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Speaker 1: I will post this to social media at some point.

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Speaker 1: Let's see if you can see that. Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: yes we were at the gym. There we are in

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Speaker 1: twenty ten, Nacia. I didn't realize you were smack dab

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Speaker 1: off your wind and still going for more at that time,

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Speaker 1: obviously wearing your signature pink with me. I was just

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Speaker 1: about to say, some things don't change, like ever, thirteen

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Speaker 1: years older and I still I didn't wear pink today,

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Speaker 1: but I still I still like pink. Am I the

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Speaker 1: greatest non gymnast that you've ever trained? Like to the

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Speaker 1: point where I don't want to train any other non

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Speaker 1: gymnasts ever again? Wait a Second's not That's not positive

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Speaker 1: at all. Hi, I'm not doing it again. And I

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Speaker 1: am a dog bomb and an Olympic gold medalist. Hello,

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Speaker 1: my friends, and welcome back to another episode of Off

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Speaker 1: the Beat. It's me your host, Brian Baumgartner here. Now

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Speaker 1: you just got a little sneak peek from our conversation

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Speaker 1: today with legendary Olympic gymnast Nastia Lutkin. Nastia has achieved

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Speaker 1: everything in the world of gymnastics. Literally, She's a four

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Speaker 1: time all around US national champion, a two time world

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Speaker 1: champion on the balance beam, world champion on the uneven bars,

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Speaker 1: and she even made history in the Beijing two thousand

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Speaker 1: eight Olympics, winning five medals, including the all around gold.

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Speaker 1: But more than that, she helped train me on the

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Speaker 1: balance beam. True, well kind of Nastia was good enough

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Speaker 1: to join me on my NBC Sports show Training for

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Speaker 1: Tahoe back in and give me some personal hints about balance. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: It's been a long time since I saw her thirteen

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Speaker 1: years and uh, I was so excited today to dive

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Speaker 1: back into her incredible journey to the Olympics, starting with

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Speaker 1: her family. Listen, she truly lived the American dream. I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna lie, guys. I honestly I shed a small

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Speaker 1: tier during this conversation. But gymnastics it's not the only

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Speaker 1: thing Nastia has mastered. Since retirement, she has become a

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Speaker 1: gymnastics analyst for NBC for the Olympics, she started the

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Speaker 1: Nastia Ludken Cup, and she even competed in Fox's brand

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Speaker 1: new competition series Special Forces. I can't wait for you

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Speaker 1: to get to know Nastia a little bit. She is

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Speaker 1: delightful here. She is one of Gymnastics. No. One of

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Speaker 1: the Olympics all time greats Nastia Ludkin, Bubble and squeak.

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Speaker 1: I love it, Bubble and squeak on bubble and squeaker

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Speaker 1: cookie every moment left over from the nutty Nastia. Hi,

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it's been a few years. Wow, it

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Speaker 1: has been a few years. I'm so excited to see

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Speaker 1: you again. How are you O? I'm good. How many years?

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Speaker 1: I mean it has been at least I would say

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Speaker 1: between the five and ten mark, Okay, I know the answer.

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Speaker 1: So what's your guest? I do um, okay, so actually

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Speaker 1: it's it's more than ten. You're right, because yeah, that

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Speaker 1: means I'm getting old. No, I looked it up. I

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Speaker 1: was trying to find the clip. I didn't. I just

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Speaker 1: used Google before. But I will share it with you

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Speaker 1: right now. I will post this to social media at

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Speaker 1: some point. Let's see if you can see that. Oh

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Speaker 1: my gosh, Yes, we were at the gym. There we

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Speaker 1: are in twenty ten, Nasia. I didn't realize you were

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Speaker 1: smack dab off your win and still going for more

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Speaker 1: at that time, obviously wearing your signature pink with me.

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Speaker 1: I was just about to say, some things don't change,

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Speaker 1: like ever ten years older, and I still like didn't

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Speaker 1: wear pink today, but I still I still like pink.

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Speaker 1: Am I the greatest non gymnast that you've ever trained,

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Speaker 1: Like to the point where I don't want to train

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Speaker 1: any other non gymnasts ever again. Wait a second, that's

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Speaker 1: not positive at all. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. All right, Well,

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Speaker 1: we'll get into that in a little bit. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for coming on. I'm gonna take you back

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Speaker 1: a little bit. We're gonna we're gonna learn more about well,

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Speaker 1: at least you, than I did thirty years ago. It

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Speaker 1: was probably twelve twelve, twelve and a half. So you

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Speaker 1: were born in Russia or the Soviet Union at the time,

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Speaker 1: and you moved right did you move right when the

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Speaker 1: Soviet Union fell? So I was um, I was two

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Speaker 1: and a half years old, so very very young. I

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Speaker 1: don't I don't remember obviously those years growing up there.

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Speaker 1: But you know, growing up as the only child, and

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Speaker 1: my mom's the only child, and we have a very close,

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Speaker 1: you know, tight knit family, and so growing up we

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Speaker 1: pretty much every summer we would go back to I

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Speaker 1: have four great grandparents up until basically they all forgot

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Speaker 1: to watch me on TV. But when I go when

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Speaker 1: the gold medal, and so that was like really special

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Speaker 1: and so being able to go back and kind of

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Speaker 1: like show them my medals. So yeah, I think we

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Speaker 1: just it was very normal for me. It was part

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Speaker 1: of who I was and it and it still is obviously,

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Speaker 1: and you know, obviously we haven't been back in a

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Speaker 1: little bit, but two and a half years old, like

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Speaker 1: I grew up here, like you know, for me, English

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Speaker 1: essentially was my first language. For my parents, it was

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Speaker 1: not right. I can speak Russian, but I have like

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Speaker 1: an accent when I speak in Russian as opposed to

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Speaker 1: the opposite. Right, right, right? Why did they Why did

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Speaker 1: they leave? And let me just say for context for

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Speaker 1: people who don't know, these are high level gymnasts in

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Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, competing obviously celebrated there. Why did they

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Speaker 1: make the decision to come to the United States? First

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Speaker 1: New Orleans and then eventually Dallas make a Marty grab

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Speaker 1: by the way, oh yeah, And they were just like

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Speaker 1: no English, no money, just like an infant, and they

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Speaker 1: had no idea what they were doing. And they were

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Speaker 1: just like, oh god, did we just make the biggest

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Speaker 1: mistake of our life. Yes, moving to New Orleans a

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Speaker 1: week of Martyr grad that is that is a that

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Speaker 1: is a mistake. But yes, they had no idea. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and so basically exactly as you said, like they were heroes.

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Speaker 1: My dad won for Olympic medals for some union, and

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Speaker 1: my mom was a rhythmic gymnast and world champion, and

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Speaker 1: and you know, their goal, their next goal was to

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Speaker 1: coach their own athletes to becoming world an Olympic champion gymnasts.

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Speaker 1: They never ever imagine or wanted it to be their

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Speaker 1: own daughter. But they also you know, they wanted to

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Speaker 1: build their own business and they wanted and that wasn't

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Speaker 1: like that wasn't something you could do then and probably

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Speaker 1: even now, I don't I don't know because like we've

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Speaker 1: not obviously thought about that or even gone down that

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Speaker 1: route in a for thirty years whatever. So that was

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Speaker 1: part of it. And then the other half of it

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Speaker 1: was to give me the best possible life that they

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Speaker 1: thought that they could possibly give me, and they felt

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Speaker 1: that that was going to be in the United States.

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Speaker 1: Not knowing obviously, you know, they were taking a risk.

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Speaker 1: They were taking a chance, as as every single person

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Speaker 1: does when you move halfway across the world. But again,

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Speaker 1: they had nothing. They literally didn't even have a savings account.

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Speaker 1: They had pennies. And you know, I think the older

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Speaker 1: I get, the more you realize, like, holy shit, that's

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Speaker 1: what they did, like just not eat, like going to

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Speaker 1: the bank to ask for a loan, like without even

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Speaker 1: speaking the language. Like you know, like I can't even

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Speaker 1: imagine our process, and like, yes, it's like my parents,

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Speaker 1: So I like, you know, I'm a little bit more biased,

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Speaker 1: but still like when I take when I remove myself

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Speaker 1: from that situation and think like putting myself in that

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Speaker 1: and like going to another country and trying to do that,

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Speaker 1: it's crazy to think that. But they had this dream

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Speaker 1: and and they wanted it so badly, and so you

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Speaker 1: know what I have realized, obviously much later on in life,

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Speaker 1: my dad and I are the same person. And so

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Speaker 1: it's like, don't you dare tell us we can't do something,

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Speaker 1: because then we will like make sure we do it

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Speaker 1: plus more. And yeah, and I think like they just

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Speaker 1: were so passionate about the sport and they wanted to

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Speaker 1: give back to you know, the next generation into you know,

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Speaker 1: gymnastics is such an interesting sport like you can't once

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Speaker 1: you're done, you're done. Like it's not like you can

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Speaker 1: like jump in the nothing against any other sport. But

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Speaker 1: it's not like you can jump in the pool and

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Speaker 1: just leisurely you know, like yeah, you're not gonna be

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Speaker 1: going to your Olympic speed. But like gymnastics, you can't

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Speaker 1: just get on the beam and do your Olympic beam

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Speaker 1: routine like ever again. And so this knowledge essentially is built,

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Speaker 1: you know, for over twenty years, and then it's like

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Speaker 1: then what do you do with it? You know, if

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Speaker 1: you can't carry that on? So yeah, that was kind

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Speaker 1: of like that was their purpose, I guess, um, and

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Speaker 1: I'd like to think they did a pretty darn good job.

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Speaker 1: And so to be clear, their dream was to open

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Speaker 1: a world class gymnastics club and to train future Olympic gymnasts.

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Speaker 1: Was there and this I apolologize, this is like naive

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Speaker 1: or kind of a stupid question potentially, But were they

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Speaker 1: able to leave because the wall went down? We actually, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we we still have dual citizenship, and um, like it

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Speaker 1: was like not like no, we did not escape, We

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Speaker 1: did not flee, like and that's why I think like

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Speaker 1: we went back every summer up until I was started

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Speaker 1: like competing on the national team, and then my competition

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Speaker 1: season was in the summer, and then winter there's miserable.

