Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're still
Speaker 1: a little bit emotional after Celine Dion's opening ceremony performance.
Speaker 1: We're going to get into all of the magic from
Speaker 1: the opening ceremony. Here the latest on the Canadian drone
Speaker 1: scandal from CBC Sports Schyne Ahmed and enter producer Alex's
Speaker 1: Wild and Wacky World of Olympic Facts.
Speaker 2: But first, here's what you need to know today to Paris.
Speaker 1: In diving, best friends since childhood, Cassidy Cook and Sarah
Speaker 1: Bacon secured the United States first medal of the Games,
Speaker 1: winning silver in the synchronized spring board event, the first
Speaker 1: American medal in this event since twenty twelve. China meanwhile
Speaker 1: claimed its sixth straight gold. Well Great Britain picked up
Speaker 1: the bronze. By the way, shout out to whoever was
Speaker 1: in the Cook and Bacon fan section wearing a full
Speaker 1: Bacon outfit.
Speaker 2: That's my people right there.
Speaker 1: In swimming, the US team of Kate Douglas, Scretchenwalsh, Tory Huskins,
Speaker 1: Simon Manuel claimed silver with a new American record in
Speaker 1: the four by one hundred meter freestyle relay. Australia meanwhile
Speaker 1: continued its decade of dominance the event, claiming a fourth
Speaker 1: straight gold. Two of those relay teammates went one to
Speaker 1: two the next day in the one hundred meter butterfly,
Speaker 1: Americans Husk winning gold and Walsh taking silver. Katie Ladecki
Speaker 1: opened her fourth Olympics with a bronze medal in the
Speaker 1: highly anticipated four hundred meter freestyle race. Ladecki said she
Speaker 1: just couldn't find another gear, coming in third behind reigning
Speaker 1: world record holder Arion Titmus from Australia, who took gold,
Speaker 1: and Canada's Summer Macintosh, who took silver. Ladeki will now
Speaker 1: pivot to her longer distance races, the eight hundred meter
Speaker 1: and fifteen hundred meter, and will enter both as the
Speaker 1: gold medal fave. In soccer, the US earned a spot
Speaker 1: in the knockout stage with a four to one win
Speaker 1: over Germany. Sophia Smith put in two in the back
Speaker 1: of the net, while Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams each
Speaker 1: added a goal. They'll wrap up group play against Australia
Speaker 1: on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: And in case you.
Speaker 1: Thought we hyped up Zambia's Barbera Banda too much before,
Speaker 1: the US beat Zambia three to nil. Well, she had
Speaker 1: a first half hat trick against Australia, her third hat
Speaker 1: trick in just five career Olympic matches. But get this,
Speaker 1: Australia is still on the Matildas came back from a
Speaker 1: five to two deficit and secured a six to five
Speaker 1: victory with a goal.
Speaker 2: In the ninetieth minute.
Speaker 1: In fencing, it was Team USA versus Team USA in
Speaker 1: the foil final, Lee Kiefer successfully defending her gold medal
Speaker 1: from Tokyo, beating teammate Lawrence Scruggs fifteen to six.
Speaker 2: Get this.
Speaker 1: With the win, Keefer becomes just the third woman to
Speaker 1: ever win back to back gold medals in the foil event,
Speaker 1: an event that was first contested at the nineteen twenty
Speaker 1: four Paris Olympics. Also, Scruggs, a rising senior at Harvard,
Speaker 1: becomes the first black woman to win an individual medal
Speaker 1: in fencing for the US. The women of Team USA
Speaker 1: Gymnastics qualified for Tuesday's team final, while Simone Biles qualified
Speaker 1: for the all around final with a massive score of
Speaker 1: fifty nine point five to sixty six. She also qualified
Speaker 1: for vault, floor and beam finals. This was scary. We
Speaker 1: saw a minor CAF injury flare up for Biles during
Speaker 1: her floor warm ups, but thankfully, one of her coaches,
Speaker 1: to Seal Landy says she doesn't have any concern about
Speaker 1: biles ability to compete in the upcoming events, and we
Speaker 1: hope to see a full strength Simone going forward. Fingers crossed.
Speaker 1: We're sending you all our calfs files. You could take
Speaker 1: all of our calves, Simone, we don't even need them,
Speaker 1: you can have them. Finally, the US indoor volleyball team
Speaker 1: open up their Olympic title defense today with a Group
Speaker 1: A match against China. By the way, another podcast right
Speaker 1: here on the iHeart Women's Sports Network, League one Volleyball's
Speaker 1: Serving Pancakes has all the volleyball contact you're looking for,
Speaker 1: so be sure to subscribe, follow and listen.
Speaker 2: Let's get back to.
Speaker 1: Selene Dion really quick and that incredible opening ceremony, because
Speaker 1: there were tears. There were tears for Selene, there were
Speaker 1: tears for that incredible rendition of imagine pretty much tears
Speaker 1: for like half of it.
Speaker 2: The whole thing was such a feat.
Speaker 1: It was strange at first, this departure from the usual
Speaker 1: ceremony happening inside a stadium those are super dramatic and impressive,
Speaker 1: and we've kind of gotten used to them, so seeing
Speaker 1: this started out a little weird, but then it was
Speaker 1: absolutely incredible for the people of Paris. Among the people
Speaker 1: of Paris, people were literally hanging out of windows and
Speaker 1: balconies to watch, and they became a part of the show.
