August 4, 2024 • 20 mins
Tom Schaar, and Gavin Bottger join Amy and TJ to discuss the 2024 Paris Olympics. How have the two prepared for this moment, what celebs left them starstruck and who have they seen in the Olympic Village and most importantly, are those chocolate muffins really THAT good?
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Simone Ladeci Shakri Lebron. They ain't got nothing on Tom
Gavin and Tate Ocome everybody to this very special edition
of Amy and TJ Robes. We have spent so much
time watching Olympics coverage, but we've been getting into a
lot of sports that we don't normally get to watch
bad Medden, table tennis, canoeing, fencing, surfing, judo, and a
(00:25):
lot of that is us asking questions like what are
the rules here? What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We don't even I mean, I've watched sports that I
didn't even know existed FORFO. So I've been doing a
lot of Google searches, learning a lot about sports and
just being in general awe of the athleticism in so
many arenas and areas that I didn't even know was
US sports.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And so one of them we got and I shouldn't
say stuck, but we got caught up in and watched
every moment was skateboarding, and it was the women in particular.
We didn't understand single rule like wait, she fell, she
gets to go again, so they get one scratch it.
So we were trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, it was street skateboarding, and we were in awe
because what they were doing was crazy and watching them
fall and just bounce back up and dust themselves off
with a big old smile and try it again.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So that was street skate, yes, but there's also park
skate that we're about to get an education on in
the next couple of days. But we're going to get
it right now. From one of our stuts. Tom Sharp
joins us from Paris. Okay, you have to forgive us here, Tom,
you're gonna have to help get everybody caught up a
little bit. So let's start with that park skateboarding. What
(01:39):
exactly are we talking about here.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I've had to try and explain it to a lot
of people over the past couple of days, and it's
kind of hard to explain. I guess the best way
to put it would be, it's like an empty backyard
pool on steroids, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
All right, that's very cool, And like I'm sure many
of your counterparts, you got started very very early. When
I was googling you, one of the words that came
up in association with your name was prodigy. When did
you start skateboarding?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh god, my older brother skated and that's how I
got into it, And I think I really started when
I was like four or five. So I've been skating
for twenty years now, which is pretty crazy to say.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Wow, twenty four years old, been skating since you were four,
You're at the Olympics. Tell me how you're feeling right now.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
If you would have told me this is where I
would be when I started skating, I would not have
believed you.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
When did it become, I guess, a job or a
mission or something more, Because I'm sure when you first
picked up a skateboard you were just having fun, and
I'm sure you still have fun doing it, But when
did it kind of become serious and a craft and
you had a mission of being competitive?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. Started skating just because
I loved it. It's the funnest thing ever, and it
still is for me. But I guess as I kind
of like progressed and got better, it started kind of
showing I was doing more contests and doing better in them,
and I just kind of started taking it more seriously.
I don't really remember how old I was, maybe when
(03:19):
I was like fifteen or sixteen or something and then yeah,
I just tried to kind of really work on it
a bunch and it's it's paid off.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
I made its bears, so I'm really happy.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, I would say so. I would say, so, tell
us what we're going to see when the best of
the best you included, of course, skate that basically unfilled
pool area in Paris. Tell us what we're going to
see at home.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So you get forty five seconds to do the best
run that you can in that time, and you get
three tries, and yeah, it's pretty much just be as
creative as you want with your forty five seconds and
try and please the judges the best you can. You'll
see a lot of kind of errors, and it's a
lot different than street streets, like more of a technical
(04:06):
kind of It's maybe a little bit harder to understand
for like the average viewer, but park I feel like
it's a little easier for someone that doesn't know skateboarding
as well to understand because it's just kind of high
speed and there's a lot a lot to look at
for your eyes.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So how much of that is as you all just
winging it? Do you know exactly what routine you're going for?
Or you just go out there and kind of fill
it and let the chips fall what you may.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, I mean to an extent. When we first started,
it's kind of winging it. We have four days of practice,
so you have enough time to kind of try and
figure out the whole park, and by the end of it, Yeah,
everyone usually has a pretty good run in their head
that they know they want to do.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's crazy. You make up your run when you get
to Paris and you see the course and you just
figure it out. That would be so freaky to me.
