Good Game with Sarah Spain: Winter Olympics 101 with Big Citrus

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where I'm halfway
to Philly with unrivaled in my sights. If you're listening
to this on your way to the festivities, keep an
eye out for me and say hey. It's Friday, January thirtieth,
And on today's show, our new look Big Citrus is
celebrating exactly one week until the opening ceremony of the
Milan Courtina Olympics with PowerPoint Party number two. Now, if

(00:21):
you missed our Pride themed audio only PowerPoint presentations last year,
buckle up for a fact packed infolaid and ride through
all sixteen Winter Olympic sports. Oh yeah, this is the
Olympics one on one episode. We promised you get pumped.
Plus a legend retires, reputation rehab goes awry, and a
few final Friday fatopigos. It's all coming up right after this.

(00:45):
Welcome back, Slaicays. Here's what you need to know today.
Let's start with soccer and the news that an all
time great is hanging them up. Crystal dun a US
women's national team standout who also played professionally for six clubs,
most recently Paris sager Man in France has announced her
retirement on Instagram. She wrote on Thursday, in part quote,
I'm ready to embrace the life that awaits me. On

(01:06):
the other side, I look forward to spending more time
with my family and being a more present mom. This
was not a decision made lightly, but was one made
with immense gratitude for everything I've experienced as a professional
soccer player end quote. Dunn's legacy goes way back. She
played college soccer for the North Carolina tar Heels, winning
the National Championship and the Herman Trophy for college soccer's
best player in twenty twelve. A year later, in twenty thirteen,

(01:28):
she got her first cap for the national team and
went on to make one hundred and sixty appearances, scoring
twenty five goals, earning two Olympic medals and a World
Cup Trophy. Her club career was spent mostly in the NWSL,
playing for the Washington Spirit, North Carolina Courage, Portland Thorns,
and got the FC. Over the years, Dunn also had
a few stints abroad. She played at Chelsea and played
sparingly last season for PSG. She also plays the damn

(01:51):
flute and has the cutest kid Honestly, there's just so
much I could say about one of the greats on
and off the field, and I highly recommend you read CAITLINN.
Murray's in depth ESPN piece on Done back in twenty
twenty one. She writes about her goals to inspire black
women players for versatility, playing forward at defense, and so
much more. We'll link to it in the show notes
so you could check it out. Congrats to Crystal for

(02:12):
an absolutely legendary career. We can't wait to see the
ways you managed to stick around and continue improving the
game to tennis. The Australian Open Singles final is officially set.
After historic run for the Americans. The final, US player
Jessica Pagula, was ousted in the semi finals by Elena Rabakina. Rebakkana,
ranked fifth in the world, has played phenomenally throughout the tournament.

(02:33):
She also took out world number two Egos Fayontec on
her way to the finals. On Saturday morning hour time,
she'll face her toughest opponent yet, world number one Arena Sablenka.
The Belarusian pro beat Alina's Feetolina in the semis on Thursday,
and similar to previous matches between these two, there was
no postmatch handshake. Speed Alina from Ukraine doesn't shake hands

(02:54):
with players from Russia and Belarus since Russia's full scale
invasion of Ukraine began in twenty twenty two. With the
win over feed Alina Sablenka punched her ticket to the
Ossi Open Finals for the fourth year in a row.
The Sablenca Versus Rebakana final is the rematch of the
twenty twenty three Ossi Open Final, which Sabalanca won. In fact,
the two athletes have played each other a total of
fourteen times, and Sabalanca leads eight wins to six. We

(03:15):
sound like a broken record at this point, but if
you want to watch this, you're gonna have to set
your alarms or maybe just stay up all night on Friday.
Either way, the match starts at three thirty am Eastern
Time on Saturday. You could also pregame the women's singles
finals with the women's doubles finals. Anna Danielina and Jong
Schwai will take on Alexandra Krunich and Elisa Mertens. Neither

(03:35):
of the pairs have ever won a major title together
as of this recording. The tournament hasn't announced a start
time for the match, tooops Unrivaled is bustin out of
Miami for the league's inaugural tour stop. The two games
slate at ex Finity Mobile Arena in Philly will feature
Breeze versus Phantom and Rose versus Lunar Owls. You can
catch the action on True TV tonight or maybe I'll

(03:56):
see you there. Also, you'll get a full recap of
all the Philly fun in Monday Show. There's plenty of
action down in Florida this weekend two and Unrivaled, so
we'll link to the full schedule on the show. Notes
to hockey, Wednesday was the final night of PWHL action
before the Olympic break, and all eight teams took to
the ice. The Canadians went head to head with Montreal
defeating Toronto three nothing at home, while the Vancouver Golden

(04:17):
Eyes traveled to Minnesota and got bested by the Frost
four to one. Up in Ottawa, the Charge beat the
torrent four to two. The game of the night was
outside Boston at the Songa Center, where two teams bursting
with Olympic talent left it all out on the ice.
The Boston Fleet and the New York Sirens. The lead
went back and forth throughout all three periods, with a
late goal by the Sirens tying things up at three

(04:37):
apiece at the end of regulation. No one found the
back of the net during three on three OT, so
the game went to a shootout and it took eight rounds,
but Boston's Alena Mueller scored the winning goal to keep
the Fleet undefeated at home this season. The Fleet's Aaron
Frankel made thirty saves in the win, and Kaylee Osbourne
made thirty two for the Sirens. Boston continues to lead
the league in the standings, followed by Minnesota, Montreal, New York,