Speaker 1: The show used monuments and churches and museums and elements
Speaker 1: of the city's architecture. It had everything. It even had
Speaker 1: an Italian American from New York City singing a French classic.
Speaker 2: That's right, shout out, Lady Gaga.
Speaker 1: You know your French pronunciation is good when France itself
Speaker 1: invites you to sing in their tongue on the biggest
Speaker 1: stage in the world. That was beautiful. Speaking of beautiful Beyonce,
Speaker 1: hot damn. I really think America should just get every
Speaker 1: single medal at this Olympics for being able to claim
Speaker 1: Beyonce as ours. I mean, the boots, the outfit, the song,
Speaker 1: the hair, the vibes, the message, absolutely mesmerizing. Of all
Speaker 1: the things, and there were many, that was by far
Speaker 1: my favorite, but some other moments that stood out to me. First,
Speaker 1: I want to give medals to all the acrobats that
Speaker 1: were in the rain, like the breakers, the bikers, the dancers,
Speaker 1: those cirks to so olay looking people on the giant
Speaker 1: poles like that stuff looks really hard, but then they
Speaker 1: were doing it in the rain, which was even more impressive.
Speaker 1: I think there should be special metals for them. I
Speaker 1: also loved Kelly Clarkson shouting out the non binary Parkourt
Speaker 1: torch bearer that led us kind of through the ceremony.
Speaker 1: And also the inclusive runway show. We saw folks in drag,
Speaker 1: young and old, everybody, every size, every race. I absolutely
Speaker 1: love that. Also shout out to us runner Nicki Hilts.
Speaker 1: They posted several shots waving an American flag with the
Speaker 1: caption quote, here's my official application to be at Tamussa's.
Speaker 2: Non binary flag bear love that, Niki.
Speaker 1: I also love that Paris couldn't not be horny for
Speaker 1: just a second. Did anyone else have a menajatoi in
Speaker 1: the library in their opening ceremony bingo card. I'm not complaining.
Speaker 1: I mean people aroused by books, I get it. I'm
Speaker 1: in I'm just surprised. Also, the way they closed the
Speaker 1: door on their canoodling like a contestant on the Bachelor
Speaker 1: kicking out the camera for the fantasy Suite, perfect chef's Kiss.
Speaker 1: I also loved that we went straight from that to
Speaker 1: the minions so the kids at home could recover quickly.
Speaker 2: That was just, you know, seamless transition Paris.
Speaker 1: While I was watching, I was thinking about the teams
Speaker 1: in the smaller boats and wondering if the athletes and
Speaker 1: those like took into account that they were waving that
Speaker 1: giant flag for two hours in a dinghy in those
Speaker 1: waves in the rain, like I hope they consider that
Speaker 1: an arm day ahead of their competition, or I hope
Speaker 1: they like took turns seemed very tiring when the waves
Speaker 1: really got going, which brings me to a not dinghy,
Speaker 1: which was the Americans. Holy cow, five hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: four USA athletes, not all of them were on the boat,
Speaker 1: but this was a giant boat, and it kind of
Speaker 1: reminded me of how we sort of take our Olympic
Speaker 1: greatness for granted.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I was just listening to a podcast and a.
Speaker 1: Foreigner moved to the States and kind of realized, unlike
Speaker 1: his home country that gets dotted by the occasional success story,
Speaker 1: that now that he was in America, it was.
Speaker 2: Just gold, gold, gold, gold, and more gold.
Speaker 1: And I feel like we throw around stats about our dominance,
Speaker 1: you know, we always talk about how just the women
Speaker 1: would beat almost every other country's total medal count, but
Speaker 1: I don't know that we really sit with it all
Speaker 1: that much other than just like bragging. So I was
Speaker 1: just feeling really proud as I was looking at that
Speaker 1: really diverse, incredibly packed, giant, absolutely giant yacht full of
Speaker 1: American greatness, and I feel like that's kind of what
Speaker 1: the Olympics always do for me. Like there are so
Speaker 1: many reasons to be critical about our country right now,
Speaker 1: and frankly critical of so many aspects of the Olympics,
Speaker 1: but I find it really hard to be cynical when
Speaker 1: I'm watching the opening ceremony or I'm watching athletes get
Speaker 1: their medals, or families crying over their kids succeeding. I
Speaker 1: just think with the sadness and the conflict in the world,
Speaker 1: the Olympics are this way. We always remind ourselves that
Speaker 1: we're in this together. And when we see people from
Speaker 1: countries that are at war literally celebrating amongst each other,
Speaker 1: competing fairly and valiantly against each other, seeing in their
Speaker 1: enemies their own humanity, like there's another human being over
Speaker 1: there putting in the work, putting on their country's colors
Speaker 1: and achieving a life stream. You look at that refugee
Speaker 1: Olympic team, this like sad but beautiful balance of people
Speaker 1: competing without a flag or a country, but they're still
Speaker 1: training and working and striving. I just feel like during
Speaker 1: the Olympics we see so many of our globes, problems
Speaker 1: and solutions kind of displayed at once. And I always
Speaker 1: wish the feeling of unity and the shared planet vibes
Speaker 1: that we get at the Games would last longer than
Speaker 1: sixteen days, or if you count the Paralympics, more than that.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. In some ways, maybe naively, I
Speaker 2: think it does.
