July 22, 2025 • 35 mins
She’s a 2x Olympian, 6x World Champ and multiple X Games medalist and yet, the road has been full of struggle and perseverance few knew about for BMX freestyle rider Hannah Roberts. In this episode she shares how she manages the pressure and privilege of being a trail blazer, as well as how learning to deal with things as they come has helped her navigate the ups and downs. It’s a lesson hard-learned, but she easily shares for us to apply to our own lives
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm your host Aja McCord.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women who
were changing the game in and outside of their field
of play.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
These are women's stories.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Women who happen to be doing things that many of
us can only dream of, but the lessons and inspiration
they share is universal.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back to this episode of the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm aj McCord, your host for all things Olympic, extreme
and action sports and the badass women who competed in them.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
This week we have Hannah Roberts.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
She is one of the best BMX free style athletes
in the entire world. She's a two time Olympian, six
time World champion in BMX freestyle, and yet she talks
about how brutal it is to navigate all of the expectations,
all of the excitement, all of those accomplishments. At just
twenty three years old, she dives into just managing all
(00:52):
of the expectations that come with being a part of
the inaugural class of a sport for the Olympics. She
talks about what it's like to be always the favorite
and sometimes not deliver, and the really intense consequences that
can come from that. She shares a lot about which
voices she had to make sure she listened to, which
ones she tuned out, and how we can all apply
(01:13):
that to whatever our goals are in life. Cannot wait
for you to hear this episode of the Powerful Podcast.
Thanks for being here, Welcome back to the Powerful Podcast.
I am so excited to be joined now by Hannah Roberts.
She is a no big deal two time Olympian in
BMX freestyle. She has won six world titles in BMX freestyle,
(01:33):
and she's competing here at the X Games in Salt
Lake City, and I'm just so excited to get a
chance to talk with you about your Olympic experience, BMX,
women in sport, all the things.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So, Hannah, thanks for being on the Power Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah. So, you are one of the best BMX.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Freestyle riders in the entire world. A lot of people
learn how to ride a bike when they're when they're
a kid. How did you go from I'm learning to
ride a bike to I want to compete in riding
a bicycle.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Honestly, Like, growing up, I did a bunch of team
sports like soccer, football, the tried track. Not a runner,
but I tried them all, and I didn't really like
to rely on other people to do well. But I
loved sports. So actually X Games was on two thousand
and nine. X Games was on, and saw the way
(02:23):
that the riders were treating each other, and I just
fell in loved it and as my dad if I
could do it, and he got me a bike and
haven't stopped since.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So you went from watching the X Games on TV
to competing in the X Games. But I know that
that was a lot of work. So what was the
work that it took for you to do that?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Honestly having fun? I didn't think that any You know,
when I was growing.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Up, there wasn't very many female riders, so I would
just ride with the boys at the local skate park,
and you know, they would learn something and then they
would pressure me to learn it, and like that's how
I grew And then, yeah, I never truly.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Thought that this would be my career.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
I don't think it hit me until my last year
of high school and then had a really really good
start to the season.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I graduated and I was like, all.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Right, I'll finish out the season let's see won everything
at the end of the season, and then I was like,
I was already qualified for the Olympics before COVID, So
I was like, all right, well, this is what we're
doing for a while, and yeah, haven't stopped.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So there's a lot there.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Let me gather my thoughts because the most important thing
is that you saw X Games in two thousand and nine,
so you had this goal of X Games but it
wasn't an Olympic sport in two thousand and nine. Twenty
twenty one was the very first time that freestyle BMX
freestyle was in the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Obviously it was supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Twenty twenty, but with COVID it got pushed back. So
how did you work towards a goal that didn't even
exist yet? Like, what did a season look like for you?
What did developing tricks look like for you?
Speaker 4 (03:54):
How did you.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Prepare for something that you were going to try and
be the first in?
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, so I didn't know anything when I first started,
sure at all. I went to my first professional contest
in Edmonton, Canada.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
I think I was like twelve or thirteen.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
I got second there and then my dad would just
drive me all over the country to any kind of
amateur event or any event that he could find. And
then two thousand and sixteen, I think I got a
call that they wanted me to compete against the boys,
and I was not good.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Okay, I'll be honest. I was fourteen in simple sessions.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
They paid for mine to my dad's flight to go
to Estonia and like, you compete against the boys, there's
no girls class got sixty something place, and then we
went to France after for girls contests and rode there
and that was like the first year that they allowed
women to do a world series with the boys. And yeah,
since then, like I won that series and then they
(04:53):
paid for me to go the next year and won
that year, and then they paid for me to go again,
and then USA came in and took over after it
was announced, so that was pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
When I think I was I think fifteen, I was
in like computer class or something. When when I got
like my phone started blowing up.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I got in trouble.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
But my dad was like blowing my phone up at
fifteen years old, just like it's an Olympics wore and yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So the World Series is essentially the year and year
out qualifying league if you will. For the Olympics, it's
like how you qualify, but you compete in the World
Series every single year or it's just leading up to
the Olympic years.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
So the World Series we have like World Cups obviously
World Cups, World Championships, and then I think they added
like Olympic qualifying Series.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
So world the World Series is.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Just all the World Cups. Like if I win every event,
I can win the World Series. I did that six
or seven times in a row. I didn't win it
last year. I didn't go to very many of them,
but yeah I did really well for a while, and
they started paying for me, and I was like, yo,
it's sick. And then my parents are just sending me
a lot more. And yeah I was still in normal school.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
That was gnarly.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So I bet it's a ton to manage.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
You mentioned at fifteen your phone's blowing up, which like,
obviously it's very exciting whenever esport gets sad to the Olympics,
but for your dad it was like no, no, no,
Now we don't just have the X Games like we have,
we have an Olympic spot.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I mean, how did that shift. What was sort of.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
A dream of like, you know, hey, X games and
these World Series events, but like, how much did the
Olympic validation of the sport impact your ability to see
yourself continuing it as a career.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Well, I mean I was pretty naive. I was like
I was fifteen. I didn't really think that I was
going to go. It's a long you know, it's a
long time. There's a lot of people in the world.
I was like, somebody's beat me out, like it's whatever.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
And yeah, I don't think.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
I don't think I really gave myself a shot. I
took a fall in twenty eighteen. I needed surgery on
my shoulder, and when I was rehabbing that, that's when
I decided, like, I'm gonna give it my all this year,
and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.
And yeah, I think Paris b me maybe one time.
And then I won every other event in twenty nineteen,
(07:11):
which was way too many events. I was gone for
like six or seven months of the year, and yeah,
came back from France, graduated high school, and moved to
North Carolina for training, and it was just like this
is I'm going to give it everything. And then in
that year I won the World Championships and they qualified
me for Paris or for Tokyo, and two months later, freaking.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
COVID happens, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
And then yeah, I got to continue living the dream,
just doing whatever, and I get to do it on
like a mainstream.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah so your two time olypum you'd walked away from
Tokyo with a silver medal.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I can imagine that felt like a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Of pressure to be a part of the first women's
class because it was was it just you in Paris
in that first women's division of BMX free Style in
Tokyo for US. Yeah, so you're one of two American
women to represent VMX freestyle. It's very first Olympic appearance.
You're coming out of COVID, which was like nobody's mentals
(08:10):
were where they should have been coming out of COVID.
