At Atlanta 1996 swimmer Amy Van Dyken became one of the heroes of the U.S. team, bringing home a whopping four gold medals in five events. She followed that up at Sydney 2000 with another two gold medals.
After retiring and getting into broadcasting, Amy’s life took a turn in 2014, when an ATV accident left her paralyzed. While she’s continued to broadcast (you may have heard her as an analyst on NBC’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics), she’s also become an advocate for people with disabilities, helping able-bodied people understand the world from the eyes of someone in a wheelchair.
Alison talked with Amy about some of the specifics of her swimming training (including shave parties) and the approach to her second Olympics at Sydney. Amy shares the specifics of her injuries, the many complications she’s had, and her secret for approaching recovery. They also get frank about the lack of understanding around accessibility and just how unaccessible America can be, even though there are disability laws in place.
Also on this episode, it’s torch relay time for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, and Jill and Alison get into the newly announced sports program for the Karlsruhe 2029 World Games. We’re excited to see what sports stayed on the program, what came back, and what’s new for this edition. Who’s ready for some minigolf?
Photo courtesy of Amy Van Dyken.
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TRANSCRIPT
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445-Amy Van Dyken: 6x Olympic Gold Medalist and Disability Advocate
Theme Music
Jill Jaracz: Hello, and welcome [00:00:30] to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you love the games, this is the show for you. I’m your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello. How are you?
Alison Brown: Hello. I am covered in mosquito bites.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, no.
Alison Brown: And it, and it got me thinking about track and field athletes, ’cause they’re on field. There’s grass everywhere. How do they not get bitten alive?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know, but that’s going on the list, ’cause that’s a great [00:01:00] question.
Alison Brown: You know, ’cause they’re, they don’t, they’re not covered. It’s not like they, you know, the mosquito would have to go through a lot of clothing.
Mostly, you know, they’re- Right … in short shorts and no socks and all those things. Right. Can you imagine having, like, a giant mosquito bite on your ankle and trying to race?
Jill Jaracz: That would be horrible.
Alison Brown: Do they just outrun the mosquitoes? What is, what is their-
How did they do this? I
Jill Jaracz: don’t know. I don’t know, but that, that’s a good q- [00:01:30] that’s excellent questions, which led me to think about, well, like, what about sailing? How did, you know, do fish get in the way? Does seaweed get in the way?
Alison Brown: Yes. Does something, like, jump up and slap you in the face every once in a while?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know.
Alison Brown: It must. It must. That must just be standard procedure to get hit by a fish occasionally. Again, are they moving so fast-
Jill Jaracz: That the fish don’t…
Alison Brown: know … that fish just can’t keep [00:02:00] up?
Jill Jaracz: Oh, man. Well, I, I don’t know how to seg that. Wait.
Alison Brown: Well, I was gonna say, speaking of fast and can’t keep up.
Amy Van Dyken Interview
Jill Jaracz: Yes, we are speaking today with one of the fastest swimmers on record, Amy Van Dyken. Amy won a total of six gold medals over two Olympics, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, and became the first American woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympics.
In 2014, Amy’s life changed when she [00:02:30] became paralyzed in an ATV accident. We spoke with her– We, you got to speak with her. I was doing storm recovery, and, uh, you thankful you stepped in, and you had this fantastic conversation. I am so jealous that you got to do this. Uh, we spoke with her about her swimming career, her post-retirement work in broadcasting, and her life after her accident.
Take a listen.
Alison Brown: Amy Van Dyken, thank you so much for joining us. I’m excited to get to talk to you.
Amy Van Dyken: Oh, I’m so excited for h- you guys having me on. [00:03:00] Thank you so much.
Alison Brown: So we’re gonna start with going back in time to the Olympics. We’re gonna talk Atlanta a little bit. We’ve actually been talking Atlanta on the show, , so it’s, it’s fresh in our brains.
But why w- uh, th- this is kind of a two-parter. Why were you good at sprints- … and why did you like sprints? Because those are, those are two different questions.
Amy Van Dyken: Those are two very different questions. I think the reason that I was good at sprints, I, I think it was really because of my asthma. I really couldn’t swim anything over a [00:03:30] 200.
Um, you know, when I was competing, I was at 63% lung capacity, and that was on a really good day. So I think, like, the 50 was great ’cause I didn’t really have to take a breath, but I took a breath. And I think the reason that I liked them is because I just think my body type is fit for them. You know, I’m six feet tall.
I was, you know, thinner. I can build muscle very quickly, and I think that I just loved them because it was fast. There was a lot of excitement around [00:04:00] them. Um, there’s a lot of nervous energy, and I somehow thrive on that, even today.
Alison Brown: So you did take a breath in the 50?
Amy Van Dyken: I did, and I just did it to see where I was.
So I could see… It was weird. I don’t know how I had my head. If you watch my butterfly, I always had my head turned a little bit, um, i.e., Mel Stewart. But, um, so I think I did that also in freestyle ’cause I could always see to my right, but I couldn’t see to my left, so I would take a breath just to see where I was.
I know it sounds weird. Like, you could do anything about it if you were [00:04:30] behind.
Alison Brown: Well, to be fair, sometimes you adjust.
Amy Van Dyken: You’re right, and, and I- In, in, in your
Alison Brown: brain …
Amy Van Dyken: you’re right, and I was known, and I, you know, when it’s– I watch back, Summer Sanders is like, “Amy always builds into the 50,” and I think that I did.
And so I think, you know, that was kind of why when I took the breath, I could maybe kick it into another gear. Now maybe should I have had that gear the entire time? Yeah, probably. It’s only 24 seconds at that time. Now it’s gonna be 22 seconds coming up here. [00:05:00] Um, but, but yeah, so, you know, that’s the only reason why I took a breath.
Alison Brown: So you, you mentioned the change in the times, and I did wanna ask you about that, because the 50 has gotten significantly faster if you look at percentage-wise.
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah.
Alison Brown: More, more so than some of the others. Is that change in training? Is that change in technique? What changes do you see happening in, in the 50 particularly?
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah, it’s definitely a lot of training. I mean, we used to train every [00:05:30] morning, every afternoon, um, you know, two, two and a half hours at a pop. And, you know, I remember when I was training with Jonty Skinner, we would do, you know, 400s best average, and we would do like 10 of them. Like why? You know, there’s no need for a sprinter to do that.
So I think as well as the better technique that they have, you know, doing the fifth stroke, the underwater, which is a lot faster than swimming on top of the water, I really think that that’s helped. But I think also they’re not training the speed out of sprinters anymore like we used to [00:06:00] do. I mean, it’s very, very easy to do.
I’m– I know my coach, John Mattos at CSU, when I left to go to the training center, he told Jonty, he said, “Just don’t train the speed out of her.” So it is possible to do, and they’re not doing it anymore, and I love it.
Alison Brown: So the idea being that they would sort of do longer distances with sprinters, building endurance, which in essence you don’t need.
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I mean, we were trying to build endurance for my 100 free, my 100 fly. But at the end of the day, you just need to be able to [00:06:30] have that back half speed. So with how they’re training sprinters now with more CrossFit-type, um, exercises in the gym, which I think is so applicable to swimming, and then sprinting them more, having them race more.
Um, I saw Greg Meehan talking about that, that, you know– and we talked about this at the training center. It’s weird when you’re going from training all these yards to going to a shave and taper meet, and y- your body freaks out a little bit about how fast it’s going. So now they’re [00:07:00] racing more, and so their body does not freak out.
Their body knows exactly what they’re doing, and they’re getting used to that lactic acid buildup. And especially, you know, if you’re like a Summer McIntosh who was going from the 200 fly to the 400 IM or the 400 free, I mean, it really does help a lot more when you kind of rest those muscles. Gotta get used to it.