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Speaker 1: So it was kind of like, okay, maybe our family

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Speaker 1: can come visit us. Um uh so yeah, that's kind

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Speaker 1: of what we did. But it was never hard feelings

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Speaker 1: or we were always accepted back. Like one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite stories is actually from the Olympics, and we were

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Speaker 1: in the rotation in the all around finals with you know,

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Speaker 1: with the Russian gymnast and her coaches, and obviously we've

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Speaker 1: known them, you know for years and years and years,

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Speaker 1: and I believe, um, if my stats are correct, but

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Speaker 1: I believe this was like the first time in history

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Speaker 1: that you know, the USSR or Russia did not win

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Speaker 1: a medal in like gymnastics at the Olympics. And so

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Speaker 1: when I won, I remember like them coming up to

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Speaker 1: me and saying like you might be wearing a differently

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Speaker 1: it's hard and a different flag, but like we're still

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Speaker 1: like proud and you want for us, And I was

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Speaker 1: like thanks, because I just want to keep peace with everybody.

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Speaker 1: But I have, like, you know, a different red, white

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Speaker 1: and blue one right now, right, right, right, that's fascinating

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Speaker 1: because I you know, I remember the stories of gymnasts

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Speaker 1: having to flee and be you know, escape in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the night on a boat. Yeah, right, to

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Speaker 1: get out. But that's interesting that at that point you left,

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Speaker 1: but that they welcomed you back and had positive things

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Speaker 1: to say to you. That's that's very cool. Yeah. Apparently

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Speaker 1: your dad joked that the reason he marriage your mom

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Speaker 1: was to create the perfect gymnast. Oh my god, that's um.

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Speaker 1: First of all, like talking about my parents like that weird,

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Speaker 1: but also it's funny because he was obviously into her,

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Speaker 1: and my mom was like absolutely not. My mom's taller

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Speaker 1: than my dad, and so she was just like no,

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Speaker 1: are you kidding? Like, but they all trained together, like

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Speaker 1: at the centralized training you know center um outside of Moscow,

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Speaker 1: and ended up being my dad's now business partner who

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Speaker 1: was like my second dad. He was very close to

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Speaker 1: my mom, like as friends, and so he kind of

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Speaker 1: like made it happen, which is like makes perfect sense

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Speaker 1: because you know, now we're just like literally family. Like

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Speaker 1: I've known him since the day I was born, and

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Speaker 1: he actually coached in two thousands. Four are one of

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Speaker 1: my teammates Carly Patterson. He coached her to win gold.

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Speaker 1: So so it's like it was a really cool like moment.

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Speaker 1: I guess you could say of like, you know, we

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Speaker 1: we went to New Orleans altogether and then you know,

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Speaker 1: they literally lived the American dream, like that was what

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Speaker 1: they dreamed about doing, was coming to this country and

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Speaker 1: the people gave them, slash us this incredible opportunity. And

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Speaker 1: not to speak on behalf of them, but I know,

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Speaker 1: you know, we all feel this way. But it's like

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Speaker 1: when you sit down and you take a moment and

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Speaker 1: you think and like this is really cool. They moved

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Speaker 1: to a country and they didn't speak a language, and

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Speaker 1: they were not guaranteed anything. They were not guaranteed success.

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Speaker 1: Like they built Fish Jim. It was a grocery store.

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Speaker 1: They literally built it with their own hands because they

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Speaker 1: didn't have money and couldn't at the time, couldn't afford

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Speaker 1: any employees or you know, any construction worker or anything.

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Speaker 1: So I think, like that to me is like I

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Speaker 1: always take myself back to that because it's like nothing

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Speaker 1: real at the core is handed to you. You have

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Speaker 1: to work your butt off. And yeah they did. Ye.

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Speaker 1: I mean I joked that they wanted to create the

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Speaker 1: perfect gymnast, but allegedly they really they wanted to train

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Speaker 1: Olympic gymnast, but but not not me, not you. So

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Speaker 1: why not you? First off, why not you? They didn't

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Speaker 1: want that for you. Two things, the pressure like I'm

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Speaker 1: the only child and your mom is a rhythmic world

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Speaker 1: champion gymnast, your dad is an Olympic and like you're

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Speaker 1: doing it, so it's like you better win or else,

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Speaker 1: you know, I never felt I never felt that way ever,

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Speaker 1: Like I literally thought it was the coolest thing in

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Speaker 1: the world that my parents did what I wanted to do.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to grow up to be just like them,

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Speaker 1: And so for me it was more like, Wow, I

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Speaker 1: have like the biggest greatest mentors right in front of me,

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Speaker 1: and not only do I you know, can I talk

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Speaker 1: to them, can I ask some questions whatever, But they're

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Speaker 1: also guiding me and coaching me to that you know,

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Speaker 1: if if I want that, that's what they would do.

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Speaker 1: And then I think the other thing was just as

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Speaker 1: the only child, they wanted you want everything to be

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Speaker 1: easy and perfect and for them to be happy, Like

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Speaker 1: that's what they wanted for me. But they also really

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Speaker 1: really instilled like the importance of finding something that you're

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Speaker 1: passionate about and finding something that you love. And for

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Speaker 1: me right away that was domestics. And they were like

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Speaker 1: really like you godn't find something else. And my mom

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Speaker 1: was My mom tried so hard. She took me to

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Speaker 1: piano lessons every week and I would try every single

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Speaker 1: time and I was like, I'm not going back, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was just not for me. And you know, it

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Speaker 1: was always like a mutual understanding that we're going to

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Speaker 1: help you the best way that we can if that's

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Speaker 1: what you want, Like we we already did it. We

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Speaker 1: don't want this, you know, like we don't need it

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Speaker 1: for ourselves, like this is for you. So I know

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Speaker 1: it's hard for people to like grasp and understand that,

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Speaker 1: especially like you know, we see them all the time,

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Speaker 1: but stage parents or whatever you want to and yeah,

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Speaker 1: they were the complete opposite. Well, this to me kind

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Speaker 1: of proves it. You started with other coaches, right and

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Speaker 1: not them, And now was this because they were trying

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Speaker 1: to let you go your own path to start to

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Speaker 1: find out if they were trying to push me away,

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Speaker 1: like they were just like trying to turn their head

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Speaker 1: a little bit in the gym and like pretend I

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Speaker 1: wasn't you know, I wasn't good because obviously I also

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Speaker 1: had some good genes and a god given talent. And

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Speaker 1: they immediately kind of said, well, we can't take that

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Speaker 1: away from her, like that wouldn't be fair. So they

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Speaker 1: were like, okay, just like go have fun, go play,

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Speaker 1: like go to your classes or whatever. And I was

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Speaker 1: there all day unless I was like at school, and

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Speaker 1: so I would start just trying to copy and mimic

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Speaker 1: the older girl like what my parents were teaching them.

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Speaker 1: And they noticed on the side I was doing it

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Speaker 1: better myself without a coach like then, like and they

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Speaker 1: were just like, okay, we have no choice. And what

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Speaker 1: happened was and this is like such a fluke mistake.

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Speaker 1: I slipped, like my hand on the bar with a

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Speaker 1: different coach who by the way, still with us, you know,

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Speaker 1: still at the gym, like like I love him so much,

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Speaker 1: but I got a black eye because like I like

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Speaker 1: hit my my base on the bar. And my dad

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Speaker 1: had nothing to do with him. It was more a dad,

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Speaker 1: you know, the dad instinct coming out, and he said

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Speaker 1: that's it, Like, if you're going to do gymnastics, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be your coach only because not because I

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Speaker 1: know better or I am better, but because I want

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Speaker 1: like your safety in the sense like to be in

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Speaker 1: my control, you know. Yeah, And that was it, like literally,

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Speaker 1: and I was like okay, like I mean, I was,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, gosh, like eight nine years eight nine

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Speaker 1: years old, you know. And also it was to spend

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Speaker 1: more time together, to be completely honest, I was going

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Speaker 1: to public school. They were working twelve fourteen hour days

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Speaker 1: at the time I was going to sleep. My dad

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Speaker 1: was still at the gym, you know, wrapping things up,

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Speaker 1: And so it became our bonding kind of like moment.

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Speaker 1: And to achieve like your lifelong dream at the time,

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Speaker 1: lifelong with one of your best friends essentially, like I

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Speaker 1: literally wanted to be just like him. I idolized him.

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Speaker 1: I respect Like, yes, my teenager years were you know,

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Speaker 1: a little little little tough when when you have two

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Speaker 1: stubborn perfectionist I guess you could say, but I don't

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Speaker 1: regret a single moment, like deep down, it was you know,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day. And he says this

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Speaker 1: still to his athletes. Now, gymnastics is such a short

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Speaker 1: portion of your life. You have the rest of your

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Speaker 1: life to live, taking care of your body and safety

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Speaker 1: and all of that. He says, I don't want you

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Speaker 1: to be, you know, feeling like you can't even like

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Speaker 1: God willing you have kids. One day you can't go

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Speaker 1: play with your kids because this hurts or that hurts.

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Speaker 1: And and it was the same with education. You know,

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Speaker 1: he just instilled the importance of getting a degree. And

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Speaker 1: you know, you never know how far your gymnastics will

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Speaker 1: take you about an education will stick with you for

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Speaker 1: the rest of your life. So it was the life

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Speaker 1: lessons I think too that he taught me. But also

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Speaker 1: the sport as well. I have said many times as

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Speaker 1: I know that you know, I'm a big sports fan

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Speaker 1: and have had the opportunity to attend a lot of events.

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Speaker 1: Football is my love. Baseball, basketball, hockey my greatest sports.

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Speaker 1: And I'm bringing it up now because this is about

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Speaker 1: in the timeline that we're talking that I ever witnessed was.

