Book Club Claire joins us for a discussion of Seth Berkman’s 2019 book A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History, about the 2018 Winter Olympic Korean women’s unified ice hockey team. This story happened during the podcast’s lifetime. What did we remember? What was new news? Did we fall for the IOC’s unification propaganda?
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TRANSCRIPT
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419-Book Club Claire on A Team of Their Own
Theme Music
Jill Jaracz: 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, Chich joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Gobble, gobble. That sounded more like a pigeon.
Oh, it is officially Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, so we are busy eating some form of food, [00:01:00] probably many forms of food and pie. See, I don’t even like pie. I like pie on Thanksgiving. I do, you can get me on pie on some other occasions depending on the pie, but I am a cake girl. Yeah,
Alison Brown: I’m an ice cream girl.
So if like you make me a, a mud pie with the coffee, ice cream and the chocolate, that’s a, that’s about it.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Because now everybody can, because I’ll be showing up at everybody’s, all our listeners’ houses. For Thanksgiving to do my Turkey impression and ask for mud pie. Just so we’re clear in my pilgrim outfit,
have, we discussed how I’m descended from a pilgrim. I’m not sure we have talked about that on the show. We may have. Yeah. I’m descended from John Hall, the one that fell off the boat, which should come as no surprise to anybody
Jill Jaracz: how, how centuries later his ancestor fell off the mountain.
Alison Brown: Well, you know, I always talk about how I’m afraid of [00:02:00] drowning, and it’s just the John Howand blood. ’cause the poor guy, he saved himself with a rope. But if you do not know this story from the Mayflower, please look it up. It’s really, really funny. And if you are, if you have listen to the show from any length of time, you’ll understand me.
Completely when you hear what happened to John Hallen.
Patron of the Week
Jill Jaracz: Well, you know who else we understand completely? Oh, we love Cynthia. Yes. Our patron of the week is Cynthia Ol. Cynthia has been a long time supporter of the show. I know her through roller derby, so it’s, doubly good ’cause I get to see her every once in a while.
Just an all around lovely human being and we appreciate everything you’ve done for the show and it’s hard for me not to call her by her derby name. What’s her derby, derby name? It is Geo Knitter because she loves to knit. She knits so many cool things and geo because she, uh, works in like water stuff.
She does government work [00:03:00] and, that’s her area She has moved on to from what she originally came up with her name, she’s moved up to a different spot that, but does stuff with maps and things like that and other resources that the government puts together and it’s just fascinating the work she does.
So. Cynthia, thank you so much. If, you know, Cynthia is one of our ongoing patrons and those patrons help keep our flame alive all year round because the money that they, uh, support us with goes to cover our operating costs all year round. The show does have expenses that it incurs along with, The Olympics that we go to every couple of years, but, uh, we really appreciate, Cynthia and all of our other patrons and, celebrate them and keeping our flame alive as well.
If you’d like to be an ongoing patron of the show that you can find out more about that@flamelifepod.com slash support and
Alison Brown: we will
Jill Jaracz: be thankful for you on the show. Exactly.
Book Club Claire on A Team of Their Own by Seth Berkman
Jill Jaracz: Alright, it’s Thanksgiving, [00:04:00] so it’s time to tuck in with a good book and book club. Claire is back. We are talking about the book, A team of Their Own, how an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History by Seth Berkman.
This is about the 2018 Korean women’s ice hockey team and it surprised us. Take a listen.
Jill Jaracz: Claire, welcome back. We are talking about the book, a Team of Their Own, how An International Sisterhood Made Olympic History by Seth Berkman. What do you got for us?
Claire Natsis: I have a book about the 2018 Korean women’s ice hockey team, and yes, I did say Korean because if you recall, in 2018, the, IOC as well as, both federations decided that the women’s hockey teams of North and South Korea were going to be a unified team in the tournament.
Uh, and so this chronicles the. Story of many of those players, especially those from South Korea and also [00:05:00] some Korean Americans and Korean Canadians who participated in that on that team. I, I anticipated it going in one direction when I looked at the title of the book and I’m like, oh yeah, I remember how there was a unified team, but then it took me in a completely different direction.
