Life-Changing Pressure with Jessie Diggins

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to good Game with Sarah Spain where not to
be a silly goose, but can someone check the beam?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Also hand me like eleven.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Dy boxes of tissue because I am not ready to
say goodbye to watching Simone Biles to gymnastics. On today's show,
We're going to get some great perspective on Olympic pressure
from someone who knows it well but isn't currently enduring
it three time Winter Olympic medalists and blissfully out of
season Jesse Diggins. We'll also conduct some balanced team inspections,

(00:29):
mowd the soccer pitches and practice our hammer throw technique,
and we'll reveal the name.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
That you voted on. If we can't wait for you
to hear it, it's all coming up right after this
welcome back.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
First things first, our bad Dominica and all seventy two
thousand of you who live there.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hey, Sarah, I know you get upset when things hit
your ears and you go, oh, that's not quite right.
So this is not a dish, but just information. The
island nation of Dominika is actually pronounced slightly differently than everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Else does it. And that's knowledge I have because I
went there one hundred years ago when I was scuba
diving a long time ago. Anyways, Dominique is beautiful. It's tiny,
but anyways, I just know you've always like to get
to the actual information that's real and truthful. So anyways,
love the work, love the pod, love everything you're doing, and.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Have a great day.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
Oh my name is Susan. Take care.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Thanks Susan for real, y'all. I actually love being corrected
because I want to get things right. So always send
the email, Always send the voicemail. Keep us honest over here.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
A good game. And you know what, while.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
We're correcting mistakes here, I need to once again suggest
that Paris should have abandoned their plan to compete in
the send after the first sign that they might not
get the river in proper condition in time. Because that
rant I gave last week wasn't for nothing. Things have
gotten worse. In addition to pushing back competitions due to
sewage levels, leaving athletes unsure of their schedule and preparation. Now,

(02:06):
Belgium's Olympic team was forced to forfeit Monday's mixed competition
triathlon after one of its triathletes, Claire Michelle, got sick
after competing in the individual triathlon in the seen last week.
The Belgian team didn't describe her illness or specifically blame
the river, but Belgium newspaperd Standard reported that the triathlete
was hospitalized on Sunday and treated for an equal eye infection.

(02:29):
The Belgian teams release said, in part quote, Belgian Triathlon
hope that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions.
We are thinking of training days that can be guaranteed,
competition days and formats that are clear in advance, and
circumstances that do not cause uncertainty among athletes, entourage and
fans exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
All right, here's what you need to know today.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
In three x three basketball, the US started out Monday
with a loss in the semi finals, dropping a nail
bier to Spain in overtime. But then in the tightly
contested bronze medal game, team USA beat Canada behind a
huge rebound and free throws from former Tennessee lady Volsierra
Burdick in the final seconds. What a turnaround for this quartet.
They started the Olympics zero to three, but they walk

(03:17):
away with a bronze medal. In the gold medal game,
Germany defeated Spain seventeen sixteen, marking the country's first ever
gold medal in the sport of basketball. In five on
five basketball, the US is onto the medal rounds after
going three to zero in group play. Team USA has
now won fifty eight straight games at the Olympics. That's
a streak that dates back to the ninety two Barcelona games.

(03:39):
Next up for Team USA a quarterfinal round matchup against Nigeria,
the first African team of any gender to make it
to the quarterfinals in basketball at the Olympics. That game
is tomorrow at three thirty pm Eastern. Gymnastics wrapped up
on Monday, and I think we all need to do
some breathing exercises after that balance beam final. Italy's Alitcha
Demato won gold on the event, but it was a

(04:01):
real messy competition and I hope someone actually did check
to make sure that the beam hadn't shrunk from four
inches to three inches wide overnight, because four of the
eight finalists fell, including both Simone Biles and Sunny Lee.
With the wind to model becomes the first Italian woman
to ever win gold in the sport of gymnastics. We're
happy for her, but that was way too stressful. About

(04:24):
an hour after the wabbly beam final, Simone Biles had
to dust herself off and get ready for the floor competition.
And because we hear a good game, are practicing living
in the moment, we attempted not to focus on whether
or not it was the last time we would ever
see Simone Biles compete with mixed results.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Okay, we did terribly. We thought about it the whole time,
and in the end.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
It was Brazil's Rebecca Andrage who claimed the gold, with
Simone and teammate Jordan Childs finishing with silver.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
And bronze, and it was kind of a wild scene
at the arena.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
It originally looked like Childs had finished off the podium,
but her coaches submitted a petition on her behalf and
after a little bit of delay, her total was boosted
up by point one to reflect the proper difficulty component
of one element of her routine, and that was enough
to put her on the podium. Chiles was elevated to bronze,
and if you haven't seen her reaction, we're going to