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Speaker 1: I'm from Atlanta and I saw the Olympics in nine

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Speaker 1: and was sitting right at the end of the vault

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Speaker 1: when Carrie Struggle. I was there. I was there. I

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Speaker 1: watched it. I saw her ankle. It looked like snap

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Speaker 1: into I felt the crowd everyone saw it was the

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Speaker 1: craziest thing I've ever seen. And then yeah, and then

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Speaker 1: to see her her landed. Now at this point you're

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Speaker 1: obviously younger, but you're watching it your fowing. That was

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Speaker 1: the first Olympics for me that I was glued to

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Speaker 1: the TV every night, Like I remember being like I

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00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: want to do that, you know, like look how cool

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00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,280
Speaker 1: that looks. They're walking into Georgia Dome and and you

347
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Speaker 1: know the little American flags every like people are chanting USA.

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Speaker 1: And that was for some reason, like I still get

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Speaker 1: kind of like goose bumps now thinking about it, because

350
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,880
Speaker 1: it was you could feel it, and maybe I didn't.

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Speaker 1: I don't think I necessarily understood it then. I mean

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Speaker 1: I was seven years old, but you almost feel everything

353
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,760
Speaker 1: has come to that moment, your whole your whole entire life.

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Speaker 1: That's right that it feels like that way in gymnastics,

355
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Speaker 1: right like because it's so next year, you don't get

356
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Speaker 1: it next year, you know. And again nothing against I

357
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 1: have so much respect for all athletes, all sports, but

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00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,200
Speaker 1: it's like you didn't make the super Bowl. Try again,

359
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 1: you know, and again nothing nothing against it, but it

360
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Speaker 1: I remember standing in front of the beam the all

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Speaker 1: around finals at the Olympics, four inches wide, looking down

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Speaker 1: the beam, looking to my right, seeing my dad. And

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Speaker 1: he always does the same thing when he's like super nervous.

364
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Speaker 1: He like does this with the shirt like for no reason.

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Speaker 1: That's like his like nervous kind of like tick and yeah.

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Speaker 1: And I was just like, okay, well, everything is normal.

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Speaker 1: He's doing that, Like I'm like, the beam is still

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Speaker 1: four inches wide. And I kind of did for a

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Speaker 1: split second what like everyone says, like not to do.

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Speaker 1: But in my head, I remember thinking, literally, this is

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Speaker 1: a once in a lifetime opportunity. You are never going

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Speaker 1: to be halfway through the all around finals in the lead,

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Speaker 1: going to win, like your life could change forever if

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Speaker 1: you just don't fall off. And and then I was like,

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00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 1: oh god, oh god, oh god. I'm like, snap out

376
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: of it, snap out of it. And you consciously thought yes,

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00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:17,959
Speaker 1: and again I know that, and I I literally anytime

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00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,800
Speaker 1: anyone asks for advice or a little kids, I'm like, Okay,

379
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: don't think what you don't like want to happen. You

380
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:25,920
Speaker 1: have to think what you you know you're gonna stay

381
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 1: on me if you're gonna say you're smell and here

382
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:31,679
Speaker 1: I am like in that moment, I remember, and and

383
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 1: no matter what, like no matter where you looked, because

384
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 1: what I try to do was treated like any other competition,

385
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,640
Speaker 1: even though it's not like it's a once in a life.

386
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,960
Speaker 1: But those five Olympic rings are everywhere, like the toilet,

387
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 1: the chalk bucket, you know, it's everything. So I would

388
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: be like, oh, look there, maybe like you'll forget that

389
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: you're at the Olympic Game. And it was impossible and

390
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:02,240
Speaker 1: and I think, to be completely honest, obviously the physical

391
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:08,360
Speaker 1: training my dad was, it was truly a master mind planner.

392
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Speaker 1: He planned sixty five days so back backtrack basically, so

393
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 1: August fifteen I won, So three sixty five days up

394
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 1: until that moment to peak and have the best day

395
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,879
Speaker 1: of my life on that day. That wasn't luck, That

396
00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 1: wasn't by chance. That was all you know, It was

397
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Speaker 1: all planned. And I think physically I knew I was

398
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Speaker 1: the most repaired I had ever been in my entire life.

399
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,880
Speaker 1: But it and and so was everybody else, And so

400
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,120
Speaker 1: it is now a mental game. It is who can

401
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,960
Speaker 1: now do you know? What? I what I almost like

402
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: leaned into, but I caught myself, and I was like, no, no, no, no,

403
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 1: but yeah, it truly is. Mentally it's four inches wide

404
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,919
Speaker 1: the way of your in higher country and nation, let

405
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,480
Speaker 1: alone your teammates and your family and all that your

406
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:11,520
Speaker 1: country is on your shoulders. Like the pressure. It's so

407
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: dangerous too. It's so dangerous. And honestly, as my dad

408
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 1: was so happy when I was done, just so happy,

409
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 1: like he just wants to, you know, have a very

410
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 1: normal life. And they came over last night and played

411
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,160
Speaker 1: with the dog like it's just you know, we will

412
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 1: always have that. But I think we're very grateful that

413
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,399
Speaker 1: that's behind us, because it truly is, you know, it

414
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 1: is extremely dangerous. And that is why he wanted to

415
00:26:41,040 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: coach me. Was you know, safety at age nine, you

416
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: win the whatever, this the level six Texas state championships. Now,

417
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,920
Speaker 1: at what point, for real, at what age are you like,

418
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 1: I am gonna be a world class gymnast? I mean,

419
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,439
Speaker 1: are you talking six? Are you talking eight? Are you

420
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:26,720
Speaker 1: talking so like seriously or like what I thought most

421
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,800
Speaker 1: I don't know that two very different things, like I

422
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 1: think in that moment, I was like, oh my gosh,

423
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:36,919
Speaker 1: like this is what it feels like to win I

424
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 1: want to win bigger and better things. And so that

425
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,840
Speaker 1: was a and I felt on top of the world.

426
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: Right when you're winning the state Texas championships, Yeah, you

427
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 1: feel like you just won the Olympics. And I never

428
00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:00,239
Speaker 1: I never did it to win. But obviously, you know,

429
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 1: as any human, like when you spend any amount of

430
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: time doing something and you know pays off, like you

431
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 1: enjoy you know, you enjoy winning the award, the trophy,

432
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: the medal, whatever it is. And I think that was

433
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: the moment where I things kind of just like flipped

434
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: in my head where I thought, Okay, maybe I can

435
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 1: be good and meanwhile I was like ten years away

436
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:32,720
Speaker 1: from even remotely being right. Okay, right, but you the

437
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:38,760
Speaker 1: moment that you started seriously training is age what? So

438
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 1: is it before that? Is it before winning or is

439
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: it still after that fifth grade? Aren't you? Like? Okay?

440
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: So I think it was. I think it was right

441
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: after that, which it also had nothing, It didn't really

442
00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 1: have anything to do with that. It was after that level.

443
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't want to get too technical, but

444
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 1: after that level, basically the next level is like a

445
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: big step up essentially, and so it's like you have

446
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: to you just have to spend you know, more time

447
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: in the gym. And so that's when I started training

448
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: seven hours a day, six days a week, seven hours

449
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 1: a day, six days a week. Fifth grade and you're

450
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: still going to school, yes, so I yeah, I went

451
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: to public school up until that moment. And unfortunately my

452
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: school that I was going to, they did not excuse

453
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: absences for gymnastics competitions or you know anything like it

454
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 1: would be you playing hookeey is the same thing as

455
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,720
Speaker 1: you going to the World Championships and you know, competing

456
00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 1: for your country. So it was just not ago. So yeah,

457
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: I started going to a private school and we would

458
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,920
Speaker 1: train eight to twelve in the morning, go to school

459
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 1: twelve thirty or three thirty, and then train again four

460
00:29:55,600 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 1: to seven, and then go home, shower, eat in her homework,

461
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:05,200
Speaker 1: do it all over again. Unreal. You make the junior

462
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: national team. What age is this now? Twelve? Oh dear lord?

463
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 1: So this is yeah right, yeah, so that makes sense.

464
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: So you have like a couple of years where this

465
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: goes and then you make the national the junior national team, right,

466
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 1: But like the level of gymnastics from level six to

467
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:34,719
Speaker 1: love to like making the national team is like significantly,

468
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: just normally you don't do that in a few years. Basically,

469
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: I didn't think that was I didn't know what was normal.

470
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: I just try this, try, and you know, when you're young,

471
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 1: you're so fearless. Nothing nothing phased me. If my dad

472
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,200
Speaker 1: told me to do something, I trusted him as my coach,

473
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,479
Speaker 1: but even more so as my had and so I

474
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,959
Speaker 1: knew he would never tell me to do something if

475
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: he knew I couldn't do it, or you know, he

476
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,719
Speaker 1: would always spot us or whatever. But it was like

477
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: a very Taylor Swift fearless moment, like but like a

478
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 1: whole a whole decade of it. Just like then all

479
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you get older and you're just like,

480
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 1: oh my god, I could literally die like this. It's dangerous. Yeah,

481
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: I feel that way watching anything like going back, and

482
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,680
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, why did I think that that was like

483
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: fun and safe? I mean it was, but now being older,

484
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,040
Speaker 1: thinking what it would take for me to do some

485
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 1: of those things, it's just yeah, right in two thousand four,

486
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:54,239
Speaker 1: this is four years before you compete. You're just a

487
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 1: little too young to compete at the Athens Olympics in

488
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: two thousand four, but you mentioned her before. Carly Patterson,

489
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: who also trained with at the gym with with your family,

490
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 1: went on to claim the all around title four years before.

491
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 1: How was that for you? Was it hard to watch

492
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: and not be doing it at that point yourself? Like?

493
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: Was that difficult? Or was that inspiring? Or was that?

494
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 1: Did that help prepare you for four years later? What

495
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: was that experience? Like? That moment for me made me

496
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 1: like fully believed that I could do it, because okay,

497
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 1: that makes sense. It was before Carly, it was merely written.

