Speaker 1: Welcome to good Game with Sarah Spain where not to
Speaker 1: be a silly goose, but can someone check the beam?
Speaker 2: Also hand me like eleven.
Speaker 1: Dy boxes of tissue because I am not ready to
Speaker 1: say goodbye to watching Simone Biles to gymnastics. On today's show,
Speaker 1: We're going to get some great perspective on Olympic pressure
Speaker 1: from someone who knows it well but isn't currently enduring
Speaker 1: it three time Winter Olympic medalists and blissfully out of
Speaker 1: season Jesse Diggins. We'll also conduct some balanced team inspections,
Speaker 1: mowd the soccer pitches and practice our hammer throw technique,
Speaker 1: and we'll reveal the name.
Speaker 2: That you voted on. If we can't wait for you
Speaker 2: to hear it, it's all coming up right after this
Speaker 2: welcome back.
Speaker 1: First things first, our bad Dominica and all seventy two
Speaker 1: thousand of you who live there.
Speaker 3: Hey, Sarah, I know you get upset when things hit
Speaker 3: your ears and you go, oh, that's not quite right.
Speaker 3: So this is not a dish, but just information. The
Speaker 3: island nation of Dominika is actually pronounced slightly differently than everybody.
Speaker 4: Else does it. And that's knowledge I have because I
Speaker 4: went there one hundred years ago when I was scuba
Speaker 4: diving a long time ago. Anyways, Dominique is beautiful. It's tiny,
Speaker 4: but anyways, I just know you've always like to get
Speaker 4: to the actual information that's real and truthful. So anyways,
Speaker 4: love the work, love the pod, love everything you're doing, and.
Speaker 3: Have a great day.
Speaker 4: Oh my name is Susan. Take care.
Speaker 1: Thanks Susan for real, y'all. I actually love being corrected
Speaker 1: because I want to get things right. So always send
Speaker 1: the email, Always send the voicemail. Keep us honest over here.
Speaker 2: A good game. And you know what, while.
Speaker 1: We're correcting mistakes here, I need to once again suggest
Speaker 1: that Paris should have abandoned their plan to compete in
Speaker 1: the send after the first sign that they might not
Speaker 1: get the river in proper condition in time. Because that
Speaker 1: rant I gave last week wasn't for nothing. Things have
Speaker 1: gotten worse. In addition to pushing back competitions due to
Speaker 1: sewage levels, leaving athletes unsure of their schedule and preparation. Now,
Speaker 1: Belgium's Olympic team was forced to forfeit Monday's mixed competition
Speaker 1: triathlon after one of its triathletes, Claire Michelle, got sick
Speaker 1: after competing in the individual triathlon in the seen last week.
Speaker 1: The Belgian team didn't describe her illness or specifically blame
Speaker 1: the river, but Belgium newspaperd Standard reported that the triathlete
Speaker 1: was hospitalized on Sunday and treated for an equal eye infection.
Speaker 1: The Belgian teams release said, in part quote, Belgian Triathlon
Speaker 1: hope that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions.
Speaker 1: We are thinking of training days that can be guaranteed,
Speaker 1: competition days and formats that are clear in advance, and
Speaker 1: circumstances that do not cause uncertainty among athletes, entourage and
Speaker 1: fans exactly.
Speaker 2: All right, here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1: In three x three basketball, the US started out Monday
Speaker 1: with a loss in the semi finals, dropping a nail
Speaker 1: bier to Spain in overtime. But then in the tightly
Speaker 1: contested bronze medal game, team USA beat Canada behind a
Speaker 1: huge rebound and free throws from former Tennessee lady Volsierra
Speaker 1: Burdick in the final seconds. What a turnaround for this quartet.
Speaker 1: They started the Olympics zero to three, but they walk
Speaker 1: away with a bronze medal. In the gold medal game,
Speaker 1: Germany defeated Spain seventeen sixteen, marking the country's first ever
Speaker 1: gold medal in the sport of basketball. In five on
Speaker 1: five basketball, the US is onto the medal rounds after
Speaker 1: going three to zero in group play. Team USA has
Speaker 1: now won fifty eight straight games at the Olympics. That's
Speaker 1: a streak that dates back to the ninety two Barcelona games.
Speaker 1: Next up for Team USA a quarterfinal round matchup against Nigeria,
Speaker 1: the first African team of any gender to make it
Speaker 1: to the quarterfinals in basketball at the Olympics. That game
Speaker 1: is tomorrow at three thirty pm Eastern. Gymnastics wrapped up
Speaker 1: on Monday, and I think we all need to do
Speaker 1: some breathing exercises after that balance beam final. Italy's Alitcha
Speaker 1: Demato won gold on the event, but it was a
Speaker 1: real messy competition and I hope someone actually did check
Speaker 1: to make sure that the beam hadn't shrunk from four
Speaker 1: inches to three inches wide overnight, because four of the
Speaker 1: eight finalists fell, including both Simone Biles and Sunny Lee.
Speaker 1: With the wind to model becomes the first Italian woman
Speaker 1: to ever win gold in the sport of gymnastics. We're
Speaker 1: happy for her, but that was way too stressful. About
Speaker 1: an hour after the wabbly beam final, Simone Biles had
Speaker 1: to dust herself off and get ready for the floor competition.
Speaker 1: And because we hear a good game, are practicing living
Speaker 1: in the moment, we attempted not to focus on whether
Speaker 1: or not it was the last time we would ever
Speaker 1: see Simone Biles compete with mixed results.
Speaker 2: Okay, we did terribly. We thought about it the whole time,
Speaker 2: and in the end.
Speaker 1: It was Brazil's Rebecca Andrage who claimed the gold, with
Speaker 1: Simone and teammate Jordan Childs finishing with silver.
Speaker 2: And bronze, and it was kind of a wild scene
Speaker 2: at the arena.