(05:00):
and Ottawa, with Vancouver, Toronto and Seattle rounding up the
bottom of the standings. The league will now take a
break until February twenty fifth, but you can still watch
your fave players because all eight PWHL teams will be
represented on Olympic Ice, the Boston Fleet leading the way
with seven players. Sixteen PWHL athletes will don Team USA jerseys.
Twenty two will play for various European teams, including Chechia, Finland,

(05:23):
and Sweden, and then there's Team Canada, where the entire
damn roster, all twenty three athletes play in the PWHL.
PWHL built out an awesome page on their website to
highlight all these players and their journeys to Olympic gold.
So we'll put the link to the site in the
show notes, and of course we'll be keeping you up
to date on all the Olympic Hockey games. In fact,
we've got plans to be there when Team USA opens

(05:44):
up their tournament against CHECKI on Thursday, February fifth. So
freaking pumped more PWHL. We told you last week that
the New York Sirens Taylor Gerard had been given the
longest suspension in PWHL history, a mandated four games after
she illegally left the bench to join an altercation on
the ice during a takeover tour game against Montreal and DC.
While on Wednesday, that suspension was reduced from four games

(06:06):
to three following an appeal from the PWHL Players Association
filed on Gerard's behalf. As a result, Gerard is now
eligible to return to play on Thursday, February twenty sixth,
the first game back after the league's Olympic break, and
even more PWHL and an update on the Minnesota frost
Britta curl Slemi. Now, before we get to the most
recent news about curl Sallemi, a quick refresher. Since joining

(06:26):
the league last season, she's frequently been greeted by booze
from fans, a reaction that stems from social media activity
prior to her being drafted into the league, activity including
liking anti trans content, vaccine conspiracy theories, and a post
in support of Kyle Rittenhouse. Curl Slemi attempted a bit
of reputation rehab last month when she was profiled by
the Athletics Hailey Salvian. In the piece, curl Slemi says,

(06:48):
quote the person that has been painted and what has
been shared that sounds like a shitty person, someone who's racist, transphobic,
hateful and wants people to not exist. I wouldn't like
them either, end quote. Karl Slemi also to old Salvian
that she was using the like feature to save or
bookmark posts and noted that she's been working to become
more understanding and empathetic, especially when it comes to the
lived experiences of trans people and the larger LGBTQ plus community. Well,

(07:13):
if Curl Selemi earned any goodwill with fans from that feature,
it's likely she lost most of it earlier this week
when she posted a get Ready with Me video on Instagram. Now,
while the video itself was pretty vanilla, Curl Selemi's collaboration
with Fierce Athlete quickly drew criticism. Fierce Athlete is an
organization founded by Samantha Kelly, who earlier this month was
helping lead the protests against trans athletes outside the Supreme Court.

(07:37):
As of this recording on Thursday afternoon, Curl Slemmi's original
video is still up, but it's no longer a collaboration
with Fierce Athlete, and all mentions of the org have
been removed from the description. Keep digging, Britta, just don't
expect us to hand you a shovel to college hoops
where there are a bunch of big games on the
schedule this weekend, beginning this afternoon, when number seventeen Ole

(07:57):
Miss hosts recently un undefled beat at number five Vanderbilt.
You remember, the Commodore suffered their first loss of the
season last Sunday, fall into number three South Carolina on Sunday.
We've got seven games between ranked opponents. That includes the
still undefeated number one Yukon Huskies hosting number fifteen Tennessee,
Number two UCLA hosting number eight Iowa, and number four
Texas hosting number ten Oklahoma. We'll link to the full

(08:20):
college hoops schedule in the show notes to college soccer
where the family of the late Stanford soccer player Katie
Meyer and Stanford University announced this week that they've reached
a settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the
university after the twenty two year old suicide in twenty
twenty two. The family filed the lawsuit shortly after her death,
and it said in part that on the night of
her death, Stanford negligently and recklessly sent Meyer a formal

(08:43):
disciplinary notice that quote contained threatening language regarding sanctions and
potential removal from the university end quote. This week's joint
statement did not disclose a monetary settlement, but it did
say that Stanford will collaborate with Katie's family to launch
an initiative focused on the mental health and well being
of student athletes at the WUSAIE Human Performance Alliance. Stanford
Athletics will also establish an annual Katie Meyer Leadership Award

(09:05):
for a student athlete at the school, and Stanford will
also adopt the principles of Katie Meyer's Law to provide
support to students in its disciplinary process. Also, Meyer's jersey
number nineteen will be retired in her honor. Finally to gymnastics,
where we have an update on Jordan Chiles's battle for
bronze that dates back to the balance being viinal at
the Paris Olympics. On Thursday, the highest court in Switzerland

(09:26):
announced that it's granted part of child's appeal, meaning that
her case will now be heard again by the Court
of Arbitration for Sport. Now, the whole backstory is real complicated,
and we've talked about it on the show before, but
here's the quick version. Chiles finished fifth, then an appeal
bumped her up to bronze, and then an appeal of
that dropped her back to fifth, And now this appeal
means that the court that heard the last appeal has

(09:48):
to hear this case again. Now we'll link to a
more complete timeline of the events in the show notes,
because like I said, it's complicated, But the takeaway here
is that this is good news for Chiles and her
camp as they work to get her bronze medal reinstated.
It's not clear yet when the Court of Arbitration for
Sport will hear the case again, but we'll keep you posted.
We got to take a quick break. When we come back,

(10:08):
check the deck. It's PowerPoint time. Welcome back, slices. It's
time for our first Big Citrus in Gosh. I don't
know how long it's been, but Bianca is now part
of our team officially, which allows us to go from
Little Citrus back to Big Citrus. And maybe people miss

