Connor Fields, reigning Olympic gold medalist in BMX racing, joins us to explain just how BMX is more organized chaos and less demolition derby. And he shares some interesting details about the BMX course we’ll be watching at Tokyo 2020.
Follow Connor on Twitter, Insta and Facebook, and check out his website.
What are our TKFLASTANIs up to this week? We’ve got news from:
- Modern pentathlete Samantha Schultz
- Figure skater Meagan Duhamel
- Paralympic swimmer and long jumper John Register — check out his foreword contribution to Bespoke Bodies: The Design and Craft of Prosthetics, by Amanda Hawkins and Sam Aquillano.
Throughout 2021 we’re revisiting great stories from Atlanta 1996! For our Atlanta 1996 moment this week, Alison looks at mountain biking, which made its debut at these Games.
We also have Games Updates from: Tokyo 2020 (a giant skateboard!), Paris 2024 (sailing might lose a medal event) and Milano Cortina 2026https://flamealivepod.com/milan-cortina-2026-winter-games/ (who’s paying for that bobsled track renovation?).
And here’s the International Olympic Committee Executive Board met this week, so we report back from TBach’s latest press conference with the results of the IOC’s Rule 50 survey and how they’re going to handle athletes’ activist concerns. Will they allow podium protests at Tokyo 2020?
Thanks so much for listening, and keep the flame alive!
Photo courtesy of Team USA.
TRANSCRIPT
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185-Olympic Gold Medalist Connor Fields on BMX Racing
Connor Fields: [00:00:00] We don’t pay us at all. We just go, it’s a hundred percent effort from the beginning. We do not pay us. We do not think anything other than go, go, go, go.
Theme Music
Jill Jaracz: Hello, fans of shook, Liston, and welcome to another episode of keep the flame alive. The podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. I am your host. Jill Jaracz joined as always by my lovely co-host Alison brown. Alison, how lo how are you? I will now
Alison Brown: be reporting to our robot overlords. I have received my second shot and I have been fully indoctrinated.
Jill Jaracz: That was quick. [00:01:00] My robot, I don’t hit what we call freedom day until the Sunday. So, you know, I, I expect that the robot overlord is supposed to take over then.
Alison Brown: Exactly. I will serve his
Mercury Sunset: needs
Jill Jaracz: no, so far so
Alison Brown: good. Not too bad.
Jill Jaracz: I did the windmill. Okay,
Alison Brown: where after you got the shot, you swing your arm around like a windmill.
And I did it because shiftless, Donnie bobsledder Lauren Gibbs posted it on her Insta Graham story that you should do this. And, you know, Lauren Gibbs has silver metal. So I do what she tells me to do, and it really helps the soreness. So when you get your shot, windmill your arm right away. As soon as you can, without hitting anybody in your various shot location.
And it helps disperse the shot out of the concentrated muscle area. So it helps you keep doing it for a couple hours. I mean, not continuously, just like when
Jill Jaracz: you think of it. Very nice. All right. Uh, before we get started today, we want to. Give a thank you and [00:02:00] shout out to our Patrion patrons who keep our flame alive.
The show has a lot of expenses, uh, particularly as we gear up to go to Beijing and have people on the ground there for the Olympics and the Paralympics. So our patrons are instrumental in helping our financial situations and. For that help. We do some bonus episodes to our bronze level and above patrons.
And we have a new episode coming out in a couple of weeks. That’s going to have some, uh, deleted content. It’ll be a show with us, but it’ll have some deleted content from Dominique Jones and we’ll be talking a lot about the team USA media. Which had a lot of interesting things go on that we haven’t talked about on the show yet.
So find out how you can get yours at patrion.com/flame alive pod.
Connor Fields Interview
Today, we are talking BMX racing with Connor fields. Connor has competed in two Olympics. He was seventh at London, 2012, and he won the gold medal at Rio [00:03:00] 2016. And he is looking to repeat in Tokyo. He talked with us about how the sport works.
Take a list. BMX is kind of part obstacle course part demolition Derby on a bike.
Connor Fields: Okay. So yeah, there’s a couple of things that go with that, right? So when it’s done, right, it’s not demolition therapy, right? That is only when things go wrong. For whatever reason. A lot of the times at the actual Olympics themselves, everybody wants to get a medal so bad that they throw caution to the wind quite a bit more than usual.
And it does cause a little bit more chaos than a typical race would have. But, you know, we’re not going out there with the intent to run into each other and hurt each other. We’re going out there with the intent to, uh, to win, but he has a contact sport. Um, so I do understand where you get the, uh, the demolition Derby aspect of it.
Jill Jaracz: So [00:04:00] let’s start with the bike itself. Tell us what makes a BMX bike different from maybe a pedestrian bike or road racing bike, or a mountain
Connor Fields: bike. Is, uh, the fixed. So we don’t have the gear that you can change, like on a mountain biker or a road bike or anything like that, the fixed gear. So that’s part of the choice when you’re setting up your bike is to figure out what gear ratio you want to run.
