Brazilian cross-country skier Bruna Moura joins us to talk about her continuing gritty journey to become an Olympian. A former mountain biker, Bruna took up roller skiing to help her recover from surgery. She found a love for the sport and transferred to snow to achieve her goal of representing her country at an Olympics.
She was supposed to realize her dream in 2022 and had even qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics at the last minute. However, as she was riding to the airport to fly to China for the Games, she was in a horrific car crash, in which she sustained several serious injuries.
That hasn’t deterred Bruna from achieving her goal, and she is back on the cross-country skiing circuit trying to earn enough points to qualify for Milan-Cortina 2026.
We talk with Bruna about how she found her sport, and what athletes in Brazil deal with in terms of funding. We also discuss how athletes from underrepresented nations cobble together training, equipment and travel on the cross-country ski circuit. And we also discuss her almost-journey to Beijing and how her accident fueled her drive to keep going toward her goal.
Follow Bruna Moura on Facebook and Instagram!
Our friend Nick Zaccardi wrote a great article about her journey – check it out here!
Also on today’s episode:
The International Olympic Committee has pressed pause on its plans to hold an Olympic Esports Games in 2025. Sports Business broke the story (paywalled), and we talk about what that could mean for the future of the event.
Perhaps the new IOC President will have thoughts on the direction that event should take. This week, the seven candidates meet in Lausanne to present their candidacy to IOC membership.
Plus, we have news from TKFLASTAN, including results for a number of our winter athletes and some great honors for our para archer Matt Stutzman.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
Photo courtesy of Bruna Moura.
TRANSCRIPT
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376-Bruna Moura’s Olympic Quest
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. Each week, we share stories from athletes and people behind the scenes to help you have more fun watching the games.
I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Alison Brown:
Happy Lunar New Year!
Alison Brown: I am okay. Happy Lunar New Year.
Jill Jaracz: Happy Lunar New Year.
Alison Brown: So the day we are taping is Lunar New Year, which was the perfect excuse for me to go back and revisit some of my Beijing moments. And I shared it in our Facebook group, which is Keep the Flame Alive.
podcast. In Facebook and I reposted the episode where I got lost on the mountain.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, very nice. Well that was not a fun adventure, but like that was really scary when you could win, when either of us went out to Yang chink, that was the scariest point. ’cause it was, I, I mean, I, I remember just hoping to make the last train from Y Chin back to, Beijing and.
Not knowing what would happen if I didn’t make it, like, would I have to sleep on the train platform if they would allow me to? You know, like, that kind of thing went through my mind.
Alison Brown: Me too, and I’m like, I’m going to die in the mountains, but it did remind me how lovely our volunteers were in Beijing. So, happy Lunar New Year to all of our friends back in China.
We, we just miss you all so much when we think about it.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes, it was special. I will, I will say that it was a special opportunity to get to be there, especially during Lunar New Year and, getting to see. What that was like. And I still have my Year of the Tiger stuff. I know Mely displayed in my office.
I just, I kept all that says it was really, really cool. So happy Lunar to New Year if you were celebrating.
New Bookshop.org Offering
Jill Jaracz: Also exciting is the fact that bookshop.org now has eBooks. As you know, we have an affiliate store within bookshop. org and that helps us get a little bit of extra money for the show and keep the show going.
they have their own app for Android or iOS. The app is free to download. So that is cool. And if you love ebooks, it’s another place for you to buy them. And when you do buy them through our link, we earn a little. commission that keeps our flame alive a little longer. That link is bookshop. org slash shop slash flame alive pod.
So anything you buy through that link doesn’t have to be on one of our lists. Now you can buy it in ebook form too. So if you like your e reader as an extension of your hand, please buy your books through our store and help out the show a little bit more.
Alison Brown: I was excited to see that. I was because this also supports independent bookshops, which is something that a lot of people right now are thinking about and it’s front of mind.
So not only does it help us and the show, which of course we are so grateful for, but it helps a lot of independent bookshops, which are kind of my favorite place to hang out. Exactly.
Bruna Moura Interview
Jill Jaracz: Today we have a Just a fascinating interview for you. We are talking with Bruna Moura, who is a Brazilian cross country skier, who is trying to qualify for Milan Cortina 2026.
Bruna is a person who has had the deck stacked against her, but she is determined to become an Olympian. She started her athletic career as a mountain biker and was hoping to qualify for Rio 2016, but She had a medical exam that uncovered a heart condition. She had to have surgery, that pretty much ended cycling for her, especially for getting to Rio, during her recovery, some Brazilian sports officials gave her roller skis and she took to roller skiing pretty well.
Her cycling coach was a two sport Olympian in both mountain biking and cross country ski, so Bruna decided to try her hand at cross country skiing to see if that would be her journey to the Olympics, and she made it onto the World Cup circuit. We should be able to call Bruna an Olympian. She qualified for Beijing 2022 at the last possible moment, tested positive for COVID, recovered in just enough time to be allowed into China, but on her way to travel to the airport to get on the plane to go to Beijing, she was involved in a horrible car accident that killed the driver of her van and left her seriously injured with a broken foot, three broken ribs, lung damage, and an arm that was broken in three places.
Long recovery! But she is back on the cross country ski world cup circuit and is determined to become an Olympian. We talked with Bruna in November 2024 ahead of the world cup season about her journey and her quest to get to Milan Cortina 2026. Take a listen. Bruna, thank you so much for joining us. First off, why do you want to be an Olympian?
Bruna Moura: That’s a very good question. Once I was asked the same question, not that long ago, one year or so.
And, at first I didn’t know how to answer to it, and my first answer, first thing that popped in my mind was, I want to make my, my country proud. But that was so silly, because yeah, it’s not that, because let’s be honest, uh, I come from a country of more than 200 million people. And yeah, who knows who is Bruna Moura.
but I think it all started with, yeah, very young me. who once was kind of humiliated in front of the whole class by a teacher. And, uh, she said things like I would never be anyone, I would never get anything in my life, and I was too dumb, I should not be there. Things very, terrifying for a child.
and that really got into my mind. So from that moment, even though I was eight, nine years old, I decided that whatever I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to get to the top. And at some point I decided I wanted to be an athlete because I’ve always loved sports and I was raised with boys. I had just brothers and I had my cousin around me.
I was always Very competitive, I wanted to beat them in everything, like, it’s not because I’m the girl that I am weaker So, I always had this competitive mind, but in a healthy way, and at some point I saw that this is really what I like competing, like, always proving myself, and can also sound weird, proving myself But it’s mostly a personal thing, I, like, I can get where I want.