How did you approach your very first Olympics.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I don't know. I don't remember too much.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
I like shut down, I did things like pretty wrong,
I think leading into that coming out of COVID or
like during COVID, like got married pretty quick, bought a
house pretty quick, and that was like within six months
of leaving for the Games. And then so I was
trying to figure out real adult life at nineteen and
(08:42):
train full time for the Olympics, and yeah, I made
myself pretty miserable, just like I spread myself so thin
on everything.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
And yeah, it was.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
It was not a great thing. So definitely wouldn't recommend it.
But well, going into Paris, I mean I was like
pretty set on and people understood what I was doing
and everything I did I did with purpose, and yeah,
I dropped like a healthy way, the healthy way, and Tokyo,
I dropped a crazy amount of weight, just horribly fast.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
And yeah, so I had to learn.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
I had to like completely shift everything that I knew
going into Paris.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And I knew that.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
I knew that the way that I was like talking,
you know, I go to therapy and you know I talk,
and I was talking to my therapist. I was like,
I can't do that again, Like that was looking back,
I was like that was insane that I thought that
that was the right way thing to do. So but yeah,
I don't I honestly don't remember. I don't remember like
riding leading up to it. I won, I won the
(09:44):
World Championships in twenty twenty one. I don't remember that,
Like I see the post my dad, you know, shares
the posts and stuff, and I think that was my
third World Championship that I won, and I have no recollection.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
I don't know what I did. So, yeah, that was
that was a crazy, crazy time.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, to be spread so thin that you don't remember
those big moments, those big milestones in your life has
to be jarring to look back on.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
How did you?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I mean in the moment though, I mean, I'm somebody
who strows myself very thin, like all the time. I'm
somebody who's like, Nope, I can do everything, all the things,
and I can do them very well. But learning to
say no and learning to set boundaries is something that
I don't feel like I do very well now. Ye,
but I feel like I definitely didn't do it at nineteen,
because at nineteen, you're like, the world is my oyster.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'm going to go out, I'm going to do all
the things.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
How Like, how harsh of a reality did that hit
for you? That you have to set these boundaries and
you have to learn to say no to things.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
It was a little it's a little crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
It took a long took a lot of like practice,
and I lost a lot of relationships from it. Just
like having hard boundaries and you know them being crossed.
It wasn't a great thing. And yeah, I just I
just had to really look.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
In the mirror.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
And you almost have to, especially Olympic years those like
you know, the Games usually happened in July, so those
seven months of that year, you have to be so
selfish with your time and your energy. And it sucks,
it really does, because you know, I just I don't like,
you know, just going to the gym and then going
to riding and then going home and having nothing to
(11:25):
do because you have to recover to do it the
same day, the same thing the next day.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
And yeah, it was.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
It was a long learning process and I don't think
I really figured it out until like probably two weeks
before the Games, where I was just like, everybody's got
to leave me alone, like pretty much shut down all
communication with everybody but my family. So I was still
talking to my mom and my dad every day, but
like coaches and like you'll see me at practice, like
(11:52):
leave me alone.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Like it was.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
It got to the point where I was just like, dude,
I have to do this for me because you just
I mean, over time some where's you out.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, well, at the end of the day, you're the
one going out there and being an Olympian. At the
end of the day, you're the one that like has
to go out there and perform. In my gosh, perform
you did, Like you walked away with a silver medal,
which from the outside looking in, you're like, good job,
first time Olympian. You walk away with a silver medal.
So many people go to the Olympics, Well, okay, so
(12:21):
many people the of those extreme elite athletes in the world, right, Like,
there's only a few that become Olympians, and then there's
even fewer that becoming a medalist, much less one of
the top two women in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But tell me why you were so unhappy with a
silver medal.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Mean, I I think I qualified for the Olympics in
February of twenty twenty, and then the world shut down,
and then every interview that I did before and it
was way too many, you know, they were talking about
the gold hopeful and all this, and.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
It was just a lot to manage.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
And I didn't really like in the moment, I didn't
think that that was messing with my head.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And then once I got the silber, it was just
like it's not good enough. Yeah, And I didn't like
want to I didn't want to hold it. I didn't
want to do anything.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
I put it in a cupboard at my house and
and then for like weeks and weeks and months, I
was getting d ms and texts and all that just
saying that I got robbed and that I deserve to win.
And I don't know, I had really really mixed feelings
with it. I didn't I didn't know if they were
right or if if I deserved what I got. And
(13:39):
at the end of the day, like everybody deserves this
where they got, that's what the judges thought.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
And yeah, I just made it really really hard to
enjoy that. That sober so.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Well, it's there's so it's so crazy. I think of
this quote that like, comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah,
and if fifteen year old Hannah or you were what
seven when you started writing, or seven or eight? Okay,
so if eight year old Hannah had been told, hey,
you're gonna win a silver medal at the first ever
Olympics for VMX freestyle.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What would her response have been.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
I don't even think I would have like understood, I
just what and then you know, but it would have
been mind blowing at that age. Yeah, go eleven years
later and I'm just like, couldn't even hold it out.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, that's a wild So I think of the quote
that comparison is a thief of joy because it's like you,
the only reason, or one of the big reasons that
it was hard to be joyful about such a massive
accomplishment is because you're comparing it to what you thought
you should have gotten, or comparing it to what everybody
told you you should have gotten.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
How did that affect the way that you prepared for Paris?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I mean, honestly, if you look at my Instagram or
my social media right now, it's dry.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I stopped posting.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I was just getting you know, people hate on the internet,
which doesn't bug me, and bugs me my sisters a lot,
and it was it was affecting like the way that
my family would act on social media. They weren't like inappropriate,
they weren't rude, but they just like stopped wanting to
(15:14):
share certain things.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
And for me, that's.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Never Okay, I think everybody should have that space. I
know social media is public, but everybody should have that
space to share. And you know, for me, if I
don't like some upscool, I don't care. I'm not there's
no reason to comment.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
I was getting pretty gnarly, pretty gnarly like death threats too.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
It was crazy.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Yeah, I got after after right before Paris, and then
while I was in Paris.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
And then after Paris. Whoa, yeah, it was it was.
It was a little insane.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Obviously, Obviously I didn't live with my parents, so that
was a little bit more relaxing. You know, I had
my own house in North Carolina, so it's like they
searched my address. It's going to be that one, you know,
rather than my parents house. But yeah, I didn't let
anybody know about that. I was just like, dude, this
is this is not cool, and I just quit posting.
And you know, I I was getting hate on posts
(16:08):
and just people trying.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
To get a rise and it didn't really work. I
was just like, I don't need that, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, was it over your performance? Was there over the cough?
Like what was the.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
So some of it's over the way that I perform.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
You know, if I I didn't win every event in
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
I don't know if people know this. It's very very
hard to win a single event.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
She says. It's a six time world champion.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah, it is super hard to just win everything all
the time. So I didn't win every event twenty twenty three.
I was getting a lot of a lot of crap
for that. I was getting a lot of crap for
the way I look very muscular, and you know, for me,
I'm like, I don't I don't care.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
There's not one part of me that cares.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
And it's just everything a little bit of everything. I know,
I know, like the death comments and the death threats
were they were over me being gay, which crazy, and
I actually.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
I know I know who it was. I'm very very
sneaky at fun. I didn't do anything with it, but
like I was.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Just like everything's everything's you know, public information. So yeah,
that was pretty crazy, and that that was the one
thing that I was just like, shit done. I just
still don't really post too much. We I don't care
about the hate. It's just like the threats and stuff.