Speaker 1: I do think it brings people together, and hopefully they
Speaker 1: leave and those people watching leave feeling a little more connected.
Speaker 1: I think seeing all those different faces and bodies and
Speaker 1: flags and uniforms on the boats was just super moving
Speaker 1: and I loved it, and I love the Olympics, and
Speaker 1: I'm so glad they're back.
Speaker 2: When we come back a country.
Speaker 1: That's maybe not feeling quite as proud as I am
Speaker 1: right now, we'll find out what the folks are saying
Speaker 1: about the Canadian drone scandal up in America's hat.
Speaker 2: After this, we're back.
Speaker 1: We spent the braain awarding the first ever Olympic medal
Speaker 1: in drone flying to Canada. Okay, all jokes aside, but
Speaker 1: started as a simple spying incident has ballooned into so
Speaker 1: much more. And to give us some perspective from Canada,
Speaker 1: we're joined by CBC Sports reporter for a coast of
Speaker 1: the fantastic podcast Burn It All Down, which we miss.
Speaker 2: It's Schirene Ahmed. What's up, Scheren.
Speaker 1: Hi, Sarah, thanks for having me Okay quickly to set
Speaker 1: the stage for this conversation.
Speaker 2: We're talking on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Canada currently has six points after today's two to one
Speaker 1: win over France and last week's two to one win
Speaker 1: against New Zealand. But on Saturday, in response to an
Speaker 1: initial investigation into the drone scandal, FIFA deducted six points
Speaker 1: from the team and find them over two hundred twenty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Canadian coaches Bev Priestman, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine
Speaker 1: Mander all suspended from taking part in any football related
Speaker 1: activity for one year for a Canadian team hoping to
Speaker 1: defend gold. That's six point penalty makes it really tough
Speaker 1: to advance to the knockout rounds, but if they keep winning.
Speaker 2: It certainly helps. We've got some ongoing reports.
Speaker 1: We could still find out that the players knew about
Speaker 1: this or a million other things, but for now, Sharen,
Speaker 1: it feels like they're suffering due to the choices of
Speaker 1: their coaches.
Speaker 2: How are you seeing it? So that's exactly it.
Speaker 3: I mean, this was supposed to be like a really
Speaker 3: great opportunity to, you know, following cover a team that
Speaker 3: I've been covering for a very long time, defending gold medalists.
Speaker 3: You know, the storylines are all there, but realistically it
Speaker 3: quickly descended into something very different. First with the allegations
Speaker 3: from New Zealand the Ferns, but now it's got to
Speaker 3: a point where this morning, two hours before kickoff, former
Speaker 3: head coach Bet Priestman is issuing essentially an apology, not
Speaker 3: an explanation, but an apology and just sort of saying
Speaker 3: she hopes that Canadians still cheer on this team. There's
Speaker 3: so many mixed perspectives. People are angry, people are angry
Speaker 3: at Rick Westhead's reporting for TSM. People are angry at me.
Speaker 3: People are angry about so many things, which I think
Speaker 3: is misdirected because you know, you want to cover the job.
Speaker 3: Isn't need to be a PR person or comms. It's
Speaker 3: a journalist, right, And people are heartbroken for the players.
Speaker 3: I'm getting a lot of resounding, you know, comments that
Speaker 3: it's unfair. People are saying that FIFA's you know, decision
Speaker 3: was unfair. And we did hear from David Jimmaker, head
Speaker 3: of the Canadian Olympic Committee, that they will be looking
Speaker 3: into an appeals process. And in the meantime, you also
Speaker 3: have that's like Steph Labe out there defending herself, Christine Sinclair,
Speaker 3: greatest Canadian, you score an international goals score of all time,
Speaker 3: prolific player with the Portland Thorns. You also have Dina
Speaker 3: Matheson who came out to say that you know what,
Speaker 3: if they take away six points, we'll give them nine.
Speaker 1: Dina Mathieson, who was a great for Canadian soccer and
Speaker 1: is also launching a professional women's soccer league in Canada,
Speaker 1: and of course doesn't want this hanging over this incredible
Speaker 1: endeavor of the Northern Super League.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, but you know, her guidance and her ability to
Speaker 3: get up there in leadership and say listen, this is
Speaker 3: what we're going to do. And to be very honest
Speaker 3: with you, the players on this team have been supported
Speaker 3: unconditionally by past members. Claire was stat and Amy Walsh.
Speaker 3: I was working with them both at CBCE Olympics this week.
Speaker 3: Claire is on color commentary and Amy Walsh was me
Speaker 3: on the panel broadcast panel, and they're both associated with
Speaker 3: this program. I mean, this has been devastating for so
Speaker 3: many people and there's so many questions. There's so many
Speaker 3: questions Sarah, and Soccer Canada has launched what they said
Speaker 3: they will launch an independent internal review, which is really important.