And, especially after this episode happened at school, I decided I wanted to get to the top, and do anything, be it in another profession, whatever. So when I decided I wanted to be an athlete, I knew I could not get to a gold medal in the Olympics, that would be amazing, but it’s not realistic. I can become an Olympian, and that, for me, that’s the highest an athlete can get.
the Olympics, doesn’t matter if you are first or if you are last in the race, you are an Olympian. And that’s the greatest of all. But nowadays, I think I do it for myself, not for this teacher anymore. It’s just I’ve faced so much in my life to achieve this goal, that I think nowadays it’s just like.
Yeah. If I stop now, it’s a waste. I’ve lived so much of, yeah, there was so much on the way and, I don’t want to simply say, okay, you know what? I throw my towel and that’s it. No, it feels, it feels like a waste and that’s not me.
Alison Brown: So Brazil has a very strong sporting tradition in a lot of things.
Cross country skiing is not one of them. Yeah. So how did that come to be?
Bruna Moura: I was a mountain biker uh, I started in 2010 and, still in 2010, I had the opportunity to meet Jacqueline Mourão, who was the biggest mountain biker in Brazil, and she switched to cross country skiing, but she was still, uh, giving some, workshops in mountain bike.
And I got to be part of one of the clinics that she, she had in Brazil. So I met her there and a few months later, she invited me to go to her house in Canada and stay there for one month, part of her project and train there. And from then on, she started coaching me and we, we got a pretty strong contact.
Jack was a big part of my life. So then one year later, I got a contract with Scott bikes and, A few months later, I found out that I had a heart problem. And this heart problem would stop me from being an athlete. I could not do sports anymore unless this was fixed. The problem is that, I had to go through surgery, open surgery, or, via catheter.
But the second option was too expensive, I could not afford. But Jack, she tried many contacts. She even went to Sao Paulo and she got the surgery for me. So after a little more than two years waiting, I was able to do the surgery. But in this two years time, I also had the opportunity to know Holdersky, because it was when Jack went to a clinic in San Carlos with the Winter Federation, it’s now Sports Federation in Brazil.
she asked me, give your name in and go there too for this clinic. Thanks. Probably not something for you, but it will be good if you’re there We can we can meet and then we can talk and we can try to find a solution by then We still didn’t have anything like a surgery or anything So then I went to this clinic and I really liked roller ski and they liked what I saw I was able to do a little bit there in the first try So then they offered me to bring their roller ski home and I was very open to them.
I explained my situation So I’m a mountain biker and I cannot go Compete, I have this heart problem and I need to go through surgery, so I cannot lie to you. Yeah, but, you know, just bring it home, and just for fun, yeah, do it for fun, and if at some point after your surgery you decide to try, to stunt your skiing, then the doors are open for you.
That was very nice, and in this waiting time they also brought me to some training camps with the team, so I could be part of something, even though I could not do intensity yet. And after I got the surgery, I went back to mountain bike, but when I was about to go for my first race, I got this offer from the snow federation saying, Oh, so it would be nice if you were part of the team.
think about if, if you would like to be part of our team, the doors will be open for you. And I really wanted to be an Olympian, but, I knew that from mountain biking, it would be difficult because. Rio 2016 was right there and I knew it was too late for me to qualify and anything after that would be very expensive and I had no sponsors anymore, I had nothing and I just got an opportunity through the Winter sports where I would get some sort of sports to, go for my dream.
So that was an easy decision and I’m very happy with that to be honest.
Jill Jaracz: And how old are you during this period of time?
Bruna Moura: I was from 18 to 20 years.
Jill Jaracz: Okay, so this is prime kind of athlete time. Especially for the summer olympics.
Bruna Moura: Yeah. So
Jill Jaracz: what was it like to see Any kind of dream of being a summer olympian just kind of pass you by especially with the olympics at home
Bruna Moura: Oh, it would have been amazing.
Um Thinking of my parents being able to watch it because I came from a family that had nothing and then being able to Give them the opportunity to see me achieving my dream That was for sure a big thing for me. It’s still such a big thing that, I will not say if, but when I qualify to Cortina 2026, I am, yeah, finding my way and I will bring them, to Italy.
I want them there too, because they, yeah, they could not help me financially, but they did everything they could. And that’s right enough for me. I want them there.
Jill Jaracz: What is the attitude towards winter sports in Brazil?
Not just do people know them, but how does the Brazilian Olympic Committee treat the athletes? Is there money for you? Let’s be honest
Bruna Moura: No For me, there is nothing we are affording everything and it’s quite expensive. So I’m, very happy that I can count on the on support of pascal’s family and also of my job and Also in terms of hours of work, so i’m really happy that I have this support at home because if talking about a real sport from federation, then it’s very difficult We are too small to get a lot.
We do get Enough, but it’s hard to get this enough also to yourself we have other athletes in the team and there are Some criterias and so on and uh, most of the criterias I could not reach first Because of the accident and second Last season I could not compete because of Toxoplasmosis.
I lost the entire season. That was really bad, uh, in terms of, getting any support. So I did not get anything. But, yeah, that’s it. It’s, uh, we do have criterias. And, not all the criterias are really possible to get to. And let’s say, the financial help is a little complicated. That’s it.
Jill Jaracz: when you’re a smaller country in a sport like cross country skiing, you look at countries like Norway that have all these wax techs and physios and everything they need. What is that like for you week to week trying to compete at the World Cup level?
Bruna Moura: yeah, it’s a, it’s a very good thing to talk about, especially at this right moment. I am, uh, I’m here in a training camp with my coach, Baiba Bendika. She’s a Latif and biathlete. I’m here with her and of course with the Latvian team. And, I am in my own place here in an apartment and they are in another apartment as a team. But, everything else I am joining their structure. I am going in the van with them and, uh, they are preparing my skis.
And it is unbelievable, really unbelievable how a good pair of skis, well prepared, can make a difference, even for training. I don’t have many skis. I’m still buying one by one because, uh, yeah, I had nine pairs, but they were all broken in the accident. So, They are expensive, so then I can buy, yeah, one pair here, one pair there, and so on.
and, uh, I have two pairs here with me, and they were actually competition, but now one has to be training, so I need to get another one. But this one, they are preparing for me for training, and I swear to you, it’s faster than I ever had for competition ski. the structure of a professional team is so huge, it’s so, so much better that even for training, I, I am amazed at that, I even talked to Baiba about it, that yeah, my skis are faster than I ever had for competition.
And it feels so good to simply be able to do the technique and feel it flowing just like not, not getting out of breath because you are doing one movement, but it’s working. It’s amazing. And of course they are a professional team, but I know that Norwegians, for example, they have a much bigger structure.
So I imagine how is it for them? And if comparing their structure to my structure, yeah, I don’t have that. I don’t have physiotherapists, I don’t have, messages, I don’t have, yeah, everything they have, but imagine, imagine if every athlete had, had the same kind of structure, what, what would we see, in a race?
