WEBVTT - How Did the Winter Olympics Change Sports? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.480 Guess what will what's that mango? 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:03.560 So you know what my favorite part of the Winter 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:05.000 Olympics is, all. 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:06.240 Right, I think I want to guess on this one. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.119 I'm gonna guess the bobs led. 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.200 I mean, that's super fun. But my favorite armchair sport 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.880 at the Olympics is trying to spot the carpetbaggers. 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:16.800 The carpetbaggers. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.320 Yeah, I mean, you know you see it in the Olympics, 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.840 but especially in the Winter Olympics, Like at Sochi, there 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:25.200 was this couple from Long Island in their late forties 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:27.160 who thought would be fun to compete at the Olympics 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.240 for Dominica, which is this tiny island nation in the Caribbean. 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.159 And you'd obviously have to be super fit to be 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:35.720 in your late forties and make the US ski team, right, 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.199 but in Dominica you kind of just have to have 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:39.760 a pair of skis in a passport. 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.199 So, I mean, how prevalent is this carpetbaggering? How do 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:44.120 they get away with this? 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.720 I mean it is discouraged, but sometimes it's like elite 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.200 athletes who couldn't make cut in their country where they live, 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.159 but then you know they want to compete for their 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:57.120 country of origin, and sometimes it's athletic mercenaries, like Bahrain 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.720 is notorious for buying Kenyans to long distance for their nation. 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.600 And then there are these wealthy crazies who could just 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.480 buy their way in, like Germany has this prince named 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.840 Hubertus who was born in Mexico, but it's competed for 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:14.400 Mexico in slalom six times. I believe wow at Sochi, 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.840 he was fifty five years old when he's doing this. Yeah, 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.640 and you might remember him from wearing this outrageous spandex 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:22.720 mariachi outfit. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:23.760 I'm gonna look him up. 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:25.800 I don't remember this, he said. If he wasn't gonna win, 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.600 at least he could name for best dressed. Getting excited 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.039 to spot these Olympic outcasts made me wonder about all 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.840 the other things at the Winter Olympics, like when did 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.319 the Winter Olympics start? And why does Norway dominate the games? 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.200 And why does curling get to be a sport. So 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:41.959 let's stay in. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.240 Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.400 Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my good 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:10.720 friend Mangesh hut Ticketter and on the other side, of 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.880 the soundproof glass, showing off his brand new Winter Olympic 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.040 stuffed animal pal. I don't know how he got a 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.960 hold of that. That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.200 Look over there, Mango at Sue Harang, you know, the 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.640 white tiger mascot for the upcoming Games. 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.359 Yeah, I'd recognize them anywhere. So I love that the 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:29.799 Winter Olympics get their own mascots. It's actually one of 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.240 my favorite things about the Olympics. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.639 Well, you know, the winner Games might play second fiddle 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.960 in terms of scale and viewership, but I feel like 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.440 the mascots, those things can go toe to toe with 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.919 their summer cousins. In fact, one thing I learned while 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.760 preparing for today's show is that we actually have the 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.320 Winter Games to thank for this whole idea of these 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.040 Olympic mascots. You know, they didn't start out as this 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.440 cute and cuddly animal like Sue Harang might be just 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:56.800 look at it over there in Tristan's lap. But the 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.360 very first one was this creepy caricature of this armless 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.959 skier I don't know why, with his manic red face. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.440 His name was Shush after the term for the straight 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.280 downhill ski run. And then he popped up as this 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.520 unofficial mascot of the nineteen sixty eight Winter Games that 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.400 were in France. And even though his simple, big headed 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.400 design led to most fans calling him the skiing sperm, 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.320 Schus was a big hit with attendees and so he 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.399 kind of paved the way for the first official mascot 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.680 four years later, and that was that multicolored dot son 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.840 named Waldy who appeared at the Summer Olympics in Munich. 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.480 So Schuss is great, but if we're talking unnerving mascots, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:38.680 I'm gonna go with Schneeman. 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:41.320 Shush, and Schneman. 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.320 Schneeman was the first official mascot at the Winter Games, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.720 and this was back in nineteen seventy six, and he 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.440 was basically just a snowman head on tiny legs wearing 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.160 this big, floppy red hat. It's almost like a kid 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.800 started building Schneman and then gave up after realizing there 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:58.680 was an Atarian cide where it was warmer. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:00.760 I'm done with you, schneaem It. 