Speaker 3: So when people ask, well, what's going to happen, we
Speaker 3: don't know. We do know that Bet Priestsman has been
Speaker 3: suspended pending the results, but I really don't see a
Speaker 3: scenario where she comes back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, you mentioned that it feels like just
Speaker 1: full throated support for these players. So you know, how
Speaker 1: are folks in Canada reacting to this? Both the news
Speaker 1: that there was cheating and reports that had been happening
Speaker 1: for years, and then also the idea that like the
Speaker 1: players ultimately as of now we feel are innocent but
Speaker 1: are penalized by this point deduction.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a really important distinction. At the
Speaker 3: end of the day, there's no evidence that the players
Speaker 3: were involved, and I need to reiterate that because at
Speaker 3: the same time, if they've benefited from a system that
Speaker 3: was rigged, then you have to have that conversation, and
Speaker 3: it's not a good one to have, particularly when they're
Speaker 3: out there literally as warriors. They just won two to
Speaker 3: one in thirteen minutes of overtime and extra time. That
Speaker 3: felt like another half to be quite honest, against France,
Speaker 3: who's play second. So you see the grit, you see
Speaker 3: the passion, and it's unfortunate in one sense. It's not
Speaker 3: only to move on, it's they're playing for their reputations.
Speaker 3: I mean, these are players that are no strangers to
Speaker 3: any kind of drama. If you know your listeners, remember
Speaker 3: last year before the Women's World Cup, which was disastrous
Speaker 3: for Canada. It really was a difficult year. They testified
Speaker 3: on Parliament against the federation, almost went on strike like
Speaker 3: it was a tough year. And then this year was
Speaker 3: really supposed to be better, and this whole thing unfolds,
Speaker 3: so they're not interested in drama. They don't want this.
Speaker 3: I actually really feel like, can they ever get a break?
Speaker 1: Can any women's soccer team get a break? Like you're
Speaker 1: talking about that? I think maybe it's a good thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, Spain won in the midst of their disaster,
Speaker 1: the US one while suing its own federation over equal pay. Like,
Speaker 1: can we just get a team to be supported by
Speaker 1: its own freaking federation and its own coaches and its
Speaker 1: own fans and then rise to victory in a completely
Speaker 1: spotless situation Like that would be nice.
Speaker 2: It would be It's the dream, Sarah.
Speaker 3: But like, at the end of the day, we see
Speaker 3: what we see happening. Is int answer you a question.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of Canadians with the opinion it's really
Speaker 3: not a big deal. And the reason that I say
Speaker 3: that is because it's commonplace in other practices and maybe
Speaker 3: on the men's side. Whereas ESPN did actually report earlier
Speaker 3: this morning, I think, because what is time that John
Speaker 3: Herdman is actually connected the former women's head coach who
Speaker 3: went to the men's and now coaches in MLS for TFC.
Speaker 3: He is like a common denominator for all of this,
Speaker 3: which is really. But then at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: you wonder Bev Priestman may not have a future in
Speaker 3: soccer anymore, but John Hurdan and still will. Right, Where's
Speaker 3: where's the equity there?
Speaker 1: It certainly feels Sharene that this could get even bigger
Speaker 1: and the investigations could reveal even more. You know, you
Speaker 1: mentioned goalkeeper Stephanie Lebay. She won bronze in the Rio Olympics.
Speaker 1: She helped lead Canada to gold in Tokyo, and our
Speaker 1: producer Alex unearthed an old story from a site called
Speaker 1: between the Sticks. This is from Canada's Tokyo run and
Speaker 1: it pointed to Lebay's efforts in net as extraordinary and
Speaker 1: I say the word like that on purpose. Quote Her
Speaker 1: tournament penalty saved percentage of fifty percent excluding off target
Speaker 1: penalties is absolutely astonishing, especially when you consider that most
Speaker 1: top goalkeepers average between thirty and forty percent of penalties
Speaker 1: saved in a single tournament. Now, Stephanie tweeted out, if
Speaker 1: anyone wants to speak about pks, I studied hard the
Speaker 1: night before every match, watch video of players taking peakys
Speaker 1: pks and national team and club games. Made my own
Speaker 1: educated guesses based on that info. No drone footage was watched.
Speaker 1: Do not confuse great goalkeeping with cheating. I want to
Speaker 1: believe her, and I do believe for that she didn't
Speaker 1: know it, that she didn't want footage. But if her
Speaker 1: coaches did and they said, hey, this person always goes left, Hey,
Speaker 1: this person fakes left, goes right.
Speaker 2: Hey, this person sho tie or low or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: I feel for these players and having to wonder if,
Speaker 1: deep down somewhere their achievements were affected by the cheating
Speaker 1: of their coaches.
Speaker 2: That's so unfair.
Speaker 3: It is unfair, and I think that's a good way
Speaker 3: to put it. It's the epitome of betrayal. It's the
Speaker 3: epitome of injustice because in her intent wasn't There's no
Speaker 3: way anyone can make me believe that Labbe did I
Speaker 3: mean for her to go out there was actually really
Speaker 3: heartbreaking to heard her go online. I remember watching that match,
Speaker 3: watching her kind of smile, her ponytail, jumping up and down,
Speaker 3: trying to distract the Swedish players, kind of psyche them out.
