WEBVTT - How did the Winter Olympics change Sports? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.360 Guess what will what's that mango? So you know what 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.040 my favorite part of the Winter Olympics is, all right, 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:06.400 I think I want to guess on this one. I'm 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:10.360 gonna guess um the bob sled. I mean, that's super fun. 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.200 But my favorite armchair sport at the Olympics is trying 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:17.880 to spot the carpet baggers. The carpet baggers. Yeah, I mean, 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.360 you know, you see it in the Olympics, but especially 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.040 in the Winter Olympics, Like at Sochi, there was this 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.720 couple from Long Island in their late forties who thought 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:27.840 would be fun to compete in the Olympics for Dominica, 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.200 which is this tiny island nation the Caribbean. And you'd 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.360 obviously have to be super fit to be in your 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.279 late forties and make the US ski team, but in 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.479 Dominica you kind of just have to have a pair 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.720 of skis and a passport. So, I mean, how prevalent 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:43.760 is this carpet bagger and how do they get away 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:47.160 with this? I mean it is discouraged, but sometimes it's 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.560 like elite athletes who couldn't make cut in their country 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.560 where they live, but then you know they want to 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.920 compete for their country of origin, and sometimes it's athletic mercenaries, 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.880 like Bahrain is notorious for buying Kenyans to long distance 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.120 for their nation. And then there are these wealthy crazies 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.759 who could just buy their way in, like Germany has 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.959 this prince named Hubertus who was born in Mexico but 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.880 has competed for Mexico and uh Slalom six times. I 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.120 believe at Sochi he was fifty five years old. When 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.880 you're doing this, Yeah, and you might remember him from 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.720 wearing this outrageous spandex Mariachi out 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, 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.560 at least he could aim for best dressed. Getting excited 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.000 to spot these Olympic outcasts made me wonder about all 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.840 the other things that 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 --> 0:02:06.000 let's stay again Aither podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.200 I'm Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.639 good friend man guest Ticketer and on the other side 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.280 of the soundproof glass, showing off his brand new Winter 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.959 Olympics stuffed animal pal. I don't know how I got 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.919 ahold of that. That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.200 Look over there, mano at Sue Harang, you know, the 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.120 white tiger mascot for the upcoming Games. Yeah, I'd recognize 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.160 them anywhere. So I love that the Winter Olympics get 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.360 their own mascots. It's actually one of my favorite things 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.560 about the Olympics. Well, you know, the Winner Games might 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.959 play second fiddle in terms of scale and viewership, but 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.880 I feel like the mascots, those things can go toe 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.320 to toe with their summer cousins. In fact, one thing 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.880 I learned while preparing for today's show is that we 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.480 actually have the Winner Games to thank for this whole 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.560 idea of these Olympic mascots. You know, they didn't start 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.320 out as this cute and cuddly animal like Sue Harang 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.040 might be. Just look at it over there in Tristan's lap. 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.400 But the very first one was this creepy caricature of 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.320 this arm less skier I don't know why, with his 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.360 manic red face. His name was shuss after after the 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.240 term for the straight downhill ski run and then he 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.040 popped up as this unofficial mascot of the nineteen Winner 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.760 Games that were in France, and even though his simple, 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.240 big headed design led to most fans calling him the 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.160 skiing sperm, was a big hit with attendees, and so 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.800 he kind of paved the way for the first official 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.600 mascot four years later, and that was that multicolored dotsu 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.800 named Waldy who appeared at the Summer Olympics in Munich. 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.440 So she is great, but if we're talking unnerving mascots, 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:42.920 I'm gonna go with Schneman. Shush, and Schneeman. Sniman was 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.520 the first official mascot of the Winter Games, and this 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.960 was back in ninety six, and he was basically just 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.280 a snowman head on tiny legs wearing this big, floppy 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.240 red hat. It's almost like a kid started building Schneman 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.520 and then gave up after realizing there was an atarian 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.920 side where it was warmer. I'm done with view Schneman. Well, 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.720 obviously today's show is all about the Winter Olympics and 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.040 we're getting pretty excited around here for next month's Games 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.760 and Pyeong Cheng, so we wanted to take the opportunity 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.160 to dig into some of that weird history and the 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.560 surprising controversies that surround these lesser known Olympics. So, Mega, 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.000 where do you feel like we should start? Well, you know, 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.400 I always like starting at the beginning, which actually wasn't 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.679 that long ago for the Winter Olympics. So the first 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.600 official Winter Games were held in France back which was 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.320 only twenty eight years after the first