If you want to go a little bit harder, which might be a little bit more difficult to get it going, but once you’re moving. You know, you have more momentum and you can continue to accelerate. Uh, there’s no shock. There’s no shock absorbers anywhere on the bike. It’s completely solid. So we have to be the shock absorber.
And then it’s like a balance between being light and being strong. So we’re jumping 40 foot jumps for landing hard and the bite needs to be able to withstand a lot. However, lighter is always going to be faster when you’re trying to. Uh, momentum and [00:05:00] moves around. So it’s a docent balance that you make your bike to light.
You can lose control and also run the risk of it not being strong enough, but everybody’s too heavy. You’re going to be trying to move a tank around. So it’s kind of a delicate balance there. The wheels are suspect at 20 inches. Uh, so everybody has the same size. Can I have your handlebars, but outside of that, you can kind of say your bike up, however you want, you know, and angles, you want certain things to be at what your tire compound is different, things like that.
And that is part of the, uh, the strategy part of the game. So
Alison Brown: I would also think that as a BMX rider, you yourself have to have a balance between light
Mercury Sunset: and.
Alison Brown: To manage, but still flexible and, and light enough to run.
Connor Fields: Correct. So it’s not like a road ran, rode by a gang or a, any sort of longer endurance sport. You tried to be really light, really lean. And it’s all [00:06:00] about power to weight for us. Obviously we want to be lean and we want to be fit, but we have to have some muscle as well, because we are the engine.
We, uh, come out of the starting gate and. The most important part of the race is who can get up to speed the fastest. And that is all peak power and explosiveness. So we do do a lot of weightlifting and different training to increase our power. And, uh, and the fact that that is building up a bit more muscle.
So, uh, oftentimes when I tell people that I’m a BMX racer, they say, wow, you’re really off for a BMX racer, but, uh, it does require quite a bit of strength to be. Do
Jill Jaracz: you also change the gear ratio on your bike depending on what course you’re writing or do you like the same or do you and most VR writers keep the same bike all the way?
Connor Fields: That’s a great question. And, uh, every writer is different. There’s still people that don’t change myself personally. I would say the majority do change based on the course. If it’s a shorter course, [00:07:00] you might go a little bit of a smaller gear to have a bit of a quicker takeoff. If it’s a longer course, you might go a bit bigger so you can continue to accelerate.
But yeah, it’s definitely something you have to consider when you’re getting ready for it. Uh, out of that,
Jill Jaracz: Okay, let’s talk a little bit about what you’re wearing. So you wear a full body like jumpsuit type thing, correct?
Connor Fields: Uh, so the only rules, the only rules are you have to have long pants and a long sleeve shirts, as well as the helmet gloves.
So in theory, I could wear jeans and a hoodie. I was going to that my helmet gloves on, and I would just fit, uh, But when you’re racing at the high level, um, we have lightweight materials that are going to be breathable, you know, in the heat, especially in the summer, like in Rio or in Tokyo, lightweight material, but it’s long sleeves, them, all pants.
And then pads are a personal preference. Some people work bad, some people do not. Uh, I wear elbow pads [00:08:00] as well. Shoulder pads, uh, just to help with any of the possible impacts. But I do know athletes that don’t wear any pads. So it’s just, again, it’s kind of personal preference.
Alison Brown: So on the suit, is there any abrasion protection like you would have in a
Jill Jaracz: motorcycle suit?
Connor Fields: No, not typically, typically. No, it’s, uh, that’s why, that’s why the past come in. So if you do fall, you have some padding there, but yeah, no, no brand new abrasion stuff on there at all lightweight and very thin. And if you hit the ground, it just disintegrates along
Jill Jaracz: with a layer, two of your skin, I would imagine,
Connor Fields: oh, no, anywhere in the elbow pads,
but
Alison Brown: that’s only if you hit your elbow.
Connor Fields: Yeah, no, I’ve lost plenty of skin over the years, as well as plenty of jerseys and plenty of pants, but you know, it’s part of the game. So it makes it fun. Is that a little bit of [00:09:00] risk that is involved? Um, you know, that’s what makes it so exciting and, uh, also stressful for my mom.
I understand your
Jill Jaracz: pain.
And now you’re normal. I know
Alison Brown: now I’m going to worry about Connor. When he races
Jill Jaracz: fast, fast, you get
Alison Brown: up to,
Connor Fields: uh, high speeds are usually right around the, uh, 35 to 40 mile an hour range. So we go pretty quick. And at that speed, if you hit the ground, it’s like, you’re saying you did get some abrasions, but every course is different.
There’s some courses that run slower summit runs faster. Uh, also the type of dirt. I have a surface can affect the speed if it is a, a more compact track that is maybe in a warm weather place. Uh, and it’s made of clay. For example, it’s gonna roll quicker than oftentimes if we race in Europe or in Canada, the dirt and the soil has a bit more of a moisture in it because it rains more there and it might [00:10:00] be a little bit stickier and slow you down.
So the soil can affect the speed. But 35 to 40 is tops.
Jill Jaracz: So, what do
Alison Brown: you prefer?