498
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:42,240
Speaker 1: It had been twenty years since an American gymnast had

499
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,160
Speaker 1: won the all around gold medal at the Olympics, and

500
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 1: so it was kind of like, oh, the Americans will

501
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: never you know, they're never gonna win again basically, and

502
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 1: Carly really put the US back on the map like

503
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 1: since since then essentially, And I remember it just made

504
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 1: it feel real. It made it feel possible. Somebody that

505
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 1: you train literally right next to, you know, our lockers

506
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 1: were next to each other. Like it just felt like,

507
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 1: if she can do it, then I can do it too.

508
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,880
Speaker 1: Four years later. It was never difficult for me because

509
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 1: I'm just had I come. I was not ready, you know,

510
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 1: I was not physically ready, I was not mentally ready.

511
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,760
Speaker 1: I was like, I was still so young in two

512
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,040
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, but I was not mature enough to

513
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 1: you know, even understand or handle the pressure. Then. Yes,

514
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: I had competed and you know, done well up until then,

515
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: but the Olympics is, as I said, like the the

516
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: amount of pressure and the expectations and the stress and

517
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 1: all of that, and I think, Okay, maybe I would

518
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,960
Speaker 1: have gone and been part of the team. And I

519
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm such a firm believer and everything happens

520
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: for a reason, and I just that moment watching her,

521
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:10,239
Speaker 1: I just remember thinking, you just have four years and

522
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,840
Speaker 1: then again, like anything could happen. You know, you can

523
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 1: row your ankle at the Olympic village, and that has

524
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,680
Speaker 1: happened to athletes, and they're already at the Olympic. Like

525
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 1: you're not guaranteed a spot obviously, But I do have

526
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: to say after she won, we have probably like eight

527
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 1: high like beams across. I definitely switched over to like

528
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: start training on the beam that she always trained on

529
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:35,920
Speaker 1: because I was like, this, oh yeah, for sure. I

530
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:37,920
Speaker 1: was like, this is for sure going to be like lucky.

531
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 1: And there it worked. Right. No one has ever said

532
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 1: this before, including yourself, But I feel like between two

533
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,640
Speaker 1: thousand and four and two thousand and eight, really the

534
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 1: key to your maturation, the key to the secret sauce

535
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 1: that enabled you to win, was you spend little time

536
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 1: at my alma mater SMU. Hail to the Red and

537
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:09,240
Speaker 1: the Blue. I mean, how how much did that? Literally,

538
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:14,520
Speaker 1: you have an SMU cup over there with my water

539
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,080
Speaker 1: in it. I've got something somewhere too. Oh my god.

540
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 1: So my boyfriend actually went to business school there. Really, yeah,

541
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 1: how much time do you spend? How much time do

542
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:32,319
Speaker 1: you there? It is not much, not not enough to

543
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 1: have This is not mine, this is my boyfriend's. But

544
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 1: it gave you some maturity. I think it really helped

545
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:42,480
Speaker 1: season you. It gave you a well rounded nous, a posture,

546
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 1: a poise. So it's so funny because growing up in Dallas,

547
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 1: like I've only applied to one school, only applied to

548
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,320
Speaker 1: s m U. When I got in, I was like, okay,

549
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,320
Speaker 1: let's go, like I'm never leaving Dallas. And it's funny

550
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,440
Speaker 1: because I've been back since and I you know, did

551
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,279
Speaker 1: a speech, and have you been back many times? I

552
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,759
Speaker 1: wish I could have graduated from there. It wasn't the

553
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 1: right place that I'm sorry. It was the right place,

554
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,959
Speaker 1: it was not the right time. The right time. Yes,

555
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,320
Speaker 1: you leave to begin preparing and you mentioned anything can happen.

556
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,239
Speaker 1: In two thousands six, you have an ankle entry. Were

557
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:30,240
Speaker 1: you afraid that that was going to derail your chances? Um?

558
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:36,279
Speaker 1: I wasn't until all the sudden because in my mind

559
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 1: I thought so I showed up to the World Championships

560
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,839
Speaker 1: in a wheelchair. I couldn't walk because I was still

561
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 1: put on the team. Um My incredible doctor here, Dr

562
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: Coburn Dallas, we called him, sent him all like the

563
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 1: scans and he was just like, it's the bone chip.

564
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:52,640
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna have to operate on it when

565
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: you get back. It's you're not going to damage it.

566
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 1: More So I went in a wheelchair just in one

567
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,040
Speaker 1: event and then and it was just the record, like

568
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 1: I am not a patient person, you know, rushing the process.

569
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 1: And so this injury now lingered into you know, a

570
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:15,040
Speaker 1: whole year. So the year before the Olympics, when you're

571
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: really supposed to be, you know, gearing up to being

572
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 1: the best. I had the worst competien season in my

573
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,640
Speaker 1: entire life. You know, at our national championships we have

574
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:28,719
Speaker 1: eight eight four events. Twice out of eight routines, I

575
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:33,480
Speaker 1: fell six times. And it's like, and you think you're

576
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:37,120
Speaker 1: gonna make the Olympic team and win a gold medal.

577
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:41,919
Speaker 1: Like I understand fully why everyone was writing me off,

578
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 1: but at the same time it that was the first

579
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 1: time in my life, I think, in career where I

580
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:56,280
Speaker 1: actually started, you know, listening to people that I didn't

581
00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 1: know or that didn't matter, that weren't in the gym,

582
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: and they started influencing how I felt and how I

583
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:07,160
Speaker 1: was trying. Like I was so up in arms thinking

584
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,919
Speaker 1: that all of a sudden I was the favorite and

585
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,799
Speaker 1: everyone loved me. And you have, you know, one bad

586
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 1: season and now you're too old at eighteen, you're two injured.

587
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 1: You know, there's girls that are just better than you,

588
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,000
Speaker 1: younger than you, stronger than you, quicker than you, all

589
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 1: of these things, and that I think that was the

590
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 1: moment where I quickly learned to like horse in a

591
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:37,400
Speaker 1: horse you know, in a horse race, like put the

592
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:44,240
Speaker 1: blinders on, block out the noise, and those people don't matter. Yeah,

593
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 1: good for you, you make the team. How did that

594
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 1: feel making past the trials. Well, we technically were named

595
00:38:56,719 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: Sean and I, but we weren't really. It was for TV. Essentially,

596
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 1: we still had to go do a second trials, not

597
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,799
Speaker 1: on TV, and at a training camp, and you know,

598
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,439
Speaker 1: we had to show complete readiness and the four other

599
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,040
Speaker 1: girls were named to the team, and we could have

600
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 1: if we showed up not prepared or not ready, we

601
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 1: could have been removed. So honestly, it was kind of

602
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:28,160
Speaker 1: put a check by it. Move on. Also, and I

603
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:32,920
Speaker 1: didn't know this, but you're not technically an Olympian until

604
00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 1: you step foot on the competition floor at the Olympic

605
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,920
Speaker 1: Games and compete for the first time, which makes sense,

606
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 1: makes total sense. But in the moment, you know, we've

607
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 1: never been, we don't know, and so you kind of

608
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,280
Speaker 1: feel like your dream of becoming Olympian has come true

609
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:51,560
Speaker 1: and it's like no, no, no no, you're still like two

610
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 1: months away. But no, it was definitely the Olympic Trials.

611
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:04,399
Speaker 1: We're ten times more nerve wracking, more pressure filled. It

612
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,480
Speaker 1: was worse than the Olympics. It was do you have

613
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: one bad competition and that's it, like your whole life,

614
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 1: and once you get to the Olympics, you're you don't

615
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,839
Speaker 1: want to mess up, obviously, but there's a sense of

616
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 1: taking a deep breath of okay, I'm at least on

617
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 1: the plane, like I'm I'm on my way to Beijing,

618
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,719
Speaker 1: you know. And yeah, I think it was just being

619
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:35,920
Speaker 1: able to now be there together, not having to compete

620
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 1: against you know, each other for spots, and that it

621
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,839
Speaker 1: was it was hard being a teenage girl and you're

622
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:46,440
Speaker 1: competing against your friend. It was it was hard. You

623
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 1: have said that the morning of the meet you woke

624
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:54,320
Speaker 1: up and you knew you were going to ruin. What

625
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: what was it within you that gave you that? So,

626
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:00,640
Speaker 1: I mean a few things. I gets us. I read

627
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:07,280
Speaker 1: a book The Secret, and I'm big on it's so cliche,

628
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:11,000
Speaker 1: but thinking positive. But to a whole different level, or

629
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:15,839
Speaker 1: like a much deeper level, I guess. And I think

630
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:20,879
Speaker 1: it was a combination of that. With My dad sat

631
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: me down with a piece of like literally like a

632
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,320
Speaker 1: teared up piece of paper in his office at the

633
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,919
Speaker 1: gym in the middle of practice a few months before

634
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,520
Speaker 1: Olympic trials and said like, come in here real quick.

635
00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:32,839
Speaker 1: I just want to show you something. And he said,

636
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 1: you know, calculated all my scores four scores and he said,

637
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:39,680
Speaker 1: you've gotten these scores before, right, And I was just like, yeah,

638
00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:43,320
Speaker 1: I've gotten better. And he was like, that's my point.

639
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,800
Speaker 1: You don't even have to. I'm just trying to show

640
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 1: you you're just normal, not the most amazing. You know,

641
00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:55,239
Speaker 1: four performances of your entire life, but if you can

642
00:41:55,400 --> 00:42:00,839
Speaker 1: just have four solid routines, there is no way that

643
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,239
Speaker 1: you will not win. And when he said that, I

644
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 1: was like, oh what really, I just had never ever

645
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 1: taken and and yes, of course gymnastics is subjective and

646
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,239
Speaker 1: you could get a judge that whatever. But if all

647
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:24,840
Speaker 1: is fair, you know, and everything is whatever you compare

648
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 1: the scores and it's math. And so when he said that,

649
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:37,000
Speaker 1: there was a ginormous shift of Okay, now, don't worry

650
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 1: about anybody else, keep training day by day, like taking whatever,

651
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: and just go and enjoy the experience and interest. Laying

652
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:49,719
Speaker 1: on your feet, you were doing one more of the

653
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,560
Speaker 1: same exact being routines that you have probably done well

654
00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:58,160
Speaker 1: over three thousand times at this point. One just one.

