S2/E10: Mystique Ro (USA Skeleton)

Zen may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the sport of skeleton but it’s exactly what Mystique Ro embodies as she tries to make her first Olympic team. As one of 11 children, quiet is not something she often had growing up and it’s something she runs to on the ice track now. In this episode of The PowHERful Podcast she shares how her introduction to the sport was far from conventional, and how she’s challenging the norm and shattering the ceiling for those who come after her. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast. I'm your
host AJ McCord. In this podcast, we introduce you to
powerful women who were changing the game in and outside
of their field of play. These are women's stories, women
who happen to be doing things that many of us
can only dream of, but the lessons and inspiration they
share is universal. Hello friends, welcome back to the Powerful Podcast.

(00:23):
I'm your host AJ McCord. And as you can hear,
I have had a little bit of a run in
with who knows what lately, so please forgive my voice. Today,
Miss de grow is joining the podcast. She is a
complete badass in the sport of skeleton. This is one
of the sports that every single time it comes around
in the Winter Games, I watch these athletes and I'm like, dang,

(00:44):
they must be like crazy to want to hurdle themselves
down the ice track face first, going seventy miles an hour.
And what I learned in this conversation with mystique is
that actually she's the opposite. She's a bit of an
introvert who likes to crochet. She grew up in a
house of eleven kids. She is originally from Virginia, and

(01:08):
if it weren't for the women before her who personally
reached out to create this opportunity for her, she may
never have done it. And it's a really powerful lesson
in staying open to things that you never would have
anticipated for yourself. And actually how much zen she finds
on the track. It was so eye opening for me.

(01:28):
She's such an amazing person and I cannot wait for
you guys to get to know her. So I hope
you enjoyed this episode of The Powerful Podcast. Welcome back
to the Powerful Podcast, you guys. I am so excited
for this next episode because this woman recently and in
one of the longest US droughts for a victory in
this sport since it was reintroduced in two thousand and two.

(01:49):
We'll get to why it was like removed from the
Olympics during this podcast. But this is one of those
sports that every four years when you watch it, you're like,
who can do this? Who is brave enough to do this?
The answer, miss de gro She is joining us on
this podcast. I'm so excited to have one of the
best skeleton racers in the entire world joining us. So

(02:10):
thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you for having me and I'm really excited to
share the story and kind of generics interest as we
get to the closet of the game.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Well, girl, so the interest is there. Let me tell you,
because every single time I watch the Winter Games, the
Skeleton comes on. I see you and your teammates like
running down full speed this ice track and then you
jump on of this sled thing and your chin is
like an inch from the ice. So I want to
start at the beginning. How did you look at this
sport and say, yep, this is the one for me.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Funny enough, I did not share that sentiment when I
first started. I come from track and field background, and
so there was like a big winnit like casting coffee
will from like Alana Myers, Tarra Taylor asking it for
like interest, and I was like, I could try bob,
so that'd be really cool. And so I did the
whole combine riocky combine, and I put out some pretty

(03:01):
good numbers. But when they got to like the stats
about me, they realized I was kind of short and small.
They're like, yeah, you should probably try skeleton, and I
was like, I don't want to do that. So we
went to a rookie driving school and I went down
for the first time and go like halfway down the track,
so it's like thirty miles an hour, and I was like,
this is not for me. I'm not doing this. This

(03:21):
is dumb. I was. I was appalled that someone would
willingly do it's like, you know, for competition. And I
gave myself the truck ride back up to the to
our starting point and I was like, oh, it wasn't
that bad. I didn't die, It's okay. And then I
give myself a couple of runs and then you start
to get a little bit addicted because it's like, oh,
this was a little bit cleaner, this is a little

(03:42):
bit faster, and then little by literally started to get
more interested, and then you start chasing the speed versus
shying away from it. So now here we are, oh.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
My gosh, yeah, now here we are setting records for
the Americans, getting ready to compete hopefully in twenty twenty
six for a team Usay. But go back to that
first time down because how you so, I know Atlanta
sent out a casting call, but what was your first
time experiencing the sport, because it sounds like your first
time seeing it was the same reaction as most people,
which is like that's crazy, not for me. I don't

(04:12):
know who would do that.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, So I didn't even know about the winter sliding sports.
I watched twenty ten and for the Vancouver and I
saw a hulcomb and I was like, oh, it's cool,
and I never really thought much about it. And then
years later and then I see Bob set again, I'm like, eh, whatever,
you know, you cheer for America and then go about
your life. And it wasn't until I got this email
there was like, oh, this is interesting. You know, third

(04:33):
times to charm event, like, you know, being introduced to
it again. And so we got to like Placid. We
didn't have an ice track or an ice house at
the time, and that track was an ice so we
were pushing on the rail, so essentially it's a dry
land track where there's like I was sled on wheels
and you're running down a slope on a hillside trying
to stimulate the push, and it's really awkward. They don't

(04:56):
have the right helmets, so you're kind of front heavy,
so your head's about to drop the whole time. And
it was a lot of that's like getting comfortable running
on one side running bent over. So it's just going
through the really weird, awkward phases because it definitely is
not that smooth when you first start, when you see
us running an ice, it's a lot of like tripping
and falling and wiping out. And then eventually you start
to get your rhythm and you start to pick up

(05:17):
more speed, and then you have to keep up with it,
and then an unfortunate reality is not every ramp is
the same, so you have to learn a new ramp
every week pretty much. So it's a lot of learning
on the fly all the time, a lot of.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Learning on the fly while hurdling yourself face first down
an ice track. Yeah really good? Yeah, okay, cool?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Cool?

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Cool? What was it? So you did track and field
in college? What do you think is the thing that
has really like translated for you? Maybe not even just
like athletically, but this desire and like the ability to
get addicted to a sport like this, Like what is
it about you and your personality that you're like, oh, yeah,
I like where does that come from?

Speaker 2 (05:56):
So? I think my core was hurdles, but I was athlete,
So I think they have athlete part kicked in a
lot when we're traveling to a new truck every week,
so you have to be able to apartmentalize like Sogolda
does not drive the same as Saint Maritz, So you
have to be able to turn your brain on and
off with those different styles of track. But then as
a hurdler, what we found is a lot of our

(06:18):
previous hurdles have really good success as push athletes because
of the mechanics, because of the form that you're bringing
from track and field, the crossover. So the trick is
to not allow yourself over time to get so tight
and so far removed from that type of training style
because of the mechanics are running and because of the
awkward positions you're being forced to be in. That was
a huge advantage in the beginning when I first started.

