Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where our translucent
Speaker 1: winner body is finally starting to get a little tan.
Speaker 1: This Arizona sun is doing wonders for our vibes. It's Friday,
Speaker 1: February twenty eighth. On today's show, you'll hear from a
Speaker 1: true legend, one of the best Bob's letters in the world,
Speaker 1: Alana Meyers Taylor. We spoke a few weeks ago when
Speaker 1: she was fresh off a World Cup Monobob Race victory
Speaker 1: and preparing for the upcoming IBSF bob Sled and Skeleton
Speaker 1: World Championships in Lake Placid. We talked winning after forty,
Speaker 1: racing after babies, two of them, meddling in a men's event,
Speaker 1: racism and sliding sports, and so much more. Now before
Speaker 1: we get to that interview, no length they need to
Speaker 1: knowe today, but we know we can't leave you hanging
Speaker 1: without a speed round of what to look forward to
Speaker 1: over the weekend. So in college hoops, we've got a
Speaker 1: big one Saturday night with number two UCLA hosting number
Speaker 1: four USC. The two teams met in early February, with
Speaker 1: USC sophomore Juju Watkins scoring a massive thirty eight points
Speaker 1: to hand UCLA it's first loss of the season. Both
Speaker 1: teams are undefeated since so Saturday night, its contest is
Speaker 1: sure to be a good one. In Vib's Love has
Speaker 1: one game tonight and to tomorrow, and the PVF has
Speaker 1: double headers both Saturday and Sunday on the ice. The
Speaker 1: PWHL's inaction on Saturday. In Pro Hoops Unrivals got a
Speaker 1: double header tonight with two more games tomorrow, and it's
Speaker 1: championship weekend for Athletes Unlimited. They'll crown the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five AU Pro Basketball champion in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday.
Speaker 1: We'll throw all those schedules. In our show notes, we
Speaker 1: got to take a quick break. Alana Meyers Taylor and
Speaker 1: Moore coming up next welcome back slices before our conversation
Speaker 1: with Alana Meyers Taylor, a black woman who is one
Speaker 1: of the best Bob's letters on the planet. Did you
Speaker 1: know that one of the first Bob's letters to put
Speaker 1: Team USA on the map was also a black woman.
Speaker 1: That's right, y'all. It's time for an epic mashup of segments,
Speaker 1: not just our latest Black History Months Spotlight, but also
Speaker 1: the latest edition of Yes and okay, let's set the scene.
Speaker 1: Back in the early two thousands, the US had never
Speaker 1: won a women's bob sled medal. In fact, no country
Speaker 1: had because it was one of the few Olympic sports
Speaker 1: left without a women's event. Then, ahead of the two
Speaker 1: thousand and two Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the
Speaker 1: International Olympic Committee added women's bobsled aka bob slay. Tomato
Speaker 1: Tomato Abiza Abitha enter Vanetta Flowers. She had an extensive
Speaker 1: track and field background as a sprinter and long jumper
Speaker 1: and earned NCAA All American honors seven times at the
Speaker 1: University of Alabama, Birmingham. Flowers actually qualified for the US
Speaker 1: Olympic Trials twice, first in one hundred meters in ninety six,
Speaker 1: then in long jump in two thousand, but she never
Speaker 1: made Team USA and was just about ready to retire
Speaker 1: from competition when her husband Johnny, convinced her to try
Speaker 1: out for the bob sled team. She made that cut,
Speaker 1: became the top US breakwoman, and raced with teammate Jill
Speaker 1: Bachin in the two thousand and two Games. The pair
Speaker 1: went on to win the first women's bob sled gold
Speaker 1: medal ever. Awarded. Flowers also became the first black athlete
Speaker 1: to win gold in an Olympic Winner Games. She actually
Speaker 1: didn't know that until a reporter asked her about it
Speaker 1: after finishing the race. She said, quote, I hope this
Speaker 1: won't be the end of it. I hope you'll see
Speaker 1: other African American girls and boys who want to give
Speaker 1: winter sports a try, because there are not a lot
Speaker 1: out there. End quote. Flowers continued competing in bob's led events,
Speaker 1: winning a bronze medal at the four World Championships and
Speaker 1: finishing sixth that the six Olympics in turn in Italy.
Speaker 1: After six she retired from the sport. Flowers made a
Speaker 1: mark that can't be erased, and to this day, half
Speaker 1: of the US women's bob sled medalists have been black
Speaker 1: athletes like Alana Meyers Taylor. So yes to new friend
Speaker 1: of the show, Alana, and to Vanetta Flowers, who paved
Speaker 1: or should I say plowed the way.
Speaker 2: Yes and.
Speaker 1: All right, y'all, now that you know some of the
Speaker 1: history of the bob sled, let's get back to the present.
Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with Alana Meyers Taylor joining us. Now
Speaker 1: she's one of the best bob's sled in the world,
Speaker 1: hot off the heels of her first World Cup Mono
Speaker 1: bob race victory two. Actually, she's a five time Olympic medalist,
Speaker 1: winning three silvers and two bronze across four different Olympics,
Speaker 1: a nine time World Championship medalist, owning four golds, two
Speaker 1: silvers and three bronze, and she's won twenty one World
Speaker 1: Cup races as of this recording. She's a graduate of
Speaker 1: George Washington University, where she was a member of the
Speaker 1: softball team. She's the most decorated black athlete in the
Speaker 1: history of the Winter Olympics, an activist, a former president
Speaker 1: of the Women's Sports Foundation, Mom Tanico and Noah, and
Speaker 1: a former bride on say Yes to the Dress it's
Speaker 1: the money aka Alana Meyers Taylor. What's up a lotta
Speaker 1: that much?
Speaker 2: So I find it very funny you brought to say
Speaker 2: yes to the dress. That's something most people miss. It's
Speaker 2: something I don't talk about much, but that was a
Speaker 2: good fine So I got.
Speaker 1: To find that episode. When I was getting ready for
Speaker 1: my wedding, I became obsessive about say yes to the dress.
Speaker 1: And then of course as soon as I got married.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm good now, but I've watched it
Speaker 1: a ton when I was getting ready.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so did I before I was audit and ever
Speaker 2: since I was audit up like, I'm okay, that's good.
Speaker 1: You're scarred from fourteen ou Clineman's okay. Most important question. First,
Speaker 1: are you a Bob Sled or a Bob Sleigh kind
Speaker 1: of gal?
Speaker 2: Bob Sled for sure. I mean, the rest of the
Speaker 2: world says Bob Sleigh. But we're American. We make up
Speaker 2: our own stuff all the time, So Bob Sled it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're sticking with feet. Screw your meters exactly. We're
Speaker 1: going to do it our way.