(05:16):
link to it in the show notes because it was
just such a joy to watch, and afterward, Chiles said
she didn't even know that her coaches had submitted the
appeal on her behalf. And I want to take this
minute to reflect on Jordan Chiles' journey to this moment,
because three years ago in Tokyo, she had an uncharacteristically
bad showing in the qualifying round and didn't make the
cutoff for any of the individual events. But if you remember,

(05:37):
Simone Biles removed herself from the team competition due to
the twisties, and Chiles, who trains alongside Biles in Texas,
stepped up to fill in on uneven bars and balance beam,
a very clutch performance that helped the US claim Olympic silver.
Now Here in Paris, she missed out on the individual
all around due to the two per country rule in gymnastics,
but she did help the US to team gold, and

(05:58):
today she competed in her first first individual Olympic event final,
winning bronze on floor. Of course, we also have to
shout out Child's viral floor routines while competing for UCLA.
If you haven't seen those, go look them up, especially
her performance in Lasher's NCAA competition, performing to nineties hits
like Salt and Pepa's Push It and TLC's Creep en
route to a national title. We love that, and leading

(06:19):
up to the Games, we also loved watching her talk
about the good luck gifts and messages she was getting
from the likes of Beyonce, Megan the Stallion Michael Jordan,
by the way, my favorite thing about Chiles. Duh, she's
named after Michael Jordan.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Perfect.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Also perfect watching Simone and Jordan bowing to Brazil's Rebecca
Andrage the moment she stepped onto the metal podium.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Someone on the internet said it simply.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Girlhood, a really beautiful display of sportsmanship and mutual respect.
And I aspired to one day grow up and be
mature enough to feel that way about anything I've ever lost.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Hasn't happened yet. War Gymnastics, because.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
We hear a good game, want to remind you that
we love silver medals and we love me too. But
here's a wild stat So by finishing second behind Andrage
on floor on Monday, Simone Biles lost a floora final
for the first time in her international career, a streak
that started at the twenty thirteen World Championships. So let's
take a moment to let that sink in, because it's

(07:17):
so easy to take Simone biles greatness for granted. And
of course we're talking about her gymnastics, but also her
outspokenness on important topics like mental health and the well
being of athletes.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Everybody breathe in and out.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
We have to tell ourselves, whatever she does next, we
know that she'll continue to shine. So congrats on the silver,
Congrats on bronze, Congrats on just showing up because we
know even that part was tough.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
For a while. We love you, Simone. We're gonna go
cry for a while.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Meanwhile, on the beach under the Eiffel Tower, the gold
medal favorite Sarah Hughes and Kelly Cheng of Team USA
won their round of sixteen match on Sunday. They're onto
the quarterfinals, where they'll play Switzerland today at four pm Eastern.
In track and field, on Monday, American Valerie Allman defended
her gold medal in discus, becoming just the fourth American
woman to win the same individual track and field event twice.

(08:08):
She joins the likes of Wyomi Tias, Gail Devers, and
Jackie Joiner Kersey. Looking ahead to today, there are three
women's finals with gold medals on the line in the
hammer throw, steeplechase and two hundred meters. Here's a name
to look out for in the hammer throw, maybe a
surprising one, Poland's Anita Vlodarcik. Now you may recall that
Katie Ledeki just became the first woman from any country

(08:28):
in any sport to win four gold medals in the
same individual event. Well, today Vlodarcik could become the second.
In addition to owning both the world and Olympic records
at hammer throw, she also won gold in.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
London, Rio and Tokyo.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Something to watch and in case anyone's wondering, they do
not throw an actual hammer. It's a metal ball attached
to a steel wire. And if you didn't know that,
I suggest you watch. In the two hundred meters, three
Americans qualified for the final Tokyo bronze medalist Gabby Thomas,
Britney Brown and Mackenzie Long faced new one hundred meter
gold medalist Julian Alfred of Saint Lucia. It's a pretty

(09:04):
wide open race as the three reigning world medalists aren't competing.
She Carrie Richardson actually won this event at last year's
World Champs, but she finished fourth at US Olympic Trials
at the distance, so she won't be competing. If you're
not familiar with Gabby Thomas, by the way, google her.
We will talk about her on a future show. But
if you want to feel real shitty about yourself, see
what Gaby Thomas is accomplished in life.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
What a champ.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Finally, we want to shine a light on Afghanistan's Kimia
You Sophie. She finished last in her one hundred meter
preliminary heat last week, but she used her moment on
the world's biggest stage to send a message. As the
lone woman representing Afghanistan and track and field in Paris,
she wrote three words on the back of her bib
education our rights. Since twenty twenty one, when the Taliban

