It’s 100 days to go until the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics! We’re celebrating the occasion in New York City at the Team USA Media Summit. This is an opportunity for members of the media to hear from U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee leadership and hear how they’re approaching the upcoming Games. We also get to meet and interview dozens of U.S. Winter Olympic hopefuls (and a few who have already qualified for Milano Cortina). Plus, we get a sneak peek at what the athletes will wear when they’re at the Games and see Peacock’s updated streaming platform for the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Media Summit is also our personal test event for Milano Cortina 2026. Games organizers hold test events, usually a year ahead of time (although Milano Cortina is running some in the coming months), so they can figure out how well their operational plans work. For us, we’ll be producing at least 32 daily episodes from Italy. Our recording setup is different when we’re at a Games, so it helps to test our gear and make sure we have the right backup equipment. There’s different recording environments and different variables–and we’re walking around a city with 25 lbs. of gear on our backs. Days are packed, we’re navigating public transportation.
This event helps us plan–and helps us figure out what physical training we’re going to need to get through the Games, as well as make sure we have any equipment we need to help us produce a better podcast.
But, beyond getting to hang out at the Media Summit, we got a lot of intel on Milano Cortina 2026. The Organizing Committee unveiled the podiums and announced more torchbearers. We saw Team USA’s Athletes’ Village wear and podium look by Nike–some of which is incredibly cool and pushes the envelope. Other looks we disagree on. Ralph Lauren also had a popup with looks from the kit (but the Ceremonies looks are still to come)
We talked with Peacock reps to find out what the viewing experience will be like this time around–will the feed beef cease to exist in 2026? The programming team has made some tweaks that sound like it’ll be a better viewing experience.
Listen to this episode to hear all about it and get ready for the Games!
We want to know if you are a Milano or a Cortina! Let us know by helping us raise funds to cover the production costs of our Milano Cortina 2026 coverage, which includes at least 32 daily episodes (and probably 100+ escapades that only your favorite Olympic and Paralympic aunties can get into). We need your support to make this coverage happen. Visit our fundraising page to make a contribution.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
415-100 Days until Milano-Cortina 2026 from the Team USA Media Summit
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another episode of Keep, the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you love the games, we are the show for you. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello. I see you in this room with me.
Alison Brown: I know you’re. More human sized instead of screen sized right now.
Jill Jaracz: How are you?
Alison Brown: I’m exhausted. How are you? Also exhausted. It’s been a long couple days. What’s funny is that the, well, we’ll get to what we’ve been doing. [00:01:00]
Jill Jaracz: Yes, we are, uh, we are less than a hundred days from Milano Corina. Now that, that mark hit this week, I don’t even know what day it hit.
Was that yesterday? Was that today? It was
Alison Brown: Wednesday. Wednesday was. A hundred days.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Which is the day we are recording.
Alison Brown: Yes. Okay. But is it still Wednesday? It
Jill Jaracz: is still
Alison Brown: Wednesday. Barely.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So, uh, it’s 100 days to go until Milano Cortina, and that is when Team USA had its media summit. So it is been, I’ve went to New York City, Allison picked me up at JFK, came back to Connecticut, lovely
Alison Brown: Connecticut,
Jill Jaracz: dropped the stuff off, went back into the city.
Went to media Summit reception, which is
Alison Brown: lovely.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And then, uh, it, it has been, uh, a test event for us because we have gone getting up at like five something in the morning and six in the morning and, [00:02:00] uh, getting on trains. Walking with very heavy backpacks.
Alison Brown: I forgot about the heavy. You think I would remember that?
Jill Jaracz: Oh yeah. No, that’s top of mind because I’m, I, I know this, I, I think I’m being kind, when I said, when I say this has been like 20 pounds on my back, I bet it’s 25 to 30 that I’ve been walking around with. Yeah. Uh, uh, through the subways, through Grand Central Station, up and down stairs. It’s been, uh, a wake up call.
Even though I’ve I’ve started my own training. I have not. This is, and it showed. So, uh, we’ve spent two days interviewing people, going to press conferences, talking with vendors, seeing a lot of stuff. We have so much to share with you from between now and when Cortina
Alison Brown: and Milan happens. I don’t think anything we were told or saw is embargoed.
So, no, I don’t think so either. Oh, good
Help the show get to Milano Cortina!
Jill Jaracz: So, yes. [00:03:00] Uh, but also exciting is that we are announcing our fundraising efforts to go to Mulan, Milano Cortina. And I can tell you, I’m so tired. My, my tongue is stopped working.
Alison Brown: Well, we had a whole discussion about whether we were gonna call it Milan Cortina or Milano Cortina. Right. And we ended up going with Milano, because that’s what the organizers.
Are as they should, it’s mm-hmm. It’s what the Italians call their own city, but we’ve already gotten used to, because obviously in the United States we refer to it as Milan. So I think for a while, until we get that into our brains. We’re gonna trip over it
Jill Jaracz: exactly, but we are preparing to bring you the most fun coverage from both the Olympics and the Paralympics.
That will include 32 daily episodes at a minimum, that give you the scoop of what it’s like to actually be there and what it’s like to get to the venues throughout Northern Italy. Because we’ve been talking about this for years now, [00:04:00] how spread out these games are and how difficult it may be to get around and if you.
You know, if you’re a fan and you have tickets for multiple events, hopefully they’re not in multiple places that are far apart.
Alison Brown: One of the big topics among the, the, uh, journalists and the reporters that we met this week was, are you going, where are you staying? And are you hoping to get anywhere else?