Speaker 2: I prefer the meters, though, the meters. We've been doing
Speaker 2: this for so long Kilograham's meters. All the metric systems works.
Speaker 1: For me now, well, for sports, it's kind of necessary.
Speaker 1: You know. I did track, so of course we ran
Speaker 1: in meters and all the throws were in meters, so
Speaker 1: like all that stuff, it's hard to fight that one.
Speaker 1: But I like that you're sticking with Bob Sled. That's
Speaker 1: very American of you. Let's talk about those most recent
Speaker 1: World Cup wins I mentioned You've had so much success
Speaker 1: across the Olympics and World championships, you've pretty much done
Speaker 1: it all. But you hadn't won an international mono bob
Speaker 1: race that's the one person bob sledding event for female athletes,
Speaker 1: until just a few weeks ago in Saint Mort's when
Speaker 1: you won twice. Was that on a checklist? Was it
Speaker 1: sort of hanging over your head? Is something you hadn't done?
Speaker 2: No? Actually, because when I started monobob, and I didn't
Speaker 2: start monobob until after I had Nico, so I think
Speaker 2: twenty twenty twenty twenty one was my first season doing it,
Speaker 2: so it was a world series, it was just called
Speaker 2: something differently. So I had won event on that series,
Speaker 2: the World Series, but never won a World Cup. And
Speaker 2: actually I didn't even know I hadn't never won a
Speaker 2: World Cup, Like, I didn't really even understand the distinction.
Speaker 2: So for that to be a stat and for that
Speaker 2: to get announced last week, I was like, Oh, that's
Speaker 2: pretty cool. But also I think it's just pretty cool
Speaker 2: because of how old I am, you know, to be
Speaker 2: able to do the solo monobob, you know, rely so
Speaker 2: much on your athleticism on top of your driving. So
Speaker 2: to be able to be forty years old and show
Speaker 2: that I could still win by myself was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Feat that is pretty cool, and we love as we
Speaker 1: say on this show, we quote Diana Tarassi, old people
Speaker 1: have dreams too. What were the feelings heading in then,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't something you were aware you needed to
Speaker 1: check off, was it just another race or was there
Speaker 1: this element of like, Okay, I'm over forty now I've
Speaker 1: got two kids, like this is every race is sort
Speaker 1: of an opportunity to continue to prove myself.
Speaker 2: It was a little bit of both, because I had
Speaker 2: been so close, Like it just seemed like all season long,
Speaker 2: things just weren't going right. And I knew I could
Speaker 2: win races still, I knew I could be at the
Speaker 2: top of the podium, and it just felt like, you know,
Speaker 2: whether it was bad weather or bad circumstances or it
Speaker 2: just it felt like all the pieces just weren't coming together.
Speaker 2: So I was eager and I was frustrated. I've been
Speaker 2: frustrated the whole season. I was like, this luck's got
Speaker 2: to give eventually. And even in that track in State Moritz,
Speaker 2: like I had been driving really well, I'd been doing
Speaker 2: really well at training, and then the first week they
Speaker 2: were there, they actually canceled the race, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I've actually been doing really well on this track. So
Speaker 2: I was really eager to get back there and be
Speaker 2: able to have those opportunities to race Mono Bob again
Speaker 2: because I knew I could be successful on that track.
Speaker 2: In particular, I knew like it was only a matter
Speaker 2: of time before the pieces came together and I could
Speaker 2: show that I could win again.
Speaker 1: Talk about the monobob. It was just added a few
Speaker 1: years ago for those who aren't familiar with the sort
Speaker 1: of ins and outs of Bob's led. For nearly a century,
Speaker 1: men have competed in the two man and the four
Speaker 1: man events, and women just got their first Olympic bobsled
Speaker 1: event the two women in two thousand and two, and
Speaker 1: then the second the monobob was added twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Or did you start in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 2: Actually they started doing it on the lower level circuit
Speaker 2: in after the twenty eighteen Olympics, so right after that
Speaker 2: year they'd started, but not on the highest level. So
Speaker 2: I was competing on the highest level with two man,
Speaker 2: so I just never had the opportunity until it finally
Speaker 2: got added to the World Cup or World Series circuit
Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty season, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: Seasons, and then the Olympics in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, but it they'd always been around as like
Speaker 2: development sleds, so people will learn how to drive in
Speaker 2: it and then you just go and get into two man.
Speaker 2: But I had never actually driven a monobob, So it's
Speaker 2: funny when I started driving a monobob there were younger
Speaker 2: drivers who had way more experience in it than I had,
Speaker 2: even though I'd been driving at that for twelve years already.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's annoying. That's like when they introduced a new
Speaker 1: technology that young people immediately understand and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I've already learned all the other technologies. This is bullshit. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you had long campaign for the for Women event,
Speaker 1: but the people in charge decided instead to add the
Speaker 1: monobob to the Olympics instead. So what was the rationale
Speaker 1: given for that decision.
Speaker 2: So there's quite a few different reasons that were given.
Speaker 2: Whether or not they're all true, who knows. But one
Speaker 2: of it was because they thought having the monobob would
Speaker 2: allow more nations to get involved than more small nations.
Speaker 2: The problem with the monobob though, is you still need
Speaker 2: two people because you still have the person driving it,
Speaker 2: but you still need people to move the equipment, to
Speaker 2: prepare the equipment, and all this kind of stuff. So
Speaker 2: you still need a breakman, whether or not you have
Speaker 2: it or not. So it has allowed more nations to
Speaker 2: get involved, but just not as the levels they thought
Speaker 2: it would. And also they just said, oh, four men
Speaker 2: would be too expensive and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But the problem is with monobob you also have to
Speaker 2: buy new sleds. Like nobody had all these competitive monolbobs
Speaker 2: sitting around, so people had to buy new sleds versus
Speaker 2: a foe man. There were plenty of four man sleds
Speaker 2: sitting around. All you had to do was pick one up.
Speaker 2: And as TMOSA, we had tons and tons of sleds.
Speaker 2: But now we're buying monobob sleds every year, which is
Speaker 2: something we might have to do as a foreman. So
Speaker 2: there's a little ins and out. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: like I was grateful to have an opportunity to even
Speaker 2: have two chances to medal, So it's like a double
Speaker 2: edged sword. I wanted it for women because I believe
Speaker 2: it gave more opportunities for more women to win a medal.
Speaker 2: And I'm a team sport athlete coming from softball, like
Speaker 2: I wanted to have that team atmosphere versus the monobob.
Speaker 2: It just really gives the drivers another opportunity to meddle,
Speaker 2: which you know, the brakemen just have to do all
Speaker 2: the work on a monobob day but getting none of
Speaker 2: the glory, which is seems kind of backwards to me.