(09:47):
took control of Afghanistan, women and girls have suffered tremendously,
According to her report published by the UN in January,
the Taliban have barred women from nearly every aspect of
public life and implemented a ban on girls attending school
after grade six. Usophie was born to refugee parents in
Iran during the Taliban's previous rule, but relocated to Afghanistan
ahead of the twenty sixteen Rio Olympics and then served

(10:09):
as the country's opening ceremony flag bear three years ago
in Tokyo. But when the Taliban returned to power in
August of twenty twenty one, she fled to Iran and
U Sophia, along with her mother and younger brother, eventually
managed to relocate to Australia with help from the Australian
Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Ahead of these Paris Games, she.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Said her goal was to quote represent the stolen dreams
and aspirations of all Afghan women, and after her race,
she told reporters quote, I think I feel a responsibility
for Afghan girls because they can't talk. She added quote,
I'm not a politics person. I just do what I
think is true. I can talk with media. I can
be the voice of Afghan girls unquote. She went on

(10:49):
to say that she can express what Afghan girls want
basic rights, education and sports.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
When I was in.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Australia last summer for the Women's World Cup, I hosted
a panel with the captain of the Afghanistan soccer team.
She and her teammates were also airlifted immediately out of
Afghanistan right when the Taliban took control, because everyone knew
that they were one of the most sought after groups
of people. And that might surprise you if you're not familiar,
but the women that were most at risk in Afghanistan

(11:16):
were the ones who were educated and the ones who
were empowered and in control of their bodies, which were
the athletes. And it was remarkable to hear her talk
about her team being moved to Australia while the rest
of their family members and friends were all left back
in Afghanistan.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Under the rule of the Taliban.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
I'm so impressed by Yusophie making this statement on the
highest stage, and hope we continue to have conversations about
the girls and women in Afghanistan and the athletes who
are escaping to other countries and continuing to compete. So impressive.
All right, I bet you're wondering why I didn't mention soccer.
Well here it is, little.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Primer, primer primer.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
US women's soccer team is taken out Germany today at
twelve pm Eastern and followed by Brazil Spain at three
pm Eastern. That's right down to just four and if
you remember, the US got quite familiar with Germany in
pool play, handing them a four to one loss. But
unfortunately they can't take any of those goals with them
because it's a clean slate for the semi final and
a spot in the gold medal match is on the line.

(12:15):
Both teams are coming off extra time victories, but the
Germans had to go to penalty kicks to do away
with Canada, so I'm wondering if maybe that little.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Extra effort will make them more fatigued.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Hard to say, because new Team USA coach Emma Hayes
has been very stingy with the subs in this tournament.
We'll see how those American legs are holding up, or
if she decides that she wants to switch up or
starters for the semi final game. Unlike their kind of slow,
sticky last game against Japan, when the US faced Germany
and pool play, they moved freely, they passed with ease,
They got to really play their style. We'll see if

(12:46):
Germany switches up their approach for the rematch after.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Watching that Japan game.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
One player to watch either way is Bayern Munich's Leah Schula.
She's one of Germany's primary goal threats. She scored three
goals so far in this tournament. Germany and the US
are two of just three countries to win both the
Women's World Cup and Olympic gold and coming into this Olympics,
the Germans were ranked fourth in the FIFA rankings, a
spot ahead of the US.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
The bronze medal game will be Friday, while the gold
medal match is Saturday.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh fun fact too, there are over one thousand kinds
of sausages in Germany and the longest word in the
German language is seventy nine letters long.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
It sounds like.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
This, Don domp schif'spat electricy tit and halp the troops
bowl the celshaft.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Thank you SoundCloud user and Haines. All right, we gotta
go flip our schnitzel and stir our sauer krawd. It's
almost game time when we come back. Joining us now
a three time Olympic medalist, including winning the first ever

(13:48):
gold medal for the US and cross country skiing, She's
coming off the best ever seasoned by an American in
the sport, highlighted by her overall World Cup title win.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
She's the author of Brave enough.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
She's met with lawmakers on Capital Hill to advocate for
climate policy, and she's an ambassador for the Emily Program,
an organization that provides specialized treatment for eating disorders. Fun fact,
she wears glitter every time she races. It's Jesse Diggins.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
What's up. Jesse, Hey, Sarah, Thank you for having me,
Thank you for coming on. This was such a good idea.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
This was actually producer Alex's idea, our Olympic Expert, because
we thought it would be really good to have an
Olympic athlete on who can talk about the Olympic experience
well at a safe distance from it.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Right.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
So interviewing the athletes when they're about to leave or
when they're about to compete means they're in this very
specific and particular mindset, and we wanted some perspective that's
not clouded by training or nerves or expectations or all
of the stuff that comes with trying to just get
through one of the biggest moments of your life. So
you're in your off season technically, so we're getting you
at a good time to talk about the Olympics. And