Speaker 3: I remember watching that match and being like, you know,
Speaker 3: she's got this and her tenacity. She's also an older player,
Speaker 3: just sort of her experience and the joy that it
Speaker 3: brought in her trusting her own gut and her being
Speaker 3: in a really good mental place. Lobby's also a player
Speaker 3: who's been really honest about he struggles with mental health.
Speaker 3: So yeah, you know what, I actually really do believe her.
Speaker 3: And the thing is is that until someone can ultimately
Speaker 3: prove otherwise, irrespective of stats and whatnot, like I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm going to but like you said, this does have
Speaker 3: even if you didn't intend to, you're affected by it.
Speaker 3: And that's what is so frustrating, like really frustrating for
Speaker 3: these players on Team Canada because of the fact that
Speaker 3: what they've been through and they're a team that stands
Speaker 3: about integrity. They have been really supportive of Quinni, They've
Speaker 3: been supportive of social and political issues. They've been really outspoken.
Speaker 3: So to have this happen is just the icing on
Speaker 3: a cake you didn't want.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it just makes me so angry for them. Sharene Wee,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming out. I know you've been doing
Speaker 1: hits left and right talking about all the latest and
Speaker 1: breaking news in this but while we have you, I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you one more thing because I've been
Speaker 1: watching and thinking about you. I've been thinking about my
Speaker 1: friend ip Taj Mohammad. I saw the news of France's
Speaker 1: rule prohibiting French female Muslim athletes from wearing a job
Speaker 1: or headscarves during the Olympics. The athletes are technically considered
Speaker 1: civil servants while they're competing, so they have to adhere
Speaker 1: to principles of secularism.
Speaker 2: That's according to the country's rules. You wear a job.
Speaker 1: You have spoken so eloquently about this, particularly cool things
Speaker 1: like Nike introducing their own hit jobs and things like that, Like,
Speaker 1: how do you see this rule and how.
Speaker 2: Unfair is it to these female athletes in France.
Speaker 3: I think that when we're talking about an Olympics, the
Speaker 3: thirty third Olympiad is being presented as one with gender equity.
Speaker 3: It's a farce. It's hypocritical because the host nation is
Speaker 3: deliberately excluding a particular group of women. I don't know
Speaker 3: how they stand there and do that and look. I
Speaker 3: like Begats as fun much as everybody else. I really
Speaker 3: do love Begattes, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: don't purport to be supportive when selective inclusion doesn't is
Speaker 3: not inclusion at all. And I've said this once and
Speaker 3: have said it again. Forcing women out of clothing is
Speaker 3: as violent as forcing them into it. And in sport
Speaker 3: in particular, let women wear what they want to as
Speaker 3: long as there's no jewel. There could be hurt to
Speaker 3: other opponents or something like that, which is not the
Speaker 3: case with a job. There has been no evidence, because
Speaker 3: I've looked for it, Sarah, that his job will hurt
Speaker 3: a player or an opponent. It's just not it. And
Speaker 3: I think it's really important to understand that. And one
Speaker 3: of the reasons a lot of people didn't know about
Speaker 3: this is because media and France barely reports on this,
Speaker 3: so few do and France really believes in this idea
Speaker 3: of secularism. And at the end of the day, I
Speaker 3: do want to make this distinguishing point is that secularism
Speaker 3: isn't a bad idea if it's implemented fairly, and it's not.
Speaker 3: You see Seri the professional league in France. You have
Speaker 3: South American players with religious tattoos all over them, making
Speaker 3: the sign of the Cross, going on and off the pitch.
Speaker 3: How is that not religious symbolism? Tell me? And honestly,
Speaker 3: when you are isolating black and brown women from a
Speaker 3: particular country. It's so heartbreaking. I have never been discouraged
Speaker 3: in my entire career as much as I have been
Speaker 3: from my sisters in France telling me their stories.
Speaker 1: I think your point is a valid one. Certainly, you
Speaker 1: open Pandora's box if you encourage or allow too many
Speaker 1: statements based on religious beliefs. But this isn't a statement.
Speaker 1: It's a completely harmless piece of attire.
Speaker 2: It's very different.
Speaker 1: And yet we do see statements like how many athletes
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank God first? I start with God,
Speaker 1: here's my God. We know that there's crosses, there's all
Speaker 1: the other things. So yeah, it's been really heartbreaking to watch,
Speaker 1: and it feels like it so flies in the face
Speaker 1: of everything the Olympic stands for. But we're aware that
Speaker 1: it's not a perfect endeavor, as much as it may
Speaker 1: try to be.
Speaker 2: So this is just one of those examples.
Speaker 3: And at the same time, you want to support by
Speaker 3: no means want to take away from the women. But
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, it's about bodily agency
Speaker 3: and letting women wear what they want. I want women
Speaker 3: to wear if they want to wear a bikini or
Speaker 3: a burkini or a Burka. Let them give women the choice,
Speaker 3: and then that's not happening.
Speaker 2: Scharene. We will always choose to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming on. We love you.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, Sarah.
Speaker 2: Next up, it's producer Alex's time to shine.
Speaker 1: We're going to enter Alex's wild and wacky world of
Speaker 1: Olympic fun right after the break. We're back and I'm
Speaker 1: so excited because ever since episode one, we've been hearing
Speaker 1: all about how Alex is an.
Speaker 2: Expert in the Olympics. And to be clear, behind the
Speaker 2: scenes we already know this.