(06:40):
As a get a little older, you get a little
more lazy because you're just so tired. But it's really
really important to go back to the roots what got
you to the sport to begin with.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Now that you've gotten into this sport the way that
you have, what do you think is like your favorite
part about being a part of the team USA Sliding Team.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
M I think the personally like Obviously, the competition is great.
The athletes that you meet on the way are really awesome.
It's a really small type of community. But the traveling,
seeing different parts of the countries that you travel that
you never really not see even as a tourist, is
really unique. Some places you wonder why did you put

(07:22):
a track here so far moved from civilization, But it
draws you into different parts of the countries that we
see that are so like time capsuled, I guess is
the best way to put it, for better for worse
in some places. But it's just a unique perspective when
we do travel, so we do get to see a
lot of interesting things, and I think that's something that
is very difficult to come across if you're not simply

(07:45):
in the sliding community.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, and so you're trying to qualify for your first
Olympics here in twenty twenty six, and this season seemed
like from the outside perspective, it was like you just
ramped up at every single competition, and like I mentioned,
beginning culminating and winning becoming the first American to win
a world championship medal in skeleton since twenty thirteen. So

(08:08):
that is a very long victory drought for a team USA.
Walk me through that race and how validating it felt
for you.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
So Lake Placid is naturally my home of track. I
think there was a lot of tension, I guess going
into it because there's a lot of like the weather
there is so unpredictable, and so when you think about
like home field advantage, home facilities like infury, it sounds great,
but you have to get on the ice still. And

(08:39):
what's odd is unit for it being my home track,
we don't actually get to be on the ice very
much because of the weather delays in the beginning of
the season. So that was actually my first time on
the track this whole year. Is you know that pre
a few weeks prior to World Championships, which is not
ideal by any means. There's no testing equipment, there's no
trying new lines. The ices is what it is, that

(09:00):
condition and so you're training in those conditions until they
raise prep it for the World Championships. And so I
think what was different from last year because uh it
was it was we had a World Cup last year
and it was a while since we had been there
because of COVID. So like actually Lake Classic was built
up to be this bigger animal again because it's the
it's a driver's track, it's very technical, it's very difficult.

(09:22):
So there's a lot of underlying nervousness or associalately with
lake Plastic because of that, because it's been off off
the circuit for so long. And then for me, like
it's my home tracks, it's fine, but then we have
these external pressures our sponsors. You are here, our donors
are here, so like, don't mess up, you need to
have good results. And so normally, like I operated in
my own little world where I'm just kind of like

(09:44):
there's a fire in the background and I'm on the
swing set, just hang it out. I don't know what's
going on. And so my coach Matt An's wont does
a really good job at like filtering that for me.
So I kind of operated my little bubble. And so
last year I was crying during training because I was
just overwhelmed, which is great for this year that didn't
feel that way. I felt a lots more calm and collected.
I felt more prepared. So I think that was a

(10:06):
nice precursor to get that out of the way, to
get more comfortable with those nerves and being on a
home ice. But I think what was challenging is there's
this expectation then, like on the push, there's been this
long standing start record that has been untouchable for a
very long time. Elena and Nicatina push a five out
of three and the closest any non Russian has been

(10:26):
I think, is like a five point fifteen. And so
the driving is obviously very important, but there's also a
race within the race, but who can push fastest? And
so I had this little thing where the top four
pushes in the world go back ted head and I
managed to get on top, but barely. It was a
tough one. But it's just it's so fun to have
these little in eternal races because obviously everyone's looking at

(10:46):
the end result because it's a culmination of four heats,
but to keep it fun for the girls, all right,
but you're gonna push this run, Okay, I want to
push five fourteen, like okay, well, wonder us a thout
thirteen before this is over? And it managed to be me.
But it's just cool to have those kind of little
find in little games we have internally for us just
to keep it level headed. So we don't get overwhelmed
so much.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
I want to go back to because that is such
an impressive sort of the race within the race is
such a unique way to break down a sport that
already is like a really wild race. How do how
does working with the rest of the women on the
in the sliding sports, right, so that's bob sled, luge,
and skeleton. How does having that dynamic among the team

(11:29):
push everybody to become their best?

Speaker 2 (11:32):
So with luge, the US LISH program specifically, they operate
on their own circuit. While Bob said, skeleton we shadow
each other. Usual Skelton goes first, and Bob said, usual
is the races behind us, so we're always watching each other.
We're starting to become more in tune with each other's schedules.
And I think for luciacifically, it was really cool for
them to be present because this is Lake Placid is

(11:54):
the home headquarters of sliding in the country, so a
lot of the lujackets do live in classes, so they're
they're in the state, they're in the around the track
wearing the USA gear, so they operate as like a
group moving down the track. So we can all see
them and what's what's great is they understand what's going on.
They know better than anyone else on the sidelines that Okay,
they missed the pressure, but they can make it up here.

(12:15):
They have good speeds so they'll carry it through so
they can kind of call the shots throughout throughout the runs,
and they're extremely vibrant on the sidelines. They're very supportive,
so it's been really great. Conversely, you have the bops
letters who are round, like rowdy bunch of people, very like,
very much football esque, and which is great for them.

(12:36):
It's skeleton. We're a lot more zen typically, like you're
not gonna see me screaming up the line. I'm not
gonna be bagging my head or anything like. I'm usually
just swaying and just very chill. And that's something that
they've had to learn how to adopt because like, they
can't scream for us the same way, not until we
get off the off the block. Then they can screaming
as what as they want. But they've learned that we're
very different people. And so once you get through the

(12:58):
learn that Okay, what kind of cheering they need, what
kind of support, how can we help them? That's when
we've found the most balanced to be able to help
each other whenever possible. So it's been it's been interesting
learning about each other's personalities, the different disciplines, for sure.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
It's so interesting. So I was a competitive gymnast and
so and like we see it still with all the
gymnastics teams right where they're teammates, especially on floor, everybody
has a spot that they go to they memorize a
part of the like a part of the gymnast's routine.
And so you see, you know, Jordan Child's out on
the floor and her team, like her UCLA or TEAMYSA
teammates are like mimicking her floor routines and like they