Everyone else coming in, or at least I would believe
that most people going in to the Olympics have a
routine that they've been practicing, specifically four years. Even someone
knows what fault exactly, so you're just like figuring it
(05:11):
out on the fly. That is remarkable. Do you have
a coach? How do you get to the level you're
at right now to be an Olympian park skateboarder.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
I don't personally have a coach. We have the Team
USA coach Andrew Nicholas, and he's been great helping us
all out. But I mean, you can kind of know
what features will be in the park, it's kind of
similar every time, so you can kind of practice those
specific things, but you never know if everything's going to
line up the way you want it to. So that's
(05:42):
why we get our four days practice try and really
kind of dial everything in and make.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Sure how many runs do you all get to do
in front of the judges?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
We get three?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
He gets three? So combined score, you dropped one. How's
that work?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Just your best run counts.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Whatever one they thought was the best is the score
they get, and then they take the top eight from
the semi finals to the finals and then it's the
same thing again in three runs forty five seconds.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Wow, I mean that's a lot of pressure, Tom. How
nervous do you get? Do you get nervous?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I definitely still get nervous. It's even though I've been
doing contests for I don't know how long, fifteen years now,
probably I still just get as nervous as I did
with my first one.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So what do you do before you go to quell
your nerves to get focus to get in the zone.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I mean, honestly, I just kind of try and remind
myself how lucky I am to be in this position
just doing this so I just kind of try and
look at it as like a big picture instead of
just dwelling on if I can do my run. Just
kind of remind myself that I'm just here to kind
of show the world what skateboarding is supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We hear so much about how athletes, elead athletes prepare.
I mean you hear about the nutrition and the sleeping
habits and the all of this that the tracksors might
do or the gymnast might do. But for a skateboarder,
how do you prepare? Is there a special meal, do
you have to use a certain diet or do you
are you drinking mountain dew? That's the stuff we have
(07:10):
in our head. I mean, just tell us what is
your regiment or your your physical regimen.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I do a good amount of training outside of skateboarding,
just to try and stay healthy and strong the best
I can. But food wise, I mean just trying to
eat healthy and nothing too crazy. I mean, the chocolate
muffins in the village are pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So I be I was going to ask you a
lot's been made of Olympic Village food that it's not
been up to part. What has your experience been like?
So far an Olympic village.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
The food is it's all right, it's not that bad.
The best is more where I'm struggling, But I mean,
it's it's all in all, it's it's all right, it's
all right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
What's the Olympic experience like for a skateboarder? You'll, I
mean there's a bunch of big name athletes, very recognized
the bull and you all probably not necessarily among that
group of most recognizable guys. So what's it like for
a skateboarder to hang out Olympic village? Which is just
what's the Olympic experience been?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Like?
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It's cool.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I get mixed kind of feelings from people. We were
going around asking random people what sport they thought we did,
and a couple of people just said nothing. But then
there were other people that we told we did skateboarding, like, oh,
that's so cool.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I want to check it out. So it kind of
depends who you would ask. I feel like, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Have you had that oh my god, Olympic moment yet?
Just walking around? Have you met anyone that Wow? Do
you have you just had that I can't believe I'm
here moment?
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Absolutely, doing the opening ceremony, meeting the whole basketball team.
I see someone in our building like almost every day.
It's it's pretty insane.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
That's it's so that's so cool and casual. It's always
great to hear those stories. Are Are you able to
have family there to experience this with you?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, my mom and my dad, my brother are all
out here. But honestly, I think they're enjoying it more
than I am. They've gone to like every event so far,
and they're just they're having a good time.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Have you say, have you been able to watch any
of the events. Have you been able to watch any
of the Olympics or you just focused on your event?
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, I've been here for like ten days now. Practice
just started, so I had like a week of three
times just kind of hang out. And we went and
saw ping pong which are sorry table, which is by
far my favorite one.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
We got judo and three v three and uh three
v three basketball and a bunch of other stuff.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It was It's very cool.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
How competitive we're going to be. Talking to your teammates
as well and your friends of course, Gavin and Tate,
what questions would you want an interviewer to ask your
two friends to put them on the spot. What should
we ask them?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I think just asking them more about the village. They'll
probably have some better insight than out.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh okay, all right, that's always that's always good information.