And I got you know, I got nephews. I got
a two year old nephew. I have a niece that's
(17:32):
going to be born, hopefully in August. So you know,
when it comes to when it comes to that stuff,
I want my family to be safe.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, So you mentioned that some of it was over
you being gay. You've been out for quite some time
and you're a very proud, active member of the lgbt
Q I A plus community.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
What do you want people to know about what it's
like to deal with some of that stuff.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah, I don't think I've ever not been out. Pretty
pretty obvious. From when I was like eight, I was
like cut my eye had a bull cut.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It was crazy. But yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Mean I never knew that, Like I've never experienced that
before Paris. I never experienced like the threats and and
you know, for for BMX and for most people, they
just they don't care. You know, I'm happy I being
gay such a small part of my life. And obviously
I was married to a woman and we're not together anymore.
(18:27):
But like nobody cared too much. It was just when
when it happened, I was like, such a such a
stupid thing to be mad about, Like yeah, and uh, yeah,
I mean I don't. I don't ever really talk about
being gay. I don't like, I don't think it's like
a For me, it's kind of look at me and
you can tell.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I mean, they just gave me a freaking lesbian haircut,
you know. Nikita picked it out.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
She's like yo, sho, look at this and so. But yeah,
it was it was just interesting. I didn't know even
what to what to do. We didn't tell anybody, not
because it affected me.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
It wasn't like scared.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
You know, I do keep a gun in my house,
so I knew I was fine. I knew I was protected,
but like it was, it was something where I was
just like, take a step back, and I was like,
this is what the world's coming to.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
This sucks.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, yeah, well it feels like gosh, you again we
talk about the lessons that you had to learn so young,
right and so publicly right, Like I think even for me, right.
Social media is something where everyone decides how much they
want to share, and it really only takes getting burned
one time to be like, all right, I'm out, y'all.
(19:42):
Actually don't deserve this aspect of my life. But it's
a fine balance to walk because it's a part of
our lives, right, It's a part of showing who you
are as a as a BMX writer, as a journalist,
Like there's an element that you have to participate, and
that I truthfully enjoy participating at times. It's a way
to build community, it's a way to show you know,
women doing incredible things that are trailblazing.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So there's there's a way that it can be used
for good.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
But it's also you really have to figure out what
is the deft, Like what are the boundaries there too
that you want to share. So then I think about, Okay,
so you've you've got this silver medal from Tokyo that
you're like borderline embarrassed about, which, like I understand, I'm
a perfectionist, so I can I empathize.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
And also I'm telling you a silver.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Medal at the very first BMX fre style is like
fucking badass, So like you should own that and be
very proud of it. And also I respect, I respect
why it was hard. So you're a silver medalist, You're
dealing with all this personal stuff, You're dealing with the
death threats, You're trying to like be who you are
in the world, and that's getting threatened and congratulations, you
just qualified.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
For your second Olympics. How the heck did you manage
all of that coming into Paris.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Yeah, I mean I think I kept my family pretty
close during that time. I was going through a breakup
as well, and so yeah, I mean I was everything
was a little unnatural. And after I qualified for my
spot and I think Budapest hungry, and then I flew
two X Games and I could put it. At the
(21:10):
first X Game, which was sick because it was like
such a switch.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Up by the way, inventor had no big deal.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
She won the very first ever X Games gold medalist
for a women's division in BMX freestyle sick.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Thank you six six sick.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
But yeah, I mean I think I think X Games
was was a very helpful thing. It was pretty like
it was distracting in a way where like I could
still have fun with riding, yeah, because there wasn't pressure
at X Games, Like, yeah, I would have not been
great to not make podium. But you know, when when
I was there, I legit was just listening to had
my headphones in, I'm riding with the girls, you know,
(21:46):
doing doing whatever I wanted to do. My mom was
there so that was really cool. And then when it
came to like going home to train. I don't honestly
ride too much after X Games before the Olympics, I
think I rode for maybe maybe eight or nine times,
but in that month, and yeah, I was just more
focused on going healthy, no injuries because I went to Tokyo
(22:08):
with the broken foot, and yeah, I just I just
kind of I hung out with my family a lot.
My nephew, I think that's really what kept me going.
I just i'd take him to the mall and while
my sister was at work, and you know, I'd grabbed
the other two from whatever summer activities they had going on.
I was like, you're not going today, like you're going,
(22:29):
and we'd just go and mess around. And yeah, I
just I just really relied on them. But I also
didn't let them know what was going on, not because
they would have been scared.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
My sisters are ruthless. Yeah, they are so mean when
it when.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
It comes time to being mean, So I just kind
of let the slide, so, you know, I dealt with
it after the Olympics. After the Olympics, people were talking,
obviously crap because I got eight but I was.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Hitting some people back with some funny refly.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And yeah, like, I'm tired, got the worst has happened,
You've got nothing left for me?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, it was nothing, nothing ever inappropriate.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Obviously I'm better say I'm better than that, but I'm
really not.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
I just know that I can't push this up.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
Yeah, but yeah, people were like commenting and yes, I
started shutting it down, and then my sisters started joining in.
So like we were all in Paris and we went out.
I left the village and I stayed with my family
in their airbnb and we you know, I had like
one beer.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
My sisters are like, oh, she's drung. I'm like, shout,
I'm not drunken. We're just all in a circle, just typing,
all four of us. So, yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
My parents, they weren't very proud sure at that moment
in time, but they thought.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
They were all funny.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
My dad liked every single comment that I did, so
I'll take that as well.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
It's a little bit of approval. It's just a slight.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Slamp of approval that he couldn't come out and say
it was funny, but he definitely liked all of the.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Comings, so it was a good time.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
But yeah, I feel like that's such like the ideal
definition of family, right, Like we mess with each other,
but you do not mess with one of us.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, Like I can mess with.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
My sister and my brother in a way is that
not a single person in the outside world can do.
Or like older sister comes out and like it's game over.
So I love that you had that moment with your family,
but I also hate the circumstances that led to it,
you know, because we talked about the eighth place, and
the whole reason that happened was you collided with somebody
(24:31):
in a very freak practice accident and then fell on
some tricks that are so in your back pocket that
it probably caught you off guard when you fell on them.
You were like, oh my gosh, wait a minute, I've
done this for fifteen years, or like whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
How did you pick yourself back up after Paris?
Speaker 5 (24:48):
After Paris, I went back to Michigan with my family.
I stuck my dogs up there. I didn't really have
a return date. I didn't know when I wanted to
ride again. And this happens every time, every every year,
after every time, after the Olympics, it's just a lot
of pressure than you ride, and you're like, shoot.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
I don't know if I want to do that again
anytime soon. So yeah, I went up. I went up
to Michigan.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
I hung out with my parents, and I just realized,
like I mean I was, I was drinking a bit
way too much, and I just realized that, like nothing
that I would do in that moment was going to
change what happened. And you know, my goal has always
been to go to five Olympics and drinking and doing
(25:30):
dumb things and wasn't isn't going to get me there.
So I I stopped drinking and I didn't touch a
drop of alcohol for probably the rest of that year.
You know, I've dabbled. I don't dabbled too often, but
I have since then, and I just had to come
(25:52):
to terms with throwing myself back in there. And then
obviously after the Olympics, you know, I went home in
September and I a couple of times, not too much.
I did more shows than anything, and that was pretty
fun for me. But October November one of those months,
you know, USA switched up coaching staff and all that,
(26:12):
and then skate parks were closing in North Carolina. I
was running out of options, and Thankfullysa sent me out
here to to the core part in Salt Lake and
I got to ride here for four days before World Championships,
and then I won Worlds off four days of practice
(26:33):
and I was like, all.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Right, we're right back.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I love it again.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yeah, I was like, we're good. I don't I don't
usually judge it off like win or lose. But we
were in Abu Dhabi and we runted a yacht for
Maca's birthday, so it might have been the yacht. It
might have been the yacht experience and eating fruit on
a boat in the middle of an ocean that drew me.