Speaker 1: Okay, I have some follow ups for us non bob
Speaker 1: sled experts. First of all, men and women use the
Speaker 1: same sled so when you say that there's four men
Speaker 1: sleds popping around everywhere, the women could have used the
Speaker 1: same ones that are used for those Yep.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two Olympics meet and a driver free
Speaker 2: del Duca actually use exact same sled in those games.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we use we used to say same sleds
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 1: A lot of pressure not to wreck someone's ride.
Speaker 2: We actually wrecked each other's sleds. So he wrecked mine,
Speaker 2: I got him back, borrowed his, and wrecked his. Uh
Speaker 2: not intentional. Nobody ever wants to crash course sometimes.
Speaker 1: Okay, second follow up. Then, so the mono bob they
Speaker 1: they thought that it'd be easier for there to be
Speaker 1: this less expensive sled and for more people to participate
Speaker 1: because across the world there might be more single folks
Speaker 1: who wanted to do this as opposed to amassing a
Speaker 1: four person team paying for a four person sled. But
Speaker 1: ultimately the onus is then on that one athlete to
Speaker 1: pay for things and to do things. Tell us more
Speaker 1: about the brakeman and why they are so involved even
Speaker 1: if they're not actually in the sled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the monobob, it's the same exact runners which
Speaker 2: are blades as the two person sled. So before a
Speaker 2: race you have to prepare those You have to stand
Speaker 2: them down, make sure there is frictionless as possible, get
Speaker 2: out any scratches, and one runner alone could take an
Speaker 2: hour at least, so you're talking four runners in four
Speaker 2: hours of just on your feet preparing those runners. You
Speaker 2: have to move the sled back and forth, and so
Speaker 2: the brakemen are doing all that work on race days,
Speaker 2: even in a two man competition, like we don't move
Speaker 2: our own sleds. The brakemen and the coaches and everything.
Speaker 2: All the staff do that for us. So if you
Speaker 2: could imagine then on race days and a mono bob,
Speaker 2: all the brakemen, all from around the world are doing
Speaker 2: all the work, moving all the sleds. But like I said,
Speaker 2: we come down and win a medal and they just
Speaker 2: cheer for us because they don't get one themselves, which
Speaker 2: is like I said, it's always felt backwards to me, and.
Speaker 1: That's a totally different skill set. It's not something that
Speaker 1: a driver would also learn.
Speaker 2: No drivers, we've learned all that, so we do it too,
Speaker 2: but and especially me, I spent three years as a brakemen,
Speaker 2: so we do it too, but not to the same
Speaker 2: extent as the brakemen do. The brakemen are like the workhorses,
Speaker 2: literally the workhorses, because they're responsible for so much of
Speaker 2: the push at the beginning regards to monopop has caused
Speaker 2: drivers to get in better shape because we have to
Speaker 2: push the slide by ourselves. But in other regards, like
Speaker 2: it's just a lot of more work for breakmen who
Speaker 2: don't get to participate in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I read about you recruiting a breakman by finding
Speaker 1: out that she could like deadlift a certain amount, and
Speaker 1: you were like, why don't you give it a shot?
Speaker 1: Come on over, I'll teach how okay, is getting a
Speaker 1: four women event in the Olympics program something you'd still
Speaker 1: like to see or that other Bob's letters are still
Speaker 1: pushing for.
Speaker 2: I would like to see it. However, I've had this
Speaker 2: conversation now with the younger pilots and said, hey, look,
Speaker 2: this is your game now, like I'm done after these games,
Speaker 2: Like I've had my time. I think four man is
Speaker 2: a way to go. By the end of the day,
Speaker 2: If you guys decide you want to stick with monobob
Speaker 2: and that's what you want to see the future of
Speaker 2: a sport look like, then I'm going to support you
Speaker 2: in any way possible, Like it's time for you guys
Speaker 2: to step up and take over this, and like, I'm
Speaker 2: going to do whatever I can to support you. But
Speaker 2: you know, I might disagree with you, but at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, I'm not going to be the
Speaker 2: one controlling direction of the sports. You guys to take
Speaker 2: the mantle and decide where you want to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that, Saint Marit's victory was your first win since
Speaker 1: the birth of your second child. Noah in November of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. What were you feeling. Was it relief
Speaker 1: that you made it back on top of the podium
Speaker 1: or was it calm because you were certain you'd be back.
Speaker 2: It was relief relief because, like I said, this season
Speaker 2: had been so much struggle from that point and just
Speaker 2: there's been so many times where I've been close, Like
Speaker 2: in Aldenberg, Germany, our first race of the year, I
Speaker 2: came down and I was in the top three, I
Speaker 2: was in metal position and then came down and crashed,
Speaker 2: and like to start the season off of that and
Speaker 2: then just to go in every week knowing I could
Speaker 2: win and just not putting the piece together, it was
Speaker 2: just frustrating. So when I finally did it, it was just
Speaker 2: relief and it was like, Okay, now we're ready to
Speaker 2: do something. Now we're ready to get back in the
Speaker 2: swing of things, and now we can move forward and
Speaker 2: go into this the rest of the season and into
Speaker 2: the Olympic season knowing that we saw the potential to win.
Speaker 2: So it was really good feeling though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the first mono Bob Gold, first since Noah,
Speaker 1: first after turning forty and Saint Moritz is where your
Speaker 1: husband Nick proposed to you at the metal podium at
Speaker 1: the twenty thirteen World Championships after you won gold and
Speaker 1: mixed team. So this is kind of a special place
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, it's it's like one of my favorite tracks
Speaker 2: in the world, one of my favorite places in the world.
Speaker 2: Like I could easily spend the rest of my life
Speaker 2: in Saint Marit's move there and be happy and drive
Speaker 2: taxi bobs forever. I don't know if that will actually happen.
Speaker 2: My husband still got a job to do and stuff.
Speaker 2: Somebody's got to afford all this, so yep, so we'll see.
Speaker 2: But I just absolutely love it there, and if you
Speaker 2: have never gotten a chance to go and do it
Speaker 2: every time you go there, like last year, I had
Speaker 2: a different nanny than I do this year, I made
Speaker 2: sure they take Bob said rides down it, get past
Speaker 2: your rides and all that kind of stuff. So it's
Speaker 2: just one of the coolest places in the world. And
Speaker 2: it's the birth of Bob said. So you know you
Speaker 2: can't help but like love it there.
Speaker 1: I've been to Switzerland, which I loved, but not Saint Maritz,
Speaker 1: so I got to add it to the list. I've
Speaker 1: always wondered, And I've never spoken to someone who got
Speaker 1: that proposal like on top of another joyful event, end
Speaker 1: of a race, after a title game, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So what were the emotions. Was it like, oh my
Speaker 1: god that now I'm celebrating the race, or is it
Speaker 1: like whoa, this is so cool?