A
Connor Fields: one front of warm weather climate. So I think oftentimes people prefer what they’re used to do. So I, I grew up racing on hard packed clay tracks, and so that’s more natural to me, as opposed to the, uh, more moisture at a softer tracks.
I raised everything over the years. Yeah, I, I, I’d rather race in Heath and in cold as well. Whereas when I see some of my competitors, I always laugh at the British guys. We had a race in Argentina one year and it was a hundred degrees and me and the other, other main American guy, he’s from Arizona. I’m from Vegas for like a hundred degrees is a nice day in the summertime.
What are you guys talking about? But, uh, the bridge. But then when we, when we go over and race in Europe and it’s 40 degrees, 50 degrees, I’m struggling. And then they feel right at home. So I think a lot of it just [00:11:00] depends on what you’re used to.
Jill Jaracz: So what was the track in Rio? Because it was dirt and then some green stuff.
Connor Fields: So they make the turns, um, at the high level of racing. So not at like kids run wild stuff, but at the Olympic level, they, they pay the turns with asphalt. Uh, they do that for two reasons. One, so weather doesn’t affect. The race and we can still continue to race training and to when you’re at the speeds that we’re at dirt, doesn’t grip the tires very well.
Uh, think about if you’re driving in your car and you make a sharp turn on, on loose dirt versus on asphalt, obviously basketball is going to creep your tires better. So the track was dirt and the turns were asphalt, but then they painted a green. Uh, to be something special for the Olympics. And it was the first and only time I ever seen a colored turn other than the brown or black, because it was dirt or asphalt throw you off at all.
It was weird the first couple of times, but then after that I rode the exact same and felt the [00:12:00] exact same. So it was just a visual trick that you just kind of had to get used to, but it didn’t bother me at all.
Jill Jaracz: It was real, a short course for you or a longer.
Connor Fields: That was kind of average or standards, I would say.
So for us, the standard course is going to run between 35 and 40 seconds, maybe in the low thirties, if it’s a bit of a shorter course, and then there’s different techniques that the builders can use if they don’t have as long of a distance to build, or as much of a footprint to build. You can build a track that runs slower.
Um, so maybe the distance is shorter, but the length is longer. Uh, but real is pretty standard. And then for us, actually, Tokyo is going to be the longest track we’ve ever raised on and it’d be in the low forties to mid forties in lap times. So for us, I know myself and I would have to imagine that other athletes around the world are having to think about that with our training, um, because it is going to be 15 to [00:13:00] 20%.
Which is when you think about it, eight seconds, it seemed like a long time, but when you’re adding 15 to 20% longer on your race, that’s, that’s quite a big amount. So it’s something that we’re thinking about for sure.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It’s interesting. I remember talking to a snowboard cross racer before punk Chang and Chung Chang was, that was a longer course for him too.
And building up that endurance, take some effort and really thought has to go in.
Connor Fields: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and for us, especially if we don’t pay us at all, we just go, it’s a hundred percent effort from the beginning. We do not pay. So we do not think anything other than go, go, go, go, go, go. So holding on to that max effort for 35 seconds, it’s hard holding it for 45 is a whole nother ballgame.
So we had to build up that endurance without sacrificing our peak power. So it’s a bit of a delicate balance and it’s a lot of work and I’m a little bit angry at the track builder for making me do all this extra work, but
Jill Jaracz: going to put a [00:14:00] pin in the course, I want to get back to helmets because a BMX helmet is a lot different for.
A lot of other biking helmets. I mean, what does all that extra protection around your neck do?
Connor Fields: Well, you got to remember that BMX is a derivative of motocross. It actually stands for bicycle motocross. So most of our stuff that we wear is either it is motorcycle. Uh, motorcross equipment or designed and derived from.
So I actually, for me personally, I have always wanted to wear the top of the line safest helmet, even if it was heavier or maybe not as comfortable a bit bulkier. So I actually wear a helmet that is designed for motorcycle racing. They do make bikes specific ones, but I prefer to have that extra. Extra padding and extra thickness just for safety.
So I, yeah, I actually wear a motorcycle racing helmet. Um, and then the extra padding is designed just to protect as [00:15:00] much as possible, uh, you know, on impact and hopefully it’s not ever needed, but on the off chance that it is, I was not the extra product.
Jill Jaracz: I appreciate you saying that as somebody who sees a lot of concussions and a lot of bad helmets, let’s talk about the course.
Elements. So the first thing we’ve got really is everybody lines up in a gate and then talk about how courses are laid out from there.
Connor Fields: Yep. So BMX racing is really simple to understand and, uh, part of what makes it so exciting is it’s not judged. There’s no, I mean, there is a rules, but realistically there’s not many rules, so maybe it’s just very easy to follow.
So there’s a starting line where eight riders will line up in the starting line. The gate will. Uh, at the exact same time for all eight riders and it is essentially a race to the finish line and whoever crosses the finish line first wins. Um, the only thing that is standardized, uh, [00:16:00] for the Olympics is a starting hill at eight meters high.