(10:28):
the episode where you introduce yourself, So Bianka, you know
thirty seconds or last Who are you? Why are you here?
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Hey Sarah, Hey Alex. I'm here because you guys hired
me to be here.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
And I'm here because I'm getting paid.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
I have been a sports journalist for the past about
six years. I've been covering international sports, all sports ranging
from basketball to cricket to running to everything in between.
And yeah, I'm to be here so excited for my
first Big Citrus talk.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
I'm like, what's the midway point between cricket and running? Like,
what sport falls in the middle of those two things.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
I'm gonna say field hockey, it's it's got a little
of both. Bianca, you missed our first PowerPoint presentations. We
did it for Pride last year, and we realized almost
immediately that trying to hop onto the trend of young
people doing PowerPoint presentations for their friends was a little
more difficult than an audio medium. But we powered through,
and we're back again for PowerPoint Party number two, this

(11:29):
one hour long, promised Olympics one on one episode where
we're going to introduce everyone to just a little bit
about each of the sixteen official sports in the Winter
Olympics and give you a little bit of something to
look forward to once the games get started next week,
which is inside. And I feel like it's only right
if we start with our official former Olympic researcher. It's
probably gonna go downhill after her presentation, but let's start

(11:52):
strong with our very own producer, Alex. Let's see it, Alex.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I almost want to say, there needs to be a rule.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Once an Olympic researcher, always an Olympic research You're like
an Olympic Olympian rule. But I'll maybe use the former
label if this doesn't go as well as I hope
it is about to go. So I was assigned to
six sports and will begin with alpine skiing. And the
title of this presentation is a b FTTB always be

(12:17):
Faster than the Boys, in honor of Mikayla Schiffrin's longtime
motto that she has worn on the back of her helmet.
So let's get started with the basics of alpine skiing.
This is the one where you go down a mountain vertically.
There are ten total events, five for the women, five
for the men. That includes four individual events slalom, giant slalom,
Super G and downhill solom and Giant slalom. Those are

(12:40):
the technical events. Those are the ones where Mikayla Schiffrin
has historically been great, super G and downhill. Those are
the speed events where Lindsay Vaughn has typically excelled. So
I think it's worth noting though we're obviously talking about
the Olympics here, but in alpine skiing for most of
the rest of the world outside of the United States,

(13:01):
the most important honor in this sport is not an
Olympic gold medal. It is a World Cup crystal Globe,
and that's the award that is given to the athlete
who has the most points on the overall World Cup
schedule at the end of the season across all disciplines.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Wait, is it really a crystal globe.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
It's a glass globe.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
I'm not really sure how crystal is different from glass,
so maybe I'll have to look that up, but it
is a glass globe that could probably.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
Start a fire if you left it out in the sun.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
So Mikayla has won five of those in her career,
Lindsay has won four, and only one woman, Anne Marie
moser Pral, has won more than that six and that
was between nineteen sixty nine and nineteen eighty, so a
pretty different competitive landscape. Then there are also the small
crystal globes. Those go to the winner of each discipline title,
and no athlete has won more of those than Lindsay Vaughn,

(13:49):
who has sixteen over the course of her career. Schiffrin, meantime,
has twelve. And then you have the overall World Cup
wins that's just winning a single race on a single day.
Schiffrin holds the record for that, having won one hundred
and eight during her career. More than any other racer
in history, and Vaughn is third on that list with
eighty four. So all that to say, Lindsay Vonn and

(14:12):
Mikayla Schiffrin are two of the best, if not the
best alpine skiers to have ever lived. And yet for
most Americans, they know nothing about that world and they
only care about the Olympics. And for both Schiffrin and Vaughan,
they actually haven't been super successful on the Olympic stage.
Schiffrin made her debut in twenty fourteen. She won gold

(14:35):
and slalom then, which was huge success for sure. In
twenty eighteen she won two medals, and then in twenty
twenty two she kind of famously bombed out and it
was just a wild showing from her, and I think
just shows the pressure that she was under, because the
rest of that season was phenomenal for her. It was

(14:56):
just on the Olympic stage that she struggled that much. Meantime,
for Vaughn, she has just been defined by injuries in
the lead up to her Olympic career and has often
fought through some crazy stuff in order to even get
on the podium. But she only has one Olympic gold medal.
I probably shouldn't sound like only one Olympic gold that's
a huge accomplishment, but given her otherwise decorated success, you

(15:19):
would kind of expect for her to have more, and
she won that one back in twenty ten. So all
that to say, I hope that these are good Olympics
for them. And one thing that I think could be
a difference maker is that this is the first time
that alpine skiing is going to be held at a
quote unquote normal stop. Cortina has hosted a World Cup

(15:40):
for years and years and years. Meantime, the last couple
of Olympics between Beijing and twenty twenty two Pyeongchang twenty eighteen,
so she in twenty fourteen. None of those are places
that are typically alpine skiing hubs, and so I think
it will be really interesting to see how these two
skiers do on not home soil, but essentially home soil.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Lindsay Vaughn has said that Cortina is one of her
favorite spots, so I'm really interested to see how that
will impact the mental side too.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
I already feel so much smarter.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
All right, moving on a cross country skiing, We're gonna
go fast, just like this athlete, Jesse Diggins. The title
of this presentation is all that glitters isn't gold, But
with Jesse Diggins, it usually is.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
All Right.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
We're gonna start with the number of events twelve total,
six for men and six for women. And guess what, guys,
For the first time in Olympic history, women will be
competing the same distances as men at these Olympics. And
that includes the fifty kilometer race, which.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Is absolutely wild.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
Now something if you want to sound smart about cross
country skiing, there is a difference between classical and freestyle.
Freestyle events are the ones where they kind of skate,
and classical is the ones where they're in the tracks.
In every Olympics they switch which events are which and
so yes, exactly for what purpose because basically, some athletes