Speaker 1: It originally looked like Childs had finished off the podium,
Speaker 1: but her coaches submitted a petition on her behalf and
Speaker 1: after a little bit of delay, her total was boosted
Speaker 1: up by point one to reflect the proper difficulty component
Speaker 1: of one element of her routine, and that was enough
Speaker 1: to put her on the podium. Chiles was elevated to bronze,
Speaker 1: and if you haven't seen her reaction, we're going to
Speaker 1: link to it in the show notes because it was
Speaker 1: just such a joy to watch, and afterward, Chiles said
Speaker 1: she didn't even know that her coaches had submitted the
Speaker 1: appeal on her behalf. And I want to take this
Speaker 1: minute to reflect on Jordan Chiles' journey to this moment,
Speaker 1: because three years ago in Tokyo, she had an uncharacteristically
Speaker 1: bad showing in the qualifying round and didn't make the
Speaker 1: cutoff for any of the individual events. But if you remember,
Speaker 1: Simone Biles removed herself from the team competition due to
Speaker 1: the twisties, and Chiles, who trains alongside Biles in Texas,
Speaker 1: stepped up to fill in on uneven bars and balance beam,
Speaker 1: a very clutch performance that helped the US claim Olympic silver.
Speaker 1: Now Here in Paris, she missed out on the individual
Speaker 1: all around due to the two per country rule in gymnastics,
Speaker 1: but she did help the US to team gold, and
Speaker 1: today she competed in her first first individual Olympic event final,
Speaker 1: winning bronze on floor. Of course, we also have to
Speaker 1: shout out Child's viral floor routines while competing for UCLA.
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen those, go look them up, especially
Speaker 1: her performance in Lasher's NCAA competition, performing to nineties hits
Speaker 1: like Salt and Pepa's Push It and TLC's Creep en
Speaker 1: route to a national title. We love that, and leading
Speaker 1: up to the Games, we also loved watching her talk
Speaker 1: about the good luck gifts and messages she was getting
Speaker 1: from the likes of Beyonce, Megan the Stallion Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: by the way, my favorite thing about Chiles. Duh, she's
Speaker 1: named after Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2: Perfect.
Speaker 1: Also perfect watching Simone and Jordan bowing to Brazil's Rebecca
Speaker 1: Andrage the moment she stepped onto the metal podium.
Speaker 2: Someone on the internet said it simply.
Speaker 1: Girlhood, a really beautiful display of sportsmanship and mutual respect.
Speaker 1: And I aspired to one day grow up and be
Speaker 1: mature enough to feel that way about anything I've ever lost.
Speaker 2: Hasn't happened yet. War Gymnastics, because.
Speaker 1: We hear a good game, want to remind you that
Speaker 1: we love silver medals and we love me too. But
Speaker 1: here's a wild stat So by finishing second behind Andrage
Speaker 1: on floor on Monday, Simone Biles lost a floora final
Speaker 1: for the first time in her international career, a streak
Speaker 1: that started at the twenty thirteen World Championships. So let's
Speaker 1: take a moment to let that sink in, because it's
Speaker 1: so easy to take Simone biles greatness for granted. And
Speaker 1: of course we're talking about her gymnastics, but also her
Speaker 1: outspokenness on important topics like mental health and the well
Speaker 1: being of athletes.
Speaker 2: Everybody breathe in and out.
Speaker 1: We have to tell ourselves, whatever she does next, we
Speaker 1: know that she'll continue to shine. So congrats on the silver,
Speaker 1: Congrats on bronze, Congrats on just showing up because we
Speaker 1: know even that part was tough.
Speaker 2: For a while. We love you, Simone. We're gonna go
Speaker 2: cry for a while.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, on the beach under the Eiffel Tower, the gold
Speaker 1: medal favorite Sarah Hughes and Kelly Cheng of Team USA
Speaker 1: won their round of sixteen match on Sunday. They're onto
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals, where they'll play Switzerland today at four pm Eastern.
Speaker 1: In track and field, on Monday, American Valerie Allman defended
Speaker 1: her gold medal in discus, becoming just the fourth American
Speaker 1: woman to win the same individual track and field event twice.
Speaker 1: She joins the likes of Wyomi Tias, Gail Devers, and
Speaker 1: Jackie Joiner Kersey. Looking ahead to today, there are three
Speaker 1: women's finals with gold medals on the line in the
Speaker 1: hammer throw, steeplechase and two hundred meters. Here's a name
Speaker 1: to look out for in the hammer throw, maybe a
Speaker 1: surprising one, Poland's Anita Vlodarcik. Now you may recall that
Speaker 1: Katie Ledeki just became the first woman from any country
Speaker 1: in any sport to win four gold medals in the
Speaker 1: same individual event. Well, today Vlodarcik could become the second.
Speaker 1: In addition to owning both the world and Olympic records
Speaker 1: at hammer throw, she also won gold in.
Speaker 2: London, Rio and Tokyo.
Speaker 1: Something to watch and in case anyone's wondering, they do
Speaker 1: not throw an actual hammer. It's a metal ball attached
Speaker 1: to a steel wire. And if you didn't know that,
Speaker 1: I suggest you watch. In the two hundred meters, three
Speaker 1: Americans qualified for the final Tokyo bronze medalist Gabby Thomas,
Speaker 1: Britney Brown and Mackenzie Long faced new one hundred meter
Speaker 1: gold medalist Julian Alfred of Saint Lucia. It's a pretty
Speaker 1: wide open race as the three reigning world medalists aren't competing.
Speaker 1: She Carrie Richardson actually won this event at last year's
Speaker 1: World Champs, but she finished fourth at US Olympic Trials
Speaker 1: at the distance, so she won't be competing. If you're
Speaker 1: not familiar with Gabby Thomas, by the way, google her.
Speaker 1: We will talk about her on a future show. But
Speaker 1: if you want to feel real shitty about yourself, see
Speaker 1: what Gaby Thomas is accomplished in life.
Speaker 2: What a champ.