(14:52):
I want to start with the basics, like, what do
you think the number one thing is that fans at
home don't understand about the Olympics.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
I think this will be dependent on your sport, but
for most of us, you wait for four years for
the world to watch what you're doing. But you haven't stopped.
You haven't been frozen in time from one Olympics to
the next. So you're still training, you're still competing all
winter long, and once every four years your country just

(15:22):
goes ballistic and everybody's watching and all the pressure of
the world is heaped on you. And so like we
raised I raised thirty something times every single season on
the World Cup circuit. We have World Championships, but in
the US it's like the Olympics or nothing. And so
the amount of pressure and lights and attention and eyes

(15:43):
that are on you for this one moment every four years,
it is extremely hard to perform under that. And when
you can pull it together and perform in the one
moment it matters, it will actually change your life. And
so it is I mean, and it's not an exaggeration
to say that it's life changing pressure that you're carrying

(16:04):
on your shoulders, and you have to be able to
relax and do what you do underneath that, and so
I think that's just something that it's hard to describe
that kind of feeling unless you've been through it. And
I think it definitely changes games to games as well.
So my first Olympics in twenty fourteen, I was there.
I was the baby of the team, and I kind

(16:24):
of knew in my sport, you will probably if you
continue to train hard, have multiple Olympics. So for me,
I was there to gain experience. Now, if you're a
young gymnast, you might be eighteen twenty, really really young,
but that may be your one chance and you are
expected to perform in that moment. So I think it's

(16:44):
also really interesting sport to sport.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
I think it changes, well, it's not just performing in
that moment to change your life, but that's also when
all the interview requests come in, all the sponsors, so
like you're managing the busiest time of your life at
the time when anyone else would say, I'm going to
put those aside for a couple of months and come
back to them once the work is done, but no,
it all has to happen at once. Sports are about
muscle memory, preparation, training, doing everything you can before the

(17:09):
actual events so that when you get there you could
just focus on performance. How hard is that to do
at the Olympics, Like, how different is it competing there
versus every other competition.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
I think in some ways it's no different, right, It's
just another race. You do your same warm up, you
do your same process of ski selection and wax testing
and all of that. It's all the same thing, and
then you find comfort in that routine, right, Like I'm
doing this thing that I always do. I've done this
since high school. Like I put my skis on one
at a time, like I've always done it this way.

(17:43):
Nothing is different just because I'm wearing a bib that
has the Olympic rings across the chest, which is terrifying.
But in many ways, there are a lot of different things,
Like you said, the media attention that asks the hype.
All of a sudden, you know, you go from feeling like, ah,
nobody is really watching to like, wow, there's multiple cameras
focused on me at once at all moments, and that

(18:07):
that does change when you suddenly feel the eyes on you.
And I think a lot of it is simply focusing
on what you can control and trying to not block
out the noise. And this is something that we've talked
about in the sports psychology realm. Like if I tell
you do not think about an apple, no circumstances, think

(18:29):
about it.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Thank you, it was red, it looked delicious, think about it.

Speaker 5 (18:34):
But if I say, go ahead, think about an apple,
but still ask me your interview questions, you can do both.
But if you're so focused on trying to block this out, no,
I'm not thinking about it. I'm not seeing it. It's
not there. That's so much energy going towards blocking out
that noise that you don't want. And so I think
we've shifted the model to yes, there's a lot of lights. Yes,

(18:57):
there's a lot of pressure. Of course, there's a million
cameras and there's a lot of interviews. There's a lot
going on, and I can still focus.

Speaker 6 (19:06):
I love that. I love that.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
It's just like it's just like meditation.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
They'll always say, if you get a thought, don't try
to push it out, just let it float.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
By like a cloud. You see it, but it's not
for now, and you let it float away.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
I love that's such a good perspective for literally anything,
not just competing in the Olympics, like I love that.
What is it like watching the Olympics versus competing in them?
Because I lose my mind, I cry, I tense up
my hands. I realize that my body hasn't moved from
like a position for like thirty minutes because I'm nervous.
And that's just watching like you're actually able to empathize

(19:41):
so much better with what they're going through.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
So how does it feel watching? Oh?

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Man?