modern Summer Olympics 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.960 in Athens. But the Winter Olympics were known by a 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.920 different name originally. So the first event was actually called 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.599 Winter Sports Week, and it was this twelve day program 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.400 consisting of six sports and sixteen events. Such a weird name, 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.080 like it sounds like something you'd participated in college or something, 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:49.919 So why did they call it this? Was it like 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.200 a test run for the winter version of the Olympics 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.360 or what? Yeah, exactly right. So, figure skating and ice 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.720 hockey were actually part of the Summer Games already at 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.360 that point, and the idea of getting cold weather sports 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:04.360 their own showcase was first floated by the IOC. So, 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.560 I mean it seems like the interest was there, So 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:08.880 why did this first event get such a like a 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.559 watered down name? Well, I mean some Scandinavian countries balked 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.640 at the idea of a separate event because they already 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.159 took part in their own competition called the Nordic Games, 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.800 and they didn't want an official Winner Olympics to steal 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.600 their thunder. So, you know, the committee made this Winter 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.680 Sports Week. But the games were this huge success. There 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.400 were ten thousand paying attendees who turned up to watch 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.640 sixteen countries compete in sports like speed skating and Bob's 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.520 lead and curling, and the events were such a smash 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:39.279 hit that just one year later, the IOC retroactively declared 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.440 it the first Olympic Winner Games. All right, so who 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.599 were like, you know, like the Michael Phelps of the 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.560 first Winter Olympics. Were there any standouts or the athletes 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:49.440 still trying to kind of figure out what they were 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.200 doing in the competition. Yeah, So, you know, the skin 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.400 and even countries like I mentioned, had this leg up 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.279 because they've been holding their own competitions for over twenty 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.400 years at this point. So Norway in particular has always 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.279 dominated the Winner Games, and the first one was no exception. 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.960 They had this incredible athlete, Thor leaf Haw, which is 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.200 about as Nordic a name as you can have. And 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.719 he was this legendary skier who won three gold medals 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.440 in three different events that year, and he also took 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.200 home a bronze medal for the ski jump competition. But 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.839 this is super weird. Fifty years later, it was discovered 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.440 that a scoring mistake had actually happened and the medal 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.760 actually belonged to this US athlete named Andrews Hogen. Wow, 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.400 fifty years later, I mean, I guess better late than never, 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.640 but still that is a long time. So were there 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.400 any other US victories that year? Yeah? Actually, the very 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.480 first gold medal awarded went to this American speed skater 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:42.200 named Charles Jutra, and he was this underdog, but in 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.880 the end he beat out all twenty six other skaters 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.200 by completing the five event in just forty four seconds. 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.040 And my favorite underdog, though, is is this Norwegian ice 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.240 skater who's named Sonja Henny. And not only was she 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.680 only one of eleven female athletes competing that year, she 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.120 was also only eleven years old. Eleven years old? Wow? 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.400 So did she win? No? She came in dead last, 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.440 but games were actually just the start of her career. 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.520 She won a gold medal at each of the next 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.000 three Winter Olympics, and she grew up to be this 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.760 Norwegian movie star. I mean, Norwegan just really do kind 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.280 of own the Winter Games, don't they. I was reading 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.480 that Norway has actually won more gold medals in the 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.200 competition than any other country after soci their record stands. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.960 I think it's a hundred and eighteen gold medals and 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.440 and something like three hundred and twenty nine total. Yeah, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.040 and they're actually one of only three countries the other 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.040 two being Austrian Lichtenstein, that have actually won more medals 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.600 in the Winter Olympics than in the Summer Ones. I mean, 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:41.720 it makes a lot of sense given their geography and 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.160 the climate. But you know, that cold weather advantage is 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:45.800 actually kind of at the root of one of the 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.680 Winter Olympics biggest controversies. You know, put things in perspective. 