Alison Brown: So you mentioned Summer McIntosh, who even swims more races than you did. Yeah. You raced a lot. You did a lot of [00:07:30] races in Atlanta. What- Yeah … was that just you liked all of them, you were good at all of them, or was there more of a s- a, a, a tactical thinking behind it?
Amy Van Dyken: There was no tactical thinking. The thought process, honestly, Alison, was this: I knew that I would probably make the 100 free in a relay, right?
But you have to remember, I’m going against Jenny Thompson, Angel Martino, who were powerhouse sprinters. So I wanted to make the relay, and then the 100 fly I swam because there [00:08:00] was nothing in the middle of the 100 free, the 50 free. So I swam that. There was a shot in Hades that I was gonna make the 100 butterfly because, again, you know, you had Summer, you had Angel, and then you had Missy Hyman, who was up and coming- Yes
and an amazing 100 butterflyer. And so I thought, “Well, I’ll swim that just to have something in the middle. I’ll probably make the 50 free.” Little did I know that I was going to have the meet of my life and qualify for all those events. And I asked Jonty, I was [00:08:30] like, “What do you think we do?” And he goes, “You made ’em, you swim ’em.
Let’s go.” So we started training for all of that, and it was just pure luck that I ended up with the four gold medals, and I always tell people I would rather be lucky than good.
Alison Brown: So the trials were great. Yeah. The Olympics were even better. Were you aware of the record being no other American woman had won four gold medals?
Was that said to you at the time?
Amy Van Dyken: No, and as a matter [00:09:00] of fact, email was kind of new back then in the early ’90s, and so I remember Jaunty being like, “I don’t want you to check your email. Like, get off the internet. Just stay off the TV. Don’t listen to anything.” And so I didn’t listen to anything. He didn’t tell me.
He told all the other coaches not to tell me. So when I came to the pool that day, and I, I was warming up and I saw all these signs, “Forever Gold Amy”, I was like, “Oh, that’s really sweet. They think I can win one more. Oh, they’re so kind. That’s great.” And it didn’t hit me until I went to the mixed [00:09:30] zone, and I was doing an interview, and they were like, “How do you feel about the record?”
And I was like, “Oh, the Olympic record that I set.” I was like, “Oh, you know, it was a great time. I’ve been working on my start,” blah, blah, and the interviewer got a weird look. And of course in my mind I’m like, “Did I just drop an F-bomb on live television?” So, like, I stopped talking and just smiled, ’cause that’s gonna make that better, right?
And he goes, “No, no, no, you’re the first American woman to win four golds in one games.” I literally looked in the camera, and I was like, “Shut up.” Like, I could not believe it. And then to find out later when all was said and done, that I was the [00:10:00] most decorated athlete, male or female, and now, b- you know, I, I texted Phelps when I found this one out the other day.
I was like, “Ha, I gotcha.” But, uh, I’ve won the most gold medals on American soil, so that’s wild. That, I mean, think about, you know, like Carl Lewis. Think about all these other athletes and, but th- they did ’em away from home. So it’s kinda cool.
Alison Brown: Will you be excited if that gets broken [00:10:30] next, next time around in LA?
Amy Van Dyken: So here’s what I wanna happen. I want whoever wins the 50 free, because that’ll be the second American woman to win the 50 free ever, I want them to be the one that breaks it, I want to be on that pool deck, and I want to be the first person to give that human being a huge hug. You know, records are made to be broken, and, and I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
Um, but that’s what they’re there for. They’re there for a goal for somebody else, and so I wanna be that very, very first person to congratulate them. It’s [00:11:00] about dang time. 30 years.
Alison Brown: Besides the medals and, and the, the races themselves, what are your memories of Atlanta?
Amy Van Dyken: Oh my gosh. The Olympic Village, going through and seeing all the different countries’ flags, sitting down to eat with people from different countries.
The one thing that I loved, and I still have this picture, it was on the cover of USA Today. And you know when you watch the Olympics, it’s a clean pool deck, so there’s only the athletes and the officials. So the picture was taken from high [00:11:30] up, and it was of me and Francesca van Almsick right after the 50 free.
She’s from Germany. She was an amazing sprinter. And we’re just hugging, and it was just so symbolic of how those games were. Like, the most things I… The things I take away most from the Olympics is the friendships that I made, the connections that I made, the people that I got to talk to. You know, walking through and having Maurice Greene in Sydney be like, “Amy Van Dyken!”
And I’m like, “You’re Maurice Greene. How do you know who I am? This is so cool.” [00:12:00] So, like, those are the best memories for me are the people, the, you know, when we would have our shave parties in the, you know, in the rooms, when we would get our nails painted red, white, and blue right before the, the very first day.
Like, those are the memories that I have, and they’re so special. I love them so much.
Alison Brown: Okay, so the shave parties are not a myth.
Amy Van Dyken: No, they’re not. They’re not. And when you’re in college and high school, you order pizza in. So everyone’s there in their Speedo. We’re all shaving, eating pizza, [00:12:30] rocking out to music.
So yeah, the shave parties are not a myth. They happen all the time. And you’re always like… I would be like, “Hey, Dara. Dara, can you get my back for me?”
Alison Brown: So after Atlanta, a lot of things came your way. Mm-hmm. You know, there were the ESPYs, there was Glamour Magazine, there was You Were a Star. How was that adjustment?
Amy Van Dyken: That was wild. So I went into the Olympic Games, and I remember [00:13:00] laughing with Janet Evans, and I was like, “So funny, like, nobody even knows I’m here,” like, and she s- she laughed, and she goes, “Oh, that’s a good thing.”
I was like, “Okay. Well, I guess, but, you know, I, I made the Olympics.” So, um, and then afterwards, I had to go everywhere with security. Um, I remember being in, um, Times Square and looking up and seeing my milk ad, like, just a whole building size of my milk ad, and I was like, “What the actual heck is going on right now?”
So it became a lot. I will say it [00:13:30] was a lot of fun, um, and I got to meet some really cool people. And, um, I d- I relished every moment of it because I just felt like anybody who had the guts to come up and say something to me, like, good on them. You know, that’s really hard. I remember when I was a fan of John Elway, I couldn’t speak in front of the man.
It was absolutely mortifying, and my husband was teammates with him, and they used to go snowmobiling together, and there, there’s Tom’s girlfriend going, “Er.” So I always thought that it was great when people did that, but it was a change of life. You [00:14:00] know, the Broncos, who I’ve been big fans of even before I met my husband growing up in Colorado, they won their first Super Bowl, and I wanted to go to the parade, and I remember they actually had cops at, parked at the park behind my house to make sure I didn’t leave because they were like, “We can’t secure you in this area.”
So it was wild. I couldn’t do a lot of the things that I wanted to do, but at the same time, we were getting swimming out there. Swimming was more visible, and so for me, that was a win. I loved it. I thought it was really great. More people were paying [00:14:30] attention to swimming.
Alison Brown: Now, correct me on the timeline.
Were you still in college at this point? No.
Amy Van Dyken: No, okay. So when I went to my first Olympics, I was 23. Yeah. Um, and I remember everyone called me Grandma, and Amanda Beard, in all of her cute loveliness at 14, when we were all done, she comes up to me. She goes, “Amy, we’re gonna go get tattoos. Do you wanna come with us?”
And I was like, “Absolutely.” She goes, “Great, because I can’t get a tattoo unless my mom signs for me, so you’re gonna have to pretend to be my mom, okay?” I love her very [00:15:00] much.
Alison Brown: But you didn’t retire. You were still swimming through all of this. Yeah. So how did training change when all of a sudden you’ve got four gold medals- Yeah … and no one can talk to you because you’re so famous?
Amy Van Dyken: Well, I would still, you know, swim with Jonty, or I would go up to Colorado State, and I would swim with that team.