Would it always be the same winners or would we have much tighter fights? There is, of course, a really big difference, in the structures that reflect on the results. in the race.
Alison Brown: The thing that immediately comes to mind is all the things that you have to think about that they don’t have to think about.
You know, the financial issues and the prep issues and how much of your brain power is spent not on skiing.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, it is a little before, um, having this meeting with you was talking to Pascal and, uh, I was telling him, I’m really sure we are going for it because the season is going to be so expensive. And he said, yeah, but it has been already and if we stop now, then it was a big waste.
Jill Jaracz: Suck it up buttercup, you’re going to go right.
Bruna Moura: Now I knew we were also thinking, um, maybe I get the opportunity to start in the World Cup in Ruka, you wild card. And if that happens, it’s so short, the period between getting an answer and having to prepare for trouble, that in this short period, like, if we get an answer tomorrow, for example, the first race is on 29, and I have to be there latest on 25.
So in this short period, I have to think, okay, I take a flight to which, which airport? And what do I do? Do I, do I ask for fees? transfer. Do I rent a car? Where am I gonna stay? Where is the accommodation gonna be? And the thing that is making me most crazy is how am I gonna prepare my skis?
I’m alone there. it’s gonna be a thing of knocking doors and asking, So, can you please help me if I pay you? Can you please prepare my skis for me? Just like I did for the last race. in the qualifying period for Beijing 2022, I was also alone. I was not with the team anymore, so I had to do everything on my own because I could not count on the structure of the team.
And yeah, how do I do that? The race is 10 kilometers away on the top of the mountain. I cannot get there and it’s tomorrow and I cannot prepare my skis. How is it going to work? And then, yeah, walking around in the hotel where I was, and then I saw some ski boots outside, knocked the door. So the situation is, can you please help me?
I, I’m willing to pay, and, uh, yeah, I just need someone to help me. And that’s how it’s going to be for every race this season, I think.
Jill Jaracz: And there are a lot of people that are in, the same situation where they’re tiny country and cross country skiing is one sport that has, races with very long entry lists.
So that’s a way that a lot of small countries get to compete in the winter Olympics. Do you try to work with each other or, are you traveling the same path or is everybody like, well, I can afford to do this race, but not that one.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, we also have, some WhatsApp groups with the small countries.
Well, yeah, not always talking, but, uh, when someone has a plan, um, uh, thinking of going to this place for training camp or for some race, then they write it there and, uh, some people say, I would like to join and we can share costs. Even, um, it was yesterday, if I’m not mistaken, a girl from India, talked to me asking about my plans, and we do have some different plans, but maybe we could meet for some race here or there, and then we’ll talk now, it would be great if we meet there, if we’re going to the same place, then we can, share costs, it’s gonna be a lot better for us.
And we can also help each other. Of course, we cannot really prepare our whiskeys. I’m still going to try and find someone who will be willing to help. But, I can prepare, but it’s not going to be great. Not for World Cup level, for sure not. but it happens. It happens quite often that the small countries gather together to share coffee.
Alison Brown: Yeah, you share a rental car and a hotel room and
Bruna Moura: yeah, just something so
Alison Brown: simple, but makes a huge difference in your budget.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, it does because, honestly season is very expensive. I came here to Idre and I’m very happy that the owners of this apartment where I am now, they gave me some days for free.
Like they said they would like to support me this way. That’s very, very nice. So what was paid was paid and the days that were extra, it’s just bonus. That’s, that’s amazing. but apart from that, if counting for what, 10 days, 9 days of training here in Idre, actually really training 8 days, it’s already more than 1, 000 spends here.
With, uh, accommodation, flights and, uh, food. Yeah, for the transport from the airport to here I came with five, but then for the way back to the Netherlands I would need to take bus and train and then sleep in a hotel close to the airport and then take the flight in the morning because it’s too long trip to be there on time and If putting everything together, it’s for sure more than a thousand if it’s not a little more than fifteen hundred.
It’s just for less than ten days. it’s too expensive. So if we can help each other, of course we’re gonna do that.
Jill Jaracz: because so many races are very convenient to the airport as well. So you do have a lot of like, let me hire a van or rent a car. Just to get to where I’m going.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, especially because, usually the races are on the mountains.
And so it’s not really reachable by bus or by train. You do need to have a car. And this will be the first season that at some point I will be driving. So everyone at home is like, Oh Not, not because of my skills, not that just making it clear, but because I understand their fear, it’s a driving on snow and driving.
Probably alone for hours, so I understand their fear, but to be honest, after the, awful accident that I had, I am happy that I’m going to drive for myself.
Alison Brown: Okay. Let’s take that segue. Yeah.
Bruna Moura: Yeah.
Alison Brown: And let, let’s talk about what happened because it is kind of central to the most recent section of your story.
So you’re getting ready. You’re, you’re doing kind of your final training for Beijing 2022. And you are driving, and there is a horrific accident.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, actually it was more like, I had the last qualifying race, we all Brazilians, had the last qualifying race on 16 January, and now I crossed the finish line knowing that I had an amazing race, so I knew it was mine, and then when I called Pascal, he said, so first I’m gonna tell you the time of the other race, Competitors.
And when he told me the first one, I knew I was red ahead because I knew my time. So then I am going to the Olympics and started jumping and crying. And then this, Swedish team that helped me for this last race, they came to give him a hug. And, uh, yeah, it was, it was very emotional. It was so, so sweet.
And I couldn’t believe it was happening. Then, I got in the bus, went to Innsbruck, and had to sleep there. The next day, I went to Oberchilie, and I needed to go for a PCR test, I was changing countries. So then, I went for the PCR test, and, uh, the result came the day after. And it came right after the Brazilian Olympic Committee had officially announced the team, and I was getting tested.
Tons of messages congratulating and it’s okay. I’m gonna answer later. I can’t do it now It’s a yeah, my mind is blowing and a few minutes After thinking like that, it was really yeah I was in a call with a friend and then the owner of the hotel knocked on my door and said yeah Your test came in and it says you’re positive for COVID I, no, no, I cannot believe it, but, but here it says BD and you are BM Bruna Moura.
And I said They’re actually BD ’cause my name is Bruna De Moura. Then she had an infusion test there we tried and then it came positive. There was nothing to do, so it I had to stay quarantined for 10 days. My flight was booked for 26th January. And I immediately called the federation, I was desperate, and I said please, you need to change it, and you need to give me time to recover, because it’s my ticket, and I cannot simply accept that, I know I can test negative on time.
Now we’re gonna help you, and, we are gonna, change the flight, but you do have to take the test as soon as possible. The soonest possible was 24 January. And one day before, I started testing negative on the antigen. I was very happy, that was, yeah, that jump of hope. But it was still too soon for a PCR test.