Speaker 1: She's been updating us left and right on every little detail,
Speaker 1: not just that the opening and closing ceremonys are singular
Speaker 1: when they're by themselves, en plural when they're together, but
Speaker 1: so much other stuff.
Speaker 2: So now we're gonna share it with you.
Speaker 1: She's gonna give us some wild and wacky Olympic facts
Speaker 1: so that we can be experts just like her as
Speaker 1: we're watching for the next two weeks. But first we
Speaker 1: need a resume, we need the bona fides so we
Speaker 1: believe you, Alex.
Speaker 2: So why are you such an expert?
Speaker 4: Well, I recently realized that this is the first Olympics
Speaker 4: where I am watching from the other side of the
Speaker 4: TV since twenty ten. And honestly, my first takeaway was
Speaker 4: have there been this many commercials these last day though?
Speaker 4: Because oh my god, there's so many commercials there?
Speaker 2: Really are there? Really are?
Speaker 1: Okay, So you you were a researcher writer, you interviewed
Speaker 1: tons of athletes. Yep.
Speaker 4: So I started out in twenty fifteen, one year ahead
Speaker 4: of the Reo Olympics. As a researcher, it is one
Speaker 4: of the only positions in the world where you get
Speaker 4: to focus on the Olympics all the time as your
Speaker 4: full time job. So I think I traveled to something
Speaker 4: like twelve countries twenty states, interviewed thousands of athletes in
Speaker 4: all of the different sports, had some specialty sports, but
Speaker 4: had to be kind of familiar with all of them.
Speaker 4: And it was a lot of knowledge, a lot of
Speaker 4: brain space getting used up by all of that.
Speaker 1: Well, also, because you weren't just covering American athletes, right,
Speaker 1: you were doing a lot of research and covering of
Speaker 1: like all the athletes around the globe.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: That was one of the things that I realized when
Speaker 4: I first started that job was that it is a
Speaker 4: lot easier to track down an American athlete on the
Speaker 4: phone on zoom at a national competition than it is
Speaker 4: a Chinese diver or a Mongolian wrestler. And so when
Speaker 4: I would travel to competitions, my priority would be primarily
Speaker 4: international athletes, getting to know them, chasing them down. A
Speaker 4: lot of times, chasing them down also required finding somebody
Speaker 4: to translate, whether it was a teammate or an athletic
Speaker 4: trainer or some volunteer at the venue, just to be
Speaker 4: able to get some basic information across, like when did
Speaker 4: you start this sport and where do you live and
Speaker 4: why do you enjoy it? And it's one of those
Speaker 4: things that I got to know so many international athletes,
Speaker 4: and believe me, they have the same sacrifices, the same
Speaker 4: journeys to get to the Games. And it's a sadness
Speaker 4: that I feel every time that I watch the Olympics
Speaker 4: that it feels like, more recently, the Games have become
Speaker 4: in this country very much an America first, USA number
Speaker 4: one type event, where we're only talking about Team USA
Speaker 4: and very rarely are we talking about international athletes, and
Speaker 4: very rarely are we also talking about international athletes. That
Speaker 4: aren't from Western countries, and there's so many great stories
Speaker 4: out there, and I wish more were known.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: I mean, it already feels so hard to watch all
Speaker 1: the American things and get all those stories. So I
Speaker 1: understand the plight of the people trying to produce and
Speaker 1: put everything together. But I agree that there are some
Speaker 1: really incredible stories, and there's a lot more room to
Speaker 1: tell the.
Speaker 2: Stories of the globe, because that's kind of the point
Speaker 2: of the Olympics.
Speaker 4: If not at the Olympics, then when are we going
Speaker 4: to do.
Speaker 1: It exactly wild and wacky facts promised by Alex Are
Speaker 1: you starting at the bottom of the top one or seven?
Speaker 4: Oh, let's start with number one. So Jymnasts travel with
Speaker 4: their own chalk. They make sure to put it in
Speaker 4: a separate bag than their leos, because the worst thing
Speaker 4: that could possibly happen is having chalk explode on your
Speaker 4: leo mid flight. But if you're wondering why on aren't
Speaker 4: they bring their own chalk, it is because the look
Speaker 4: and the feel and the consistency of chalk can vary
Speaker 4: from one country to the next, and you want to
Speaker 4: make sure that you have the right chalk with you.
Speaker 4: Sidney Lee once told me that she likes rough chalk
Speaker 4: because it makes it easier for her to grip the
Speaker 4: bars and she can actually tell when a country uses
Speaker 4: smooth chalk and uses the bars in in front of
Speaker 4: her and she has to kind of clean it off
Speaker 4: and then apply her own chalk to make it feel right.
Speaker 1: I was unaware that there was ruffed and soft chalk,
Speaker 1: but that makes sense. It actually reminds me of when
Speaker 1: I landed in Iceland and ordered to coffee, and I
Speaker 1: didn't know that you needed to specify milk to get
Speaker 1: like cow's milk, so it's made with malted milk powder,
Speaker 1: which was absolutely disgusting. And it reminded me that, like
Speaker 1: wherever you are, you might need to like just double
Speaker 1: check those things. So chalk and milk, just always ask
Speaker 1: or bring your own.
