August 26, 2024 • 50 mins
Have you ever done something so many times that you could do it in your sleep, but when the big moment comes, it goes wrong?
Chris is joined by Olympic diver Alison Gibson to discuss her "nightmare experience" of receiving a 0.0 in Paris and how she's kept her head held high while inspiring other athletes during dark times.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Chris Harrison coming to you from the home office in Austin, Texas.
It is hot in Austin, and on the show today,
I have well a fellow Austin night, Alison Gibson, an olympian,
(00:21):
just came back from Paris. But Austin's a little lonely
these days. My girl LZ Lauren Zema is at camp.
You know, you guys remember how Lauren always talks about
Experience Camps. So this is the week where she volunteers
at Experience Camps, this amazing organization that she's gotten so
involved with, she's now on the board. It is camps
(00:44):
for kids that have lost a parent or a sibling
or you know, their caretaker, and they go to this
camp for a week and unplug and they get to
be around other kids that have survived, that have been
through this as well. And most of these kids have
never been around anybody else who's dealt with what they're
(01:05):
dealing with, and so it is remarkable to see these
kids get together and they can talk about suicide and
the fact that one of their parents may have died
by suicide or what have you these tragic stories that
is so hard for these kids to share. So Lauren
is up there in Maine, by the way, smart girl
getting out of Austin and being in Maine where it's
(01:26):
fifty degrees. But she's up there doing amazing work. And
it really changed Lauren's life last summer when she volunteered
for the first time, and so she's doing it again
this year. But man, this house gets really quiet when
Lauren's not around. But so she won't be joining me
on the show today. But I am so excited for
our guest because this is so wild. So Lauren and
(01:49):
I are on a plane flying back to Austin and
the pilot gets on. This is several weeks ago, a
month ago, whatever. And the pilot gets on and says,
ladies and gentlemen, we have an Olympian on board, and
I want to wish you know, Alison Gibson, the best
of luck as she heads to Paris to represent the
United States. I didn't think much of it. So we
(02:09):
go to baggage claim and I just happened to be
standing next to this young girl waiting for my bag,
and I look down and I see the credential on
her backpack she was carrying, and I said, Alison Gibbson
and had like Olympic swimmer or whatever, and I could
tell that she was probably the girl. I said, wait,
are you the Olympian that our pilot just mentioned? And
(02:30):
it was, And so I struck up this conversation with her.
And she is a springboard diver and has she performed
in the Olympics last time as well? I think it
was over in Asia and Tokyo maybe, but that was
during COVID, so a very different experience. She made the
team and she got to go to Paris. She was
really excited when I met her. She was going to
(02:52):
go early so she could take part in the opening ceremonies,
even though the diving wasn't for like a week and
a half in. She wanted to really go and take
it in. So I really took an interest in a
personal interest. I DMed her. We had talked a couple
of times and I was following her story. I was
really excited, started following our on social media, etc. Alison
(03:15):
Gibson had the biggest nightmarish moment that you could ever
imagine at the Olympics. These people, these Olympians, train their
entire lives. They give everything. They are going through school,
(03:35):
they're working, but at the same time they are training
like you and I could not comprehend. And the thing
about the Olympics, it's only every four years, and everything
comes down to that moment, the pressure, everything, and Alison
Gibson had something happen to her that had never happened
(03:57):
in her entire life, and her first dive resulted in
a zero point zero. It was considered a non dive.
She hit the diving board. She did a dive that
she had done a million times, and her heel and
(04:20):
her feet slammed against the diving board in the I
believe it is the three meter springboard, and that was
her Olympic moment, And that is why I wanted to
talk to Alison Gibson today, our Olympian, because of the
way she handled this moment really hit me. I was
(04:44):
so heartbroken for her. But then when I saw how
she handled it subsequently and what she went through and
how she has triumphed over this disaster, made me love
and appreciate her so much more than anybody who stood
on that poet with a gold medal around their neck.
And that's why I wanted to take a moment and
talk about this story with Alison Gibson Olympia. Hey, what's up,
(05:12):
my friend?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
My gosh, not much.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It's been a crazy whirlwind since I saw you.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I mean, seriously, think how much life has changed since
I saw you. And I just did a little intro.
I gave kind of the thirty thousand foot level of
you and our meeting and how we met at the
airport in Austin, Texas, and then think about all that's
happened since then. It's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, it's crazy. I like equate it to a metamorphosis.
I think the whole past year of my life has
been transformative, but the past two months of my life
have just like.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Been crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Like I feel like, obviously I'm the same person, but
I feel like I've come out of it as a
completely different person, just like changed and grown so much.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's crazy because I told everybody the reason I wanted
to have you on, and I figured I would have
you on anyway just because I followed you became such
a fan. And what I said was and I don't
mean this too, you know, I'm like so much older
than you, but I was so proud. I was as proud,
if not more proud of you than anybody standing on
(06:26):
the podium with a gold medal around their neck, because
the way you handled that situation just struck me, And
maybe it struck me a little harder because of you know,
what I had gone through as well in my life,
and you know, being canceled and going through all that.
When you go through something that's like such a lightning
bolt moment that you don't see coming in your life,
(06:48):
I always find it interesting to see how people react.
And the way you acted and reacted to that just
made me really love and adore you so much more
than I already did. I was such a fan before
we dive into how your life has changed, let's talk
about why it changed. Tell me about the moment.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Okay, well, I think to add to the gravity of
this story, you almost need to hear a little bit
of the background of how.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Pes got to the Olympics in the first place.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So basically I competed in the Tokyo twenty twenty Olympics,
so or twenty twenty one, because it was moved back,
so it was a dramatic time there was no one
in the stands.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We were wearing masks everywhere.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And I'd always dreamed of going to the Olympics and
I made it, and I thought, wow, like I have
made it. And I competed in Tokyo and we were winning.
I did syncro so sincro three meter, a different event
than I competed in this one. We were winning after
the first two dives, which was unheard of because if
you've seen diving, China is kind of the powerhouse, so
(07:55):
this is sible course. And so we were winning and
it was kind of this crazy moment, and I got
in my head and I thought, wow, there's a chance
to meddle and even beat China.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And we knew we were capable of that.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
But then I started getting scared and I was afraid
that I would mess up, and all those doubts rushed
into my head. And then I remember I went into
for the third dive in that competition, and instead of
thinking I got this, I thought, what if I mess up?
What if I mess up? What if I mess up?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Interesting?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Mental your mental mindset going into anything in life is
so important. And what happened was as I went into
that dive, instead of walking in with confidence, I walked
in with fear and it impacted that dive and the
next dive, and then I ended on a strong dive.
But Tokyo was this gutting competition for me because I
(08:44):
hadn't done as well as I wanted to do. And
I remember I had to walk through the line of
media and talk about it, and my family wasn't there
to give me a hug, and it was this crushing
moment and I thought, you know what, I can't make
any money in this sport anyway, so I'm just going
to be done. I never want to compete again. I
never want to feel this again, So I'm just going
to stop. So I stopped, finished my master's degree, what on,
(09:06):
worked for two years. Never ever thought I would compete
again ever in my life. Well a year ago, while
June of twenty twenty three, my syncro partner from Tokyo
called me up and said, hey, you should come back
and train for Paris. And I said, you're insane. That
gives me less than a year to qualify for the Olympics.
Like that's impossible, right, Like that's crazy. Why would I
do that? Also, my life is great, like I'm making money.
(09:28):
Are you telling I'm happy? I'm like, I would have
to sacrifice so much to do this. But I prayed
about it and thought on it, and I felt called
that there was some greater purpose in me training for
this Olympics. And I was like, even if I don't
make it, my mission is to encourage and inspire people
in everything that I do. So every choice I make,
(09:48):
my words, that I choose, my actions, and everything I
do over this next year training for Paris, I want
to inspire and encourage people. So that was kind of
my thought process, and so throughout this journey, I had
to face a lot of fears. I talked to my company.
They let me work part time, which was amazing. One
of my clients decided to sponsor me, and so everything
(10:09):
kind of fell into place. I was facing my fears,
I was competing. I felt good and I won nationals.
I qualified at World Championships or I competed at World
Championships in Qatar.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I went to a few other meets along.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
The way, eventually went to Olympic trials, made it to
the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Everything was falling into place.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It was kind of like, wow, like this is my
redemption moment like I've done the hard thing, I've taken
the leap of faith, Everything's fallen into place. Now is
the time that I'm gonna get this medal, you know,
Like I was like, this is it, This is why
I'm here, This is.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Why I was called back, And.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You know, I was going to that competition with so
much confidence. It was like everything, everything was ready. By
the way, this Olympics was a lot more to me,
meant a lot more to me than competing. Again, my
mission was to encourage and inspire people, and everything that
I did and part of that was also raising money
for an organization that I'm really passionate about. And so
to me, this event and this Olympics and my appearance
(11:10):
on TV was not just.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
About me winning a medal.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
It was about bringing awareness to the things that I
care deeply about, bringing awareness to a story of coming
back from fear and doing something scary.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That was what it was about.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It was about so much more following along the pathway
of encouraging and inspiring. So when I went up on
that diving board for that first dive, I had all
these things behind me of I was here for a reason.
Now is my time I'm doing something bigger than myself.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You were primed, you repeaked.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I'm training better than I've ever been training in my life. Right,
it was like, this is it, this is when it
all comes together. And I go up for that very
first dive full confidence, and I remember I'm in the
air and all of a sudden, my feet hit. I
stop and I hit the water and I remember hitting
(12:01):
the water and thinking, is this a dream? This is
a dream. This has to be a dream. This can't
be real, Like I'm real, like I'm here to win, Like, yeah,
it was jarring, and it was something I've been doing
my sport for fifteen years. It was something that has
never happened to me in my life.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I mean, you've done that dive or something like that
times thousands of times.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And I remember I hit the water and I came
up and you can actually see it. I just went
like this. I was like, I was like, I don't know,
I don't know why. And it was gutting, right because
it was like I had this experience in Tokyo. I
quit diving because I'm I'm heartbroken, and I'm like I
never want to feel this again.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I never want this.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
To happen again, and now on a bigger stage, with
my whole family watching, with all my friends watching, all
of this support that I've gotten. I'm just like, it's gutting, right,
It's just hide cameras there. You can't hide.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You just want to swim to the bottom of the pool. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And it was tough because in that moment, I had
a choice, and this is what maps. In that moment,
I had a choice. I could have scratched the event.