Other than that, Every course, that’d be braced. The Olympics is completely different. And every course that you’ll go to around the world is going to be completely different. There might be elements that are the same or similarities, but that’s part of what makes me make sure. I think so spot is that every course is different.
I would compare it to golf where every course is going to have a sand trap, but not every course. You’re never going to get two courses out of the exact same. So that’s probably the best way that I would describe. The differences of our tracks, but then yeah, there’s going to be different jumps, different sizes, short jumps, long jumps, medium jumps.
Some are going to be speed. Some are going to be flatter. There’s three to four corners. Uh, again, tracks are different. Three seems to be what they’ve been gravitating towards a more standardized. Uh, sometimes it’s up to four. I’ve even seen some at five and six and, um, there’s different sections of trail.
At different areas of maybe there’s going to be more jumps that are smaller and [00:17:00] closer together, different areas might be bigger and more spread out. And then, uh, there’s a finish line. And, you know, like I said, the first person that crossed the finish line with,
Jill Jaracz: so do you practice because, because the starting hill is standardized, do you practice that a lot to try to build up as much speed as possible to take you into the next section?
Yeah.
Connor Fields: Yeah. So you do that for a couple of reasons. One, you know exactly what it’s going to be. And then two, it’s always easier to win a race from the front of that from behind. Uh, so like I mentioned earlier, we don’t pay, so we just go. And so if you can get out in front and then control the race, somebody is going to have to pass you and get around you to win, which is a lot harder than.
Then it just lead from the front and just hold onto it. So yeah, we do do a lot of start practice and most of our training is designed around the start because it is so much easier to win from the beginning of
Jill Jaracz: the ranch. How do you pass somebody? Are there sections of the course where you, you look at it ahead of time and go, okay.
If I have to pass somebody, I can try to do it here, here and [00:18:00] here. Or is it just every to every channel? There
Connor Fields: are, um, you know, there’s, there’s definitely areas where you can see that there’s some rooms. So for example, it says. Well, one of the corners is much bigger and wider than the other. You know, that, that there’s going to be some room in there to make a pass.
You need to, the other thing is because the jumps are so big and so difficult, there’s mistakes that get made often. So if there are mistakes that get made, you have to be able to capitalize if a rider misjudges their distance or their timing, uh, it’d be able to capitalize, you know, you could literally just ride right by somebody on the street.
Uh, if they make a mistake or if you’re just that much faster, you can just ride right by them. Or you can go underneath them in a corner. Uh, you can fake them out and make them think you’re going to go underneath them. Then they go to counter. You could go to the outside and cross them up. There’s different sorts of techniques.
Then there’s always the last trade away, uh, where you can just try. Has somebody at the finish line if you’ve got more endurance. [00:19:00] So yeah, there’s all types of different passes. You want always identify a spot or two that you think might be the spot, but for us, there’s no plan really. It’s more like a read and react to what’s going on.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. That would lead me to another question that I have. Cause I, when I watch it, I’m always wondering how, you know, what to jump and how you know, what to roll. And when you know, to jump.
Connor Fields: Yeah. So we always get a set amount of time on the course beforehand. So a lot of it is just experience-wise, you know, we can book it something and just figure, yeah, I’m going to do this year.
I’m gonna do that there. I can kind of judge it based on my experiences, but you always try things. So in your practice and in your warmups and options over a section or over. And figure out what you think is the fastest. And then when, you know, what’s the fastest, that’s going to be your plan a and then, you know, let’s say you’re bumping with another rider and you might not have your setup that you want.
You’ve always got your plan B in your plan, C as well. [00:20:00] I’m
Jill Jaracz: always curious, like when you do jump, like there’s that pumping action that you do with your arms? Like how do you get your bike over these Hills and how do you know you’re going to get it over one or two of these Hills or get over the whole step up kind of.
Connor Fields: Yeah. So again, a lot of that just comes down to experience jumped so many gums in my life. I can look at it, jump to kind of figure out how much speed I need and how far to go, or how hard to pull up or whatever I might need to do to get it. But then what gets really tricky is you’re trying to go as fast as you can over it.
So being on the ground, it’s faster than being in the air. So I’ll BMX freestyle wants to go as high as it is. I get as much airtime as they can. We want to minimize that airtime and be on the ground as much as we can. So a lot of the movement and a lot of the actual, the pumping action you’re talking about is actually us trying to get our bikes down into the ground so we could be continuing to move forward.
But yeah, I would just, you know, to answer that question, I would just say that the [00:21:00] experience of knowing how your speed and the shape of a jump kind of helps with knowing how far you have.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, that’s really interesting just because they force you to go up in the air and it’s tried the, the game is really trying to stay on the ground as much as possible.
Wow. Okay. And then when I, when I watch tracers and their bikes kind of, if they’re in the air and the bike kind of goes sideways a little bit, what’s going on there? Is that on purpose or is that just part of physics going.
Connor Fields: Yeah, it’s a little bit of both. So there’s weight adjustments and movements being made, uh, to make sure that you’re in good balance.