Speaker 2: Well, initially I told him because I thought he was
Speaker 2: going to propose at Christmas, like you know, a normal
Speaker 2: Christmas proposal. So I told him. I was like, absolutely,
Speaker 2: do not propose it world championships, Like, don't do it.
Speaker 2: I want World Championships to be about worlds. I wanted
Speaker 2: my proposal to be about by proposal. But it ended
Speaker 2: up being really cool, and I'm glad you didn't listen
Speaker 2: to me, because it was just like to have that
Speaker 2: moment and it'll be on the podium and get down
Speaker 2: on one knee and be freezing cold, and to have
Speaker 2: the memories and the video that will last last time,
Speaker 2: Like it's a really cool thing to look back on.
Speaker 2: And you know, we've got we've got a newspaper coverings
Speaker 2: of it in like Zech Republic covering and all over
Speaker 2: the world people covering it. So that's a memory that
Speaker 2: we'll have forever, and it's pretty cool to go back
Speaker 2: there now with my two sons, and he was able
Speaker 2: to join us for that weekend too with the mono.
Speaker 2: Bab wins to have the whole family there again and
Speaker 2: look back and be like, oh my gosh, that was
Speaker 2: twenty thirteen. That was been in this sport a long time,
Speaker 2: twelve years ago.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: To have that moment of humfortable circle is really cool.
Speaker 1: Quite a precedent to set for the marriage though, that
Speaker 1: you told him not to and he did it anyway. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you got to look out for that. We're going to
Speaker 1: take a quick break when we come back more with
Speaker 1: Alana Meyers Taylor. I've got an internet friend named Ken Childs.
Speaker 1: He covers all things Bob's leed and skeleton and luge,
Speaker 1: so shout out his sight sliding on ice dot com.
Speaker 1: And I asked him what he'd want to ask you
Speaker 1: if he sat down with you, and he said, he's
Speaker 1: interested in how you mentally handled coming back from maternity
Speaker 1: leave and not being as strong as a starter when
Speaker 1: you first came back, Like, what was the work you
Speaker 1: did to be patient getting your push start back?
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm still not the most patient person. That's the
Speaker 2: hardest thing, and I'm still harder on myself, and actually
Speaker 2: coming back from Noah has been much harder than coming
Speaker 2: back from Nico, like both kids, unfortunately. I say unfortunately
Speaker 2: because I really had wanted to have a non sea
Speaker 2: section birth and I had sea sections both of them
Speaker 2: after laboring for two days with both of them, so.
Speaker 1: Oh, man, rest in both worlds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So Noah was really really tough recovery. It took
Speaker 2: me a long time to run. It took me a
Speaker 2: long time to get back, and I still am not
Speaker 2: at the peak physical fitness that I was, like even
Speaker 2: eight months after having Nico, So it's been a much
Speaker 2: longer road and it is frustrating, like some days I
Speaker 2: just won't have it. And it's very frustrating as an
Speaker 2: elite athlete to know that you still have the capability
Speaker 2: inside you, but it's so dependent on like what else
Speaker 2: I've got going on, like whether or not I got
Speaker 2: a good night's sleep, or whether or not I've been
Speaker 2: able to get enough water or all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: And it's always been that way as an athlete, but
Speaker 2: now it's even more so so, like if I have
Speaker 2: a rough night with the kids, I'm now what a
Speaker 2: tenth behind the fastest pushers, where if I have a
Speaker 2: great night and if youthing goes well, then I can
Speaker 2: be even closer. So it's just going in there day
Speaker 2: after day and just putting in the work, but also
Speaker 2: realizing that, you know, I've accomplished so much in my
Speaker 2: career and all of this is opportunity. Like I've got
Speaker 2: the opportunity to go out there and do something cool,
Speaker 2: do something special, and some days it's going to work
Speaker 2: out and some days it's not. And just keeping that perspective.
Speaker 2: It's like, this is a really cool experience. Not many
Speaker 2: people say they've been able to compete in elite sport
Speaker 2: at the age of forty with two kids. So I
Speaker 2: just go out there and do what I can every day.
Speaker 1: Gratitude practice. That's good. It's very smart. Keeps you grounded.
Speaker 1: Fellow Bob's letter Fellow tam Usa Bob's letter. Kaylie Humphries
Speaker 1: is currently in the middle of that journey. She's coming
Speaker 1: back from baby. Have you spoken to her, given her
Speaker 1: any advice, maybe about some potential speed bumps she might
Speaker 1: not have thought of.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. I just encourage her and try to
Speaker 2: encourage her. And then recently we raced in a track
Speaker 2: at Eagles, Austria, and it really is one of those
Speaker 2: tracks like this is the worst track to come back
Speaker 2: from postpartum because it's what we call a pusher's track
Speaker 2: and the start time matters so much there. And so
Speaker 2: I just congratulated her on getting through that race because
Speaker 2: that was the race like you dread postpartum because you're like, ah,
Speaker 2: I'm not in I'm not in the bus shape yet,
Speaker 2: I'm really going to take a hit on the rankings,
Speaker 2: and you know, she came back and competed, and you know,
Speaker 2: we share stories sometimes about what it's like for the
Speaker 2: kids to be up at night and things like that,
Speaker 2: and now having been through that experience twice, you know,
Speaker 2: just trying to help her in any way I can,
Speaker 2: because I know how difficult it is just to come
Speaker 2: back and just to figure out like the day to
Speaker 2: day of what it's like. And even for us, you know,
Speaker 2: we're traveling all a different place every week with our kids,
Speaker 2: driving sometimes eight hours in the car with a baby,
Speaker 2: stopping for breastfeeding, all this kind of stuff. So I
Speaker 2: try to share as many tips as possible with her
Speaker 2: and just try and encourage her. Like some days it's
Speaker 2: just going to suck, but it will be OK.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned your nanny. In some women's sports in
Speaker 1: like the major leagues WNBA and WSL childcare cover just
Speaker 1: because I'm a part of player compensation. How does it
Speaker 1: work for bob'slod Is that your personal expense? Does USA
Speaker 1: bob sut help cover the cost for traveling and other things.
Speaker 2: But it's a personal expense, USA Bobs I can't even
Speaker 2: afford to cover its whole team, let alone a nanny,
Speaker 2: So it is a personal expense and it's big personal expense,
Speaker 2: but it's the same, like you find ways to make
Speaker 2: it work. Unfortunately, like I knew this was a possibility
Speaker 2: after twenty towy two games because I was pregnant in
Speaker 2: those games, so surprise, surprise, didn't know that, but I
Speaker 2: knew it was a possibility after the twenty twenty two games.