Yeah. And we are going, we’re staying in Milan yet, we are hoping to at least. Make some ventures into the mountains.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So we will see. Fingers crossed we have not heard great news about getting to some of the mountain venues, but not all. Not all. No. Some of the stuff looks doable. So we are excited, but we cannot do the show on location without your support.
And this kind of coverage is expensive to produce. And even though we are on a really shoestring budget for this games, it’s, this is our second quad. [00:05:00] Starting as a podcast that is accredited for the games. And if you’re new to the show, you, you may not know that accreditation for journalists like us means we basically get a ticket to the games and we get local transportation provided.
So that’s it. Yes. Flight there. A hotel, we don’t get to stay in the village at all. Or even the media village, that’s not our place. Uh, we’ve had to find our own accommodations. Um, we will have to have, if we want a taxi anywhere or if it’s. Too late for the transportation, which is gonna be, it could be an issue in Milan.
We’d have to pay for taxis out of our own pockets.
Alison Brown: And then all the regular production costs. Yes. But upped because instead of doing a weekly show, it’s a daily show. Yes. So when normally we do, you know, four, sometimes five episodes a month, this is gonna be basically 32 episodes in the span of five [00:06:00] weeks.
Yes. So production cost wise, that. That adds
Jill Jaracz: up exactly. And we are a listener supported show. So if you value the show and if how it helps you enjoy the games, please support our campaign to get to Italy and produce the show from Milano Corino. And we would like to know if you are a Milano or if you are Cortina.
And we don’t mean the cookies. No.
Alison Brown: We mean which city do you most identify with? And the cities, even though they’re both in northern Italy, have very distinct. Characteristics. Yes. Which you researched. I did. So the, the big thing is Milan iste. Now I’m gonna say it. So Milano is a city. It’s a very metropolitan city.
It’s a very urban city. It’s a very sophisticated city. So you’re gonna see people dressing really well, suits, dresses, leather.
Jill Jaracz: You give me this look leather that I have. [00:07:00] None of these things.
Alison Brown: And whereas in Cortina it’s a mountain town, it’s much more country, it’s much more rural and people are more wearing your sweaters, your ski wear, your puffer vest.
And we have a puffer jacket we’re gonna talk about later, like you would not believe, and that’s what most, uh, would be most appropriate. The Apre ski look. Yes. If, if, if I can throw some French into our Italian show.
Jill Jaracz: So yes, we would like to know if you are a Milano or Cortina. You can go to flame alive pod.com to contribute and let us know who you are, and we have got a ton of great rewards for you.
So for $10 we have website thank yous. If you give 26 for 2026, we’ll give you a shout out on one of the daily shows and we’ll thank you on the website. If you, uh, donate $50, you’ll get a postcard sent to you from Milano or Cortina from us, from [00:08:00] us. Plus the lower levels. We don’t know. Where the post office is.
I just, I just feel like all of these things, I know Milano, Milano, sophisticated city and we just are not, couldn’t find anything. Maybe we’re
Alison Brown: Corina, but even then that’s like fancy ski city. I
Jill Jaracz: know it’s, I know this, so not. Me, um, uh, for $126, your pet could be our mascot. And if you’ve listened to daily shows before, you’ll know that we have mascots for the show or we’ll talk about them on the show.
We’ll feature your pet in our newsletter and on our social platforms. We’ll have one pet a day,
Alison Brown: and that’s been a really popular. Gift in our in past fundraisers, and as you all know, I am slightly pet obsessed.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, it’s popular in our hearts as well. It,
Alison Brown: it, it’s true. I keep all the pictures that people send me of the previous pets.
So if your pet has, has been a mascot before, I still look at them and say, [00:09:00] hi, baby. How are you doing? So if your, if your baby needs some love. Please look at that. Thank you, G.
Jill Jaracz: And uh, if $500 is a level for you, your pet could sponsor one of us. So we are going to have personal sponsors this games and, uh, yeah, your, your pet could choose to be a, a Jill or an Allison,
Alison Brown: and that pet is a very, uh, broad term.
Let’s just, let’s
Jill Jaracz: just leave it at that and then we’ll top it off at 2026, uh, 2020 $6. We’ve got a ton of stuff. We’ll do video calls with you from, uh, from Italy. We’ll have a special WhatsApp group. You can be a producer and let us know what kinda athletes or sports you’d like us to try to try to cover.
Given the ram, you know, not the ramifications but the, the spread outness of Italy, and you’ll get a postcard from us and more. Your support will determine the kind of coverage that [00:10:00] we will be able to provide. That’s real, real talk here. We need you your help to keep the flame of this show alive for 32 plus days.
Alison Brown: This is true. This is as basic as it gets, that it’s direct, as in, well, if we have the funds to spend a night in Corina, we can get to Corina. If we don’t, then that coverage doesn’t happen and more of it will be in Milan, so it’s going to be direct. Dollar for coverage. Yes. There’s, there’s not a lot of, um, administrative costs going on here.
No. This is really one-to-one happening.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. So please go to flame alive pod.com and contribute today.
The report from Team USA Media Summit
Jill Jaracz: So Team USA Media Summit. We’ve just spent two days talking with a bunch
Alison Brown: of athletes. And following other athletes around and watching what they were doing. So they did it similar to what we, uh, had for Paris.
Little [00:11:00] different, little different facility. We were at the Javit Center in New York, and that was three days. This was only two, and yet this felt less intense, but more exhausting.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I think because we hadn’t been used to it and because I think the run up to Milano, Cortina has been so low key, you know, Paris, everyone was just gunning to get back to a non COVID games.