But when I was on the road, which was a lot, um, my agent, [00:15:30] Janie Miller, um, who’s still out and about doing Simone Biles and all the people, um, she made sure that there was always a pool that I could train in before my event and after my event. So that’s what I would do, and we just made it work. And Jonty would send, you know, workouts, and I would do the workouts by myself.
It was kind of… It was very… I will say this, having a lot of fame is very lonely, and you have to kinda get used to being by yourself a lot. And I love people, so for me that was, that was kind of [00:16:00] hard. But, and training by myself was hard ’cause I loved, you know, harassing my teammates and all the fun things.
Alison Brown: You also started getting a lot of injuries in this time period- Mm-hmm … between- Mm-hmm … Atlanta and Sydney. What was going on?
Amy Van Dyken: Um, well, the first one, I was in the weight room, and I was showing off for a very cute ball- volleyball player, and he was like, “Oh, I heard you were strong.” And I was just warming up.
I’m like, “I am strong.” So I slapped on all my weight, and I had the bar over [00:16:30] my head, and then I just kinda tweaked my shoulder a little bit. It dislocated and kinda popped out through my armpit. And yeah, so we got, we got that one fixed. So I ended up tearing my labrum, and we didn’t really know it, so I kept training through it.
And I remember there was a swim meet, and I can’t remember which one it was. I think it was like the Oklahoma City Dash for Cash, and it was my favorite swim meet of all time, and, uh, Jaunte and I talked about it, and I couldn’t go. I couldn’t race. So when they were gone, I ended up going to, um, uh, the [00:17:00] neurosurgeon for the Colorado Rockies, and he did all the MRIs and everything, and he’s like, “You tore your labrum, like, pretty good.”
So ended up having surgery. So they repaired the labrum. They did a thermal capsular reduction ’cause it had popped out so many times. So they shrunk up my elbow or my, my, my shoulder. And it was funny because I woke up, and they’re like, “How you feeling?” I’m like, “My left arm is sore.” And they’re like, “That’s because we were testing it to make sure it was even with the other one.”
And so it took 18 months to get back in the pool for a race, and that very first [00:17:30] race I did it again. And I went to the doctor, and they were like, “Yeah, no.” And at this time I was with my husband, my then boyfriend, now husband, who was playing for the Broncos, so I went to the Broncos doctors, and they were like, “Yeah, you’re probably done.
Like, you’re never… I don’t think you’re gonna be able to swim. We’re just gonna try to get you to be able to pick up kids if you want to.” And I was like, “I’m sorry, have we not met? Do you not know who I am? Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do because I will go ahead and do it.” And so I left the training center at [00:18:00] that time because I knew that we couldn’t get ready fast enough, but I knew John Mattos could get me ready for at least the 50 free, and that’s kind of all we were looking at is just the 50 free.
We would do the 100, but I couldn’t swim butterfly anymore, which was really heartbreaking. And so I went to Olympic trials, and if you look, every time I’m on the awards podium, I’ve got a TENS unit on my shoulder and ice. So every– but it’s my right arm, so every time I went to shake the hand of a dignitary, my hand was just going like crazy.
So [00:18:30] yeah, I was like, “Ah.” And, um, yeah, it was wild, but it took a lot between prelims and finals to get me ready to be able to race finals. And so that’s ultimately why I ended up retiring, was just because the injuries were too much.
Alison Brown: How do you handle the mental load of that? ‘Cause that’s- That was a lot
that’s a lot to take on and, and- Mm-hmm … then still continue to train.
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah, it was a lot, and it was a lot of pain. Um, I remember just taking, you know, uh, [00:19:00] anti-inflammatories. At the time it was Vioxx. Now we know that that’s really bad for you, so it’s off the market. But I was, you know, taking that all the time.
I was just trying to do whatever I could in the pool, and it was super hard because here I am at a college, and these girls are just kicking my butt in practice. And it was so disheartening sometimes, but I just had to look at the end goal. Like, I just needed to swim one length of the pool as fast as I could and see what would happen.
And [00:19:30] so at this time, Dara Torres is now making her comeback and swimming lights out. So now I’ve got, you know, I think Angel had retired at that point, so now I’ve got Jenny and Dara, and I’m like, “There’s, there’s not a chance that I’m gonna make this 50 free, but we’re gonna go for it.” And so, you know, being at Olympic trials was a different trials than it was in ’96.
You know? I was a seasoned vet. People were all looking at me to see what I could do. Meanwhile, I’m just sitting there crying b- af- before and after every race because I was in so much pain. [00:20:00] So to be able to make two relays in the 50 free, like, I mean, thank you, God, because that’s the only way that I made it, you know?
There was no other reason. I, I shouldn’t have made that team.
Alison Brown: But you did.
Amy Van Dyken: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And you get to Sydney, and you don’t do so bad.
Amy Van Dyken: Not great, not bad. I mean, I walk away with two more gold medals and a fourth place. So, Alison, if you look at my career, it’s wild. My very first Olympic race, the 100 free, I got fourth.
I got gold for the next races, [00:20:30] and then my very last race, the 50 free, I got fourth. Fourth. And it wasn’t a bad fourth. I went the same time that I went in Atlanta, so it wasn’t, like, so heartbreaking and, and all of that. Like, it was heartbreaking ’cause it was over, and I knew it was over. But, um, the time I was happy with.
You know, I was happy that my teammate got on the podium. Um, but you know, it, it was also one of those where I was also, um, happy ’cause I, I knew that I had a great career, and I knew it was time for someone else to take over.
Alison Brown: [00:21:00] So you’re looking at retirement. What did you expect your retirement… It’s funny to say, you know, retiring at 27.
But what did you expect that next part of your life to look like at that point?
Amy Van Dyken: Nothing like what it looks like. I thought I was going to go back to school, get my degree. I was gonna teach high school biology to deaf students, which is just kind of a weird thing to wanna do, but my second language was sign language.
I took it at University of Arizona, got really embedded with the deaf community, and they are amazing [00:21:30] people, funny, uh, very off-color, just like I am, so we got along great. Um, that’s what I wanted to do, but then I start traveling around again, start doing more things, and then the whole media thing just happened.
It was a fluke, Alison. So, like, there was a local station, and their sportscaster was gone for a week, and they were like, “Let’s do celebrity sportscasters.” So they had some Broncos and some Colorado Rockies do it. They asked if I would do it. I was [00:22:00] like, “Sure, I’ll come in and do it.” So as soon as I’m done, the, um, news director comes in and grabs me and says, “I need to talk to you.”
And I was like, “Okay,” and he said, “We wanna hire you for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. We’re gonna cover them. Do you wanna go?” And I was like, “Sure.” So I go, we do all the prep, we do everything. Now mind you, I’ve never in my life done a live shot, ever. Never. There I am, I’ve got my IFB in, the microphone, the camera’s going, the light’s on.
It’s dark because it’s early morning. I was doing the morning [00:22:30] show and the night show, and I was like, “Oh, we’re gonna do a practice.” And I hear, “All right, we’re going to Amy live in three, two, one, go.” And I was like, “Uh.”
So trial by fire. And then after that, it just started progressing, and I just kept getting hired to do things, and all of a sudden I’m a sideline reporter for NFL on Fox. And then, you know, I just, I keep doing it, you know. I become the, the only female voice on Fox Sports Radio at that time as a co-host, and [00:23:00] that was awesome.
And then that just kept going. I, um, and then, you know, I got injured, so then it kinda took a backseat, but we’re back at it again, girl.
Alison Brown: Hold that thought ’cause I d- We, we’re g- we are gonna get to that and what’s- Okay. … going on right now. But I did wanna ask about being a women, a, a woman in male-dominated sportscasting, because it’s something that we deal with all the time.