My heels were bruised, my feet were bleeding. No one
would have no one would have judged me. Even the
people in the stands thought I was going to scratch.
The judges thought I was going to scratch, the coaches
thought I was going to scratch. My competitors thought I
was going to scratch. But I remember, in that moment,
(13:26):
I thought, I know there's a little girl back home
who's watching me right now, and I can either quit
because I know there's like a very small chance of
me making the semi final. I'm like, I can either
quit or I can show what it looks like to
keep your chin up, walk with courage and keep fighting.
(13:47):
And so in that moment, I looked at my coach.
He said, do you want to scratch? I said, no,
I'm finishing this event. So that's what I did. I
finished the event. It was the hardest hour of my life,
hour and a half at Actually, afterwards, I had to
get drug tested and I was like, why did you pick.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Me like that kind of drug injury? Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Like, you guys are so mean. I was like, I
was talking to God. I'm like, God, this is cool
and unusual punishment for someone who's followed every step of
the way.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It was hard. And then I had to walk through
the media line.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, and they're asking what happened, and I'm trying to
hold back the tears. I'm like choking on my own words,
and all I could say, all I could think of
saying was I hope that the people sitting there watching
saw what it looks like to keep fighting. And little
did I know that quote later on would go on
to be quoted across multiple pretty large news outlets as
(14:44):
they retold this star this tragic and jarring Olympic moment.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
But yeah, I was it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I was paying close attention to diving because I never
have before. But I was like, oh, I know Alice
and Gibson. You know, I met her on a plane.
I'm going to go I'm going to watch this, and
so you know, and you're, as you told me you went.
You weren't even sure you were going to go to
the opening ceremonies because it was so far between. And
I think you did because I remember watching your I
was following on social media and you it was awesome
(15:14):
and your day in day in Paris is all your
social media was great, and it was interesting because I
was like, well, I hope I get to see this,
and then when it happened and all this went down,
first of all, my heart was breaking, but at the
same time, I was so inspired because everybody, NBC everyone
(15:35):
started showing this event, probably an event they never would
have shown had it not been for what happened. Yeah,
and the way you handled it was magnificent because I
was trying to put myself in your shoes of all
the training, all the hours, everything it takes to get
(15:55):
on that stage and then to have it all pulled
out from under you at once and the whole world
is watching, and to put that smile on your face
and to treat it like you did.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, I think like I said, it was one of
the hardest moments of my life. I think my faith
is something that carried me through my higher purpose. Again,
like I said, my purpose was to encourage and inspire
those around me and everything that I do, even in
my darkest moments.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And I think also knowing that.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Through this opportunity, I was able to use my platform
to get children and Kenya sponsored and supported. Through this opportunity,
I've been able to meet people I never would have met.
I've been able to mentor divers I never would have met.
I've been able to inspire people I didn't even know
I was inspiring. And I think at the end of it,
(16:45):
what I realized is your darkest moments can become your
greatest victories. But it depends on you. How are you
going to get back up, how are you going to
carry yourself? What are you going to say? And for me,
it's tough because people look at the Olympics and they
look at the metal count, and if you're not a medalist,
(17:07):
people are like, oh, okay, right, you are defined. Oftentimes
your value is defined on whether you're on the metal
stand or not. And my thought process coming out of
this is how do we want to redefine gold. We
think about this. So many athletes leave the Olympics feeling depressed,
even if they're medal winners. They feel depressed and they
(17:29):
struggle with their identities because they fought so hard for this.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
One thing and this one dream and that all of
a sudden it's over.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
And I think it's so important to reflect on the
fact that that moment is incredible and it's an amazing accomplishment.
But what makes you who you are is the journey
it took to get there, every single fear that I faced,
every single conversation I had, every single person that I inspired,
and every single person that inspired me. That's what shapes
(17:57):
me and makes me who I am. And this is
just one moment in that journey, and I did win.
I want in so many ways. I want in saving
and changing lives, through getting children sponsored, through keeping my
chin up and fighting through the end of that event,
you know, I want through being able to hug my
mom and realize I have so many people who love
(18:19):
me and victory is so much more than a gold medal,
and I think people need to recognize that and be
able to look and say, hey, there is a silver lining.
Even in my darkest, most painful moment, there's beauty and
something good can come from it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Two things just struck me as listening to you, and
I have always believed this and it seems like tough
love and hey, rub some dirt on it, move on.
I don't mean it like that, But what I hear
from you is we all have a choice. We always
have a choice in our darkest hour, when we've lost,
when we've been kicked and beaten and thrown down, we
(19:11):
always have a choice. And that is what I loved
about you, is like you had a choice. You could
have quit, and by the way, no one would have
thought twice about it if you would headed home and
you're still an Olympian and you still got all the
swag and all is good. But you had a choice,
and you made a choice in that moment, and that
(19:32):
is what you would call a defining moment. And I
really find that fascinating because I believe that in my heart,
is that we all have a choice in these moments.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, we do. And it's tough. I have to attribute
it to my parents. I think my parents have raised
me to walk with grace in victory and in loss.
They always taught me to respect my opponents. They always
taught me how to fight, how to work hard. And
you know, sponse in that moment wasn't an accident. It
(20:03):
came from years and years and years of just trying
to be a good person and trying to fight.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
And you know, I do hope that.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Other athletes out there, young athletes, young kids, anyone, anyone watching.
I hope that they can recognize that, you know, it's
okay to keep your chin up and keep fighting and
have courage.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And one thing I.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Also say a lot is oftentimes if something like that happens,
we like to hide it in the closet because we
feel ashamed.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
We feel so we push it down, right, We.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Don't talk about it.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, please don't talk about it. But what I learned
is that if you shine light on those dark places,
and if you talk about them with courage, there's so
much good that can be done.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Right, Because if you.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Talk about it and you're shining light on it, then
it doesn't have ownership over you. It doesn't control you
gain control of that moment, say I control this, I
own this, This doesn't own me. Right, Like it may
have been a hard moment, but it doesn't define me.
And then there's so many people who can relate to that.
There's so many not everyone can relate to a gold medal, right,
every single person can relate to heartbreak crushing pain like
(21:18):
they can every single person can relate to failure.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Well, it's why The Bachelor was always so popular. It
wasn't necessarily the love story that was great. But what
we could all relate to is being dumped, someone cheating
on us, you know, finding out bad news, whatever that is.
That's what made the show so relatable is we've all
been there and you know something that I've learned along
the way, and it definitely struck me when people asked
(21:43):
me when I was going through what I went through
and getting through the other side is in listening to you,
I feel like the same lesson what defines you and
being very careful about what defines you. As an olympian,
so easy to let diving this winning because you, by
the way, I don't care if you fell off the board,
(22:04):
you were an olympian. That is point one percent of
athletic achievement. That is spectacular, the likes of which none
of us regular folk on the world will ever understand.
So just achieving that is incredible. But so it's easy
to let that define you. You have to be very careful
in life, whether it was hosting The Bachelor or whatever,
(22:25):
you win an Emmy and Oscar, all these things, it's
easy to let those things define you. You have to
be careful to never let those things define you. You know,
I can tell it's your faith, I can tell it
your family, I can tell it your friends. If you
have that foundation, when you hit hard times, you're prepared
for it.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, And actually that's a question I want to throw
back at you. Obviously, in your hard times in that moment,
what was your reaction and then how did you process
and handle that and what was your identity in through that?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Well, it's funny, the same feeling you probably had in
the pool shock when people that you thought you knew
and love start turning against you and you kind of
just want to swim to the bottom of the pool
in life and just disappear. And you're right, you want
to just you wake up every day and it was more,
and it was more, and it was more, and it
was very public and you want to just put it
(23:21):
all in the closet and not talk about it, and
You're right. The more I opened up about it, even
when I started doing this podcast and I ranted about
it and just really opened up for like an hour
and a half, it was so cathartic naming it, talking
about it, saying it like anything going through addiction, going
through anything, When you talk about it and communicate about it,
(23:42):
it definitely takes the power and takes the air out
of it. But it is the thing that struck me
immediately was I never defined myself by being the Bachelor host.
I love doing it. It was a wonderful job, and
I still enjoy doing TV, but I much more love
being a great dad. I love being, you know, a
good son, a good friend, a good neighbor, a good
(24:03):
citizen of the world. And and it was funny people
kind of cringe when you mentioned faith. And I even
said that on Good Morning America, and I remember Michael
Strahan rolling his eyes and it's like, oh God. And
I was like, yeah, it is, oh God, you know,
like you know, because I am very strong in my
(24:23):
faith and I believe in that, and so when you
have that kind of foundation, I was like, you guys
can't touch me. I'm good. I know, I know where
my self worth is and it wasn't on that diving
board to begin with. If you had achieved all that
greatness and gotten a gold medal, that's really cool, but
that that wasn't going to make us love Alison anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, And I think that that's such a good point
about identity. Right. This is something I think about a lot,
and I was even talking to some people about that earlier. Today.
When you go to your grave, you, I guess, can
bury treasure with you. You can't take it with you, right,
You can't take your money with you. You can't take
(25:03):
your material things with you. A metal gets dusty on
a shelf and you're forgotten, and your name is forgotten people,
people don't care, even the best of the best, their
names are forgotten.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
But what isn't forgotten is the impact that you can have.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Right. If you can change one person's life, and that
person then goes on to have children, and the impact
you had impacts the way they raise their children, right,
that's a generational alas. That is my mission, right, My
mission is again redefining what is success, what is value,
and what is purpose? Right? My purpose here on this
(25:42):
earth is to do as much as I can to
have a positive impact on the people around me. And
even if that's just one life, I'm going to my
grave knowing that I've won. And sometimes I think we
get lost and we get lost in likes on social media,
and we get lost in you know, am I pretty enough?