And this it really is a brotherhood. When we see
you all competing, A lot of you all are all
from southern California. You've been skating together for your talk
a little bit about Obviously you're competing against one another,
but what is it like to be with the guys
who are really a part of your family and you're competing.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Against Yeah, exactly. I mean we all grew up skating together.
I've known everyone in this contest since I was eleven
twelve years old, so it's really just like a big family.
And we all get to do these other contests outside
of the Olympics, so we're always hanging out pretty much
all year round.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
It's really special.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Well, I wonder we're gonna let you go here, man,
And I wonder because you sound so chill your voice,
so I expect you to be much more intense once
you get into that pool on steroids in Paris. To
congrats to you, young fellow, Really, man, are I assure
you no matter what time you all are on, we
(10:58):
will be up and watching it live.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I think it might be another three am for you guys,
but thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, and you don't say break a leg to a skateboarder, right,
what do you just saying about?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Probably not, but it works.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Thank you, Tom, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
All right, everybody, we have Tom's good friend Gavin Bodker
here with us, current world champion. And Gavin, did I
get this right? You're just seventeen years old?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
Yeah, I'm seventeen.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Wow, seventeen, current world champion and you are in Paris
at the Olympics. Let me ask you how you're feeling
right now.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
It's insane. I'm still like it hasn't really settled and
I've made it.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
I don't know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
You got other friends who are sixteen, seventeen years old
back in California. I assume what are they doing right now?
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Probably just skating, I mean vacation.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
But so, Kevin, how did how did you get into
the sport? I mean, we're probably we're hearing before the
age of six or seven, y'all were already skating and
doing your thing.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Yeah, I mean, I started skating when I was five
years old in South Lake, Tahoe, and it was just,
I don't know, it's kind of random. We just went
to a park and like I brought like a scooter
by kind of skateboard, and I just was like kind
of trying it all, and I don't know, I just
stuck with the skateboard and pretty much from skating every
(12:37):
day that I can since then.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Now Tom Tom was telling us that you all start,
of course, always for fun. Everybody picks up a skateboard
just wants to go out and have fun. I'm sure
you still have fun in what you're doing. But when
did it become a thing. Where are some folks like
you just naturally blessed skateboarders or this is something you
(12:59):
just got to put in the time and the results
will come.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
I think there's a little bit of there's definitely I'm blessed,
Like I'm definitely blessed, But yeah, I put in a
lot of time into this, So yeah, it didn't just
come out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Were you always a goofy footed skater skater?
Speaker 6 (13:19):
Yes, I was goofy footed, But when I first started snowboarding,
my first whole season. I snowboarded the whole season regular,
and then on the last day I switched to goofy.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And now you to explain to everyone doesn't know what goofy.
I've already googled it, but explained to everyone who's listening
what it means to be a goofy footed skater.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
So when you're a goofy footed skater, if you're standing
on the board, your right foot is in front, but
when you're regular, your left foot is in front.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Simple as that. Have you been giving a lot of
folks in education and skateboarding there in Paris?
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Kind of not as much as I expected.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Actually, perhaps when you've all actually start competing. On the
day you compete, people will be wowed and asking a
lot of questions afterwards. What has your experience been like
so far at the Olympics? What have you done? Who
have you seen? How do you feel?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
I feel good. I mean it's been crazy. I've seen
like a lot of people that like it's like whoa like?
I don't know, it's like shocking starstroke, I guess, but
uh yeah, I've just been trying to keep skating the
whole time.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Okay, let's go back. Who's got your starstruck.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Pretty much like any of the basketball players. That's aw
Lebron and I felt like the smallest person ever next
to him.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
But it was gooz, do you fool fanboy out and
get the selfies or you try to play it cool
from southern California. You're cool kid now.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
I try to play it cool. But yeah, I asked
for it selfie you.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, very casually asked for a selfie any game.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Actually not from Lebron because he was photoed out the
day that I asked him.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
It was on the opening ceremony days.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So oh, you can always try again, right, always try again.
Have you seen any events while you're there or are you
just focused on skateboarding.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
I've seen I've seen the other skateboard events and so
I've been I haven't seen them in person. I've been
watching them on TV. I just haven't had the time
to like get into those events.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, just like us, we've been watching them on TV too.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
I have to.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I mean, just you see the unbelievable attempts that your
fellow skateboarders make and then sometimes they crash and burn.