(13:33):
have a cheer. It's such a special camaraderie because similar
to gymnastics, you are a part of the team, but
when you're out there, it's just you and your choices
that have led you to the point where you're hurtling
yourself down this ice track. How has I guess you
explained it a little bit, but I'd love to go
deeper into you know, you mentioned a lot of myers Taylor,

(13:56):
is the reason really that you got into skeleton? How
has that really developed? Sliding as a group of sports
become such a more competitive one for a team usay, Like,
how has that dynamic played into you personally feeling like, Yeah,
it might just be me on the on the track

(14:17):
when I'm out there, you know, for my run, but
I know I've got all this support and I know
that they're there and I can hear them once I
get off the block, or I can see them as
I come around the turn. Like, how does that play
into as an athlete in an individual sport almost getting
being able to tap into that team aspect.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, what's interesting is you're right, we do get on
the track by ourselves, and I can't phone in my coach, Matt,
what do I do? Like, because this is all with
us in sixty seconds. So it's very much whatever I
did preparational wise is going to be manifested down the track.
So what's unique is typically in a perfect world, right,
you have a team of like three guys or girls,

(14:56):
and you guys travel around the world to these tracks
and everyone's going down the track. Let's say you have
a normal training week where you have six training runs
and then you have your race day, so you're a
total of six runs per person going into a race.
If you ever, if everyone's on the same page and
trying to work together, you have six times six runs exactly.

(15:17):
It's time six runs worth of data and information, a
collective things to compare, and so the theory is you should
have a lot more knowledge going in because you guys
are all sharing information. That doesn't always happen, unfortunately, So
it's a lot of relying on you find your person
and the team. You find your person in the sport.
If you're collaboring with another nation and you share notes,

(15:37):
you share feedback because no two runs are the same,
no two days if conditions are the same. So it's
a live sport where things are constantly shifting. One day
the curve could be very open, the next day they
could have iced it up, and now the profile is different.
So there's real time feedback that's necessary, and it's it's
virtually impossible to do on your own, so you are
relying on the coaches in the track who are walking,

(16:00):
or the or the athletes who are helping you film,
or whoever's coming. Because sometimes we'll have bopsa coaches are
just watching scales and sleds and then they'll come talk
to us like, hey, I'm not a scalt an athlete,
but that looks like a weird line. Is that what
you meant to do? I'm like, no, I was panicking,
and they're like, okay, well this is what we think
you should do. So you do rely on a lot
of the Any eyes available is always helpful. Any knowledge,

(16:25):
especially like the senior coaches who've been around for decades,
like that's invaluable knowledge. And the quicker we can like
figure out how to get that out of their brains
and put it on a hard drive to be able
to tell future sliders. That's be really really impressive. But
we do rely on oration. A lot of it is talking.
It's very visual, so as many cameras as possible to
get in the track and hey I wasn't able to

(16:47):
slide by. I filmed your curb six. Cool, thank you,
you know, and that kind of feedback is really important.
That's how we kind of learned quicker versus waiting till
the end of the day to then talk about what
you think you remember and on recall, which is not
always reliable.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, that's incredible to have that element of teamwork, like
learning from your teammate even when you're not on the track.
That feels like a really important aspect to being able
to put together a complete run when you don't get
as many reps on a track around the world as
you probably would like to. I want to go back

(17:21):
to the beginning, because you are one of how many siblings.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
I have tensive likes?

Speaker 1 (17:27):
So on one of eleven, one of eleven, and where
do we fall in the eleven?

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I'm number two? Technically I have an older I'm an
older half brother, so I'm my dad's oldest kid. And
so there's Nick and then me, Melody, Emanuel, Gabriel, Israel, Joel, Julia, Mike, Isai,
and Ezekiel. And that's just the falling order.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
What is the age range between one and eleven?

Speaker 2 (17:53):
So my older brother's three years older. I just, oh, geez,
I'm thirty thirty one, so you would have been thirty
four this year. And then the youngest, he's graduating high school,
so he should be eighteen. I want to say, Okay,
so yeah, not too big of a gap between individual
US athletes siblings, but there's definitely a height range for sure.

(18:14):
The youngest is six six. I am not six six.
I have five three and a half five four in
a good day. So yeah, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
So, how what was it like growing up as the
second oldest Because your dad was a marine, he was
a part of the US Marines. So describe what it
felt like to grow up in such a large family
and tell me just a little bit about like your
your family and what it was like to grow up
in it.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah. So there's eight boys and three girls, and obviously,
like growing up, there wasn't that many at the time,
but it was just a growing family over time. So
we started in California and then we moved eventually moved
to the East coast to between Maryland Virginia, bumped up
and down, and as the eldest daughter, I that role,
whether I liked it or not, but you're essentially the

(19:03):
third parent. So it's a lot of taking care of
the younger siblings, being that point of contact in the
household and that person that's responsible moms out or moms occupied.
So I definitely learned responsibility very early. I learned how
to manage a household, laundry, dishes and cooking and all
that stuff just to help give my mom some relief.

(19:25):
And so a lot of the responsibilities I learned didn't
manifest later on as the more nurturing member of the
team when I became an athlete. But in the actual
household itself, doing laundry for fourteen people sucks. Washing dishes
of Thanksgiving is horrible. But it's definitely a lot of
memories for sure, And I think it's it's very unique

(19:46):
because you don't see many large families these days like that.
I mean back when we were young growing up, we
would go to church and there's families of eight, families
of ten, and so there's that little community there. But
obviously if you go to regular public school, you don't
see that, and so it's always an anomaly. People are like,
oh my gosh, you have eight brothers. I'm like yeah, yeah,
and then it's like you're fighting do yeah, It's like

(20:08):
it's just normal, but you forget that it's so different
in this society, and food was a riot. You have
to be quick on your plate or you're not gonna
get seconds, and you're you're fighting for scraps sometimes and
so you start hoarning food in your room or just
like because they eat so much, it's so hard to
feed them. And it's like I had my brothers down
for summer a couple a little while ago, and I'm like,

(20:32):
you gotta go. I can't feed you. You're eating too much.
And they're like, it's just talking. No, you eat steaks.
You gotta go back to the house. You gotta go
back to your mother. Mom, take them back. I can't
feed them no more. But no, it's it's it's really fun.
Like unfortunately I went out to college, there was a
window time I wasn't around my youngest siblings, and so
we're kind of in that rekindling stages now, like I'm