So then I called them and said, So, you know, I just got my first negative test on antigen, so I am healing. Please let me go for the test just when my quarantine is over, which is 27 January, because then I can leave the hotel. . And that’s even be better for me in terms of, if anything, if it happens that I test, if I go for the test now I’m 24 and I test positive again, I have to stay for longer here and I have to pay extra and I’m alone here.
I have nothing. I, I cannot go to the supermarket. I had was lucky that there was still someone in the team there who was, uh, taking the money under the door and then leaving my foot there for me. But then, from then on I would be alone and I needed to eat, I needed to, if testing positive I needed to be able to go home instead of being there locked in a small room in Oberchilie in Austria.
And then they accepted, they said, okay, so your quarantine 27 January, but we do need you to go for a test as soon as possible. So we made a deal that on 27 I would take the first possible transport to the airport, Munich airport, and there, I would get the first test. I needed three tests. And my flight, they moved to 1st February, so then I would have the time in between to go for these three different days.
Fine, perfect, so then started testing negative on 23, it would be enough. On 27 I would have a negative PCR too. So then, Pascal started searching for a transport and then he said, Okay, now you already got this get transfer, to go to the airport before and it worked fine with car, but let’s think that you have pretty big ski bag now.
And it will be good also, if you can keep some distance from the driver first, because you just tested positive and second, because we’re being so unlucky. Who knows, maybe he’s positive. And then just by talking to you, starting to, you know, saliva, you get a a false positive. We never know.
Yeah, it sounds a little crazy, but we are being so unlucky, so let’s just avoid it. We get a van for you instead of a car. You sit in the back and then you can keep the distance from the driver. It’s good for the driver, it’s good for you. And also space, enough space for the ski bag and for the other bags ahead.
Oh, okay. Perfect. then he booked this van for 7am and I barely could sleep the night before, so nervous. 7am the driver was there. We left a little later than planned because, first he parked in another place, which was the parking, but actually he needed to be in the front because my bags were there already.
I didn’t have to drive back. And then, took some time to set the GPS and took some time also with the bags in there so I think he was in a hurry because we lost time in Obrachilek. Also, when leaving Obrachilek, he entered some wrong street and then had to go backwards all the way, and that also took time.
So the moment he was on the road, he started driving fast. And it was so fast that, if you count the distance from Obrachilek to where the We were supposed to be there like 15, 20 minutes later. Oh, wow. Yeah, in a matter of a little, a little bit more than one hour. It’s really a lot. It’s like road of 70, we were going almost, yeah, 90, 100, I don’t know.
We were going fast, that I know for sure, because I started feeling sick. First, I was very sleepy because I did not sleep well the night before. So, yeah. And then I started feeling sick and I decided, okay, I’ll put my phone aside and I will try to sleep. Then Pascal’s father sent me a message, very positive, about now it’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna go to the lymphs and so on.
So now I’m gonna answer this first and then I put my phone aside. Did that while talking to him. the driver made a, I think it was an overtake, I don’t know, I know that, I could, all the time he would overtake someone or go on the roundabout, I could feel the friction of the van, so fast we were. And in this moment, I looked on the side and realized I was not wearing the seatbelt.
So I wondered, okay, do I keep it this way or do I wear the seatbelt? Because if I don’t wear the seatbelt, if anything happens, and if you go out of, you know, down the mountain, I can quickly open the door and jump, if I have the seatbelt. I cannot do that anymore. It’s so dumb, so dumb, because it doesn’t matter, you are in a car, wear the seatbelt.
When I’m driving, also when telling this story to my mom, my mom said, yeah, it would be not you, if not wearing the seatbelt, because when, all the time when you were driving, you would not start the car, if we did not have the seatbelt. So then, I tried to reach the door, I saw it was a little bit too far away, so I would not react on time anyway.
Now I will wear the seatbelt, wear the seatbelt, put my phone aside, and try to sleep. And then the next thing I remember is waking up, the accident had already happened. And, um, I have only flashes of the moment where they were rescuing me, but I don’t see what happened. I know what happened because of the official report from the police and what also the other people involved said that happened.
The driver of the truck, the driver behind us that hit the van, the last hit, last crash, and the driver behind the truck, they had their way to say how it happened It matched everything, so I know what had happened. What happened there, but I don’t really remember anything. Pascal thinks it’s a good thing, but I still think it’s, it’s a shame.
I wish I was able to remember, because if I really saw some, anything, because this is the most important moment of my life, and I have just a black. So it is, yeah, I wish it was different. I know it is heavy. For the way it happened, when reading there, they describe everything, we were going straight on the road, suddenly the van turned right, in a very sudden move, and we hit the guardrail, and we were thrown to the other side of the track, but still going forward, but on the wrong way then.
and then the truck was coming and we had a crash head on with the truck. The crash was so strong that both tried to avoid, so it seems like the after this first hit, the driver of the van was conscious, but it was impossible to avoid. So then, the van flipped and the truck flipped and the van started to spin around and going backwards.
And it stopped when it hit the guardrail again, like, 30 meters or so, if you look on the photo you can see, 30 meters difference going, just spinning around and then stop when hitting the guardrail. And it was everything so fast that the car that was behind us was unable to react, to stop on time, so then that was the fourth hit, that he hit the side where I was.
And, I was lucky with everything there, everything, because, everything was destroyed inside except for the place where it was. And this key bag was thrown to the left and the impact was so strong that it simply destroyed the glass. If to the right that was my head, so I’m happy that it was not.
And also I think maybe what have helped with that is that. Probably my arm was broken in this movement, but I don’t know, maybe it was a conscious movement or not, it was just a reflect of my body with all the impacts. I probably lift my arm up and then that’s what hit the ski bag because I got two fractures, but they are closed, so it’s like I have a V fracture and the middle of this V was smashed.
So it was a hard impact on something pretty strong and that’s why I believe it was the ski bag and that’s why the ski bag went to the left instead of to the right. when I started to remember some things because at first I did not remember anything, just that I was a Brunon, but nothing else, not even kind of anything Where I was coming from, where I was going to, what kind of car was that, I had no idea.
When I started to remember and realize what happened there, there was a moment they, they tried to take me out of the van, and they moved my foot. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t talk and it was hard to breathe, but Of all the pain, my foot was the worst, it was burning so much, it was too strong.
And when someone touched it, that was awful. And I screamed, but then I really could not breathe anymore, so I got desperate. And then I finally looked at my foot. And then I saw how bad it was, and then I looked a little bit ahead and then I saw the front of the van. And it I couldn’t believe it. It was so destroyed that everything in the front, like the glasses and all the stuff in the front of the van, they were on top of the head of the passenger seat. yeah, it was unbelievable. And, it’s hard to describe because then I also realized that I was not alone. Just then I realized that there was a driver, because like I said, I didn’t remember anything. And then I started asking, where’s the driver, where’s the driver? And nobody said anything.