I was like, shoot, I live a pretty phenomenal life. Yeah,
you know, I text all my friends. Some of my
(26:57):
friends are in the military, some of my friends are
like nurses or whatever.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Just like.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
This is like, yeah, I was gonna say, this is
the trend. That's like your random friend on a Tuesday
he has that job that like is sort of a
job but not really a job.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I feel like that all the time, where I'm like,
where are you on a random Tuesday? Well, maybe Australia,
maybe Salt Lake City. You know, it's just like it's
so fun, but it doesn't it doesn't negate like the
challenges of the job and of living the type of
lifestyle because you give up routine, you give up familiarity,
you give up a lot of that quality time that
comes from like being around on weekends and all that stuff.
(27:34):
But I love that you were able to fall in
love with the sport and like the lifestyle that the sport.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Provided you with.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Again, it's just it's been a long road for you,
and I think from the outside looking in, you go, Okay,
she's a two time olympian, she's won.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Six world titles.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Like, she has been proudly and openly gay for as long,
like I said, like you said, as long as you can.
You know, it's been a long time. Like she's very
confident in who she is and what she's bringing to
the table. But there was a lot of turmoil internally
that was like going on with that. How you know
you mentioned that you've been going to therapy. What is
the biggest lesson you feel like you've learned about yourself
(28:13):
and like managing this incredible, hard, beautiful life that you're creating.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah, it's something I mean I'm still working on it.
I mean, I go to.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
Therapy every week and I have for a while. The
main thing I've learned about myself, I don't handle anything.
I don't handle nothing. I'll legit. Just something will happen.
I'm like, cool, it's back of my head until it's not.
And so I've been learning how to manage that, because
obviously that's not great. But yeah, I just I've learned
(28:44):
to take things a little bit slower and to understand lessons.
And that's really what helped me through or through Paris
is just like yeah, I mean not all those experiences
were fun, but I took them one step at a time.
And you know, I could have told I could have
told my coaches, I could have told my parents what
was going on. But I needed I think I needed
(29:04):
to prove to myself that I could do it myself.
There's always people in my corner if I needed them,
And yeah, therapy taught me how to how to manage
and how to navigate certain situations. And it also taught
me that I could rely on people. So it's been
it's been super helpful.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
I still go. So I got an appointment next Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
We love the consistency among all the travel and the chaos,
we always have time, and I think that is it's
so cool, and that's such it's such a beautiful thing
to come to, which is one I am capable of
handling this on my own, and also there are times
when I don't have to, yeah, and that's okay. Yeah,
And as a two time Olympian, already, a six time
world champion, already, an X Games gold medalist already, I
(29:47):
feel like that's such an important lesson in addition to
the boundaries and in addition to the you know, the
social media of like what you let in and what
you what you push away, And I just think, yeah,
it's it's very impressive, and it's impressive in a way
that it's like attainable for the rest of us who
are not you know, like I am not going to
make it to five Olympics, but I like the lessons
that you shared with us about what it takes to
(30:09):
be among the first and the pressures and managing it all.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
So thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, Okay, We're going to transition to our next segment,
which is called something to sip on. So this is
a segment brought to you by the Sports Bra. It's
the very first Woe sports bar in the entire world,
founded in Portland, Oregon. And so we want to know
what are you sipping on? It can be a cocktail,
a mocktail, whatever you want. Host BMX Freestyle, we just
(30:35):
landed another winning gold medal run here the X Games.
What do we sippin on?
Speaker 4 (30:39):
If I win gold? I'll tell you what. I'm drinking
straight bourbon.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
I got a big bourbon cabinet at home.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I don't open it very often, but that is.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
My straight bourbon, sipping on it.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I don't mix it. There's no reason to mix it. Oh,
Bourbon is a beautifully crafted drinks. Love that, that's my.
That is my every anytime, anytime I can't, I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, it's a good I'm a whiskey girl also, so
it's a little bit. There's like something very refreshing but
like grounding.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yeah, about the taste of a whiskey.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
So I can't do I can't do clear alcohol. No,
I did it too much much And vodka makes me gag.
Tequila tequila does what the song says.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Every time, every time, every time you can't do that,
you can't do that, okay. Next segment is called powered Up.
So these are questions that we want to know. How
do you get powered up to be one of the
best best BMX freestyle athletes in the world.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
So the first one is what mindset powers you up?
What does your mindset have to be?
Speaker 4 (31:42):
This is gonna sound crazy. I love it sad.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
When I get like a little bit sad with myself
or with the way things are going, I end up
doing ten times better because.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I'm way more aware.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Interesting, So, like I listen to sad music when I ride, okay,
and I don't have to feel sad, but I can
feel other people sad iness form. So yeah, that's that's
I don't know, I don't know why. It's always been
like it's been like that for like five six years.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So yeah, so we like to just feel a little
bit sad because we need we need to like find
the joy again.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
And it's it's like you're gonna chase that a little harder. Maybe, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
I mean when I'm happy, I just forget.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
If I'm happy or I'm excited, I'm like, okay, I'm
gonna do I forgot and then the run's over. But
like when I'm sad, I'm like okay, and then and
then by the end of the run on stoked.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Oh my gosh, I love that so much. It's like
we get happier.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
We have to start down here to keep the focus,
but then we can like move up a little bit
with each trick that gets completed until you're just elated.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
What is the one piece of gear or equipment that
you replace the most. It can be something you wear
or on your bike itself, a shoes Probably that was
gonna be my guess.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I go through a
lot of shoes. I just like to I like to
stick feeling it.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, yeah, I do too. I'm with you on that, Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And if somebody was going to say, hey, Hannah, I
want to be one of the best BMX freestyle athletes
in the world, what is the mentality that I have
to have in order to be the best?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
What would you say to them?
Speaker 5 (33:11):
I mean, my mentality the entire time, my entire career
is I've never thought that I was the best. I
always knew that there's people out there, people working to
be better than me, and they would probably were.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
And yeah, so I always have that mentality that I'm
not the best, and I was always chasing to be
the best, and it'd be pretty.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Well, I think so. So far, two Olympics down out
of five.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Yeah, I need to get the other one tattooed. If
a tattoo artists and salt Lake that wants to put
the parents one in there.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
So is that why we're doing five? Because there's five
Olympic rings?
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Yeah, I started.
Speaker 5 (33:45):
We shouldn't start, but you know I'm getting yeah, yeah,
I mean obviously La Yeah, Brisbane. I'll be thirty almost
thirty one, and then the next one I'll be thirty five, yeah,
thirty or not thirty four almost, and then I want
to be done, okay, like not like not completely with
the sport, I don't think, but like I want a family.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
I want I want to be able to like be old.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, I'm telling you right now, mid thirties is not old,
she says as Aerld.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Just imagine how like my bag, I've broken it three times.
This thing's not hurt. Yeah, yeah, I might not be old.
Are you going to feel it?
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah, the injuries are going to start piling up, you think, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Think I think by mid thirty. That's about as much
as I can squeak away with.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
But yeah, without turning into like a bionic woman because
we've had so many things replaced.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I gotcha, I gotcha. Okay, And then the last question
I have for you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Is obviously here on the Powerful podcast, we are so
thrilled to be highlighting incredible Olympic action extreme sports athletes
like yourself.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
What does powerful mean to you?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Powerful mindset?