655
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:03,799
Speaker 1: So what you stressed out about that? Just I love

656
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,480
Speaker 1: that you said just land on your feet, although what

657
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,279
Speaker 1: you're talking that's hard to do. She's like, oh, you

658
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 1: just go on, just on your do the hardest thing

659
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 1: that you can do. But just do that and you're fine. No, honestly,

660
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 1: that is that is genius, Like that is genius coaching

661
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,439
Speaker 1: right there, because that I mean, of course it makes

662
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 1: total sense. But what it does is it doesn't. What

663
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:29,760
Speaker 1: it says to you is you don't have to be

664
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,880
Speaker 1: You don't have to be anything that you are extraordinary.

665
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 1: You are extraor' you're extraordinary already, but you don't have

666
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:41,520
Speaker 1: to add some other extraordinariness on top of it to

667
00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:46,880
Speaker 1: make it better. Every day self, nothing better, nothing worse.

668
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:52,719
Speaker 1: Just be you. Yeah, one of the greatest that's ever

669
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,000
Speaker 1: done it, but just to be that. But don't you

670
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,879
Speaker 1: don't have to be any better than that. No, I'm

671
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 1: saying I'm making joke, but I'm serious, Like that's genius.

672
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:06,800
Speaker 1: I think it truly. It was that moment that I

673
00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: was then just like on cruise control. But I have

674
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 1: to say, for the first time in my entire life,

675
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:17,560
Speaker 1: so I had this dream the night before the competition,

676
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 1: and I never dreamed about gymnastics, which is weird because

677
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,960
Speaker 1: you're doing it seven hours a day. But I had

678
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 1: the dream as if it was the all around finals

679
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:31,239
Speaker 1: and I was in my pink leotard. I was going

680
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 1: through each of my events and I stuck my vault

681
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:35,480
Speaker 1: landing and that was first, and I knew it was

682
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,799
Speaker 1: a dream because I that never happens. And I went

683
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,960
Speaker 1: on to bars, took a step on my landing. This

684
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 1: is all my dream. Stuck my beam, dissmount, finished my Florentine,

685
00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 1: and I'm coming down the steps, you know, off of

686
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:51,759
Speaker 1: the podium, and my dad's right there, and I like,

687
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,359
Speaker 1: go give him a hug to celebrate that I had won.

688
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:58,880
Speaker 1: And I literally wake up like this, like my hands

689
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,600
Speaker 1: in the air, air the air. And then I'm like

690
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:05,400
Speaker 1: and I look next to me and Sean and I

691
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,879
Speaker 1: roommates and she has sound asleep, and I'm like, I've

692
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 1: never had a dream in my entire life that felt

693
00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:15,400
Speaker 1: so real and so as hard as it was to

694
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: fall back asleep for a few hours, when I woke up,

695
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,920
Speaker 1: it was like, oh cool, Okay, got it, Okay, go

696
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,200
Speaker 1: to your hair or go get breakfast. Like I was

697
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,960
Speaker 1: just kind of just going through the motions, not in

698
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:32,399
Speaker 1: a negative way, but I knew it was like I

699
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 1: knew what was gonna happen. And the funniest part, and

700
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 1: that this is when I really knew it was going

701
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,680
Speaker 1: to happen, was in the warm ups for our first

702
00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 1: event on vault. I landed on my feet and I

703
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:48,000
Speaker 1: took one step on my landing and my dad said, good, good,

704
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:50,080
Speaker 1: do the exact same thing. Just try to stick it.

705
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:54,200
Speaker 1: And I started laughing, and I think, like, for a moment,

706
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:56,840
Speaker 1: he's kind of like, work, okay, this thing of Olympics.

707
00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 1: Let's just be a little serious, like what is so funny?

708
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,600
Speaker 1: And I then kind of snap back into it because

709
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 1: I almost said like, yeah, I know I am going

710
00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:10,360
Speaker 1: to because that is like I already like I dream that.

711
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:14,719
Speaker 1: And as soon and and I stuck it a few

712
00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 1: minutes later, and as soon as that moment happened, I

713
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,440
Speaker 1: was like, okay, to the point where my dad I

714
00:46:21,719 --> 00:46:25,239
Speaker 1: I every time I compete, I get so nervous, like

715
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm gonna throw up. I would tell

716
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: my dad every time, like, oh my god, I'm so naious,

717
00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:32,520
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw up. And he's like he's like, it's okay,

718
00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:34,200
Speaker 1: You're you're fine, You're not going to throw up. And

719
00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:36,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, I feel like I am this time and

720
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:38,440
Speaker 1: like again, he's dealt with this for you know, twenty

721
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,120
Speaker 1: plus years now at this point, and for the first

722
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:42,880
Speaker 1: time in my life, I did not feel like I

723
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,239
Speaker 1: was going to throw up. I was I would just sit,

724
00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: like literally sit in the chair like this and just

725
00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 1: watch all my competitors, and my dad will come up

726
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 1: to me and say, um, are you good. I think

727
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:57,120
Speaker 1: you should maybe get up and like stretch like you know,

728
00:46:57,320 --> 00:46:59,799
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, okay, whatever, like whatever you say,

729
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 1: you know, Like I was just so like z and

730
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:08,000
Speaker 1: that is the first and last time I've ever experienced

731
00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 1: anything like that. And then going down the stairs, gave

732
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:13,399
Speaker 1: my dad a hug and I was like, oh, yeah,

733
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:16,279
Speaker 1: this's bill familiar. Gonna make sure I like stay there

734
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:19,440
Speaker 1: for a few extra seconds. But it was a moment

735
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 1: of knowing that you truly, like the mind and the

736
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:30,920
Speaker 1: body obviously when they're in sync, like it's such a

737
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:36,839
Speaker 1: powerful thing, and you truly can do what you want

738
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:57,640
Speaker 1: to do, no matter what anyone tells you. You mentioned

739
00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:00,960
Speaker 1: your dad, it's your dream. It's also his dream. He

740
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:06,160
Speaker 1: leaves the Soviet Union with nothing, comes here to build

741
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:11,040
Speaker 1: this gym, to train a gymnast, and I mean, it

742
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 1: makes me slightly emotional to even say it. But now

743
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:19,560
Speaker 1: it's happened, and it's happened with his daughter. What is

744
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:22,280
Speaker 1: that moment? Have you guys talked? What was that moment

745
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:25,319
Speaker 1: for him? And for your mom too? But so my

746
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:28,399
Speaker 1: mom was not My mom was in Beijing, but she

747
00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 1: was not in the arena. She gets too nervous. I

748
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 1: tried to call her to tell her that I had

749
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:37,440
Speaker 1: just won the Olympic Games with like five cameras in

750
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: my face. She didn't answer, so I texted her and

751
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,359
Speaker 1: we still like the screenshot somewhere, but it's all I said,

752
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:48,040
Speaker 1: because they were like rushing me. And I said, because

753
00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 1: this is what she always said, I don't care. I

754
00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:54,000
Speaker 1: love you. I don't care how what the placement is.

755
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,080
Speaker 1: I just want to let me know if like it's done,

756
00:48:56,120 --> 00:49:00,520
Speaker 1: you're safe whatever. So I said, Hi, Mom, carried, I

757
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:06,560
Speaker 1: won period, I love you. And then my dad finally

758
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,439
Speaker 1: got ahold of her and she like rushed over and

759
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:12,880
Speaker 1: I believe made it back in time for the word ceremony.

760
00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:17,319
Speaker 1: So for my dad, this is the first time in

761
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:19,239
Speaker 1: my entire life that I had ever seen him cry

762
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:23,840
Speaker 1: all the way across the arena. Like all the way across,

763
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:29,000
Speaker 1: and I just felt my whole life I wanted to

764
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: be like him. I wanted to make him proud. I

765
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:37,160
Speaker 1: want Yes, I did it for myself, but seeing him

766
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:42,160
Speaker 1: with tears in his eyes, that's why I started crying. Yes,

767
00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:46,040
Speaker 1: I was so proud, and you know, thinking about all

768
00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:49,239
Speaker 1: those moments that I had to you know, the obstacles,

769
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:51,520
Speaker 1: everything that I had to go through to get to

770
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:56,240
Speaker 1: that moment. But it was him. It was exactly twenty

771
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:59,760
Speaker 1: years to that day when he competed in the all around.

772
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:05,600
Speaker 1: FI knows he got the silver medal by oh one.

773
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:10,600
Speaker 1: Twenty years later, he has daught you know, it was

774
00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:13,960
Speaker 1: and I knew that, like I knew this this whole time,

775
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 1: And that's what he always says. For twenty years. Don't

776
00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:21,160
Speaker 1: get me wrong, winning a silver at the Olympics is amazing,

777
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:25,040
Speaker 1: but silver in fourth place are the hardest to swallow

778
00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:28,000
Speaker 1: because it's just like and not to mention when you're

779
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:32,319
Speaker 1: like literally like a pinky toe nail, like clothes, like

780
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:37,359
Speaker 1: you can't even So for twenty years, he's lived with

781
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:39,680
Speaker 1: that in the back of his mind. You know, not

782
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:42,360
Speaker 1: every day obviously, you move on, but it's you know,

783
00:50:43,080 --> 00:50:46,600
Speaker 1: every Olympics comes and you're just like and we'd always

784
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,480
Speaker 1: joke and I'm like, well you still got two gold medals,

785
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:50,879
Speaker 1: It's okay, and he was just like, you know, we

786
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:54,960
Speaker 1: we just start perfectionist obviously, but seeing him in that moment,

787
00:50:56,360 --> 00:51:00,680
Speaker 1: you know, him saying, you're in a limp, big champion,

788
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:05,560
Speaker 1: and that was always a title that he had that

789
00:51:05,719 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 1: I also wanted because he had it, you know, just

790
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:11,640
Speaker 1: I wanted to be like him, So it was it

791
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:16,040
Speaker 1: was a very special moment. And to share that the

792
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:19,480
Speaker 1: first person that I saw, you know, waiting for the scores,

793
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:26,239
Speaker 1: Like you can't replicate those moments, you know, It's it's

794
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:30,560
Speaker 1: been gosh, however many over ten years obviously, thirteen four whatever,

795
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:34,759
Speaker 1: and I can still bring myself back to that, and

796
00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:37,040
Speaker 1: I don't do it often, but I can still bring

797
00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 1: myself back to that moment and that feeling and even

798
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:43,120
Speaker 1: you know him look like we look at each other

799
00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 1: when my my score comes up. But then there's still

800
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:48,279
Speaker 1: another competitor to go, so it's not the final standings,

801
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,080
Speaker 1: but we know that it's not possible that you know,

802
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 1: somebody else would you know, bump me. And it was

803
00:51:55,400 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 1: just this like there's this moment of just us looking

804
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:02,919
Speaker 1: at each other and he I can already see he's

805
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:05,600
Speaker 1: like trying not to cry. And I was like, no, no,

806
00:52:05,680 --> 00:52:08,080
Speaker 1: it's not it's not the final thing, like in my

807
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:10,880
Speaker 1: mind of like, it's not Otober, but yeah, it was.