Speaker 5 (19:47):
I mean I was in tears watching both gymnastics schemes,
the women's and the men's, and seeing especially seeing how
hype the men were for each other, just this genuine
life jumping up and down and the amount of pressure on.
I almost called him Clark Kent because of the class

(20:07):
under pressure.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, our last guy to Stephen Kornaky look alike. He's
getting a lot of comparisons Clark Kent, Stephen Kornaky, It's
getting a.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
Lot of them. Yeah, I mean, I love it. But
like thinking about that, it was funny because I was
talking to my husband and I was recapping the whole
thing because he couldn't watch while he was at work,
and I was telling him, like man like Steven had
to sit there and wait and no, like I've been
brought here to do one thing. I'm the last guy
to go, and my team is counting on me. My
whole country's watching, the whole world is watching, and I

(20:37):
have to perform in the one moment it matters. And
then he did it, and it brought me to tears,
Like I was jumping up and down on the couch.
And it was funny because Wade was like, well, you
had to do that too in twenty eighteen, like you
were anchoring the team. It was the one moment it mattered.
The whole country was watching it, and I was like, yeah,

(20:58):
but it's not the same. He was like, yeah, it
is the same. But like, when you're watching it, it
feels like, how in the world do they do that?
How is this possible? How can they make this happen?
How do they pull this off? That kind of pressure
must be crushing. But then when you're in the moment,
when I made myself be like, oh, he's right, Like
I thought back to when that was me having to

(21:20):
perform under that kind of pressure. I wasn't thinking about
the pressure. I wasn't thinking about metals, was not thinking
about results. All I was thinking about is my process.
How do I ski as fast as possible? And I
think if I had stopped to think about, oh my god,
my teammates hopes and dreams from her entire career on
the line here, I probably would have cracked. But that's

(21:42):
why I was just focused on how do I ski? Like,
what technique cues? How do I do this? And so
I think being incredibly processed, focused and only thinking about
things that are within your control is so so helpful.
And like you said, it's for life, not just for
the game.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, well you mentioned control though, and I think that's
part of it too, is like, as the athlete, we've
been in those positions and all you're thinking about is
I'm in control of what I'm doing now, and what
can I control? It's do I do all the things
I've prepared correctly? Do I put my best effort forward?
And then as an athlete, you know, sometimes that means
you win it, sometimes.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
It means you don't.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
When you're watching zero control, zero control over anything, you
can't do anything but watch and hope, and that feels
so much more tenuous than when you have the power
to do it. Even though people who aren't athletes would
be like, that's crazy. The pressure's on you, but you're
not thinking about it. You're like, here's what I do,
and I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. I also love
what you said about the emotions that the male gymnast
had for each other.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
There's a great episode of Welcome to Wrexam.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
I don't know if you watch it, but they get
into detail about how sports are one of the few
places where men are allowed to feel all of the emotions.
We let them cry, we let them hug each other,
we let them support each other, we let them butt
slap each other without being weird about it. We let
them like support and be angry and be sad and

(23:00):
be defiant and be supportive. Like, it's just really cool
when we think about the ways that we do limit
men in ways that we'd often talk about with women
but don't with men, and how sports is a space
that we can stop doing that, which I just when
I was watching that gymnastics team, I was thinking the
same thing, which is so cool.

Speaker 5 (23:17):
On that note, I have a question for you. Do
you think we allow women to experience the full range
of emotions in sport?

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Well, I think it depends on who's watching, right I
was thinking about that with Mikayla.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Maroney and how she went like viral for being.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Disappointed in her medal and making a squirmy, you know,
kind of smirky face, and how when men are disappointed,
we're like, he's so competitive, he'll settle for nothing but
the best, and when women do it, we're like, she
should be grateful that she got a medal, She should smile,
You should smile more so. I mean, I think there's
a range of dumb shits and cool people who will

(23:54):
let any kind of person male, female, non binary be
the full expression of themselves, and then there.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Are people who are going to be assholes either way.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
But I do think at least we're really trying to
acknowledge how we do that to women in ways that
have changed society, and we're not quite there, I think
in talking about allowing men to feel those things in
ways that you know aren't restrictive.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
Yeah, because that it just it made me think a lot,
like we don't allow men to cry normally, and in
sport it is okay.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Even fans don't allow.

Speaker 5 (24:24):
Women to be aggressive competitive, and in sport it's sometimes okay, yeah,
but not always. And I think it's just fascinating. I
think we have a long way to go in both ye,
in both sides of the equation, like greed to allow
people to express their full like range of emotions, and

(24:46):
sports should be a safe place to do that. And
I think we can still work on that.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
And so I think absolutely on both sides.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
On both sides, and that's something that the Olympics can
help with.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Agreed, because we're all watching it together.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
In your experience at the Olympics, how much do the
athletes talk to each other either comparing their experience in
terms of like demands of the sport or timing of
their events, Like, oh, man, you get to go first
week and then spend the rest of the time partying,
Or oh, my events last and I have lots of
time to like get settled and prepare and get on
the time schedule. Or you got to walk in the

(25:19):
opening ceremony, Oh I didn't because my event was at
the same time.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Like how much is that sort of like comparing, I.

