Keep the Flame Alive

Keep the Flame Alive

Obsessed with the Olympics and Paralympics? Just curious about how Olympic and Paralympic sports work? You’ve found your people! Join your hosts, Olympic aunties Alison Brown and Jill Jaracz, for smart, fun, and down-to-earth interviews with athletes, coaches, and the unsung heroes behind the Games. Get the stories you don’t find anywhere else. Tune in weekly all year-round, and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics. We’re your cure for your Olympics Fever! Call us: (208) FLAME-IT.

Episodes

September 25, 2025 42 mins

Wheelchair rugby is a mixed-gender sport, but not many females play. One way to increase their numbers and playin...

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You know how Olympic and Paralympic athletes go around and speak at schools and do other types of education-relat...

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All year long we're celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Games, and this month is the actual month of the Games' anniversary! The Sydney 2000 Olympics opened on September 15, 2000, and over the next 17 days, won over the world with its competitions and amazing hospitality.

On this episode, we look at new sports and events on the Olympic program: Triathlon (new sport), women's pole vault (new event) and women's modern...

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It's back-to-school time, so we wanted to hear what it's like for an elite athlete to go back to college. Olympic luger Ashley Farquharson explains how she's taking advantage of the Guild/Team USA partnership and getting her bachelor's degree at Purdue Global.

Follow Ashley on Instagram and TikTok. She's @

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History is in the making this week with the first-ever women’s para ice hockey world championships. This is a big step forward toward inclusion in the Paralympics. To talk about the women’s game, we are talking with para ice hockey officials Brooke Nunemaker and Brad Roethlisberger, who have some great insight on the game. (c) 2025 Kiss & Cry Productions LLC
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August 21, 2025 84 mins

It's the final week of the World Games - Chengdu 2025! We're joined by John Moorhead, 2017 World Games athlete and current USA Fistball secretary, to get some insight as to how the athletes in Chengdu have enjoyed their time at the World Games.

Jill and Alison also recap their week 2 watching, with thoughts on:

  • Boules
  • Breakdancing
  • Cheerleading
  • Gymnastics
  • Drone Racing
  • Flag Football
  • Inline Skating
  • Motosurf
  • Billiards
  • Racquetball
  • ...

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August 14, 2025 84 mins

The 12th edition of the World Games, Chengdu 2025 is underway! We discuss what sports and events we and other listeners have been bingeing on our feeds.

We start with the excellent Opening Ceremonies, which took a cue from Paris 2024. 

Sports we discuss include:

  • Canoe Polo
  • DanceSport
  • Dragon Boat racing
  • Finswimming (we have a lot of thoughts about freediving)
  • Floorball
  • Gymnastics (including thoughts on the new format)
  • Orienteer...
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It's our monthly look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics! This time, Jill looks at the Olympic equestrian eventing competition, including venue construction, difficult quarantine processes, and a vastly different competition format than you see in today's Olympic eventing. 

Check out the cross-country course and its amazing fences: Read more

Book Club Claire is back for our summer reading selection: Above & Beyond: Tim Mack, the Pole Vault and the Quest for Olympic Gold by Bill Livingston. Tim Mack won the gold medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics (perhaps a surprise winner), and this book details his very long journey to the top of the podium and the unique training methods he developed that helped him achieve his goal. 

What did we think of the book? Listen to the show ...

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Today we are talking with 2x Paralympian Noelle Lambert who competes in the 100m and long ju...

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    This week, Keep the Flame Alive is celebrating a big milestone: Our 400th regular episode! This episode is an online party with many citizens of TKFLASTAN (Team Keep the Flame Alive, which are our guests and listeners of the show), and we're thrilled to be joined by:

    • Past guests Sean Colahan, Harry Blutstein, Rich Perelman, Roy Tomizawa and John Moorhead
    • Listeners Ean, David, Mark, Patrick from Chicagoland, Meredith, Sarah and...
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    We travel back to 2000 for another look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics. This month Alison explores what's considered to be the biggest Paralympic scandal of all time, Spain's cheating in the Basketball ID tournament. Then Jill looks at the Olympic Road Cycling events, which feature inspirational legends, amazing comebacks, and Lance Armstrong.

     

    If you want a thoroughly depressing look at doping in cycling during ...

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    It's been nearly a year since we said, "Bonjour!" to the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, so what's been happening in Paris since the cauldron went out? Let's take a look at the initial legacy of these Games!

    We look at the money, initial economic impact, audience figures, building legacies, and elements of the Games that are still impacting Paris. If you're interested in training in the sport climbing warm-up gym, check out Le...

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    June 26, 2025 71 mins

    We're delving into the sport of wheelchair tennis with American Charlie Cooper, who's currently ranked #2 in the world for junior wheelchair singles. He talks with Alison about the sport and his plans to qualify for LA 2028.

    Plus, we also talk with Dr. Thomas Rietveld, a researcher at the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University in the UK. Dr. Rietveld's PhD thesis examined wheelchair tennis chairs, so ...

    We're talking technology at the Olympics with Pascal Wattiaux, IT Consultant and former Director of Technology at...

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    It's our monthly look back at history--all year long we're looking at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics. 

    This month Alison tackles the massive Para Swimming competition, which includes the Paralympics' all-time medal winner Trischa Zorn.

    Then we stay in the pool for the Olympic swimming competition, which is just epic, given Australians' love of swimming and their enthusiasm in the stands at Sydney 2000.

    There are so many s...

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    In April, LA 2028 announced that it would be the first Olympics to have more quota spots for...

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    We welcome back sports psychologist Dr. Kristin Keim to talk about the kinds of mental health issues Olympians, Paralympians and other elite athletes are facing in 2025. This includes finding your voice, what it's like to be an American athlete today, social media, cyberbullying, disordered eating, and more. 

    As always, Kristin is frank about the pressures athletes face today and about the advice she gives her clients. It's definit...

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    In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month and Military Appreciation Month, we're rekindling our interview with O...

    We're headed back to Sydney 2000 for another episode in our history series on these Games. It was the first time women were allowed to compete in Olympic weightlifting, and not surprisingly, there was controversy. It was also the first time for women's Paralympic powerlifting, which spawned some legends in Paralympic history. Jill's got the scoop on these events.

    Then Alison explores the Olympic football competitions, where underdo...

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