Speaker 1: Finally, we want to shine a light on Afghanistan's Kimia
Speaker 1: You Sophie. She finished last in her one hundred meter
Speaker 1: preliminary heat last week, but she used her moment on
Speaker 1: the world's biggest stage to send a message. As the
Speaker 1: lone woman representing Afghanistan and track and field in Paris,
Speaker 1: she wrote three words on the back of her bib
Speaker 1: education our rights. Since twenty twenty one, when the Taliban
Speaker 1: took control of Afghanistan, women and girls have suffered tremendously,
Speaker 1: According to her report published by the UN in January,
Speaker 1: the Taliban have barred women from nearly every aspect of
Speaker 1: public life and implemented a ban on girls attending school
Speaker 1: after grade six. Usophie was born to refugee parents in
Speaker 1: Iran during the Taliban's previous rule, but relocated to Afghanistan
Speaker 1: ahead of the twenty sixteen Rio Olympics and then served
Speaker 1: as the country's opening ceremony flag bear three years ago
Speaker 1: in Tokyo. But when the Taliban returned to power in
Speaker 1: August of twenty twenty one, she fled to Iran and
Speaker 1: U Sophia, along with her mother and younger brother, eventually
Speaker 1: managed to relocate to Australia with help from the Australian
Speaker 1: Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee.
Speaker 2: Ahead of these Paris Games, she.
Speaker 1: Said her goal was to quote represent the stolen dreams
Speaker 1: and aspirations of all Afghan women, and after her race,
Speaker 1: she told reporters quote, I think I feel a responsibility
Speaker 1: for Afghan girls because they can't talk. She added quote,
Speaker 1: I'm not a politics person. I just do what I
Speaker 1: think is true. I can talk with media. I can
Speaker 1: be the voice of Afghan girls unquote. She went on
Speaker 1: to say that she can express what Afghan girls want
Speaker 1: basic rights, education and sports.
Speaker 2: When I was in.
Speaker 1: Australia last summer for the Women's World Cup, I hosted
Speaker 1: a panel with the captain of the Afghanistan soccer team.
Speaker 1: She and her teammates were also airlifted immediately out of
Speaker 1: Afghanistan right when the Taliban took control, because everyone knew
Speaker 1: that they were one of the most sought after groups
Speaker 1: of people. And that might surprise you if you're not familiar,
Speaker 1: but the women that were most at risk in Afghanistan
Speaker 1: were the ones who were educated and the ones who
Speaker 1: were empowered and in control of their bodies, which were
Speaker 1: the athletes. And it was remarkable to hear her talk
Speaker 1: about her team being moved to Australia while the rest
Speaker 1: of their family members and friends were all left back
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan.
Speaker 2: Under the rule of the Taliban.
Speaker 1: I'm so impressed by Yusophie making this statement on the
Speaker 1: highest stage, and hope we continue to have conversations about
Speaker 1: the girls and women in Afghanistan and the athletes who
Speaker 1: are escaping to other countries and continuing to compete. So impressive.
Speaker 1: All right, I bet you're wondering why I didn't mention soccer.
Speaker 1: Well here it is, little.
Speaker 2: Primer, primer primer.
Speaker 1: US women's soccer team is taken out Germany today at
Speaker 1: twelve pm Eastern and followed by Brazil Spain at three
Speaker 1: pm Eastern. That's right down to just four and if
Speaker 1: you remember, the US got quite familiar with Germany in
Speaker 1: pool play, handing them a four to one loss. But
Speaker 1: unfortunately they can't take any of those goals with them
Speaker 1: because it's a clean slate for the semi final and
Speaker 1: a spot in the gold medal match is on the line.
Speaker 1: Both teams are coming off extra time victories, but the
Speaker 1: Germans had to go to penalty kicks to do away
Speaker 1: with Canada, so I'm wondering if maybe that little.
Speaker 2: Extra effort will make them more fatigued.
Speaker 1: Hard to say, because new Team USA coach Emma Hayes
Speaker 1: has been very stingy with the subs in this tournament.
Speaker 1: We'll see how those American legs are holding up, or
Speaker 1: if she decides that she wants to switch up or
Speaker 1: starters for the semi final game. Unlike their kind of slow,
Speaker 1: sticky last game against Japan, when the US faced Germany
Speaker 1: and pool play, they moved freely, they passed with ease,
Speaker 1: They got to really play their style. We'll see if
Speaker 1: Germany switches up their approach for the rematch after.
Speaker 2: Watching that Japan game.
Speaker 1: One player to watch either way is Bayern Munich's Leah Schula.
Speaker 1: She's one of Germany's primary goal threats. She scored three
Speaker 1: goals so far in this tournament. Germany and the US
Speaker 1: are two of just three countries to win both the
Speaker 1: Women's World Cup and Olympic gold and coming into this Olympics,
Speaker 1: the Germans were ranked fourth in the FIFA rankings, a
Speaker 1: spot ahead of the US.
Speaker 2: The bronze medal game will be Friday, while the gold
Speaker 2: medal match is Saturday.
Speaker 1: Oh fun fact too, there are over one thousand kinds
Speaker 1: of sausages in Germany and the longest word in the
Speaker 1: German language is seventy nine letters long.
Speaker 2: It sounds like.
Speaker 5: This, Don domp schif'spat electricy tit and halp the troops
Speaker 5: bowl the celshaft.
Speaker 1: Thank you SoundCloud user and Haines. All right, we gotta
Speaker 1: go flip our schnitzel and stir our sauer krawd. It's
Speaker 1: almost game time when we come back. Joining us now
Speaker 1: a three time Olympic medalist, including winning the first ever
Speaker 1: gold medal for the US and cross country skiing, She's
Speaker 1: coming off the best ever seasoned by an American in
Speaker 1: the sport, highlighted by her overall World Cup title win.
Speaker 2: She's the author of Brave enough.
Speaker 1: She's met with lawmakers on Capital Hill to advocate for
Speaker 1: climate policy, and she's an ambassador for the Emily Program,
Speaker 1: an organization that provides specialized treatment for eating disorders. Fun fact,
Speaker 1: she wears glitter every time she races. It's Jesse Diggins.
Speaker 2: What's up. Jesse, Hey, Sarah, Thank you for having me,
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming on. This was such a good idea.