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.000 There are ninety countries that are set to compete in 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.800 pyong Chang this year, which is a far cry from 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.600 the more than two hundred countries that participated in the 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.520 two thousand sixteen Games that were in Rio. You know, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.480 the reason for that disparity isn't so much a lack 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.800 of interest as it is a lack of resources, you know, 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.360 being able to compete in events like losing and figure 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.960 skating and Bob's letting. I mean, all of that requires 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.920 this practice in these very expensive facilities. And his Olympic 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.960 historian David Wallechinsky puts it, if you want to run 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.400 a hundred meters or even a marathon, you can just 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.680 step outside your door and go do it. If you 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.960 want to play soccer, you can do that anywhere. But 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.040 if you want to compete in the loge, I don't 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.800 think so. So obviously, you know, something like the alpine 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.840 skiing is it's an expensive hobby and if you're trying 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.360 to compete, just think about all the equipment and training 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.320 and also just the regular access to these facilities that 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.560 you need to have. Yeah, so, I I know in 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.600 tennis they say if you don't play for two days, 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.000 you lose some of your muscle memory and you're basically 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.880 relearning your strokes, which is crazy, right, But if you 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.600 think about something like that for skiing, I mean, the 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.360 climate dependent nature of the events definitely hurts your chances 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.200 if you're from a tropical place, and the Winter Olympics 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.720 have also developed this. You know, elitist stigma because the 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:01.880 cold of countries also tend to be richer and wider, 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.000 which is probably one of the reasons that they still 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:07.160 aren't as popular as the summer counterparts. Which isn't to 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.520 say that more temperate or even downright tropical countries don't 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.280 get a chance to shine. I mean, everyone remembers cool runnings, 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.680 right and the Jamaican Bob's led team from the Calgary Games, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:19.400 but this is still a long way ago. If the 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.120 winner Olympics want to be an event that's truly representative 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.880 of international athletes, yeah, you know. And since we're talking 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.800 about controversies and you mentioned the ad eight Olympics, I 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.200 just have to take a second to talk about Eddie 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.120 the Eagle. So I'm not sure I know that mascot. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.800 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 --> 0:09:41.920 he was this British plaster who always dreamed of competing 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.920 as a downhill skier in the Olympics, and after determining 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.840 that ski jumping would be cheaper and less competitive, in 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.600 order to be able to prepare, Michael became the first 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.560 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 --> 0:10:01.800 crashed at the World Championship up six, kind of became 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.720 the laughing stock of the press and not so lovingly 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.440 referred to him as Mr Magoo. But you know, Edwards 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.160 was undeterred and he managed to fulfill his dream by 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.839 competing at the Calgary Olympics just two years later. Although 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.280 he successfully landed his jobby, he didn't score even like 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.440 half the total points as any of the other competitors. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.600 But nonetheless Eddie the Eagle, as he was called by 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.560 the president of the IOC, became this national star and 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.760 you know, an unexpected point of pride for England. So 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:30.600 I'm guessing where the story is going, right, It's just 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.280 like that little Norwegian girl who rallied and came back 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.640 to clean house at the next Olympics. Uh definitely not. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.920 Edwards competed for a spot I think in the next 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.040 three Winner Games, but the Olympic community had raised the 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.599 qualifying standards at that point and that was really to 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.559 box him out. And you know, still he claims about 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.680 seventy percent of his income now comes from speaking engagement, 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.240 so it wasn't a total loss for the guy. Yeah, 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.800 and as far as controversy's going, that one's pretty innocent. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.800 Like most Olympics scandals are a little more tingshch same definitely. 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.200 And so I was reading about Orton Enderland. She was 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.240 this East German luge champion who wound up forfeiting her 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.800 gold from the sixty eight Games when it was discovered 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.120 that she and her teammates had actually heated the rails 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.400 that are sled just prior to the race. I mean 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.559 I didn't realize the physics of this, but the extra 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:19.200 warmth had reduced the sleds friction with the ice, which 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.880 gave them a much faster run time. And so the 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.840 three women were disqualified, but the East German Olympic Committee 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.480 never took responsibility. Instead, they blamed it all on a 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.000 capitalist revenge plot. Yeah, that must have been a capitalist 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.840 revenge plot. You know. It's funny because I know about 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.160 like corking your bad or deflating a football, but honestly 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.000 have no idea how to cheat and winter store me either. 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:42.800 I mean, it wouldn't even occur to me to heat 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.439 the metal under your luge. That's also a sentence I 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.280 never thought I would say. But all right, well, speaking 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.840 of East Germany, there's one interesting thing I came across, 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.520 and that was that West and East Germany actually reached 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.400 across the Iron Curtain and they decided to compete together 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.840 as this unified team of Germany. This happened in three Olympics. 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.440 It was in fifty six and sixty and sixty four. 