Or am I skinny enough? Or do I have enough money?
(26:04):
Or do I have a big enough house? And we
lose sight of the fact that what truly matters is
the community around us, the impact that we're having on
those around us in the world, and just the power
of conversation, the power of feeling known.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
You know that.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Those are those are the things that bring the most
joyful and exciting moments. And I care much deeper about
that than I do about these other things.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And that's the question I ask myself every day.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
How am I? Am I living an intentional life?
Speaker 1 (26:40):
You're way too young to have this. Get a perspective,
you learn.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
You learn these things if you if you have a
hard not I don't. I haven't had a hard life,
but I've been through a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Well it's still fascinating, That's why I mean, I think
it's I find it fascinating to talk to people who
have gotten to the grandest moment and either succeeded or
failed in that moment and how they handle that. You know,
to me, failure would have been not making it that far.
(27:13):
Failure would have been scratching and not going on. In
my mind. You didn't win, you lost the competition, but
you didn't fail, and that, to me is the most
important thing. And so I love talking to people that
have been on this stage where the lights are the
brightest and they are walking the tightrope without a net
(27:33):
and they fall. Then how do you deal with that?
And I find that fascinating To watch you go through
it with such grace and poise well beyond your years,
is incredible. What is the whatever give me two things
that have surprised you, good and bad? After this experience
at the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I would say what surprised me in a good way
was the outpouring of support. The amount of people who
reached out to me just on social media, like moms
saying I'm glad you're somebody that our child can look
up to. The way you represented your faith was inspiring.
(28:14):
You know, athletes reaching out to me, people reaching out
to me to come speak, you know, there are churches,
there are organizations who are like, we want to hear
your story.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
It's an amazing testimonial. No one will have this story.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's different, right, it's different. And so that
really surprised me, just like how much it gripped people.
And then also the fact that there were a lot
of these news outlets that were publishing stories. And I
started my own personal blog kind of tracking my journey
through the Olympics, and they found it and then they
(28:47):
were quoting it and they were linking to it, and
it's so cool because it's linking to my testimony and
like God's work in my life and all of that,
and I'm like, this is so cool that you know,
if I would have made it to the final and
got in fourth place, I would have not gotten to
any of this coverage. Right, But because of this jarring,
(29:07):
difficult moment, because of this dark moment, so much good
has been shared. And I think that there's so much.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Beauty in that.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
So that's something in a positive light.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
That I've really enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
And then in terms of a negative response, I don't
really know. I think one thing is a lot of
people have come up to me and they say you
need to get redemption, you need to train for the
next Olympics, and I'm like, I'm like, yes, you know,
it would be great, But in some extent I'm like,
(29:42):
I don't need redemption because I know I know my worth,
I know my value, I know how good I am,
and I know my identity, and so I think that's
kind of like an interesting thing where people are like, no,
you need to go so that you can get redemption,
and I'm like, is that a reason? Is that a
reason to go back?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Redemption? To me is is when you step up on
that stage and you didn't rise to the occasion. Yeah,
And to me, you rose to the occasion tenfold. And
again that doesn't mean you win, right it does?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
You know?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Three people get to essentially win at the Olympics and
every sport, and so the redemption thing is you know,
that's that's for if you you know, I remember, like
to your Tokyo story is very interesting. I feel like
in Tokyo you felt like you failed yourself, Like you
got to the stage and you didn't perform like Alison
(30:36):
usually performs mentally emotionally, you weren't there. You did you
did in Paris yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I think in Tokyo, I didn't take ownership of what happened.
So this is why coming back, this why is story
arc is so important. That's why coming back to train
for Paris was so important because Tokyo left to move
with a lot of unresolved issues where I fell like
I wasn't good enough and I was embarrassed and I
(31:02):
was like, I don't deserve to be an Olympian. I
don't deserve to wear these colors, like all these doubts,
and I just hid away and I hid that part
of my life and I was like, you know what,
forget it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I was never an athlete. I'm going to just go
on forget about it.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
And so in going back to Paris, I literally had
to confront all of that. I confront all of that
and face it and overcome it. And coming out of Paris,
I told myself, I will not I will not hide again.
I will not let this defy me. I will not
stay down. I'm going to share this story and I'm
(31:39):
going to tell this story because there's power in this
and I'm not going to let this fear and this
failure control me.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I'm tired of it.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Well, I tell you. We all learned a lot. But Alison,
it sounds like God had the biggest plan for you. Yeah.
I mean it took this to have that realization. Like
you said, if you'd finished four, he'd been like okay,
But it took this moment. And I always say when
I went through my stuff that you know, it was
(32:09):
really this, this gift, it was a blessing. But God's
gifts and God's blessings don't always end up under the
tree in this cute little package with the red bow
on it. That's not how life works. It can come
in slamming your feet into a diving board or getting
canceled on the grandest scale in front of everybody. Sometimes,
(32:32):
you know, God slaps you upside the head and that's
how you learn your lesson.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I think it's funny oftentimes we look at God like
a vending machine or like he owes us something. And
that was that was one thing. You know. I went
into this and I was like, okay, God, like I
did the thing. I came out of retirement and I
trained and I did well, and I made it to
the Olympics. I'm like, okay, God, I've done everything you've
told me to do. Therefore I deserve this outcome. Right,
(32:58):
That's kind of what was going on my head, Like
this is my moment, It's going to happen, like I
deserve it. I've you know, all this stuff, and I
think this was such a good reminder. God's like, I'm
not a I'm not a bending machine. Like it's not
if you do this, then I'll do this.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Right, if I push a five, then this will this
metal will fall out, and I get it.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, exactly, And I think it's so important to remember that.
It's so important. I mean, after I finished my competition,
I asked why to God? I said, God, why would you?
This is mean?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Like, why would you?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
This is mean?
Speaker 3 (33:31):
This is my biggest fear, Like, if you are a
good God, why would you let this happen? Well, I asked,
I said why, And.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I questioned, asked the big man.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
There are two paths that could go down. I could
go down.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
You know, if God was a good God, he wouldn't
let this happen. Therefore God doesn't exist. I'm going to
do whatever I want. I'm going to hide in the shadows.
I'm going to drown in my sorrows. I'm going to
drink I'm gonna do whatever it takes to forget about this, right,
So that's one path I could have taken. And the
other path I took was, you know what, God is
a good God, and the devils at work and whatever
(34:04):
you know the devil tries to use for evil, God
can use for good. And I thought, okay, Alison, like,
where's the light, Where's the silver lining, where's the positive
outcome of this? And as I looked for that, As
I looked for the light, as I shift in my
perspective from I'm angry at God, this isn't fair he
didn't do his vending machine duties and give me a medal,
I shifted my gaze towards what was good? What was
(34:26):
my mission? My mission coming into this was to impact
and inspire or encourage and inspire people. Right.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Did I do that?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yes? Right? My mission coming into this was to raise
money for kids and Kenya.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Did I do that?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yes? Right. I'm looking I'm checking these boxes and I'm like, wow,
Like I did this. I did this my whole mission.
And coming back to the Olympics, I was already an Olympian.
It doesn't matter my mission coming back to the Olympics
was to actually do something good with the platform I've
been given. And as I looked at that, I was like,
I have achieved these things that I set out to do.
(34:57):
And I realized that there's so much light and so
much goodness, and I thought, God, you know, God didn't
give me the answer to the exact answer to the
prayer that I thought I wanted, but he did answer
my prayer, and he did give me a platform, and
he did give me a voice to do the things
that I wanted to do and that I had put
on my heart to do. And so I think it's
(35:20):
actually really important for people to ask the question sometimes
why would you do this, God, and then set their
eyes on the good things that can come out of
it in the bright side. And you're not always going
to understand. You're not always going to understand the world
and why the world works and why it doesn't right.
(35:41):
You're not also answers I'm never gonna answer. But if
you change your perspective and you look, you begin to
see all the goodness and all the beauty in these
hard and difficult moments. And if you stop looking selfishly
at yourself, and if you humble yourself to see the
impact beyond your emotional pain. You begin to recognize again,
(36:06):
like how great and amazing even your hardest moment can be.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And so, yeah, I don't know where I was going
with that, but.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Well it's often, well you're brilliant. And by the way,
I think in short, what you're saying is, these blessings
are not often what we've asked for, what we wanted,
it's what we needed. Yeah, And that there's a big
difference in what we want and then what we need.
And I came to the same realization when I went
(36:35):
through what I went through. I'm like, these are blessings
of it slowed me down, it got me off the road.
I spent time, very important time with my kids at
a very pivotal time in their life. I was able
to stop and find the love of my life and
Lauren z Eima and get married and have a relationship
I never thought I was ever going to have. Yeah,
And you know, just so many other relationships were strengthened
(36:57):
and moved on because of that moment that I thought
was terrible was a bad thing, And it's like, no,
you may not have wanted this, but you needed it.
While I have you for a couple of minutes. I
still have to ask about the overall Olympic experience, being
there at the opening ceremony, staying at the village. Did
you stay at the Olympic Village?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I did, Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
So much was talked about the Olympic Village, the beds,
the food. Okay, tell us the truth.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Okay, Well, I will say the beds are pretty uncomfortable,
all right. So the mattress, like the bed frame is
made of cardboard. The mattresses made of plastic. It's not SOPs.
So I actually learned that from Tokyo. I brought my
own mattress topper. It was the best decision ever.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Money made college move, by the way, that's what we
do in college.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
And then USA Diving actually provided us with mattress toppers
as well. So the bed actually ended up being pretty comfortable,
which I was thankful for.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Initially it was not.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
We did have air conditioning units in our rooms, which
was really good. Other countries did not. So thankful to
the United States. United States for providing that a lot
of people complained about the food. I think that there's
a lot of entitlement. I'm just gonna say it.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
I think there's a ton.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Of entitlement, and these athletes are like, we want what
we want, we want it now, and we want it
to be this way. And I'm like, look, you guys,
they're trying to feed eight thousand and ten thousand people
every single day, three.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Meals a day from people from around the world.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
People from around the world. I don't know why you expect,
Like Michelin five, you know, I was thankful, right. We
had the fruit that we needed, we had the vegetables
we needed, we had protein, we had bread, we had
we had every food group that you need. Did it
taste the best? Maybe not? Was it sometimes dry? Maybe?