Speaker 2: So basically it just saved prize money that I had
Speaker 2: from those games to try and stretch it out to
Speaker 2: make it work. And you know, it's just it is
Speaker 2: a big expense, but at the same time, my kids
Speaker 2: are worth it, and I want them to have an
Speaker 2: opportunity to see the world and to travel with me,
Speaker 2: and also to see what it looks like for not
Speaker 2: only me, but all the women to compete at a
Speaker 2: high level. You know, I'm raising two boys, and it's
Speaker 2: so important for me that they have strong female role models.
Speaker 2: You know, they're going to have strong male role models.
Speaker 2: My husband's one of them, like my father. They're going
Speaker 2: to have so many strong male models. It's important for
Speaker 2: me that they also see women going out there being
Speaker 2: professional athletes, being the elite at their sport, and doing
Speaker 2: it while being a mother as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you made history in twenty fifteen when you became
Speaker 1: the first woman to earn a spot on the US
Speaker 1: national team competing with the men as a four man
Speaker 1: pop sled pilot, and then you went on to become
Speaker 1: the first woman to win a medal in international competition
Speaker 1: in a men's event. You did so on a team
Speaker 1: with your husband, Nick, who's a fellow Bob's letter. Tell
Speaker 1: us about that. What did you learn, What did you
Speaker 1: get from the experience. Why did you want to do it?
Speaker 2: Well, first, I just wanted to do it because it
Speaker 2: just never made sense to me why women couldn't drive
Speaker 2: a fore man I mean, you had me as an
Speaker 2: Olympic medalist at the time, and there's so much opposition
Speaker 2: in Kille Humphries too trying to drive these for me
Speaker 2: and like, no, no, no, you can't. Women can't do it.
Speaker 2: Stop possible, you can't drive these sleds. And then you're
Speaker 2: just letting any guy, random guy who's driven a bob
Speaker 2: sled maybe once track a Horman down the hill. It
Speaker 2: just didn't make sense to me, like that whole adage
Speaker 2: about women not being able to drive. So part of
Speaker 2: it was like my almost stubbornness and my own ego
Speaker 2: being like this cannot be that hard, Like this cannot
Speaker 2: be that hard. Of course, want to try it. But
Speaker 2: then it became so much more than that, Like it
Speaker 2: became an opportunity to do something and to compete at
Speaker 2: the highest level against guys, and it's so rare in
Speaker 2: our sports that were able to do that. But also
Speaker 2: it was an opportunity to compete in the highlight sport,
Speaker 2: the highlight discipline of our sport, Like for a bob
Speaker 2: sled is the show, Like it's one woman and three
Speaker 2: guys jumping in this tiny sled, getting it together, and
Speaker 2: it's the fastest sport on ice, and I just want
Speaker 2: an opportunity. The competitor in me was like chomping at
Speaker 2: the bit to give it a try. So when I
Speaker 2: had the opportunity, even though I couldn't get any guys
Speaker 2: to initially slide with me, I could give my husband
Speaker 2: because he didn't have a choice, so he was kind
Speaker 2: of a ringer.
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they participate with you?
Speaker 2: Basically sexism, garden misogyny. Yeah, I even got asked, can
Speaker 2: you even drive a bob sled? And here I am
Speaker 2: coming off of a silver medal, you know, and it's
Speaker 2: just like you're going to get in this random person
Speaker 2: sled who's never driven a bob side, but you won't
Speaker 2: get in mind. And fortunately I had two guys, Dustin
Speaker 2: Greenwood and a g Adams that agreed to push me.
Speaker 2: And you know, they made a national team because of it,
Speaker 2: you know, so it worked out for them.
Speaker 1: Well you look at that, Yeah, yeah, that works out.
Speaker 2: It's crazy.
Speaker 1: But did you hear from any of them that turns
Speaker 1: you down after that?
Speaker 2: Oh? Of course, because they're still on the team and
Speaker 2: still talk to them, and yeah, now it's like a joke.
Speaker 2: Now it's like funny and stuff like that. But years
Speaker 2: later people would be asking me to compete in poor
Speaker 2: Man just because they wanted a competitive chance. They wanted
Speaker 2: to be compete against the top guys in the US
Speaker 2: and the top guys in the world, and they wanted
Speaker 2: a driver who could do it. And I'm like, well, guys,
Speaker 2: guess what, I'm out of the game now, so you
Speaker 2: better find somebody else. But I love competing in a poor Man.
Speaker 2: It was so much fun, and I thought about specializing
Speaker 2: in it and just going after it and just trying
Speaker 2: to do Foreman and compete against guys and make an Olympics.
Speaker 2: But now the way the rankings work, like women have
Speaker 2: to qualify for the Olympics in both the monobob and
Speaker 2: the two men, whereas men can qualify in just the
Speaker 2: two men or just the four man, So our ranking
Speaker 2: is combined, so they make you do both disciplines.
Speaker 1: That's bullshit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you want to do four me, and you'd
Speaker 2: have to add in a four man on top of
Speaker 2: every weekend, so you'd be racing three times every single weekend,
Speaker 2: and it's just would be way too much. So it's
Speaker 2: kind of cut us out.
Speaker 1: What's the rationale for that for making the women do both.
Speaker 2: Good question. I'm not really sure you can do just
Speaker 2: the mono bob or just the two men. If you're
Speaker 2: from a smaller nation, if you're from a Nigeria, or
Speaker 2: if you're from an Australia or something like that, you
Speaker 2: could do it. But because our team's so big and
Speaker 2: because we're so competitive, there's just no you need the
Speaker 2: combined ranking. I don't really know what the rationale is.
Speaker 2: I guess it's just the drive up participation numbers.
Speaker 1: But is this a team USA rule?
Speaker 2: No, it's an international rule. Yeah, yeah, team say our
Speaker 2: rules still allow women to compete in for mean, and
Speaker 2: so does the international rooms. I mean, that's what's kind
Speaker 2: of cool about Bob side is our four man discipline
Speaker 2: is actually an open gender category. It's one of the
Speaker 2: few sports that is actually open gender, which you know,
Speaker 2: people ask me all the time about trans rights and
Speaker 2: trans issues, and I was like, look, in our sport,
Speaker 2: it wouldn't make sense for somebody to come down and
Speaker 2: decide who can compete because we have an open gender
Speaker 2: category and to decide, oh, trans athletes are banned across
Speaker 2: the board just doesn't make sense when we have this
Speaker 2: discipline that's completely open to it. So yeah, I digress.
Speaker 2: But it's just one of those kinds of things where
Speaker 2: fore men is the king of our sport, sport, and
Speaker 2: it's just something that I've always wanted to compete in,
Speaker 2: and it's something that I think more and more people
Speaker 2: should have the opportunity to compete in.