(20:54):
in an athlete traveling on the world, but they are.
They are now on Instagram. Instagram was not a thing
when I was their age young growing up, and so
it's like they can like connect with me a different way.
So it's really cool that like social media it has
been in a way to connect families and different things.
Is they didn't even know what I was doing for
a long time, and then they see, like you're in
the newspaper and like, yeah, what do you do. I'm

(21:16):
new a sport team. You say, are you trying to
do with the Olympics. Now I'm cool. Now I'm the
cool sister. Before I was just like, Oh, you're just
mistaquers and whatever.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, before it was like wait a minute, how do
how does a girl from Virginia end up in all
this ice like world? Ye, like this ice sport world, right, So,
how do you think growing up in such a large family,
You're now in a very individual sport, a very like
a sport that is very much like you yourself and I

(21:46):
do you feel like there's a part of you that
was drawn to almost you said you're zen at the
beginning of the line. Do you feel like there's a
part of you that's drawn to sort of that zen,
that quiet, that like peace that you I don't know
how you achieved, were hurdling yourself down a nice track
that it sounds like you found it. Do you feel
like there's a part of you that was drawn to
that because of this sort of like quote unquote Cheaper

(22:09):
by the dozen, Like you know, that's like the movie
that kind of I guess showcases what it would feel
like to grow up in a family that large. Do
you feel like there's a part of you that was
drawn to that piece and that serenity because of the
I imagine constant chaos that is growing up with that
many siblings.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, I would say so, like I run too quiet,
I embrace it. I was. I was very much a
reader growing up, so any form of escapism was really
cool for me. I enjoyed the fantasy and all the
other like you know, fun realms to go explore in
the in the in novels and books. So it's probably
not the not the safest one minute of silence you

(22:49):
could possibly ask for, but it's pretty nice when things
go okay, go well. So it's definitely an interesting experience
because like I don't like roller coasters. I'm terrified rear coaster.
Like you can drag me under one, baby, but I
don't like it. And then if you talk about the highway,
I don't like speeding him the highway, like I'm I
have I do have a heavy foot, but like it's
just it's a different feeling because by myself, I'm an

(23:11):
inch off the ice and I'm in control, loosely vaguely control,
and it's it's a it. It doesn't make sense to
my mom. I can't explain to her. She's never gonna
accept the answer I give her because it doesn't seem
safe at all. But it's it's a very serene chaos
because it can go south quickly, very easily, and otherwise
it's just you're just there. You're just present, and it's

(23:34):
one of the things where like kind of like back
to the multi mindset, like I made a mistake two
curves back, but I'm now dealing with the aftermath, and
you have to kind of let it run, let it flow.
If you think about reacting that moment, you cause a
problem for down the track. So it's you just accept
the mistake and you kind of roll with it. So
it's it's just more of just embracing things as they

(23:54):
are and just letting it, keeping it going forward, me
keep them momentum moving forward, not looking back.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, how you mentioned your mom's reaction. I'm curious, like
when you called them up and you said, hey, cause
you left leaving for college, right, and Charlotte was kind
of the first time that you really left your family
and then you're not only going off for college and
now you're like, oh yeah, And by the way, one
of the best Bob sletters ever in the world reached

(24:21):
out to me personally and she would like me to
come to this tryout for this Bob's sledding situation. What
were your what was your family's reaction.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
I don't think I actually told my mom, like, my
mom just sees me come and go, so she kind
of assumed I was just out and about. And then
I was like, yeah, I'm going up to New York.
She like, what's in New York? Like, oh, you just
nothing big whatever, no big deal. So then I go
up to the rookie thing and then come back and
went okay, and then go back to school, and then
on this one trip for driving school, actually we didn't

(24:54):
have speech suits, so we just had like a helmet,
some goggles and like you were a sweater, some sleggings
and it on the track, you're getting beat up. You're
coming back purple and blue and black, and so I was.
I kep it home and I had a T shirt on,
so my arm was exposed and it was very purple
and black and blue. And she's coming downstairs and I

(25:14):
came to the house because I was driving through because
she lives in Virginia. I was going down to Charlotte
still and I was eating a bowl of cereal, just mine,
not business, and she's like, what's for your arm? I
was like, oh, nothing, I hit hit, I hit the chicqaane.
She's like, what's the chicaine. I was like, oh, it's
just so I'm trying to explain to her. She does
not she doesn't care. Why are you purple and blue?
And I was like, well, I don't know how to
drive yet. I don't I don't know how to steer

(25:36):
this steer what? And I was like, I'll just share
the video. She has not let it go since. She
was like, why on earth would you leave the sport
of track and field to go thirty something. There's no logic,
there's nothing you can say that's gonna make a mom like, Okay,
it's a good idea. So I'm like, I'm gonna go
to bed and I'll see you want to see your mom.

(25:57):
But until that, you know, like, I'm okay, okay. So
now we're on like a two week lag. I don't
tell my mom where I'm going. I'll tell where I was.
And so she sees the aftermath on Instagram if I
post it, because she's very like over, well, over, you
know you know what moms are, just yeah, like what
do you do? Like it's okay, I'm in China. Now what, Yeah,

(26:19):
this was Norway, this was three weeks ago. Mom, you're
a little late. We're moving on. So I kind of
keep her a little little bit in the dark and
a delayed time release, like we're very delayed, just to
make sure she doesn't overreact, because she can't be mad.
We're mom on the podium. She sees the birds from
three weeks ago, so it's like, what are you gonna do? Mom?
It's over.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
It's almost like it's almost like that trend on TikTok
where you see all these people going like oh, all
these other people are like checking in telling their family,
their parents, like, oh, I'm engaged. I just had a kid.
I meanwhile like telling my mom, hey, I survived this
this most recent excursion or whatever. And I remember, I'm
like a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I don't really know.

(26:59):
I don't know. I won't say that I won't try skeleton,
but I'm gonna I don't know that I'm that adrenaline
junkie oriented. I mean, but I did like a bungee
jumping thing in South Africa off this bridge one time,
and I remember like my dad calling and he's like,
you're going to the bridge, aren't you? And I was
like what, No, not at all. And he was like,

(27:21):
I know you're going to the bridge and he used
my full government name and I was like, it's gonna
be fine, Dad, Everything's fine. And that was the last
time that, like any trip where I was like, oh, yeah,
I found this adventure, I might do this. I'm now
it's like nope, I'm gonna tell you what I make
it through, and like it just saves everybody a little
bit of heartache, yep, saves everyone some anxiety. So in

(27:42):
addition to obviously, you have like set some records for
the Americans recently, and it's been so sick to watch
you do that, not just because of how long of
a drought it has been for Team USA, but because,
for the longest time, most of the sled sports, right skeleton, luge,
and bob slid have been predominant white and predominantly male,
and you, Atlanta Meyers, Taylor and a few others are

(28:06):
really challenging the way that people see athletes and what
is possible for athletes from all over the world, from
all different backgrounds. How is it to carry a burden
and a privilege of being one of the first in
your sport.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
I think a lot of my mental fortune comes because
of Alana and Vanetta Flowers. They were the pioneers. They
dealt with the brunt of a lot of the systemic
issues that were in play. And it's not to say
I don't see my fair share of things. It's it's
definitely unique because I also operating in a separate discipline.