Talk a little bit about what it takes to get
up the nerve to do the tricks you do, and
how much risk are you actually putting your body in
when you do some of these moves.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
I mean you're putting a lot.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
You're putting your body at risks like insane, but you
have It's basically you just have to know that you
can get out of it if something goes wrong, like
when you're in there, you kick your board away and
tuck your shoulder or something, or make sure you get
to your feet, and that's all it is. If you can,
if you know you can get out of it. I
feel super comfortable.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Are you going into this fully? Pretty healthy right now?
Speaker 6 (16:06):
No major elements, pretty healthy. I tweaked my neck yes
or two days ago. I don't know what happened. I
just got out of the bowl and my neck just
like kind of locked up on me. So yesterday I
didn't really get to skate all of practice, and I've
been battling it all morning.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
And that gets in your head. I would imagine Kevin
also being the current world champion, A lot of pressure.
You're seventeen. How do you handle the mental part of
this and the nerves you I am sure will have
going into competition.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
I feel like For the mental part, I just try
and just remember its skateboarding and it's not that serious.
We're just here to have fun and it's like this
is super new for skateboarding, so it's I'm just stoked
to be here.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Are Do you feel like an ambassador of the sport
right now? Again a lot of people about to watch
skateboarding who only watch it once every four years.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Yeah, not really, but maybe after this time. Do you have.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Pressure on yourself? Do you say I'm going to come
home with the gold or I want to meddle? Like
what what have you told yourself you want to walk
away from the Olympics with.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
I just want to walk away knowing that I tried
my best and I feel like that's all I can
hope for is just to skate as good as I
can and see what happens, not think about the results
as much.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, the last couple of things here give us a
better idea of the experience at Olympic village. What's that
been like for you? Your room, the food, the people,
the friends you make, and the whole atmosphere. Are you're
enjoying it? Just get folks that people are so fascinated
back here about Olympic village. So what's your experience been
(17:57):
for a skater?
Speaker 6 (17:57):
I feel like it's a little bit different, just because
you're walking around and like baggy cut off jeans and
like you're skating around and people are kind of looking
at you. Like I definitely feel I've fell out of
place a couple of times, just because like there's these
huge ripped like dude girls, I'm like a little guy
(18:18):
walking around with my skateboard and so yeah, I definitely
get some some I catch people just like kind of
looking at me.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
A little weird, but like why are you here?
Speaker 6 (18:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Yeah, I like, whoa what does he do? Or something
like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
You know, it's funny too. You make a good point.
You've got these athletes who and you put in the time,
but it's a little bit more formal. They have coaches.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
You didn't have a coach getting into this. This is
just you rewheeling it, doing what you love and doing
it at a very very high level.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, basically.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
But food has been it's been all right, nothing nothing
too bad yet, but it's definitely not my favorite.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Okay, nothing too. I have nothing to write home about.
But do you have family and friends there and enjoy
the experience with you.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Yeah, a lot of my family is here. I have
my dad, my mom, my brother, cousins and aunts and
grandpa and grandpa.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Oh, that's awesome. And Kevin, wait, are you about to
be a senior in high school?
Speaker 6 (19:22):
I'm actually taking the taking a break from high school
right now, just to we'll focus on this and that
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So I was just wondering what it would be like
to go back to school with it.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
I mean, I haven't actually been to school and quite
a while I've been doing homeschool.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
All right, Well, I mean with what you do, that
makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Y doing this at this level, there's no way I
can go to actual school and continue to escape.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I don't know, good, I don't know if you made
the right call, man, to skip school and have to
go to Paris and possibly get a gold mill. I
don't know, man, it don't worry out. But whatever, it's yours,
it's your life. You do your thing, man, Please, please
please tell your tell your your your teammate Tate. We
(20:11):
were hoping to talk to him today as well, but
we were told he had to go write to practice.
We're gonna miss him, that's okay. But man, I cannot
tell you the amount of joy all of you all
are bringing to our faces. And we're getting up at two, three,
four in the morning to watch you all do your
thing live and we're looking forward to seeing you.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Really, good luck to you there in Paris. Brother God
pulling for you.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Thank you, thank you so much. Congratulations Kevin, thank you.