So many more athletes here. We had about 60 athletes. they did some press conferences. They were in groups and did round tables. They had little photo setups, and then we got a few one-on-ones. Uh, luckily this time we got more time. One-on-one. ’cause a lot of times last time we got two minutes and two minutes and change with whatever we were able to steal
Alison Brown: in
Jill Jaracz: terms
Alison Brown: of time.
And , U-S-O-P-C was kind enough to give us some pretty good rooms. Yes, so the sound quality on these will be a lot better [00:12:00] than some of those, the ones from the Paris Media Summit, which you will hear some atmosphere. No vacuum cleaners. No, there was no vacuum cleaners. But you will hear some banging and some, some background music occasionally.
But in general, this, this was, much better for our purposes. And your purposes Yes. As as a listener, which is a lot of fun. Yes. But yeah, so a couple of them were 20 minutes.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So we got some nice, nice ones. So we did get to catch up with our wheelchair curler, Steve t, whose life has changed dramatically since.
We last talked to him.
Alison Brown: Pretty much the only thing that has stayed the same is he’s still a wheelchair curler.
Jill Jaracz: But even that
Alison Brown: has changed significantly.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. , We’re gonna hear from speed skater Erin Jackson. Uh, we talked with cross country skiers, Julia Kern and Gus Schumacher, as well as short track speed skater Corinne Stoddard.
Uh, we got to talk with book club, book writers, Mike Schultz and Oxana Masters. Spoiler
Alison Brown: alert. They were both [00:13:00] lovely. Yes. Wasn’t that great? And I did tell both of them that we had read the book. Uh, and then you mentioned, oh, we have a book club on the show because, uh, Oxana made a joke about coffee and we said, oh, we know about your coffee addiction.
We read your book. So that was actually fun to be able to, to tell them how much we enjoyed the books.
Jill Jaracz: We learned a lot about some sports, some good. Inside sport details from para snowboarder Noah Elliot, para Nordic skiers, Kendall Gretch, Jake Ticoff, and Sidney Peterson and para ice hockey players. Malik Jones and Declan Farmer.
And we talked figure skating programs with Amber Glenn and Jason Brown,
Alison Brown: my cousin.
Jill Jaracz: Everyone was so much fun and so much tinier than I thought they were. And you forgot Aaron Pike.
Alison Brown: Oh, and we talked with Aaron Pike, thank you. Who was adorable, right? Totally embarrassed him at the end of the interview in the best way possible.
It’s [00:14:00] just, we’ll tease that. But yeah, Jason Brown, I kiddingly said to him, oh, we’re not related. And then he’s like, well, maybe we are. And I said. That’s it. Cousin Jason. So that was he again, spoiler alert. Just as fantastic as he is on the ice. Exactly. And poor Amber Glenn. Oh, who just flew in from Cup of China.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And looked exhausted. I, I felt so bad for, because she literally came in from China and basically went from the airport to Gru, a grueling day for the athletes. It’s a really grueling day because they are going from place to place it within this convention center being asked to answer a lot of questions.
Some of them, which are, get very personal, some of them which are very repetitive. And then there’s a lot of photo booth setups where you’re doing a lot of fun. Insert. Fun interstitial stuff,
Alison Brown: which is great if you’ve gotten some sleep in the past three days. [00:15:00] Yes. And I do wanna mention, because we won’t have Amber’s interview for a couple of weeks, and if you saw a cup of China, you saw that she was hurt.
And we did get to ask her about that and she said, no, she’s much better. She just tweaked her neck a little bit and she got some PT and it seems like we’re all gonna be okay. Yeah. So that was kind of the best news. Yeah. That we didn’t record that part. Of, of that was kind of a, hi, how are you? Section, but she is, she is on the, uh, the mend.
So
Jill Jaracz: every, all the athletes were real troopers and a lot of fun to talk to and, and. Really good insight. And there were a lot of really good questions in some of the round tables too, so it was really fun.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So we got a little bit of round table with Jack Wallace. I haven’t listened to the quality of that yet, so you may get a report on Jack rather than, the actual sound.
But yeah, they, so they set up round tables where it was kind of. A, a mosh pit of reporters depending on who the athlete was. And, but the athletes seemed to enjoy [00:16:00] that, and I think they were, like you said, getting some really good questions. So yeah, I’m excited. You know, the winter athletes get less love, I think, than the summer athletes, so I think they may have been a little less, some of them, a little less jaded.
In, in a way, a little less frustrated by what they have to do. , It also helps when they sit down with us and we’re like, let’s talk about waxing your skis. Yeah.
Previews of Team USA’s Village Kit and Podium Wear
Jill Jaracz: That, and you know, it doesn’t hurt when you get some team USA kit.
Alison Brown: There was some interesting kit flying around. So Polo and Nike had set up sort of popup shops.
Mm-hmm. Is that how you would, you would Yeah. Couldn’t find anything. Yeah. But they were showing off their kit. Ralph Lauren. They did this in Paris and we posted some pictures and I started to post some pictures. I posted a bunch of pictures on, the newsletter.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So if you’re not getting our newsletter, we are on Substack.
It’s [00:17:00] free. So you can find us on Substack It, keep the Flame Alive. But you can also, uh, go to our website, flame alive pod.com. At the bottom is a newsletter sign up and it’s excellent. Alison does it and it’s excellent.
Alison Brown: So, Ralph Lauren, the people at Ralph Lauren described what we were seeing as village wear.
So it’s not the ceremony outfits yet. They’re gonna do a big reveal of that. On the Today Show again probably. so it was frustrating because it’s exactly what you expect from Ralph Lauren.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm. But it was cool. I still think it’s cool. Okay, now wait a second. You’re, you’re giving me some rollie eyes and some sighing.