Speaker 5 (25:27):
Mean, to some degree, there's I mean for me anyway,
I can't talk for anyone else, but our sport is
very interesting because we compete the very first day and
the very last day and many days in between. Right,
So we have six different events, everything from a sprint
to a marathon, and the marathon's last and the scathons first,
and so for us a lot of it it's like

(25:49):
maybe you don't get to go in opening ceremonies if
you race and compete the next day, and that's for
a lot of athletes. So you know, like I'm not
the only one in this boat. I'm not the only person.
So in that way it's helpful to compare, like I'm
not the only one going through this. Like, yes, I
would love always march and opening ceremonies. It is the
experience of a lifetime. And I'm glad i went when
I was young and I could because I probably won't

(26:12):
be able to do this next Games. But I'm not
going to be the only one. And at the same time,
you also see athletes being able to go to all
these different events and cheer, and I just felt happy
that they were able to do that. On the one hand,
I felt so lucky that I was able to compete
in so many events. What an absolute gift. And of
course this little part of me is like I would

(26:33):
love to someday experience the Olympics when I'm not happy
to focus every single second of every single day for
three weeks straight. But I'll get there.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Someday.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
I'll go as a spectator and I will experience it
to my heart's content, and I'll go to every event
and cheer for everyone. And I can have that experience later,
but right now, I have to lock it in, and
I have to lock it in for three weeks straight,
and so I think a lot of it. Instead of comparing,
it's more like, this is just what I.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
Have to do. Yeah, just the reality of it.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
I do love, though, Like your dream is to go
to the Olympics as a spectator, it's a lot easier
to do than what you're doing, which most of us
will dream of and never get to do. You know,
I want to ask you about the post Olympic letdown
because for people, even when they win, even gold medalists,
will say that they have this feeling after the Olympics

(27:23):
that they can't shake. And for those who are, of
course seconds off of the podium or don't achieve the
things they want, that's more understandable.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
It's still heartbreaking, but understandable.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
But can you explain to us the psychology or help
us try to understand why even those who achieve their
dream and win it all still sometimes have that feeling.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Yeah, well, so even when I was a little kid.
You remember, like when you're a little kid and you
go to you like, your best friend's birthday party and
it's a sleepover, and you get really excited and you've
been looking forward to this, and you stay all night
and you're totally jazzed and you're like hyped up on sugar,
and you come home and the next day just kind
of sucks because you're not with all your friends and

(28:01):
you're not doing this cool thing, and the thing that
you've been looking forward to is over. Like my mom
used to call that the post party blues.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah, well a lot of people say it for their wedding,
and I had it with my wedding. You spend a
year planning and it's so awesome, but then it's over
and you're like instead of like, oh, wedded bliss, you're like, oh,
but that's it.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
I don't get to do that again. Probably if you're lucky.

Speaker 5 (28:26):
And whether or not it was the you know, your wedding,
best of your life, amazing, everything goes perfectly. You still
have this letdown of like, oh, man, like I just
got to have all of my loved ones right here
and everyone's celebrating and have the best time, and like
now it's over. That's that's challenging. And so imagine you're
not just you plan a wedding for a year, maybe

(28:48):
two years, but imagine that you have trained four or
more years for one thing, one event, one experience, one Olympics.
So it's not just oh, I've been looking forward to
this for weeks or I've been training my whole life
to get to this moment, and there's all this hype
and all this pressure in the world is watching and
then it's just like boom, over, gone, done, and there's

(29:12):
this vacuum. And so in many ways, I think we're
very lucky in cross country skiing because we have a
normal World Cup season that we return to and finish up,
so we have a little bit of this this kind
of ramp downwards. It's not just falling off a cliff.
You kind of had this gentle come down of like, Okay,

(29:32):
in many ways that's very challenging because you're pretty burnt out.
But in many ways it's awesome because you're like all right,
I'm going to go back to the World Cup.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
It's another goal, it's another thing to focus on, because
that's part of it too, I think, is like you
have something to focus on and work towards, and when
that's gone, it's like, well, what's.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
My purpose now?