808
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:16,480
Speaker 1: It was really a special, special moment that also just

809
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:21,000
Speaker 1: makes you realize you really can't do anything that you

810
00:52:21,040 --> 00:52:24,239
Speaker 1: set your mind to, like put your horse blinders on

811
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:30,640
Speaker 1: and keep chugging along. Five time Olympic medalist, voted Sportswoman

812
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:32,640
Speaker 1: of the Year in two thousand and eight by the

813
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:37,799
Speaker 1: US Olympic Committee, the International Gymnastics Federation Athlete of the Year.

814
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:41,879
Speaker 1: You're also on a wheaties box. Now do you have

815
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:49,600
Speaker 1: the wheaties box? Oh? My god. That is so. I

816
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:52,320
Speaker 1: literally was up until like two o'clock, three o'clock in

817
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 1: the morning in this my studio room, and there was

818
00:52:56,120 --> 00:52:59,480
Speaker 1: a pile of like random clothes and stuff, and I

819
00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:02,759
Speaker 1: started hanging and under it was a flat lag wheaties box.

820
00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:06,040
Speaker 1: And it's literally right there. And I was like, if

821
00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 1: somebody were to walk in or see this, they'd be like,

822
00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:10,560
Speaker 1: I want to see it right now. It's right next

823
00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:16,799
Speaker 1: to you. I mean, it's kind of sad honestly, because

824
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:21,200
Speaker 1: what is what is it? Oh? Wait, it's a flat

825
00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:23,800
Speaker 1: Oh it's it's a flat box. Do you have a

826
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:27,000
Speaker 1: full box of wheaties somewhere? I don't know. You just

827
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:30,360
Speaker 1: have the You just have the thing. You haven't framed it.

828
00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:34,880
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Okay, So again there's a reason

829
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:39,840
Speaker 1: because but also this is sad. It's just kind of

830
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:45,720
Speaker 1: like on the floor like it's good. No, I'm just kidding.

831
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:48,120
Speaker 1: I can I tell you something. This is not a joke.

832
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:51,400
Speaker 1: And I, by the way, I don't have a wheaties box,

833
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:54,960
Speaker 1: but I have. I just moved, so I can tell

834
00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:59,080
Speaker 1: you this. I have things like that, not wheaties boxes. No,

835
00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:02,520
Speaker 1: I'm not saying are the same. But yeah, just like

836
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:07,399
Speaker 1: you know, my key to the city from Scranton from

837
00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:10,279
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. It's I mean, like, why is it

838
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:12,839
Speaker 1: that frame? I love it? It's the coolest thing ever.

839
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:15,719
Speaker 1: Why is it still? Like yeah, And I'm looking around

840
00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:18,840
Speaker 1: because it's somewhere right around here, not on my wall,

841
00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:22,600
Speaker 1: so you know what. I've thought that too, And I

842
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,240
Speaker 1: I don't know if my parents did this on purpose.

843
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,160
Speaker 1: I have yet to ask them, which like every time

844
00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:31,239
Speaker 1: I like say this, I mean to ask them and

845
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:36,400
Speaker 1: I forget. But growing up, I never saw a single

846
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 1: one of their medals, a single one of anything. If

847
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:43,600
Speaker 1: you walk into our home here where I essentially grew

848
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:47,279
Speaker 1: up my teenagers, you would never know who lived there. Yeah,

849
00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 1: you would see like a few photos, you know, by

850
00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:55,200
Speaker 1: the fireplace, family photos. There is not one Olympic metal

851
00:54:55,440 --> 00:54:59,960
Speaker 1: want to like nothing, and I don't. Again, I don't

852
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:02,360
Speaker 1: don't know if this was on purpose, but for me,

853
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:05,160
Speaker 1: that was the greatest thing that they could have done.

854
00:55:05,239 --> 00:55:07,759
Speaker 1: It was not in my face every day. And when

855
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:10,240
Speaker 1: people are like, how did you not feel the pressure,

856
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:13,480
Speaker 1: and I'm like, because I grew up like that. And

857
00:55:14,040 --> 00:55:16,920
Speaker 1: you know, my dad's medals were in a ball, like

858
00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:20,040
Speaker 1: literally the ribbons all tingle like in the basement like somewhere.

859
00:55:21,160 --> 00:55:24,440
Speaker 1: Mine are in like a ball at their house in

860
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:26,920
Speaker 1: a safe. Now all the medals are in the safe.

861
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:31,360
Speaker 1: But you don't. You don't have you don't have your displayed. No,

862
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:35,920
Speaker 1: and I never will. Do you ever bring them out? Uh? No?

863
00:55:36,440 --> 00:55:40,560
Speaker 1: Only if I have, you know something, and someone requests

864
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:43,120
Speaker 1: me to have them for a shoot or something. I

865
00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:48,120
Speaker 1: think what I realized was, yes, we're proud, like but

866
00:55:48,320 --> 00:55:51,640
Speaker 1: we we know what we have. We don't need to

867
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:53,800
Speaker 1: see it every day. We're not going to forget that

868
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:57,400
Speaker 1: we did that. And then it becomes, oh, are you

869
00:55:57,560 --> 00:56:00,840
Speaker 1: doing that for other people? I don't know, and I

870
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:04,480
Speaker 1: fully support other people doing that. It's just like a

871
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:09,520
Speaker 1: personal thing. I think it's like they don't define who

872
00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:13,600
Speaker 1: we are as people, and so you know, I'd rather

873
00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:18,120
Speaker 1: have those. Yeah, I'm gonna like save this blot leg

874
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:22,400
Speaker 1: like not gonna I'm literally so the only thing I have,

875
00:56:22,719 --> 00:56:25,480
Speaker 1: like in this office, I'll show you. But my uncle,

876
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:29,160
Speaker 1: my dad's brother, recently passed, but there were these like

877
00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:33,560
Speaker 1: it's like a ring essentially, and my mom bought five

878
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:36,640
Speaker 1: of them and then they're like wooden, and then he

879
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:39,040
Speaker 1: cut two of them down and so now they've they've

880
00:56:39,120 --> 00:56:41,879
Speaker 1: gone with me, so they're like way up there. Yeah,

881
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:45,759
Speaker 1: so that's my subtle moment. And also it's become you know,

882
00:56:45,840 --> 00:56:49,279
Speaker 1: sentimental because he's no longer with us. But yeah, I

883
00:56:49,480 --> 00:56:53,600
Speaker 1: just I think for us, it was going home to

884
00:56:53,760 --> 00:56:58,120
Speaker 1: a place of like clear your mind, not like getting

885
00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:00,360
Speaker 1: home from a bad day at training, to like this

886
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:04,400
Speaker 1: being in your faith. You know, No, that's really interesting,

887
00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:07,640
Speaker 1: particularly from your parents, I will say here's what I

888
00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:09,839
Speaker 1: think you should do. I'm gonna you can do whatever

889
00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:14,279
Speaker 1: you want, obviously, but I'm gonna love your advice. Here's

890
00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:16,920
Speaker 1: what I think you should do because I think, right,

891
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:19,640
Speaker 1: there's a fine line, right, And I'll just say, if

892
00:57:19,680 --> 00:57:22,720
Speaker 1: you're a guy who wants super Bowl and I'm not

893
00:57:22,840 --> 00:57:25,600
Speaker 1: judging anyone, but if you're wearing your super Bowl ring

894
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:32,040
Speaker 1: every single day, this is yeah. But I think for you,

895
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:35,320
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say this because I've been around a

896
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:39,680
Speaker 1: couple of other Olympians. I think occasionally you're invited to

897
00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:42,680
Speaker 1: an event or you do something, I think you bring it.

898
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,160
Speaker 1: I think you bring it because let me say why,

899
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:50,240
Speaker 1: Because then it's not about you, it's about sharing with them.