But before I get to that, I did wanna know your thoughts overall on the book.
Alison Brown: Overall, I want all these girls to be my friends, the characters in this book, and I think, I think Seth Berkman did a really nice job of giving us full pictures of these women. They weren’t caricatures. And the complexity of building a team this way really came through as individual stories and individual struggles.
So that was fun to read. Heartbreaking at different points. But they’re more than just hockey players, and that was a lot of fun to read about.
Jill Jaracz: I also enjoyed the scrappiness of the team and how much disparity [00:06:00] there is between hockey in the US versus hockey and Korea on the women’s side, and even the disparities between women’s hockey in the US and men’s hockey in the us That’s still a huge golf.
And the, the golf that these women had to go through is amazing and it’s interesting to hear their stories and, hopefully get to talk about this. I. Bad about my own, my own ignorance, because I remember distinctly talking about the unified team, and I think I did not go back to the episodes that we talked about this, but I re, I, I distinctly remember feeling like this was something of hope.
And the way they talked about this in the book, you go, oh man, was I dumb to buy into what the IOC and what Korea was trying to send? And the, the propaganda around that. And I felt really bad for all of these women and, They’ve worked so hard for so little, and to be the pioneers of building up a sport in their country, especially when women’s sports are [00:07:00] really, really beaten down, is really amazing.
overall, I got the feeling in the middle of the book of earnestness of really trying to tell Every woman’s story in this book. And then I, I had the hard copy and I usually take the dust jacket off the hardcover. So I went back to the dust jacket and I saw, oh, Seth Berkman is himself an adopted Korean.
Child who lives in the US and like, oh, well that tells me something. And then I was flipping ahead to see how many pages I had left at one point, and I got to the acknowledgements. And it starts off with, a thank you to Sarah Murray, the coach of the, the Korean team. And how she took Seth to task after he wrote an article about the team, and so therefore he wanted to make good on that and do a better story.
So I really felt the earnestness and trying very, very hard to tell each and every woman’s story [00:08:00] throughout this book and to do a good job. And he did do a good job. I think that the earnestness. Makes everything become a little muddled at some points where I got very confused about characters and trying to keep everybody’s story straight and the little timeline stuff I got mixed up on too.
That’s not to say this isn’t a great story to tell, but I, I do think that it taught me a little bit about. Writing and how you approach something and the tones you put into a book and to the story that you’re trying to tell and how they affect the overall product.
Claire Natsis: I noticed that timeline thing the most, I believe, where they were in 2018 and all of a sudden they’re back in 2015 doing, tournaments or assembling the team and then they’re back in 2018 and I couldn’t keep track of it.
that was my biggest thing. I, when it comes to trying to include all of the names on the team and like a little profile of each of [00:09:00] them, I felt that way when we read, if gold is our destiny. About the men’s team, USA, volleyball team from 1984 where all of these men were being listed, and I’m going, I can’t keep track of you and who you are.
And I kind of felt that way with this book as well. I kind of wish that a few more of the Koreans had been highlighted. uh, there were, there were a few that did like, the Captain Park Jona did get mentioned quite a bit, as well as Han Sujin, the goalie. So I recognize those names when they kept popping up, but there were so many others that I wish I could have given them more time and respect for.
but just how they came into the story and some of them didn’t get. on the roster because of everything that happened. it was too bad, but I can agree with you that that kind of, the, the assembling of the story did feel a little muddled until they got to the Olympics and then finally it kind of ironed out after that, which was probably my favorite part.
Jill Jaracz: and even something as simple as putting Subheaders in to [00:10:00] tell you Dateline or where you are, I could go back and forth. That’s fine, but I. It was hard to do it within blocks of paragraphs.
Claire Natsis: Yeah, I agree. although this book did have, I believe, one of your favorite things, which is, endnotes and an index.
And,
Jill Jaracz: I was very happy
Claire Natsis: if you are somebody that enjoys footnotes or endnotes and index indices, uh, then this book is for you. as you were going through, I know we just kind of mentioned how characters weren’t, uh, it, there were so many characters, it was hard to keep track. Was there anybody that kind of stuck out for you?