Speaker 1 (29:50):
And I've even heard athletes say, like if I spent
my whole life, I thought when I won the gold
it would change me or get rid of my problems.
And what I realized was being a gold medalist doesn't
change the other things in my life that I want
to fix or work on. I've heard a lot of
athletes talk about that, and so, yeah, I get it.
I get that letdown is tough. We only have a
few more minutes, So let's do a quick speed round.

(30:12):
Favorite Olympic memory from competing.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
Oh, I mean, I have to say winning the gold medal, I.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Mean decent, it sounds decent. Yeah, yeah, Favorite Olympic memory
watching Oh.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
Oh man, there's a lot I gotta say. I think
just being ready to go on deck for the relay,
but watching my teammates, so seeing everyone put their heart
and soul into it, and just knowing like I'm a
part of this, Like I trained with them. I helped
push them and look at them go like I felt

(30:46):
the cool other duckling like watching.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Okay, you have to.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
Start training today to try to compete in the twenty
twenty eight Summer Olympics. What sport do you have the
best shot at making it in?

Speaker 5 (30:58):
Oh my gosh, realistically? Like, is very long distance trail
running a thing? Yet in the summer case, No, I
don't believe.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
So you gotta go marathons, you gotta go. I'm not
five thousand meters.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
Not the faster runner. I guess I would say swimming.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Okay, all right?

Speaker 1 (31:21):
And then last question, we've seen a lot of athletes
pin trading. Are there any other traditions that are common
for the athletes at the games or like things that
we don't see behind the scene that would be like
heartwarming about what the athletes do to like memorialize their
experience or commemorate I guess not memorialized.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
It's not dead.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
The pin trading is so real and they're actually like
a currency. People don't know this. You miss a bus,
you need to ride, give a volunteer a pin, you'll
get there. I'm just saying, like pins are like.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
A prison, like you want them.

Speaker 5 (31:56):
But I think one of the things is how people
decorate their rooms, because the rooms are usually pretty bland
because they're going to renovate and sell them with condos
later or something. Right, So I always get pictures of
friends and family and have a bunch of cards and
posters that you know, like my high school cross country
ski team would sign this giant poster and I would

(32:17):
bring it to the games and with all these signatures
of all these kids, and it would be right above
my bed. So you remember who you're racing for and
why you've worked so hard. And so I think one
of the really heartwarming things that you don't see is
the little things like that, like how athletes like take
their friends and family with them into the games.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
I love that, Jesse. This was such incredible perspective. We
can't wait to watch you compete again. Good Luck on
the training, good luck on your next season, and thanks
so much for spending some time with us.

Speaker 5 (32:45):
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Thank you so much to Jesse Diggins for taking the time.
We got to take another break. When we return, will
reveal your brand new name. Welcome back, friends.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
I know we've been stringing you along, never calling you
by your name, like that friend of a friend that's
always around but she never really caught their names. You
just say, oh, hey, my guy, we're sup girl, or
beg your significant other to just casually introduce themselves in
front of you so you can be reminded.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
So you deserve better, we should call you by your name.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
We just have to decide on it, and we've been
taking our sweet ass time, But we did ask you
to vote from some finalists, and I think today's the day.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Here's what we gave you to vote on.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Good Game Nation GGN for short breakers as in glass
ceiling breakers and game breakers, the Spanish Armada shout out
the goonies, and then I could just yell, hey you
guys at the beginning of every show, okay, decides that's
a good thing or not. And slices as in the
orange slices you get after a good game. There was
a good writing vote too, from at the legend of

(33:56):
Vinnie t. He said the handshake line, which I kind
of think is cute, Like I'd call y'all the shakes
for short shakes and slices.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
You could tell I like things with a nice little
ring to them.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Okay, you guys did not make this easy because there
was no runaway winner from the voting. Based on my
best attempt to count up all the votes from email
and Twitter and Instagram, Good Game Nation, Spanish Armada, and
Slices were pretty much all neck and neck Breakers only
got a few votes, So I guess it comes down
to us because we still got to vote, Mesh, of

(34:30):
those three, who you got?

Speaker 5 (34:32):
It was tough.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
It was tough. Thank you for all submissions, But I
gotta go slices, y'all, everything good comes in slices. Why
not pizza, pie, oranges?

Speaker 4 (34:42):
Fruit?

Speaker 5 (34:43):
Like?

Speaker 2 (34:43):
All that gotta be slices for me?