Speaker 1: This was actually producer Alex's idea, our Olympic Expert, because
Speaker 1: we thought it would be really good to have an
Speaker 1: Olympic athlete on who can talk about the Olympic experience
Speaker 1: well at a safe distance from it.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So interviewing the athletes when they're about to leave or
Speaker 1: when they're about to compete means they're in this very
Speaker 1: specific and particular mindset, and we wanted some perspective that's
Speaker 1: not clouded by training or nerves or expectations or all
Speaker 1: of the stuff that comes with trying to just get
Speaker 1: through one of the biggest moments of your life. So
Speaker 1: you're in your off season technically, so we're getting you
Speaker 1: at a good time to talk about the Olympics. And
Speaker 1: I want to start with the basics, like, what do
Speaker 1: you think the number one thing is that fans at
Speaker 1: home don't understand about the Olympics.
Speaker 5: I think this will be dependent on your sport, but
Speaker 5: for most of us, you wait for four years for
Speaker 5: the world to watch what you're doing. But you haven't stopped.
Speaker 5: You haven't been frozen in time from one Olympics to
Speaker 5: the next. So you're still training, you're still competing all
Speaker 5: winter long, and once every four years your country just
Speaker 5: goes ballistic and everybody's watching and all the pressure of
Speaker 5: the world is heaped on you. And so like we
Speaker 5: raised I raised thirty something times every single season on
Speaker 5: the World Cup circuit. We have World Championships, but in
Speaker 5: the US it's like the Olympics or nothing. And so
Speaker 5: the amount of pressure and lights and attention and eyes
Speaker 5: that are on you for this one moment every four years,
Speaker 5: it is extremely hard to perform under that. And when
Speaker 5: you can pull it together and perform in the one
Speaker 5: moment it matters, it will actually change your life. And
Speaker 5: so it is I mean, and it's not an exaggeration
Speaker 5: to say that it's life changing pressure that you're carrying
Speaker 5: on your shoulders, and you have to be able to
Speaker 5: relax and do what you do underneath that, and so
Speaker 5: I think that's just something that it's hard to describe
Speaker 5: that kind of feeling unless you've been through it. And
Speaker 5: I think it definitely changes games to games as well.
Speaker 5: So my first Olympics in twenty fourteen, I was there.
Speaker 5: I was the baby of the team, and I kind
Speaker 5: of knew in my sport, you will probably if you
Speaker 5: continue to train hard, have multiple Olympics. So for me,
Speaker 5: I was there to gain experience. Now, if you're a
Speaker 5: young gymnast, you might be eighteen twenty, really really young,
Speaker 5: but that may be your one chance and you are
Speaker 5: expected to perform in that moment. So I think it's
Speaker 5: also really interesting sport to sport.
Speaker 1: I think it changes, well, it's not just performing in
Speaker 1: that moment to change your life, but that's also when
Speaker 1: all the interview requests come in, all the sponsors, so
Speaker 1: like you're managing the busiest time of your life at
Speaker 1: the time when anyone else would say, I'm going to
Speaker 1: put those aside for a couple of months and come
Speaker 1: back to them once the work is done, but no,
Speaker 1: it all has to happen at once. Sports are about
Speaker 1: muscle memory, preparation, training, doing everything you can before the
Speaker 1: actual events so that when you get there you could
Speaker 1: just focus on performance. How hard is that to do
Speaker 1: at the Olympics, Like, how different is it competing there
Speaker 1: versus every other competition.
Speaker 5: I think in some ways it's no different, right, It's
Speaker 5: just another race. You do your same warm up, you
Speaker 5: do your same process of ski selection and wax testing
Speaker 5: and all of that. It's all the same thing, and
Speaker 5: then you find comfort in that routine, right, Like I'm
Speaker 5: doing this thing that I always do. I've done this
Speaker 5: since high school. Like I put my skis on one
Speaker 5: at a time, like I've always done it this way.
Speaker 5: Nothing is different just because I'm wearing a bib that
Speaker 5: has the Olympic rings across the chest, which is terrifying.
Speaker 5: But in many ways, there are a lot of different things,
Speaker 5: Like you said, the media attention that asks the hype.
Speaker 5: All of a sudden, you know, you go from feeling like, ah,
Speaker 5: nobody is really watching to like, wow, there's multiple cameras
Speaker 5: focused on me at once at all moments, and that
Speaker 5: that does change when you suddenly feel the eyes on you.
Speaker 5: And I think a lot of it is simply focusing
Speaker 5: on what you can control and trying to not block
Speaker 5: out the noise. And this is something that we've talked
Speaker 5: about in the sports psychology realm. Like if I tell
Speaker 5: you do not think about an apple, no circumstances, think
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 2: Thank you, it was red, it looked delicious, think about it.
Speaker 5: But if I say, go ahead, think about an apple,
Speaker 5: but still ask me your interview questions, you can do both.
Speaker 5: But if you're so focused on trying to block this out, no,
Speaker 5: I'm not thinking about it. I'm not seeing it. It's
Speaker 5: not there. That's so much energy going towards blocking out
Speaker 5: that noise that you don't want. And so I think
Speaker 5: we've shifted the model to yes, there's a lot of lights. Yes,
Speaker 5: there's a lot of pressure. Of course, there's a million
Speaker 5: cameras and there's a lot of interviews. There's a lot
Speaker 5: going on, and I can still focus.
Speaker 6: I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2: It's just like it's just like meditation.
Speaker 1: They'll always say, if you get a thought, don't try
Speaker 1: to push it out, just let it float.
Speaker 2: By like a cloud. You see it, but it's not
Speaker 2: for now, and you let it float away.
Speaker 1: I love that's such a good perspective for literally anything,
Speaker 1: not just competing in the Olympics, like I love that.
Speaker 1: What is it like watching the Olympics versus competing in them?
Speaker 1: Because I lose my mind, I cry, I tense up
Speaker 1: my hands. I realize that my body hasn't moved from
Speaker 1: like a position for like thirty minutes because I'm nervous.
Speaker 1: And that's just watching like you're actually able to empathize
Speaker 1: so much better with what they're going through.