Alison Brown: Obviously the coach was a huge part of the story. Sarah Murray and how young she was and how she was trying to figure out how to be a coach. On top of how do I coach this team that is both American, Canadian and South Korean, and then all of a sudden North Korean as well, and the language barriers and how she was trying to find her way as a young woman [00:11:00] in really a new profession.
She had not coached. in this way before, and how she loved her team but didn’t wanna show it. She had to be stoic. And that how she explored that, and how she was very willing to talk about it. What I liked a lot about the book with the characters is we’re not getting this immediately, you know, in real time.
This was more retrospective and it, the players and, and Sarah Murray had had time. To think about what this all meant to them, which I thought was very helpful. But she, she stuck out the most and the goalie, what is her name again? Hanji. Yes. She, she’s a winner, man. I love a good goalie
Claire Natsis: and pianist.
She was, she was one of the, yeah, I know. That’s crazy. Jill, what about you?
Jill Jaracz: maybe who stood out to me a lot was, p Jiang, who is also known as Melissa Brandt in the US. She was, one of the [00:12:00] import members of the South Korean team. And, She was, I remember her story because her sister competed for the US team at the same time, and for some reason my brain got really confused when we got into the story and there was a lot on her in the beginning, and maybe it was because it was easier to get ahold of her and interview her, but I honestly thought the, that.
The book was gonna be more about her story and being on the Korean hockey team, as well as her sister’s pathway to the US team, and that through line fell apart. And that was fine because the book was really, really interesting, just talking about the Korean team, but we only got one little mention of her sister in the village having a like a moment.
Because her sister got on the team too, and I just remember that that story being a huge story in the US at the time because the two sisters were competing for different teams.
Claire Natsis: And I don’t remember that at all. when this came up, I’m like, oh, I [00:13:00] wonder if Hannah becomes a really good hockey player.
And she does, and she goes to the Olympics that year. How did I not remember this? Oh, and by the way, you said you didn’t listen to the episode. I did. if you’re curious, everybody, you can scroll back. It’s episode 18 and they talked all about hockey and they interviewed, uh, Jessica Laki, for, the referee.
And it was a very interesting, it was very interesting to hear you guys way back then. Alison sounds exactly the same, even though it’s been eight years. It was, I loved it. but. Go ahead. I was
Alison Brown: probably very confident in being excited about the unified team.
Claire Natsis: Yeah. Both of you were. And, and you, like you said, you kind of drank the Kool-Aid.
Alison Brown: absolutely. And I’m so glad Jill said that because, you know, apologized to, I apologized to the Koreans for drinking the Kool-Aid. What a horrible thing that happened to them and how unfair, and they wouldn’t have done it to the men’s team, but they did it to the women’s team [00:14:00] and we bought the propaganda.
And I’m furious at myself because I know I did.
Claire Natsis: and we watched it and we watched the, the North Korean cheerleaders, which was mentioned a couple of times in this book. And we, I remember thinking that was weird. And so that, that kind of tracks it through this, but it, it, it was a very interesting to, remember that we all thought it was cool and we all thought that them, you know, climbing up the stairs at the opening ceremony was cool and just how, That was very unsettling for the South Koreans, especially. I had no idea that they didn’t meet until January 25th and then what, two weeks later were the Olympics. It’s like that’s. That’s insane. you, you are trying to assemble a team. It’s not just like, you know, um, figure skating where you’re qualifying for a spot and then you compete individually.
This is a team effort and all of a sudden you have to throw in 6, 7, 8 other girls [00:15:00] onto a squad and figure out how you’re all gonna work on the ice together. that’s just not common. So I’m glad that that was really brought up. and how it threw everything off, because you’re right, there was earnestness in this book, but it kind of just ground to a halt As soon as January, 2018 came in and you suddenly, you know, everything’s going hunky dory, and then the, the curve all throws in and you’re just not ready for it.
And the g the women were not prepared for it either. Um. I know we kind of been talking about it. this was your first year of doing your podcast, and you were doing a lot of research about, about the sports in general, but I know that you were prepping for South Korea as well.
Do you remember if there was a lot of hostility with North and South Korea? I’m having a hard time remembering it ’cause it’s been eight years. But I kind of wanted to think of, as you guys were starting your podcast, what was the vibe of, of the Winter Olympics then?