Speaker 1: You've been an advocate for women in sports. You've talked
Speaker 1: about a number of issues, and specifically you've also talked
Speaker 1: about racism that you've faced in the sport despite all
Speaker 1: of your success, including a coach from another federation saying
Speaker 1: black athletes need to stay in the back of the
Speaker 1: sled because they don't have the mental capacity to be drivers,
Speaker 1: and a manufacturer of one of the fastest sleds on
Speaker 1: tour refusing to sell to black pilots has been quoted
Speaker 1: as saying, if I wanted to see a monkey drive
Speaker 1: a sled, I'd go to the zoo. It is hard
Speaker 1: to imagine making more of a case for your place
Speaker 1: in the sport than everything you've accomplished. How do you
Speaker 1: reconcile the reality of your talent with the opinions of
Speaker 1: those people?
Speaker 2: You know? I think it's still something that I have
Speaker 2: to work on, and it's still something that I think
Speaker 2: a lot of black athletes in our sport do struggle
Speaker 2: with because still to this day, a lot of times
Speaker 2: when we're talked about, we're talked about for athleticism and
Speaker 2: not our driving prowess. It wasn't actually until after the
Speaker 2: birth of my sons and I slowed down at the
Speaker 2: push that I started to get talking about as my
Speaker 2: ability to drive a sled. So it's hard as an
Speaker 2: athlete to not internalize that and to think, oh, I'm
Speaker 2: just a fat, pushing athlete that could bang my way
Speaker 2: down a track and not take that personal. But at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, like I've won the medals,
Speaker 2: I have to have confidence in the fact that I
Speaker 2: had to drive halfway decent to do it. Couldn't just
Speaker 2: all ben athleticism, But at the end of the day, also,
Speaker 2: who the heck cares, Oh, I won the medals. The
Speaker 2: fact that my time was faster than your time is
Speaker 2: all that matters. And so I try to have those
Speaker 2: conversations too with other black athletes and with other different
Speaker 2: athlete groups who are marginalized in this sport and just
Speaker 2: tell them, like, you know, win's a win, take it.
Speaker 2: Every race is only one by one hundred of the
Speaker 2: support who cares how you get there. And there is
Speaker 2: still some racism that exists in the sport, I mean,
Speaker 2: especially on the men's side, the lack of diversity within
Speaker 2: the driver's seat. I think the only people of color
Speaker 2: drivers you see are the Korean team or the Chinese team,
Speaker 2: and that's it. Like internationally there's not much at all.
Speaker 2: So you just like it's one of those kinds of
Speaker 2: things where we need to continue to push it and
Speaker 2: continue to get more and more people within this sport
Speaker 2: and yeah, show people that it's even possible to do
Speaker 2: these winter sports as a person of color.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You've also talked about black maternal health, deaf awareness,
Speaker 1: down syndrome awareness. When your racing career does come to
Speaker 1: an end, do you have plans to continue your advocacy.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I thought through the longest time that I wanted
Speaker 2: to go work for the USOPC and to be in
Speaker 2: that line of work and to you know, become the
Speaker 2: CEO of the USOPC, Like that was my dream goal
Speaker 2: for the longest enough time. But now having my children
Speaker 2: who are deaf and now being so much more in
Speaker 2: the deaf world and the disability space and things like that.
Speaker 2: Like I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do
Speaker 2: after Bob said now, but I know it's become so
Speaker 2: important to advocate for my children and so important to
Speaker 2: advocate for those with disabilities. You know, I don't have
Speaker 2: a disability, so obviously I can't. I'm not the voice
Speaker 2: of disabled folks or anything like that. I would never
Speaker 2: try to speak over them. But if I could use
Speaker 2: my platform in any way, if the only purpose of
Speaker 2: me winning these medals was to spread death awareness, then
Speaker 2: that's pretty cool. And that's a greater honor than I
Speaker 2: could ever think of. So yeah, my kids are my world,
Speaker 2: and you know, my world is completely changed. Like I
Speaker 2: wasn't in these communities beforehand, I wasn't involved with them.
Speaker 2: But I've come to this whole new world and it's
Speaker 2: a beautiful world. And I never could have known how
Speaker 2: beautiful ner diversity is and how beautiful deaf culture is
Speaker 2: without being ingrained in it. And so I could share
Speaker 2: that with other people that I'm going to I'm.
Speaker 1: A decade plus into a charity I started with a
Speaker 1: young girl who has hearing AIDS, and it's called Here
Speaker 1: the cheers. We raise money for equipment and audiology services
Speaker 1: for kids so they can stay in sports, because most
Speaker 1: people don't know that insurance doesn't cover hearing aids and
Speaker 1: audiology equipment, which is wild. But thankfully some of the
Speaker 1: policies and bills around that are being challenged now, so
Speaker 1: hopefully that'll change soon. But I'll have to wrangle you
Speaker 1: in for our next campaign and get you involved in
Speaker 1: some of our fundraising because it is such a beautiful
Speaker 1: space to work in. Next big thing for you, World
Speaker 1: Championships in March and Lake Placid. So what's your focus
Speaker 1: leading up to that event? What are you working on.
Speaker 2: When in false disciplines two man monobob and going after it?
Speaker 2: You know, this is gonna be my last opportunity to
Speaker 2: win a World championship, and it's all my home ice,
Speaker 2: and I think it's a great opportunity. You know, also though,
Speaker 2: because it is to be my last World championship, I'm
Speaker 2: really looking forward to enjoying it. I'm really looking forward
Speaker 2: to having my friends and family there, and you know,
Speaker 2: we didn't get to in Beijing, so being able to
Speaker 2: have my friends and family there and everyone there at
Speaker 2: a home event like I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: And you know, there's still a chance we might be
Speaker 2: in Lake Classic for the Olympics, so you just don't know.
Speaker 2: But it's just gonna be a lot of fun, and
Speaker 2: it's it's one more opportunity that I have to really
Speaker 2: throw down against the best in the world. And when
Speaker 2: you have that opportunity, especially like now, like I think
Speaker 2: you take it for granted when you're younger, when you're
Speaker 2: twenty five, you're like, oh, yeah, another World Championships or whatever.
Speaker 2: But now looking back, like this is one last time
Speaker 2: to show what I could do. This is one last
Speaker 2: time to put on a good show and give a
Speaker 2: good race. And that's what I really like. I like
Speaker 2: to put on a good show. Like my races are
Speaker 2: always close, they're always exciting, they're always intense, and I
Speaker 2: have there's no greater feeling than being on that line
Speaker 2: and like hearing the fans and hearing everyone cheer for you,
Speaker 2: and knowing that this is a great opportunity to just
Speaker 2: go out there and show what you've worked for all
Speaker 2: these years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, further ahead, you've got twenty twenty six Milan Courtina Olympics.