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.200 But that's when the truce came to an end because 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.200 this alternate for an East German team, I think on 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.559 the toboggan team. They used the games as a way 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.120 to make a break for freedom. And so her name 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.080 was Uta Galler and apparently she fled for West Germany 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.160 while her teammates were celebrating during a reception one night. 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.800 That's crazy. Did she make it? She actually did, And 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.480 you know, she actually wasn't even the only one. According 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.440 to the Associated Press, there were thirteen fans from Eastern 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.920 European communist countries that also escaped under the cover of 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.120 the Olympics. That's amazing and you kind of have to 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.079 admire people who saw an opportunity and seized it. So 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.520 one of my favorite Olympic controversies centers on this guy 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:43.560 named Stephen Bradbury, who depressed dub the accidental gold medalist. 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.040 He was on the Australian speed skating team that won 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.360 the country its first medal at the Winter Olympics back 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.520 but his most triumphant moment came at the two thousand 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.400 two Games in Salt Lake City, and by that point 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.480 Bradbury had suffered a number of debilitating injuries and was 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.600 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 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.040 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 --> 0:13:11.200 the track, and that fall actually gave him this great 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.080 idea for what would turn out to be a winning 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.120 strategy when it came time for the big race. Bradbury 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.880 figured his best shot was just to hang back, you know, 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.280 on the off chance that another fall might clear the 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:25.360 field for him. And amazingly, the plan worked like in spades. 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.480 As he was racing, there was this disastrous wall that 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:30.920 caused all four of his competitors to collapse in him. 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.440 He yeah, it was just before the finish line, and 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.439 Bradbury kind of just skated slowly around them, claiming his 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:39.920 cold medal. You know, the craziest part was like the 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.520 crowd was booing and jeering. I mean, I kind of 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.280 love that story. It might not be like a glorious win, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.200 but a win is a win exactly. And Bradbury's sort 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.800 of admitted that he won by sheer luck, and he 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.440 used to sort of be upset about it and conflicted 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.840 about it, but now he kind of considers his reward 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.520 for you know, this entire career hard work. I mean, 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.520 you know, like we were saying earlier, the Winter Olympics 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.000 don't always favor these warmer weather countries, and Australia certainly 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:08.920 being one of those, so you have to take what 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.640 you can get. I think there's actually one other long 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:13.920 running controversy I do want to mention, But before we 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:28.720 get to that, let's take a quick break. You're listening 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.680 to Part Time Genius and we're talking about the little 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:34.920 known origins and shocking scandals of the Winter Olympics. All right, magus, 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.160 So the last controversy I wanted to mention is just 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:39.880 how long it took for a British curling team to 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.120 receive its gold medals and why is that. Well, Great 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.000 Britain won the curling competition way back in the inaugural 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.360 Winter Games of nineteen twenty four, but the winner actually 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.360 didn't get their gold until a whopping eighty two years later. 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.400 So what was the hold of Well, the delay stem 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.200 from some confusion over weather curling had been an official 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.440 event at the first Games, or whether it was what 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.960 they called a demonstration sport. You know, these are the 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.240 events that are mostly there for promotional purposes and kind 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.200 of build interest in these niche sports. Yeah. So, my 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.640 friend Dave was a ski archer, and he was like 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:14.640 tenth in the world and number one in the U 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.000 S when we were in college. It's not a big 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.720 sport here, but it is in Europe. And I was 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.040 always hoping they'd make ski archery is sport just so 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.480 I could watch him in the Olympics. But it never happened. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.520 You know, I've met Dave before and he never bragged 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.920 about this. I feel like I would start every conversation 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:30.920 with I was number one in the world at the 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.880 ski archery thing. But you know, it's weird to think 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.960 about things that have been these demonstrations sports, like, you know, 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:41.040 everything from pigeon racing and ballooning, to even volleyball and tennis, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.800 but at some point those were outsider sports. And also 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.200 there was a sport called I think courfball. I don't 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.240 know what that is, but I am a big fan 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.960 just because of the name. Anyway, some of the demonstration 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.240 sports wind up becoming official events, but until they do, 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:58.920 they actually don't give the winners of these the proper 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.920 Olympic medals. So even though curling was played at the 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.080 first Winter Olympics, it didn't reappear in the Games until 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.800 nine and its first appearance became excepted, as