It is what you’re expecting from America and Ralph Lauren. But then when we went to Nike and they did something they thought out of the box on village wear and it also got the same reaction, you know, well, not all of it. Same, but different.
Alison Brown: Different fair. Only one piece really got the bad [00:18:00] reaction from Nike.
So they are doing this under the a CG. Brand, but it is Nike, so you won’t see the swoosh. You see a different logo on it. But not to worry, Nike has not disappeared from team USA. So they’re doing the podium outfits, the press conference outfits, and kind of the everyday things. And I will give them absolute props because they did.
Finally what something I have complained about that they never alter that red, blue and white shades, and they did turquoise, they did orange. They did kind of a grayish B cru. So there were playing with the color palette, which I loved. Loved the orange sneakers. I, I did like the
Jill Jaracz: orange sneakers.
Alison Brown: That was a lot of fun.
There is one
Jill Jaracz: piece that is a skirt. A long skirt, like a long, a line looked like linen in a way, but not linen. It’s a, it was a course fabric, it was like windbreaker
Alison Brown: material and it had a, it was actually fleece [00:19:00] lined.
Jill Jaracz: Oh,
Alison Brown: I found that out later. And it un, it’s a wrap skirt that unsnaps, and you can basically use it as a blanket.
Because it, it folds out to just a tri, uh, not a triangle, a rectangle. I know my shapes. I’m tired, uh, to a rectangle with just a couple of seams at the top, so you can just put it over a couple of you or put it on the ground. The only problem with this as a blanket, it would be lovely as a skirt. You have a rather oddly placed upward flying eagle in the mountains.
In the the mountains. The mountain part is fine. The mountains are along the hem. The problem is where the eagle
Jill Jaracz: is flying. See, I didn’t think the eagle was flying straight up. I thought the eagle was flying diagonally upwards
Alison Brown: to your hip, I guess. Yes. Well, that’s not where I thought it looked like it was aiming.
Okay,
Jill Jaracz: well, but you know, we’ll have pictures of this stuff. If you haven’t seen it on the newsletter, we’ll [00:20:00] have pictures as well. But
Alison Brown: the coolest item. From the Nike kit was the podium jacket. We both got to try it on, which was great. And the ladies were just, the Nike reps were so lovely and helpful and so much fun.
So the jacket has technology, like the air sneakers. They somehow made this jacket. To fill with air. Now, it’s not filled with air until you put the little nozzle on and press a button, and then it fills with air and insulates you. And when I tell you this goes from like a, an October level windbreaker to a depths of January puffer with this inflatable.
Valve and you, you don’t have to do any work. You press a button twice and the little orange electronic thing blows your jacket up and if you get too warm, [00:21:00] you can open the back valve and take a little bit of air out. So it’s a little bit with it cooler,
Jill Jaracz: or if you need to pack
Alison Brown: it, you could totally deflate it and roll it up real small.
It was, I thought it was gonna make me feel like the Michelin man. But it didn’t, it was just a, you called it a gentle hug. Yeah. ‘
Jill Jaracz: cause it did feel like you had like something hugging you or a little weighted blanket around you. It was really, really cool. And you did feel a temperature difference from something that weighed nothing and.
As winter technology, and I mean, athletes have to pack so much gear anyway, so having something that is super warm when you need it to be and also very light. Was perfect. I mean, it’s really cool. And then the inside of the jacket,
Alison Brown: the inside of the jacket had the mountain motif and the eagle motif as well.
And it also had directions, which I loved. It had a little sewn in [00:22:00] direction packet, which I think is going to stay in the final version. So if you forget how to blow up your jacket.
Jill Jaracz: Nice. And then they had a big inspirational quote in there to pump you up,
Alison Brown: to pump you up, like the jacket, the, the pants match.
But they do not have the inflatable, no portion of the technology. So it’ll be interesting to see how the athletes actually wear it. you can tell if you are looking closely, whether it’s pumped or not pumped. But given how many different body types I’d be interested to see on the podium, if we can tell.
Oh, she blews her, blew her up up a lot. She must be really cold.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Or she, he’s deflated. And, and when, when Nike talked about the air technology, they talked to us, they said, you know, we’ve been able to do this in panels, but this is the first time they’ve been able to do the air in one piece. So it also feels like you’re like within an air mattress.
Alison Brown: I, yes. I said it was like being inside a pillow, [00:23:00] so
Jill Jaracz: very, very cool.
Alison Brown: I’m a fan of that jacket. And then you had, it had the thumb pieces, which you loved.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. It does have little Half, hand covers and we’re such
Alison Brown: eighties kids.
Jill Jaracz: I know. So we, we like a half glove. So, cool.
Peacock’s Milano Cortina coverage plans
Jill Jaracz: One of the other things that we found out, which is very important for you all listeners, who, if you are at home.
Peacock was there.
Alison Brown: Peacock was there. We both sat down separately. So we got little bits of different information. Yes. Um, from Peacock and they had a nice little living room set up and we got to see how the system was gonna work and it’s gonna have a lot of the features that Paris had, which was really nice.
And to me, the big thing that was great was a lot of the features that the Paris Olympics had, but the Paris. Paralympics did not. That difference is going away. So I know there was an issue of finding individual sports and, and individual events, but the systems are going to function very, very, [00:24:00] uh, much the same for both the Olympics and the Paralympics.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, they will have the discovery feature again. Gold Zone will be back. They do know that ads keep dropping in at inopportune times.
Alison Brown: Yes. I had that conversation with them and they both laughed. They said, yes, people keep telling it to us. It’s a production issue, and they know about it and they’re working on it.