And what was that like for you being on Fox of all places and dealing with the NFL? [00:23:30]
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah, and, and all the sports, and my co-host was a, a former World Series champion. So, you know, like, we did all the sports. And the thing is, is that I studied the sports I didn’t know, and I became very, very knowledgeable.
Men had a really hard time with it at first. When we were first on the air, we made jokes that if my Twitter feed didn’t call me the C word at least four times that week, and my life didn’t get threatened at least once, we weren’t doing [00:24:00] our job. You know, I remember getting hung up on all the time, and I’m like, “Why are they angry?
Because they just figured out they don’t know football, or they figured out a woman knows more about football than them?” Like, I’m always kind of snarky, and I always kinda brush it off. As we progressed, the men would stop asking my co-host questions and start asking me questions about sports. So it, it kind of switched, and now you see women in sports all the time, and it is so awesome to see because they are so knowledgeable.
[00:24:30] And you can say, well, they didn’t play football. Okay. Well, maybe they played flag football. Maybe they learned football with their dad on the sofa like I did. You know? So they’re very, very knowledgeable, and I, I love that women are now, um, getting looked at for more opportunities in the sports world. It’s not saying it’s easy for women in the sports world at all, as you know, Alison.
I mean, it’s, it’s very, very hard. We have to prove ourselves above and beyond the men. We have to prove that we know a hundred times more than they do about anything because you will [00:25:00] get quizzed, you will get tested, and you have to be able to give those answers, articulate it well, and let people know that you know your stuff.
But you know what? I think it’s a blessing that, that we’re able to do it now and, you know, have the first female play-by-play in football has been amazing. I love it. I think that it’s so good, and I wish it would change to where people didn’t look at your gender. They just looked at you as a human being and what you know and what they– you can teach someone [00:25:30] else.
Alison Brown: You needed to get a thick skin pretty quick. Very quick. Did you, did you have it or did it come to you?
Amy Van Dyken: No, it had to come to me. I did not have a thick skin. I was that person where I was like, “I want everyone to like me.” And then I get on social media and I realize nobody likes me. And so I… we just ran with it, and that’s why we made the joke about the C-word and the death threats, ’cause I did get called the C-word all the time, and the FBI was actually following my Twitter feed back in the [00:26:00] day.
So, um, it was, it was pretty gnarly, but I now have a thick skin, and now when I get comments back that are just a little snarky, I either snark back or say something kind. It depends on what kind of mood Amy’s in that day, and, you know, I just take it with a grain of salt, and I’m like, “Listen, it’s just someone having a bad day needing someone to vent off to,” so here we are.
Alison Brown: So you’re doing all this reporting, you’re married, life is good, and then you have an [00:26:30] accident.
Amy Van Dyken: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: I don’t know how much detail you wanna go into what happened or how squeamish I’m gonna be, so we’re gonna try this.
Amy Van Dyken: We’ll try it. We’ll try it.
Alison Brown: So it’s 2014?
Amy Van Dyken: Yes.
Alison Brown: Yes. And it’s an ATV accident.
Amy Van Dyken: It was. Okay.
And it was a weird accident because we had been out that day tree bashing, and I’d fallen over a bunch of times. Nothing happened. I think I got some scratches. Um, but that night we were up [00:27:00] in the mountains in Arizona, and we had a house in a golf course community, so you either walk or take your ATV or your golf cart.
Like, nobody drives. And I always wear- wore five-inch stiletto heels because I loved them, and I could at six feet, and then I was like, I could look my husband in the eye and be like, “And no, put that down.” So we were gonna walk ’cause it was like a quarter of a mile away, but of course, me with my big girl shoes, as we called them, we couldn’t do it.
So my husband wanted to take his truck, and I was like, “Babe, we’ve been [00:27:30] living in Los Angeles. Like, I need to feel cr- fresh air on my face. Let’s just… You take your motorcycle, I’ll take my ATV. We’ll be fine.” So we went into the restaurant, and the thing I remember is I had trout and steamed broccoli. I don’t know how that’s relevant to anything, but it’s the thing I remember.
I remember pushing in my chair, but that’s where my memory stops. Um, my husband normally would have ta- taken off in front of me, and had he done that, I wouldn’t be here ’cause he wouldn’t have found me. Um, he said that [00:28:00] he was messing with his motorcycle. He was like, “Babe, I’ll meet you at home. Go ahead.” So he said, “I took off and I was going straight,” and he said there was no movement, no noise, and not even a flicker of a brake light.
I hit a curb like you have in the parking lot, flew over a six-foot cliff, my back wrapped around a tree backwards. I landed, the ATV landed on my head, and he came running over, and I was face down, and he could see from his angle that my back was really broken. So [00:28:30] there was a doctor who had been there, um, at dinner, and he saw the whole thing, but he had been drinking, so he couldn’t do anything.
And so he called 911, and it turns out that my first responder was the guy who owned the CrossFit box that I was at that day, and I was actually talking to him earlier that day. Mm. So he gets there. He calls Flight For Life. Um, at… Well, when my husband gets down, he sees I’m not breathing too, so he gently rolls me over and lifts up my neck, and I start convulsing, and [00:29:00] my eyes went two different directions for quite a while.
He says probably four minutes. And then Flight For Life comes. They get me stable enough to put me into the chopper. They get me in there and, um, my first responder, uh, DJ, he was like, “I… Just so you know, her brain injury is so bad, she probably will not remember who you are.” So my husband had to drive four and a half hours with that thought in his head, and I get flown to a level one trauma center in Scottsdale.
And, um, I get there, I don’t remember [00:29:30] any of this. The surgeon, and this is interesting ’cause I’ve been, you know, in the hospital many times since with other issues with paralysis, and run into some of my nurses that were on my trauma team, and they said, “Thank goodness that your surgeon was on that night.”
And I’ve asked a few times, like, why? And they said, “Well, ’cause he was gnarly.” So he was. He was embedded with the Navy SEALs, like he was a young neurosurgeon ready to rock and roll. And they said had the other surgeon been there, he would’ve just made me comfortable. We all know what that [00:30:00] means, right?
Right. So I remember right before I go into the operating room and my surgeon is holding up his phone and he’s like, “You’re not understanding, Amy. This is your X-ray. I have the best cardiothoracic surgeon that I can find, and he’s gonna be in there with me. W- I’m going to do my best to get you out of that s- operating room, but I don’t know if I can.”
So when I dislocated, one of my vertebrae was, they call it a nanometer. It was a nanometer away from my aorta. So if I would’ve been moved wrong or anything, I wouldn’t be here. [00:30:30] So I remember going into the operating room, and I remember operating rooms from, you know, shoulder and stuff, and they were very loud and music was playing, but this one was silent and everyone was moving very methodically.
And I remember I looked over and I saw four people standing there with waders on ’cause it was really bloody surgery and they all had Igloo coolers And I remember thinking about when I was in ICU, and Alison, this is the weirdest feeling ever, to be like, “I’m here,” but for people who were [00:31:00] called who needed a heart, a liver, a kidney, were called and said, “We’ve got one for you,” and then they were told, “No, we don’t.”
So, like, that whole juxtaposition was very, very weird. But I spent three weeks in ICU, and then I got in my first wheelchair, and I was like, “Let’s roll.”
Alison Brown: So you wake up after the surgery. What did they tell you at that point?
Amy Van Dyken: Um, pardon me. They had told me that I had died a few [00:31:30] times in my accident, which I did know.
I did know that. Um, no one had to tell me I was paralyzed. I knew that from the second I woke up because I knew that people, there was at least three people every half an hour that would come to switch me from my right side to my left side. I knew I couldn’t move. I knew I was getting lots of fluids. I didn’t have to tinkle.
I knew the other one didn’t have to happen. Like, I knew I was paralyzed. But knowing that I had died so many times in that accident, like, I was just [00:32:00] happy to be alive, and I was okay. And there was a 72-hour period after the spinal surgery where you can go into spinal shock and die. They can’t stop it. So they were keeping my blood pressure super high and all the things that they do, and I just remember, pardon me.