Alison Brown: [00:16:00] You know, that’s very hard to recall.
I mean, there’s always tension whenever it comes to sporting events with North and South Korea, and I remember that was a concern. You know, would North Korea throw a hissy fit in some very dangerous way? That this agreement about the hockey team was the balm to kind of protect that situation.
Jill Jaracz: Right?
Because Kim Jong-un was still relatively new on the scene. I mean, he’d been in power for six years or so, But, but everything is so secretive up there that we just didn’t know. And, and I will say the naivete of really hoping that some sort of end to the war could happen or some sort of reunification.
I, I don’t think reunification was, is in the cards for at least a while, [00:17:00] but some sort of reconciliation or softening of the border. That would’ve been very hopeful. And we kept seeing all these images of older South Koreans who had not been able to see family since the war, and the idea that they could potentially get to see their relatives and reconnect was, that was very powerful.
And just the naivete about how teams work at the, you know, at the time we were just like, yeah, this is great, but not. Not realizing and maybe not even realizing that they had just been named to the team and not thinking that, oh, this has been in the works and we’re just hearing about it now. But the, the fact that the South Korean women’s team was forced to take on people, cut some of their own, and that hurt their prospects really.
Not that they were really in the mix for a medal, but they were really in the mix to win. At least a game [00:18:00] or two and having these people on their team that that were really prohibited from doing a lot and integrating a ton, that made it really hard to integrate them as hockey players and who knows how much hockey experience they actually had before coming onto this team.
’cause it sounded like they just didn’t know what to do very well.
Claire Natsis: And that that’s, if you recall from the first part of the, this recording, I had mentioned that, you know, I thought it was gonna be spending a lot of time talking about the unification ’cause I thought. In my own stupidity that this was a long process that took many years and only bef right before the Olympics were, we made aware of it just because, you don’t pay attention until the Olympics show up.
Not knowing that when it was announced they were finding out about it too. It’s, that’s just crazy. I was suspect, suspecting. That the book was gonna be a lot about unification, [00:19:00] but as I’m reading through this and I’m getting halfway through the book and I’m going, I don’t think they’ve mentioned North Korea or their team yet.
When is this happening? There was the first half of the book was spent more on bringing in the imports. From North America and, and integrating them onto the team, which was a longer process. They went over to the United States and played several games against women’s teams there, and had to go through all of that rigamarole and, and being looked down on because they weren’t as good and losing, games in the world tournaments, 20 to nothing.
And so I, I kind of had to retrain my brain that this book is actually about South Korea. It is about that team coming together and going through a lot of different hurdles, whether it’s bringing in imports and having them integrate comfortably onto the team. ’cause it seems like a lot of them make close friendships, and even some of them even influenced some of the South Korean players to come to the [00:20:00] United States and play.
Or even attend school, uh, which was great. But then you, you have these North Koreans very hear very little of their stories. there was one story, uh, about UNG Young who came in and, one of the women asked her, Hey, you left your watch here. And she says, don’t call me. Hey, call me comrade. And you know, it’s kind of that dry humor and, and I was like, oh, could, we’re gonna get a little more background about them, but.
there’s more of my stupidity coming in. they don’t, Seth Berkman probably didn’t get to interview the North Koreans. They left and they probably disappeared and we probably don’t know what happened to them after that. And, and it’s just when I suddenly realize that I get really sad. and same thing with like the North Korean cheerleaders and.
How they, the rumors had it that they were doing. Um, they were told to do really not good things, with some of the leaders of North Korea. And I’m like, that, I’m just, [00:21:00] I don’t think about that often. And so trying to wrap my brain around that, it, it really did affect me, which hasn’t really happened in a lot of our Olympic books.
You know, Olympics, yay, go play sports. But this one really was like, this is a. A world changing viewpoint for me. So I I, I don’t know if that came off for you as well, but it certainly did for me.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, yeah. And
Alison Brown: yes,
Jill Jaracz: when you think about the initial Korean team that had to take on the imports, which were the, the Korea went out and recruited, they recruited an American to be their coach.