And I think because so much of this is computer generated and automated to get that right for each broadcast. Little tricky.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Um, but they
Alison Brown: know they’re trying.
Jill Jaracz: Right. They don’t also know this team is not sales. They don’t know what ads we will be mainlining.
Alison Brown: We did discuss Mike and Maya with them. Yes.
And the girls did remember it and said, oh, we like that commercial a lot.
Jill Jaracz: There you go on, peacock Through TV you will be able to see the schedule for the current day and the next day on the web and the app, you will be able to see the full [00:25:00] schedule, including prior days. So if you wanted to go back, go in through the web and the app, they told me it was too clunk.
To do that on television. So that’s why you can’t do it on, on your TV screen with a TV remote. Um, they did say if you come into a live event partway through, you should be able to jump back to the beginning,
Alison Brown: which is huge,
Jill Jaracz: big if you’re in something that’s really long, like a full day coverage of a sports.
So you could see like figure skating day one. They are hoping they should be able to. Put that into chapters. So if it’s a two session day for a sport, you’ll be able to jump ahead to the next session if you wanted to see that. , They might be able to get down to the individual program level on something like figure skating.
They weren’t quite sure how granular you’d be able to get, so I’m not gonna promise that, but might, might be there. I
Alison Brown: mean, even if they, with figure skating could get. To groups, you know, with those three or four groups even, that would be tremendous. [00:26:00] Right?
Jill Jaracz: Or he or in something like skiing, heat heats. Yeah, something, the get into the games multi-view is back.
They told me that those views are preselected, so you can’t pick and choose what you want to see there. But it does have the multi-view feature,
Alison Brown: and that was the only thing that they said would be slightly different for the Paralympics. But that is because the Paralympics has fewer cameras at each event.
So there will be, for example. In wheelchair curling. They may not have a camera on every sheet, but that’s not a function of peacock. That’s a function really of OBS and where they put the cameras. And we’ve talked to OBS about how many cameras they have where, and it’s just the Paralympics gets fewer cameras.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm. Um, the app is going to have a predictions feature and they will also have vertical highlight reels.
Alison Brown: Got looked like tiktoks.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Looked like tiktoks Got a little into the weeds on the technology [00:27:00] of, landscape view versus vertical view. So, you know, it’s, it’s interesting to to hear the, the challenges that Peacock has to address every time a game comes up.
But things look like they keep learning and keep getting better. So hopefully your peacock experience if you’re in the US will be good. Uh,
Alison Brown: people were pretty happy last time, if I remember correctly. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Few feed beefs. Well, that they’re, you’re always gonna have, they’re low. Yeah. But, but hopefully the feed beef, we, I, I don’t wanna bring that back as a feature.
Alison Brown: I know it was better in Pat. Well, we also weren’t home in power, so it was only what people told us. So if you do have issues, we do wanna hear about it because one, we get a chance to tell Peacock mm-hmm. Some of these issues. And two, I’m just curious what that experience is. Is like, because now this’ll be time number three where we’re not back home getting to, to really see what’s happening.
Exactly. Exactly.
Jill Jaracz: If you were in, uh oh, also, uh, sports [00:28:00] video.org reported that the Sesame Street characters are going to be back. So Elmo Cookie Monster, Grover and Moore will be on NBC Universal’s coverage and you can look for them on social and broadcast.
Alison Brown: I gotta get myself A VPN for while we are there, because there is few things in this world that I love more than the Sesame su capper characters.
Apparently when I was a kid, the count was my favorite. Uh uh, uh uh, I don’t remember that totally. But also it tracks
Jill Jaracz: and, uh, the Gold Zone host is back. Oh. I can’t remember his name off the top of my head. but the gold host will be the same person. He will have assistance this time. He will not be doing the seven hour show all on his own. There was some learning there I think, but, uh, look for that. He’ll be in Connecticut.[00:29:00]
And we’ll have Italian, uh, people in Italy who are producers sending him information and things to look for.
Alison Brown: Scott Hansen.
Jill Jaracz: Scott Hansen. Thank you. so that, coverage is gonna
Alison Brown: be good. I think the quote that I had written down was actually from the, the U-S-O-P-C, uh mm-hmm. Press conference because, uh.
Jill Jaracz: Ahmed Fareed.
Alison Brown: Thank you. Speaking of not remembering names at this late hour, Ahmed Fare mentioned that primetime was, uh, a good thing for the time difference because, and I wanna quote him here, quote, it’ll, well, it allows quote them to curate the best events from the day, which I think is so interesting, especially because we’ve been talking so much about Sydney 2000, you know, and our retrospective.
And one of the big problems was. At the time, people hated being spoiled and, and you didn’t wanna watch an event if you knew the ending. [00:30:00] Whereas now we have such a different view of the broadcast, like, I’ll watch it even though I know the ending ’cause I wanna see how we got there.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So we do have that.
It’s also interesting to see, I think it, I. I don’t know if it’s an age difference thing, because there are people who want highlights and they’ll be drawn in by the highlights. There are people who wanna see the whole event, but I think they’re gonna have things covered for everybody because you’ll be able to stream the whole event.
You’ll be able to see the highlights and go, Hey, what happened to that? Let me see, let me drill down farther.
What Australian coverage of Milano Cortina will look like
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, for our Aussie listeners, the Ministry of Sport reports that nine networks, while wide world of Sports Studio, will be based out of Lavino. So they will be in one of
Alison Brown: the ski areas, which makes sense.
Mm-hmm. Given that most of the Australian participants are in freestyle.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Uh, they will start airing a [00:31:00] preview show called Let the Games Begin On February 4th. Allie Langdon and Jane Bracy will be the primary anchors supported by Alah McKinnon and Todd Woodbridge. Sylvia Jeffries and Dylan Alcott will be on morning coverage.