Pardon me. And I just remember being happy that I was there. You know, my book club came in, and we were told to be quiet, that the ICU was not a sorority. And you know, I, I tried to make the best of it, but I [00:32:30] knew my life was gonna be completely different. Um, I, I didn’t know really how different it was gonna be in those moments, but I just knew I wasn’t gonna be able to walk anymore
Alison Brown: So you’re facing that, and do you immediately go into Amy Van Dyken, gold medalist, I can conquer anything, or something in between of five stages of grief?
Like, w- where was, where was your head going through this process, especially those, those three weeks [00:33:00] in the ICU?
Amy Van Dyken: I just thought to myself, “This is another Olympic race. Get yourself ready. Prepare yourself.” I didn’t have the five stages of grief until after I got out of the rehab hospital and I was back at home, and then it happened.
But while I was there, you know, I just thought, “When I go to the physical therapy, when I go to the occupational therapy, I am going to be the best at it that I can be.” And what’s really interesting, Alison, is that when I was there, I [00:33:30] would see a lot of people give up on themselves in the therapy sessions, ’cause we would do group and then we would do individual.
So when we were in the group, they gave up on themselves. And I remember thinking, “Thank God I trained so hard and so long, and I know what my body can do. I know when my mind is gonna tell me that my body needs to stop, but I know when to keep pushing.” And so I think I was really, really, uh, lucky to have been able to have that background, because a lot of people didn’t have it, and they were in the [00:34:00] rehab hospital months longer than I was.
I was released pretty early.
Alison Brown: What did you think your life was gonna look like when you got out of that hospital?
Amy Van Dyken: I thought it was gonna be normal, but I was gonna be in a wheelchair. That’s what I thought. That’s what I thought. Um, I got a very rude awakening very quickly on, you know, I woke up, um, and I was having a lot of problems, um, doing what we call our bowel program.
You have to teach your body when to go, and I [00:34:30] remember waking up the first morning that I was here, and, well, I didn’t have a problem with my bowel program, and it was just horrible. And then, you know, you have to deal with the bladder situation. You have to deal with, you know, your diaphragm is partially paralyzed.
You have to deal with all this other stuff and, you know, not only that, I’m one of the lucky ones where I have severe pain from my belly button, the top of my belly button all the way down to my tippy toes, twenty-four/seven, all the time. It’s never stopped, [00:35:00] and so having to deal with that. Also, learning how society treats the disabled community was really disheartening.
Really, really bad. Um, I did have a friend, though, Dave Denniston, who I swam with. He almost made the Olympic team in two thousand. He was a breaststroker. He dated my sister in high school. He had been injured years before me, so I would call him all the time and be like, “Is this normal? How am I gonna get through this?
When is this gonna stop?” So I really think that [00:35:30] without him, I would probably still be floating in the wind. Um, but thank goodness for the swimming community. We’re always there for each other and, um, you know, he really helped me out, and it took a while. It took a few years before I was like, “All right, here we go.
This is the new normal. We know we’re gonna be in pain all the time. We know that your bladder is just, you know, a pile of crap, and it’s not gonna cooperate with you at all. You know that sometimes if you go out to Taco Bell, you better run home just in case ’cause you don’t know when it’s gonna [00:36:00] happen.”
But I went out, and as soon as I got my stuff together, I joined a gym for the disability community. There’s a lot of, uh, disabled veterans there, which helped me so much. Um, I joined the, the Wheel WOD team, which is a CrossFit team. Um, ended up being the second fittest seated female athlete on the planet one year.
Um, I rock climb. I went snow skiing, which I love. Water skiing, which I love. Um, I’ve done [00:36:30] pretty much anything. I’ve got a mountain bike out in my garage that I take out all the time. So I have learned how to adjust. Just like how you learn to adjust to a competitor that’s next to you, I’ve learned to adjust my life.
And I will tell you what, after going through the grief and all of that, I have got an amazing life. I have got amazing friends, um, amazing family, so I just– I’m super, super lucky. But everything now is… I won’t say everything is awesome, um, but I do have bad [00:37:00] moments, and I just make them moments. I can’t make them my whole day because I know that life is short, and so I don’t wanna be, like, in a really bad mood, and then something happened, and then on my headstone, “Here lies Amy.”
She was a great swimmer and kind of a dick. So I wanna, like, change that. And so I try, I try to, you know, get out of those bad moods as quickly as I can so that I can put my best foot forward and really have a great life. ‘Cause if you live in misery, it just kind of keeps piling up and piling up. So you’ve [00:37:30] gotta smile at least once a day
Alison Brown: Have you ever considered competing in parasport?
Amy Van Dyken: So people asked me that, Alison, right when I was done. My answer is no, no, no, hell no, because I got injured at 41. There’s no way I could train anymore. Plus, you do not wanna see a 41-year-old or now 53-year-old in a Speedo. Like, God did not make a Speedo for an older woman.
Alison Brown: There, there are other [00:38:00] parasports.
You can para-sit ski. I could- And then everything is covered
Amy Van Dyken: I could, Alison. However, when you watch the Paralympics, those are, those people are flying down that hill, and there is no way. Yes. I’m, like, dilly-dallying. I’m, like, just, like, whoop-a-doop-a-doop, so happy to be there, and then grab a glass of wine when it’s all over.
Like, that’s, that’s how I like to ski now, so… And I love to watch the Paralympics. I think it’s amazing.
Alison Brown: I [00:38:30] had read that you were involved in a bionics research.
Amy Van Dyken: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: So let- let’s talk about that a little bit because you were able to take, uh, uh, take a few steps, take steps. Mm-hmm. How… Te- talk about that.
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah, so when I got home from Colorado, when I got back to Arizona, um, I continued my, uh, physical therapy, and they put me in an exoskeleton. And it was hilarious ’cause you stand up, and it makes all these mechanical noises, and you’re in a hallway where doctors and nurses are walking back and [00:39:00] forth ’cause you’re in a hospital, and you’re gonna walk the hallway.
And every time I did this, all the doctors and nurses would look at me, so I… You know, I’m like, “I don’t want people to stare at me,” so I’d be like, “I’ll be back.” And then, you know, the machine would help you walk, and it was really, really cool. But it got to the point where, um, I was doing so well that they actually put me in braces, and there was one day where I took by myself 50 steps.
Wow. And I remember thinking to myself, [00:39:30] like, and, and wanting to do the math, but also I don’t do math, that’s not my jam. Like, how many strokes did I take in my lifetime? And none of those compared to those 50 steps I took. Like, uh, no other feeling, no other medal, no other anything ’cause I was not at that moment trying to be, you know, something good for my country.
I was fighting to get my life back. And so it was awesome. It was so much fun. Through that, I’ve been able to do things with Apple. If you notice [00:40:00] now, they have a wheelchair setting. So myself and a whole bunch of other people, um, helped them out with that, and it’s been really cool. I’ve been able to do a lot of awesome things through this paralysis that I never thought would open up for me.
Alison Brown: You mentioned earlier about the, the issues with the disability community in, in the real world. So let’s talk a little bit about that as well and some of the things that just day to day- Mm-hmm … that you’re dealing with when you go out in the world. [00:40:30]
Amy Van Dyken: Parking is one. Um, you know, people park in those spots ’cause they’re closer.
They don’t realize that the reason those hashes are there are so that I can open my door all the way and pull my wheelchair out, put the wheels back on, and get into it. So when they take those spots up, they’re taking our freedom away. There was one day I was going to pick up the mail, and there was a guy who pulled into the handicap spot before me.