Speaker 5 (34:49):
You know, you can feel powerful, but to really be powerful,
you have to put everything else behind you. And yeah,
I mean the most the most powerful women ever are
the most influential, and I think I think that's an
amazing So honored to be here.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Oh, I'm honored to have you here, Hannah. Thank you
so much for being on this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
We'll see you guys next week. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
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.
Hello, friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm your host Aja McCord.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women who
were changing the game in and outside of their field
of play.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
These are women's stories.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Women who happen to be doing things that many of
us can only dream of, but the lessons and inspiration
they share is universal.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back to this episode of the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm aj McCord, your host for all things Olympic, extreme
and action sports and the badass women who competed in them.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
This week we have Hannah Roberts.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
She is one of the best BMX free style athletes
in the entire world. She's a two time Olympian, six
time World champion in BMX freestyle, and yet she talks
about how brutal it is to navigate all of the expectations,
all of the excitement, all of those accomplishments. At just
twenty three years old, she dives into just managing all
(00:52):
of the expectations that come with being a part of
the inaugural class of a sport for the Olympics. She
talks about what it's like to be always the favorite
and sometimes not deliver, and the really intense consequences that
can come from that. She shares a lot about which
voices she had to make sure she listened to, which
ones she tuned out, and how we can all apply
(01:13):
that to whatever our goals are in life. Cannot wait
for you to hear this episode of the Powerful Podcast.
Thanks for being here, Welcome back to the Powerful Podcast.
I am so excited to be joined now by Hannah Roberts.
She is a no big deal two time Olympian in
BMX freestyle. She has won six world titles in BMX freestyle,
(01:33):
and she's competing here at the X Games in Salt
Lake City, and I'm just so excited to get a
chance to talk with you about your Olympic experience, BMX,
women in sport, all the things.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So, Hannah, thanks for being on the Power Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah. So, you are one of the best BMX.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Freestyle riders in the entire world. A lot of people
learn how to ride a bike when they're when they're
a kid. How did you go from I'm learning to
ride a bike to I want to compete in riding
a bicycle.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Honestly, Like, growing up, I did a bunch of team
sports like soccer, football, the tried track. Not a runner,
but I tried them all, and I didn't really like
to rely on other people to do well. But I
loved sports. So actually X Games was on two thousand
and nine. X Games was on, and saw the way
(02:23):
that the riders were treating each other, and I just
fell in loved it and as my dad if I
could do it, and he got me a bike and
haven't stopped since.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So you went from watching the X Games on TV
to competing in the X Games. But I know that
that was a lot of work. So what was the
work that it took for you to do that?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Honestly having fun? I didn't think that any You know,
when I was growing.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Up, there wasn't very many female riders, so I would
just ride with the boys at the local skate park,
and you know, they would learn something and then they
would pressure me to learn it, and like that's how
I grew And then, yeah, I never truly.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Thought that this would be my career.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
I don't think it hit me until my last year
of high school and then had a really really good
start to the season.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I graduated and I was like, all.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Right, I'll finish out the season let's see won everything
at the end of the season, and then I was like,
I was already qualified for the Olympics before COVID, So
I was like, all right, well, this is what we're
doing for a while, and yeah, haven't stopped.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So there's a lot there.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Let me gather my thoughts because the most important thing
is that you saw X Games in two thousand and nine,
so you had this goal of X Games but it
wasn't an Olympic sport in two thousand and nine. Twenty
twenty one was the very first time that freestyle BMX
freestyle was in the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Obviously it was supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Twenty twenty, but with COVID it got pushed back. So
how did you work towards a goal that didn't even
exist yet? Like, what did a season look like for you?
What did developing tricks look like for you?
Speaker 4 (03:54):
How did you.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Prepare for something that you were going to try and
be the first in?
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, so I didn't know anything when I first started,
sure at all. I went to my first professional contest
in Edmonton, Canada.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
I think I was like twelve or thirteen.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
I got second there and then my dad would just
drive me all over the country to any kind of
amateur event or any event that he could find. And
then two thousand and sixteen, I think I got a
call that they wanted me to compete against the boys,
and I was not good.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Okay, I'll be honest. I was fourteen in simple sessions.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
They paid for mine to my dad's flight to go
to Estonia and like, you compete against the boys, there's
no girls class got sixty something place, and then we
went to France after for girls contests and rode there
and that was like the first year that they allowed
women to do a world series with the boys. And yeah,
since then, like I won that series and then they
(04:53):
paid for me to go the next year and won
that year, and then they paid for me to go again,
and then USA came in and took over after it
was announced, so that was pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
When I think I was I think fifteen, I was
in like computer class or something. When when I got
like my phone started blowing up.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I got in trouble.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
But my dad was like blowing my phone up at
fifteen years old, just like it's an Olympics wore and yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So the World Series is essentially the year and year
out qualifying league if you will. For the Olympics, it's
like how you qualify, but you compete in the World
Series every single year or it's just leading up to
the Olympic years.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
So the World Series we have like World Cups obviously
World Cups, World Championships, and then I think they added
like Olympic qualifying Series.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
So world the World Series is.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Just all the World Cups. Like if I win every event,
I can win the World Series. I did that six
or seven times in a row. I didn't win it
last year. I didn't go to very many of them,
but yeah I did really well for a while, and
they started paying for me, and I was like, yo,
it's sick. And then my parents are just sending me
a lot more. And yeah I was still in normal school.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
That was gnarly.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So I bet it's a ton to manage.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
You mentioned at fifteen your phone's blowing up, which like,
obviously it's very exciting whenever esport gets sad to the Olympics,
but for your dad it was like no, no, no,
Now we don't just have the X Games like we have,
we have an Olympic spot.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I mean, how did that shift. What was sort of.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
A dream of like, you know, hey, X games and
these World Series events, but like, how much did the
Olympic validation of the sport impact your ability to see
yourself continuing it as a career.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Well, I mean I was pretty naive. I was like
I was fifteen. I didn't really think that I was
going to go. It's a long you know, it's a
long time. There's a lot of people in the world.
I was like, somebody's beat me out, like it's whatever.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
And yeah, I don't think.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
I don't think I really gave myself a shot. I
took a fall in twenty eighteen. I needed surgery on
my shoulder, and when I was rehabbing that, that's when
I decided, like, I'm gonna give it my all this year,
and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.
And yeah, I think Paris b me maybe one time.
And then I won every other event in twenty nineteen,
(07:11):
which was way too many events. I was gone for
like six or seven months of the year, and yeah,
came back from France, graduated high school, and moved to
North Carolina for training, and it was just like this
is I'm going to give it everything. And then in
that year I won the World Championships and they qualified
me for Paris or for Tokyo, and two months later, freaking.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
COVID happens, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
And then yeah, I got to continue living the dream,
just doing whatever, and I get to do it on
like a mainstream.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah so your two time olypum you'd walked away from
Tokyo with a silver medal.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I can imagine that felt like a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Of pressure to be a part of the first women's
class because it was was it just you in Paris
in that first women's division of BMX free Style in
Tokyo for US. Yeah, so you're one of two American
women to represent VMX freestyle. It's very first Olympic appearance.
You're coming out of COVID, which was like nobody's mentals
(08:10):
were where they should have been coming out of COVID.
How did you approach your very first Olympics.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I don't know. I don't remember too much.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
I like shut down, I did things like pretty wrong,
I think leading into that coming out of COVID or
like during COVID, like got married pretty quick, bought a
house pretty quick, and that was like within six months
of leaving for the Games. And then so I was
trying to figure out real adult life at nineteen and
(08:42):
train full time for the Olympics, and yeah, I made
myself pretty miserable, just like I spread myself so thin
on everything.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
And yeah, it was.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
It was not a great thing. So definitely wouldn't recommend it.