Big commentary team. A lot of former or, or a lot of former athletes, a lot of Olympians, but it includes Steven Bradbury. And Torah Bright and I did just watch the other night, the
Alison Brown: race, the Stephen Bradbury race, uh,
Jill Jaracz: via Roy and hg.
Alison Brown: I was gonna ask, is let the games be begin gonna be anything like the dream?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know. I if I couldn’t, I don’t think so. If I couldn’t, find, if, the dream would be back, would be nice. I tell you, we could use some Roy and HG in our life. So we are also working on getting through a bunch of press conferences, organizing a bunch of information. We’ll have more on that in future [00:32:00] shows.
Milano Cortina 2026 News
Alison Brown: Olympia D ooh,
Jill Jaracz: we have news from Milano Cortina.
Milano Cortina 2026 releases the official posters
Jill Jaracz: Officially, the official posters are out.
Alison Brown: Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: so we’ve got one for the Olympics, one for the Paralympics. The Olympics poster is titled Olympic Vision and is designed by Olympia
Alison Brown: Zli. I mean, come on. How did the artist named Olympia get this gig? Right? Not that she’s not incredibly talented and it, but I just thought that was a little bit of a, a too on the nose.
Jill Jaracz: So the, the. The concept is one face, five rings, so it’s a woman’s face, and over her eyes are the Olympic rings. And then in the background there are mountains through glasses shaped like the Olympic symbol shines the Italian [00:33:00] spirit. Full of energy connection and a shared vision, a tribute to everyone who lives the games with passion athletes, fans, and spectators alike.
Alison Brown: A lot of people have said this reminds them very much of the Paris logo, Marianne, because it is again, a woman’s face with that symmetry. We do not seem to have a second image. You know, Marianne was a flame or. Her really cool haircut that apparently I, I brought to my hairdresser and wanted to repeat. I am not gonna bring the green hair to Alyssa, but maybe I will next year.
I love this poster. I know some people aren’t thrilled with it. The only thing I don’t love is the symmetry in the colors isn’t quite perfect. There’s nothing that’s yellow except the ring, and there’s nothing that’s black except the ring. But we have multiple things that are red and blue. And then one thing that’s green, so the symmetry isn’t quite perfect, but I love the idea of the woman’s face and the green hair and the Olympic rings as the [00:34:00] glasses.
I think it’s a lot of fun.
Jill Jaracz: , It is fun. I like the bold colors. I like the bold graphic design element of it. I don’t love the fact that the Maryanne was such a big element of Paris and we have a similar. Woman driven element of Milano Cortina Fair. It’s nice. I don’t think I need to
Alison Brown: own it. Did you own the Paris?
Where’s Waldo?
Jill Jaracz: I have it in coloring form. I bought some kind of coloring sheets. I haven’t colored them yet, and I got my mother-in-law, the puzzle.
Alison Brown: Oh, I should, you know what, now I realize I should have gotten the puzzle when I had a chance. So,
Jill Jaracz: , I do like that poster. I don’t also did not feel the need to buy it.
Alison Brown: Okay,
Jill Jaracz: fair. But there were a lot of people on the, the Paris Planning Facebook groups that really [00:35:00] loved having it. Loved it. Yes. So this is not to say that it’s not a good poster, it’s just not something that I would want. I think the Paralympic poster is untitled. It’s on designed by Carolina Illa, Ulta, and She said the quote, the main concept is to be able to visualize inclusion in sports, fostering the Paralympic spirit and generating a positive impact globally. It quote symbolizes the support among participants and the importance of being mindful, of creating safe spaces for the development of others, highlighting the athlete’s determination, both in and out of competition, and it’s.
You’ve described it as kind of picassoesque.
Alison Brown: I said this is Pablo Picasso’s Paralympics poster.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So it it’s very athlete focused, but is that what that’s supposed to be? Yeah. Abstract athlete elements.
Alison Brown: I do not like how unrelated they are. They don’t [00:36:00] even have the same colors and tones. They don’t have the same mood.
I think it looks very different like. The person on it is deformed, which I hate. Given that it’s related to the Paralympics, they don’t quite look human. They
Jill Jaracz: kind of look like they’ve melted.
Alison Brown: Yes. Which is again, unfortunate given that we’re talking about global warming and save our winters and all those other pieces.
I just don’t think it evokes a, a good feeling. It,
Jill Jaracz: it is kind of sad. It makes you want to contract. Within, it’s a cool color poster, so blues and things like that. Whereas pinks and the Olympic poster is just very, very vibrant. So a mixed bag. A mixed bag, but you know, we’re talking about it.
Alison Brown: Fair enough.
The podiums for Milano Cortina 2026
Jill Jaracz: Also, uh, announced to celebrate 100 days to go. The podiums were unveiled by Milano Corina 2026 [00:37:00] Organizing Committee. They were created by, uh, Fane Milano Cortina 2026 in collaboration with the Cavalletti and Pacho studio. They are made from wood and metal. And they can be adjusted to accommodate different individuals and team events.
Alison Brown: So like Paris, it has the pieces it seems like. Mm-hmm. That you can make it bigger or smaller with the fronts.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. And the Paralympic versions are fully accessible. The podiums are a royal blue in gradient, that color, that’s emblematic of the Italian national Blue. And as part of, um, Ilunga, which I believe is a sponsor.
Alison Brown: Sounds right to me.
Jill Jaracz: , They have an Amichi de Sport, which is called Friends of School and Sport Campaign. So after the games podiums will be given to amateur sport clubs that promote inclusive sports.