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.640 Well, obviously, today's show is all about the Winter Olympics, 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.040 and we're getting pretty excited around here for next month's games. 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:07.840 In Pyeongchang. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.480 So we wanted to take the opportunity to dig into 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.800 some of that weird history and the surprising controversies that 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.000 surround these lesser known Olympics. So, Mega, where do you 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:18.240 feel like we should start? 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.479 Well, you know, I always like starting at the beginning, 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.920 you Which actually wasn't that long ago for the Winter Olympics. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.640 So the first official Winter Games were held in France 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.240 back in nineteen twenty four, which was only twenty eight 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.359 years after the first modern Summer Olympics in Athens. But 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.000 the Winter Olympics were known by a different name originally, 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.200 So the first event was actually called Winter Sports Week, 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.640 and it was this twelve day program consisting of six 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.080 sports and sixteen events. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.360 That's such a weird name, like it sounds like something 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.120 you'd participate in in college or something. 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:49.520 So why did they call it this? 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.559 Was it like a test run for the winter version 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:52.520 of the Olympics or what? 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.920 Yeah, exactly right. So, figure skating and ice hockey were 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.119 actually part of the Summer Games already at that point, 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.720 and the idea of giving cold weather sports their own 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.799 showcase was first floaded by the IOC in nineteen twenty one. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.360 So, I mean it seems like the interest was there. 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:08.800 So why did this first event get such a like 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:09.839 a watered down name. 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.080 Well, I mean some Scandinavian countries boked at the idea 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.120 of a separate event because they already took part in 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.200 their own competition called the Nordic Games and they didn't 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.680 want an official winner Olympics to steal their thunder. So, 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.839 you know, the committee made this Winter Sports Week. But 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.520 the Games were this huge success. There were ten thousand 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.680 paying attendees who turned up to watch sixteen countries compete 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.560 in sports like speed skating and bob sled and curling, 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.560 and the events were such a smash hit that just 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.799 one year later, the IOC retroactively declared it the first 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:40.839 Olympic Winner Games. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:41.200 Huh. 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:43.479 All right, so who were like, you know, like the 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.320 Michael Phelps of the first Winter Olympics. Were there any 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.640 standouts or were the athletes still trying to kind of 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.400 figure out what they were doing in the competition. 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.520 Yeah, so, you know, the Scandinevan countries, like I mentioned, 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.600 had this leg up because they'd been holding their own 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.320 competitions for over twenty years at this point. So Norway 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.720 in particular, has always dominated the Winter Games, and the 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.279 first one was no exception. They had this incredible athlete, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.680 thorleaf Haw, which is about as Nordica name as you 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.520 can have, i'd say, And he was this legendary skier 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.200 who won three gold medals in three different events that year, 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:16.680 and he also took home a bronze medal for the 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.960 ski jump competition. But this is super weird. Fifty years later, 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.640 it was discovered that a scoring mistake had actually happened 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.279 and the medal actually belonged to this US athlete named 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:27.040 Andrews Hoggen. 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.960 Wow, fifty years later, I mean, I guess better late 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.080 than ever, but still that is a long time. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.000 So were there any other US victories that year? 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:34.640 Yeah? 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.320 Actually, the very first gold medal awarded went to this 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:41.839 American speed skater named Charles Jutra, and he was this underdog, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.160 but in the end he beat out all twenty six 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.680 other skaters by completing the five hundred meter event in 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.560 just forty four seconds. And my favorite underdog though, is 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.719 this Norwegian ice skater who's named Sonja Henny. And not 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.840 only was she only one of eleven female athletes competing 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.719 that year, she was also only eleven years old. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.800 Eleven years old. Wow, so did she win? 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.039 No, she came in dead last time. But the nineteen 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.440 twenty four Games were actually just the start of her career. 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.559 She won a gold medal at each of the next 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:11.560 three Winter Olympics. 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:12.840 Wow, and she grew up to. 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:14.400 Be this Norwegian movie star. 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.240 I mean, Norwegian just really do kind of own the 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:18.320 Winter Games, don't they. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.560 I mean I was reading that Norway has actually won. 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.240 More gold medals in the competition than any other country 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.320 After Sochi. Their record stands I think it's one hundred 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.520 and eighteen gold medals and something like three hundred and 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:30.720 twenty nine total. 