This is awesome. Se
Simone Ladeci Shakri Lebron. They ain't got nothing on Tom
Gavin and Tate Ocome everybody to this very special edition
of Amy and TJ Robes. We have spent so much
time watching Olympics coverage, but we've been getting into a
lot of sports that we don't normally get to watch
bad Medden, table tennis, canoeing, fencing, surfing, judo, and a
(00:25):
lot of that is us asking questions like what are
the rules here? What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We don't even I mean, I've watched sports that I
didn't even know existed FORFO. So I've been doing a
lot of Google searches, learning a lot about sports and
just being in general awe of the athleticism in so
many arenas and areas that I didn't even know was
US sports.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And so one of them we got and I shouldn't
say stuck, but we got caught up in and watched
every moment was skateboarding, and it was the women in particular.
We didn't understand single rule like wait, she fell, she
gets to go again, so they get one scratch it.
So we were trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, it was street skateboarding, and we were in awe
because what they were doing was crazy and watching them
fall and just bounce back up and dust themselves off
with a big old smile and try it again.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So that was street skate, yes, but there's also park
skate that we're about to get an education on in
the next couple of days. But we're going to get
it right now. From one of our stuts. Tom Sharp
joins us from Paris. Okay, you have to forgive us here, Tom,
you're gonna have to help get everybody caught up a
little bit. So let's start with that park skateboarding. What
(01:39):
exactly are we talking about here.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I've had to try and explain it to a lot
of people over the past couple of days, and it's
kind of hard to explain. I guess the best way
to put it would be, it's like an empty backyard
pool on steroids, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
All right, that's very cool, And like I'm sure many
of your counterparts, you got started very very early. When
I was googling you, one of the words that came
up in association with your name was prodigy. When did
you start skateboarding?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh god, my older brother skated and that's how I
got into it, And I think I really started when
I was like four or five. So I've been skating
for twenty years now, which is pretty crazy to say.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Wow, twenty four years old, been skating since you were four,
You're at the Olympics. Tell me how you're feeling right now.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
If you would have told me this is where I
would be when I started skating, I would not have
believed you.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
When did it become, I guess, a job or a
mission or something more, Because I'm sure when you first
picked up a skateboard you were just having fun, and
I'm sure you still have fun doing it, But when
did it kind of become serious and a craft and
you had a mission of being competitive?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. Started skating just because
I loved it. It's the funnest thing ever, and it
still is for me. But I guess as I kind
of like progressed and got better, it started kind of
showing I was doing more contests and doing better in them,
and I just kind of started taking it more seriously.
I don't really remember how old I was, maybe when
(03:19):
I was like fifteen or sixteen or something and then yeah,
I just tried to kind of really work on it
a bunch and it's it's paid off.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
I made its bears, so I'm really happy.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, I would say so. I would say, so, tell
us what we're going to see when the best of
the best you included, of course, skate that basically unfilled
pool area in Paris. Tell us what we're going to
see at home.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So you get forty five seconds to do the best
run that you can in that time, and you get
three tries, and yeah, it's pretty much just be as
creative as you want with your forty five seconds and
try and please the judges the best you can. You'll
see a lot of kind of errors, and it's a
lot different than street streets, like more of a technical
(04:06):
kind of It's maybe a little bit harder to understand
for like the average viewer, but park I feel like
it's a little easier for someone that doesn't know skateboarding
as well to understand because it's just kind of high
speed and there's a lot a lot to look at
for your eyes.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So how much of that is as you all just
winging it? Do you know exactly what routine you're going for?
Or you just go out there and kind of fill
it and let the chips fall what you may.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, I mean to an extent. When we first started,
it's kind of winging it. We have four days of practice,
so you have enough time to kind of try and
figure out the whole park, and by the end of it, Yeah,
everyone usually has a pretty good run in their head
that they know they want to do.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's crazy. You make up your run when you get
to Paris and you see the course and you just
figure it out. That would be so freaky to me.