Speaker 1: If you make the team, it would be your fifth
Speaker 1: Olympics and you're currently tied for fourth on the US
Speaker 1: career Winter Olympic medals list for all sports, which is incredible.
Speaker 1: But you've never won gold. How important is that to you?
Speaker 1: Before you retire.
Speaker 2: It's important to have the opportunity to go after it.
Speaker 2: I used to think the gold medal was the only
Speaker 2: thing that mattered. I want every opportunity and I'm going
Speaker 2: to do everything I can to get there. Everything like
Speaker 2: no hold bar. I already told my husband's like, get
Speaker 2: the credit cards ready, because we're spending every dollar we
Speaker 2: have to next year to try and make this happen.
Speaker 2: Like whether it's bringing in a different nanny every week,
Speaker 2: or bringing in my kids or whoever to get me
Speaker 2: some sleep.
Speaker 1: Those kids are not keeping you up in that week,
Speaker 1: that month, whatever it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, nope. So we're going to do everything we can
Speaker 2: to get there. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: I think how I compete is more important. How I
Speaker 2: go out there and show that it's possible to be
Speaker 2: forty forty one next year and put on this show
Speaker 2: and to be a mom and to go out there
Speaker 2: and to stand for so much more than just sport.
Speaker 2: To stand for disability, awareness, for women's rights, for different things,
Speaker 2: like it's important to show who I am in those
Speaker 2: competitive moments more so than to win a gold medal.
Speaker 2: That doesn't take anything away from win that gold medal,
Speaker 2: Like I want it and I feel like it's like
Speaker 2: one thing missing off my resume. By the end of
Speaker 2: the day, if I don't get it, I'm going to
Speaker 2: be fine.
Speaker 1: I love that if it sounds like you've done the
Speaker 1: work to understand the gravity of your career, the worth
Speaker 1: of your career, even without that gold, because there are
Speaker 1: so many studies about people who get that gold and
Speaker 1: then realize that wasn't really what they were looking for.
Speaker 1: It wasn't solving their problems, it wasn't filling the hole
Speaker 1: that they had for whatever reason, and there was so
Speaker 1: much more that they had to go work on to
Speaker 1: figure out what made them happy. And it feels like
Speaker 1: you've already kind of got that, Like how do you
Speaker 1: balance that great perspective that you have with having the
Speaker 1: hunger and the mindset that you need to go try
Speaker 1: your hardest to win it.
Speaker 2: Well, it was kind of in a ways, you know,
Speaker 2: the stuff I've been through with my sons, the stuff
Speaker 2: I've been through already as a parent and with my
Speaker 2: husband and whatnot, And like realizing that, you know, no
Speaker 2: amount of gold medals or no amount of metals is
Speaker 2: going to get my son the early intervention services he needed.
Speaker 2: I was like, what what how was all this for? Then?
Speaker 2: Like I can't get the services I needed, if I
Speaker 2: can't take care of my family, then what is this
Speaker 2: all for? So I'm actually at the point, which is
Speaker 2: pretty cool, is that the only reason I'm here is
Speaker 2: because I genuinely want to be here, Like, there's plenty
Speaker 2: other things that I could be doing with my time.
Speaker 2: There's plenty of the things that my children could be
Speaker 2: doing that time, Like I'm dragging them all away around
Speaker 2: the world. I'm sure they'd just rather be staying at
Speaker 2: home watching Sesame Streight, you know, right. So the fact
Speaker 2: that I'm here is generally because I want to be here,
Speaker 2: And me and my husband decided that if I was
Speaker 2: going to do this, that it had to be worth
Speaker 2: my time, that it had to make sure that every
Speaker 2: moment was going to be worth it, and to take
Speaker 2: away moments from my kids that I could be upstairs
Speaker 2: playing with them, or I could be doing different things
Speaker 2: that I had to make it worth it. So every
Speaker 2: time I said on the ice, there has to be
Speaker 2: for a reason, and that reason is to try and
Speaker 2: win that gold medal. However, when I'm off the ice,
Speaker 2: I'm off the ice. When I'm outside of the Bob side,
Speaker 2: I'm outside of Bob side. So that kind of gives
Speaker 2: you the perspective that you know there's more things going on.
Speaker 2: And also you know, in the US, as much as
Speaker 2: we love our Olympics, we love our gold medals and
Speaker 2: things like that, but the end of the day, like
Speaker 2: when I'm walking around Costco, nobody knows that I'm a
Speaker 2: Bob Slidder. When I'm doing my ticket target, the kid's
Speaker 2: throwing a temper Tanta or whatever, nobody knows that I'm
Speaker 2: a Bob Slader. So that keeps you in perspective too.
Speaker 2: It's like very humbling to be in the US and
Speaker 2: the country where we rain medals that you just one
Speaker 2: of one of those faces. So I think winning a
Speaker 2: gold medal is very important to me and my family
Speaker 2: and what we're trying to accomplish. By at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, like my life's going to go on
Speaker 2: whether I win, whether I lose, whether anything happens, like
Speaker 2: I hope to god I could win those gold medals,
Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, they're probably just
Speaker 2: gonna once I do, they're going to just go in
Speaker 2: a sack jur with the rest of them and we
Speaker 2: won't see them until the next time I do, when
Speaker 2: the banner appears or anything like that.
Speaker 1: So I refuse to allow that. We're when the career
Speaker 1: is over, we're putting them up. They're not going in
Speaker 1: a soctar. I will not allow that. I don't know
Speaker 1: where you live, but I'll find out. Okay, last question
Speaker 1: for you. You mentioned that Lake Placid might be the
Speaker 1: spot for the Olympics despite it being a technically an
Speaker 1: Italian Olympics. In February, the IOC said the track is
Speaker 1: supposed to go through a testing process in March. And
Speaker 1: you know, in some sports maybe the venue is not
Speaker 1: as important, but getting used to the ice and knowing
Speaker 1: where you're going to race is really important. So what's
Speaker 1: it been like dealing with the level of uncertainty that
Speaker 1: still exists in the lead up to those Olympics.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's most difficult things because number one, you want
Speaker 2: the course to be safe and without a without it
Speaker 2: being done with right now, they're supposed to do test
Speaker 2: runs in March. Without being done without the proper testing,
Speaker 2: then you never really know how safe it's going to be.
Speaker 2: And so normally, ideally before an Olympics, you know a
Speaker 2: track has done at least two years beforehands plenty of
Speaker 2: times to get runs and to test the safety of
Speaker 2: it first and foremost, because it's one thing going fast
Speaker 2: on a track, it's a whole other thing just making
Speaker 2: it down. And we've had problems. We've had problems with tracks,
Speaker 2: whether it's Whistler in Vancouver Olympics, where whether it's even Beijing.