But well, going into Paris, I mean I was like
pretty set on and people understood what I was doing
and everything I did I did with purpose, and yeah,
I dropped like a healthy way, the healthy way, and Tokyo,
I dropped a crazy amount of weight, just horribly fast.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
And yeah, so I had to learn.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
I had to like completely shift everything that I knew
going into Paris.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And I knew that.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
I knew that the way that I was like talking,
you know, I go to therapy and you know I talk,
and I was talking to my therapist. I was like,
I can't do that again, Like that was looking back,
I was like that was insane that I thought that
that was the right way thing to do. So but yeah,
I don't I honestly don't remember. I don't remember like
riding leading up to it. I won, I won the
(09:44):
World Championships in twenty twenty one. I don't remember that,
Like I see the post my dad, you know, shares
the posts and stuff, and I think that was my
third World Championship that I won, and I have no recollection.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
I don't know what I did. So, yeah, that was
that was a crazy, crazy time.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, to be spread so thin that you don't remember
those big moments, those big milestones in your life has
to be jarring to look back on.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
How did you?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I mean in the moment though, I mean, I'm somebody
who strows myself very thin, like all the time. I'm
somebody who's like, Nope, I can do everything, all the things,
and I can do them very well. But learning to
say no and learning to set boundaries is something that
I don't feel like I do very well now. Ye,
but I feel like I definitely didn't do it at nineteen,
because at nineteen, you're like, the world is my oyster.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'm going to go out, I'm going to do all
the things.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
How Like, how harsh of a reality did that hit
for you? That you have to set these boundaries and
you have to learn to say no to things.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
It was a little it's a little crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
It took a long took a lot of like practice,
and I lost a lot of relationships from it. Just
like having hard boundaries and you know them being crossed.
It wasn't a great thing. And yeah, I just I
just had to really look.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
In the mirror.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
And you almost have to, especially Olympic years those like
you know, the Games usually happened in July, so those
seven months of that year, you have to be so
selfish with your time and your energy. And it sucks,
it really does, because you know, I just I don't like,
you know, just going to the gym and then going
to riding and then going home and having nothing to
(11:25):
do because you have to recover to do it the
same day, the same thing the next day.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
And yeah, it was.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
It was a long learning process and I don't think
I really figured it out until like probably two weeks
before the Games, where I was just like, everybody's got
to leave me alone, like pretty much shut down all
communication with everybody but my family. So I was still
talking to my mom and my dad every day, but
like coaches and like you'll see me at practice, like
(11:52):
leave me alone.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Like it was.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
It got to the point where I was just like, dude,
I have to do this for me because you just
I mean, over time some where's you out.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, well, at the end of the day, you're the
one going out there and being an Olympian. At the
end of the day, you're the one that like has
to go out there and perform. In my gosh, perform
you did, Like you walked away with a silver medal,
which from the outside looking in, you're like, good job,
first time Olympian. You walk away with a silver medal.
So many people go to the Olympics, Well, okay, so
(12:21):
many people the of those extreme elite athletes in the world, right, Like,
there's only a few that become Olympians, and then there's
even fewer that becoming a medalist, much less one of
the top two women in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But tell me why you were so unhappy with a
silver medal.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Mean, I I think I qualified for the Olympics in
February of twenty twenty, and then the world shut down,
and then every interview that I did before and it
was way too many, you know, they were talking about
the gold hopeful and all this, and.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
It was just a lot to manage.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
And I didn't really like in the moment, I didn't
think that that was messing with my head.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And then once I got the silber, it was just
like it's not good enough. Yeah, And I didn't like
want to I didn't want to hold it. I didn't
want to do anything.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
I put it in a cupboard at my house and
and then for like weeks and weeks and months, I
was getting d ms and texts and all that just
saying that I got robbed and that I deserve to win.
And I don't know, I had really really mixed feelings
with it. I didn't I didn't know if they were
right or if if I deserved what I got. And
(13:39):
at the end of the day, like everybody deserves this
where they got, that's what the judges thought.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
And yeah, I just made it really really hard to
enjoy that. That sober so.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Well, it's there's so it's so crazy. I think of
this quote that like, comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah,
and if fifteen year old Hannah or you were what
seven when you started writing, or seven or eight? Okay,
so if eight year old Hannah had been told, hey,
you're gonna win a silver medal at the first ever
Olympics for VMX freestyle.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What would her response have been.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
I don't even think I would have like understood, I
just what and then you know, but it would have
been mind blowing at that age. Yeah, go eleven years
later and I'm just like, couldn't even hold it out.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, that's a wild So I think of the quote
that comparison is a thief of joy because it's like you,
the only reason, or one of the big reasons that
it was hard to be joyful about such a massive
accomplishment is because you're comparing it to what you thought
you should have gotten, or comparing it to what everybody
told you you should have gotten.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
How did that affect the way that you prepared for Paris?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I mean, honestly, if you look at my Instagram or
my social media right now, it's dry.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I stopped posting.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I was just getting you know, people hate on the internet,
which doesn't bug me, and bugs me my sisters a lot,
and it was it was affecting like the way that
my family would act on social media. They weren't like inappropriate,
they weren't rude, but they just like stopped wanting to
(15:14):
share certain things.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
And for me, that's.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Never Okay, I think everybody should have that space. I
know social media is public, but everybody should have that
space to share. And you know, for me, if I
don't like some upscool, I don't care. I'm not there's
no reason to comment.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
I was getting pretty gnarly, pretty gnarly like death threats too.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
It was crazy.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Yeah, I got after after right before Paris, and then
while I was in Paris.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
And then after Paris. Whoa, yeah, it was it was.
It was a little insane.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Obviously, Obviously I didn't live with my parents, so that
was a little bit more relaxing. You know, I had
my own house in North Carolina, so it's like they
searched my address. It's going to be that one, you know,
rather than my parents house. But yeah, I didn't let
anybody know about that. I was just like, dude, this
is this is not cool, and I just quit posting.
And you know, I I was getting hate on posts
(16:08):
and just people trying.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
To get a rise and it didn't really work. I
was just like, I don't need that, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, was it over your performance? Was there over the cough?
Like what was the.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
So some of it's over the way that I perform.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
You know, if I I didn't win every event in
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
I don't know if people know this. It's very very
hard to win a single event.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
She says. It's a six time world champion.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah, it is super hard to just win everything all
the time. So I didn't win every event twenty twenty three.
I was getting a lot of a lot of crap
for that. I was getting a lot of crap for
the way I look very muscular, and you know, for me,
I'm like, I don't I don't care.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
There's not one part of me that cares.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
And it's just everything a little bit of everything. I know,
I know, like the death comments and the death threats
were they were over me being gay, which crazy, and
I actually.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
I know I know who it was. I'm very very
sneaky at fun. I didn't do anything with it, but
like I was.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Just like everything's everything's you know, public information. So yeah,
that was pretty crazy, and that that was the one
thing that I was just like, shit done. I just
still don't really post too much. We I don't care
about the hate. It's just like the threats and stuff.
And I got you know, I got nephews. I got
a two year old nephew. I have a niece that's
(17:32):
going to be born, hopefully in August. So you know,
when it comes to when it comes to that stuff,
I want my family to be safe.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, So you mentioned that some of it was over
you being gay. You've been out for quite some time
and you're a very proud, active member of the lgbt
Q I A plus community.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
What do you want people to know about what it's
like to deal with some of that stuff.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah, I don't think I've ever not been out. Pretty
pretty obvious. From when I was like eight, I was
like cut my eye had a bull cut.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It was crazy. But yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Mean I never knew that, Like I've never experienced that
before Paris. I never experienced like the threats and and
you know, for for BMX and for most people, they
just they don't care. You know, I'm happy I being
gay such a small part of my life. And obviously
I was married to a woman and we're not together anymore.
