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Speaker 1: On this special episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly. Father's Day

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Speaker 1: is nearly upon us, and so we thought we'd bring

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Speaker 1: in one of our favorite dats. Pat forty has appeared

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Speaker 1: on this show many times, and he's written countless more

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Speaker 1: pieces for Sports Illustrating. He's also covered nine Olympics, but

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Speaker 1: the summer games in Tokyo were something entirely different because

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Speaker 1: Pat got to watch his daughter Brooke went a silver

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Speaker 1: medal in swimming. So on this episode, Pat reads his

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Speaker 1: essay about that experience and the daddy daughter bond. It's Friday,

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Speaker 1: June eighteen. I'm your host John Gonzaltz from Sports Illustrated

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Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. This

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Speaker 1: was the second time this summer that the phrase little

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Speaker 1: moments made me realize they actually are the big moments.

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Speaker 1: Specific to this story, Brooks Olympic experience sits at the

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Speaker 1: top of an athletic pyramid built upon little moments. Now

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Speaker 1: this all of this, a place on Team USA, an

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Speaker 1: anchor spot for the eight freestyle relay preliminaries, a silver medal.

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Speaker 1: All of a sudden, the little brown eyed girl who

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Speaker 1: used to sit I'm gonna cry reading this. I haven't

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Speaker 1: read this in a long time. All right, get it together,

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Speaker 1: eyes closed inhale, exhale, gratitude activated. I was about to

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Speaker 1: watch my daughter swim. The Olympics headline I've for nine Olympics.

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Speaker 1: Nothing prepared me for seeing my daughter win a medal

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Speaker 1: is pat forty in here. I was, indeed there, there

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Speaker 1: being the Tokyo Aquatics Center, specifically the final press conference

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Speaker 1: of the Olympic swimming competition. Caleb Dressel was the speaker

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Speaker 1: who asked the question. I was in the media contingent,

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Speaker 1: preparing to write a story about him. I was not

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Speaker 1: prepared to be called out from the dais so and

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Speaker 1: it goes Caleb dressle up there in lane one in

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Speaker 1: the eighth for dress and three American teammates had won

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Speaker 1: the men's metally relay and spectacular fashion, setting a world

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Speaker 1: record from an outside lane and keeping intact the United

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Speaker 1: States streak of never losing that event in the Olympics

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Speaker 1: and from lane one this time the US This dicta

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Speaker 1: for t looker gold medal. It was the perfect way

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Speaker 1: to end a week of wild ups and a few

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Speaker 1: downs for the Americans. It was Dressel's fifth gold medal,

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Speaker 1: finalizing his statue is the biggest global star in his sport,

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Speaker 1: and in response to a question about team bonding, Dretzel

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Speaker 1: had an anecdote to share that he wanted me to hear,

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Speaker 1: bringing the sweetly surreal duality of my media slash parent

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Speaker 1: role here to its conclusion. His anecdote involved my daughter,

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Speaker 1: Brooke Dressel's US swimming teammate, and a failed strategy. Dressel explained, we,

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Speaker 1: being some of the male swimmers, taught some of the

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Speaker 1: girls on the team how to play poker. This is

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Speaker 1: one of my highlights and shows some of the uniqueness

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Speaker 1: of USA swimming. We were I guess the coaches and

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Speaker 1: I've got to come clean. I had Brooke go in

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Speaker 1: on King six, which is my favorite hand, and I said, hey,

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Speaker 1: shove all in and she busted, so I apologize. Moment

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Speaker 1: like that, it's so much fun, and they all clapped

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Speaker 1: for each other on every hand. It's the craziest thing.