(17:00):
have won as their strength and some athletes have the other.
But think about this a lot of times if you
know things don't go your way at the Olympics, like
you have to wait four.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Years, you have to wait eight years if.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
That happens to you in cross country skiing in your
preferred event. Anyway, the athlete to watch here, of course,
is Jesse Diggins. It's going to be your last Olympics.
Most decorated US cross country skier in history. I could
go on and on about all of her athletes. Friend
of the show, Friend of the show. She's incredible. But
one of the things I'm most excited about is the

(17:31):
growth of the program around her and the fact that
when she retires, she is leaving behind a program in
which it is cool to be a cross country skier.
You can be a successful cross country skier from the US.
Just so excited for her. All right, moving on to
ice hockey, let's talk about the US and Canada. I'm
going to go super fast on this one too. In

(17:51):
the history of the women's World Championships, no country other
than the US or Canada has ever won a world title.
In the history of the Olympics, no country other than
the US or Canada has ever won a world title.
That will probably change sometime. I don't think it's going
to change in twenty twenty six, though it could. It could,
but I don't think it is. And so we're going

(18:12):
to keep this one short. We're planning on a US
and Canada gold medal game on February nineteenth, and if
that doesn't happen. We're just gonna be really happy for
the growth of hockey around the world.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Alex, do you think there's anywhere on the internet we
can find the rules of hockey?

Speaker 4 (18:25):
I bet there is, Okay.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
I think people will be able to do that research
for themselves. Pucks and geyshit, that's.

Speaker 4 (18:32):
Right, Okay. Moving on to Louse.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
The title of this presentation is called Women can now
be both tops and bottoms.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
O lousion geishit ok, gayshit, but.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
Also illusion straight shit.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Listen, your sport does not define your sexuality fair as
men and Lush have long advocated, there we go. This
is the only sliding sport that is measured to the
thousandth of a second. I wish I knew why, I
don't great. The way that this works in the singles
event is you take four runs over the course of
two days, and your time is combined to determine the winner.

(19:04):
The sport debuted at the Winter Olympics in nineteen sixty four,
and ever since then, men have had two metal opportunities.
They have had singles and doubles, while women have just
had singles. But that changes this year with the introduction
of women's doubles and well, I personally am not sure
that the world needs to include the discipline of doubles loge,

(19:26):
in which athletes lie on top of each other in
spandex for the duration of the run. However, if men
have the opportunity to do this, then women absolutely need
to have the opportunity to do it too, So I'm
very excited about it. Austria is probably the gold medal favorite,
having won the title the last two World Championships, but
we have to shout out the US duo Sophia Kirby

(19:47):
and Chavon Forgan, and especially Sofia. She makes her own pins.
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
I can't wait for the people who are mad about
this event being introduced for women, saying this is supposed
to be Ason Gary, not Lays and Mary did you
just go? I did, thank you nice well, because I
was picturing Ason Gary and they do look like they're
doing a double person illusion all times, just flying on
top of each other in spandex.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
All right, next up Nordic Combined and moving on because
we don't have anything to talk about in Nordic Combined
because women are still not allowed to compete in Nordic
combined at the Olympics.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Wow, I feel like we're going to talk about that
in a future show.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
I think we are too, so let's just cut it short,
right there. Great, Moving on to short track speed skating,
which is a different sport than speed skating, takes place
on a totally different frink, and this is the one
where athletes are racing side by side. In this sport,
it is not nearly as much about speed as it
is about tactics, so much so that it's actually pretty

(20:45):
common for world records to be set in the preliminary
round because by the time the athletes get to the
final they care way more about what their opponents are doing.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
Versus how fast they're going.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
In this sport, South Korea, Canada, China, and Italy have
historically been the strongest, but the US usually has a
few good contenders in this time around. That includes Kristin
Griswold Santos. You may recall her from four years ago
in Beijing. She was a really strong metal contender, was
doing well, especially in the one thousand meter distance, and