(28:49):
But for me, very early on, I earned a lot
of respect from my international competitors and in the world
itself of the sliding sports because of my push. Now
with the push, there has been some systemic commentary about that,
but that's that's a different conversation, and I think it's
just it was a new, a fresh look for the sport,

(29:11):
because before it was just if you had the right technology,
you were gonna win. If you were part of the
German program, you're gonna win. And so we changed the narrative.
We're challenging the narrative as far as like, okay, if
we put someone on a basic setup or gave a push,
what happens and oh, okay, you know we can have
these results. Well, it became a little bit more of
an advantage. They know, maybe better runners, maybe a better

(29:33):
sled or a newer sled. Oh okay, we're actually on
the man, we're on the podium. So let's you know,
let's try to seeven good person records. And so I
think a lot of the challenges that we're seeing and
what's great is I'm not shoulder it alone. There's athletes
like Tabby Valentina for Italy. Tabby is with GB and
then we have even some of the other US athletes

(29:54):
that are of color, and the Asian athletes for China
and Korea who are challenging that it's not just a
predominantly white sport anymore. Like it's athletes who are passionate
to learn. So it's a sport where everyone has opportunity
to learn the ropes. So we study I mean, the
original athletes were white, so we're gonna study them, and
then how can we ad a little bit more have
an advantage, like what do we have that's unique to

(30:16):
us that we can actually bring to the line or
bring down the track. And so with that bit of
a collaboration respect as far as like studying our predecessors,
we're able to take what we're given and what we
now know and push it further. And so for me,
like my learning style did not mess with a lot
of the coaches I had early on. But then I
got par with Matt Antoine, who is a six foot

(30:38):
four guy, which is not me a different weight class
to a different sliding era, but he's very like analytical
and we speak the same language as far as coaching
in like learning. So it's been a really good pairing
for me. So that willingness to collaborate, the willingness to
be a student of a sport and continue to learn

(30:59):
because as much as we want change everything, sliding is
basic physics, you know, and you just have to not
panicked in a physics. But it's just something you have
to learn how to harness. You're not trying to control it,
you're trying to just harness it and guide yourself down faster.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, how did you develop that ability to harness the
speed the physics to where you don't panic? Because I
think again, as a gymnast, I can I can relate
to that a lot, right, Like there's a lot of
I was terrible at science, absolutely horrible, but like I understood,
you know, the point in the flip that I needed

(31:33):
to hit a certain position in order to land on
my feet. Like I understood a few of those sort
of basic gravitational understandings of how to tap into that
and not panic ideally. I mean there were definitely times
that I panicked, I ended up hurt or I ended up,
you know, on my back or whatever. How have you
learned to harness the physics of it? And it went

(31:55):
from the first time down you were like, yeah, nope,
never doing this again, to then by the top of
the track you were like, Eh, what's the harm Let's
try it one more time.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah. I wish I could say I was a a
plus student of physics. I just shared it's centropical for
whatever the word. I don't even know the word terminology,
but I don't. I really don't like. I still struggle
we go on track walks. Where's the pressure? I don't
I feel that. I guess you know so a lot

(32:24):
of the time, and that does kind of stow the
learning curve a little bit. Is I can't see it
like you. If you talk me through it, I'm like, Okay,
that makes sense. But I'm based. I'm on a feel,
and that's also a product of our helmets, our visors.
So there's different helmet styles, but the one that's most
common it is called the UVAX, and we have a
visibility and it's it's not that it's not too bad,
but when you're under pressure, I really can't see. And

(32:46):
then they've made a new helmet where it's limit bigger advisor,
so you could look through your brow potentially if you
you know, have it. But so we're very limited our visible,
our visual, so we are a lot of what we
do is based on feel, so unfortunately you get limited runs,
so you have to figure out the feel quickly. So
I have six runs to is the pressure that I spot?

(33:06):
Did I release it too soon? It's not like you're
shouldering it like trying to shoulder checks on a hockey.
It's it's a very fine amount of pressure because you're
just trying to bend the sledge just a little bit
and it could go really well, it could go really bad.
And so there's that fine delicate balance of like how
much it's too much, how much is too little? So
I don't have six ns to figure that out for

(33:27):
a mile of ice. Which is the key to that
is you can't look at the whole track. You have
to pick out key corners, and so were the trouble spots.
We are. The most common issues are speed loss and
once you figure those out, then okay, hold for the
rest of it connects and then if it's a common track,
then you'll see it again next year, so you keep
building every year. So you can't think of the big magnitude,

(33:51):
like the huge aspect of it, because it's overwhelming and
you're not going to figure it out. But that's theoretically
when you have your other teammates to rely on to
get feedback. But if you're just so low, then you
have to be realistic and like, Okay, I have six runs.
There's twelve curves. I can only focus on three, so
which ones are the most important? And then race day,

(34:11):
I can't think of any of that. I have to
go off based on my feel and so I don't
think about getting height in three. I don't think about
pushing the pressure in four. I just my personally, my
brain turns off, which is why it looks like trash
sometimes my races because I just let it go. But
if it's going for like if it's going four and
it's fast, then it's good. But you don't want to

(34:32):
do too much input. So it's learning to do all
like the crazy chaotic studying beforehand and then during the
test the exam, you just got to execute. Yeah you
just said than done, but yes, yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Gonna say, we just have to execute as we hurt
all ourselves down a mile long ice track going I'm sorry,
what is the top speed that you hit?

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Uh, seventy mid maybe eighty yeah, miles an hour?