And you’re just trying to aggressively put the bike where you want the bike to go. Sometimes it could be, if it’s. You’re kind of counterbalancing to the wind. You might come off the takeoff a little bit off balance, and you’re just making an adjustment in the air to get yourself more on balance, but you’re never going to jump and just not move at all.
Because at [00:22:00] that point you’re just a passenger. Uh, and it’d be like taking off with your eyes closed and then just holding on and hoping that you land. Okay. You’re constantly adjusting, moving and calculating to figure out, uh, the safest and fastest way to get back to.
Jill Jaracz: W when you first started out, were you closing your eyes and hoping you land?
Okay.
Connor Fields: When I, I was seven years old, so I was just trying to get a couple inches of air time and I was starting out
Jill Jaracz: when, when you first start out, is it like I want airtime? Cause it’s really cool. And then, and then you learn, no, I don’t really want to hear.
Connor Fields: Yeah. Well, when you’re young, you know, you just riding yeah.
Fun. And part of the alert is that feeling of flying through the air and I still love jumping and all that stuff. It’s so fun. But when you’re racing and you’re trying to win metals, or when, when big events you’re, uh, you’re trying to jump the jump as low and as smooth as possible.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, so for Tokyo, while we’re watching, is there anything special we need to look out [00:23:00] for besides you.
Connor Fields: I would just say that the long track is going to come into play more so than usual. So you’ll be able to tell who’s inputting their homework. And as far as conditioning and fitness goes, without a doubt,
Jill Jaracz: what homework have you added to your homework schedule?
Connor Fields: I can’t give you all my secrets.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Connor. Uh, you can find Connor at Connor fields, 11 on all social platforms and check out his website, Connor fields.com. He was such a joy to talk to. He was, I, I love BMX and, uh, I love watching it at the Olympics and, uh, he was just great. Not sunshine and roses, but I don’t know. It makes you feel good when you talk to him and he’s confident, but not arrogant.
And he’s, he’s very kind for questions that are very basic. So I appreciated that.
Alison Brown: Yes, because as we [00:24:00] all know, I don’t know how to ride a bicycle. So when he started talking about the technicalities of basically, I’m like, oh my God, I’m going to feel really dumb, but I didn’t feel dumb because he broke it down in a way that said you are an intelligent person.
You can. Even though you have the physical abilities of a five-year-old
Jill Jaracz: well, hopefully we’ll get you on a bike sometime soon. Only if the robot
Alison Brown: overlords need me to
Jill Jaracz: ride a bike, then I will learn. Okay, well, I’ll put it in a good word for bike riding with the robot overlord.
Team Keep the Flame Alive News
Alison Brown: Welcome to shook list
Jill Jaracz: on it is time to check in with our team. Keep the flame alive. These are past guests who are now citizens of our country shook fless fan a modern pentathlete Samantha Schultz. And the second world cup of the modern pentathlon season, she placed 18th in her qualification round, but sadly did not make it to the finals still.
She got to [00:25:00] scrape off some of the rest, cause it’s been a long time since she’s got to compete. And it’s good to have that out of the way before going to. So we’ve
Alison Brown: got some controversy going on in figure skating. Eric Radford has announced that he will be pairing with Vanessa James, who was a partner formerly of Morgan shippers.
And that means that any professional relationship between Eric Radford and our shook plus Donnie, Megan do Hamill is not happening. She posted on Instagram that this was a surprise to her that she did not know of this new pairing until it was announced. Which is not cool. Yeah, it’s it doesn’t seem to be that this new pair is particularly welcomed, given that Vanessa James, his former skating partner retired under a huge cloud of sexual abuse, misconduct claims.
Yeah. It’s it’s seems like it’s messy all the way around, [00:26:00] so we’ll have to see how this plays out because they have announced that they are planning to make a
Jill Jaracz: wrong probation. Which is interesting. And I think that the, the tough part for Megan is that once things opened up again and ice skating shows started again, she and Eric had planned to travel and perform in those.
And that was going to be a major source of income for her. And now that’s just got taken away without the courtesy of saying, Hey, by the way, I’m not going to be around for. Yeah.
Alison Brown: So rather an unfortunate situation going on. We’ll see how it plays out because this just happened today. So we have very little information on how this is actually going to work.
If escape Canada is going to allow them to compete because Vanessa James is a Canadian citizen, but she had competed for France. So this is ongoing and we’ll let you.
Jill Jaracz: Our Paralympian. John register wrote the forward to the new [00:27:00] publication, bespoke bodies, the design and craft of prosthetics by Amanda Hawkins and Sam Kiano.
Uh, this is a publication that talks about the 500 year history of prosthetics and it accompanies, uh, the design museums exhibition of the same name. We will have links to all of this in the show. This
Alison Brown: Saturday race Walker, Evan Dunphy will attempt to set a world record for the fastest walking 10 K. It will take place at the Richmond Olympic oval and that’s was the Vancouver’s, uh, speed skating venue at 11:00 AM.