Everyone else coming in, or at least I would believe
that most people going in to the Olympics have a
routine that they've been practicing, specifically four years. Even someone
knows what fault exactly, so you're just like figuring it
(05:11):
out on the fly. That is remarkable. Do you have
a coach? How do you get to the level you're
at right now to be an Olympian park skateboarder.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
I don't personally have a coach. We have the Team
USA coach Andrew Nicholas, and he's been great helping us
all out. But I mean, you can kind of know
what features will be in the park, it's kind of
similar every time, so you can kind of practice those
specific things, but you never know if everything's going to
line up the way you want it to. So that's
(05:42):
why we get our four days practice try and really
kind of dial everything in and make.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Sure how many runs do you all get to do
in front of the judges?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
We get three?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
He gets three? So combined score, you dropped one. How's
that work?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Just your best run counts.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Whatever one they thought was the best is the score
they get, and then they take the top eight from
the semi finals to the finals and then it's the
same thing again in three runs forty five seconds.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Wow, I mean that's a lot of pressure, Tom. How
nervous do you get? Do you get nervous?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I definitely still get nervous. It's even though I've been
doing contests for I don't know how long, fifteen years now,
probably I still just get as nervous as I did
with my first one.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So what do you do before you go to quell
your nerves to get focus to get in the zone.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I mean, honestly, I just kind of try and remind
myself how lucky I am to be in this position
just doing this so I just kind of try and
look at it as like a big picture instead of
just dwelling on if I can do my run. Just
kind of remind myself that I'm just here to kind
of show the world what skateboarding is supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We hear so much about how athletes, elead athletes prepare.
I mean you hear about the nutrition and the sleeping
habits and the all of this that the tracksors might
do or the gymnast might do. But for a skateboarder,
how do you prepare? Is there a special meal, do
you have to use a certain diet or do you
are you drinking mountain dew? That's the stuff we have
(07:10):
in our head. I mean, just tell us what is
your regiment or your your physical regimen.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I do a good amount of training outside of skateboarding,
just to try and stay healthy and strong the best
I can. But food wise, I mean just trying to
eat healthy and nothing too crazy. I mean, the chocolate
muffins in the village are pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So I be I was going to ask you a
lot's been made of Olympic Village food that it's not
been up to part. What has your experience been like?
So far an Olympic village.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
The food is it's all right, it's not that bad.
The best is more where I'm struggling, But I mean,
it's it's all in all, it's it's all right, it's
all right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
What's the Olympic experience like for a skateboarder? You'll, I
mean there's a bunch of big name athletes, very recognized
the bull and you all probably not necessarily among that
group of most recognizable guys. So what's it like for
a skateboarder to hang out Olympic village? Which is just
what's the Olympic experience been?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Like?
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It's cool.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I get mixed kind of feelings from people. We were
going around asking random people what sport they thought we did,
and a couple of people just said nothing. But then
there were other people that we told we did skateboarding, like, oh,
that's so cool.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I want to check it out. So it kind of
depends who you would ask. I feel like, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Have you had that oh my god, Olympic moment yet?
Just walking around? Have you met anyone that Wow? Do
you have you just had that I can't believe I'm
here moment?
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Absolutely, doing the opening ceremony, meeting the whole basketball team.
I see someone in our building like almost every day.
It's it's pretty insane.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
That's it's so that's so cool and casual. It's always
great to hear those stories. Are Are you able to
have family there to experience this with you?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, my mom and my dad, my brother are all
out here. But honestly, I think they're enjoying it more
than I am. They've gone to like every event so far,
and they're just they're having a good time.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Have you say, have you been able to watch any
of the events. Have you been able to watch any
of the Olympics or you just focused on your event?
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, I've been here for like ten days now. Practice
just started, so I had like a week of three
times just kind of hang out. And we went and
saw ping pong which are sorry table, which is by
far my favorite one.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
We got judo and three v three and uh three
v three basketball and a bunch of other stuff.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It was It's very cool.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
How competitive we're going to be. Talking to your teammates
as well and your friends of course, Gavin and Tate,
what questions would you want an interviewer to ask your
two friends to put them on the spot. What should
we ask them?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I think just asking them more about the village. They'll
probably have some better insight than out.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh okay, all right, that's always that's always good information.