Just when I was in the hospital, stabilized and passed through all the exams. Three hours or so after the accident then a pastor came to me and told me What happened and also what happened to the driver and yeah, it was awful because I met him that morning but it’s still like you don’t want anyone to die and then Someone dying in such a horrible way there one meter away from you is Yeah It’s Like I said, it’s impossible to describe, it’s, yeah, still nowadays it’s, for me it’s the feeling I miss the Olympics, but the worst of it all is that someone died there, and that, yeah, the Olympics, at some point I can take back, like I’m doing now, I’m fighting for it, but this life, we cannot take back anymore, and I’m really, really sorry for the family, there’s nothing we can change there, and that makes me sad.
Alison Brown: So you had a broken arm, a broken foot. Broken ribs.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, I had, three fractures on my foot and one of them we just found out about a year later, with all the exams I needed to go through because I still, still nowadays I have pain in my foot, it did not stop since the accident, it’s just, at some point you get used to it but in the first year, in a few months, we were still trying to find a way out.
It was impossible, but in this trying to find, we went through a lot of exams and we could see some, some changes and we thought something like, wait, why, why is this happening here? Like this fluids and why this cyst is, I know, why is it, where is it coming from? And yeah, we could not change, but in this period of doing some extra exams, we found out that there was actually an extra fracture.
I had two fractures in the first metatars. And one in the third one, and I had, other, uh, yeah, nerve and skin, damage. Now, nowadays, my foot, yeah. Looks nice compared to what it was It looks actually pretty normal to be honest compared to what it was So look, yeah, it doesn’t seem like why you’re hurting so still hurting so much if you are looking nice now Ribs, I broke three ribs also on the left side and that was interesting because I had so much pain on the Right side that when they said you had three broken I said on the right side.
No, on the left. No, you’re kidding. The pain is coming from the right. No, the broken ones are on the left. but also the pain was coming from pulmonary, lungs injury. And, I had this, two fractures in the arm too. And then this lungs injury and abdominal injury and severe concussion and um, yeah, injury in my shoulder, but that was the least of all.
Yeah, let’s say I was quite lucky, blessed, in this one for sure.
Alison Brown: That’s a lot. I mean, this is, this is not a cup, you know, oh, I, twisted my ankle. How soon after all of this were you considering coming back to skiing? A
Bruna Moura: minute after. Now, before I get to know that, that was horrible for the driver when I was, uh, being brought to the, helicopter, that the one thing I had there in my mind was if I did not break my foot, I can still go to the Olympics.
I wanted it so bad, but so bad, like it’s my ticket. It was so hard to get it I had to fight so much to get this one. I want to go but it was Also a matter of a second to answer to myself bruna. You are not going to them You brought your foot for sure. You brought your arm. I could feel them the bone moving you brought your arm You God knows whatever, what else happened to your body, you were not moving, you were not going to the Olympics.
And then of course when, when I got to know what happened and how serious it was, and especially what happened to the driver, then that was not my priority anymore, of course not. And I I could not think of anything else, just about the driver. But then, when I was, recovering, I was already thinking, I need to come back, I need to, I need to work my way back.
And then, when I was sent back home, I could finally be home. we started working the next day with catching the ping pong ball, and so I could try to move my arm. It was, yeah, it was very silly in the beginning, I had to squeeze a sponge, and I could not squeeze the sponge, and Pascal would make me laugh all the time when he would squeeze the sponge, like, this is so silly.
Terrible, because then I had a lot of pain for the ribs. But, yeah, I needed to try everything to be back as soon as possible. It was, it took much longer than I wanted, and just about 11 months later, I was really going for some serious, serious training. But before that it was, yeah, months of nothing.
First two months I was not really walking. I had support the first month I was in a wheelchair and then the second month I was using the, crutches. And then, uh, it was just about physiotherapy and appointments with the doctor. And it was physiotherapy weekly and then at some point every two weeks.
But I could not, start with training yet. I had to heal, I had to be able to walk normal first. So nowadays sometimes I’m limping, but just that it hurts too much. But that’s the thing. I got used to it. It’s, it’s not gonna change anymore, and I kind of accepted that. If, if I am just there crying for all this, this is so bad what happened, then I, cannot, I do it anymore, then I make myself miserable.
I, that’s, I want to go to the limit. So as soon as I could, I started working for it.
Alison Brown: How are you dealing with the psychological, I mean, your body can heal, but the psychological healing from both the accident and then also missing out on this dream you had?
Bruna Moura: it is, daily fights, to be honest. And if I tell you that there was one day.
That I did not think about it, about the accident and about missing a link, so I’m lying. but, yeah, what can I do? I cannot change it anymore. In the beginning, especially in the beginning, it was a lot harder, especially because of feeling so bad for the driver and for his family, and also feeling kind of guilty, like someone died, because I had a dream to go to the link.
No, there is no, it’s not, it’s all my fault, it’s, yeah, I’m sorry, but I was not driving and, yeah, I cannot, I cannot change anything that happened. I still feel just sorry and I really wish I could take it all back. If, if, if you ask me, yeah, would you give up on the Olympics so then he would be alive, I would have done that, of course I would, but I can’t change it.
So it, it still stays in my mind, like, okay, I’m still fighting for it. And yeah, his family’s life changed. But I also did mine. And like I said, I deal with pain every day. And the psychological part is just as bad because I’m always thinking about it. Yesterday in the training, there was a girl, I think she’s from Estonia.
I was getting ready to start my training, start skiing. So happy. I’m back on, on snow. Yeah, great. It’s an amazing feeling. And okay, now another training, let’s go. And then I looked ahead and I saw this girl skiing and she was skiing with a bib of Beijing 2022 Olympics. That beautiful, so beautiful. Let’s say maybe the Olympics were not that great.
But the baby is so beautiful, that light blue, it’s beautiful. I saw that and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Not, I’m not saying I was jealous of her, not that. What I was thinking there was like, yeah, I was supposed to be there. I was supposed to have one like this, to be able to train with an Olympic baby.
And it was taken from me. And then, uh, and then, uh, it took some minutes until I, I realized, okay, Bruna, folks, you have your training to do. So get ready and start your training. Because I was just looking I was just admiring that and at the same time thinking
Jill Jaracz: yeah shit When you go home, you’re in the Netherlands, right? How was it to have many broken limbs in a country that probably does not have much accessibility?
Bruna Moura: not really much of a problem because I was on the hospital bed anyway, so yeah, I didn’t, in the first three weeks for sure I was just on the bed and then started going around the wheelchair and then, uh, with the crutches, but also for the wheelchair, the one good thing about the Netherlands in this case, it’s, it’s a flat.