900
00:57:51,040 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 1: Oh I never thought about it that way. Just just

901
00:57:55,120 --> 00:57:59,280
Speaker 1: think about it. Next time I see you, you're gonna

902
00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:02,040
Speaker 1: you're gonna about, You're gonna come You're gonna come up

903
00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:03,840
Speaker 1: and you're gonna be like, here it is. I wear

904
00:58:03,880 --> 00:58:06,360
Speaker 1: it every day now. No, But I think it's it's

905
00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:08,880
Speaker 1: something to think about. I love that perspective. I think

906
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,520
Speaker 1: it's it's just something to think about because I think, yeah,

907
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 1: it becomes about you. Don't want it to become about you,

908
00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:16,960
Speaker 1: and I can I can hear that from you. Other

909
00:58:16,960 --> 00:58:20,280
Speaker 1: people would enjoy seeing it and again, and so then

910
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:24,440
Speaker 1: thank you for making me feel very selfish. Now, no, no,

911
00:58:24,600 --> 00:58:26,560
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. I'm not saying that, but I I

912
00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:29,880
Speaker 1: totally understand what you're saying. And I think you know,

913
00:58:30,040 --> 00:58:33,160
Speaker 1: it's the same thing when you have something you don't

914
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:35,960
Speaker 1: want it to feel like you're, you know, showing it

915
00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:40,800
Speaker 1: off whatever you don't have it. Yeah, but I've never

916
00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:44,800
Speaker 1: thought about it in that way. And I do have

917
00:58:45,040 --> 00:58:47,520
Speaker 1: to say the amount of times I've been in a

918
00:58:47,600 --> 00:58:50,000
Speaker 1: situation or somewhere an event or whatever and people are like,

919
00:58:50,320 --> 00:58:52,080
Speaker 1: do you have your whole medal? And I'm like no,

920
00:58:53,520 --> 00:58:58,200
Speaker 1: So you know, I've never thought yeah, But thank you

921
00:58:58,280 --> 00:59:03,160
Speaker 1: for sharing that, because it'll be my newest accessory in

922
00:59:03,240 --> 00:59:26,800
Speaker 1: my You retire, you're three years old. We've talked about

923
00:59:26,880 --> 00:59:31,600
Speaker 1: it a lot. You retire so young. But since that

924
00:59:31,760 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 1: time much has been done and accomplished by you, not

925
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:42,800
Speaker 1: the least of which the Nastia Cup Next year year, um,

926
00:59:43,960 --> 00:59:48,280
Speaker 1: this year, this year, Well, we're okay, this year, the

927
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:52,320
Speaker 1: next time it happens. Yes, you're making me. Now, you're

928
00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:58,000
Speaker 1: making specific the next competition will be why did you

929
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:00,920
Speaker 1: decide to start what is BECAU now one of the

930
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 1: most prestigious gymnastics competition out there. So basically because of

931
01:00:08,040 --> 01:00:11,960
Speaker 1: what you just said with the metal, you know, to

932
01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:16,560
Speaker 1: give somebody else that that chance, that that you know,

933
01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:20,320
Speaker 1: to see it whatever, to inspire and give the next

934
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:25,120
Speaker 1: generation their Olympic moment, you know, their moment of being

935
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:27,840
Speaker 1: one of the best of the best in the best

936
01:00:27,880 --> 01:00:31,240
Speaker 1: country in in the gymnastic world. And it's so surreal

937
01:00:32,120 --> 01:00:36,280
Speaker 1: to see, you know, on people's on these athletes bios

938
01:00:36,480 --> 01:00:38,200
Speaker 1: or you know, a lot of them are in college

939
01:00:38,240 --> 01:00:41,920
Speaker 1: now and and one of the hot like three bullets

940
01:00:42,240 --> 01:00:45,320
Speaker 1: is you know, Nazis and Cup qualifier and that to

941
01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:51,360
Speaker 1: me is like wait what, Like it's so meaningful to me,

942
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:53,600
Speaker 1: Like I have not I have not made a single penny.

943
01:00:53,640 --> 01:00:57,960
Speaker 1: This is not about money. This is truly about trying

944
01:00:58,120 --> 01:01:03,040
Speaker 1: to give these girls, this next generation, that moment because

945
01:01:03,240 --> 01:01:06,120
Speaker 1: some might, some may get it right, some may go

946
01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:11,360
Speaker 1: on to getting that, but most won't because the field

947
01:01:11,480 --> 01:01:14,440
Speaker 1: is so small and there's so many incredible gymnasts. And

948
01:01:15,040 --> 01:01:18,640
Speaker 1: I try to spend as much time with that, like

949
01:01:18,840 --> 01:01:25,840
Speaker 1: real time with them that weekend because they view you

950
01:01:25,920 --> 01:01:28,960
Speaker 1: know me, you like, as you know, they follow on

951
01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:31,480
Speaker 1: social media or whatever, and it's like it's almost like

952
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:35,000
Speaker 1: you're not a real human and you know you don't

953
01:01:35,120 --> 01:01:37,400
Speaker 1: have you know, one year, I was going through a

954
01:01:37,440 --> 01:01:40,680
Speaker 1: breakup literally a week before and I like told them,

955
01:01:41,200 --> 01:01:43,040
Speaker 1: and I was like, don't tweet about it, you know,

956
01:01:43,200 --> 01:01:46,040
Speaker 1: but like, um, you know, I'm just kidding. But it

957
01:01:46,200 --> 01:01:49,360
Speaker 1: was like, honestly, like I want to be in my

958
01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:51,800
Speaker 1: bed right now, Like I don't want, you know, but

959
01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:54,720
Speaker 1: I you guys are giving me, you know, the life

960
01:01:54,800 --> 01:01:57,040
Speaker 1: I get. Like, so I think just being able to

961
01:01:57,240 --> 01:02:00,600
Speaker 1: be vulnerable, being able to be real where you know,

962
01:02:00,840 --> 01:02:03,160
Speaker 1: we live in this era of social media and this

963
01:02:03,360 --> 01:02:08,400
Speaker 1: next generation has literally that's all they know. And yeah,

964
01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:12,240
Speaker 1: it's about gymnastics as much as it is just about

965
01:02:13,080 --> 01:02:17,280
Speaker 1: life and humanizing each other and making them feel special.

966
01:02:18,280 --> 01:02:22,920
Speaker 1: You have transitioned well into the world of entertainment, obviously

967
01:02:23,240 --> 01:02:29,280
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars, the voice of NBC Gymnastics during

968
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:32,760
Speaker 1: the Olympics, among many other things. I want to ask

969
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:38,160
Speaker 1: you briefly about your relationship to the late Kobe Bryant,

970
01:02:38,440 --> 01:02:41,480
Speaker 1: who you've called mentor. First of all, how did you

971
01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:45,360
Speaker 1: become so close and what was it that he did

972
01:02:45,520 --> 01:02:48,800
Speaker 1: for you that inspired you. So we both competed in Beijing,

973
01:02:48,880 --> 01:02:51,840
Speaker 1: and I met him for the first time there very briefly,

974
01:02:52,200 --> 01:02:57,800
Speaker 1: and I again kind of going back to my cup

975
01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:01,440
Speaker 1: and you know, my goals and dreams and the things

976
01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:04,760
Speaker 1: outside of that, even that you know I'm working on

977
01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:08,400
Speaker 1: and I want to do. But I remember it was

978
01:03:08,600 --> 01:03:11,320
Speaker 1: one of the sps kind of blinking on exactly the

979
01:03:11,440 --> 01:03:14,120
Speaker 1: year but he won. It was right after he retired,

980
01:03:14,200 --> 01:03:17,240
Speaker 1: and he won the Lifetime Achievement Award, and I remember

981
01:03:17,360 --> 01:03:20,560
Speaker 1: just watching him on the stage in the audience thing,

982
01:03:20,760 --> 01:03:24,080
Speaker 1: and he the one thing specifically, he was like, I

983
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:26,960
Speaker 1: hope this isn't the last time that I'm on this stage.

984
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:29,320
Speaker 1: I hope the next time I'm on the stage is

985
01:03:29,480 --> 01:03:35,120
Speaker 1: winning an award to inspire the next generation. And it

986
01:03:35,320 --> 01:03:40,120
Speaker 1: was just this moment of wow, like you know, I

987
01:03:40,240 --> 01:03:44,520
Speaker 1: had met him, I wasn't close with him then, but

988
01:03:44,640 --> 01:03:49,280
Speaker 1: I felt so just like aligned on like missions. And

989
01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:53,920
Speaker 1: so I literally think I like messaged him on Twitter.

990
01:03:54,040 --> 01:03:56,160
Speaker 1: I didn't have his like phone number or anything at

991
01:03:56,200 --> 01:03:59,760
Speaker 1: the time, and and I just said, like COVID congratulation.

992
01:04:00,360 --> 01:04:02,320
Speaker 1: I know, like, I know you're busy abla law, like

993
01:04:03,560 --> 01:04:05,520
Speaker 1: I'd love to just pick your brain because I have

994
01:04:05,640 --> 01:04:09,280
Speaker 1: this idea. Like that's my whatever. Long story short, He

995
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:14,720
Speaker 1: responded back literally within minutes. Here's my number, here's my email.

996
01:04:15,120 --> 01:04:17,440
Speaker 1: Let's let's get together. I want to talk. And he

997
01:04:18,040 --> 01:04:23,320
Speaker 1: had a way of just wanting to help everybody and

998
01:04:24,320 --> 01:04:28,440
Speaker 1: amongst so many things. But what he, you know, really

999
01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:33,320
Speaker 1: instilled in me was that stop putting yourself in that box.

1000
01:04:33,720 --> 01:04:35,880
Speaker 1: Stop putting yourself in the box of being the girl

1001
01:04:35,920 --> 01:04:38,280
Speaker 1: in the pink guitar with the matching pink scruncheet, because

1002
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:41,800
Speaker 1: you are way more than just that. Yes, that's something

1003
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:46,800
Speaker 1: you did, be proud of that, but that's that doesn't

1004
01:04:46,800 --> 01:04:49,640
Speaker 1: define who you are. It was just that it was

1005
01:04:49,720 --> 01:04:55,760
Speaker 1: a moment of him showing me through his own career essentially,

1006
01:04:56,760 --> 01:04:58,560
Speaker 1: you know. And and he did it in a very

1007
01:04:58,760 --> 01:05:01,080
Speaker 1: like not copy way, but he was like, look at me,

1008
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:03,600
Speaker 1: like nobody's everyone told me to sit down and keep

1009
01:05:03,640 --> 01:05:06,960
Speaker 1: shooting hoops, that I couldn't do this, and and look

1010
01:05:07,040 --> 01:05:09,400
Speaker 1: I did it at times ten and I couldn't do this,

1011
01:05:09,560 --> 01:05:11,600
Speaker 1: and I like got nominated and then I want and

1012
01:05:11,680 --> 01:05:14,120
Speaker 1: he goes, watch me, I'm gonna win next week and

1013
01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:19,520
Speaker 1: It was just like this moment of like any time

1014
01:05:20,240 --> 01:05:23,600
Speaker 1: I would pick up the phone or text or call him,

1015
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:27,439
Speaker 1: he would answer right away, like how are you, how's

1016
01:05:27,480 --> 01:05:29,200
Speaker 1: it going? What are you up to? Like tell me

1017
01:05:29,280 --> 01:05:31,520
Speaker 1: how I can help? He would, you know, he was

1018
01:05:31,600 --> 01:05:36,560
Speaker 1: writing a book and he goes, okay, so Genassis competition,

1019
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:38,760
Speaker 1: are you allowed to have like rap music or is

1020
01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:42,760
Speaker 1: it just classical? Like he just was so like in

1021
01:05:42,920 --> 01:05:46,680
Speaker 1: the details, and I just like laugh hearing it, and

1022
01:05:46,920 --> 01:05:49,120
Speaker 1: I was like, honestly, I mean I guess you could.