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Speaker 1: But moments like that and moments at training camp are

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Speaker 1: where we become Team USA. The stupid little moments. It's

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Speaker 1: not the big moments that are caught on camera. It's

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Speaker 1: the moments you don't see. This was the second time

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Speaker 1: this summer that the phrase little moments made me realize

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Speaker 1: they actually are the big moments. At the end of June,

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Speaker 1: my friend Scott Van Pelt from ESPN texted me a

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Speaker 1: picture of his young daughters swim me quote road game,

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Speaker 1: nervous won her heat. She was beaming, just enjoying the

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Speaker 1: little moments end quote. No such thing, s VP. The

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Speaker 1: little moments are the DNA of everything profound, every great relationship,

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Speaker 1: every great accomplishment, everything that lasts and matters and lingers

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Speaker 1: in our memories as we age. Specific to this story,

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Speaker 1: Brooks Olympic experience sits at the top of an athletic

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Speaker 1: pyramid built upon little moments. The neighborhood pool races were

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Speaker 1: winning the heat ribbon was a triumph, the jump up

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Speaker 1: with her older brothers Mitchell and Clayton, two year round swimming,

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Speaker 1: and the excitement of overnight trips from home in Louisville

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Speaker 1: to exotic locations like Indianapolis and Nashville. The advancement to

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Speaker 1: two to day practices and four twenty am wake up

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Speaker 1: calls where breakfast with teammates was the reward before heading

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Speaker 1: off to school. Earning a Black national team cap as

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Speaker 1: a member of the Lakeside Seahawks club team, a true

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Speaker 1: stamp of arrival. Then the bigger meats all over the country,

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Speaker 1: and eventually the chance to represent the United States internationally

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Speaker 1: in Singapore, Europe, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea.

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Speaker 1: The scholarship to Stanford, and the unmatched fun and camaraderie

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Speaker 1: of a college team environment. All of the doubt and

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Speaker 1: stress that went into the sixteen month final leg to

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Speaker 1: make the Olympic team, which melted away in an unforgettable

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Speaker 1: experience in Omaha in June. Now this, all of this,

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Speaker 1: a place on Team USA, an anchor spot for the

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Speaker 1: freestyle relay preliminaries, a silver medal. All of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: the little brown eyed girl who used to sit on

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Speaker 1: my lap in the stands at age group meets is

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Speaker 1: taking pictures with Kevin Durant and playing poker with Caleb Dressel.

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Speaker 1: Despite busting that Kings six hand, Brooke gave the mail

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Speaker 1: Star of these Olympics credit for being a good poker coach.

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Speaker 1: She said she went on to win more than she

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Speaker 1: lost in matches with her teammates. No money changed hands,

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Speaker 1: though in one game there were nuts used as currency

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Speaker 1: cash us almonds and Macadamius. As Brooke reached the top

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Speaker 1: of the pyramid, the reflections on all the building that

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Speaker 1: got her to this point kept coming. For me, the

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Speaker 1: overwhelming realization that this was actually happening. We are in

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Speaker 1: Tokyo for the Olympics, and I'm just about the only

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Speaker 1: non coach parent on the planet with this opera tunity

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Speaker 1: had to be processed in increments. One of the things

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Speaker 1: I've often used with Brooke when she felt like she

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Speaker 1: was facing an impossible task academically or athletically was this,

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Speaker 1: how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time.

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Speaker 1: So it was for me seeing something dreamed about for

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Speaker 1: so many years take tangible shape in front of me.

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Speaker 1: Pictures from the Olympic village. Wow, this is real, The

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Speaker 1: side of her on the Olympic pool deck. Are you

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Speaker 1: kidding me? That's really my kid. We are acquaintances with

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Speaker 1: the parents of Will Smith, the Los Angeles Dodgers catcher

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Speaker 1: and a Louisville homeboy and his mom articulated it well.

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Speaker 1: When we saw her over Fourth of July weekend, she said,

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Speaker 1: I still don't believe it. I'll be driving on the

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Speaker 1: Waterston expressly, and suddenly it hits me, will won the

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Speaker 1: World Series. This is my ninth Olympics, so I know

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Speaker 1: what they're supposed to look and feel like. It's not

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Speaker 1: this with quiet venues and limited movement and much extreme

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Speaker 1: caution when it comes to human interaction. I felt bad

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Speaker 1: for what the athletes were missing. The fellowship with their

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Speaker 1: peers from around the world, the immersion in a melting