Speaker 4: Most athletes also bring their own coffee too. Yeah, you
Speaker 4: don't want to be at the Olympics without your preferred
Speaker 4: brand of coffee.
Speaker 2: Totally makes sense. That's a great one, b yoc bring
Speaker 2: your own chalk.
Speaker 4: Okay, number two diving. The next time that you watch,
Speaker 4: look at the pool and see if you can spot
Speaker 4: the sprinklers. Yes, there are sprinklers running during the competition.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: The reason for that is because imagine that you are
Speaker 4: doing three twists and two flips through the air super fast.
Speaker 4: If the pool is glassy, it is really really hard
Speaker 4: to tell if you're one foot away from it or
Speaker 4: ten feet away from it, and so they have to
Speaker 4: make sure that the water is always disrupted so that
Speaker 4: the athletes can have a good sense of how far
Speaker 4: away they are.
Speaker 1: That explains why I can't complete those dives at my
Speaker 1: local pool. If they put a sprinkler in there, I'd
Speaker 1: probably be just as good as the Olympians, exactly good.
Speaker 2: Note good note, good note, I'm requesting a sprinkler now.
Speaker 4: Number three, Speaking of sports with sprinklers, field hockey. If
Speaker 4: you've seen field hockey at any of the recent Olympics,
Speaker 4: you will have seen that it is played on a
Speaker 4: blue field and with a yellow ball, and it honestly
Speaker 4: looks kind of strange because grass is green, right, except
Speaker 4: that field hockey is played on AstroTurf. And if you're
Speaker 4: wondering why it's blue, it's actually because a series of
Speaker 4: tests that field Hockey's International Federation did about a decade ago,
Speaker 4: and they wanted to make sure that people watching at
Speaker 4: home were able to appreciate the sport and how fast
Speaker 4: it is. And so they looked at the data, did
Speaker 4: a bunch of tests with different cameras and found that
Speaker 4: a yellow ball on a blue field provided the most
Speaker 4: contrast so that people could see it.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: You know who doesn't appreciate how fast high level field
Speaker 1: hockey is because it's played on turf? Someone who was
Speaker 1: all stayed in field hockey on grass and then realized
Speaker 1: that if she was going to play in college, she
Speaker 1: was going to get absolutely dusted. That being me because
Speaker 1: I was a fast runner, but the hand eye coordination
Speaker 1: was about to get toasted. To the collegiate level, watching
Speaker 1: field hockey is very difficult if you're not familiar with it,
Speaker 1: but I urge people to look up a couple rules
Speaker 1: and give it a shot. It is incredible, especially at
Speaker 1: the highest levels. The stuff that they can do is
Speaker 1: out of this world. So I did not know that
Speaker 1: was the reason for the blue fields, Alex, keep them coming.
Speaker 2: You are educating us all right.
Speaker 4: Number four. So some of you may know that breakdancing, Yes,
Speaker 4: break dancing is making its Olympic debut in Paris, But
Speaker 4: did you know that breakdancers, They don't choose what music
Speaker 4: they danced to. There is a DJ that is the
Speaker 4: person that picks out the tunes, so it's kind of
Speaker 4: like improv but for dance.
Speaker 1: That was fascinating to me when I learned that, because
Speaker 1: I assumed it would be hard enough to do with
Speaker 1: a routine that you practiced over and over, when in
Speaker 1: fact they are improvising based on the music being played
Speaker 1: and they're getting judged on like rhythm and elegance and
Speaker 1: the moves and the difficulty, but also.
Speaker 2: The beauty of it. So it really is so artistic,
Speaker 2: which is so cool. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: Okay, moving on to track and field, the biggest sport
Speaker 4: at the Games. So in track and field, it is
Speaker 4: possible to start after the gun but still get dechewed
Speaker 4: after a false start, and that is because athletes have
Speaker 4: a zero point one second margin that World Athletics believes
Speaker 4: if somebody starts within that margin, their brain actually wasn't
Speaker 4: able to react that fast. So you're supposed to start fast,
Speaker 4: but not too fast, and I think that this rule
Speaker 4: is outdated. I think athletes at this point actually can
Speaker 4: start faster than point zero one seconds. Having interviewed a
Speaker 4: ton of track and field athletes too. One of the
Speaker 4: first things that I noticed was they gesticulate so fast
Speaker 4: their hands. You look at them and one second their
Speaker 4: hands are here, and then the next second they're put away.
Speaker 4: Fast twitch muscles people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, their brains are probably fast twitched too.
Speaker 1: Who's to say that we haven't evolved to a quicker
Speaker 1: reaction time off the blocks?
Speaker 2: Good one, Good one.
Speaker 4: Here's a riddle for y'all. In this Olympic sport, the
Speaker 4: host city may change, but the ground remains the same.
Speaker 4: Any Guessa, Sarah, The.
Speaker 2: Host city may change, but the ground remains the same.
Speaker 2: I truly do not.
Speaker 4: Know talking about beach volleyball, and that is because the
Speaker 4: sand in Paris was extracted from the same cory that
Speaker 4: supplied sand for the twenty twelve London and twenty sixteen
Speaker 4: Rio Games. And before you say sand is sand, hear
Speaker 4: me out. This sand is super fine, which provides a
Speaker 4: more stable base so that they're able to jump higher.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you also don't want sand like when it's
Speaker 1: got like little Indian beads and like rocks and like
Speaker 1: things in it that you might snag a toe on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. I've actually heard of beach volleyball players finding
Speaker 4: like rusty nails in the sand. So make sure you're
Speaker 4: up to date on tetanus shots, folks.
