Book Club Claire is back for another session of book club! This time we've got our first Paralympics-related selection: "Driven to Ride: The True Story of an Elite Athlete Who Rebuilt His Leg, His Life, and His Career" by two-time Paralympic Snowboarder Mike Schultz. In the genre of athlete memoir, how does this one rate with us?
Nordic Combined is the only sport on the current Olympic program that is only open to men. Many athletes are working to change that, including Team USA’s Annika Malacinski. We talk with Annika about how the sport works, which surprisingly involves a lot of body measurements (see: ski jumping suit scandal at Beijing), and we learn about one of the best winner's prizes ever. Also, how you can help the women in their effort to get onto the Olympic program.
We love it when we get to talk with a TKFLASTANI again! Wheelchair curler Steve Emt returns to talk with us about his experiences at the Beijing 2022 Paralympics and how he found out his Russian competitors were banned from the Games.
Olympic Host Cities usually get a reputation for spending a ton of money building venues that become white elephants, but that's not necessarily the case. We delve into the International Olympic Committee's new report on venue legacy. Which cities have done it right, and which haven't?