(21:16):
ended up getting taken out in a crash during the
final lap of the final of that race, and just
a really, really tough situation for her, but excited to
see her back and.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Hopefully things go well with her.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
This is a sport personally that I don't think I
would sign my hypothetical kids up for because it just
seems like so much is out of your control with
all of the crashing.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
But I can appreciate why people like it. I just
think it seems pretty rough on the psyche.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, my imaginary kids are not doing short track speed skating.
Forget imaginary kids. I'm not doing any of these.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
I have been.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Thinking that I would only do most of these sports
in a virtual simulation. That is my only touch point personally,
I would do it virtually.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
But Banka's not getting on a loose doubletour otherwise, I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
The loose was the only one that sounded appealing to
me the way you described it. Now you were really
selling it.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
I mean ice hockeys, So gay, I would go for it.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
That's the only one. Amazing job, Alex. And also we
know that your brain contains so much more information than that,
so managing to rein it in and keep it nice
and tight, we really appreciate that. All right, Bianca, your
first ever big Citrus No pressure whatsoever. Perfect, I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
So I am going the opposite route of Alex. Perhaps
I'm going to try and describe some of these sports
with as few words as possible, because while I was
given five sports, the first one is kind of like.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Seven or eight sports in one.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
So we're going to start with freestyle skiing and snowboarding,
and there's a ton of different events.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
So let's go speed round.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
First up is Moguls steep mountain with bumps and jumps,
a lot of speed, dual moguls. Knew this year at
the Games. Multiply what I just said by two. Next
to aerials, okay, acrobats on skis, big ramp, cool tricks, stick.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
The landing following, yes, following.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Next to ski cross and also snowboard cross. To me,
this is like rainbow Road but.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Amazing.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Shout out Mario Kart okay.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Also fun fact, the voice of the X Games snow
Cross video game is me. So if you ever play
the snow Cross X Games video game and you get
on the little snowmobile thing and you're doing Rainbow Road,
it is I who is saying cool trick, neat jump,
way to go, Sarah.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Ever since you told me that fun fact.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
I have it in my phone and whenever I go
to a new arcade, which I'm not an arcade person,
but basically, whenever I go to a bowling alley that
has an arcade, I go and check and see if
they have your game.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
And I have not yet been successful.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
I do too, and I've only found it once so far.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
That is incredible and definitely worth interrupting. Freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Okay, moving on is slope.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Style, which is kind of like an obstacle course, kind
of like ski and snowboard cross, but just turn the
volume way up to me. This is like what you
might see in Olympics street skateboarding, but on a.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Mountain and with snow.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
That's my reference point.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Halfpipe.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
I feel like we know this one. It's peak Winter Games,
possibly has the highest cool factor and this is where
you're gonna see Chloe Kim if she has kept her
shoulder in the sling and the brains yes, which we
can only hope.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
I have faith.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
And then lastly, here is big Air.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Okay, name really says it all.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Big Ramp, big air tricks, lamb done on skis and snowboards.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
You nailed that Yeah, well, Yank.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
I feel like you are a little bit of like
a cheat sheet that you want to bring into an
exam where it's like you don't want to write down
all of the words that you need, you just need
those like little reminders.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Sounds like a great, great legacy to me cheat sheet
for an exam. Moving on to snowboarding, So we covered
a lot of the snowboarding events there, but there is
one more called parallel giant slalom. Think of what Alex
was talking about with slalom, but it's two snowboarders racing
down parallel tracks at the same time. The US is
sending one woman for this event. It's her first time

(25:36):
going to the Games. Her name is Iris Flohm. And
I'm really excited about this, but I'm more excited about curling.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
This sport is one that I actually have personally tried
for the first time a couple of months ago, and
the basic goal is to get your team stones as
close to the target as possible. But the target is
really called a house and the center of it's really
called a button. But if you're watching on TV, it's
the thing that just looks like a bull sye.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Horizontal darts horizontal darts, and it's a very loud sport.
The leader of the team, called the skip, is often
yelling at the people and I love that energy.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
I love that the US women's team skip is Tabitha Peterson.
She's the leader. She's gonna be the one you can hear.
It's called Team Peterson. And one fun fact that I
really want to talk about with curling is the stones themselves.
So all of the athletes that you see at the
Olympics will be using the same curling stones, just like

(26:39):
basketball players get basketballs provided that to them and stuff
like that. And these stones are so specific. They come
from an island off of Scotland called Elsa Craig, and
this island produces the perfect granite for curling stones. And
it is fascinating that they have discovered the most specific

(26:59):
source for this most specific purpose. Granted from this island
only goes to making curling stones. It's incredible. The sport
of curling is also from Scotland. Okay, that's a fun
fact that I would use to impress my friends with.
Whether it would impress them or not, it's up to them.
But moving on to skeleton, which I do think the

(27:23):
name is appropriate. It's as scary as the name suggests.
It's held on the same ice track as bob sled
and luge, but this is the one that's face first.
So athletes are sprinting, jumping onto their stomachs, going up
to eighty five miles per hour. Friend of the show,
Misty grow is the one to watch here. She's a

(27:44):
former track and field athlete and good to know. Last
year she became the first American in eight years to
win a medal at the skeleton World Championships when she
took home silver. It's also one of the oldest sports skeleton.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
I did not know about that, and it was out
of the Olympics for.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Years because of the danger. It was reintroduced in two
thousand and two. And then lastly on my list, not
least making its Olympic debut, is ski mountaineering. I also
love the origin story of this one because it was
originally just a practical way to get around and get
through mountainous regions. And basically, athletes are going up and

(28:26):
down a mountain, and when they go up, they're putting
the skis on their back and trekking through the snow,
and when they go down. Of course, they put the
skis on their feet and ski down. There are individual
races and also mixed relays where a couple of athletes,
a man and a woman, do a couple loops of
the course. But just the fact that this did start

(28:46):
as such a practical thing and now is in the
Olympics made me think what other practical activities could be sportified.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
And be in the Olympics. I've got one coming up.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
You do just you wait, okay, well then I'll hand
it over you. That's it for me.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
I have a final question about that. Are there trees
on the course?

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Like?

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Is it a mountain full of all the regular mountainous
things like boulders and trees and stuff? And isn't that
freaking terrifying that you would be racing and trying to
win a medal while potentially just like guessing wrong on
how fast you're going and sunny Bonoit. It's core.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
There's a course, so you're not just going up in
Uncleared Mountain. I would still only do this in a
virtual siling. Going down any mountain on skis is terrifying
to me. But I do not think anyone's going to
run into.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
A tree okay, no trees. Good to know, good to
know an economy of words from Bianca. Well done. I
hope to achieve that. I doubt that I will, but
I'm gonna try. I'm gonna start with biathlon. I start
with a little history, and then a little how, and
then a little who. So. Biathlon originated in Scandinavian the
eighteen hundreds, first in the Olympics in nineteen twenty four

(29:56):
as a demonstration sport called military patrol. This is how
I finally understood why we have an event with rifles
in the Olympics, because they had these officers and soldiers
doing it, and then it eventually became an official part
of the Olympics in nineteen sixty. Women have been included
since ninety two. Competition will take place at an International
Biathlon Center about an hour north of Cortina. Now the