Alison Brown: The color’s beautiful.
Jill Jaracz: It is beautiful. It’s kind of, it looks like it has like a cutout in the base of.
The, the podium in, in [00:38:00] two of the sections. So it’s got a kind of a funky angle look going on. I think it goes well with everything else.
Alison Brown: That’s actually my concern. ’cause I feel like we’re seeing color after color after color. That’s not consistent in a way. There’s the blue, there’s the various shades of green that we’ve seen.
There’s the rainbow, there’s the icy whites. I’m not seeing that through line like we saw with Paris with that turquoise and pink and white, and it was very, very consistent. So once we see it all put together, it’ll be interesting to see if it feels as scattered as it feels right now. Colorwise.
Jill Jaracz: So you were withholding judgment?
I am, if you can believe it.
More torchbearers announced
Jill Jaracz: The organizing committee also announced more torch bearers, Chico. Okay. So mostly, uh, they announced 12 digital ambassadors of the game, including Chico, the [00:39:00] dog,
Alison Brown: Chico. That’s how you sold me on this story. So Jill was putting together the show sheet and she just dead stopped and said, wait a second, wait a second.
And then turned her computer around to show me this picture of who cares who Chico’s owner is and Chico. And I said, I don’t care what the story is about, Chico has to be on the show.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And, and. Torch bearing dog. I
Alison Brown: wanna see how this works. There’s, and it’s not a big dog, it’s not like a sled dog. He looks like a little poodle mix of some kind.
Something we
Jill Jaracz: will see. But, also announced, tennis player, Jasmine Paulini will be a torch bearer as well. And I’m sure we’ll see more of the, uh, torch bearers come out in days to come.
Olympic Rings pasta?
Jill Jaracz: You may have seen some Olympic rings pasta. On social media, which was you can’t have it, which was a fun thing that they did for the 100 days out celebration.
Alison Brown: Yeah, but
Jill Jaracz: you can’t [00:40:00] have it not available for sale.
Alison Brown: Whose idea was that? I, well, it taunts you. That’s the thing. And they did produce boxes and they are sending them to people in some ways. And they are around, but they’re not for sale. Right. And I’m sure there’s a limited number of them,
Jill Jaracz: right? But let me remind you that this week you got to eat pasta made in a wheel of cheese.
That is one of the things that they had at the opening reception, a giant wheel of cheese with the center carved out and they were able to make pasta in there,
Alison Brown: but it wasn’t Olympic ring shaped pasta.
Ride sharing at Milano Cortina 2026
Jill Jaracz: No. sports pro.com reports that Uber will be the official ride hailing sponsor of Milano Corina.
They will use over 5,000 drivers to help transport fans and venues will have dedicated pickup and drop off zones for Uber cars. [00:41:00] Curious to see how that’s gonna work.
Alison Brown: Mario is gonna be our
Jill Jaracz: driver. No, he’s not. Giuseppe will.
Alison Brown: Yeah. You know, on our budget there won’t be a driver. Our driver will be the Milan subway
Delta’s new Team USA plane
Jill Jaracz: also for 100 days to go.
Delta Airlines revealed the new team, USA livery that they kept calling. It’s a plane they painted. What’s the difference? I don’t know. Do they, the team somewhere. Do not know, but that’s the official lingo they used. , If you work in aviation and can let us know because it was not able to, uh, research that in time.
We have somebody to ask Superfan, Sarah’s husband. Oh yes, yes. Uh, the plane is an Airbus, A three 50. The exterior design features 26 stripes to represent 2026. These stripes kind of undulate along the side of the plane, inspired by Milan’s rolling landscapes and a city in motion toward the future.
Alison Brown: No, it’s [00:42:00] toward the FU Torah.
Jill Jaracz: Tell Delta’s press release. Get that right next time. So they put a lot of work into this.
Alison Brown: It was very fancy. This was not just slapping an American flag on the side of the plane.
Jill Jaracz: No. They started designing it in September, 2024.
Alison Brown: So basically right when everything was over for Paris, they said, we need a new livery.
Get going buddy. Right.
Jill Jaracz: Took five designers and over 20 revisions of the design. Over 72 paint colors are on the plane and the blue gradient is the same blue from Delta’s Beijing team USA livery connecting the games by color. So it will be in the sky later this year. Maybe you will see it at an airport near you if you are a Delta frequent flyer.
The airline is also auctioning packages to go to the games on its Sky Miles experience [00:43:00] platform. Olympic packages are five days and include three events, hotel and airport transfer, and para packages or are Paralympic packages are three or four days with tickets to two or three events depending on how long your stay is, hotel and airport transfer.
I believe this is a situation where you bid your miles to get the event.
Milano art exhibit to look at 3,000 years of Olympic history
Alison Brown: More news from Milano, Corina. See, but this is the best thing because I love when you start speaking Italian because. You get so caught up in the accent. And I love this, I love this for your Midwestern soul. It does me such good to see you.
And I don’t mean to make you self-conscious ’cause you do such a great job with all these international names that I struggle with mightily.
Jill Jaracz: So Fone, Luigi Ti and Art Museum in Milano is hosting an exhibit called Gochi Olympic Olympic Sea. So, oh, okay. It’s Gki. [00:44:00] Okay.
Alison Brown: Olympic. Olympic
Jill Jaracz: Gani, which translates to the Olympic Games, a 3000 year history. This will be a major exhibition to celebrate Milano Corino 2026, covering the games from ancient times to present day. And it will showcase games, history, some of the major players, and talk about the topic of competition. So, um. The exhibit runs from November 26th through March 22nd.