So I just waited ’cause he didn’t have a placard on his… And I was in a mood. He didn’t have the placard on his license plate, and he didn’t [00:41:00] put one up. So he gets out, and I go, “Excuse me, sir.” Now, mind you, I’m driving a Camaro SS at this time. Which stands for super sexy. It’s fine. So I go, “Excuse me, sir, are you handicapped?”
And he snarks at me, and he goes, “No. Why, are you?” So I roll my window all the way down, and I pulled my wheelchair off. I go, “I’m not, but my wheelchair is.” He goes, “I’m just gonna be a minute. I’m just gonna be a minute. It’ll be fine.” And that was the only spot in that whole parking lot. So snarky Amy, I go, “Okay, great.”
So I parked right behind him, put my car [00:41:30] in park, leaned my seat all the way back. I got on Snapchat and TikTok and just sat there for forty-five minutes. And he, like, would pop his head out. He’d go, “I’m just gonna be a minute. It’ll be fine. It’ll… I’m just gonna be a minute.” And I remember he told the guy who owned the shop that I was going to, he’s like, “I had to take it.
I had to take it, and I’ll never do it again.” So you talk about parking. That’s fine. Um, you talk about other people not understanding that, you know, sometimes a barrier in a house even this high can, can be awful for us. [00:42:00] We get overlooked a lot. We get treated very, very poorly, um, when you’re out and about.
People seem to think that they can ask you questions that are not appropriate. And you know me, I just answer ’em. But a lot of people in my community are just mortified at some of the things that people say to us, you know? And the one that I hate is, “Oh, it’s so good to see you out. Bless your heart.” I’m like, “Girl, come on now.
It’s good to see you out.” Like, come [00:42:30] on. Like… Or, like, you know, I go pick up a pizza, “You are an inspiration.” And I’m like, “Okay. No. Like, let- we’ll just stop right there.” So people try to be good. Um, you know, and we’re trying… Now society’s learning more about, you know, marginalized communities, but I really feel the disability community is one of those that, um, really needs to step up because I, I posted something about parking the other day on Instagram, and people were fighting me about it.
What? Why are you fighting me about it? I’ve been a paraplegic for twelve years. Like, I know better than you. Like, don’t [00:43:00] come at me. Like, don’t at me if I didn’t call for you. Like, just zip it. So again, that’s where the thick skin comes in. And I really do try to help with disability rights. Um, but, you know, there are things like I ch- I’ve checked into hotel rooms, and I can’t get up on the bed, and I’m like, “I thought this was an accessible room.”
“Well, we didn’t know you would be traveling alone.”
Alison Brown: Well, then it’s not- Okay … an accessible room if you need someone.
Amy Van Dyken: Correct. So yeah, things like that happen. People just, they don’t [00:43:30] know well enough, and you don’t know what you don’t know. So that’s why on Instagram I try to teach, and I do my teachable moments to show people that, “You know what?
This is not acceptable. This is.” So I used to always do bathroom tours when I would go into a hotel, and I’d be like, “Tell me what’s wrong or right about this room.” And it was cool. People were, like, getting it. And so, you know, I just love it. I love being able to teach people. But it is a, a marginalized community that really has been overlooked for a lot of years, and we need to really, um, start being looked at because we are a part of society.[00:44:00]
One in 50 people have some sort of paralysis. It may not be in a wheelchair. Um, so, you know, people need to, to be a little bit more understanding to us.
Alison Brown: And you may not be disabled today, but there’s likely gonna be a time where even temporarily- Mm-hmm … where you are facing a disability.
Amy Van Dyken: Exactly, and I always tell people that snark at me, I was like, “Listen, karma is a nasty lady, and my community is one of those that you can join at any moment, so just watch yourself.”[00:44:30]
But also that being said, Alison, another thing that drives me nuts is someone that goes, “Oh, I broke my femur. I was in a wheelchair for six weeks. I totally understand what you’re going through.” No, you don’t
Alison Brown: You understand a little.
Amy Van Dyken: Yeah, a little bit. Right. You, you understand the getting around part, you know, but there are so many other things, and I will say this, paraplegics and quadriplegics do not pass away from their paralysis.
They pass away from a secondary issue that comes up, you know, be it [00:45:00] a bedsore, be it, you know, ’cause we’re sitting all day long and we don’t know when to move. Um, you know, or be it things that I’m dealing with now, like bladder stuff. So the, uh, that’s the thing, and people just kinda need to understand that
Alison Brown: So how is your health now?
Amy Van Dyken: It is good. I’m getting ready for my hopefully final bladder surgery on September 12th. We are hoping. So, um, yeah, I– uh, that would be great. I’ve done a… I’ve had a lot of problems with it. I [00:45:30] have MRSA. I’ve got Enterobacter because I’ve had so many infections. And so now, um, which is what we just did, I got a tube placed, um, right at my pubic bone, and it drains into a bag, which I will carry around with me for the rest of my life because I can’t have anything sit in my bladder or otherwise it will turn into…
And I’ve been septic before, where the nurses in the hospital have had to wake me up and throw ice on me and, you know, have to do the go home with the port and the IV [00:46:00] antibiotics. So we’re just gonna let it just drain out. We’re gonna let her heal herself, let my kidneys heal themselves, and we are rocking and rolling, Alison.
I am actually feeling better than I have in a really, really long time. So thank you for asking. The pain is still always there. I have a spinal cord stimulator which helps that. I’m on meds. I know it’s gonna be there every day, but it’s now something that I can live with, so we’re killing it, girl.
Alison Brown: And professionally, what’s happening?
Amy Van Dyken: So professionally, um, I had been working at the Pac-12 Network since, um, the [00:46:30] second year of its inception, calling swimming, so I’ve gotten to see amazing people like Simone Manuel, uh, you know, um, uh, Katie Ledecky, like the list goes on from the Pac-12. Now I’m doing ACC Network, so I get to see the Walshes, Kate Douglass, you know, all of them.
I do men’s and women’s swimming. Um, I also call the preliminaries for NBC Olympics, and we actually won an Emmy last year. I don’t know if you guys remember Bob the Cap Catcher. He was my call. [00:47:00] So that was part of the Emmy because, uh, we didn’t know what to do when this man with his lovely dad bod just shows up on deck in a Speedo.
So I called his race, and I said, you know, and I, I remember being- I remember that. It was fantastic … it was so much fun. And I was like, “There’s Bob. Bob’s ready to catch the cap.” And my, my play-by-play was like, “Bob, that’s not his full name. What’s his full name?” And I’m like, “Um, duh, Bob the Cap Catcher.” Alison, I was in the makeup chair the next morning getting ready for prelims, and the other girls next to me, their producers came in, and they [00:47:30] were like, “Okay, we’ve called for– to get Bob the Cap Catcher.
We can’t get him. He doesn’t wanna do interviews.” And I’m like, “What happened overnight?” Snoop Dogg was talking about him. Like, everyone was talking about Bob the Cap Catcher. This poor man, his name is probably Jacques. He hates me. But also, why are you there in a Speedo? Like, what are you doing? You know?
Like, I loved it. I loved it for the Olympics. I loved it for NBC. We had a great time with him. He hates me.
Alison Brown: I doubt that, Amy. How could anyone hate you? [00:48:00]
Amy Van Dyken: Well…
Alison Brown: What are you excited about for LA ’28?
Amy Van Dyken: Oh my gosh. I’m excited to have the Olympics back on US soil. I am excited for these men and women to see how the US crowd comes out and turns out for our Olympians.
I am excited to watch swimming. We have got so many amazing athletes on the men’s and the women’s side. I am excited for either Kate Douglas or Gretchen Walsh to become the second American woman to win the 50 free, possibly [00:48:30] one of them winning five Olympic gold medals. I am excited for all of it. I’m excited for the track and field.