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yeah, to like finish that, to finish that thought. Yeah,
so seventy to eighty miles an hour down a track
and we just have to like focus on just barely
moving our shoulder throughout the thing. For you, obviously, you're
still pretty new in the sport, looking to make this
like big Olympic debut in twenty twenty six. Briefly, can
you tell me about the mixed event because this is

(35:20):
gonna be new for the twenty twenty six Winter Games.
Is there's a mixed event within skeleton. Now you want
to talk about giving up control, girl, you're not doing
this with somebody else.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah, so that that is a that is like an
introvers worst nightmare. I have to get o control.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
So she's like, wait, actually I think I'm better. She's
like This is my term most terrible nightmare.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
It's exciting because that's the one thing I can bring
from track and field is the reactions start And unfortunately
for Lake Flash that I had a bad reaction and
time because I was just so tired. But so to
go backwards a little bit. Uh, skeleton is a single
metal opportunity for the longest time, So this start, this
is now an opportunity to get two metals per discipline.

(36:11):
You know, if you think gender, what if you think
about that way? And essentially I don't know whose idea
this was. I don't know who thought this through, but
I think they could have used some consultations.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
Like but I'm gonna find them.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
I will find them, but we're gonna have a conversation.
Because in the luge event, which is the feed, first
they have individual men and women double mixed doubles for
or doubles for both genders, and then they have like
a relay. I'm not fully sure how that really works,
but I do know for louse, when they go down
there's a paddle they have to hit and that signals
for the next person to go skeleton. We can't do that,

(36:43):
so they're like, hey, what can we do that's engaging,
but can attack in someone else, So then then they
have this reaction. So they have this light system, and
they've changed a few times since I've done it to
kind of work out the kings, and it's the best
way I can describe. It's kind of like now when
you have like the lights going down the countdown and

(37:04):
so basically you have like five light strips that go
through and by the time he has the second one,
you can't move, so you're on your position, and then
once all the lights are red, it turns off and
then there's a sound. There's an audio sound, So DI
like that because it's track and field because sometimes the
lightstup you can't see it, and so you're just standing
there forever, just waiting, and then the gun goes off

(37:25):
and then you can go. So what's unique about this
is in the regular traditional event, from the block to
the red line is fifteen meters. That's free energy that
doesn't start. The the clock does not start to you
cross the red line. Now with the mixed event, we
just added fifteen meters, so the clock starts as soon
as your foot leaves the block or the device, and
the sled moves so if you're not a good push athlete,

(37:47):
this sucks. So because you have now fifteen more meters
to a run to try to you know, kill the
time between because you're now going to be against the
next girl from the next nation. And so that's invitation
to me because I have a great push. Generally, I
have an average reaction time, and that's extra velocity I
have going in or a bigger advantage I have to
build on. So the other girls are trying to chase

(38:08):
me down depending on the order, or I'm trying to
chase them down. Now. The challenge is is you have
this push, the reaction time and the downtime. I did
my job. All I can do is send the leader's
box and wait for my teammate to come down and
do the same thing. And most my teammates do not
come on the mail side, do not come from track
and field. So this sound system makes them nervous because

(38:33):
no one, no one wants to fall start. If you
false start there you virtually out the metals and there's
no shot. So everyone's like freaking out to shaking. I'm like,
just just breathe, please, just don't move whatever you do.
And so once they get past that, then you get
to the sliding part and then they can kind of relax,
but you know, if we need that first fifteen acount
to add up to our So it's it's kind of

(38:53):
like a weird balance of like you have to be
spot on you want power, but then you have to
you have to be chill again. So it's like a
weird like I don't even know you're you're you're spiking
your emotions, your energy, and then they need to be
zen again. So it's see, I think it's really unique.
It's different. There's still some kinks you get to work
out for sure, as far as like because the second,

(39:14):
like I mentioned before, every ramp is different. So some
ramps you need to give it all from the beginning.
Other DRAMs you have to build into it. But when
you have a reaction, your reaction is to go, So
now you have to know how to paste it or
you just doesn't matter, just go because you can't stop.
You can't well, should I still down? Should a building?
You just got to go. So it's definitely a unique
experience on the pairings make it interesting because some nations

(39:36):
will flip athletes around between different mixed teams. So it's
anything can happen, literally, which is what makes it exciting.
Anything could happen, you know. It could be a German sweep,
it could be an upset, it could be it could
be anything. Honestly.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, For somebody who self admittedly doesn't like roller coasters,
it sounds like every single time you hit the ice,
it's a roller coaster. Actually it maybe of emotions, but
it sounds like roller coaster for sure. This has been
so fun to get to know you. I think the
last question that I always like to end the interview
section of is is there anything that you just want

(40:11):
to share? Because I think it's so fun not only
to get to know you as a person, but skeleton,
Like I said, it's one of those sports that every
four years people are like, holy shit, this is insane
and like these people must be nuts. But meeting you,
it's like you're very much the opposite. Like you're very calculated,
you're very calm, you're very then you're very very much

(40:33):
a control like someone who likes to be in control
also the same, and so it's like this dichotomy of
like our perception of these athletes with who you actually
are as a person.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, I ought to say I watched the Golden Girls
every year. I watch the full, full seasons, all of it.
And this is like my nice little reset. I croche,
I cross stitch. Like I'm a very call chill person.
This is my one little spike of like chaos. And

(41:04):
I can't explain what happened or how we got here.
But yeah, I like Shirley Temples. I like to drink
Shirley Temples. I am not really crazy. I like, you know,
I'm a normal person, and I think that's That's what's
really interesting is like when we see these sports adrenaline things.
You think X games, and I think it's some capacities.
It could it could rival that. But a lot of

(41:25):
us are a lot of the athletes on this and
the sports are very skeleton specifically, are introverts. We're not
very chaotic personalities. We have general interests like you know,
and like we can appreciate the speed sports. A lot
of us are f one fans or we like to
watch the rate like NASCAR and stuff like that. But
would I do it, No, Like I would watch it

(41:45):
for sure, you know, I would go cheer whatever that's entailing.
Are you know, you have your your normal sports fans
like football, soccer and all that. But you're not gonna
catch me jumping off a bridge, parachuting bungee do nothing.
Absolutely not. No, I don't like no.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
She's like, this is my one thing. This like it's
like all of the chaos gets like tucked into this
one kernel of your life of skeleton.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Well, I personally am so stoked about it because I
have loved getting to know you this season and watching
you this season and being like, it's just so fun
to learn to like literally kind of pull back the
visor because I think that's the other thing, right, Like
we rarely get to see you guys. There's these sports
that are you know, have these have helmets versus don't.
And I think that's one of the things is like