Then they recruited. American players who had been born in South Korea and not adopted. Same with some Canadian ones and brought them into the team, many of whom did not speak Korean, or some who did not try. Some did try, but They had this weird mix of, oh, hey, first were a scrappy team. Then we’re [00:22:00] really trying to do it.
Do a lot of this on our own. ’cause their, their stipends are like 50 bucks a month. I mean, we’re, we’re really talking no money at all to be on this national team. That takes a lot of time and a lot of work and oh, now we have to bring in players that, are gonna take our spots. Probably for some of them, yes.
Although they did help them play better, you know, they, lifted up and helped. Others learn how to be better hockey players, but then they had to bring on these North Koreans right at the very end, and there was no time for that same kind of integration. Although you do have this history with the country that’s just kind of ingrained into your culture and.
Borders break down between these women and you see just the relationships that they’re able to build in such a short time with what they can and, just the connections that then get severed. And you had this big amazing moment that the Olympics in your home country and you prove to the world [00:23:00] that you are capable of being on this stage.
And yet like. At the end when we talk about the Olympic depression that sets in afterwards, how much more that must have been for these women who, oh, and now we’re having these relationships we just made with, with the North Koreans ripped away from us. A lot of the team will change because teams do change, and now that we don’t have the safety net of having the Olympics, what is the Korean.
Hockey association going to do with us, and we need to stand up for ourselves at the same point. So it’s just very tumultuous at the end. Hopeful, but very tumultuous.
Alison Brown: I think when you talk about world altering views in the book, it reminded me very much that the world does not have Title IX and no matter how bad women’s sports are funded in the United States.
It is so much worse in so many other places and not places [00:24:00] like Saudi Arabia that we think of as being, you know, regressive and oppressive to women, but Western style democracies like South Korea and, and they mentioned Japan as well in, in the book, and just that these women not only didn’t have the money, but they had their mothers taking their skates away because hockey was not what Korean girls should be doing.
And that idea that we’ve read about in some of the other books like the, the first, women’s basketball team from the US and how you weren’t feminine if you played basketball and these women have that same burden of you are not, and something we are talking about so much right now. What’s a woman and what defines a woman And that if you’re a hockey player, you can’t be seen as feminine.
This culture where, and he mentions in the book the Pervasiveness of Plastic Surgery and how what a woman is in South [00:25:00] Korea is so stringently defined and these women were breaking molds just because they loved hockey and how amazing that was for them and for the country and how important it still is to break those molds.
Women don’t get these opportunities and we can’t pretend like, oh yeah, feminism is unimportant. It’s so important in so many places.
Jill Jaracz: And ironically, you know, you mentioned the first women’s basketball tournament that was last century. This is, I mean, granted, these women were on the team for a long, long time and played hockey for years and years before 2018, but we’re still talking about 2018.
Right. That’s not that long ago. And to change, it’s in the life of
Alison Brown: the show,
Jill Jaracz: right? And to change the norms of what people were thinking, at least for a little while. Maybe it, it did change a lot in [00:26:00] terms of opening doors for other young girls to play hockey, but you still are talking about a culture that is very patriarchal and.
Making changes in that tiny ones can be massive si seismic. What we would think is a tiny step of progress. It can be a massive shift in another country
and
Claire Natsis: I was very surprised that well, I was aware of the team, USA, the women’s team, USA hockey, When they were fighting for equal pay, compared to the men’s team, had no idea that. Going parallel. Along that line was, was the South Korean women’s hockey team fighting KIHA about theirs? And it, I’m sure that, you know, like you said, we often think that the women’s team in America is not treated well, but how it, how they were, it was responded by KIHA to the South Korean team.
They [00:27:00] basically, you know, suspended them and said, you know, this is. Unacceptable. We are not going to, uh, allow this kind of talk to happen and, and very put down. And even the, the assistant coach, the men’s assistant coach, kind of railed on them for a very long time and swore at them. And like the, and it does mention like the second time that he talked to them, some of the women brought their mothers so that he wouldn’t swear as much and he didn’t.
but he did get fired. So. I’m okay with that. Uh, or he wasn’t, he wasn’t an assistant coach. He was, but he was part of, the South Korean Association. so I, I’m happy to hear that countries outside of the US are also fighting to maintain women’s rights and equality with, with the men’s sides of things.
and hopefully. They get the, I, they, they’re inspired by the United States, of course, uh, that, because [00:28:00] you can’t turn around without hearing about America in some way. But I hope that it does come to fruition that they are treated with better respect and, and paid more. I hate that. I hate that women get paid, less than men.