(38:45):
But you have everything you need in one place. I
was so thankful for that, and I personally didn't think
the food was that bad. And then also we had
the village bakery. My good friend Tony the baker.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Oh my gosh, he's I saw you take a baking lesson.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Best best baggett in the world. Wow, Tony is the best.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Shout him out. He worked so hard.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
He would get up at five am to get to
the village because people loved his baking so much that
he would run out of baguettes like.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Buy three eight three pop every day.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Every day he was out, so he would get there
early at five am, start his work, start baking so
that we could have our baguettes thing, and our little
chocolate breads and all of that. And he would make
over a thousand bagettes today. I mean it was crazy.
And his staff worked so so hard.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
It's awesome. The unsung hero of the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, he is.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
And I just want to say, that's the thing, Like
people are so quick to complain and so quick to judge,
and it's like, these people are getting up early so
that you can have this thing that you want, and
these people are pouring their hearts and their souls and
a lot of them were volunteers, right right, There's so
many people who are volunteering to be there and to help.
(39:59):
They're not getting paid, they're taking time away from home,
time away from their jobs. And so I'm sitting here
and and be completely honest with you, is everything perfect.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
No, nothing's going to be perfect.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Right, It's never going to be. They won't be in
la either, by the way.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
But I'm so thankful. I am so thankful for all
the workers and all the people who came to Paris
from all over Europe. All over the world, to drive buses,
to cook us food every day, to clean after us.
You know, like the Olympics wouldn't run without those people
sacrificing time. And so, if I'm going to be honest
(40:36):
with you, that's my honest opinion, I'm thankful.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
I love it. Two very important questions. Number One, we
hear the stories about Olympic hookups. All these beautiful, talented,
highly functioning, wonderful athletes, and they're in the Olympic Village.
(41:03):
I mean it's basically summer house on steroids. I mean, so,
first of all, did you find a love connection? Number two?
Did you witness that this is like it's one big party.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I did not find a love connection. I did meet
a lot of very interesting people. I will say it was.
And by the way, Steph Curry shouts Steph Currey, he's
the nicest guy ever.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Out of all the basketball players, he's the best.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
You ran into Steph and the dream Team.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I ran into Steph and he was I traded a
pin with him. He's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
Steph Curry is unanimously I've never heard a bad thing
about him. We've been in some same golf tournaments. I
don't know him, but everybody loves him.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Yeah, he just like you know, you would ask for
a picture with him and he'd be like, what's your name?
Speaker 2 (41:51):
What's your sport?
Speaker 3 (41:52):
And then he had his little camera and he's like,
let me take a sabie with you. And I was like,
Steph Curre wants a stoping with me?
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Steph. And by the way, he had the greatest Olympic run.
That guy is awesome. It's awesome to watch. Who was
did you meet it? Did you meet? If I know
you didn't find love, but did you make a friend?
Meet somebody that you're like, I can't believe I just
met this person from I don't know, China, Australia, Ukraine, wherever.
(42:18):
That You're like, you got to just know and and
that you may carry on this relationship or friendship afterwards.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Oh my gosh, that's a great question. I mean, I
feel like I met a lot of really great people.
Not a ton of people from other countries necessarily, but
definitely some USA athletes. There are some people. There's a
track athlete. Her name is Quanera, and she is such
an amazing sweet girl and it was funny I saw
(42:48):
a little sparkle in her eye and she saw a
little sparkle in mine and turns out she's a believer.
And we had these really cool moments where we would
pray together, and I think that that was really really cool.
In addition, I ran into a few people, So the
term water safety has never really like come to my mind.
(43:09):
You know, I've talked about drowning before and issues with
people not knowing how to swim, and someone in a
water sport, you know, we hear about like we know
how to swim, but we hear people who don't know
how to swim a lot. And it was crazy because
I met four different people in my time in Paris
who are each in their own way, working on solving
this problem with water safety around the world. And one
(43:30):
of them is a fellow diver from Jamaica. He's actually
like the only Jamaican diver. And I think, if I'm
going to talk about a connection I made with an
athlete from another country, I've known him for a while,
but we ended up talking about this and what it
looks like to bring water safety to kids in places
where there isn't a ton of access to pros water
(43:53):
and where people do drown it in floods and what
does it look like to save lives through that, And
so it's really cool because I'm actually trying to get
a group together to discuss what each of these people
are doing in their perspective areas and then how we
can potentially work together to basically start figuring out what
does it look like to continue this conversation of water
(44:15):
safety not just in the United States or in your
perspective regions.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
But just globally around the world.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
So I think that's probably one of the coolest relationships
and conversations I had, and it's been really cool to
kind of see the dominoes just keep falling with that
with the people I keep meeting in the conversations that
I keep having. So I'm really excited about that kind
of Following the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
One of the other the other question I had because
following you on social media, you took us into the
gifting suite as you got all your gear. You're wearing
some gear now it's probably the is that Ralph Lauren?
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Yes, this is the closing ceremonies jacket.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
And I love that. I loved I don't know if
it was you or somebody did a good Ricky Bobby
because it looked like NASCAR gear and so something did
a good Talladiga knights. But how much gear did you
come home with from Team USA?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
So much?
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Actually, I do think we got more in Tokyo.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Because they felt bad because of COVID.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Yeah, that's it. We got it so much.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
So we have two We get two basically checked bags,
so two really big bags. One is for Ralph Lauren,
one is for Nike, and then Skims, so Kim Kardashian's
like clothing brand.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Skims also gave us clothes.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
So I came home with two checked bags and a
duffel with all sorts of stuff. I think from Nike,
I got three pairs of shoes from or four pairs
of shoes from Rolf Lauren. I got one pair of shoes,
and then obviously a ton of jackets, yeah, shorts, shirts,
I mean, you name it.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
It's so much.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
It's all like laid out on my bed right now,
and I'm like, I don't know where to put this in.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
I can't fit in my closet.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
It's too much. But yeah, it's it's a lot, a
lot of clothes.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
So the craziness is subsiding. Yeah, you're you're back here
in Austin. Welcome home. By the way, I know you
just got home. I think you went to Torchies Tacos
the other night.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
I did.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
I did, Like I need some I need tex mex
I need caso. No, that's my go to as well.
Like I'm coming home, I'm going straight to Chewi's getting
my fiet is, I'm getting my caso. What does life
look like for you, Alison? What post Olympics. I'm sure
it takes a minute to come off that high. But
now that you have, what's next?
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Oh my gosh, that is the question everyone's asking and
I don't have an answer to.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
It's like graduating college, what what are you going to
do now?
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Like the company, Legend Labs, that I've worked at for
now like two and a half years, they want me
to come back on full time. So I actually am
at the office right now. I'm already kind of back
to work getting caught up on everything, which has been
really good. And then also on top of that, I
(46:57):
have a few different churches in organizations that want me
to speak.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
I bet I think there's a whole world about to
open up in that regard. I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
There's a church in California they want to fly me out,
which I'm really excited about that. And then there's an
organization that I volunteer for called BSF Bible Study Fellowship.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
We're starting that on September ninth, So.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Just doing a lot of preparation and staff meetings for
that in preparation for the semester to start there. And
then obviously this side project of trying to figure out
how to get people together to talk about water safety
around the world. That's been a really fun little thing,
just trying to get a meeting scheduled, and then still
raising money for kids in Kenya. Hopefully going to find
(47:41):
time to actually take a trip out to Kenya to
see the school schools in person. I haven't been able
to do that yet, but there's an amazing donor who
said they would support that, which is an amazing blessing.
So I'm hoping. Yeah, I'm hoping to do that.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Your plate is still full, so I'm not.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Busy at all.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
I'm like, no, I literally hit the ground on Saturday.
In the next day, it was already like boom boom, boom,
boom boom, Like I already had like ten things lined
up well.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
I appreciate you carving out some time for me and
talk about blessings when I think that you know, you
were put in my path. We ended up on the
same flight back home from Minnesota. You were at the
Olympic trials and the pilot announced, Hey, there's an Olympian
on board, and I happened to just run into you
at baggage claim. And you know this, And if you
(48:32):
think about these Olympians, we see you on NBC and
it's the lights, the cameras and all the gear and
the stuff. But for ninety nine point nine percent of
the people who aren't Lebron James and Steph Curry, these
are just normal people who are in college or working,
or moms or dads, what have you. And this is
you know, Allison was by herself holding a backpack in
(48:54):
baggage claim and this is an Olympian. This is this
is the juxtaposition of all that is fast to me.
And so the fact that you were put in my
path and I got to know you and then watch
how you, in your own little way have impacted and
changed the world. I'm so grateful and I'm grateful that
our paths have crossed.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, I am as well. I think everything happens for
a reason, and I don't know exactly where I'll be
in a year, but all I'm trying to do right
now is walk faithfully, Walk faithfully, continue to take leaps
of faith, continue to walk in my calling and what
I'm meant to do. And as long as I'm doing that,
(49:32):
I know I'll be okay because everything's always worked out,
So it's not always about exactly knowing the future, but
it's just about knowing where you're going to put your
foot next and trusting that everything will come together.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Well, it's hard to go wrong if you continue to
do that. Alison Gibson. Out of the Olympic Games, I know,
we got to know a lot of people, a lot
of a lot of names and faces that we didn't
know before and weren't familiar with, but we sure do now,
and you were definitely one of them. And it could
have been a bad thing, but it turned out to
be a great thing, and I'm glad to now call
(50:06):
you a friend and I appreciate it, and hopefully our
paths will cross maybe a torchies, maybe at Chewy's over
some tex mex soon.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yeah, and Torchies.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
If you're listening free kso I would love.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Sign endorsement deal Torchies. Let's go Alison. Thank you so much.