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Speaker 1: pot of cultures and sports, the feeling of all being

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Speaker 1: in this extraordinary event of a lifetime together. Despite what

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Speaker 1: was not present, there was no squelching the athletes excitement

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Speaker 1: that was palpable from the opening ceremony onward after coming

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Speaker 1: so close to not having these games happened. Every athlete

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Speaker 1: was so happy to be here and acutely appreciative of

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Speaker 1: the opportunity. My situation was more complicated the child on

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Speaker 1: the team and friendships with many of the athletes and

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Speaker 1: their parents. I would have loved to slip into team

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Speaker 1: dad role, but the lockdown prohibited that, so there would

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Speaker 1: be no orange slices or juice spotses or food deliveries

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Speaker 1: from me to them. Also had to work roughly twelve

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Speaker 1: to sixteen hours a day, factoring in bus time to

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Speaker 1: and from the Tokyo Aquatic Center. Most awkward of all,

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Speaker 1: I had to attempt to objectively and at times critically

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Speaker 1: cover the US swimmers and their coaches while trying not

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Speaker 1: to put my daughter in a difficult position. This was

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Speaker 1: by far the best assignment of my life. It was

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Speaker 1: also by far the strangest assignment of my life. The

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Speaker 1: day before they lit the torch, I got my first

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Speaker 1: chance to see Broke in person. I was at the

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Speaker 1: aquatic venue for a media session with the US coaches.

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Speaker 1: She was there for practice. We got five to ten

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Speaker 1: minutes to talk in the back hallway. I wanted to

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Speaker 1: hug her, of course, but safe social distancing had been

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Speaker 1: the team mantra for a month. Don't mess it up

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Speaker 1: now on the cusp of the Games. At least, I

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Speaker 1: was there in her presence for the first time since

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Speaker 1: Omaha for Olympic Trials in mid June. I had empathy

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Speaker 1: for all the athlete parents who couldn't get closer than

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Speaker 1: face time to their children. She looked great, sounded upbeat,

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Speaker 1: all systems go for her events six days away. When

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Speaker 1: the competition began on July, you could see how fired

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Speaker 1: up the American team was to swim. They were easily

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Speaker 1: the loudest cheering team in the venue. From my vantage

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Speaker 1: point in the Press Tribune on the other side of

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Speaker 1: the pool, it was a joy to see Brooke as

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Speaker 1: engaged as anyone in the U S team section. Americans

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Speaker 1: storming to six medals on the first full day of

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Speaker 1: swimming may have happened without that team spirit, but I'd

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Speaker 1: like to think there was some correlation. Three days out

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Speaker 1: from her event, there was a hiccup, because there's always

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Speaker 1: as a hiccup with this child. She swam a time

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Speaker 1: trial for her coach, Gregg Mean, and her time was

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Speaker 1: very slow, well off what she recorded in Almaha to

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Speaker 1: make the team. Being the relay anchor created some stress.

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Speaker 1: Now this added to it. Despite the knowledge that the

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Speaker 1: U S team did not have to be spectacular to

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Speaker 1: make the eight team relay final, everyone wanted to swim

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Speaker 1: fast while representing their country in the Olympics. But that

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Speaker 1: was the last time any worry was voiced. When I

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Speaker 1: saw her on the pool deck, she waved at me

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Speaker 1: in the stands, something she was not prone to do

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Speaker 1: before this trip. Tech stick changes were humorous and stress free.

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Speaker 1: She seemed ready for her moment Wednesday night in Japan

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Speaker 1: Wednesday morning in Louisville. Back home, the support and excitement

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Speaker 1: were heartwarming. Her club team put up a banner at

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Speaker 1: the pool, her high school put up a banner. Local

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Speaker 1: media all ran stories, and a breakfast watch party was

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Speaker 1: organized for family and about fifty people with ties to

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Speaker 1: our original neighborhood team. All she had to do is

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Speaker 1: step up and swim against the world's best. One of

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Speaker 1: the restorative stress releasing rituals I've undertaken before my kid's

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Speaker 1: biggest swim meets is to find some quiet time alone