Speaker 2: It's not a skeleton athletes. I mean you're talking about
Speaker 2: some of the tracks athletes have gone down and had
Speaker 2: liked altering injuries because we haven't had time to check
Speaker 2: the safety or the safety precautions weren't in place or
Speaker 2: something like that. Like our sports signing sports are extremely dangerous.
Speaker 2: So it is very much a concern that the track
Speaker 2: isn't done yet. So I hope everything goes well. I mean,
Speaker 2: my mom's Italian, you know, she wanted me to go
Speaker 2: to these Olympics. I wanted to go to the Olympics
Speaker 2: and have a big Italian family celebration at the end
Speaker 2: of it. You know, it was really important for us
Speaker 2: historically to do it, But at the end of the
Speaker 2: day it's not safe, then I don't want to be
Speaker 2: anywhere near it, and that's the biggest concern for all
Speaker 2: of us, is the safety of it.
Speaker 1: Well, and it's so frustrating. It reminds me of the
Speaker 1: events in the Seine at the Paris Olympics, like this
Speaker 1: is someone's entire life's work and money and time and effort,
Speaker 1: and to have people have to pull out or have
Speaker 1: the race be delayed, and then the timing of your
Speaker 1: preparation is affected because they can't figure out if there's
Speaker 1: ego lie in the fricking sin. That kind of stuff
Speaker 1: infuriates me. So I hope they figure it out and
Speaker 1: they get it sorted in time for you to make
Speaker 1: a plan and stick with it. I've just been so
Speaker 1: fun to watch your success from Afar for such a
Speaker 1: long time. It's great to get to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Good luck with the upcoming events.
Speaker 2: Thanks, I really appreciate it. And hopefully we're in Italy,
Speaker 2: and if we're not, it's still going to be a
Speaker 2: heck of Olympics in Lake Placids, So that'll be fun too.
Speaker 1: We have to take another quick break when we return
Speaker 1: prepared to be edified. Welcome back, y'all. Some edification come
Speaker 1: in your way because it's time for another What the fact.
Speaker 1: So we talked to a lot about gender dis termination
Speaker 1: in Bob's Led, but its sister sport, skeleton, has its
Speaker 1: own history of backwards policies. Now, before we dig into that,
Speaker 1: here's a brief on how skeleton works. So, one at
Speaker 1: a time, individual competitors run as fast as they can
Speaker 1: pushing a small sled down a frozen track. Then they
Speaker 1: hurled their bodies onto it, face down, headfirst and try
Speaker 1: to finish their run down the track faster than their opponents.
Speaker 1: Some scary shit. So the sport originated in Saint Maritz, Switzerland,
Speaker 1: on the first and oldest natural ice track in the world,
Speaker 1: the Cresta Run. It was built in eighteen eighty five,
Speaker 1: and back then both men and women competed in an
Speaker 1: annual skeleton race called the Grand Nationals, But in nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty one, the Saint Murritz Toboggaining Club, which decides who
Speaker 1: is and isn't permitted to race the track banned female
Speaker 1: racers from competition. Eight years later, women were expelled from
Speaker 1: the club entirely to boggining. Club president James Suddenley told
Speaker 1: the BBC that concerns were initially about skeleton and a
Speaker 1: link to breast cancer, but it was eventually understood that
Speaker 1: folks were just concerned that women were getting too good
Speaker 1: and too fast. That's some certified hatershit. But in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: wrongs were righted. In December of that year, Saint Murritz
Speaker 1: Tobognan club members voted to nix the band on women
Speaker 1: and in February twenty twenty four women raced in the
Speaker 1: Cresta Runs Ladies Grand National Event once more. English writer
Speaker 1: Karina Evans won, becoming the first Ladies Grand National winner
Speaker 1: in one hundred and three years. This is what the
Speaker 1: fact brought to you by elf Beauty. And here's another fact.
Speaker 1: Elf Beauty's recent report shows that gender diverse boards lead
Speaker 1: to positive business results. S and P five hundred companies
Speaker 1: with above average gender diversity on their boards saw a
Speaker 1: fifteen percent boost in return on equity and a fifty
Speaker 1: percent drop in earning's risk over a year. You can
Speaker 1: read the full report at Elfbauty dot com slash not
Speaker 1: So White Paper. We love that you're listening, but we
Speaker 1: want you to get in the game every day too,
Speaker 1: So here's our good game play of the day. Follow
Speaker 1: Alana's journey to the twenty twenty six Winter Olympics. She's
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Alana Meers Taylor And if you've never
Speaker 1: seen it before, go watch Vanetta Flowers and Jill Bochin's
Speaker 1: gold medal winning run from O two. Watching that sled
Speaker 1: pickup speed. It's a thing of beauty. We'll link to
Speaker 1: it in our show notes. We love to hear from yours.
Speaker 1: To hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork
Speaker 1: dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
Speaker 1: two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe.
Speaker 1: Rate and review slices. It's easy. Watch Sunshine and Beer
Speaker 1: and Barbecue and Thunder Drunk and Baseball and Africa by
Speaker 1: Toto and Sunset, rating twenty out of twenty years of
Speaker 1: fun review. This weekend marks the twentieth and final the
Speaker 1: Heckler spring training trip to Arizona. So I got a
Speaker 1: shout out my super slice husband Brad aka the Heckler
Speaker 1: for twenty years of bringing folks together. It's hard to
Speaker 1: get adults to drop everything, whether it's kids, jobs, responsibilities,
Speaker 1: But every single year a wild pack of hyaenas aged
Speaker 1: about twenty five to sixty five would somehow make it
Speaker 1: work because Brad created something truly special. Old friends partying
Speaker 1: alongside new friends, partying alongside folks who signed up for
Speaker 1: the trip solo, not knowing a soul, and found that
Speaker 1: they immediately became part of the family. You're a gem, Brad,
Speaker 1: and your trips were the highlight of the year for
Speaker 1: a whole lot of folks. You should be very proud.
Speaker 1: So here's to one last round of sunshine and beer
Speaker 1: and barbecue and thunderdrug and baseball and Africa by Toto
Speaker 1: and Sunset. May every single slice out there find a
Speaker 1: community and a tradition as amazing as this one. Now
Speaker 1: it's your turn, Slices, rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all,
Speaker 1: See you next week. Good game, Milana, Good game, Vanetta.
Speaker 1: Few Olympic sports without a women's event of equal standing
Speaker 1: or caliber. Looking at you to Cathalina Nordic combined Good
Speaker 1: Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production
Speaker 1: in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can
Speaker 1: find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our
Speaker 1: producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers
Speaker 1: are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez, and Grace Lynch.
Speaker 1: Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host
Speaker 1: Sarah Spain