You take care. I hope to see you soon.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
dramatic pod ever and make sure to write us a
review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
next time.
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Chris Harrison coming to you from the home office in Austin, Texas.
It is hot in Austin, and on the show today,
I have well a fellow Austin night, Alison Gibson, an olympian,
(00:21):
just came back from Paris. But Austin's a little lonely
these days. My girl LZ Lauren Zema is at camp.
You know, you guys remember how Lauren always talks about
Experience Camps. So this is the week where she volunteers
at Experience Camps, this amazing organization that she's gotten so
involved with, she's now on the board. It is camps
(00:44):
for kids that have lost a parent or a sibling
or you know, their caretaker, and they go to this
camp for a week and unplug and they get to
be around other kids that have survived, that have been
through this as well. And most of these kids have
never been around anybody else who's dealt with what they're
(01:05):
dealing with, and so it is remarkable to see these
kids get together and they can talk about suicide and
the fact that one of their parents may have died
by suicide or what have you these tragic stories that
is so hard for these kids to share. So Lauren
is up there in Maine, by the way, smart girl
getting out of Austin and being in Maine where it's
(01:26):
fifty degrees. But she's up there doing amazing work. And
it really changed Lauren's life last summer when she volunteered
for the first time, and so she's doing it again
this year. But man, this house gets really quiet when
Lauren's not around. But so she won't be joining me
on the show today. But I am so excited for
our guest because this is so wild. So Lauren and
(01:49):
I are on a plane flying back to Austin and
the pilot gets on. This is several weeks ago, a
month ago, whatever. And the pilot gets on and says,
ladies and gentlemen, we have an Olympian on board, and
I want to wish you know, Alison Gibson, the best
of luck as she heads to Paris to represent the
United States. I didn't think much of it. So we
(02:09):
go to baggage claim and I just happened to be
standing next to this young girl waiting for my bag,
and I look down and I see the credential on
her backpack she was carrying, and I said, Alison Gibbson
and had like Olympic swimmer or whatever, and I could
tell that she was probably the girl. I said, wait,
are you the Olympian that our pilot just mentioned? And
(02:30):
it was, And so I struck up this conversation with her.
And she is a springboard diver and has she performed
in the Olympics last time as well? I think it
was over in Asia and Tokyo maybe, but that was
during COVID, so a very different experience. She made the
team and she got to go to Paris. She was
really excited when I met her. She was going to
(02:52):
go early so she could take part in the opening ceremonies,
even though the diving wasn't for like a week and
a half in. She wanted to really go and take
it in. So I really took an interest in a
personal interest. I DMed her. We had talked a couple
of times and I was following her story. I was
really excited, started following our on social media, etc. Alison
(03:15):
Gibson had the biggest nightmarish moment that you could ever
imagine at the Olympics. These people, these Olympians, train their
entire lives. They give everything. They are going through school,
(03:35):
they're working, but at the same time they are training
like you and I could not comprehend. And the thing
about the Olympics, it's only every four years, and everything
comes down to that moment, the pressure, everything, and Alison
Gibson had something happen to her that had never happened
(03:57):
in her entire life, and her first dive resulted in
a zero point zero. It was considered a non dive.
She hit the diving board. She did a dive that
she had done a million times, and her heel and
(04:20):
her feet slammed against the diving board in the I
believe it is the three meter springboard, and that was
her Olympic moment, And that is why I wanted to
talk to Alison Gibson today, our Olympian, because of the
way she handled this moment really hit me. I was
(04:44):
so heartbroken for her. But then when I saw how
she handled it subsequently and what she went through and
how she has triumphed over this disaster, made me love
and appreciate her so much more than anybody who stood
on that poet with a gold medal around their neck.
And that's why I wanted to take a moment and
talk about this story with Alison Gibson Olympia. Hey, what's up,
(05:12):
my friend?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
My gosh, not much.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It's been a crazy whirlwind since I saw you.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I mean, seriously, think how much life has changed since
I saw you. And I just did a little intro.
I gave kind of the thirty thousand foot level of
you and our meeting and how we met at the
airport in Austin, Texas, and then think about all that's
happened since then. It's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, it's crazy. I like equate it to a metamorphosis.
I think the whole past year of my life has
been transformative, but the past two months of my life
have just like.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Been crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Like I feel like, obviously I'm the same person, but
I feel like I've come out of it as a
completely different person, just like changed and grown so much.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's crazy because I told everybody the reason I wanted
to have you on, and I figured I would have
you on anyway just because I followed you became such
a fan. And what I said was and I don't
mean this too, you know, I'm like so much older
than you, but I was so proud. I was as proud,
if not more proud of you than anybody standing on
(06:26):
the podium with a gold medal around their neck, because
the way you handled that situation just struck me, And
maybe it struck me a little harder because of you know,
what I had gone through as well in my life,
and you know, being canceled and going through all that.
When you go through something that's like such a lightning
bolt moment that you don't see coming in your life,
(06:48):
I always find it interesting to see how people react.
And the way you acted and reacted to that just
made me really love and adore you so much more
than I already did. I was such a fan before
we dive into how your life has changed, let's talk
about why it changed. Tell me about the moment.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Okay, well, I think to add to the gravity of
this story, you almost need to hear a little bit
of the background of how.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Pes got to the Olympics in the first place.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So basically I competed in the Tokyo twenty twenty Olympics,
so or twenty twenty one, because it was moved back,
so it was a dramatic time there was no one
in the stands.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We were wearing masks everywhere.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And I'd always dreamed of going to the Olympics and
I made it, and I thought, wow, like I have
made it. And I competed in Tokyo and we were winning.
I did syncro so sincro three meter, a different event
than I competed in this one. We were winning after
the first two dives, which was unheard of because if
you've seen diving, China is kind of the powerhouse, so
(07:55):
this is sible course. And so we were winning and
it was kind of this crazy moment, and I got
in my head and I thought, wow, there's a chance
to meddle and even beat China.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And we knew we were capable of that.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
But then I started getting scared and I was afraid
that I would mess up, and all those doubts rushed
into my head. And then I remember I went into
for the third dive in that competition, and instead of
thinking I got this, I thought, what if I mess up?
What if I mess up? What if I mess up?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Interesting?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Mental your mental mindset going into anything in life is
so important. And what happened was as I went into
that dive, instead of walking in with confidence, I walked
in with fear and it impacted that dive and the
next dive, and then I ended on a strong dive.
But Tokyo was this gutting competition for me because I
(08:44):
hadn't done as well as I wanted to do. And
I remember I had to walk through the line of
media and talk about it, and my family wasn't there
to give me a hug, and it was this crushing
moment and I thought, you know what, I can't make
any money in this sport anyway, so I'm just going
to be done. I never want to compete again. I
never want to feel this again, So I'm just going
to stop. So I stopped, finished my master's degree, what on,
(09:06):
worked for two years. Never ever thought I would compete
again ever in my life. Well a year ago, while
June of twenty twenty three, my syncro partner from Tokyo
called me up and said, hey, you should come back
and train for Paris. And I said, you're insane. That
gives me less than a year to qualify for the Olympics.
Like that's impossible, right, Like that's crazy. Why would I
do that? Also, my life is great, like I'm making money.
(09:28):
Are you telling I'm happy? I'm like, I would have
to sacrifice so much to do this. But I prayed
about it and thought on it, and I felt called
that there was some greater purpose in me training for
this Olympics. And I was like, even if I don't
make it, my mission is to encourage and inspire people
in everything that I do. So every choice I make,
(09:48):
my words, that I choose, my actions, and everything I
do over this next year training for Paris, I want
to inspire and encourage people. So that was kind of
my thought process, and so throughout this journey, I had
to face a lot of fears. I talked to my company.
They let me work part time, which was amazing. One
of my clients decided to sponsor me, and so everything
(10:09):
kind of fell into place. I was facing my fears,
I was competing. I felt good and I won nationals.
I qualified at World Championships or I competed at World
Championships in Qatar.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I went to a few other meets along.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
The way, eventually went to Olympic trials, made it to
the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Everything was falling into place.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It was kind of like, wow, like this is my
redemption moment like I've done the hard thing, I've taken
the leap of faith, Everything's fallen into place. Now is
the time that I'm gonna get this medal, you know,
Like I was like, this is it, This is why
I'm here, This is.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Why I was called back, And.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You know, I was going to that competition with so
much confidence. It was like everything, everything was ready. By
the way, this Olympics was a lot more to me,
meant a lot more to me than competing. Again, my
mission was to encourage and inspire people, and everything that
I did and part of that was also raising money
for an organization that I'm really passionate about. And so
to me, this event and this Olympics and my appearance
(11:10):
on TV was not just.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
About me winning a medal.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
It was about bringing awareness to the things that I
care deeply about, bringing awareness to a story of coming
back from fear and doing something scary.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That was what it was about.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It was about so much more following along the pathway
of encouraging and inspiring. So when I went up on
that diving board for that first dive, I had all
these things behind me of I was here for a reason.
Now is my time I'm doing something bigger than myself.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You were primed, you repeaked.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I'm training better than I've ever been training in my life. Right,
it was like, this is it, this is when it
all comes together. And I go up for that very
first dive full confidence, and I remember I'm in the
air and all of a sudden, my feet hit. I
stop and I hit the water and I remember hitting
(12:01):
the water and thinking, is this a dream? This is
a dream. This has to be a dream. This can't
be real, Like I'm real, like I'm here to win, Like, yeah,
it was jarring, and it was something I've been doing
my sport for fifteen years. It was something that has
never happened to me in my life.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I mean, you've done that dive or something like that
times thousands of times.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And I remember I hit the water and I came
up and you can actually see it. I just went
like this. I was like, I was like, I don't know,
I don't know why. And it was gutting, right because
it was like I had this experience in Tokyo. I
quit diving because I'm I'm heartbroken, and I'm like I
never want to feel this again.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I never want this.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
To happen again, and now on a bigger stage, with
my whole family watching, with all my friends watching, all
of this support that I've gotten. I'm just like, it's gutting, right,
It's just hide cameras there. You can't hide.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You just want to swim to the bottom of the pool. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And it was tough because in that moment, I had
a choice, and this is what maps. In that moment,
I had a choice. I could have scratched the event.