Speaker 2: So how does it feel watching? Oh?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 5: I mean I was in tears watching both gymnastics schemes,
Speaker 5: the women's and the men's, and seeing especially seeing how
Speaker 5: hype the men were for each other, just this genuine
Speaker 5: life jumping up and down and the amount of pressure on.
Speaker 5: I almost called him Clark Kent because of the class
Speaker 5: under pressure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, our last guy to Stephen Kornaky look alike. He's
Speaker 1: getting a lot of comparisons Clark Kent, Stephen Kornaky, It's
Speaker 1: getting a.
Speaker 5: Lot of them. Yeah, I mean, I love it. But
Speaker 5: like thinking about that, it was funny because I was
Speaker 5: talking to my husband and I was recapping the whole
Speaker 5: thing because he couldn't watch while he was at work,
Speaker 5: and I was telling him, like man like Steven had
Speaker 5: to sit there and wait and no, like I've been
Speaker 5: brought here to do one thing. I'm the last guy
Speaker 5: to go, and my team is counting on me. My
Speaker 5: whole country's watching, the whole world is watching, and I
Speaker 5: have to perform in the one moment it matters. And
Speaker 5: then he did it, and it brought me to tears,
Speaker 5: Like I was jumping up and down on the couch.
Speaker 5: And it was funny because Wade was like, well, you
Speaker 5: had to do that too in twenty eighteen, like you
Speaker 5: were anchoring the team. It was the one moment it mattered.
Speaker 5: The whole country was watching it, and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 5: but it's not the same. He was like, yeah, it
Speaker 5: is the same. But like, when you're watching it, it
Speaker 5: feels like, how in the world do they do that?
Speaker 5: How is this possible? How can they make this happen?
Speaker 5: How do they pull this off? That kind of pressure
Speaker 5: must be crushing. But then when you're in the moment,
Speaker 5: when I made myself be like, oh, he's right, Like
Speaker 5: I thought back to when that was me having to
Speaker 5: perform under that kind of pressure. I wasn't thinking about
Speaker 5: the pressure. I wasn't thinking about metals, was not thinking
Speaker 5: about results. All I was thinking about is my process.
Speaker 5: How do I ski as fast as possible? And I
Speaker 5: think if I had stopped to think about, oh my god,
Speaker 5: my teammates hopes and dreams from her entire career on
Speaker 5: the line here, I probably would have cracked. But that's
Speaker 5: why I was just focused on how do I ski? Like,
Speaker 5: what technique cues? How do I do this? And so
Speaker 5: I think being incredibly processed, focused and only thinking about
Speaker 5: things that are within your control is so so helpful.
Speaker 5: And like you said, it's for life, not just for
Speaker 5: the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you mentioned control though, and I think that's
Speaker 1: part of it too, is like, as the athlete, we've
Speaker 1: been in those positions and all you're thinking about is
Speaker 1: I'm in control of what I'm doing now, and what
Speaker 1: can I control? It's do I do all the things
Speaker 1: I've prepared correctly? Do I put my best effort forward?
Speaker 1: And then as an athlete, you know, sometimes that means
Speaker 1: you win it, sometimes.
Speaker 2: It means you don't.
Speaker 1: When you're watching zero control, zero control over anything, you
Speaker 1: can't do anything but watch and hope, and that feels
Speaker 1: so much more tenuous than when you have the power
Speaker 1: to do it. Even though people who aren't athletes would
Speaker 1: be like, that's crazy. The pressure's on you, but you're
Speaker 1: not thinking about it. You're like, here's what I do,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. I also love
Speaker 1: what you said about the emotions that the male gymnast
Speaker 1: had for each other.
Speaker 2: There's a great episode of Welcome to Wrexam.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you watch it, but they get
Speaker 1: into detail about how sports are one of the few
Speaker 1: places where men are allowed to feel all of the emotions.
Speaker 1: We let them cry, we let them hug each other,
Speaker 1: we let them support each other, we let them butt
Speaker 1: slap each other without being weird about it. We let
Speaker 1: them like support and be angry and be sad and
Speaker 1: be defiant and be supportive. Like, it's just really cool
Speaker 1: when we think about the ways that we do limit
Speaker 1: men in ways that we'd often talk about with women
Speaker 1: but don't with men, and how sports is a space
Speaker 1: that we can stop doing that, which I just when
Speaker 1: I was watching that gymnastics team, I was thinking the
Speaker 1: same thing, which is so cool.
Speaker 5: On that note, I have a question for you. Do
Speaker 5: you think we allow women to experience the full range
Speaker 5: of emotions in sport?
Speaker 1: Well, I think it depends on who's watching, right I
Speaker 1: was thinking about that with Mikayla.
Speaker 2: Maroney and how she went like viral for being.
Speaker 1: Disappointed in her medal and making a squirmy, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of smirky face, and how when men are disappointed,
Speaker 1: we're like, he's so competitive, he'll settle for nothing but
Speaker 1: the best, and when women do it, we're like, she
Speaker 1: should be grateful that she got a medal, She should smile,
Speaker 1: You should smile more so. I mean, I think there's
Speaker 1: a range of dumb shits and cool people who will
Speaker 1: let any kind of person male, female, non binary be
Speaker 1: the full expression of themselves, and then there.
Speaker 2: Are people who are going to be assholes either way.
Speaker 1: But I do think at least we're really trying to
Speaker 1: acknowledge how we do that to women in ways that
Speaker 1: have changed society, and we're not quite there, I think
Speaker 1: in talking about allowing men to feel those things in
Speaker 1: ways that you know aren't restrictive.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because that it just it made me think a lot,
Speaker 5: like we don't allow men to cry normally, and in
Speaker 5: sport it is okay.
Speaker 2: Even fans don't allow.
Speaker 5: Women to be aggressive competitive, and in sport it's sometimes okay, yeah,
Speaker 5: but not always. And I think it's just fascinating. I
Speaker 5: think we have a long way to go in both ye,
Speaker 5: in both sides of the equation, like greed to allow
Speaker 5: people to express their full like range of emotions, and
Speaker 5: sports should be a safe place to do that. And
Speaker 5: I think we can still work on that.