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Speaker 1: to consciously express appreciation for the moment. When Brooke and

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Speaker 1: her brother Clayton were competing at the u S Nationals

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Speaker 1: in Irvine, California, when both at the best four individual

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Speaker 1: metally swims of their life. The quiet time came after

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Speaker 1: I dropped my wife and mother in law off at

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Speaker 1: the front gate, then parked and walked around the facility

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Speaker 1: to the pool. Every afternoon, I had the same conscious thought,

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Speaker 1: what gift to be here, how fortunate we are in

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Speaker 1: Omaha earlier this summer. That time was the twenty minute

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Speaker 1: walk from the hotel to the arena. It was harder

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Speaker 1: here in Tokyo to find any solitude. However brief but

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Speaker 1: before the night session started, I walked around the side

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Speaker 1: of the venue and found the setting sun shining on

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Speaker 1: my face, eyes closed inhale, exhale, gratitude activated. I was

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Speaker 1: about to watch my daughter swim the Olympics um. Relieved

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Speaker 1: of work duty for the night and able to watch

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Speaker 1: as a father, I asked my friend and colleague, Michael

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Speaker 1: Rosenberg to get video of the race on his phone.

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Speaker 1: I watched Brooke and her relay teammates be introduced, and

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Speaker 1: there was another wave of realization. This is going to

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Speaker 1: happen right in front of me. Before the start, I did,

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Speaker 1: in fact, cheer in the press box. I've yelled go

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Speaker 1: Brookie before every race she's ever swum, and I wasn't

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Speaker 1: going to stop at the Olympics. Fortunately nobody objected. The

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Speaker 1: race unfolded pretty much perfectly. Bella Sims swam a solid

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Speaker 1: leadoff leg, then Paige Madden put the U S in front,

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Speaker 1: then Katie McLoughlin increased the lead. When Brooke went in,

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Speaker 1: she had a solid lead over the Chinese, so forty

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Speaker 1: and her first Olympic swim out of Louisville, Kentucky, just

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Speaker 1: graduated from Stanford about a month and a half ago.

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Speaker 1: Ended strange positive twisted fate. Her father has actually witnessing

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Speaker 1: this swim in person, Pat Forty, who was the award

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Speaker 1: winning journalist. He's actually covering the Olympics for Sports Illustrated

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Speaker 1: and he's in the billy watching his daughter swim this

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Speaker 1: final leg of his reel. When she finished exactly one

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Speaker 1: minute and fifty seven seconds later, the fastest time of

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Speaker 1: her life, the lead was maintained in the American relay

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Speaker 1: had advanced to the finals as the number two seed.

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Speaker 1: She had put in the work and she performed. When

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Speaker 1: called upon the final stroll for forties, it will touch

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Speaker 1: him seven forty seven fifty seven sign a second, Germany third,

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Speaker 1: and so the quartetto Fellas send this page. Madden, Katy

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Speaker 1: McLachlan and Brook Forty accomplished the mission as the United

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Speaker 1: States will move on into the final. What happened next

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Speaker 1: was my moment of the Olympics. After touching the wall,

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Speaker 1: being congratulated by her relay teammates and checking the scoreboard,

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Speaker 1: Brooke looked up and found me in the stags. The

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Speaker 1: look on her face wasn't clearly visible from where I

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Speaker 1: stood in the arena, but the slow motion TV replay

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Speaker 1: made my heart grow three sizes that day, her countenance

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Speaker 1: radiated joy, satisfaction, and relief, and with that I was running.