Country, so . So it was good for Pascal, it was good for his parents because they didn’t have any trouble to row me everywhere. It was, it was okay . And then once I was able to walk, by myself, just, uh, with the crutches, then I would get one crutch in the bike and cycle very easy. Not need to break too fast or anything, but cycle very easy to the village.
And then walk with the crutch there if I needed to, if I wanted, not really needed, but if I wanted to go somewhere. Also, when I went to talk to my not yet boss. and talk to him about getting a job there, which was already more or less, a deal. But I wanted to, yeah, yeah, I wanted to start as soon as possible.
I was there with crutches. So, yeah, okay, you see, I, I, I do want it. So if you can help me, I’m, I’m, I’m ready whenever you say I’m ready. so I didn’t, I didn’t have much problem, but to be honest, I’m, I’m very happy with the treatment I got in the Netherlands. I think if I was depending on Brazilian system, I would probably have lost my foot or I would be, with some serious injury.
It is still serious, I still have pain, but I mean, in a way that I, barely can walk. that’s what I believe it would be because, yeah, I’m sorry to say that, but in Brazil it’s a lot different. we had so, so much corruption there that sadly, even though we are a rich country, nothing works.
And in the Netherlands we do pay a lot of taxes, really a lot of taxes, but we get a return from it. Things work. So I got a very good treatment and that’s why I’m here now.
Alison Brown: Speaking of being here now, what has it been like getting back on the circuit?
Bruna Moura: It has been a big adventure. I’m very happy, for being back.
first of all, I was extremely happy when I was in Plancha for the World Championships in 2023. Because that really felt like a comeback. I know it was just one season, so it’s not like I was away. I missed the mid season, but in terms of training, I missed everything. I had only three months to train for the world championships.
Being that just in the last three weeks of these three months, I was on snow. So before that, yeah, I had only three weeks on snow and the rest was okay. Let’s adapt here and there. I cannot run. So, Bible, what do I do? Now, then Bible said something like, okay, we go for a very easy run, five minutes, and then walk.
Very easy run, five minutes, and then walk. Bit by bit. And if foot was complaining too much, okay, then just walk, and then we do something else. We had to adapt so many times, and yet, when I was in Plancha, I did not worry about anything. It was the one moment in my life. In my whole sports career that I had no pressure at all.
I just wanted to be there it meant so much to me that I just wanted to do my own race without worrying about who is there and uh Who am I competing against? And am I gonna be top 10? I was sure I would not be top 10 because yeah after everything I’ve never been before and I competed in Lati and Oberstdorf And Latvia was okay, but it was my worst, my first worst championships in Oberstdorf.
I was sick in there and it was an awful experience for me. So, no top 10. And then, that’s not gonna happen in Latvia, in Plansche. So then I just wanted to start and finish. I really wanted to cross that finish line. And I had two goals there. One was finish my race. And the second one, second one was do not crash.
I failed the second one. I did crash in the first downhill. I lost the ski and I lost the grip and then, yeah, but luckily I stopped gliding, pretty soon. So I was able to get up and continue the downhill and go for my race. But from then on, I was not taking risks on the downhills anymore. I was going as strong as I could on the flats on the uphill, but on the downhill I was holding my, pace.
So I knew that I would not be in the top ten. And then when, uh, everyone had finished, and I saw I was nine. I was like, what the, what? Pascal said on TV, he could hear me. He’s claiming that in Portuguese, but I said, and
it was an irresponsible. So people heard, nobody knows who was screaming and what she said was in Portuguese, but yeah, it was me. I was so happy, so happy. And then I got this extra race there, which we were not counting on, the 10k, and the sprint classic we were counting on, we were counting on the five kilometers qualifying and then the sprint classic.
The sprint classic, uh, we knew it would be bad because, I had too much pain in my foot for classic. even more. So then, it would be about finish. Yet it was a decent result. It was okay. It was, uh, the second Brazilian again. So I was very happy. It was just like qualifying to Beijing, second Brazilian.
So it’s like I’m back at my level. And then we got the team sprinters bonus because Jacques stayed there too for the last race. So then why not? Let’s start together. So we did it as a team. And then the 10k, and the 10k, was really, okay, I just need to finish, because I didn’t have the endurance, I didn’t have the power for the pushes, I didn’t have the experience, I didn’t have anything, yeah, I, I would compete against the best in the world, so I could not expect anything there.
And I was so happy when I saw the result, and I saw it was A little bit, but still under 300 points. Because 300 was the qualifying for the Olympics. You have to have an average of under 300. And when I saw I was under 300 competing against the best in the world. And in a race where the winner, Jess Diggins, said I had the race of my life.
Then then I, I got everything there. It was, It was an amazing experience. I was looking forward for season 23, 24, because, ok, we know that it can be a good season. But then, Toxoplasmos right before my season start, and no season for me. So being here now, in Idri, also means a lot to me. It’s, okay, now I can fight again.
It was all, uh, messed up there, but I still have time to fight for 2026.
Jill Jaracz: Your comeback has your training been different to help you get stronger?
Bruna Moura: Yeah, it has been different. Especially this year that a lot happened.
Yeah for the extent we knew that But for this year it was we were not expecting anything things simply happened So it’s different. And so we had, we had to adapt. There, we were adapted already in 2022. And for 2024, we had to adapt too many, way too many times. Like, I had Toxoplasmos, so seven weeks of treatment, and I could not compete.
First, because the medication you need to take is so strong, and it’s not allowed for during competition. So I would not start. And second, because, the medication was so strong that I couldn’t do anything. I even was away from work. It was awful. so I tried some light trainings, now not working. So yeah, nothing to do, we need to wait.
Then as soon as I stopped with the treatment, I was able to pick up bit by bit with training. And On the matter of two months or so later I got sick. So then okay going back to a sort of a base and then in june. I had a training camp with baiba in ramsal That was great because I needed technique work.
I still need technique work And that’s the main point also for this camp here and then I had an amazing camp went back home And I had problems with my wisdom tooth and needed to remove, but it was way too deep on the nerve that the surgeon said we cannot remove, otherwise you will get paresthesia on the left side.
And I have already on the right side because of same procedure in Brazil. Uh, so, okay, now I don’t want the same feeling also in the left side. And now, okay, so what we can do is we take half of the wisdom tooth and then it will have And it will go up, and after one year we can remove it. Fine, sounds pretty simple.
Did that, but, it did not close. So then I got, dry socket. Developed to that. And that, my god, that, that pain is something else. It’s another level. Because the nerve is exposed. One half tooth is exposed, so the little nerves of the tooth are also exposed. Even the air getting in, it gives such a strong headache, I had to take morphine to help with the pain.
Because it was really strong. And once again, I could not train anymore. I lost three weeks of training because of that. when I was starting to heal from that, One of my best friends died in Brazil and so that was a big hit and that also affected my training I tried not to let it but it was just impossible.