Speaker 2: And so I think absolutely on both sides.
Speaker 5: On both sides, and that's something that the Olympics can
Speaker 5: help with.
Speaker 2: Agreed, because we're all watching it together.
Speaker 1: In your experience at the Olympics, how much do the
Speaker 1: athletes talk to each other either comparing their experience in
Speaker 1: terms of like demands of the sport or timing of
Speaker 1: their events, Like, oh, man, you get to go first
Speaker 1: week and then spend the rest of the time partying,
Speaker 1: Or oh, my events last and I have lots of
Speaker 1: time to like get settled and prepare and get on
Speaker 1: the time schedule. Or you got to walk in the
Speaker 1: opening ceremony, Oh I didn't because my event was at
Speaker 1: the same time.
Speaker 2: Like how much is that sort of like comparing, I.
Speaker 5: Mean, to some degree, there's I mean for me anyway,
Speaker 5: I can't talk for anyone else, but our sport is
Speaker 5: very interesting because we compete the very first day and
Speaker 5: the very last day and many days in between. Right,
Speaker 5: So we have six different events, everything from a sprint
Speaker 5: to a marathon, and the marathon's last and the scathons first,
Speaker 5: and so for us a lot of it it's like
Speaker 5: maybe you don't get to go in opening ceremonies if
Speaker 5: you race and compete the next day, and that's for
Speaker 5: a lot of athletes. So you know, like I'm not
Speaker 5: the only one in this boat. I'm not the only person.
Speaker 5: So in that way it's helpful to compare, like I'm
Speaker 5: not the only one going through this. Like, yes, I
Speaker 5: would love always march and opening ceremonies. It is the
Speaker 5: experience of a lifetime. And I'm glad i went when
Speaker 5: I was young and I could because I probably won't
Speaker 5: be able to do this next Games. But I'm not
Speaker 5: going to be the only one. And at the same time,
Speaker 5: you also see athletes being able to go to all
Speaker 5: these different events and cheer, and I just felt happy
Speaker 5: that they were able to do that. On the one hand,
Speaker 5: I felt so lucky that I was able to compete
Speaker 5: in so many events. What an absolute gift. And of
Speaker 5: course this little part of me is like I would
Speaker 5: love to someday experience the Olympics when I'm not happy
Speaker 5: to focus every single second of every single day for
Speaker 5: three weeks straight. But I'll get there.
Speaker 2: Someday.
Speaker 5: I'll go as a spectator and I will experience it
Speaker 5: to my heart's content, and I'll go to every event
Speaker 5: and cheer for everyone. And I can have that experience later,
Speaker 5: but right now, I have to lock it in, and
Speaker 5: I have to lock it in for three weeks straight,
Speaker 5: and so I think a lot of it. Instead of comparing,
Speaker 5: it's more like, this is just what I.
Speaker 2: Have to do. Yeah, just the reality of it.
Speaker 1: I do love, though, Like your dream is to go
Speaker 1: to the Olympics as a spectator, it's a lot easier
Speaker 1: to do than what you're doing, which most of us
Speaker 1: will dream of and never get to do. You know,
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about the post Olympic letdown
Speaker 1: because for people, even when they win, even gold medalists,
Speaker 1: will say that they have this feeling after the Olympics
Speaker 1: that they can't shake. And for those who are, of
Speaker 1: course seconds off of the podium or don't achieve the
Speaker 1: things they want, that's more understandable.
Speaker 2: It's still heartbreaking, but understandable.
Speaker 1: But can you explain to us the psychology or help
Speaker 1: us try to understand why even those who achieve their
Speaker 1: dream and win it all still sometimes have that feeling.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, so even when I was a little kid.
Speaker 5: You remember, like when you're a little kid and you
Speaker 5: go to you like, your best friend's birthday party and
Speaker 5: it's a sleepover, and you get really excited and you've
Speaker 5: been looking forward to this, and you stay all night
Speaker 5: and you're totally jazzed and you're like hyped up on sugar,
Speaker 5: and you come home and the next day just kind
Speaker 5: of sucks because you're not with all your friends and
Speaker 5: you're not doing this cool thing, and the thing that
Speaker 5: you've been looking forward to is over. Like my mom
Speaker 5: used to call that the post party blues.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well a lot of people say it for their wedding,
Speaker 1: and I had it with my wedding. You spend a
Speaker 1: year planning and it's so awesome, but then it's over
Speaker 1: and you're like instead of like, oh, wedded bliss, you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: but that's it.
Speaker 2: I don't get to do that again. Probably if you're lucky.
Speaker 5: And whether or not it was the you know, your wedding,
Speaker 5: best of your life, amazing, everything goes perfectly. You still
Speaker 5: have this letdown of like, oh, man, like I just
Speaker 5: got to have all of my loved ones right here
Speaker 5: and everyone's celebrating and have the best time, and like
Speaker 5: now it's over. That's that's challenging. And so imagine you're
Speaker 5: not just you plan a wedding for a year, maybe
Speaker 5: two years, but imagine that you have trained four or
Speaker 5: more years for one thing, one event, one experience, one Olympics.
Speaker 5: So it's not just oh, I've been looking forward to
Speaker 5: this for weeks or I've been training my whole life
Speaker 5: to get to this moment, and there's all this hype
Speaker 5: and all this pressure in the world is watching and
Speaker 5: then it's just like boom, over, gone, done, and there's
Speaker 5: this vacuum. And so in many ways, I think we're
Speaker 5: very lucky in cross country skiing because we have a
Speaker 5: normal World Cup season that we return to and finish up,
Speaker 5: so we have a little bit of this this kind
Speaker 5: of ramp downwards. It's not just falling off a cliff.
Speaker 5: You kind of had this gentle come down of like, Okay,
Speaker 5: in many ways that's very challenging because you're pretty burnt out.
Speaker 5: But in many ways it's awesome because you're like all right,
Speaker 5: I'm going to go back to the World Cup.