I hear Simone Biles is coming out, back, so I’m excited for the gymnastics. It’s gonna be an amazing Olympics, and I’m just excited to be there. Hopefully, I will be a part of it in some way, hopefully with NBC, but if not, I will be wheeling around all those venues, yelling and screaming as loud as I can with my flag.
So I will be there one way or another, and I’m going to definitely celebrate all of those athletes, [00:49:00] f- especially the swimmers.
Alison Brown: And swimming’s gonna be in a football stadium. Your worlds come together.
Amy Van Dyken: Isn’t that amazing? My husband and I laugh about that. We were watching a preseason game, and I go, “Can you believe that that’s where swimming is gonna be?”
He goes, “Oh, they are gonna pack that house, and it is gonna be so loud.” And Alison, that’s what I’m excited for, right? ‘Cause I remember when we did that for the first time at trials last time, and people were like, “It was weird because it was kinda quiet on the deck. We couldn’t hear a lot of people.” I’m gonna tell you what, ladies and gentlemen, you are going [00:49:30] to hear that crowd down on that pool deck at SoFi, so get ready for it.
I am so excited. But yeah, so my husband can probably get down there as well. I’ll be down there as well. Um, it’s just gonna be a riot. I’m so stoked.
Alison Brown: Well, fantastic. Thank you so much for taking some time with us. It’s been a lot of fun.
Amy Van Dyken: Oh, Alison, you are, uh, so awesome. Thank you so much for having me on. It is an absolute honor, and I love chatting with you.
Thank you.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Amy. You can find more, , at, amyvandyken.com. [00:50:00] She is also on Instagram and LinkedIn, and she’s gonna be joining the ranks of podcasts hosts soon. She’s working with Dr. Lisa Strohman on a podcast called “The Power of One,” so look out for that in your podcast players. Uh, and again, great job on this.
This was so interesting. I was-
Alison Brown: Thank, thank you. Amy did the heavy lifting. She was a fantastic guest.
Youth Olympic Games – Dakar 2026: Torch Relay Underway
Jill Jaracz: We have Youth Olympics Games news, which we’re just [00:50:30] sliding into IOC news because they aren’t gonna be around much longer.
Alison Brown: I know. That’s the thing. the Youth Olympic Games are gonna become this weird blip in Olympic history, it seems like. It seems like- Yes … they’re, they’re on their way out and, and they’re not gonna continue with them.
So this’ll be their swan song in a lot of ways.
Jill Jaracz: that’s interesting to think about it like that, and what are we gonna think about this 25 years later when you go look back and go, “Oh [00:51:00] yeah, we had these things called Youth Olympic Games. Remember those?” It’s kinda like when in the US, remember the Goodwill Games?
Which a lot of people don’t. Or the US Olympic Festival, which came across my, radar the other day. All these blips of things that were so big at the time. And
Alison Brown: so important.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, one last Summer Youth Olympic Games that will be in Dakar, As we record, the flame has not been lit, but as you listen to this, the flame will have been lit.
[00:51:30] They are, uh, lighting it in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens and used a parabolic mirror to create the fire. The flame arrives in Dakar on September 12th. There’s gonna be a big ceremony there. Then it’s the start of the Dakar 2026 Flame Tour with the tagline, “Pass the energy.” The tour is gonna be a 30-stop r- journey across all 14 regions of the country.
So torch [00:52:00] relay, get ready for it. Get ready for some Youth Olympic Games action. Those start on October 31st, and they run to November 13th.
Alison Brown: We’re ready. I’m actually a little excited because we’ve never been to Africa. I mean, not that we’re going to the Youth Olympic Games- Right … but just as a, a movement, the Olympics has never been to Africa.
Yes. And to have this in Dakar, will be interesting to see how it plays.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I’m really excited to see that aspect of it. They also, I think, will have coastal [00:52:30] rowing, so we’ll get to see a little bit of that. Um, I think olympics.com or the Olympic Channel online is streaming all of this stuff, so we’ll see what we can see.
We’ve had a Facebook poll put up on our Facebook group, that’s Keep the Flame Alive podcast, asking whether or not you would like to listen to coverage of the Youth Olympic Games. and We’re gonna leave that up for a couple weeks do we do any shows about the Youth Olympic Games and recapping them?
Do we do one show? Do [00:53:00] we do two shows? What would you like to hear? So if you are in the Facebook group, be sure to look for that. It’s pinned to the top of the page. And if you’re not in the Facebook group, join us. We have a lot of fun. There’s been some good conversations lately.
good conversations about maybe using the word Olympian to describe yourself.
Alison Brown: Questionably using the word Olympian to describe yourself
World Games News: Karlsruhe 2029 Sports Program and Disciplines announced
Jill Jaracz: [00:53:30] um-
Alison Brown: Oh, I like that. I like that …
Jill Jaracz: Thank you. I was finding World Games music ’cause we have not had a musical introduction for the World Games to signify them. oh my gosh, I am so excited about the World Games. Karlsruhe 2029, uh, the
Alison Brown: International- You know, somehow we, for years we have missed out on the World Games.
I mean, part of it was because it really wasn’t on television and you couldn’t watch it, and now with streaming they’ve made it very easy to see [00:54:00] all these events. But we’ve gotten ourself so enmeshed in World Games and fin swimming and just these incredible sports that we did not even know existed.
Jill Jaracz: I know. And, and I honestly, I thank, listener Brittany, who is always on World Games stuff. I see, you know, World Games headline, good one comes into the inbox, and I, I g- go to post it in Facebook, and Brittany is already there.
Alison Brown: She’s there.
Jill Jaracz: John, who has been a guest on the show, former World Games athlete, I [00:54:30] guess you’re always called a World Gamesian.
Once a World Gamesian, always a World Gamesian. World Gamer. World Gamer? Hmm. we’ll figure that out. We’ll
Alison Brown: check with John.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. the International World Games Association announced the full sports program for Karlsruhe 2029. So if you are new to the podcast and don’t know what the World Games in, you are in for a treat These are like the Olympics, but for non-Olympic sports, and they’re for also for sports trying to get onto the Olympic program, sports that are [00:55:00] newer to the Olympic program or that, like a host city selected to be in the games but may not be in future editions.
there’s also sports with disciplines that aren’t on the Olympic program. So like gymnastics is in the World Games, but it’s gonna be like acrobatic and, aerobics, and stuff you’re not gonna see in the Olympics at all. World Games have been around since 1981. So we talk about them on this show because the IWGA does have a relationship and [00:55:30] recognition from the IOC, International Olympic Committee, and that’s part of the reason why we care about them,
these are also fun.
Alison Brown: That’s really why we care about
Jill Jaracz: them. Yeah. No, I know. So World Games are a summer only event. They take place the year after an Olympic Games. Next edition is in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2029. Karlsruhe is the first two-time host of the World Games. Third time the games are in Germany. So what’s cool about the World [00:56:00] Games is that the sports program can really change from edition to edition.
Disciplines and sports come and go way more than they do in the Olympics. Uh, there’s only five sports and events within sports that have been in every edition of the game. So those are equipped powerlifting, roller sports, just the speed events have been in every edition. Uh, outdoor tug of war, ’cause I also learned in doing my [00:56:30] research that there was indoor tug of war, and sometimes games had both.
Uh, fin swimming, which is an underwater sport, and then water ski and wakeboard has had an event in every edition of the World Games, but no one event has been in every edition. So the initial sports list came out in April. Some sports have been added. I wanna hear those negotiations because we got the final list of disciplines announced.
They are, [00:57:00] are you ready for this? Skydiving under air sports was at Birmingham 2022. Birmingham, Alabama, which is also how these got on our radar because they were gonna be in Alabama and they were close to home. Uh, flag football, so again, we’ll see that before, um, LA 2028. Field and target archery. Brand new will be air badminton [00:57:30] Brand new will be Baseball 5, which is a small version of baseball that, like, you can play in a parking lot.