We will have a link to the show notes. You can buy tickets online now and until November 25th. They are just 12 euros each
Alison Brown: and before somebody calls or writes in, it’s picchi.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, sorry. No, that was on me that screwed it up, so, okay. Well, peachy. omega has released its 2026 games inspired watch. Christmas is coming.
Jill
fundraiser is@flamealivepod.com.
Alison Brown: It will not go for the watch. No. It’ll absolutely not [00:45:00] go for watches or steak dinners. No. Be lucky to get McDonald’s.
Jill Jaracz: and then there’s also, The company that designed the torch, Carlo Ratti, so has created this Alpine by, uh, by, by Eck. It’s a little hot. That you see in the mountains that, uh, mountaineers can do go to and rest.
It’s gonna be a pavilion at the games and then brought to the Swiss Alps for hikers to use. We’re gonna post these in our face, these two stories in our Facebook group because you kind of have to see this stuff. the hut is
Alison Brown: something, it’s, I was very confused. You had to show me multiple pictures for me to understand this, and it is this beautiful little glass piece that’s just balanced.
In the mountains and what an amazing experience to, to climb or, or, [00:46:00] or hike in that landscape. And then just walk into this perfect little hut.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So that story is courtesy of D Zine.
Team Keep the Flame Alive News
Alison Brown: Welcome to Shuk Stan.
Jill Jaracz: It is the time in the show where we check in with our team, keep the flame alive. He’s our past guests and listeners of the show that make up our very own citizenship of our very own country.
Shuk Stan.
Alison Brown: We have some results from the long track speed skating US championships. Erin Jackson won gold in the 500 meter and silver in the 1000 meter. She’s also been named to Eli Lilly’s roster of Team USA athletes. Along with upcoming Shuk, Stanis, Alana Meyers, Taylor and Oxana Masters.
Jill Jaracz: I know it’s fun to see everybody get all these deals and then like, oh wait, they’re not a Shuk Stan yet.
They’re kind of a shuk Stan because we’ve talked to them.
Alison Brown: It’s like they’ve gotten their citizenship, but the paperwork hasn’t been finalized yet. That’s right.
Jill Jaracz: NBC Peacock won the Emmy for outstanding live [00:47:00] special championship event for its coverage of the Paris Olympics. Included in the winning team is BMX racer Connor Fields.
Hurler, John Harper Nelson diver, Laura Wilkinson and listener Dan Meyer,
Alison Brown: who we got to see this week. Know it was exciting. So congratulations, Dan. I wish we had known this when we saw him. We could have said congratulations in person. And also congratulations to Bcha player Allison Levine. She was a awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for a quote, an outstanding achievement that brings credit to Canada.
Jill Jaracz: It, I’m sure you love this one.
Alison Brown: I got a little teary-eyed to be honest, so congratulations. That’s very exciting and more congratulations.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Jacqueline Semino, our artistic swimmer, she has received the Canadian Sport Award for athletes’ voice
Alison Brown: and the newly married. Race Walker, Evan Duney has been nominated for the World Athletics male out of Stadium Athlete of the Year.
Fans can cast their vote [00:48:00] on Facebook, Instagram, and or X World athletics and you can, uh.
Jill Jaracz: They’re gonna post a graphic for each nominee. So if you like it on Facebook, that’s one vote. Or if you like it on Instagram or if you repost it on X, all of those will count as one vote each. And voting closes November two.
So pay attention to World Athletic Social. Look for those graphics of Evan Dunphy and. Like and repost them please
Alison Brown: and more congratulations. This has been a great week to water Polo goalie, Ashley Johnson and her boyfriend David Kong, who got engaged as did Sailor Stephanie Roble and her boyfriend Brian Lar.
More weddings and Shuk Stan.
Review of the week
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. And you know what’s awesome also? Reviews and comments we get. That is right. So, uh, who’s our review of the week?
Alison Brown: So from Apple Podcast, crazy Packers fan writes, Allison and Jill make talking about the Olympics. Fun and entertaining. Every episode is a good listen.[00:49:00]
Probably my favorite sports podcast. And considering he calls himself crazy Packers fan, that is a big compliment. I know, I know. So, thank you. Thank you
Jill Jaracz: very much. If you would like to hear your name here. Leave us a review on your podcast app or check out the other ways to get in touch with us. They are in the episode details in your app, and uh, we would love to hear from you.
We take voicemail. We take email. We take pasta
Alison Brown: that are Olympic rain shaped.
Jill Jaracz: I have made the Olympic rings outta pretzel bread before.
Alison Brown: Yes, and I did try to do it outta Jello. Remember when I kept trying to make it outta jello and I kept failing?
Jill Jaracz: Yes, I did try back in 22, 0 2, 0 0 2, I think did try to make some. Jello shots, Olympic rings. It didn’t go well because I didn’t know how to make Jello shots and they had too much alcohol in them.
Alison Brown: I was gonna say, did it not go well because then you kept sampling as you went along? No,
Jill Jaracz: [00:50:00] they kind of melted. It wasn’t kind of like the athlete on the Paralympic
Alison Brown: poster just sinking down because of too many Jello shots.
Jill Jaracz: Well, I have had too much of a week so far, so. Uh, it is time to close it down and get some sleep.
Alison Brown: Oh, that sounds beautiful. Yes. Start for bed. Olympic sponsor. Yes, we
Jill Jaracz: met them. So maybe something will come out of that and uh, yeah, our test event is over.
Alison Brown: Learnings to be learned. Exactly. And that’s gonna do it for this episode.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much for listening,
Alison Brown: and until next time, keep the flame alive.