Speaker 1: It's another goal, it's another thing to focus on, because
Speaker 1: that's part of it too, I think, is like you
Speaker 1: have something to focus on and work towards, and when
Speaker 1: that's gone, it's like, well, what's.
Speaker 2: My purpose now?
Speaker 1: And I've even heard athletes say, like if I spent
Speaker 1: my whole life, I thought when I won the gold
Speaker 1: it would change me or get rid of my problems.
Speaker 1: And what I realized was being a gold medalist doesn't
Speaker 1: change the other things in my life that I want
Speaker 1: to fix or work on. I've heard a lot of
Speaker 1: athletes talk about that, and so, yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1: I get that letdown is tough. We only have a
Speaker 1: few more minutes, So let's do a quick speed round.
Speaker 1: Favorite Olympic memory from competing.
Speaker 5: Oh, I mean, I have to say winning the gold medal, I.
Speaker 1: Mean decent, it sounds decent. Yeah, yeah, Favorite Olympic memory
Speaker 1: watching Oh.
Speaker 5: Oh man, there's a lot I gotta say. I think
Speaker 5: just being ready to go on deck for the relay,
Speaker 5: but watching my teammates, so seeing everyone put their heart
Speaker 5: and soul into it, and just knowing like I'm a
Speaker 5: part of this, Like I trained with them. I helped
Speaker 5: push them and look at them go like I felt
Speaker 5: the cool other duckling like watching.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: Okay, you have to.
Speaker 1: Start training today to try to compete in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty eight Summer Olympics. What sport do you have the
Speaker 1: best shot at making it in?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, realistically? Like, is very long distance trail
Speaker 5: running a thing? Yet in the summer case, No, I
Speaker 5: don't believe.
Speaker 2: So you gotta go marathons, you gotta go. I'm not
Speaker 2: five thousand meters.
Speaker 5: Not the faster runner. I guess I would say swimming.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right?
Speaker 1: And then last question, we've seen a lot of athletes
Speaker 1: pin trading. Are there any other traditions that are common
Speaker 1: for the athletes at the games or like things that
Speaker 1: we don't see behind the scene that would be like
Speaker 1: heartwarming about what the athletes do to like memorialize their
Speaker 1: experience or commemorate I guess not memorialized.
Speaker 2: It's not dead.
Speaker 5: The pin trading is so real and they're actually like
Speaker 5: a currency. People don't know this. You miss a bus,
Speaker 5: you need to ride, give a volunteer a pin, you'll
Speaker 5: get there. I'm just saying, like pins are like.
Speaker 2: A prison, like you want them.
Speaker 5: But I think one of the things is how people
Speaker 5: decorate their rooms, because the rooms are usually pretty bland
Speaker 5: because they're going to renovate and sell them with condos
Speaker 5: later or something. Right, So I always get pictures of
Speaker 5: friends and family and have a bunch of cards and
Speaker 5: posters that you know, like my high school cross country
Speaker 5: ski team would sign this giant poster and I would
Speaker 5: bring it to the games and with all these signatures
Speaker 5: of all these kids, and it would be right above
Speaker 5: my bed. So you remember who you're racing for and
Speaker 5: why you've worked so hard. And so I think one
Speaker 5: of the really heartwarming things that you don't see is
Speaker 5: the little things like that, like how athletes like take
Speaker 5: their friends and family with them into the games.
Speaker 4: Ah.
Speaker 1: I love that, Jesse. This was such incredible perspective. We
Speaker 1: can't wait to watch you compete again. Good Luck on
Speaker 1: the training, good luck on your next season, and thanks
Speaker 1: so much for spending some time with us.
Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much to Jesse Diggins for taking the time.
Speaker 2: We got to take another break. When we return, will
Speaker 2: reveal your brand new name. Welcome back, friends.
Speaker 1: I know we've been stringing you along, never calling you
Speaker 1: by your name, like that friend of a friend that's
Speaker 1: always around but she never really caught their names. You
Speaker 1: just say, oh, hey, my guy, we're sup girl, or
Speaker 1: beg your significant other to just casually introduce themselves in
Speaker 1: front of you so you can be reminded.
Speaker 2: So you deserve better, we should call you by your name.
Speaker 1: We just have to decide on it, and we've been
Speaker 1: taking our sweet ass time, But we did ask you
Speaker 1: to vote from some finalists, and I think today's the day.
Speaker 2: Here's what we gave you to vote on.
Speaker 1: Good Game Nation GGN for short breakers as in glass
Speaker 1: ceiling breakers and game breakers, the Spanish Armada shout out
Speaker 1: the goonies, and then I could just yell, hey you
Speaker 1: guys at the beginning of every show, okay, decides that's
Speaker 1: a good thing or not. And slices as in the
Speaker 1: orange slices you get after a good game. There was
Speaker 1: a good writing vote too, from at the legend of
Speaker 1: Vinnie t. He said the handshake line, which I kind
Speaker 1: of think is cute, Like I'd call y'all the shakes
Speaker 1: for short shakes and slices.
Speaker 2: You could tell I like things with a nice little
Speaker 2: ring to them.
Speaker 1: Okay, you guys did not make this easy because there
Speaker 1: was no runaway winner from the voting. Based on my
Speaker 1: best attempt to count up all the votes from email
Speaker 1: and Twitter and Instagram, Good Game Nation, Spanish Armada, and
Speaker 1: Slices were pretty much all neck and neck Breakers only
Speaker 1: got a few votes, So I guess it comes down
Speaker 1: to us because we still got to vote, Mesh, of
Speaker 1: those three, who you got?
Speaker 5: It was tough.
Speaker 2: It was tough. Thank you for all submissions, But I
Speaker 2: gotta go slices, y'all, everything good comes in slices. Why
Speaker 2: not pizza, pie, oranges?
Speaker 4: Fruit?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 2: All that gotta be slices for me?
Speaker 7: Love that Alex going with slices, boss Boss, Okay, I
Speaker 7: like it.