(18:27):
But like nobody cared too much. It was just when
when it happened, I was like, such a such a
stupid thing to be mad about, Like yeah, and uh, yeah,
I mean I don't. I don't ever really talk about
being gay. I don't like, I don't think it's like
a For me, it's kind of look at me and
you can tell.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I mean, they just gave me a freaking lesbian haircut,
you know. Nikita picked it out.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
She's like yo, sho, look at this and so. But yeah,
it was it was just interesting. I didn't know even
what to what to do. We didn't tell anybody, not
because it affected me.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
It wasn't like scared.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
You know, I do keep a gun in my house,
so I knew I was fine. I knew I was protected,
but like it was, it was something where I was
just like, take a step back, and I was like,
this is what the world's coming to.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
This sucks.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, yeah, well it feels like gosh, you again we
talk about the lessons that you had to learn so young,
right and so publicly right, Like I think even for me, right.
Social media is something where everyone decides how much they
want to share, and it really only takes getting burned
one time to be like, all right, I'm out, y'all.
(19:42):
Actually don't deserve this aspect of my life. But it's
a fine balance to walk because it's a part of
our lives, right, It's a part of showing who you
are as a as a BMX writer, as a journalist,
Like there's an element that you have to participate, and
that I truthfully enjoy participating at times. It's a way
to build community, it's a way to show you know,
women doing incredible things that are trailblazing.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So there's there's a way that it can be used
for good.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
But it's also you really have to figure out what
is the deft, Like what are the boundaries there too
that you want to share. So then I think about, Okay,
so you've you've got this silver medal from Tokyo that
you're like borderline embarrassed about, which, like I understand, I'm
a perfectionist, so I can I empathize.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
And also I'm telling you a silver.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Medal at the very first BMX fre style is like
fucking badass, So like you should own that and be
very proud of it. And also I respect, I respect
why it was hard. So you're a silver medalist, You're
dealing with all this personal stuff, You're dealing with the
death threats, You're trying to like be who you are
in the world, and that's getting threatened and congratulations, you
just qualified.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
For your second Olympics. How the heck did you manage
all of that coming into Paris.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Yeah, I mean I think I kept my family pretty
close during that time. I was going through a breakup
as well, and so yeah, I mean I was everything
was a little unnatural. And after I qualified for my
spot and I think Budapest hungry, and then I flew
two X Games and I could put it. At the
(21:10):
first X Game, which was sick because it was like
such a switch.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Up by the way, inventor had no big deal.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
She won the very first ever X Games gold medalist
for a women's division in BMX freestyle sick.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Thank you six six sick.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
But yeah, I mean I think I think X Games
was was a very helpful thing. It was pretty like
it was distracting in a way where like I could
still have fun with riding, yeah, because there wasn't pressure
at X Games, Like, yeah, I would have not been
great to not make podium. But you know, when when
I was there, I legit was just listening to had
my headphones in, I'm riding with the girls, you know,
(21:46):
doing doing whatever I wanted to do. My mom was
there so that was really cool. And then when it
came to like going home to train. I don't honestly
ride too much after X Games before the Olympics, I
think I rode for maybe maybe eight or nine times,
but in that month, and yeah, I was just more
focused on going healthy, no injuries because I went to Tokyo
(22:08):
with the broken foot, and yeah, I just I just
kind of I hung out with my family a lot.
My nephew, I think that's really what kept me going.
I just i'd take him to the mall and while
my sister was at work, and you know, I'd grabbed
the other two from whatever summer activities they had going on.
I was like, you're not going today, like you're going,
(22:29):
and we'd just go and mess around. And yeah, I
just I just really relied on them. But I also
didn't let them know what was going on, not because
they would have been scared.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
My sisters are ruthless. Yeah, they are so mean when
it when.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
It comes time to being mean, So I just kind
of let the slide, so, you know, I dealt with
it after the Olympics. After the Olympics, people were talking,
obviously crap because I got eight but I was.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Hitting some people back with some funny refly.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And yeah, like, I'm tired, got the worst has happened,
You've got nothing left for me?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, it was nothing, nothing ever inappropriate.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Obviously I'm better say I'm better than that, but I'm
really not.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
I just know that I can't push this up.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
Yeah, but yeah, people were like commenting and yes, I
started shutting it down, and then my sisters started joining in.
So like we were all in Paris and we went out.
I left the village and I stayed with my family
in their airbnb and we you know, I had like
one beer.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
My sisters are like, oh, she's drung. I'm like, shout,
I'm not drunken. We're just all in a circle, just typing,
all four of us. So, yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
My parents, they weren't very proud sure at that moment
in time, but they thought.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
They were all funny.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
My dad liked every single comment that I did, so
I'll take that as well.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
It's a little bit of approval. It's just a slight.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Slamp of approval that he couldn't come out and say
it was funny, but he definitely liked all of the.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Comings, so it was a good time.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
But yeah, I feel like that's such like the ideal
definition of family, right, Like we mess with each other,
but you do not mess with one of us.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, Like I can mess with.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
My sister and my brother in a way is that
not a single person in the outside world can do.
Or like older sister comes out and like it's game over.
So I love that you had that moment with your family,
but I also hate the circumstances that led to it,
you know, because we talked about the eighth place, and
the whole reason that happened was you collided with somebody
(24:31):
in a very freak practice accident and then fell on
some tricks that are so in your back pocket that
it probably caught you off guard when you fell on them.
You were like, oh my gosh, wait a minute, I've
done this for fifteen years, or like whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
How did you pick yourself back up after Paris?
Speaker 5 (24:48):
After Paris, I went back to Michigan with my family.
I stuck my dogs up there. I didn't really have
a return date. I didn't know when I wanted to
ride again. And this happens every time, every every year,
after every time, after the Olympics, it's just a lot
of pressure than you ride, and you're like, shoot.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
I don't know if I want to do that again
anytime soon. So yeah, I went up. I went up
to Michigan.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
I hung out with my parents, and I just realized,
like I mean I was, I was drinking a bit
way too much, and I just realized that, like nothing
that I would do in that moment was going to
change what happened. And you know, my goal has always
been to go to five Olympics and drinking and doing
(25:30):
dumb things and wasn't isn't going to get me there.
So I I stopped drinking and I didn't touch a
drop of alcohol for probably the rest of that year.
You know, I've dabbled. I don't dabbled too often, but
I have since then, and I just had to come
(25:52):
to terms with throwing myself back in there. And then
obviously after the Olympics, you know, I went home in
September and I a couple of times, not too much.
I did more shows than anything, and that was pretty
fun for me. But October November one of those months,
you know, USA switched up coaching staff and all that,
(26:12):
and then skate parks were closing in North Carolina. I
was running out of options, and Thankfullysa sent me out
here to to the core part in Salt Lake and
I got to ride here for four days before World Championships,
and then I won Worlds off four days of practice
(26:33):
and I was like, all.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Right, we're right back.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I love it again.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yeah, I was like, we're good. I don't I don't
usually judge it off like win or lose. But we
were in Abu Dhabi and we runted a yacht for
Maca's birthday, so it might have been the yacht. It
might have been the yacht experience and eating fruit on
a boat in the middle of an ocean that drew me.