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Speaker 1: I had to get down seven flights of stairs to

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Speaker 1: get to the media mix zone where I could meet

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Speaker 1: up with Brooke for my post race interview of my career. McLoughlin,

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Speaker 1: California Golden Bear threw some shade at my Stanford swimming shirt,

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Speaker 1: same one I Worelwin. Brooke made the Olympic team. This

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Speaker 1: was no time to mess with the mojo. I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure I actually even asked for anything, but it was

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Speaker 1: a moment to cherish. The next morning, it was up

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Speaker 1: to her teammates to bring it home. Alison Schmidt subbed

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Speaker 1: in for Sims and Katie Ledecki subbed in for Brook,

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Speaker 1: two of the most decorated swimmers in US history. What

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Speaker 1: followed was one of the best races in Olympic history,

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Speaker 1: with China blazing in lane three and Australia following in

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Speaker 1: lane four. The United States was playing catch up. In

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Speaker 1: lane five, Ladecki gave furious chase in the anchor legs,

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Speaker 1: splitting the fastest two hundred time of anyone in the

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Speaker 1: race by a wide margin. She passed the Aussies and

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Speaker 1: nearly caught the Chinese. All I knew at that point

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Speaker 1: was that my kid had an Olympic medal. The get

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Speaker 1: out of States not a second was lead deal try

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Speaker 1: to catch look ducky, but she go the US. She'd

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Speaker 1: get the silver here shop on the big shocker Australia.

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Speaker 1: Later on I figured out that all three teams broke

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Speaker 1: the world record. Brooke forty Olympian was now Brooke forty

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Speaker 1: silver medalist, Like for real, all the work, all the

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Speaker 1: so called small moments had yielded this moment too big

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Speaker 1: to dare believe it could happen. She sent a picture

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Speaker 1: later of her wearing Ladecki's borrowed silver. She wouldn't get

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Speaker 1: hers until after the meat, which brought it home. Even

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Speaker 1: more congratulations poured in via text, email and other methods.

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Speaker 1: It was gratifying to see all the excitement from people

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Speaker 1: who knew her. Next thing, I know, she's on the

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Speaker 1: Today Show with five of her teammates in Michael Phelps.

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Speaker 1: Couldn't have worked out better for us to both be

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Speaker 1: here when nobody else's family is here. And I was

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Speaker 1: lucky enough to finish my first Olympic swim and get

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Speaker 1: to see my dad right away. Um, that was a

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Speaker 1: really special moment. I got to be together with Brooke

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Speaker 1: one more time in Japan when we met for CBS

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Speaker 1: interview in the main press center. No hugging, keep the

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Speaker 1: masks on. Other than that, it was just a few

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Speaker 1: more waves from across the venue. On the final day,

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Speaker 1: Caleb Dressel dropped his poker anecdote the last of the

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Speaker 1: surreal moments in Tokyo For me as a parent journalist,

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Speaker 1: I checked the story with my closest source on the team.

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Speaker 1: She confirmed the little moments they have added up to

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Speaker 1: something grand, beyond measure. Gosh, I didn't know it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be that hard. We'll have a link to pat forties

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Speaker 1: article in our show notes. I've covered night Olympics. Nothing

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Speaker 1: prepared me for seeing my daughter win a medal. So

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Speaker 1: an interesting PostScript on Brook forty. In addition to her

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Speaker 1: career capping silver medal, she also won five n C

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Speaker 1: Double A titles for Stanford, and now that her swimming

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Speaker 1: career is over, got plans for next year's I'm actually

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Speaker 1: moving to Peru and so I will be a bit

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Speaker 1: off the grid. Um, I have accepted a position with

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Speaker 1: the Peace Corps. I'll be a public health officer in

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Speaker 1: rural Peru. You heard that right, Brook forty is heading

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Speaker 1: to Peru with the Peace Corps. Happy Father's Day everyone,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and a reminder to please rate and

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Speaker 1: review our show. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production of

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Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your favorite shows. And for more

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Speaker 1: of Sports Illustrated It's best stories and podcasts, visit SI

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Speaker 1: dot com. This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced

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Speaker 1: by Jessica your Mooski and Isaac Lee, who is also

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Speaker 1: our sound engineer. Our senior producer is Dan Bloom. Our

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Speaker 1: executive producers are Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez. Our

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Speaker 1: theme song is by Nolan Schneider. If you stuck around

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Speaker 1: this long, we leave you with this. She had put

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Speaker 1: in the work, and she performed when called upon what happened?

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Speaker 1: Oh this is gonna kill me. This far