I Still did my trainings, but it didn’t feel just as effective and then At some point I was able to catch up again and I went to Latvia to train with Baiba for a week And I got sick there. Bruno! Yeah, so then, um, I had to adapt. I could not fully enjoy the camp with her. Because, yeah, I had to adapt. And we spent two days in Estonia.
Because she had to race there, so I could try the track. At least I would have the experience of trying different tracks. Because I’m always training just on the flat. No space. So, Then I did have one, the last training was quite intensive, and I knew there, I knew that I was not ready ’cause uh, I did, I didn’t have the speed or anything.
I would have the holder ski races in Brazil one month later. how am I gonna have, get anything in there? yeah, it’s gonna be difficult. Yet I did all the trainings, everything I could to be at my best there, but I was not. I was second in the races, just one race I was third, but, because I, I fell, uh, and then I could not catch the second one, was close, but not enough.
but yeah, terrible season. But, Bible, one thing Bible said, and that gives me a lot of hope, is that the season is very long. You will be racing until basically end of March, and we are aiming your peak for February for the World Championships. So, you are not strong now, but you do have a strong endurance, and that I do.
for example, in the races in Brazil, it was weird. I did everything I could. I didn’t have the legs, I didn’t have the arms, but lungs were fine. I could still breathe normal after the race. Oh yeah, that’s not supposed to be like that. you are supposed to be empty when you cross the finish line.
But that was a very positive feedback. Okay, so we know that Endurance is going fine and all the work all the Adaptations and everything we’re having to make are still working and we are building a very strong endurance And that’s what we need done We need very strong endurance because then when it’s getting close to the moment where you have to be strong Then we’re gonna work on the intensities and then you’ll get that power in the movements.
For now, you don’t need to worry. Yeah, you know, maybe I go to the World Cup in Ruka and, other races in December. what’s the point on being strong right now and then missing the most important, that is the World Championships? And if I go to Ruka, even if I am at my best shape, I will be at the bottom anyway because I’m competing against the best in the world with a wild card.
So, I’m realistic. What’s the point of being very strong right now if it’s not going to make any change? I do need to be at my best when I can make some change, when I can fight for the top ten in the qualifying race and then I can go for the other race in the world championships.
That’s what matters.
Jill Jaracz: How are you setting up this season for next season in terms of trying to qualify for Milan?
Bruna Moura: we have a new national criteria. Which says that David, who gets the best points for Brazil and, the nation’s rank, and, in this case, getting the second ticket to Brazil for the Olympics, gets already one ticket this season.
So then, best Brazilian in the ranking will, be qualified already. And that’s what everyone wants. It’s not just me the other brazilians also will try the same of course That’s why it’s so important to race as much as we can especially in the race that give points to the nation’s rank but there is this the normal criteria, which The best brazilians with an average of three best classic sprints plus three best freestyle distance.
So then you take these six results and the Brazilian who has the best points will get this, ticket, this one sure ticket that we will have. So I have the opportunity to do it now and if it does not work I can still go for the last chance. Next season which was what everyone did in 2022, but I really Really want to avoid the same situations 21 22 where everything was for the last moment and yeah, you know what happened
Jill Jaracz: are you feeling about it
Bruna Moura: i’m confident I know I had to adapt a lot and I know I am not at my best right now But even though i’m not at my best right now You I’m not that far from comparing the results in the Brazilian holderskate circuit, for example. that’s a very positive thing for me.
And I am positive. I think I do have the chance and that’s, that’s why we are investing in it. we know that if it depends on me, of course, I am going to qualify. There are things that are not under my control. So I hope they do not appear too many times. But, for everything that is under my control, under our control, family in the Netherlands and, my employers that are helping me too, we are doing.
So I’m very confident that it can work and I could qualify red this season. If not, then I go for the next one, but I’m gonna qualify that, that I know, that that’s what I’m keeping in mind.
Jill Jaracz: what gives you hope or the belief in yourself?
Bruna Moura: I qualified once. And I don’t want to sound, egocentric or, not that, not at all, please. Oh, confidence,
Jill Jaracz: you have confidence.
Bruna Moura: Yeah, but, but I have confidence. I, I did it once.
I know I can do it again. And the one thing I have now that I didn’t have there is this, anger. I’m so angry. Because I do have this feeling that it was taken away from me. And I, I thought so hard. I can say now that half of my life, I am 30 years old, 15 years of my life, I’ve been fighting to become an Olympian.
It started there when I was a mountain biker and the plan was the same when I became a skier. 15 years, half of my life fighting for it. So, yes, I’m confident, because I’m not gonna stop while I don’t get there, you know, there’s this thing with catching my balloon. I’m gonna catch my balloon, I’m gonna fly over all the mountains, just like I dreamed of once, and I will be there, I will reach it.
I am confident, also because I could also try to count on luck, but I’ve seen that luck is not really on my side. So, one thing you know you always get from me is that I am always 100 percent committed to what I do. So, if I have to do a training, I’m gonna do a training. If I have to compete here or there, I’m gonna compete here or there.
So, everything that is under my control, I’m gonna do just like I’m doing now. To make sure I can reach this dream.
Alison Brown: Bruna’s not done.
Jill Jaracz: You can’t keep her
Alison Brown: down
Jill Jaracz: that you can’t keep her down.
Well, I guess we’re going to pause here on your journey, Bruna, and we will continue to follow you and watch and see where the journey goes.
Bruna Moura: Yeah. I can tell you for sure that, , I’m working hard to make it for another interview, interview in the future where we’ll tell about, um, Reaching the goal and then all the inspirational speech and everything and so on.
Alison Brown: Get your cowbells ready
Jill Jaracz: Well, Bruna, thank you so much for sharing your story with us And we will definitely continue to follow you in your quest and cheer you on
Bruna Moura: Thank you so much for the interest for giving the opportunity to speak a little bit about this Crazy journey and like I said, I really hope that by next time we are talking about inspirational space
Jill Jaracz: There we go.
There we go
Thank you so much Bruna. You can follow Bruna on Instagram and Facebook. We will have links to those in the show notes and we will know more about her chances at the end of this season when NOC quotas are determined for Milan Cortina.
we’ll also have a link to, an article written by our friend Nick Sicardi from NBC Sports, who wrote a really good profile of her story about the crash ahead of Beijing. And a shout out to listener Hilary for connecting us with Bruno for this interview, because it was really cool to talk to her.
And, oh my gosh, The Struggles of a Small Nation.
Alison Brown: You know, her story, as you’ve heard, has so many layers. And she was really able to share them with us. And what a joy to talk to her.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right. So, thank you so much, Bruna.
International Olympic Committee News
Alison Brown: Oh dear.