I was like, shoot, I live a pretty phenomenal life. Yeah,
you know, I text all my friends. Some of my
(26:57):
friends are in the military, some of my friends are
like nurses or whatever.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Just like.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
This is like, yeah, I was gonna say, this is
the trend. That's like your random friend on a Tuesday
he has that job that like is sort of a
job but not really a job.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I feel like that all the time, where I'm like,
where are you on a random Tuesday? Well, maybe Australia,
maybe Salt Lake City. You know, it's just like it's
so fun, but it doesn't it doesn't negate like the
challenges of the job and of living the type of
lifestyle because you give up routine, you give up familiarity,
you give up a lot of that quality time that
comes from like being around on weekends and all that stuff.
(27:34):
But I love that you were able to fall in
love with the sport and like the lifestyle that the sport.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Provided you with.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Again, it's just it's been a long road for you,
and I think from the outside looking in, you go, Okay,
she's a two time olympian, she's won.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Six world titles.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Like, she has been proudly and openly gay for as long,
like I said, like you said, as long as you can.
You know, it's been a long time. Like she's very
confident in who she is and what she's bringing to
the table. But there was a lot of turmoil internally
that was like going on with that. How you know
you mentioned that you've been going to therapy. What is
the biggest lesson you feel like you've learned about yourself
(28:13):
and like managing this incredible, hard, beautiful life that you're creating.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah, it's something I mean I'm still working on it.
I mean, I go to.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
Therapy every week and I have for a while. The
main thing I've learned about myself, I don't handle anything.
I don't handle nothing. I'll legit. Just something will happen.
I'm like, cool, it's back of my head until it's not.
And so I've been learning how to manage that, because
obviously that's not great. But yeah, I just I've learned
(28:44):
to take things a little bit slower and to understand lessons.
And that's really what helped me through or through Paris
is just like yeah, I mean not all those experiences
were fun, but I took them one step at a time.
And you know, I could have told I could have
told my coaches, I could have told my parents what
was going on. But I needed I think I needed
(29:04):
to prove to myself that I could do it myself.
There's always people in my corner if I needed them,
And yeah, therapy taught me how to how to manage
and how to navigate certain situations. And it also taught
me that I could rely on people. So it's been
it's been super helpful.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
I still go. So I got an appointment next Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
We love the consistency among all the travel and the chaos,
we always have time, and I think that is it's
so cool, and that's such it's such a beautiful thing
to come to, which is one I am capable of
handling this on my own, and also there are times
when I don't have to, yeah, and that's okay. Yeah,
And as a two time Olympian, already, a six time
world champion, already, an X Games gold medalist already, I
(29:47):
feel like that's such an important lesson in addition to
the boundaries and in addition to the you know, the
social media of like what you let in and what
you what you push away, And I just think, yeah,
it's it's very impressive, and it's impressive in a way
that it's like attainable for the rest of us who
are not you know, like I am not going to
make it to five Olympics, but I like the lessons
that you shared with us about what it takes to
(30:09):
be among the first and the pressures and managing it all.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
So thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, Okay, We're going to transition to our next segment,
which is called something to sip on. So this is
a segment brought to you by the Sports Bra. It's
the very first Woe sports bar in the entire world,
founded in Portland, Oregon. And so we want to know
what are you sipping on? It can be a cocktail,
a mocktail, whatever you want. Host BMX Freestyle, we just
(30:35):
landed another winning gold medal run here the X Games.
What do we sippin on?
Speaker 4 (30:39):
If I win gold? I'll tell you what. I'm drinking
straight bourbon.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
I got a big bourbon cabinet at home.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I don't open it very often, but that is.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
My straight bourbon, sipping on it.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I don't mix it. There's no reason to mix it. Oh,
Bourbon is a beautifully crafted drinks. Love that, that's my.
That is my every anytime, anytime I can't, I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, it's a good I'm a whiskey girl also, so
it's a little bit. There's like something very refreshing but
like grounding.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yeah, about the taste of a whiskey.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
So I can't do I can't do clear alcohol. No,
I did it too much much And vodka makes me gag.
Tequila tequila does what the song says.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Every time, every time, every time you can't do that,
you can't do that, okay. Next segment is called powered Up.
So these are questions that we want to know. How
do you get powered up to be one of the
best best BMX freestyle athletes in the world.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
So the first one is what mindset powers you up?
What does your mindset have to be?
Speaker 4 (31:42):
This is gonna sound crazy. I love it sad.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
When I get like a little bit sad with myself
or with the way things are going, I end up
doing ten times better because.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I'm way more aware.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Interesting, So, like I listen to sad music when I ride, okay,
and I don't have to feel sad, but I can
feel other people sad iness form. So yeah, that's that's
I don't know, I don't know why. It's always been
like it's been like that for like five six years.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So yeah, so we like to just feel a little
bit sad because we need we need to like find
the joy again.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
And it's it's like you're gonna chase that a little harder. Maybe, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
I mean when I'm happy, I just forget.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
If I'm happy or I'm excited, I'm like, okay, I'm
gonna do I forgot and then the run's over. But
like when I'm sad, I'm like okay, and then and
then by the end of the run on stoked.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Oh my gosh, I love that so much. It's like
we get happier.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
We have to start down here to keep the focus,
but then we can like move up a little bit
with each trick that gets completed until you're just elated.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
What is the one piece of gear or equipment that
you replace the most. It can be something you wear
or on your bike itself, a shoes Probably that was
gonna be my guess.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I go through a
lot of shoes. I just like to I like to
stick feeling it.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, yeah, I do too. I'm with you on that, Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And if somebody was going to say, hey, Hannah, I
want to be one of the best BMX freestyle athletes
in the world, what is the mentality that I have
to have in order to be the best?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
What would you say to them?
Speaker 5 (33:11):
I mean, my mentality the entire time, my entire career
is I've never thought that I was the best. I
always knew that there's people out there, people working to
be better than me, and they would probably were.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
And yeah, so I always have that mentality that I'm
not the best, and I was always chasing to be
the best, and it'd be pretty.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Well, I think so. So far, two Olympics down out
of five.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Yeah, I need to get the other one tattooed. If
a tattoo artists and salt Lake that wants to put
the parents one in there.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
So is that why we're doing five? Because there's five
Olympic rings?
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Yeah, I started.
Speaker 5 (33:45):
We shouldn't start, but you know I'm getting yeah, yeah,
I mean obviously La Yeah, Brisbane. I'll be thirty almost
thirty one, and then the next one I'll be thirty five, yeah,
thirty or not thirty four almost, and then I want
to be done, okay, like not like not completely with
the sport, I don't think, but like I want a family.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
I want I want to be able to like be old.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, I'm telling you right now, mid thirties is not old,
she says as Aerld.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Just imagine how like my bag, I've broken it three times.
This thing's not hurt. Yeah, yeah, I might not be old.
Are you going to feel it?
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah, the injuries are going to start piling up, you think, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Think I think by mid thirty. That's about as much
as I can squeak away with.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
But yeah, without turning into like a bionic woman because
we've had so many things replaced.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I gotcha, I gotcha. Okay, And then the last question
I have for you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Is obviously here on the Powerful podcast, we are so
thrilled to be highlighting incredible Olympic action extreme sports athletes
like yourself.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
What does powerful mean to you?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Powerful mindset?
Speaker 5 (34:49):
You know, you can feel powerful, but to really be powerful,
you have to put everything else behind you. And yeah,
I mean the most the most powerful women ever are
the most influential, and I think I think that's an
amazing So honored to be here.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Oh, I'm honored to have you here, Hannah. Thank you
so much for being on this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
We'll see you guys next week. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
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.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.