And this it really is a brotherhood. When we see
you all competing, A lot of you all are all
from southern California. You've been skating together for your talk
a little bit about Obviously you're competing against one another,
but what is it like to be with the guys
who are really a part of your family and you're competing.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Against Yeah, exactly. I mean we all grew up skating together.
I've known everyone in this contest since I was eleven
twelve years old, so it's really just like a big family.
And we all get to do these other contests outside
of the Olympics, so we're always hanging out pretty much
all year round.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
It's really special.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Well, I wonder we're gonna let you go here, man,
And I wonder because you sound so chill your voice,
so I expect you to be much more intense once
you get into that pool on steroids in Paris. To
congrats to you, young fellow, Really, man, are I assure
you no matter what time you all are on, we
(10:58):
will be up and watching it live.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I think it might be another three am for you guys,
but thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, and you don't say break a leg to a skateboarder, right,
what do you just saying about?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Probably not, but it works.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Thank you, Tom, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
All right, everybody, we have Tom's good friend Gavin Bodker
here with us, current world champion. And Gavin, did I
get this right? You're just seventeen years old?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
Yeah, I'm seventeen.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Wow, seventeen, current world champion and you are in Paris
at the Olympics. Let me ask you how you're feeling
right now.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
It's insane. I'm still like it hasn't really settled and
I've made it.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
I don't know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
You got other friends who are sixteen, seventeen years old
back in California. I assume what are they doing right now?
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Probably just skating, I mean vacation.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
But so, Kevin, how did how did you get into
the sport? I mean, we're probably we're hearing before the
age of six or seven, y'all were already skating and
doing your thing.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Yeah, I mean, I started skating when I was five
years old in South Lake, Tahoe, and it was just,
I don't know, it's kind of random. We just went
to a park and like I brought like a scooter
by kind of skateboard, and I just was like kind
of trying it all, and I don't know, I just
stuck with the skateboard and pretty much from skating every
(12:37):
day that I can since then.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Now Tom Tom was telling us that you all start,
of course, always for fun. Everybody picks up a skateboard
just wants to go out and have fun. I'm sure
you still have fun in what you're doing. But when
did it become a thing. Where are some folks like
you just naturally blessed skateboarders or this is something you
(12:59):
just got to put in the time and the results
will come.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
I think there's a little bit of there's definitely I'm blessed,
Like I'm definitely blessed, But yeah, I put in a
lot of time into this, So yeah, it didn't just
come out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Were you always a goofy footed skater skater?
Speaker 6 (13:19):
Yes, I was goofy footed, But when I first started snowboarding,
my first whole season. I snowboarded the whole season regular,
and then on the last day I switched to goofy.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And now you to explain to everyone doesn't know what goofy.
I've already googled it, but explained to everyone who's listening
what it means to be a goofy footed skater.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
So when you're a goofy footed skater, if you're standing
on the board, your right foot is in front, but
when you're regular, your left foot is in front.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Simple as that. Have you been giving a lot of
folks in education and skateboarding there in Paris?
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Kind of not as much as I expected.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Actually, perhaps when you've all actually start competing. On the
day you compete, people will be wowed and asking a
lot of questions afterwards. What has your experience been like
so far at the Olympics? What have you done? Who
have you seen? How do you feel?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
I feel good. I mean it's been crazy. I've seen
like a lot of people that like it's like whoa like?
I don't know, it's like shocking starstroke, I guess, but
uh yeah, I've just been trying to keep skating the
whole time.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Okay, let's go back. Who's got your starstruck.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Pretty much like any of the basketball players. That's aw
Lebron and I felt like the smallest person ever next
to him.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
But it was gooz, do you fool fanboy out and
get the selfies or you try to play it cool
from southern California. You're cool kid now.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
I try to play it cool. But yeah, I asked
for it selfie you.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, very casually asked for a selfie any game.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Actually not from Lebron because he was photoed out the
day that I asked him.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
It was on the opening ceremony days.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So oh, you can always try again, right, always try again.
Have you seen any events while you're there or are you
just focused on skateboarding.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
I've seen I've seen the other skateboard events and so
I've been I haven't seen them in person. I've been
watching them on TV. I just haven't had the time
to like get into those events.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, just like us, we've been watching them on TV too.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
I have to.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I mean, just you see the unbelievable attempts that your
fellow skateboarders make and then sometimes they crash and burn.