I have no idea why. It’s just, it’s made me very angry. Maybe it’s personal, but whatever. Do you have any final thoughts on the book?
Alison Brown: I wanna mention the moment in the book where the Korean women go and they play St. Cloud and there were several Korean exchange students in the crowd. And how seeing those women play hockey changed the view of themselves and how they were proud to be Korean women.
Seeing them and that those fans were also Korean, boys and girls ’cause they’re very young. They were, they were college age and that they all came together to cheer for this Korean team. And what Jill was saying, how, [00:29:00] for us, that would seem like such a small thing. Of course, when you’re in a foreign country and your team comes and plays, you’re gonna go cheer for them.
But how that was a real monumental shift in how those Korean students thought of themselves. Sports can do that, and these women did that for a lot of people.
Jill Jaracz: I think the book was also enlightening in hearing about, Korean American adoptees and their experience growing up in America as a person of color and how different and othered they felt and the experience of.
Finding their Korean side, even if they didn’t intend to, was really interesting to hear and, and learning about another culture. So that, that I really enjoyed. I mean, I really enjoyed this book and getting the full story and it really taught me a lot about, it takes to build the team and make a team and how long that takes and how [00:30:00] many years it can take and.
I really enjoyed hearing a team that is lower on the rankings. We don’t get those stories in America. because if you’re an American team that’s in a sport that’s lower on the rankings, nobody is interested in your sport and teams outside of America. It’s hard to find the connection that would make a publisher say, oh, we want to hear that book.
You might get, you know, cool runnings, but you’re not necessarily going to, to find a whole lot of those stories that transcend into American culture, but the connection that they have with the imports and having an American connection. But really the book is about the Koreans. is really nice and it’s, it’s a good read.
Claire Natsis: I enjoyed that this book, like I said, made me change my, my thoughts on something I thought I had. Perfectly good knowledge of this. I think this [00:31:00] was the first book that we’ve read where my, I didn’t have all the information and it really laid it out for me in a really nice way and made me adjust my thinking where I was thinking, oh, this is gonna be a book about the unified team.
No, it’s a book about the South Korean team and all of the hurdles that they had to go through, and I was very appreciative that it, exceeded my expectations because it took me in a different route. Usually if that happens, I’m not pleased, but in this case, I was very pleased. So I’m, I’m glad that we read this book, if you haven’t read it.
It was published in 2019, so he was only working on it for like a year before the Olympics and then the year after the Olympics. So he didn’t get a, a whole lot of time. Uh, in the development stage, but he was able to, to put it together and get lots of interviews of, players, both the South Koreans and the imports, the Korean Americans and the Korean Canadians.
so you should definitely check it out. I got mine at my, at my library. It’s also on hoopla if you, uh, [00:32:00] use the online, library and read digitally. So definitely check it out. I, we have, I mean, it’s not really a spoily kind of books, but it’s still good to hear these stories and understand, this culture and this dynamic and, and how we all came together.
So definitely check it out.
Jill Jaracz: And sadly, Korea did not qualify for. Either Beijing, they’ve not qualified for Milano. Cortina either. You know, Korea is ranked 18th in the world right now. And so, there, there are other. Asian countries that are ahead of them, Japan, which I would, I, now, I’m curious about women’s hockey in Japan because they also had a buy into the Olympics the first year that women’s hockey was on the program.
And I’d be curious to see how that legacy has played out because they are going to Milan Corino, I believe. China is also ranked ahead of Korea right now, but. I am heartened to see that they have [00:33:00] maintained some stature in what is a very challenging environment likely for them still, and that they’re continuing to be competitive and they’re continuing to, go after their dreams as a team and, work hard and play hard.
Well, Claire, thank you so much again. what are you thinking about for next time?
Claire Natsis: Well, you guys just did an amazing Patreon year of books, so I think I’m gonna give you guys the winter off, especially because I, you, you probably have something that you’re preparing for.