(42:34):
y'all come down here looking like a like a menace,
Like y'all come down looking like superheroes in these huge helmets,
these like speed suits, and you're like, yeah, must be superwoman.
And it turns out yes, inside that suit, but so
much more, she's she's a crocheting superwoman who is uh yeah,
making a difference in the world just by existing as

(42:55):
her authentic self. So I'm really grateful that we get
this kernel of chaos from you.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
No, thanks for having me. It's been nice chatting, yeah, girl,
And we're not even done.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
We're just transitioning our little segments here to This is
called something to Sip On, which I think you may
have given us a little teaser just a minute ago.
But this is called something to sip On. It is
brought to you by the Sports Bra, which is the
first women's sports focused bar in the entire world. Jenny
is a dear friend of mine and I just love this.
I love this, love everything that she's doing up there

(43:28):
in Portland. So Mystique. The week of your episode, there's
going to be a drink called the Mystique, which, by
the way, is probably a fantastic drink name. Choose your
favorite cocktail or mocktail that you want to be the Mystique.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Oh boy, I am really bad at the stot. Hmmm.
I don't really I'm not very well versed on different kuncok.
I'm a fruity person for sure, so I don't know.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Like Cher, you can go with Shirley Temple.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
I like the shit Temple style. Yeah, if you want
to add a little sum sum to that despice it
up by all means, but I do love me a
good Chiley Temple.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
I mean, it's it's the go to. It's like, it's
it's just why I fix what ain't broke?

Speaker 2 (44:12):
You know, there you go.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, So it's Shirley Temple the week of Mystique's episode
up at the sports Spra. If you're going to Portland
at any point, A, you should, It's one of my
favorite cities. And then B you gotta check out the
Sportspra because they are going to have a fantastic Shirley
Temple called the Mystique, all right. And then to wrap
things up, we have our Powered Up segment. This is
our Q and A segment that originally was called Rapid Fire,

(44:34):
and then we gave up on it being Rapid Fire.
So this is just Q and A. We're just getting
to know you, okay. First question, coffee or tea hee,
favorite ice cream flavor?

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Cookie dough, cookie dough?

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Oh good one? What is your go to meal before
or after skeletoning? Can I turn it into a verb
in season?

Speaker 2 (44:54):
I am very much like the traditional Korean but I
will kill a pizza. Wait, Mom's Tennessee she's black and
my dad's from Soul, Korea.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Oh cool, Okay, so a little little taste of home.
Oh there in this season a little I love that
for sure?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Are you?

Speaker 1 (45:12):
And I feel like I kind of want to guess
the answers to these questions, but I want are you
an early bird or a night owl?

Speaker 2 (45:19):
A night owl?

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Oh, I would have gone the other way.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
No, I am very active at night and that's what
sucks is I've got to bed to get up in
the morning to drain.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Oh my gosh, that's fantastic. What is the favorite place
your sport has taken you?

Speaker 2 (45:35):
M I would say, uh, Clinics is a unique spot
on tour. There's a lot of history there, historically for
World War Two, which is not the part of mentioning.
But like it's very seating, very beautiful. But the track
is down here and then there's like this sea or
whatever you want to call it, like a lake, and
that top is the eagles nest or Hitler hung out.

(45:59):
So that's not necessarily I'm talking about it, but like
it is there, but it's a very beautiful scenic more
out for the mountains, you can see it's very pretty.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Wow in Germany.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Yes, Bavaria.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Wow, very cool. If you were not a skeleton athlete,
what would you want to be an Olympic athlete.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
In speed skating?

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Ooh good? One? Dang another Zen another like really really
high consequence but zen kind of sport and sensing a
trend here. Okay, what is your favorite vacation spot?

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Ooh, that's tough because I do like the beach, but
I like the vibes of like a mountain retreat to
go read. I like that better.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
It's very fair. There's nothing better than a cabin in
the woods in the summer reading a good book.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Yes, yes, yes, it's really good.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
I also was a reader growing up. My mom used
to make fun of me because I would literally run
into things because I was reading my books. What is
the best piece of advice you have ever gotten?

Speaker 2 (47:01):
I would say, Actually, it's a good one. So, before
I got into the sport of skeleton, I grew up
one of eleven middle class limitations whatever, and unfortunately definitely
much more limiting on what girls can and can't do.
Just culturally, there's some limitations. Then I learned outside of that.

(47:22):
But before I got into this sport specifically, I heard
this on a like a motivational YouTube real like a
YouTube video thing. But it came out later as a
quote too, but basically, don't let money limit you from
trying new things. And as a broke college student, that
is a very hard thing to stop it because you

(47:43):
don't have any money to do anything. But I think
it was definitely a challenge in the beginning because skeleton
is definitely historically a rich person sport. It's not necessarily
accessible to the suburban kid at all, So if you do,
you have to be put into those circles to do it.
But I definitely see that in other realms because the

(48:06):
sport has taken me wrong around the world and it
has shown me different opportunities that would not have otherwise
been like, you know, shown because of the circles I
was in, because I you know, limiting as far as exposure,
so and with that is just just saying yes to
opportunities Like it sounded, it sounded insane, like who does skeleton?
Why would you do that? That's dumb? But here we are.

(48:28):
You know, you said yes a couple of times and
then now we're one of the top scalf and athletes
in the world and we're competing to try to go
to the game. So money is still a factor, but
it's just one of those things where like if you
just if you're just more open to that possibility of
like what could be, then I think you just dis
guy's limit, you know, So just being open to opportunities

(48:48):
for sure.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Can you tell me a little bit more about the
message that you got from a lot of Meyers Taylor
inviting you to this to this camp and yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
So basically, and it sounds like this was more of
a routine thing. This is pre COVID, so life was
different back then. But we had like she sound like
an email blast to different coaches around the country strength, conditioning,
track and field. I don't know what database she used.
I'm sure there's something that is accessible. And so my
college coach, Jim Barrenkamp, got an email and it riginally

(49:20):
actually this email. He well, he got the email and
he's like, they're asking if you have any athletes who'd
be interested or you think would be a good fit
for trying out, you know, send them our way or
give her information. And so my coach reached out to
my teammate Nikiah Squire because she was a national champion
in like I forget the events. But she's she was