Speaker 1: I guess all that's left then is my vote. I
Speaker 1: like Spanish Armada. It's very clever, but I wanted the
Speaker 1: name to be about the show and not me. And also,
Speaker 1: what's up Armada? Happy Tuesday just doesn't really roll off
Speaker 1: the tongue. And then Good Game Nation is cute, but
Speaker 1: if I shorten it to nation, it sounds like almost
Speaker 1: political or like a little too severe, and Good Game
Speaker 1: Nation is very long, and y'all know I like slices,
Speaker 1: So I think you know where this is going, don't you,
Speaker 1: my little slices. I have to say that I'm happy
Speaker 1: about this because the votes were close enough that we
Speaker 1: could just give it a little nudge in the direction
Speaker 1: that I wanted. But I know there are way more
Speaker 1: of you listening than voted on this, So just you know,
Speaker 1: make sure you're registered to vote in elections that matter,
Speaker 1: Like if you don't want to be little Slices for life,
Speaker 1: make sure you're making your voice heard, because I know
Speaker 1: that on our show in four years we will let
Speaker 1: you vote again. I can't necessarily say the same for
Speaker 1: who wins in November, so we'll leave it at that,
Speaker 1: my little slices. We also asked you for an updated
Speaker 1: version of bulletin board material for female athletes, and no
Speaker 1: one topped Pinterest eating good for straight up humor's sake.
Speaker 1: But I did like at Aaron Woodard's response for modern Times,
Speaker 1: he said screenshot material, which feels like, basically, sooner rather
Speaker 1: than later, we will be saying that, like who owns
Speaker 1: a bulletin board anymore?
Speaker 2: These days?
Speaker 1: I feel like screenshot material is just going to become
Speaker 1: the thing that we say, so thanks for that, Aarin.
Speaker 1: We also asked you for your favorite Olympic memories from
Speaker 1: growing up, and you guys delivered. We got some extraordinary
Speaker 1: folks listening to a good game. That's what I learned
Speaker 1: from listening to these. Here were a couple that we
Speaker 1: really like. Check out this one from Elizabeth.
Speaker 6: Hi.
Speaker 7: This is Elizabeth from Chicago, and I'm calling regarding the
Speaker 7: special Olympics moment. The Atlanta US women's soccer team and
Speaker 7: then subsequently the ninety nine ers are by far my
Speaker 7: favorite Olympic moment because it totally inspired me to pursue sports.
Speaker 7: I ended up going and playing with the US national
Speaker 7: women's tackle football team, winning a world championship, and although
Speaker 7: that sport is not an Olympic sport, I am so
Speaker 7: inspired with these games and the excitement for the LA
Speaker 7: twenty twenty eight games and flag football, the coming an
Speaker 7: Olympic sport and seeing the opportunity for athletes that have
Speaker 7: not had that chance. So keep the podcast coming, love
Speaker 7: it a lot, can't wait for the merch to drop.
Speaker 7: Have a good one.
Speaker 1: I love that, Elizabeth, and I want you to know
Speaker 1: that my sister Katie played women's professional tackle football for
Speaker 1: two seasons with the Philadelphia Lady Bells, So shout out
Speaker 1: to my siss. My parents weren't big fans of her
Speaker 1: after college and after tearing up her body and every
Speaker 1: other sport, being like, I think I'm also going to
Speaker 1: play tackle football, but she loved it. She did not
Speaker 1: go to the US national women's tackle football team. That
Speaker 1: is very impressive. So congrats to you, Elizabeth. We love
Speaker 1: that that kind of amazing moment in your life got
Speaker 1: inspired by watching the Olympics. We also love Kelsey, who
Speaker 1: back when she was growing up, was making sure she
Speaker 1: set her teacher straight.
Speaker 6: Hi, Sarah, this is Kelsey calling from Alexandria, Virginia. Love
Speaker 6: the podcast. I remember watching Olympics in two thousand and
Speaker 6: eight in my little red, white and blue le had
Speaker 6: heard so well. I just you remember when I went
Speaker 6: back to school that fall, my second grade teacher was
Speaker 6: asking a spout, you know our favorite moments in the summer,
Speaker 6: and I told him was watching Sean Johnson win gold
Speaker 6: on bean and he was like, is that a boy?
Speaker 6: Who is that? And I was so shocked to set like,
Speaker 6: how could you not know who she was? I had
Speaker 6: a poster her on my wall probably for years. I
Speaker 6: did gymnastics for a while and yeah, just just straight
Speaker 6: Olympic memories. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: That's the Sean Johnson to you, teacher. Thank you, Kelsey,
Speaker 1: Thanks to everyone who called in. We love that you're listening,
Speaker 1: but we love it even more when you get in
Speaker 1: the game every day. So here's our good game play
Speaker 1: of the day. Tomorrow's show is going to be an
Speaker 1: awesome one featuring the host of the incredible podcast tested
Speaker 1: Rose Evelyith. Now you don't need to listen to the
Speaker 1: whole podcast before tomorrow's interview. We'll make sure you know
Speaker 1: everything you need, but do go give it a follow
Speaker 1: right now and make some time for it in the
Speaker 1: next couple of days. It's fantastic, so looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: We love to hear from you, so you can always
Speaker 1: hit us up on email at good Game at wondermedianetwork
Speaker 1: dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
Speaker 1: two two o four fifty seventy and don't.
Speaker 2: Forget to subscribe, Rate and review. It's easy.
Speaker 1: Watch pre cut Pineapple rating five out of five stars.
Speaker 1: Review Pineapple is the best fruit that exists.
Speaker 2: Don't at me.
Speaker 1: It's true, but also right alongside unmanageable mangos and uncrackable coconuts.
Speaker 1: It's also one of the toughest to cut, so getting
Speaker 1: someone else to cut it up for you is completely
Speaker 1: worth the cost, and even better when it's your husband
Speaker 1: cutting up your pineapple for free. Can you tell what
Speaker 1: I had for dessert tonight? Okay, your turn? Subscribe, rate
Speaker 1: and review. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good Game, Jesse,
Speaker 1: Good Game, Dominika You Taliban Duh. Good Game with Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep
Speaker 1: Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your production
Speaker 1: by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzi and
Speaker 1: Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
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