(30:17):
sport combines two events, rifle shooting and cross country skiing
Fato figo. Fun fact. Sometimes when I say I do
have tathlon, people say the one with the gun. I say, no,
that's this biathlon, okay. Competitors race on a track and
then they stop for a shooting test during each lap,
where they fire at five different targets, sometimes standing and
sometimes lying down. They are not allowed to take off
their skis when they're shooting, and there are very strict

(30:39):
rules of how they have to carry the rifle throughout competition, obviously,
you know shooting up as for hitting the targets. In
some races, if you miss a target, you have to
race an extra one hundred and fifty meter penalty loop.
In some races you get an extra minute added to
your time. There are four main event formats, individual sprint, pursuit,
mass start, and relay, and the distances for the women

(30:59):
range from set and a half kilometers in the sprint
all the way up to fifteen kilometers in the individual race.
We're gonna link to the nitty gritty details of each
event in the show notes because there's way too much
for me to do in this PowerPoint presentation. Not so,
Figo Fato. The biathlon remains the only Winter Olympic event
that the US has never won a medal in. Yes, somehow, inexplicably,
we have come up short in the only Winter Olympic

(31:21):
sport with a fucking gun. Yeah, how America make it
makes sense?

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Listen, We're not very good at the summer sport of
shooting either fair fair fair fair whole accuracy thing not
so great.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
America's best hope to change that, dedra Irwin. She took
seventh place in the fifteen k individual event at the
Beijing Games. That's the best individual biathlon finish ever for
Team USA at the Winter Olympics. All right, Moving on
to Bob's sled also known as Bob's lay, we usually
call it bob sled. This was invented by the Swiss
in the late eighteen sixties and it got the name
because the way people like bobbed as they were trying

(31:53):
to get the sled started and get some power and
speed as they were taken off. Men have competed since
the very first Games in nineteen twenty four. Women's events
weren't added till two thousand and two. Wolf competition will
take place at the newly rebuilt Sliding Center in Cortina,
and Alex and I will be there. Women compete in
two women bobsled, which was introduced in two thousand and two,
and the monobob, which features one woman piloting, pushing, steering,

(32:16):
breaking all on her own that debuted in twenty twenty two.
Now Olympic bobsled races take place over four heats across
two days. The times are all added together for a
total time. The lowest slash fastest time wins Fato Figo.
That first year of women's bobsled competition in two thousand
and two saw Jill Bochin and Vanetta Flowers of the
US win gold. You might remember us talking about Vannetta
Flowers before because she is the first black athlete from

(32:39):
any country to win gold at the Winter Olympic Games America. Yeah,
Bob's led athletes steer by using ropes that are connected
to the front runners of their mostly enclosed sled. That's
different than say Lujins skeleton, where you're using your body
weight and stuff like that to try to maneuver. If
you want to get a closer look at the course
that will be used for all three of those events,
seventeen hundred and forty five meter track that they'll use

(33:01):
in Cortina, Ken Childs, who runs the great site Sliding
on ice dot com, posted a mildly terrifying video from
a skeleton racer's body cam going down the entire course,
with some details about the sixteen curves and their different
names and all that, so we'll link to Ken's thread
in the show notes. I also just want to quickly
point out that the Washington Post getting tons of credentials
for the Winter Games and then saying they're not sending

(33:22):
anyone and then deciding we will send a few people
resulted in people like Ken, who have covered multiple Olympics
and who focus on these events year round not getting
a credential. So few Washington Posts for using a bunch
of credentials that you're not actually sending people with. And
apologies to Ken because he does great work and thanks
for the year round work that he does do. Okay,
back to Bob's led, the US has had great success
in this this should be no different This year. Team

(33:44):
USA will be led by five time Olympic medal as
friend of the Show Alana Myers Taylor, three time Olympic
champion Kaylee Humphrey's Bombruster and monobob world champion Cash'll Love,
already the most decorated black athlete in Winter Olympics history.
With another medal at these Games, Myers Taylor would tie
Bonnie Blair, Yeah, Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympic
medals by a US woman ever, and if she medals

(34:04):
in both two men and monobob, she would stand alone
at the top with seven Olympic medals. Pretty sick, all right,
figure skating, y'all. There is so much to figure skating,
but I'm going to try to keep this as simple
as possible. This actually made its Olympic debut at the
Summer Games in nineteen oh eight and again in nineteen
twenty before joining the Winter Games for its first installment

(34:25):
in nineteen twenty four, making it one of the six
sports that have appeared in every Winter Games. Men's and
women's singles and pair skating have been competed at every edition.
Ice dance was added in nineteen seventy six. Team competition
introduced in twenty fourteen. This competition will take place at
the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, and alex and
I will catch a little bit of this. The men's,

(34:45):
Women's and Paris competitions feature two events, so you have
a short program there's some mandatory technical elements in there,
and then a longer free program with mandatory technical elements
but also more freedom in the execution of them, and
skaters get to choose their own music for both of
those events. Dance is a little different. Dance doesn't include
the certain technical elements like jumps and overhead lifts and stuff.
And also the competitions feature a rhythm dance and a

(35:07):
free dance. Now, the music genre for the short program
is chosen each year by the International Skating Unit, and
this year it is music, dance, styles and feeling of
the nineteen nineties. Let's go, this is going to be incredible. Okay.
Flato figo ice dancers have to compete a difficult set
of spinning one foot turns where they're moving across the
ice in unison, and they're called twizzles. This is my

(35:30):
new favorite word. Okay. The scores for each of the
figure skating events are decided by a panel that determines
the level of execution of the technical elements and then
a panel of nine judges who decide the quality of
the execution of those elements aka the technical element score,
And they also decide the quality of the other artistic
components of the program that's the artistry score. This is