Speaker 7 (34:46):
Love that Alex going with slices, boss Boss, Okay, I
like it.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
I guess all that's left then is my vote. I
like Spanish Armada. It's very clever, but I wanted the
name to be about the show and not me. And also,
what's up Armada? Happy Tuesday just doesn't really roll off
the tongue. And then Good Game Nation is cute, but
if I shorten it to nation, it sounds like almost
political or like a little too severe, and Good Game
Nation is very long, and y'all know I like slices,

(35:15):
So I think you know where this is going, don't you,
my little slices. I have to say that I'm happy
about this because the votes were close enough that we
could just give it a little nudge in the direction
that I wanted. But I know there are way more
of you listening than voted on this, So just you know,
make sure you're registered to vote in elections that matter,

(35:37):
Like if you don't want to be little Slices for life,
make sure you're making your voice heard, because I know
that on our show in four years we will let
you vote again. I can't necessarily say the same for
who wins in November, so we'll leave it at that,
my little slices. We also asked you for an updated
version of bulletin board material for female athletes, and no

(36:00):
one topped Pinterest eating good for straight up humor's sake.
But I did like at Aaron Woodard's response for modern Times,
he said screenshot material, which feels like, basically, sooner rather
than later, we will be saying that, like who owns
a bulletin board anymore?

Speaker 2 (36:14):
These days?

Speaker 1 (36:15):
I feel like screenshot material is just going to become
the thing that we say, so thanks for that, Aarin.
We also asked you for your favorite Olympic memories from
growing up, and you guys delivered. We got some extraordinary
folks listening to a good game. That's what I learned
from listening to these. Here were a couple that we
really like. Check out this one from Elizabeth.

Speaker 6 (36:33):
Hi.

Speaker 7 (36:34):
This is Elizabeth from Chicago, and I'm calling regarding the
special Olympics moment. The Atlanta US women's soccer team and
then subsequently the ninety nine ers are by far my
favorite Olympic moment because it totally inspired me to pursue sports.
I ended up going and playing with the US national

(36:54):
women's tackle football team, winning a world championship, and although
that sport is not an Olympic sport, I am so
inspired with these games and the excitement for the LA
twenty twenty eight games and flag football, the coming an
Olympic sport and seeing the opportunity for athletes that have
not had that chance. So keep the podcast coming, love
it a lot, can't wait for the merch to drop.

(37:15):
Have a good one.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
I love that, Elizabeth, and I want you to know
that my sister Katie played women's professional tackle football for
two seasons with the Philadelphia Lady Bells, So shout out
to my siss. My parents weren't big fans of her
after college and after tearing up her body and every
other sport, being like, I think I'm also going to
play tackle football, but she loved it. She did not

(37:37):
go to the US national women's tackle football team. That
is very impressive. So congrats to you, Elizabeth. We love
that that kind of amazing moment in your life got
inspired by watching the Olympics. We also love Kelsey, who
back when she was growing up, was making sure she
set her teacher straight.

Speaker 6 (37:53):
Hi, Sarah, this is Kelsey calling from Alexandria, Virginia. Love
the podcast. I remember watching Olympics in two thousand and
eight in my little red, white and blue le had
heard so well. I just you remember when I went
back to school that fall, my second grade teacher was
asking a spout, you know our favorite moments in the summer,
and I told him was watching Sean Johnson win gold

(38:13):
on bean and he was like, is that a boy?
Who is that? And I was so shocked to set like,
how could you not know who she was? I had
a poster her on my wall probably for years. I
did gymnastics for a while and yeah, just just straight
Olympic memories. Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
That's the Sean Johnson to you, teacher. Thank you, Kelsey,
Thanks to everyone who called in. We love that you're listening,
but we love it even more when you get in
the game every day. So here's our good game play
of the day. Tomorrow's show is going to be an
awesome one featuring the host of the incredible podcast tested
Rose Evelyith. Now you don't need to listen to the

(38:48):
whole podcast before tomorrow's interview. We'll make sure you know
everything you need, but do go give it a follow
right now and make some time for it in the
next couple of days. It's fantastic, so looking forward to that.
We love to hear from you, so you can always
hit us up on email at good Game at wondermedianetwork
dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
two two o four fifty seventy and don't.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Forget to subscribe, Rate and review. It's easy.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Watch pre cut Pineapple rating five out of five stars.
Review Pineapple is the best fruit that exists.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Don't at me.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
It's true, but also right alongside unmanageable mangos and uncrackable coconuts.
It's also one of the toughest to cut, so getting
someone else to cut it up for you is completely
worth the cost, and even better when it's your husband
cutting up your pineapple for free. Can you tell what
I had for dessert tonight? Okay, your turn? Subscribe, rate
and review. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good Game, Jesse,

(39:45):
Good Game, Dominika You Taliban Duh. Good Game with Sarah
Spain is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your production
by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzi and
Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,

(40:08):
Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Jenny Kaplan,
Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez and Grace Lynch. Production assistants from
Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Sarah Spain

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Life-Changing Pressure with Jessie Diggins