I, I don’t know, there’s, there might be something happening in February. In March. so we’re gonna hold off on announcing a book quite yet. but when that’s ready, we will make sure to announce it so that you can read it. Ahead of time maybe. Um, as you are getting ready to watch some event in Milano, Cortina, uh, we will have that book ready for you and you can read it and enjoy a nice little slice of Olympic or Paralympic [00:34:00] history.
So that’s what we have planned right now.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Well, Claire, thank you so much. It’s been a great year of books as always, and it’s always fun reading with you. Thank you so much for leading the chat.
Claire Natsis: Thank you for having me.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Claire. Claire will announce her book picks for 2026 at a later date. So be on the lookout for that. but if you’d like to get. Your own copies of some of the books that we’ve read on book Club, you can check out our book lists at bookshop.org/shop/flame alive pod.
We get a commission from any purchase you make through that link. So if you’re like, uh, holiday shopping, getting books, puzzles, other things, that’s a good link to go through. Cost you nothing to support the show that way. And you can see all of the books we’ve read there as well. You can also find, uh, you know, some of them just aren’t around anymore, but Hoopla and Libby are great resources if you use your library’s e reading services.
Milano Cortina 2026 News: Flame lighting, Olympic truce, sliding track certification, ice hockey gear mandate, and a XC legend retires
Jill Jaracz: [00:35:00] Yes, so beautiful. We have news from Milano Cortina 2026. The flame is lit, we assume.
Yes, we assume everything we don’t know because we are taping this show early because we are celebrating Thanksgiving with our families. So we will have full details on the lighting in the next episode, but it should be traveling through Greece as we know it. It’s really amazing that we are close to the games also happened.
Big moment in the run up to the games is the Olympic truce.
Alison Brown: Passed by consensus at the un. Lots of speeches. Kirsty Coventry. Made an appearance, did her beautiful speech about the, unifying force of sports. Russia had some things to say, not terribly pleasant. Uh, Ukraine had some things to say. Not terribly pleasant towards Russia, but mostly it was a, a hopeful moment in the [00:36:00] UN with, what people were saying.
So past, we’ll see how it holds and keep our
Jill Jaracz: fingers crossed. Right. And as we were pulling this together, we were looking for the vote. That was the tricky part of this because there was no vote this time.
Alison Brown: There was no vote in the past. They’ve done a country by country vote, at least for Paris. They did.
And at the time, Russia abstained from that vote. But this time the order had 165 co-sponsors of countries. So they said, oh, with that many sponsors, we’re just gonna pass this by consensus and not do a roll call vote.
Jill Jaracz: Interesting way to get around that. Yeah. Also exciting is that the Eugenio Monte sliding center in Cortina has received all of the certifications it needs from the sports federations in sliding sports, and they can now have competitions, got them just in time for the first bobsled and skeleton World cup races, which in our time shifting [00:37:00] here.
As you’re listening, they have happened As we are talking, they have not Brie Walker, our, mono Bob from Australia is there. Oh,
Alison Brown: excellent. We’ll have results from her. Yes. When we come back from the holiday break.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. So they did it. They actually did it. So Bravo. I know. We were very skeptical. We were.
Alison Brown: It is the sliding novella has a joyful conclusion.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. ESPN is reporting that the International Ice Hockey Federation will mandate the use of neck guards at the Olympics. This decision stems from the October, 2023 death of Adam Johnson, who took Escape Blade to the neck, which. that was really, really sad.
And the IIHF had announced that December in 2023, that net guards would be required at all levels of play. And the Olympics will be the first time that they’re mandated at the senior level basically. And apparently the, the holdup has been the supply chain. They haven’t been able to get enough. Neck guards [00:38:00] made into teams.
There are players who do wear them already, but it’s not universal. But you’ll see ’em for the first time universally at the Olympics.
Alison Brown: I know some players, even in the NHL, have gotten some really significant injuries taking a puck to the neck. Oh, wow. Not just the, the skate guards. So if you think about how delicate your neck is and a puck flying at how many miles per hour, I mean, you could.