(35:50):
where the Russian judge always comes in. Anyway, some of
the scores determines the winner at the end of the
two rounds. US has been dominant in figure skating, and
this year's team is stacked. Husband and wife ice dancing
duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates have won the last
three World Championships and the last five US Championships, but
an Olympic medal has eluded them fourth times. The charm

(36:12):
here's hopin they're also dancing to a Lenny Kravitz medley
for that ninety shit. I can't go wait. The trio
of single skaters that we got Amber, glenn isabel Leveto
and Alyssa Lou have named themselves the Blade Angels, and
they've already won the hearts of America with their support
of each other and how we're freshingly authentic they are
just the vibes are immaculate. Glenn is the US champ
three years running. Lou is the reigning World champ. She's

(36:33):
the first American women to win that event in nearly
two decades. For a fun look at these gals, super
fun it's in the format of a romcom trailer. Check
out the link to the US figure skatting video that
we put in the show notes. Definite must watch. Okay,
and then we have ski jumping. Men's ski jumping originated
in Norway in eighteen sixty. The sport was contested at
the very first Winter Games, but a women's event wasn't

(36:56):
added for can you Guess? Can You Guess? Ninety years
in two thousand and five. Two thousand and five, the
president of the International Ski Federation said ski jumping quote
seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical
point of view. Yep, the old uterus is falling out.
Excuse cool, cool, cool cool, So anyway, women's shorthill arrived

(37:16):
in twenty fourteen. The mixed team event made its to
Olympics debut in twenty twenty two, and knew this year
is the women's large hill. Now fliverers crossed that a
bigger hill won't be the thing that finally pops out
of womb after centuries of unfounded hysteria and exactly zero
reproductive organs strewn across the field to play fato figo.
The root of the word hysteria is esteria Greek for womb,

(37:37):
from the seventeenth century medical belief that being frantic, irrational,
and widely emotional was caused by dysfunctions of the uterus. Cool.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Yeah, all, am, My anxiety would be solved with a
little baby in my tummy.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
A baby, or just get rid of that whole uterus.
Al clearly that's the problem, because men have never been hysterical,
not once in the history of time. Competition for this
is going to take place at the Pradazos Ski Jumping Stadium.
It's about two hours southwest of fourteen. Now ski jumping,
you've seen it. Athletes slides down a curved ramp and
at the bottom they fly into the sky, aiming to
land as far away as possible. But it's not just

(38:09):
the length of the jump that counts. Size does matter,
but so does style. Athletes are judged on things including
the stability of the skis during the jump, body position,
and landing, with a final ranking determining the winners. Women
could beat a normal hill individual, large hill individual, and
mixed team. Now, the US women have never meddled in
ski jumping, and this year's team, featuring all Olympic rookies,

(38:31):
would probably need a miracle to change that. Anaica Bellshaw's
the highest ranked American woman on the World Cup circuit
at twenty ninth. She'll be joined by Josie Johnson and
friend of the show page Jones.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
I mean maybe they need a miracle or a souped
up suit.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Ooh, somebody hit the crotch machine. You know, if you know,
you know, somebody rigged the crotch machine. And let's get
a fucking.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Medal squirrel suit. Let's go.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Finally, speed skate aka long track speed skating, what began
in the sixteen hundreds as a way to get across
frozen lakes Bianca scheme mountaineering shout out, eventually became a
competitive sport, and it made its Olympic debut at the
first Winter Games in nineteen twenty four, with women's speed
skating officially added in nineteen sixty. Now, if you didn't notice,

(39:19):
athletes wear these special skates with a really long blade,
and there's a hinge at the back that allows their
heel to raise up without the blade leaving the ice.
Long track speed skating takes place on a two lane
four hundred meters long track, so same size as an
Olympic track and field oval, and there are three kinds
of events, individual in which two athletes race at a time.
Fastest time once everyone has competed wins. Women race the

(39:39):
five hundred thousand, fifteen hundred, three thousand, and five thousand,
and then Team Pursuit. Two teams of three athletes race,
starting at opposite ends of the track, and their time
is marked by whenever the last of the three competitors finishes. Now,
remember there's two lanes, so they're not going to run
into each other at any point. They're just starting from
opposite sides, and they'll pass each other along the way
en route to the finish line. Finally, mass start to

(40:00):
twenty four competitors start at the same time and compete
in a sixteen lap race. Whoever crosses the finish line
first wins. Now leading the US are Aaron Jackson and
Britney Bow. Britney Bow, friend of the Show and girlfriend
to hockey great Hillary Knight, Skates and gay shit y'all,
hell yeah. This will be Bo's fourth Olympics, and the
thirty seven year old has already announced that this will
be her last. Over the course of her career, she's

(40:21):
won ninety one World Cup medals, twenty two national titles,
six world titles, and four world records. She's got two
Olympic bronze medals, one in the team pursuit and one
of the thousand meters. Can she finally get gold?