Pacific time. You can watch on the tracks TV stream, oval TV, and we’ll have a link to that in the show
Jill Jaracz: notes. Saturday is a big day because there are also two track and field meets in the U S so our hammer throw RD and a price will be competing at the USA T F USA track and field Federation Cron pre at Oregon relays in Eugene, Oregon.
This will be on [00:28:00] USA. That TV from one to 2:00 PM Pacific and on NBCSN and peacock from two to 4:00 PM. Pacific Deanna’s event is scheduled for 2:50 PM Pacific. So hopefully that’s on and BCSN or peacock. And we will have a link to the meet information in the show notes.
Alison Brown: And Dawn Harper Nelson will also be competing on Saturday in her first meet of the year.
She’ll be at the Drake relays in Des Moines, Iowa. Is that going to be
Jill Jaracz: visible or we, uh, it’s going to be behind a pay wall. I looked at they’ll they’ll have a live stream, but it’s, it’s, uh, only available if you subscribe to it, but we will
Alison Brown: put that link up as well. My goodness. Saturday is
Jill Jaracz: busy. It is. And there’s a lot of people moving fast, right?
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Atlanta 1996 History Moment: Mountain Biking
It is the 25th anniversary of the Atlanta, 1996 Olympics. So every week we’re looking back at some of these stories from these games, Alison is your week, this week. What do you have for me? I have cycling
Alison Brown: since we were talking BMX BMX was not obviously in the Olympics at that point, but mountain biking made its debut in 1996 for both men and women.
So that’s the [00:30:00] closest we had in the, uh, on the, on the docket there. So. Race was contested at Conyers, which was not far from Atlanta. And at the time, uh, mountain biking races were much, much longer than they are today. And on the day of the race, it was 86 degrees with 72% humidity.
Jill Jaracz: Holy cow, S a little, huh?
Alison Brown: Wow. So thankfully, nobody died. Like, remember that story we were telling about how someone died in the, uh, bicycle race. I think it was in the 1960 in the, in the Rome he, oh, right, right. Yeah. Nobody died though. They did have to put fans and water sprayers on the course itself, you know, sort of like riding through those sprayers at Disney world, which I think would’ve made it kind of muddy, but nobody seemed to complain about that.
So I guess it was so hot that just, they were grateful for it. Yeah. Uh, relief of heat. So reigning world [00:31:00] champion of the Netherlands won the gold medal. But my favorite part of the story is now he runs a pro mountain bike team called the Milka superior MTB racing team. He keeps his bike that he won the gold medal with in his office.
I was just like, yes, that’s my good metal willing bank. Would you like to sit on it? Like he, he just has it. Wow. It’s going to take it for a spin. It’s not encased. It may kind of hang on the wall. You know, you have those little hooks, but it’s just out hanging around and he talks
Jill Jaracz: about it. Very cool. Very cool.
Did you see, I, because my mountain biking was on my list of things to explore for, and I had read, uh, an article about the, the California cation of sports and because beach volleyball was very beachy, California, tight sport and mountain biking was along that same line. The woman, the woman who won the women’s mountain biking was Italian.[00:32:00]
And I had seen the clip of her and it was so hot. She had unzipped her shirt almost all the way.
Alison Brown: Remember when that happened upon Chang with the speed skater, when she went to unzip pursuit and she forgot there was nothing on the news.
Jill Jaracz: So
Alison Brown: maybe it was the same thing. So what I thought, one of the points that they made was, uh, mountain biking was really an American invention.
It came of age, kind of in the 1970s, but of the six metals that were awarded only the women’s bronze went to an American. Wow.
Jill Jaracz: Because really, I think Europe has just embraced this sport and this discipline and, uh, take taking it to new Heights or what are your fields? I think you can still go to the biking, the mountain biking venue today and mountain bike.
I think they’ve managed to fix it back up.
Alison Brown: Well, you could
Jill Jaracz: someday you too. Can mountain bike.[00:33:00]
Tokyo 2020 News
Time for no
excited for Tokyo. Now
Jill Jaracz: I am so ready. Are you, are you really, somehow
Alison Brown: I woke up the other day and I said to myself, there are going to happen. This is amazing. And now I’m really excited.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. I don’t even know, like, all right, let’s go. Let’s get them now. So, speaking of there’s a constant question in the press, will they won’t they happen?
Will they won’t they happen? What you’re going to see probably coming up soon is that Japan will announce a state of emergency in the country. That’s uh, there was, uh, an IOC executive board meeting today with a press conference following and, and teabag brought that up. He said that’s really to target golden week in Japan.
At the end of April and it’s their big vacation [00:34:00] week. So, uh, officials want to stop the spread during that golden week. So that’s why you’ll see a state of emergency probably see more. Well, will they cancel the games, but that’s not going to happen.
Alison Brown: Stay calm folks.
Jill Jaracz: We’re good. Exactly. Uh, the organizing committee in Tokyo has pushed back the decision on whether or not they will allow fans at all.
