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
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...
If you've ever been interested in studying the Olympics and the Olympic Movement, this is the episode for you! We're talking with Dr. Yoav Dubinsky, professor of sports business at the University of Oregon. Dr. Dubinsky is also the operational director of the university's new Olympic Studies Hub.
We talk with Yoav about the Olympic Studies Hub, why it's important to study the Olympics, and--because Yoav is from Israel--the Israeli ...
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and t Read more
USA Cycling's Senior Data Analyst Ryan Cooper joins us to talk about Project 4:05, the quest to win the women's track cycling team pursuit gold medal at Paris 2024.
The US wasn't considered much of a contender for the podium--defending gold medalists Germany and reigning world champions Great Britain were considered to be the main teams vying for the top prize.
However, Ryan developed a process to uncover more with data analytics ...
3x Paralympian and U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program member SFC Elizabeth Marks joins us to tell us about her experience in the pool at Paris 2024. Ellie competed in seven events, winning five silver medals. Ellie tells us what she thought about her third Games, including her thoughts on the infamous Paris 2024 chocolate muffins.
We also discuss how swimming is an intellectual sport, how she's adapted to the sport throughout he...
We sail back in time to Sydney 2000! Alison explores the origins of the official Olympic mascots, Syd, Millie, and Olly, and the Paralympic mascot Lizzie. But Sydney doesn't stop with the mascot fun--the hosts of the Sydney 2000 recap show The Dream brought us Fatso, who stole the athletes' and fans' hearts....and caused some controversy along the way.
See one of Fatso's best moments here: https://youtu.be/dJZS6DdS9xI?si=BjalIj50J...
Five-time Olympian Kirsty Coventry has been elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee. She's the first woman and the first African to lead the organization.
What's her story, and how will she shape the Olympics for years to come? We take a deep dive to find out.
Plus, another chapter in the Milan-Cortina 2026 slidingnovela, updates (and concerns) for LA 2028, and Brisbane 2032 missed the Agenda 2020+5 mem...
Alison went to the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston and has all of the behind-the-scenes details! Find out what you can't see on TV and how different the skater's performances were in person!
Also check out our figure skating-themed Patreon episode this month! And get more scoop from Figure Skating Champs in our free Substack.
For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com.
Book Club Claire is back for our first selection of 2025, which is by a TKFLASTANI! We're reading Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games by Sydney Collier with Heather Wallace.
For Sydney, a routine eye exam turned into a diagnosis of a life-threatening rare disease. She's defied all expectations--particularly in terms of lifespan--to become a Paralympian in para dress...
While the Sydney 2000 Olympics are generally considered to be one of the best Games of all time, yet they still had their fair share of issues, particularly in the gymnastics venue.
In the latest installment of our year-long look back at Sydney 2000, Alison explores the numerous debacles during the gymnastics competitions, including a women's team competition that saw a podium change years ...
Sometimes all of the training and preparation in the world doesn't get you to the Paralympic podium. Boccia player Alison Levine experienced that firsthand during the Paris 2024 Paralympics, when tournament bracket design forced her to face the other top player early on in the elimination rounds. Play didn't go her way, and she didn't get the results she wanted.
It didn't get better in the mixed doubles tournament, when she and tea...
We catch up with sprinter Kenny Bednarek and learn about his Paris 2024 experience running the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. He did bring home some hardware, but also had many learning experiences (and we're not just talking about dealing with the lack of A/C in Paris). We also look ahead to Kenny's 2025 season and how he's preparing for World Athletics' world championships.
Be sure to watch Kenny's documentary series Road to Gold...
We catch up with our para powerlifter Bobby Body and talk with him about his experience at Paris 2024, including:
- What it was like to compete on the final day of the Games
- Dealing with no-lifts that resulted in a 4th place finish
- What it's like to get Team USA kit when you've got a powerlifter's body--did Bobby hulk out of his ceremonies uniforms?
We also have news from past and upcoming Games, including a Paris 2024 con...
Runners Cathy Freeman and Marion Jones, two of the stars from the Sydney 2000 Olympics, could not have had more different outcomes to their experiences at these Games.
In this look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Alison has the amazing story of Cathy Freeman, who brought Olympic glory to Australia and the Aboriginal people.
Meanwhile, Jill unravels the complicated story of Marion Jones, who was the first women to ever win five m...
It's one year to go until the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics! Tickets went on sale today, which means it's time to figure out travel plans--and because Milan-Cortina is really spread out across northern Italy, travel between venue clusters is going to be much more complicated.
Not to worry though. Our Olympics travel expert Ken Hanscom is back to talk about traveling to Milan-Cortina for the Games. He shares:
- What to thi...
Brazilian cross-country skier Bruna Moura joins us to talk about her continuing gritty journey to become an Olympian. A former mountain biker, Bruna took up roller skiing to help her recover from surgery. She found a love for the sport and transferred to snow to achieve her goal of representing her country at an Olympics.
The one new sport on the program for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is ski mountaineering (aka skimo). What is this sport all about, and why should you watch it?
Sarah Cookler, Head of Sport for USA Skimo (USA Ski Mountaineering Association), joins us to talk about the sport, how it works, and how much fun its debut at Milan-Cortina will be.
Follow USA Skimo on Insta and X! They're @usaskimo.
Also on today's show:
Welcome to our look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics! We asked which historical Games should get a deep dive, and your response was to take another look at arguably one of the best Olympics of all time.
On this episode, Jill delves into how Sydney won the right to host the Games against a crowded field that included Beijing, Berlin, Manchester (UK) and Istanbul. Would Sydney win on merit, or was there something fi...
Movie Club returns to look at the 2024 biopic "The Fire Inside," which tells the story of Olympic boxer Claressa Shields and her journey to winning her first Olympic gold medal at London 2012. The movie also goes beyond her first victory to show what happens when the Games are over--and unfortunately, Claressa is one of the many Olympic athletes who do not see a financial windfall after the Games.
Also on the show:
- News from...
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