Speaker 4 (40:31):
Don't put pressure on her, Sarah.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
The whole Olympics is pressure, alex life is pressure. Pressure
is a privilege.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Ooh, pressure is a privilege. Shout out to that US
Woman's National team campaign.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yes and originally BJK way back when everything goes back
to Billy Jean King just like Forrest Gump. Aaron Jackson
twenty twenty two became the first black American woman to
win an Olympic speeds getting medal and the first black
woman to win an individual Winter Olympic gold. This will
be her third Games, and you all remember the heartwarming
story of Aaron Jackson failing to qualify and then both
giving her her spot in her race, and then that's

(41:04):
what she won Golden. Y'all. This team is amazing and
that's it. That's my presentation. Amazing sponsored by Micromachines.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
Sarah. I have to say, I was talking to a
friend last night and she was.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Like, Sarah's one of the only voices that when I
listened to podcasts, I don't have to speed up. She
listens to you at normal speed because you just sound
sped up.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
Already.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
I was just gonna say, I don't think you can
do me at one and a half speed, but you
could try.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
I think Sarah got through as much that Alex got through.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
But in the time that I think, there we.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Go, they were all fine presentations. I feel so much smarter.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
We are not going to conclude this though, by saying
that's everything you need to know about the Olympics, because
as a former slash current Olympic researcher myself, nothing bothered
me more than stories. I would say that, and then
I would open it and I'm like, no, it's not
There's so much more you need to know.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Alex.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Are you saying there's more to moguls than just bump
said jumps.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Are you questioning my knee separation, Bianca knee separation?

Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yeah? Yeah, great point, great point. There is never going
to be an article that says everything you need to
know about and that's an accurate statement, much like there
never will be a BuzzFeed quiz that actually does indeed
restore my faith in humanity, especially in the year twenty
twenty six. But we did our best. You learned a lot,
and don't you worry because Alex and I are headed

(42:29):
over to Italy, where we will teach you so much
more about the magic of the Olympics, from events to
everything else. Who I'm spent. We gotta take a quick
break when we come back the final Friday Fought so
fieagle ben Tornado, speechee dranca. Welcome back, slices. It's time

(42:58):
for the final pre Olympics edition of our weekly segment,
Friday Fato Figo, which loosely translates by me to Friday
fun Facts. Now will of course be giving you an
endless amount of fun facts all games long. But this
is the last installation before Producer Alex and I are
in Italy, live in La delcha vita, never to be
confused with livin la vida loca. Today, with just one

(43:18):
week until the opening ceremony on February six, we're going
to pull at your heartstrings with a look back and
a look ahead. First, a moment for Bruno and Dario.
Now you remember in our first Fato Figo, I introduce
you to the adorable mascots for these Olympics, Milo and Tina,
a pair of qu little stoates too que. But I'm
now convinced that there's another duo better suited to serve

(43:40):
as the mascots for the upcoming Games, ninety three year
old Bruno Colli and eighty eight year old Dario Pivarado
Fato Figo. These tool Badgers recently participated in the Olympic
Torch relay for a third time. They each first carried
the torch in the Cortina Dempezo Olympics in nineteen fifty
six and again in the Turin Games in two thousand

(44:02):
and six, and now ahead of these twenty twenty six Olympics,
present for all three Italian editions of the Winter Games.
Still up and move in at ninety three and eighty eight.
Move over Milo and Tina, and I can't believe I'm
saying this. Move over Connor Story and Hudson Williams. These
games belong to Bruno and Dario. We'll link to some

(44:23):
photos and videos of the duo so you can get
a little emotional about the whole full circle nature of
it all. I mean, the history there so cool. And
if you're not crying after that, maybe a look to
the future we'll get you because starting with the Milan
Courtina Olympic Games, billionaire Ross Stevens is promising two hundred
thousand dollars to every single US Olympic at Paralympic athlete,

(44:44):
even if they don't win a medal. Per a story
in the Wall Street Journal, quote half will come twenty
years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance or at age
forty five, whichever comes later, and the other one hundred
thousand dollars will be in the form of a guaranteed
benefit for their families after they pass away. End quote.
Upon announcing his gift, which totals one hundred million dollars,

(45:05):
Stevens said, quote, I do not believe that financial insecurity
should stop our nation's elite athletes from breaking through to
new frontiers of excellence. End quote. The so called Stevens
Award is designed to last through at least the twenty
thirty two Brisbane Olympics. Just thinking about what that could
mean for athletes and their families, a whole generation of
the nation's best. Hell of a lot better way to

(45:27):
spend your pile a dough than on a Penis rocket
or a doomsday layer. Good for you, Stevens. I'm gonna
go ahead and not google you, though, so this good
feeling doesn't go away. When I learned how you made
all those billions of dollars. And that's the final Friday
fut do fiego. We look forward to bringing you so
much more from Italy. We always love to hear from you.
Hit us up on email, good game at Wondermedia network

(45:49):
dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe,
rate and review. It's easy watch the bell Alp which
is Downhill, rating five out of five stars, What a
Ghostly Scene review. About a week and a half ago,
the blattin bell Alp Ski resort in Switzerland held its
annual Bellalp Witch's Downhill, where skiers take to the slopes

(46:12):
and pointy hats and capes, some with their faces painted green,
all carrying brooms as they make their way down the mountain.
The annual race, which has been held for more than
forty years, is inspired by a local legend about a
woman accused of witchcraft centuries ago. Per the female quotient
quote depending on the telling, the witch was blamed for
everything from magical mischief to forbidden affairs and ultimately executed,

(46:35):
making her one of the earliest women accused during Switzerland's
witch trials. End quote. Now forty years later, maybe it's
a little icky to profit off the legacy of this
executed witch. But at the same time, the sight of
all these witchy women skiing down the mountain kind of
does make a smile. And as the female quotient mentioned,
hell of an option for a girls trip. Now it's
your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, See you

(46:56):
next week. Good Game Alex and Bianca, Good Game Bruno
and dar Hugh saying you use the like button to
bookmark posts, give me a fee break. Good Game with
Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us

(47:16):
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Alex Azzi and Bianca Hillier. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Emily Rudder, Lucy Jones, Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer. Production
assistants from Avery Loftus and I'm Your Host. Sarah Spain,

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