At Tokyo. So they were going to make the decision this month, but they’ve pushed that back to June, according to the associated press and then New Zealand yet again,
Alison Brown: proving how
Jill Jaracz: amazing they are. And the Olympic committee has, has built a giant skateboard and they are taking it on tour around the. Now, when we say
Alison Brown: giant skateboard, the entire New Zealand skateboarding team was sitting on just a section of this skateboard.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. Exactly. It’s it’s [00:35:00] akin to what we would have in the, the U S it, it, I likened it to, uh, an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. Yes. It might not be that big, but it, it, you know, you’re talking about giant skateboard and yeah. Uh, probably a good 20. 24 to 30 people could fit on this thing. We should try. Oh, that’s right.
New Zealand, New Zealand. Won’t let us in. That’s right. So look for them. They are marking down, uh, their a hundred days to go. So they are going to have a bunch of, they’re going to take the, the skateboard around the country and have a little events to go along with it, to get the local fans excited for the games.
So
Alison Brown: we’ve talked a lot about having to move. You know, boats, skis, but imagine having to move
Jill Jaracz: this skateboard and see what they do and say, put a person on top and they have access to a giant leg, a giant foot that propels, and they just kind of [00:36:00] like, it’s a hand crank thing and they just move the foot to go.
Alison Brown: Can you imagine seeing this rolling down the road
Jill Jaracz: in
Mercury Sunset: Christchurch, are you doing.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, that would be fabulous. So if you are listening from New Zealand, Dr. Michael Warren, let us know if you see this, go see the same word. Yes. See it for us. Please see it for us.
Mercury Sunset: Okay.
Paris 2024 News
Jill Jaracz: We have a little news about Paris, 20, 24 from inside the games world sailing might lose one of its metal events. So the, so the Paris 2024 event program was decided, I believe at the last IOC meet a big meeting in December and world sailing had put forth this event. That was a multi-day mixed off shore event.
And the para said, [00:37:00] no, Uh, world sailing didn’t have another option that they wanted to put forward for an event. So they, uh, the IOC has said, you’ve got to put forth a different event by may 26, or you’re gonna lose. You’re going to lose that metal opportunity. They are looking to replace the fin class of boats for Paris, 20, 24.
Maybe they should replace it with a suite class. Whoa, Scandinavian jokes. I
Mercury Sunset: told her.
Milano Cortina 2026 News
Jill Jaracz: Uh, we have some news from Milan Kortina. So the IOC coordination commission had their second meeting about Milan Kortina. And, uh, they did say that w with the logo competition, man, you were right Ellison that daughter won with [00:38:00] 75% of the vote. And they had, uh, about 171,000 votes from 169 countries. And they happened to them.
Okay. So, uh, the organizing committee has chosen a consortium to create the village master plan. So we’ll start seeing news about that in the coming months. I’m sure, but the big news was the what’s going on with a sliding track, because if you recall, that’s been one of the, one of the sticking points for the IOC about the Milan core team.
Olympic plan, because
Alison Brown: from the beginning it was a question in
Jill Jaracz: their bid. Right, right. But passion one, come on. Passion one. So the big slide in tech, in Italy is in Kortina was part of the 1956, uh, Olympics. It was closed down because it needed refurbishment and nobody had the money for it. And in the bid, they said, we will renovate.
And the IOC said that will be very expensive. We highly [00:39:00] recommend you look at something Moritz or Innsbrook, and they said we will renovate it. And the IOC kept saying, how about another option? Well, here’s the other option? So the region of Veneto has decided to build a big entertainment park, winter, a winter summer entertainment center.
And the sliding track is going to be part of the. And so what did the IOC say? Oh, well, that’s going to be a project of the Veneto region government. We don’t have to have a say in that anymore.
Alison Brown: It’s not in our
Jill Jaracz: budget. Right. So it’s not going to be, and this will be kind of interesting to see how this plays out in like, oh, what’s it.
- This will be interested to see how this plays out. Four to five years when the bill comes due, when this is so expensive, but the bill might actually be slid in. [00:40:00] Among this whole entertainment park budget. So you’ll never know how much it cost and the IOC isn’t going to care because they aren’t, it’s not part of the Olympics anymore.
So they aren’t on the hook for it or their, or their, well, they wouldn’t be on the hook for it. Anyway, it wouldn’t be a black mark on the organizing committee because it’s not one of their projects anymore. Everyone’s dodged a bullet. That that track is still going to cost a fortune to, to renovate.
Alison Brown: Have you seen the food thought
Mercury Sunset: that was not expensive?
Alison Brown: It’s so Bellissimo.
Jill Jaracz: I feel the passion already.
Mercury Sunset: Plus the lemon jello.
International Olympic Committee News
Jill Jaracz: All right. We do have some IOC news because there was a press conference today, but first Airbnb, [00:41:00] which is one of the IOC. Top sponsors, uh, has announced that it’s going to start a travel grant program and award up to 500 athletes a year up to $2,000 in Airbnb credit for travel related accommodation costs all linked to their sporting careers, and they will have this program going for the next eight years, which is nice.