It shatter bones and cartilage and, and things in the front or back of your neck, depending on where you’re hit. So this is, this is no joke, but I mean, there was a time when the NHL didn’t even have helmets. Yeah. Right. So this is this. Protecting players from injuries that you can protect them from with something so simple makes so much sense.
Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And uh, US cross country skiing star, Jesse Diggins has announced that this season will be her last, she will retire at the end of 2026, This is big deal [00:39:00] because she has been a huge name in the US cross country.
She, she and, uh, Shuk, Lesi, ki and Randal were the first to win gold medals for the US in cross country skiing. Uh, she’s been one of the top names in the sport over the last. I don’t know how many years.
Alison Brown: Well, certainly three cycles. Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: I know. So, so this is her. Hopefully the team’s not named yet, but it’s highly likely that she will qualify, and this will be her last games.
She gave it all on the Cabo B. She did give it all on the Cabo B.
LA 2028 News: Volunteer registration and basketball roster news
Jill Jaracz: We have a little bit of news from LA 2028. they’ve announced that their volunteer program is open to, register your interest.
Alison Brown: Right. So the application will not open until the summer, but they wanna start collecting your names and information so they can start sending you things. So if you’re at all thinking about it, there’s no commitment to this.
It’s basically just [00:40:00] getting on their mailing list.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. I’m sure that there’s gonna be a high interest. They will need a lot of volunteers. They’re adding five sports. They’re gonna need more volunteers than
Alison Brown: ever before at a games. And you’re gonna need a whole set of volunteers over in Oklahoma City.
Nevermind, yes, all the host. The host cities that are, working together
Jill Jaracz: in the LA area. Right. So it does, I mean, you can’t put on a games without an army of volunteers. Uh, it will be exciting if you apply. Let us know. ’cause it’ll be interesting to hear about the process along the way. And then also, some news about players according to the Sports examiner and ESPN.
LeBron James said he will not be playing at LA 2028. And Steph Curry said it’s highly doubtful he will. So big basketball names will or probably not gonna be on the roster. Next time around, bring in some new talent.
Alison Brown: That’ll be fun. It’d be fun to see some guys get a chance. [00:41:00] First time around in la. Come on.
Right.
Team Keep the Flame Alive News
Alison Brown: Welcome to Stan.
Jill Jaracz: It is the time of the show where we check in with our team, keep the flame alive. These are past guests and listeners of the show who make up the citizenship of our very own country. Shuk Stan, just a little bit
Alison Brown: of news. Para Archer, Matt Stutzman won the International Paralympic Committee’s 2025 Para Sport Award for Best Male Summer.
So exciting man. As if he couldn’t win any more accolades for being the awesome human being he is.
Jill Jaracz: So, congratulations, Matt.
Review of the Week
Jill Jaracz: And we’ve got a review of the week.
Alison Brown: Yes. On one of the articles from Substack on, I have to say the favorite article that I’ve written so far, this is the one I like the most. It was called The Skater Is a Spy.
And this was so interesting. I had no idea this was going on for over 30 years. Fascinating historical context. Thank you for sharing and thank [00:42:00] you for sharing, Artie. We appreciate it.
Are you a Milano? Or are you a Cortina?
Jill Jaracz: And that is gonna do it for this episode. One last shout out. I know we, we do thank our patrons at the beginning of the show, but we, and ask for ongoing support, but we are having a fundraiser to provide you better coverage from Milano, Corino. We have accreditations for that. getting accreditations is one hurdle to climb. Getting there and producing 32 daily shows for you to help you feel like you’re in Italy.
That is another hurdle to climb, and we need some financial support in order to make it happen. You can find out more@flamealivepod.com slash You know, it’s a popup. It’s right on the front page. So, and you’ll get a popup and see, it’s the only time we put popups on our webpage because this is so important that we, we need some attention paid to it so that we’ve, we are making progress so far.
Thank you to all of you who do donated. But yeah, if, you’re grateful and thankful for the show on this Thanksgiving weekend. If you could slip us a little cash, [00:43:00] a couple of euros our way, that would be, uh, so appreciated and so helpful in making the show happen. So on that note, thank you so much for listening,
Alison Brown: and until next time, keep the flame alive.