My heels were bruised, my feet were bleeding. No one
would have no one would have judged me. Even the
people in the stands thought I was going to scratch.
The judges thought I was going to scratch, the coaches
thought I was going to scratch. My competitors thought I
was going to scratch. But I remember, in that moment,
(13:26):
I thought, I know there's a little girl back home
who's watching me right now, and I can either quit
because I know there's like a very small chance of
me making the semi final. I'm like, I can either
quit or I can show what it looks like to
keep your chin up, walk with courage and keep fighting.
(13:47):
And so in that moment, I looked at my coach.
He said, do you want to scratch? I said, no,
I'm finishing this event. So that's what I did. I
finished the event. It was the hardest hour of my life,
hour and a half at Actually, afterwards, I had to
get drug tested and I was like, why did you pick.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Me like that kind of drug injury? Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Like, you guys are so mean. I was like, I
was talking to God. I'm like, God, this is cool
and unusual punishment for someone who's followed every step of
the way.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It was hard. And then I had to walk through
the media line.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, and they're asking what happened, and I'm trying to
hold back the tears. I'm like choking on my own words,
and all I could say, all I could think of
saying was I hope that the people sitting there watching
saw what it looks like to keep fighting. And little
did I know that quote later on would go on
to be quoted across multiple pretty large news outlets as
(14:44):
they retold this star this tragic and jarring Olympic moment.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
But yeah, I was it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I was paying close attention to diving because I never
have before. But I was like, oh, I know Alice
and Gibson. You know, I met her on a plane.
I'm going to go I'm going to watch this, and
so you know, and you're, as you told me you went.
You weren't even sure you were going to go to
the opening ceremonies because it was so far between. And
I think you did because I remember watching your I
was following on social media and you it was awesome
(15:14):
and your day in day in Paris is all your
social media was great, and it was interesting because I
was like, well, I hope I get to see this,
and then when it happened and all this went down,
first of all, my heart was breaking, but at the
same time, I was so inspired because everybody, NBC everyone
(15:35):
started showing this event, probably an event they never would
have shown had it not been for what happened. Yeah,
and the way you handled it was magnificent because I
was trying to put myself in your shoes of all
the training, all the hours, everything it takes to get
(15:55):
on that stage and then to have it all pulled
out from under you at once and the whole world
is watching, and to put that smile on your face
and to treat it like you did.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, I think like I said, it was one of
the hardest moments of my life. I think my faith
is something that carried me through my higher purpose. Again,
like I said, my purpose was to encourage and inspire
those around me and everything that I do, even in
my darkest moments.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And I think also knowing that.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Through this opportunity, I was able to use my platform
to get children and Kenya sponsored and supported. Through this opportunity,
I've been able to meet people I never would have met.
I've been able to mentor divers I never would have met.
I've been able to inspire people I didn't even know
I was inspiring. And I think at the end of it,
(16:45):
what I realized is your darkest moments can become your
greatest victories. But it depends on you. How are you
going to get back up, how are you going to
carry yourself? What are you going to say? And for me,
it's tough because people look at the Olympics and they
look at the metal count, and if you're not a medalist,
(17:07):
people are like, oh, okay, right, you are defined. Oftentimes
your value is defined on whether you're on the metal
stand or not. And my thought process coming out of
this is how do we want to redefine gold. We
think about this. So many athletes leave the Olympics feeling depressed,
even if they're medal winners. They feel depressed and they
(17:29):
struggle with their identities because they fought so hard for this.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
One thing and this one dream and that all of
a sudden it's over.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
And I think it's so important to reflect on the
fact that that moment is incredible and it's an amazing accomplishment.
But what makes you who you are is the journey
it took to get there, every single fear that I faced,
every single conversation I had, every single person that I inspired,
and every single person that inspired me. That's what shapes
(17:57):
me and makes me who I am. And this is
just one moment in that journey, and I did win.
I want in so many ways. I want in saving
and changing lives, through getting children sponsored, through keeping my
chin up and fighting through the end of that event,
you know, I want through being able to hug my
mom and realize I have so many people who love
(18:19):
me and victory is so much more than a gold medal,
and I think people need to recognize that and be
able to look and say, hey, there is a silver lining.
Even in my darkest, most painful moment, there's beauty and
something good can come from it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Two things just struck me as listening to you, and
I have always believed this and it seems like tough
love and hey, rub some dirt on it, move on.
I don't mean it like that, But what I hear
from you is we all have a choice. We always
have a choice in our darkest hour, when we've lost,
when we've been kicked and beaten and thrown down, we
(19:11):
always have a choice. And that is what I loved
about you, is like you had a choice. You could
have quit, and by the way, no one would have
thought twice about it if you would headed home and
you're still an Olympian and you still got all the
swag and all is good. But you had a choice,
and you made a choice in that moment, and that
(19:32):
is what you would call a defining moment. And I
really find that fascinating because I believe that in my heart,
is that we all have a choice in these moments.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, we do. And it's tough. I have to attribute
it to my parents. I think my parents have raised
me to walk with grace in victory and in loss.
They always taught me to respect my opponents. They always
taught me how to fight, how to work hard. And
you know, sponse in that moment wasn't an accident. It
(20:03):
came from years and years and years of just trying
to be a good person and trying to fight.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
And you know, I do hope that.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Other athletes out there, young athletes, young kids, anyone, anyone watching.
I hope that they can recognize that, you know, it's
okay to keep your chin up and keep fighting and
have courage.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And one thing I.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Also say a lot is oftentimes if something like that happens,
we like to hide it in the closet because we
feel ashamed.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
We feel so we push it down, right, We.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Don't talk about it.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, please don't talk about it. But what I learned
is that if you shine light on those dark places,
and if you talk about them with courage, there's so
much good that can be done.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Right, Because if you.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Talk about it and you're shining light on it, then
it doesn't have ownership over you. It doesn't control you
gain control of that moment, say I control this, I
own this, This doesn't own me. Right, Like it may
have been a hard moment, but it doesn't define me.
And then there's so many people who can relate to that.
There's so many not everyone can relate to a gold medal, right,
every single person can relate to heartbreak crushing pain like
(21:18):
they can every single person can relate to failure.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Well, it's why The Bachelor was always so popular. It
wasn't necessarily the love story that was great. But what
we could all relate to is being dumped, someone cheating
on us, you know, finding out bad news, whatever that is.
That's what made the show so relatable is we've all
been there and you know something that I've learned along
the way, and it definitely struck me when people asked
(21:43):
me when I was going through what I went through
and getting through the other side is in listening to you,
I feel like the same lesson what defines you and
being very careful about what defines you. As an olympian,
so easy to let diving this winning because you, by
the way, I don't care if you fell off the board,
(22:04):
you were an olympian. That is point one percent of
athletic achievement. That is spectacular, the likes of which none
of us regular folk on the world will ever understand.
So just achieving that is incredible. But so it's easy
to let that define you. You have to be very careful
in life, whether it was hosting The Bachelor or whatever,
(22:25):
you win an Emmy and Oscar, all these things, it's
easy to let those things define you. You have to
be careful to never let those things define you. You know,
I can tell it's your faith, I can tell it
your family, I can tell it your friends. If you
have that foundation, when you hit hard times, you're prepared
for it.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, And actually that's a question I want to throw
back at you. Obviously, in your hard times in that moment,
what was your reaction and then how did you process
and handle that and what was your identity in through that?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Well, it's funny, the same feeling you probably had in
the pool shock when people that you thought you knew
and love start turning against you and you kind of
just want to swim to the bottom of the pool
in life and just disappear. And you're right, you want
to just you wake up every day and it was more,
and it was more, and it was more, and it
was very public and you want to just put it
(23:21):
all in the closet and not talk about it, and
You're right. The more I opened up about it, even
when I started doing this podcast and I ranted about
it and just really opened up for like an hour
and a half, it was so cathartic naming it, talking
about it, saying it like anything going through addiction, going
through anything, When you talk about it and communicate about it,
(23:42):
it definitely takes the power and takes the air out
of it. But it is the thing that struck me
immediately was I never defined myself by being the Bachelor host.
I love doing it. It was a wonderful job, and
I still enjoy doing TV, but I much more love
being a great dad. I love being, you know, a
good son, a good friend, a good neighbor, a good
(24:03):
citizen of the world. And and it was funny people
kind of cringe when you mentioned faith. And I even
said that on Good Morning America, and I remember Michael
Strahan rolling his eyes and it's like, oh God. And
I was like, yeah, it is, oh God, you know,
like you know, because I am very strong in my
(24:23):
faith and I believe in that, and so when you
have that kind of foundation, I was like, you guys
can't touch me. I'm good. I know, I know where
my self worth is and it wasn't on that diving
board to begin with. If you had achieved all that
greatness and gotten a gold medal, that's really cool, but
that that wasn't going to make us love Alison anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, And I think that that's such a good point
about identity. Right. This is something I think about a lot,
and I was even talking to some people about that earlier. Today.
When you go to your grave, you, I guess, can
bury treasure with you. You can't take it with you, right,
You can't take your money with you. You can't take
(25:03):
your material things with you. A metal gets dusty on
a shelf and you're forgotten, and your name is forgotten people,
people don't care, even the best of the best, their
names are forgotten.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
But what isn't forgotten is the impact that you can have.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Right. If you can change one person's life, and that
person then goes on to have children, and the impact
you had impacts the way they raise their children, right,
that's a generational alas. That is my mission, right, My
mission is again redefining what is success, what is value,
and what is purpose? Right? My purpose here on this
(25:42):
earth is to do as much as I can to
have a positive impact on the people around me. And
even if that's just one life, I'm going to my
grave knowing that I've won. And sometimes I think we
get lost and we get lost in likes on social media,
and we get lost in you know, am I pretty enough?
Or am I skinny enough? Or do I have enough money?