(49:44):
a sprinter. She did the long jop in one hundred
meter and she did really well, and so by number,
she was something they were looking for, and so he
had her on the lessa ky go try out. I
just have to be sleeping on her couch. So this
invite wasn't even for me. And I was like, I'll
go just to hang out out, why not? And so
I went down. The combine that they had was hosted

(50:05):
in South Carolina. So I went down, did the number.
I did, did the events, and I scored high enough
to be in the pool of interest because I didn't
quite hit the number they're looking for. I was like
six point short. And then they're like, okay, we'll give
you a call. So then I got a call eventually
or to come up to the Rookie Group rookie camp
in Lake Placid. And that was like a whole undertaking
because like now I got to buy a ticket to

(50:26):
fly up there. So the main thing was is like
I originally wasn't part of the initial thought process. I
just was a product of circumstance, like non circumstance I was.
I was just approximity. That was the right place, the
right time to hear about it. So my coach. I
talked to my coach like, do you think I should
do it? And he's like, yeah, why not? You know
you're there, you might as well give it a shot

(50:46):
and see what happens.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
And that goes back to exactly what you said, which
is the advice is say yes, be open to these
opportunities because how freaking life changing has it already been? Yeah,
and you haven't even like that's incredible, That is so cool?

Speaker 2 (51:03):
With that?

Speaker 1 (51:04):
What is the best piece or what is the thing
that your parents taught you that you feel like you
apply the most in your everyday life.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
My one thing about my mom is like she was
really much big into the reading for me, Like she
was taking to the library and I would different PHAs
for mistake, just just knows in the book, just very quiet.
And now I'm a little more vocal. I gotta like,
you know, defend and protect my protect you know, my interests,
not stuff in the sport. But one thing that she

(51:33):
definitely translated is just just dreaming big. Just don't be
limited to what's in front of you. Like I always
like the escapism of reading. The escapism of just exploring
new worlds was always something she was She definitely fostered,
and you know, she didn't know what I was reading.
She didn't know what I was talking about half the time.
But she's like, you you read that, mystique, you keep
reading steek, And so I think that's something that definitely

(51:56):
translated just being just being a dreamer, just being someone
that just is shooting for the start. You can be
landing in space. Who cares, you know, but you're up there,
You're you're doing something and eventually it'll work its way
out to be something bigger. But just not selling the
dream short definitely inspiring for more.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
I love that that's such an incredible thing to have
passed on, and I think that that is one of
the most underrated aspects of books. Because I just recently
got into fantasy, I've been much more like a historic
fiction girly. I really like learning about the women who
did incredible things in history that we have never known about.

(52:37):
And I just recently got into fantasy, and I always
was a little bit like, ah, what's the point of this,
Like I really want to learn something that's like impactful,
and like I didn't think that that's what fantasy could be.
But then it was like, oh no, this is like
one of the most pure forms of imagination that you
can tap into. And how epic is it to be

(52:57):
able to tap into somebody's imagination that literally created another
world and then like bring that back to your world
and imagine you know how big this tiny little dream
could be for you, how much it could change your life?
How much you know, because if their imagination can create
a world like my imagination can, we can create a podcast, right,

(53:19):
we can create opportunity for women in these sports.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
You know.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
It's just such a cool, such an underrated aspect of
what you get when you open a book, right, yeah, yeah,
I love that. Okay, And then my last question for
you is what does powerful mean to you?

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Hmm I. I would like to think that powerful just
being powerful is just it's just it's just raw, Like
it's not artificial. It's not something you can you can
just formulate in a lab, which it's it's down to
like the core belief in just oneself. And I think

(53:58):
a lot of it does come in it's influence by
like nurture, growing up, like being raised by like you know,
to be confident to be you know, curious to aspire
for more. But in some realms, like for me like that,
I did have like that support for reading. But as
far as like me being a my dad's very traditional,

(54:19):
so women were not seen to be more vocal aspire
for a degree or you know, have whole positions of power.
So I had to learn that on my own or
through other women around me, saying that you can take
up space, you can you can stand up for yourself,
you can defend yourself, you can protect your own interests,
you can have interests and your own desires. And so

(54:39):
I think a lot of it just comes from that curiosity.
Did it constantly keep protecting your own inner fire, which
is the core of your being, to try to aspire
for more and more could just be looking for more peace, more,
could be looking for you know, to pave a way
for the next generation. Whatever that fire is for yourself,
whatever keeps you going is protecting that and nurturing that

(55:02):
and making sure that it does withstand the test of
time as far as or the trials and tribulations you
experience in life. And I think that's it's the ability
to have the freedom to aspire for something as great
as being a you know, a mover, a shaker in
the world, or just being able to have peace for yourself.
You know, doesn't it doesn't know any shapes or like

(55:22):
any limits. It's whatever you want it to be, but
you protect it with all costs. I think that's that's
really important to me, expect seeing people being able to
be happy and aspire for whatever level of greatness they
deceive for themselves or others, but uninhibited in the ways
they want to.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, I'm going to think about that
for the rest of the day. The curiosity to cultivate
and protect your inner fire, that's it. That's what it's about.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
I am.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
I'm so grateful that you have maintained that curiosity because
now we all get to be inspired by this inner
fire that you have. You show it on the track,
show it in these interviews, you show it as a
part of this huge family that is so lucky to
have you as the second oldest. And I'm just so
grateful that you took the time to come on this podcast.
Cannot wait to root you on in Italy next year,

(56:13):
fingers crossed and wherever you go next, because I think
we are just starting to see what that innerfier is
capable of, and I'm just yeah, thank you for taking
the time, Mistique.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Thank you for having me. This is an awesome question,
its awesome interview, and uh, thank you for just being curious. Honestly,
like the sport looks so weird and quirky, but what
do you get down to it? Like it's it's simple,
but it's it's not. So Yeah, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
Maybe next Olympic cycle, maybe my curiosity will come up.
We'll do an in person situation. Yeah, can take me
on the baby track.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Yeah, we have two tracks you can take your pick of,
like plasidor park City and yea. Yeah, well get you
fit in, get you down the track and then we'll
get your feedback.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
Immediate reaction, immediate reaction. But the Mike interface immediately flip this.
I love it. Thank you so much for taking the time.
We are so grateful to have you on the Powerful
podcast and we'll root for you soon. Thanks for being.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
Here, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
We'll see you next week. Thought Squad.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
This is a reminder to check us out every Tuesday
everywhere you get your podcasts, and if you really enjoy
this and don't want to miss an episode, be sure
to hit that subscribe button.