Jill Jaracz: I got some news from the IOC. Sports Business is reporting that the inaugural Olympic eSports games have been delayed. On X, they noted that game publishers had concerns over the tight timeline for 2025, lack of confirmed game title, lack of confirmed game titles. Venues, dates and qualification methods.
Organizers need more time to establish a new hosting and financing model, so they are postponed until 2026 or 2027.
Alison Brown: This is concerning because with the Youth Olympics, we’ve also had this unpredictability of scheduling where and when, and so this. You know, the Olympics and the IOC is known for, we know when the Olympics are happening years and years and years in advance.
And now they’ve become a little fuzzy with all these extensions, all these other things that they’re doing. And that to me undermines their credibility a little bit.
Jill Jaracz: Definitely. And also with the fact that, you know, that it takes At least seven years to plan an Olympics why you thought an e sports games could happen in one year or less or a year and a half they I mean they have why you thought an e sports games could be put together within a year year and a half is beyond me to be quite honest I I mean they approved this at the last IOC session that was it during the Paris 2024 Olympics so I really don’t understand where.
They were coming from It just feels like we need to do this. Let’s push this through.
Alison Brown: And they do think so. You know, the IOC is the Titanic and turning the Titanic is a slow mover. And now all of a sudden they’re trying to jumpstart these things because obviously the world is moving much more quickly.
Can’t sometimes you just can’t
Jill Jaracz: know. Or put in better processes if you want to move faster. So, we’ll see what happens. I mean, also, we’re going to change presidents.
Alison Brown: I was going to say, speaking of things moving quickly.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So, will a new president? Say let’s change directions on this all together. I know they’ve signed a contract with Saudi Arabia, but maybe they maybe these don’t even happen.
Who knows? but Do you want we could place bets? What do you think they’ll actually happen?
Alison Brown: I they’re not happening before 26 before Milan Oh, oh,
Jill Jaracz: geez. No. No, I’m guessing 27
Alison Brown: probably
Jill Jaracz: because because really I mean you have to build out some staff on your side and I don’t know how many people they have actually working with e sports because they do have those e sport game weeks.
But when you think about it, okay, 2026 is Milan Cortina in the beginning of the year and then it’s Summer Youth Olympic Games. How are you going to fit in another big event? Because e sports, even though it’s small, it’s got to be a deal.
Alison Brown: I think the fate of eSport will depend on the next thing we’re going to talk about, which is the election.
Because if the next president doesn’t, I mean, this was kind of Thomas’s, Thomas Bach’s little little. And I think it’s going to be a little bit Parting gift
Jill Jaracz: and the way you said that that’s also sounded like a box of poop. Let me put it on your front doorstep.
Alison Brown: Well, depending on how the next president thinks about it, it could be that.
So I think this could be the beginning and end of eSport. If the next president, it says, no, that’s not where our energy is going.
Jill Jaracz: It’ll be interesting. So on January 30th, which we tape on Wednesdays, that’s going to be tomorrow for us. While we’re taping, the seven candidates running to become the next IOC president are going to present their candidatures to IOC membership.
And those candidates, once again, are, His Royal Highness Faisal Al Hussein, who is the President of the Jordan Olympic Committee. He’s been an IOC member since 2010. Kirstie Coventry, a five time Olympian, IOC member since 2013, and the former Chair of the IOC Athletes Commission. David LaPartia, President of the International Cycling Union, IOC member since 2022.
Lord Sebastian Coe, two time Olympian, President of World Athletics, IOC member since 2020. Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC member since 2001, and he is the first VP of the Pentathlon International Federation. Johan Elias, president of International Ski and Snowboard Federation, IOC member since 2024. And Morinari Wontanabe, president of the, Gymnastics International Federation and an IOC member since 2018.
So we will, be listening to what they have to say and, uh, report back next week. I’m really curious about how somebody who’s been an IOC member for less than a year could become president. I don’t know. They could, I mean, they, it’s not like they don’t know him. Right. Do you have a bet yet? Speaking of bets.
Oh, I don’t know. I have to read. I have to read the candidate files But I mean part of me wonders if Kirstie Coventry will get it because he she I believe is t box Favorite she’s also I believe the youngest candidate by far but only woman as well woman is that a Is that a benefit or is that detriment for her?
I don’t know because I don’t know what the membership is thinking and is willing to do in terms of female leadership on that level because they’ve been working Adding more females to different committees and making sure that there’s more female representation, but is the group as a whole ready for a female president?
I don’t know.
Alison Brown: Lord Co, maybe. So my money is on a Coventry Co. Okay. Equal with Le Partien as the dark horse. Okay. I’ll throw it out there because I’m willing to just stick my neck out because who cares what I think. Okay, that’s
Jill Jaracz: cool. That’s cool. Yeah, that’s true. And who cares what I think too. But, uh, I mean, they seem to be the big front runners so far that in the little news that I have read.
So we’ll be doing some research this week and, come back next week with a little bit more information.
TKFLASTAN News
Jill Jaracz: Welcome to Shook Fla Stan. 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 our citizenship of our very own country, Shook Fla Stan.
Alison Brown: We’ve got some results.
At the IBSF North American Cup in Lake Placid, Josh Williamson won two first places in the sled. Driven by Christopher Horn. Adam Edelman’s sled did not start this race. And in the skeleton competition, Shannon Galia also dns. Women’s World Cup Monobob was in San Maritz last weekend. Bree Walker placed second in that competition.
Jill Jaracz: At the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary, Erin Jackson finished last in the 500 meters. As of Monday, early this week, we haven’t seen any news on whether her back is still bothering her, but hopefully she is doing okay.
Alison Brown: And Matt Stutzman received the 2024. Para Archer of the Year Award and the overall 2024 Archer of the Year Award from World Archery.
He was so well deserved,
Jill Jaracz: right? He was so stoked about that.
Get in Touch!
Jill Jaracz: And that is going to do it for this episode. Let us know what you’re looking forward to in Milan Cortina.
Alison Brown: And we do love hearing from you. You can chat with us and other listeners on our Facebook group. Keep The Flame Alive Podcast. Email us at Flame Alive pod@gmail.com.
The voicemail and text line is always open at 2 0 8 3 5 2 6 3 4 8. That’s 2 0 8. Flame it and if you need more Olympics and Paralympics in your life. And who doesn’t? Sign up for our newsletter at flamealivepod. com. We’ll have a link to that in the show notes.
Coming Soon
Jill Jaracz: Next week, one year to go until Milan Cortina.
Can you, I can’t believe that.
Alison Brown: Aye yai
Jill Jaracz: yai. So with one year to go, that means Olympic travel expert Ken Hanscom will be back on the show to help you plan your trip to Italy. And we love talking with Ken. So this is going to be a good one. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, keep the flame alive.