(26:04):
Or do I have a big enough house? And we
lose sight of the fact that what truly matters is
the community around us, the impact that we're having on
those around us in the world, and just the power
of conversation, the power of feeling known.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
You know that.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Those are those are the things that bring the most
joyful and exciting moments. And I care much deeper about
that than I do about these other things.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And that's the question I ask myself every day.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
How am I? Am I living an intentional life?
Speaker 1 (26:40):
You're way too young to have this. Get a perspective,
you learn.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
You learn these things if you if you have a
hard not I don't. I haven't had a hard life,
but I've been through a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Well it's still fascinating, That's why I mean, I think
it's I find it fascinating to talk to people who
have gotten to the grandest moment and either succeeded or
failed in that moment and how they handle that. You know,
to me, failure would have been not making it that far.
(27:13):
Failure would have been scratching and not going on. In
my mind. You didn't win, you lost the competition, but
you didn't fail, and that, to me is the most
important thing. And so I love talking to people that
have been on this stage where the lights are the
brightest and they are walking the tightrope without a net
(27:33):
and they fall. Then how do you deal with that?
And I find that fascinating To watch you go through
it with such grace and poise well beyond your years,
is incredible. What is the whatever give me two things
that have surprised you, good and bad? After this experience
at the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I would say what surprised me in a good way
was the outpouring of support. The amount of people who
reached out to me just on social media, like moms
saying I'm glad you're somebody that our child can look
up to. The way you represented your faith was inspiring.
(28:14):
You know, athletes reaching out to me, people reaching out
to me to come speak, you know, there are churches,
there are organizations who are like, we want to hear
your story.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
It's an amazing testimonial. No one will have this story.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's different, right, it's different. And so that
really surprised me, just like how much it gripped people.
And then also the fact that there were a lot
of these news outlets that were publishing stories. And I
started my own personal blog kind of tracking my journey
through the Olympics, and they found it and then they
(28:47):
were quoting it and they were linking to it, and
it's so cool because it's linking to my testimony and
like God's work in my life and all of that,
and I'm like, this is so cool that you know,
if I would have made it to the final and
got in fourth place, I would have not gotten to
any of this coverage. Right, But because of this jarring,
(29:07):
difficult moment, because of this dark moment, so much good
has been shared. And I think that there's so much.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Beauty in that.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
So that's something in a positive light.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
That I've really enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
And then in terms of a negative response, I don't
really know. I think one thing is a lot of
people have come up to me and they say you
need to get redemption, you need to train for the
next Olympics, and I'm like, I'm like, yes, you know,
it would be great, But in some extent I'm like,
(29:42):
I don't need redemption because I know I know my worth,
I know my value, I know how good I am,
and I know my identity, and so I think that's
kind of like an interesting thing where people are like, no,
you need to go so that you can get redemption,
and I'm like, is that a reason? Is that a
reason to go back?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Redemption? To me is is when you step up on
that stage and you didn't rise to the occasion. Yeah,
And to me, you rose to the occasion tenfold. And
again that doesn't mean you win, right it does?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
You know?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Three people get to essentially win at the Olympics and
every sport, and so the redemption thing is you know,
that's that's for if you you know, I remember, like
to your Tokyo story is very interesting. I feel like
in Tokyo you felt like you failed yourself, Like you
got to the stage and you didn't perform like Alison
(30:36):
usually performs mentally emotionally, you weren't there. You did you
did in Paris yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I think in Tokyo, I didn't take ownership of what happened.
So this is why coming back, this why is story
arc is so important. That's why coming back to train
for Paris was so important because Tokyo left to move
with a lot of unresolved issues where I fell like
I wasn't good enough and I was embarrassed and I
(31:02):
was like, I don't deserve to be an Olympian. I
don't deserve to wear these colors, like all these doubts,
and I just hid away and I hid that part
of my life and I was like, you know what,
forget it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I was never an athlete. I'm going to just go
on forget about it.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
And so in going back to Paris, I literally had
to confront all of that. I confront all of that
and face it and overcome it. And coming out of Paris,
I told myself, I will not I will not hide again.
I will not let this defy me. I will not
stay down. I'm going to share this story and I'm
(31:39):
going to tell this story because there's power in this
and I'm not going to let this fear and this
failure control me.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I'm tired of it.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Well, I tell you. We all learned a lot. But Alison,
it sounds like God had the biggest plan for you. Yeah.
I mean it took this to have that realization. Like
you said, if you'd finished four, he'd been like okay,
But it took this moment. And I always say when
I went through my stuff that you know, it was
(32:09):
really this, this gift, it was a blessing. But God's
gifts and God's blessings don't always end up under the
tree in this cute little package with the red bow
on it. That's not how life works. It can come
in slamming your feet into a diving board or getting
canceled on the grandest scale in front of everybody. Sometimes,
(32:32):
you know, God slaps you upside the head and that's
how you learn your lesson.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I think it's funny oftentimes we look at God like
a vending machine or like he owes us something. And
that was that was one thing. You know. I went
into this and I was like, okay, God, like I
did the thing. I came out of retirement and I
trained and I did well, and I made it to
the Olympics. I'm like, okay, God, I've done everything you've
told me to do. Therefore I deserve this outcome. Right,
(32:58):
That's kind of what was going on my head, Like
this is my moment, It's going to happen, like I
deserve it. I've you know, all this stuff, and I
think this was such a good reminder. God's like, I'm
not a I'm not a bending machine. Like it's not
if you do this, then I'll do this.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Right, if I push a five, then this will this
metal will fall out, and I get it.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, exactly, And I think it's so important to remember that.
It's so important. I mean, after I finished my competition,
I asked why to God? I said, God, why would you?
This is mean?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Like, why would you?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
This is mean?
Speaker 3 (33:31):
This is my biggest fear, Like, if you are a
good God, why would you let this happen? Well, I asked,
I said why, And.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I questioned, asked the big man.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
There are two paths that could go down. I could
go down.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
You know, if God was a good God, he wouldn't
let this happen. Therefore God doesn't exist. I'm going to
do whatever I want. I'm going to hide in the shadows.
I'm going to drown in my sorrows. I'm going to
drink I'm gonna do whatever it takes to forget about this, right,
So that's one path I could have taken. And the
other path I took was, you know what, God is
a good God, and the devils at work and whatever
(34:04):
you know the devil tries to use for evil, God
can use for good. And I thought, okay, Alison, like,
where's the light, Where's the silver lining, where's the positive
outcome of this? And as I looked for that, As
I looked for the light, as I shift in my
perspective from I'm angry at God, this isn't fair he
didn't do his vending machine duties and give me a medal,
I shifted my gaze towards what was good? What was
(34:26):
my mission? My mission coming into this was to impact
and inspire or encourage and inspire people. Right.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Did I do that?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yes? Right? My mission coming into this was to raise
money for kids and Kenya.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Did I do that?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yes? Right. I'm looking I'm checking these boxes and I'm like, wow,
Like I did this. I did this my whole mission.
And coming back to the Olympics, I was already an Olympian.
It doesn't matter my mission coming back to the Olympics
was to actually do something good with the platform I've
been given. And as I looked at that, I was like,
I have achieved these things that I set out to do.
(34:57):
And I realized that there's so much light and so
much goodness, and I thought, God, you know, God didn't
give me the answer to the exact answer to the
prayer that I thought I wanted, but he did answer
my prayer, and he did give me a platform, and
he did give me a voice to do the things
that I wanted to do and that I had put
on my heart to do. And so I think it's
(35:20):
actually really important for people to ask the question sometimes
why would you do this, God, and then set their
eyes on the good things that can come out of
it in the bright side. And you're not always going
to understand. You're not always going to understand the world
and why the world works and why it doesn't right.
(35:41):
You're not also answers I'm never gonna answer. But if
you change your perspective and you look, you begin to
see all the goodness and all the beauty in these
hard and difficult moments. And if you stop looking selfishly
at yourself, and if you humble yourself to see the
impact beyond your emotional pain. You begin to recognize again,
(36:06):
like how great and amazing even your hardest moment can be.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And so, yeah, I don't know where I was going
with that, but.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Well it's often, well you're brilliant. And by the way,
I think in short, what you're saying is, these blessings
are not often what we've asked for, what we wanted,
it's what we needed. Yeah, And that there's a big
difference in what we want and then what we need.
And I came to the same realization when I went
(36:35):
through what I went through. I'm like, these are blessings
of it slowed me down, it got me off the road.
I spent time, very important time with my kids at
a very pivotal time in their life. I was able
to stop and find the love of my life and
Lauren z Eima and get married and have a relationship
I never thought I was ever going to have. Yeah,
And you know, just so many other relationships were strengthened
(36:57):
and moved on because of that moment that I thought
was terrible was a bad thing, And it's like, no,
you may not have wanted this, but you needed it.
While I have you for a couple of minutes. I
still have to ask about the overall Olympic experience, being
there at the opening ceremony, staying at the village. Did
you stay at the Olympic Village?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I did, Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
So much was talked about the Olympic Village, the beds,
the food. Okay, tell us the truth.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Okay, Well, I will say the beds are pretty uncomfortable,
all right. So the mattress, like the bed frame is
made of cardboard. The mattresses made of plastic. It's not SOPs.
So I actually learned that from Tokyo. I brought my
own mattress topper. It was the best decision ever.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Money made college move, by the way, that's what we
do in college.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
And then USA Diving actually provided us with mattress toppers
as well. So the bed actually ended up being pretty comfortable,
which I was thankful for.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Initially it was not.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
We did have air conditioning units in our rooms, which
was really good. Other countries did not. So thankful to
the United States. United States for providing that a lot
of people complained about the food. I think that there's
a lot of entitlement. I'm just gonna say it.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
I think there's a ton.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Of entitlement, and these athletes are like, we want what
we want, we want it now, and we want it
to be this way. And I'm like, look, you guys,
they're trying to feed eight thousand and ten thousand people
every single day, three.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Meals a day from people from around the world.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
People from around the world. I don't know why you expect,
Like Michelin five, you know, I was thankful, right. We
had the fruit that we needed, we had the vegetables
we needed, we had protein, we had bread, we had
we had every food group that you need. Did it
taste the best? Maybe not? Was it sometimes dry? Maybe?