Talk a little bit about what it takes to get
up the nerve to do the tricks you do, and
how much risk are you actually putting your body in
when you do some of these moves.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
I mean you're putting a lot.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
You're putting your body at risks like insane, but you
have It's basically you just have to know that you
can get out of it if something goes wrong, like
when you're in there, you kick your board away and
tuck your shoulder or something, or make sure you get
to your feet, and that's all it is. If you can,
if you know you can get out of it. I
feel super comfortable.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Are you going into this fully? Pretty healthy right now?
Speaker 6 (16:06):
No major elements, pretty healthy. I tweaked my neck yes
or two days ago. I don't know what happened. I
just got out of the bowl and my neck just
like kind of locked up on me. So yesterday I
didn't really get to skate all of practice, and I've
been battling it all morning.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
And that gets in your head. I would imagine Kevin
also being the current world champion, A lot of pressure.
You're seventeen. How do you handle the mental part of
this and the nerves you I am sure will have
going into competition.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
I feel like For the mental part, I just try
and just remember its skateboarding and it's not that serious.
We're just here to have fun and it's like this
is super new for skateboarding, so it's I'm just stoked
to be here.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Are Do you feel like an ambassador of the sport
right now? Again a lot of people about to watch
skateboarding who only watch it once every four years.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Yeah, not really, but maybe after this time. Do you have.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Pressure on yourself? Do you say I'm going to come
home with the gold or I want to meddle? Like
what what have you told yourself you want to walk
away from the Olympics with.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
I just want to walk away knowing that I tried
my best and I feel like that's all I can
hope for is just to skate as good as I
can and see what happens, not think about the results
as much.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, the last couple of things here give us a
better idea of the experience at Olympic village. What's that
been like for you? Your room, the food, the people,
the friends you make, and the whole atmosphere. Are you're
enjoying it? Just get folks that people are so fascinated
back here about Olympic village. So what's your experience been
(17:57):
for a skater?
Speaker 6 (17:57):
I feel like it's a little bit different, just because
you're walking around and like baggy cut off jeans and
like you're skating around and people are kind of looking
at you. Like I definitely feel I've fell out of
place a couple of times, just because like there's these
huge ripped like dude girls, I'm like a little guy
(18:18):
walking around with my skateboard and so yeah, I definitely
get some some I catch people just like kind of
looking at me.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
A little weird, but like why are you here?
Speaker 6 (18:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Yeah, I like, whoa what does he do? Or something
like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
You know, it's funny too. You make a good point.
You've got these athletes who and you put in the time,
but it's a little bit more formal. They have coaches.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
You didn't have a coach getting into this. This is
just you rewheeling it, doing what you love and doing
it at a very very high level.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, basically.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
But food has been it's been all right, nothing nothing
too bad yet, but it's definitely not my favorite.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Okay, nothing too. I have nothing to write home about.
But do you have family and friends there and enjoy
the experience with you.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Yeah, a lot of my family is here. I have
my dad, my mom, my brother, cousins and aunts and
grandpa and grandpa.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Oh, that's awesome. And Kevin, wait, are you about to
be a senior in high school?
Speaker 6 (19:22):
I'm actually taking the taking a break from high school
right now, just to we'll focus on this and that
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So I was just wondering what it would be like
to go back to school with it.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
I mean, I haven't actually been to school and quite
a while I've been doing homeschool.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
All right, Well, I mean with what you do, that
makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Y doing this at this level, there's no way I
can go to actual school and continue to escape.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I don't know, good, I don't know if you made
the right call, man, to skip school and have to
go to Paris and possibly get a gold mill. I
don't know, man, it don't worry out. But whatever, it's yours,
it's your life. You do your thing, man, Please, please
please tell your tell your your your teammate Tate. We
(20:11):
were hoping to talk to him today as well, but
we were told he had to go write to practice.
We're gonna miss him, that's okay. But man, I cannot
tell you the amount of joy all of you all
are bringing to our faces. And we're getting up at two, three,
four in the morning to watch you all do your
thing live and we're looking forward to seeing you.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Really, good luck to you there in Paris. Brother God
pulling for you.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Thank you, thank you so much. Congratulations Kevin, thank you.
This is awesome. Se
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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