So you don’t need a field for this. Um, billiards is back with carom, pool, and snooker. Boules sport will have pétanque and lyonnaise. Uh, cheerleading. Cheerleading is a sport that has been in games before. In the 2025 edition, they had pom. [00:58:00] Pom has been dropped in terms of, uh, in favor of premier cheerleading, which is a mixed team event.
Alison Brown: Oh, right off the bat that means we’re gonna have flyers. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Oh.
Jill Jaracz: climbing is back. It will have boulder, speed, and paraclimbing. Paraclimbing is new. indoor cycling. This is an event that was last seen at the last time Karlsruhe held. [00:58:30] So indoor cycling means artistic cycling.
Alison Brown: What does that even mean?
Jill Jaracz: oh my gosh, go down a rabbit hole with me, everybody.
Alison Brown: This is- And watch some artistic cycling …
Jill Jaracz: this is to music, you like stand on your bike- … and jump on the handlebars and jump back down and spin the wheels around and stuff like that. It’s like, you know, as, as I talk about it, have you ever seen that in, the World Equestrian Games?[00:59:00]
That bareback stuff where they’ll- Oh, yes … do like handstands and stuff on the horses? Well, this is- It’s- … they do it on bikes This is gonna be fun. And fun in a cool way, fun in a I cannot believe this is a sport way. But it will be interesting. , Dance sport will have breaking, standard and Latin.
Fistball will be outdoor fistball, indoor floorball, ultimate [00:59:30] flying disc, and disc golf. Disc golf is back. gymnastics will have, acrobatic, aerobic, parkour, trampoline, and rhythmic. Sadly, tumbling is out again. We loved tumbling when it was in Birmingham.
Alison Brown: Oh, tumbling was
Jill Jaracz: great. I know. Love it, but it’s not back.
Beach handball. Brand new will be hockey fives. Again, another sport that’s trying to get a smaller version of itself, to be a thing. jujitsu will have duo fighting jujitsu [01:00:00] newaza and inclusive self-defense, and inclusive is new. There’s been some para jujitsu before, but I think this is a different version of a, a para element.
karate will have kata, kumite, and para. Para is new. , Kickboxing will have K1 style, which was last seen at Birmingham, and point fighting, which is brand new. Don’t ask me what that is. As I think, uh, producer Ben said, “How many fighting sports can we have?”
Alison Brown: We can have a lot of fighting sports.
We
Jill Jaracz: can have a lot of fighting. [01:00:30] korfball will have beach and indoor versions. sixes lacrosse is on the list. Lifesaving is in the pool. There used to be beach lifesaving as well. but this one This one, folks. I cannot… I can believe because I knew it was a thing. Mini golf
It is a precision sport
Alison Brown: It is a precision sport
I mean, those, water wheels and things don’t, [01:01:00] make it any easier.
Jill Jaracz: Well, w- I’m gonna dig into this because I have a feeling, but I am not sure. I don’t know if competitive mini golf on this level will be obstacles-
Alison Brown: Oh, there has to be …
Jill Jaracz: or if it’s just, I mean, it’s got… Oh, wouldn’t it be… Oh my gosh, wouldn’t it be fun to design that course?
Alison Brown: Yeah, it’ll be like designing the equestrian courses where they have the, the, the sumo tushy- … from Tokyo 2020. [01:01:30] What could you do in Karlsruhe?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know. Bring down the Berlin Wall.
Alison Brown: You have to get through- Just, just- You have to get through the Brandenburg Gate- Just break
Jill Jaracz: through it …
Alison Brown: to get to
Jill Jaracz: the hole Yes. Oh my gosh. Oh, but there’s probably better things in Karlsruhe. Oh my gosh, but mini golf, That, which came out of nowhere. That was not even on the list of stuff we were considering adding, and it just showed up.
combat Muay Thai, foot orienteering. [01:02:00] Paddle has a bunch of stuff. Dragon boat got dropped from the last edition, which was in China, so that makes sense, but dragon boat was cool. But they will have marathon paddle, kayak polo, and paddle para marathon, and para is a new element.
Alison Brown: So many new para sports, which is fantastic.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. equipped power lifting. roller sports will only have speed skating this time around. Typically, there’s, a hockey [01:02:30] version that’s out. Artistic is still out. That was last in 2022. And then remember in Chengdu 2025, that weird freestyle inline stuff?
Alison Brown: Where it was you had to go around the, the little obs- not obstacles The
Jill Jaracz: little cones. The little
Alison Brown: cones. The cones, yes, and- And, and
Jill Jaracz: do a routine.
Alison Brown: We won’t get to see that again.
Jill Jaracz: You know, I don’t mind.
Alison Brown: I can’t say I do either.
Jill Jaracz: , Squash is back. Sumo is back on the program, ’cause it was not at [01:03:00] 2025. So excited.
Sumo is so much fun to watch. duathlon is under the triathlon banner. outdoor tug of war. Underwater sports will have fin swimming, free diving, and free diving for athletes with impairments. we are not fans- We’re- … of free diving.
Alison Brown: We won’t be watching that- No … ’cause that gives me nightmares.
Jill Jaracz: You know, it, it makes me physically sick almost.
Yeah. It’s like watching competitive eating. I can’t do that. if we’re out on 4th of July, I have to physically either [01:03:30] close my eyes, maybe close my ears, or leave the room, because I cannot watch a hot dog eating competition.
Alison Brown: This is the hot dog eating of the World Games.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So free diving, if you’re not aware of this, is how long can you stay underwater and swim back and forth in the pool?
Is there anything else that was involved with it?
Alison Brown: There was
Jill Jaracz: a
Alison Brown: time element-
Jill Jaracz: But it’s just so slow.
Alison Brown: Yeah … in terms of how long and how f- how much distance you traveled in your time.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, and when people came up, there [01:04:00] are lifesaving people in the water because sometimes these people are next to convulsing when they come up.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Am I remembering this correctly?
Alison Brown: It’s not pleasant.
Jill Jaracz: They, and blacking out, there’s elements of that. it’s just- I get you wanna push the limits, but I just don’t get why you wanna push these limits. Anyway, it’s back. water ski and wakeboard will have, cable wakeboarding and cable water ski, and then wushu will have sanda and taolu.
also [01:04:30] out from the last edition of the games, drone under the air sports category.
Alison Brown: Though I can still hear them.
Jill Jaracz: I’m still trying to find them on the course ’cause that was, for me, the hardest thing. , Softball is out. one of the, jujitsu events, which is duo for athletes with impairment, that’s out.
power boating is out. they had electric motosurf in, 2025. classic power lifting is out. Racquetball is out. That is a big one.
Alison Brown: That’s a– And that’s a [01:05:00] surprise.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And then Sambo is out, which is another fighting sport. So big program, exciting program.
Alison Brown: Exciting program. And break– What surprised me was break dancing was back ’cause it was gone at one point. Mm-hmm. It’s back now and wanting to get back into the Olympics.
So we’ll see how it does in this version.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, World Games does not disappoint. We talked a little bit about it in this past week’s newsletter, which is on Substack. If you don’t get it, sign up at our website, [01:05:30] flamealivepod.com. , But yeah, get excited about World Games.
We’re talking about it on the Facebook group already.
I gotta say it’s fun to have this a year after the Olympics when you had that come down from a big summer games. Go right to watching some wushu.
Alison Brown: But not freediving. No. No. Make it stop
Jill Jaracz: No. No. All right. Karlsruhe 2029 looks super exciting. We’ll get [01:06:00] pumped. We’ll try to figure out what we can learn more about the World Games ’cause they are kind of a hard group to get ahold of, and maybe we can have some more World Games coverage in the run-up to that.
But, definitely keep an eye on it and talk about it in the Facebook group. And, , that’s gonna do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.
Alison Brown: And until next time, keep the flame alive