(38:45):
But you have everything you need in one place. I
was so thankful for that, and I personally didn't think
the food was that bad. And then also we had
the village bakery. My good friend Tony the baker.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Oh my gosh, he's I saw you take a baking lesson.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Best best baggett in the world. Wow, Tony is the best.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Shout him out. He worked so hard.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
He would get up at five am to get to
the village because people loved his baking so much that
he would run out of baguettes like.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Buy three eight three pop every day.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Every day he was out, so he would get there
early at five am, start his work, start baking so
that we could have our baguettes thing, and our little
chocolate breads and all of that. And he would make
over a thousand bagettes today. I mean it was crazy.
And his staff worked so so hard.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
It's awesome. The unsung hero of the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, he is.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
And I just want to say, that's the thing, Like
people are so quick to complain and so quick to judge,
and it's like, these people are getting up early so
that you can have this thing that you want, and
these people are pouring their hearts and their souls and
a lot of them were volunteers, right right, There's so
many people who are volunteering to be there and to help.
(39:59):
They're not getting paid, they're taking time away from home,
time away from their jobs. And so I'm sitting here
and and be completely honest with you, is everything perfect.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
No, nothing's going to be perfect.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Right, It's never going to be. They won't be in
la either, by the way.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
But I'm so thankful. I am so thankful for all
the workers and all the people who came to Paris
from all over Europe. All over the world, to drive buses,
to cook us food every day, to clean after us.
You know, like the Olympics wouldn't run without those people
sacrificing time. And so, if I'm going to be honest
(40:36):
with you, that's my honest opinion, I'm thankful.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
I love it. Two very important questions. Number One, we
hear the stories about Olympic hookups. All these beautiful, talented,
highly functioning, wonderful athletes, and they're in the Olympic Village.
(41:03):
I mean it's basically summer house on steroids. I mean, so,
first of all, did you find a love connection? Number two?
Did you witness that this is like it's one big party.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I did not find a love connection. I did meet
a lot of very interesting people. I will say it was.
And by the way, Steph Curry shouts Steph Currey, he's
the nicest guy ever.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Out of all the basketball players, he's the best.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
You ran into Steph and the dream Team.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I ran into Steph and he was I traded a
pin with him. He's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
Steph Curry is unanimously I've never heard a bad thing
about him. We've been in some same golf tournaments. I
don't know him, but everybody loves him.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Yeah, he just like you know, you would ask for
a picture with him and he'd be like, what's your name?
Speaker 2 (41:51):
What's your sport?
Speaker 3 (41:52):
And then he had his little camera and he's like,
let me take a sabie with you. And I was like,
Steph Curre wants a stoping with me?
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Steph. And by the way, he had the greatest Olympic run.
That guy is awesome. It's awesome to watch. Who was
did you meet it? Did you meet? If I know
you didn't find love, but did you make a friend?
Meet somebody that you're like, I can't believe I just
met this person from I don't know, China, Australia, Ukraine, wherever.
(42:18):
That You're like, you got to just know and and
that you may carry on this relationship or friendship afterwards.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Oh my gosh, that's a great question. I mean, I
feel like I met a lot of really great people.
Not a ton of people from other countries necessarily, but
definitely some USA athletes. There are some people. There's a
track athlete. Her name is Quanera, and she is such
an amazing sweet girl and it was funny I saw
(42:48):
a little sparkle in her eye and she saw a
little sparkle in mine and turns out she's a believer.
And we had these really cool moments where we would
pray together, and I think that that was really really cool.
In addition, I ran into a few people, So the
term water safety has never really like come to my mind.
(43:09):
You know, I've talked about drowning before and issues with
people not knowing how to swim, and someone in a
water sport, you know, we hear about like we know
how to swim, but we hear people who don't know
how to swim a lot. And it was crazy because
I met four different people in my time in Paris
who are each in their own way, working on solving
this problem with water safety around the world. And one
(43:30):
of them is a fellow diver from Jamaica. He's actually
like the only Jamaican diver. And I think, if I'm
going to talk about a connection I made with an
athlete from another country, I've known him for a while,
but we ended up talking about this and what it
looks like to bring water safety to kids in places
where there isn't a ton of access to pros water
(43:53):
and where people do drown it in floods and what
does it look like to save lives through that, And
so it's really cool because I'm actually trying to get
a group together to discuss what each of these people
are doing in their perspective areas and then how we
can potentially work together to basically start figuring out what
does it look like to continue this conversation of water
(44:15):
safety not just in the United States or in your
perspective regions.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
But just globally around the world.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
So I think that's probably one of the coolest relationships
and conversations I had, and it's been really cool to
kind of see the dominoes just keep falling with that
with the people I keep meeting in the conversations that
I keep having. So I'm really excited about that kind
of Following the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
One of the other the other question I had because
following you on social media, you took us into the
gifting suite as you got all your gear. You're wearing
some gear now it's probably the is that Ralph Lauren?
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Yes, this is the closing ceremonies jacket.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
And I love that. I loved I don't know if
it was you or somebody did a good Ricky Bobby
because it looked like NASCAR gear and so something did
a good Talladiga knights. But how much gear did you
come home with from Team USA?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
So much?
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Actually, I do think we got more in Tokyo.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Because they felt bad because of COVID.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Yeah, that's it. We got it so much.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
So we have two We get two basically checked bags,
so two really big bags. One is for Ralph Lauren,
one is for Nike, and then Skims, so Kim Kardashian's
like clothing brand.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Skims also gave us clothes.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
So I came home with two checked bags and a
duffel with all sorts of stuff. I think from Nike,
I got three pairs of shoes from or four pairs
of shoes from Rolf Lauren. I got one pair of shoes,
and then obviously a ton of jackets, yeah, shorts, shirts,
I mean, you name it.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
It's so much.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
It's all like laid out on my bed right now,
and I'm like, I don't know where to put this in.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
I can't fit in my closet.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
It's too much. But yeah, it's it's a lot, a
lot of clothes.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
So the craziness is subsiding. Yeah, you're you're back here
in Austin. Welcome home. By the way, I know you
just got home. I think you went to Torchies Tacos
the other night.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
I did.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
I did, Like I need some I need tex mex
I need caso. No, that's my go to as well.
Like I'm coming home, I'm going straight to Chewi's getting
my fiet is, I'm getting my caso. What does life
look like for you, Alison? What post Olympics. I'm sure
it takes a minute to come off that high. But
now that you have, what's next?
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Oh my gosh, that is the question everyone's asking and
I don't have an answer to.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
It's like graduating college, what what are you going to
do now?
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Like the company, Legend Labs, that I've worked at for
now like two and a half years, they want me
to come back on full time. So I actually am
at the office right now. I'm already kind of back
to work getting caught up on everything, which has been
really good. And then also on top of that, I
(46:57):
have a few different churches in organizations that want me
to speak.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
I bet I think there's a whole world about to
open up in that regard. I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
There's a church in California they want to fly me out,
which I'm really excited about that. And then there's an
organization that I volunteer for called BSF Bible Study Fellowship.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
We're starting that on September ninth, So.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Just doing a lot of preparation and staff meetings for
that in preparation for the semester to start there. And
then obviously this side project of trying to figure out
how to get people together to talk about water safety
around the world. That's been a really fun little thing,
just trying to get a meeting scheduled, and then still
raising money for kids in Kenya. Hopefully going to find
(47:41):
time to actually take a trip out to Kenya to
see the school schools in person. I haven't been able
to do that yet, but there's an amazing donor who
said they would support that, which is an amazing blessing.
So I'm hoping. Yeah, I'm hoping to do that.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Your plate is still full, so I'm not.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Busy at all.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
I'm like, no, I literally hit the ground on Saturday.
In the next day, it was already like boom boom, boom,
boom boom, Like I already had like ten things lined
up well.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
I appreciate you carving out some time for me and
talk about blessings when I think that you know, you
were put in my path. We ended up on the
same flight back home from Minnesota. You were at the
Olympic trials and the pilot announced, Hey, there's an Olympian
on board, and I happened to just run into you
at baggage claim. And you know this, And if you
(48:32):
think about these Olympians, we see you on NBC and
it's the lights, the cameras and all the gear and
the stuff. But for ninety nine point nine percent of
the people who aren't Lebron James and Steph Curry, these
are just normal people who are in college or working,
or moms or dads, what have you. And this is
you know, Allison was by herself holding a backpack in
(48:54):
baggage claim and this is an Olympian. This is this
is the juxtaposition of all that is fast to me.
And so the fact that you were put in my
path and I got to know you and then watch
how you, in your own little way have impacted and
changed the world. I'm so grateful and I'm grateful that
our paths have crossed.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, I am as well. I think everything happens for
a reason, and I don't know exactly where I'll be
in a year, but all I'm trying to do right
now is walk faithfully, Walk faithfully, continue to take leaps
of faith, continue to walk in my calling and what
I'm meant to do. And as long as I'm doing that,
(49:32):
I know I'll be okay because everything's always worked out,
So it's not always about exactly knowing the future, but
it's just about knowing where you're going to put your
foot next and trusting that everything will come together.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Well, it's hard to go wrong if you continue to
do that. Alison Gibson. Out of the Olympic Games, I know,
we got to know a lot of people, a lot
of a lot of names and faces that we didn't
know before and weren't familiar with, but we sure do now,
and you were definitely one of them. And it could
have been a bad thing, but it turned out to
be a great thing, and I'm glad to now call
(50:06):
you a friend and I appreciate it, and hopefully our
paths will cross maybe a torchies, maybe at Chewy's over
some tex mex soon.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yeah, and Torchies.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
If you're listening free kso I would love.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Sign endorsement deal Torchies. Let's go Alison. Thank you so much.
You take care. I hope to see you soon.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
dramatic pod ever and make sure to write us a
review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
next time.
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Zima
Chris Harrison
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