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.880 Yeah, and they're actually one of only three countries the 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.680 other two being Austrian Liechtenstein, that have actually won more 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.640 medals in the Winter Olympics than in the Summer ones. 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:38.840 Hm. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:40.880 I mean it makes a lot of sense given their 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.640 geography and the climate. But you know, that cold weather 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.640 advantage is actually kind of at the root of one 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.840 of the Winter Olympics' biggest controversies. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:49.720 You know, put things in perspective. 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.040 There are ninety countries that are set to compete in 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.800 pyeong Chang this year, which is a far cry from 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.600 the more than two hundred countries that participated in the 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.680 twenty sixteen Games that were in Rio. You know, the 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:02.640 reason for that disparity isn't so much a lack of 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.200 interest as it is a lack of resources. 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:06.960 You know, being able to compete. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.600 In events like lusing and figure skating and Bob's letting. 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.200 I mean, all of that requires this practice and these 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.800 very expensive facilities. And his Olympic historian David Waalachinsky puts it, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.280 if you want to run one hundred meters or even 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.640 a marathon, you can just step outside your door and 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:23.640 go do it. If you want to play soccer, you 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:25.800 can do that anywhere. But if you want to compete 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.840 in the luge, I don't think so. So obviously, you know, 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.040 something like the alpine skiing is it's an expensive hobby 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:33.920 and if you're trying to compete, just think about all 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.320 the equipment and training and also just the regular access 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.079 to these facilities that you'd need to have. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.560 Yeah. So, I know in tennis they say if you 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.360 don't play for two days, you lose some of your 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.720 muscle memory and you're basically relearning your strokes. Yeah, which 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:48.880 is crazy, right, But if you think about something like that. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.880 For skiing, I mean, the climate dependent nature of the 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.720 events definitely hurts your chances if you're from a tropical place, 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.760 and the Winter Olympics have also developed this, you know, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.000 elitist stigma because the cold countries also tend to be 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.400 richer and whiter, which is probably one of the reasons 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.120 that they still aren't as popular as the summer counterparts. 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.920 Which isn't to say that more temperator even downright tropical 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.160 countries don't get a chance to shine. I mean, everyone 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.880 remembers cool runnings, right and the Jamaican bob sled team 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.600 from the nineteen eighty eight Calgary Games. But there's still 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.280 a long way to go if the Winter Olympics want 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.400 to be an event that's truly representative of international athletes. 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.000 Yeah, you know, And since we're talking about controversies and 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.280 you mentioned the eighty eight Olympics, I just have to 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.800 take a second to talk about Eddie the Eagle. 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.120 So I'm not sure I know that mascot. 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.839 I know it sounds very cuddly, but Eddie the Eagle 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.760 is actually one of the nicknames for Michael Edwards, and 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.960 he was this British plaster who always dreamed of competing 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.960 as a downhill skier in the Olympics, and after determining 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.880 that ski jumping would be cheaper and less competitive in 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.640 order to be able to prepare, Michael became the first 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.640 in British history to participate in the event. Now, there 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.920 was only one little problem, and that was the fact 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.560 that he was terrible at ski jumping. In fact, he 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.400 crashed at the World Championship in nineteen eighty six, kind 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.960 of became the laughing stock of the press and they 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.440 not so lovingly referred to him as mister Magoo. But 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.559 you know, Edwards was undeterred and he managed to fulfill 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.200 his dream by competing at the Calgary Olympics just two 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.640 years later. Although he successfully landed his Johnbie, he didn't 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.320 score even like half the total points as any of 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:22.000 the other competitors. But nonetheless, Eddie the Eagle, as he 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.320 was called by the President of the IOC, became this 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.720 national star and you know, an unexpected point of pride 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:28.240 for England. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:30.480 So I'm guessing where the story is going, right, It's 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.160 just like that little Norwegian girl who rallied and came 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.000 back to clean house at the next Olympics. 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:36.880 Uh, definitely not Now. 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:39.920 Edwards competed for a spot I think in the next 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.079 three Winter Games, but the Olympic community had raised the 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.680 qualifying standards at that point and that was really to 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:46.720 box him out. 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:47.760 And you know. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.000 Still he claims about seventy percent of his income now 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.440 comes from speaking engagement, so it wasn't a total loss. 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:53.640 For the guy. 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.160 Yeah, And as far as controversy is going, that one's 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.360 pretty innocent, Like most Olympic scandals are a little more 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.720 tinged with, definitely. And so I was reading about Orton Enderland. 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.600 She was this East German Lewes champion who wound up 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.240 forfeiting her gold from the sixty eight Games when it 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.680 was discovered that she and her teammates had actually heated 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:13.839 the rails that are sled just prior to the race. 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.000 I mean, I didn't realize the physics of this, but 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.760 the extra warmth had reduced the sled's friction with the ice, 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.679 which gave them a much faster run time. And so 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.400 the three women were disqualified, but the East German Olympic 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.400 committee never took responsibility. Instead, they blamed it all on 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:30.000 a capitalist revenge plot. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.800 Oh yeah, that must have been a capitalist revenge plot. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.400 You know, it's funny because I know about like corking 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.320 your bed or deflating a football, but I honestly have 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.320 no idea how to cheat in winter sports. I mean, 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.280 it wouldn't even occur to me to heat the metal 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.880 under your luge. That's also a sentence I never thought 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.040 I would say. But all right, well, speaking of East Germany, 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.200 there's one interesting thing I came across, and that was 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.400 that West and East Germany actually reached across the Iron 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.439 Curtain and they decided to compete together as this unified 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.800 team of Germany. This happened in three Olympics, fifty six 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.920 and sixty and sixty four. But that's when the truce 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.480 came to an end because this alternate for an East 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.800 German team, I think on the toboggan team. They used 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.120 the games as a way to make a break for freedom. 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.960 And so her name was outa Gawller, and apparently she 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.120 fled for West Germany while her teammates were celebrating during 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:19.160 a reception one night. 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:19.920 That's crazy. 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:20.600 Did she make it? 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.800 She actually did? And you know what, she actually wasn't 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.720 even the only one. According to the Associated Press, there 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.760 were thirteen fans from Eastern European communist countries that also 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.520 escaped under the cover of the Olympics. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.760 That's amazing and you kind of have to admire people 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.520 who saw an opportunity and seized it. So one of 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.880 my favorite Olympic controversies centers on this guy named Stephen Bradbury, 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.280 who depressed dubbed the accidental gold medalist. He was on 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.840 the Australian speed skating team that won the country its 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.400 first medal at the Winter Olympics back in nineteen ninety four, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.480 but his most triumphant moment came at the two thousand 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.160 and two Games in Salt Lake City, and by that 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.280 point Bradbury had suffered a number of debilitating injuries and 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.560 was no longer at the top of his game. In fact, 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.920 he only made it through the quarterfinals that year because 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.080 another athlete was disqualified, and he made it through the 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.480 semis because a number of his competitors fell down on 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.839 the track. Oh wow, And that fall actually gave him 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:12.719 this great idea for what would turn out to be 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.480 a winning strategy when it came time for the big race. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.240 Bradbury figured his best shot was just to hang back, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.920 you know, on the off chance that another fall might 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.400 clear the field for him, and amazingly the plan worked 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.320 like in spades. As he was racing, there was this 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.240 disastrous fall that caused all four of his competitors to 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.240 collapse in him. Yeah, it was just before the finish line, 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.400 and Bradbury kind of just skated slowly around them, claiming 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:38.280 his coal metal. 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:38.720 You know. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.080 The craziest part was like the crowd was booing and jeering. 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.959 I mean, I kind of love that story. It might 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.880 not be like a glorious win, but a win. 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.040 Is a win exactly. And Bradbury's sort of admitted that 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.880 he won by sheer luck, and he used to sort 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.960 of be upset about it and conflicted about it, but 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.760 now he kind of considers his reward for you know, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:00.640 this entire career hard work. 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:02.839 I mean, you know, like we were saying earlier, the 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.880 Winter Olympics don't always favor these warmer weather countries, and 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.120 Australia certainly being one of those, so. 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:09.440 You have to take what you can get. 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.720 I think there's actually one other long running controversy I 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.320 do want to mention, but before we get to that, 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:15.440 let's take a quick break. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:28.880 You're listening to. 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:30.960 Part time genius, and we're talking about the little known 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.920 origins and shocking scandals of the Winter Olympics, all right, Mega, 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.240 So the last controversy I wanted to mention is just 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.960 how long it took for a British curling team to 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:41.800 receive its gold medals. 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:42.160 And why is that? 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.360 Well, Great Britain won the curling competition way back in 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.640 the inaugural Winter Games of nineteen twenty four, but the 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:52.000 winner actually didn't get their gold until a whopping eighty 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.640 two years later. So what was the hold of Well, 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.320 the delay stem from some confusion over weather curling had 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.080 been an official event at the first Games, or whether 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.600 it was what they called a demonstration sport. You know, 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.280 these are the events that are mostly there for promotional 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.240 purposes and kind of build interest in these niche sports. 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.040 Yeah. So, my friend Dave was a ski archer, and 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.280 he was like tenth in the world and number one 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.600 in the US when we were in college. It's not 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.160 a big sport here, but it is in Europe, and 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:21.800 I was always hoping they'd make ski archery a sport 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:23.600 just so I could watch him in the Olympics. But 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:24.520 it never happened. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.560 You know, I've met Dave before, and he never bragged 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.280 about this unel I would start every conversation with I 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:30.960 was number one in the world at. 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:31.920 The ski archery thing. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:34.560 But you know, it's weird to think about things that 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.520 have been these demonstration sports, like, you know, everything from 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.200 pigeon racing and ballooning to even volleyball and tennis. But 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.960 at some point those were outsider sports. And also there 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.400 was a sport called I think corfball. I don't know 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.840 what that is, but I'm a big fan just because 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.480 of a name. Anyway, some of the demonstration sports wind 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.880 up becoming official events, but until they do, they actually 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.960 don't give the winners of these the proper Olympic medals. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.000 So even though curling was played at the first Winter Olympics, 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.200 it didn't reappear in the Games until nineteen ninety eight, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.000 and its first appearance became accepted as you know, just 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:10.400 being a demonstration event. 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.720 So what changed over the course of those eighty some years. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.120 Well, for some reason, the IOC did this deep dive 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.040 into its records and they ruled that curling had actually 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.400 been intended as part of the official program back in 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.760 nineteen twenty four. So even though the original team members 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.400 were long gone by this point. They were given the 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.600 long overdue honor of being upgraded to these full Olympic 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:31.400 gold medals. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.040 Well, I'm glad you brought up demo sports because I 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.520 actually spent some time looking at old Winter Olympics And 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:39.520 have you ever heard of skigering? 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:41.000 No, is that like corfball. 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.880 It's exactly like corfball on skis. So this comes from 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.960 the nineteen twenty eight Games. But basically competitors on skis 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:51.760 were pulled over jumps and other obstacles by riderless horses. 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.920 Why it was this one off event that never returned 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.480 to the Olympics, But it actually still has a following, 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.320 and there's a World Skeetering Championship that's held in Whitefish, Montana, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:02.360 every single year. 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:04.159 I mean, I have to admit that sounds like a 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:06.800 sport that happened by accident where somebody like fell off 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:07.480 a horse. 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.920 It was still attached to it. But I've never heard 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:10.159 of that. 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.560 I mean, I did know that dogs made an appearance. 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.359 I think it was in the nineteen thirty two Winter 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.120 Olympics that were like Placid, But this was just part 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.919 of a demonstration for this sled dog racing, and so 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.920 the sport re emerged at the fifty two Games in Oslo, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.439 but you know, surprisingly it never quite made it to 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:26.880 official event status. 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.359 Yeah, it's kind of crazy because sled dog racing seems 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.560 like a natural fit. Yeah, I mean, I guess they 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.479 always have the Iditarod, but sadly for like a lot 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.400 of other sports that they don't have, like their own championships. 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.920 So there's one called ski Ballet or across Sky, and 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.159 it was pretty much what the name suggests. So competitors 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.440 take to a smooth slope and they performed these highly 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.159 choreographed ski maneuvers and it's all set to music. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.240 Huh, which sounds awesome, right, yeah it does. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.680