country skiing is

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Speaker 2: like the highest has the highest cardio requirement of any sport. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: in any like anything, Yeah, moving everything the whole time,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah yeah, and then you have to slow your

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Speaker 5: heart right down and shoot, you know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's crazy.

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Speaker 5: But I think another another dark horse event is short

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Speaker 5: track speed skating. I think that's really exciting. I think

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Speaker 5: that's that's real cool. You never you know like this

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Speaker 5: as a Stephen Bradbury that's from classic moments have come

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Speaker 5: out of come out of that event, and so it's

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Speaker 5: always exciting to watch.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it feels like again the deafity factor. It feels

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Speaker 2: like it's like you're the seconds from playoffs at any moment.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's hey, thank you so much, Niico. How much long

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Speaker 2: are you going to have with the New Zealand team.

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Speaker 2: What's the plan with them over the next couple of days?

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Speaker 5: So I think they are half the team heads off

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Speaker 5: tomorrow to go to Milan to Livigno, so where the

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Speaker 5: freestyle sports are based. Ye, and then the other half

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Speaker 5: of the team well or the other part of the

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Speaker 5: team will go on Tuesday and then trickling in for

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Speaker 5: the opening ceremony and so yeah, it's pretty it's pretty

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Speaker 5: exciting times for them, and yeah, pretty excited to watch

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Speaker 5: those guys.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I bet they're absolutely loving having a bit

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Speaker 2: of downtime with you. So give them our best as well,

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Speaker 2: and thank you so much for giving us one time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no problem, thank you very much. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yes, that is.

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Speaker 2: Two time Winter Olympic medalist Nico Portius.

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Speaker 4: So good, oh so good to chat with.

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Speaker 2: What an amazing young guy and still so much to

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Speaker 2: give to the sport of skiing. So I cannot wait

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Speaker 2: to see how his next couple of projects unfold. Stephen Bradbury,

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Speaker 2: of course, was that I think it was two must

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Speaker 2: have been two thousand and two off the top of

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Speaker 2: my head. He was the Australian speed skater who got

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Speaker 2: through to the finals of one of those short track

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Speaker 2: events and was coming last by some distance, and then

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Speaker 2: the first three people in the final, the other three

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Speaker 2: competitors crashed into each other and wiped each other out

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Speaker 2: in the final, and then he kind of cruised through

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Speaker 2: and won the gold medal and iconic Olympic moment. Just

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Speaker 2: an amazing strategic victory of nothing more. Oh here you go,

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Speaker 2: Jacks Is Andrew. I never forget being on a flight

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Speaker 2: from Auckland to lax sitting an economy and across the

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Speaker 2: row was this kid who reckoned He was going skiing

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Speaker 2: for some competitions. His story sounded a bit far fetched,

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Speaker 2: and oh how dumb I felt a few years later

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Speaker 2: when I realized and recognized who he was, Nico Portius,

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Speaker 2: about ten years ago, Jack says, John Ty says Jack,

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Speaker 2: what a cool, well rounded young man he is.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk z'd B from nine am Saturday, or

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