1023
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:51,320
Speaker 1: I guess you canna have it, but like, could you

1024
01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:53,320
Speaker 1: see me having that? Like I mean, put more of

1025
01:05:53,480 --> 01:05:57,360
Speaker 1: like the classical time. But he just he truly cared.

1026
01:05:57,600 --> 01:06:00,880
Speaker 1: So I think that's what I remember, you know most

1027
01:06:01,080 --> 01:06:06,480
Speaker 1: was like please please, please please, like don't lose that

1028
01:06:06,640 --> 01:06:09,800
Speaker 1: mission and that purpose and that passion because there needs

1029
01:06:09,840 --> 01:06:13,640
Speaker 1: to be more of that. He was just like such

1030
01:06:13,640 --> 01:06:19,680
Speaker 1: an incredible mentor and made me believe in myself and

1031
01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:24,320
Speaker 1: you know, made me believe that I truly was more

1032
01:06:24,760 --> 01:06:28,440
Speaker 1: than the gymnast. Right. It was the same way my

1033
01:06:28,680 --> 01:06:31,800
Speaker 1: dad flipped my mentality of there's no way you're not

1034
01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:33,880
Speaker 1: going to win if you just do X, Y and

1035
01:06:34,000 --> 01:06:38,520
Speaker 1: Z Kobe helped me flip. You're not the gymnast. You

1036
01:06:38,680 --> 01:06:43,040
Speaker 1: did gymnastics right, and so when you don't define yourself

1037
01:06:43,800 --> 01:06:49,280
Speaker 1: by one thing or one accomplishment, it changes everything. Amazing.

1038
01:06:49,680 --> 01:06:52,040
Speaker 1: I could talk to you all day. You have so

1039
01:06:52,200 --> 01:06:55,680
Speaker 1: much going on. We haven't even touched on your fashion.

1040
01:06:56,400 --> 01:06:59,640
Speaker 1: We haven't touched on Special Force. Oh I do have

1041
01:06:59,720 --> 01:07:03,640
Speaker 1: to add kew about Special Forces. How did that go

1042
01:07:03,880 --> 01:07:05,760
Speaker 1: for you? Was it? Did that bring you back to

1043
01:07:05,880 --> 01:07:09,480
Speaker 1: your gym? Did you train? No? I did not train.

1044
01:07:10,120 --> 01:07:15,080
Speaker 1: I literally well I didn't know I did. I found

1045
01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:17,840
Speaker 1: out very very late in the game basically, And then

1046
01:07:18,920 --> 01:07:22,360
Speaker 1: you know, my mentality was, if I start training now,

1047
01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:24,880
Speaker 1: I'm going to be sore, I'm going to be exhausted.

1048
01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:27,320
Speaker 1: I'm gonna like I literally had less than a week,

1049
01:07:27,560 --> 01:07:33,000
Speaker 1: so why would I like I was so far out

1050
01:07:33,080 --> 01:07:35,880
Speaker 1: of my Olympic shape like I was. It was too late,

1051
01:07:36,480 --> 01:07:39,600
Speaker 1: So I kind of thought, I know, I'm not going

1052
01:07:39,640 --> 01:07:42,600
Speaker 1: to be the strongest whatever, but mentally I need to

1053
01:07:42,680 --> 01:07:46,280
Speaker 1: go into this like mentally in a good place. And

1054
01:07:46,440 --> 01:07:49,560
Speaker 1: for me, that's like not being sore, not being exhausted

1055
01:07:49,680 --> 01:07:53,880
Speaker 1: like whatever. And there was a moment on the like

1056
01:07:54,120 --> 01:07:57,960
Speaker 1: the tight road or the cable crossing. Yes that I

1057
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:04,200
Speaker 1: literally I thought I was on the beam in Beijing.

1058
01:08:04,720 --> 01:08:08,360
Speaker 1: It like snapped back to that I was falling, like

1059
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:13,880
Speaker 1: I almost fell seven ish times. And right as I

1060
01:08:14,040 --> 01:08:17,479
Speaker 1: was like completely like bench over backwards or forward or whatever,

1061
01:08:18,000 --> 01:08:21,000
Speaker 1: I would in my mind just tell myself like the

1062
01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:23,760
Speaker 1: gold medal is on the line, and I would just

1063
01:08:23,800 --> 01:08:28,559
Speaker 1: be like and then yeah, I Like when I finally

1064
01:08:28,600 --> 01:08:30,560
Speaker 1: got across, they were like, how did you do that?

1065
01:08:30,680 --> 01:08:32,400
Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't know if my arms

1066
01:08:32,439 --> 01:08:37,160
Speaker 1: were on fire, but it was mind over matter and mean,

1067
01:08:38,280 --> 01:08:41,240
Speaker 1: it was crazy. It was you know, it's the show

1068
01:08:41,320 --> 01:08:45,839
Speaker 1: doesn't even begin to even show half of how everything

1069
01:08:45,960 --> 01:08:49,160
Speaker 1: it was. But I do have to say, like such

1070
01:08:49,160 --> 01:08:53,599
Speaker 1: an incredible group of people that I never thought i'd

1071
01:08:53,680 --> 01:08:56,439
Speaker 1: call all, like, we're all family and friends when you

1072
01:08:57,000 --> 01:09:00,760
Speaker 1: when you go through something like that, and I kind

1073
01:09:00,880 --> 01:09:04,720
Speaker 1: of relate it to my Olympic teammates, and you know,

1074
01:09:04,880 --> 01:09:06,639
Speaker 1: you have that bond for the rest of your life

1075
01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:11,040
Speaker 1: when you're going through that. So it was glad I

1076
01:09:11,120 --> 01:09:14,560
Speaker 1: did it. Would do it all over again. Great experience,

1077
01:09:15,360 --> 01:09:19,560
Speaker 1: not quite for me, like I prefer, you know, not

1078
01:09:19,840 --> 01:09:23,400
Speaker 1: to have forty pounds of backpack on me at all times.

1079
01:09:24,880 --> 01:09:28,120
Speaker 1: It was great and looking forward to like watching you

1080
01:09:28,200 --> 01:09:32,840
Speaker 1: know the rest of the season. Yeah. You you're incredible.

1081
01:09:33,320 --> 01:09:39,280
Speaker 1: Your story is amazing, Your dedication to our future is great,

1082
01:09:40,040 --> 01:09:46,360
Speaker 1: Your work ethic is unparalleled. Your family, your father and

1083
01:09:46,479 --> 01:09:51,320
Speaker 1: mother's decision and the sacrifices they made for their dream.

1084
01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:54,200
Speaker 1: It really is the American dream. I'm not trying to

1085
01:09:54,240 --> 01:10:00,439
Speaker 1: be cheesy, but that is the absolute definition of it.

1086
01:10:00,800 --> 01:10:04,360
Speaker 1: I will talk to you anytime, anywhere. It's so good

1087
01:10:04,439 --> 01:10:13,000
Speaker 1: to see you again as your favorite non Olympic trainee. Um, well, hey,

1088
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:17,479
Speaker 1: let's not let's not let's not years. Let's not wait

1089
01:10:17,600 --> 01:10:22,040
Speaker 1: thirteen more years before we do it again. All right,

1090
01:10:22,560 --> 01:10:24,960
Speaker 1: maybe maybe we don't like we skip the training part

1091
01:10:25,080 --> 01:10:28,720
Speaker 1: this time. Okay, fair enough, we give me at the gym,

1092
01:10:28,800 --> 01:10:30,960
Speaker 1: but doesn't mean we have to train, right, that's right.

1093
01:10:32,240 --> 01:10:48,559
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much, Nastia, Thank you so much.

1094
01:10:48,640 --> 01:10:50,720
Speaker 1: This was so great. We are not going to go

1095
01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:56,000
Speaker 1: another thirteen years before we see each other again. Thank

1096
01:10:56,080 --> 01:10:58,320
Speaker 1: you for coming on the podcast. I look forward to

1097
01:10:58,360 --> 01:11:03,160
Speaker 1: seeing you compete once again, but this time one. Special

1098
01:11:03,439 --> 01:11:07,880
Speaker 1: Forces listeners have a wonderful Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever

1099
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:10,160
Speaker 1: day it is. You're listening to this, I'm going to

1100
01:11:10,280 --> 01:11:15,840
Speaker 1: see you next week for another episode of Off the Beat.

1101
01:11:16,280 --> 01:11:31,559
Speaker 1: Have a great week, everybody. Off the Beat is hosted

1102
01:11:31,600 --> 01:11:36,080
Speaker 1: an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive

1103
01:11:36,120 --> 01:11:40,200
Speaker 1: producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our

1104
01:11:40,240 --> 01:11:44,120
Speaker 1: producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our

1105
01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:48,200
Speaker 1: talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is

1106
01:11:48,280 --> 01:11:52,519
Speaker 1: Sammy Cats. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by

1107
01:11:52,880 --> 01:12:00,200
Speaker 1: the one and Only Creed bretton wo