Speaker 2: That's a great fact too.
Speaker 1: I think for all the athletes, regardless of event, just
Speaker 1: be up to date on tetanus. And you know what, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, even if you're not an Olympian, you
Speaker 1: never know when you might come across a name or bat.
Speaker 2: All right, Alex, of those are your facts.
Speaker 1: I have one mare, all right, the big finale.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: In swimming, you may have heard of the four strokes, right, freestyle, backstroke, breastroke,
Speaker 4: and butterfly. But what if I told you freestyle is
Speaker 4: not actually a stroke. It is freestyle. You are technically
Speaker 4: allowed in a freestyle race to do whatever stroke you want.
Speaker 4: You could backstroke in a freestyle race. You could breastroke
Speaker 4: in a freestyle race, but no one does that because
Speaker 4: it is slower to do that than it is to
Speaker 4: do the front crawl. So for all intents and purposes,
Speaker 4: front crawl equals freestyle. But I really would love to
Speaker 4: see somebody who's just really really fast at butterfly say
Speaker 4: this is how going to do my freestyle today?
Speaker 2: Yeah, doggy paddle watch me.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's very fast though, so you'd be
Speaker 1: watching me lose, but it'd be funny. Alex is wild
Speaker 1: and wacky Olympic facts. We're all going to be more
Speaker 1: educated when we watch. Actually I did not ask her
Speaker 1: or if I could do this before. And if you
Speaker 1: have any Olympic questions, at by alex Azzie is where
Speaker 1: you can find her on Twitter.
Speaker 2: She's up all hours of the night.
Speaker 1: She's got nothing going on, like she said, she's just
Speaker 1: going to parties and giving people Olympic facts, So she
Speaker 1: would love to hear your questions.
Speaker 2: Just throw them at her at Buy alex Azie, whatever
Speaker 2: you got, she'll be there to answer.
Speaker 4: And if you can stop me, I'll send you a prize.
Speaker 2: Oooh all right.
Speaker 1: We also got some great responses to fight me. We
Speaker 1: asked you the summer Olympic athletes who wanted to join
Speaker 1: you in a bar fight versus some juice and cheating Russians.
Speaker 1: Josh Bart said Hope Solo, And I literally cannot believe
Speaker 1: I forgot Hope Solo, Like there is no one better
Speaker 1: in a bar fight.
Speaker 2: I can almost guarantee it.
Speaker 1: The gal's over at galpal Sports said, shot putter Raven
Speaker 1: Hulk Saunders amazing. Also equestrians Laura Kraut, assuming we get
Speaker 1: Cedric the horse too amazing. I want a horse in
Speaker 1: my bar fight. Also a horse walks into a bar
Speaker 1: like There's so many places we can go with that.
Speaker 1: At Chief Underscore one twelve, shot putter Chase Foster Jackson
Speaker 1: and discus thrower Longet Saga Collins paired with Simone Biles,
Speaker 1: Shannon Miller and Gabby Douglas. The throwers throw the gymnasts
Speaker 1: at the Russians.
Speaker 2: Game over. Game over, you win so good. Don't forget that.
Speaker 1: You can hit us up on our email good game
Speaker 1: at wondermedianetwork dot com, or on social at Sarah Spain
Speaker 1: on Twitter, or you can even leave us a voicemail
Speaker 1: message eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy. We
Speaker 1: love that you're listening, but we do want to get
Speaker 1: you in the game every day too, So here's our
Speaker 1: good gameplay of the day. Make sure you watch USA
Speaker 1: Waterpolo taken on Spain nine thirty five Eastern today AM
Speaker 1: on the USA Network and streaming on Peacock. Team started
Speaker 1: their quest for Gold with a fifteen to six victory
Speaker 1: over Greece. This weekend, Spain won fifteen to six over
Speaker 1: host country France and their opener. Also, USA women's basketball
Speaker 1: plays game one of their Olympic tournament against Japan three
Speaker 1: pm Eastern on Peacock and Nbcolympics dot Com. Dinah Trossi said,
Speaker 1: this is your last Olympics, so you don't want to
Speaker 1: miss a second of it. If you're feeling the vi
Speaker 1: for our show, don't forget to subscribe and follow the
Speaker 1: pod rate and review two. It's easy watch Morning Walks
Speaker 1: rating four out of five stars. Review Et cons it's
Speaker 1: early pros serene, no one to bother you, Crisp Morning
Speaker 1: Air promotes blood flow, releases indorphins, and it tires out.
Speaker 1: You're insane, one year old beast child of a dog,
Speaker 1: so you could get your work done. Thanks as always
Speaker 1: for listening. Come on back tomorrow. Good game, Selene, Good game, Scharene.
Speaker 2: Fuck you had job bands.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2: You can find us on.
Speaker 1: The iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzi
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Speaker 1: Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Jenny Kaplan,
Speaker 1: Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and Grace Lynch. Production assistants from
Speaker 1: Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah span eight