you know, 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.200 just being a demonstration event. So what changed over the 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.600 course of those eighties some years. Well, for some reason, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.600 the IOC did this deep dive into its records and 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.000 they ruled that curling had actually been intended as part 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.400 of the official program back in nine four. So even 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.320 though the original team members were long gone by this point, 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.440 they were given the long overdue honor of being upgraded 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.240 to these full Olympic gold medals. Well, I'm glad you 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.800 brought up demo sports because I actually spent some time 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.720 looking at old Winter Olympics and have you ever heard 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.640 of skee during no is that like cor fall. It's 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:46.080 exactly like cor falled skis. So this comes from the Games, 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.160 but basically competitors on skis were pulled over jumps and 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:53.840 other obstacles by riderless horses. It was this one off 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.280 event that never returned to the Olympics, but it actually 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.000 still has a following and there's a World skee during 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.880 Championship that's how in Whitefish, Montana every single year. I mean, 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.600 I have to admit that sounds like a sport that 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.160 happened by accident where somebody like fell off a horse 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:09.920 and was still attached to it. But I've never heard 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.040 of that. I mean, I did know that dogs made 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:13.800 an appearance. I think it was in the nineteen thirty 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.760 two Winter Olympics that were like Placid, but this was 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.359 just part of a demonstration for this sled dog racing, 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:21.920 and so the sport re emerged at the fifty two 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.200 Games in Oslo, but you surprisingly it never quite made 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.800 it to official event status. Yeah, it's kind of crazy 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.560 because sled dog racing seems like a natural fit. Yeah, 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:32.320 I mean, I guess they always have the I did 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.760 a odd but sadly for like a lot of other 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.760 sports that they don't have like their own championships. So 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.120 so there's one called ski ballet or a cross ski 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.320 and it was pretty much what the name suggests. So 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.560 competitors take to a smooth slope and they performed these 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:50.800 highly choreographed ski maneuvers. It's all set to music, which 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.080 sounds awesome, right. It cropped off at two Winter Olympics. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.119 It was shown in Calgary and eight eight, and then 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.399 again in France and ninety two, but it never really 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.640 found an audience, and in fact, the International Ski Federation 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.480 for some reason stopped holding formal competition for the sport 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.720 in two thousand and that's kind of when the dream 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.240 of ski bellet died. I mean, it's kind of weird, 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.160 but I'd probably watch it. In fact, I think i'd 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.520 be really good at it. All right. Well, one of 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:17.880 the weirdest official sports of the Winner Games was called 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.879 the Winter pent Tathlon. So in addition to cross country 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.800 skiing and shooting, the event also featured get this, skiing, 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:29.320 horseback riding, and of course fencing. How did this not 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.200 catch on? Skis, horses, guns, swords, something for everyone? You're 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:35.480 not kidding. I mean, I feel like everybody can find 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.560 something awesome in this. But I suppose it was deemed 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:41.320 a little too complicated for the Olympics. But it actually 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.760 is still held every year as part of the Military 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:48.400 World Games. So here's an event that, despite fan outcry, 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.040 was also deemed too complicated for the Winter Olympics. Chicken 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.360 sled racing. All right, that can't be a real thing, 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.440 No way, I know it's it's only sort of a thing. 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.760 So a few years ago, KFC and this ad agency 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.399 hired two members of the Team USA bobsled team to 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.600 help promote their new chicken strips, and the brakeman for 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.760 the team is this guy. Jim Carriell was filmed eating 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:12.600 chicken from the KFC Go Cup while racing down the 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.960 track at seventy miles per hour with a fourth of 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.240 five geese. So apparbably this is some sort of feat. 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.600 According to carry All, no other bobsled team out there 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.159 is pulling five g's while eating chicken, and more casual 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.399 fans of chicken sled racing may not know the physical 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.200 demands five geese puts on an athlete. Do you know 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.760 how much an extra crispy strip weighs at five g's? 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.360 It's almost a half pound. Seriously, don't try this at home. 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:40.280 I serious, he is with that. That's pretty great. Yeah, 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:42.720 I am guessing the sport never made it to the 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.639 demo phase though. Yeah, so, I mean, the company started 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.320 this social media campaign that include this petition to make 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:50.720 it an official event at the two eighteen Games, but 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:52.880 as far as I know, it won't be debuting there. 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.159 That's probably for the best. But all right, well, speaking 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:57.760 of Bob's ledding, did you ever hear off of the 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.080