That could be
Alison Brown: really helpful, especially for that. Winter athletes. That’s been months at a time in Europe,
Jill Jaracz: right? I’m I’m very curious to see who gets this because when I think of the athletes that really need this it’s, it’s those middling athletes in smaller sports that don’t get anything else or they get they’re they’re surviving on a really tiny monthly stipend from a national governing body.
That’s who I hope gets us versus the oh, Simone Biles. Let’s give you a travel credit.
Alison Brown: She doesn’t need a travel. No,
Jill Jaracz: she can fit in a suitcase. [00:42:00] So you’re saying she can fit into a tiny Airbnb, tiny house. She can fit in those little capsule hotels
Alison Brown: that they have in
Jill Jaracz: Tokyo and she’d have room to spare. You know, that would be an interesting village concept once they like, oh, coronavirus, we’ll just turn the village into capsule, hotels, and nobody just lock yourself in it.
Alison Brown: Yeah. That’s my hotel in hell,
Jill Jaracz: man. Oh, right. Oh man. Claustrophobic. Um, so, uh, big news coming out of this meeting is we had the results of the review of rule 50, uh, saying what athletes will be allowed to do to, uh, support causes or have protests at the Olympics. So the head of the athlete, the IOC athletes, commission, Kirsty Coventry.
She, uh, got on to make a presentation and, uh, talked about the survey that they’ve been doing over the last several months. They had over 3,500 current athletes [00:43:00] surveyed and found out that 70% of them do not want protests on the podium, on the field of play or during ceremonies, opening, closing ceremonies.
I thought that was interesting. And I’m, I’m not surprised. I’d be curious. We haven’t had time today to dig into the report because the IOC, uh, board meeting was today. Today is Wednesday the 21st and the report came out. We haven’t had time to dig into the, do a deeper dive on the demographics of who said what for each question.
Cause I’m very curious to know how the U S athletes responded to wanting protium protests, right? Is
Alison Brown: that 30% going to be. You know, predominantly American Canadian, uh, athletes, you know, is that sort of 30% who say yes, protests are good. I would expect to be. The north American athletes, [00:44:00] right? The very, and then a few
Jill Jaracz: smatterings here and there.
Right? So, uh, when she was asked, if athletes would be punished in Tokyo for making political statements, as such as taking a knee on the podium and supportive racial equality, she said, yes, They will be punished. The other elements that they’ve come up with for this rule 50 proposal. Uh, one thing would be to come up with the sanctions that are clear.
Uh, she did say that every circumstance will be taken individually, but to give athletes an idea of what sanctions would generally be, was part of what they’re working on next. They also want to highlight solidary. And unity and non-discrimination. So I think they’re coming at it, not from the, not from the protest side, it’s the let’s promote what we want out of the protest side of it.
So they’re going to try to do something with that, those themes at the opening [00:45:00] and closing ceremonies, they’re actually going to change the Olympic oath that the athletes, the judges, the coaches, and the officials take. It’s going to be more inclusive and have non-discrimination in place. So the oath right now is in the name of the athletes or judges or all coaches and officials.
We promise to take part in these Olympics. Respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play. Uh, we commit ourselves to sport without doping cheating. Uh, we do this for the glorious sport for the honor of our teams and in respect for the fundamental principles of Olympism. So. What they’re proposing to change it to is we promised to make, take part in these Olympic games, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play, equal inclusion and equality together.
We stand in solidarity and commit ourselves to sport without doping, without cheating, and without any form of discrimination, [00:46:00] we do this for the honor of our teams and in respect for the fundamentals principles of Olympism and to make the world a better place through sport. So they added in a lot of solidarity and stuff and took out that Gloria sport thing.
Frasier. I love that change. I did too. I think it,
Alison Brown: it better reflects where we are as a society and where sport fits into it.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly that whole making the world a better place through sport because we understand better now. How sport can change people’s lives for the better. And it’s nice to have this be part of the oath,
Alison Brown: right?
So, you know, the USO USO PC said, it’s fine at Olympic trials because that’s their venue. So it will be interesting to see how some of the more outspoken American athletes react to this to say is being able to [00:47:00] protest issues that are facing. The United States in the United States at American competitions enough, or do I still.
Need to make this international
Jill Jaracz: statement, right? Because one of the other things that came out in the survey was that athletes still wanted a place to be able to talk about that stuff. So they were looking at the, uh, press conferences in the mixed media event zone and, uh, like digital platforms and, and using their athletes 365 platform to talk about issues, but trying to find a place outside the field of play that gives athletes.
A sufficient place where they can air their concerns and their thoughts and views on the world. And it’ll be interesting to see. I think if I was, was an athlete that really wanted to use a podium protest is because I never got any other air time to talk about stuff. So [00:48:00] I had to do something big so that people would notice me and want to talk to me.
So I’d be interested to see if the IOC is going to actively encourage. Social causes or discrimination issues in the press conferences at the athletes go through, you know, will, will that be more of a focal point or are athletes still just going to talk about their sport and the results and not get what’s really on their mind that they could have gotten?
If they had done something big?
Alison Brown: Yes, I see where you’re going and that would the athlete have more because often in those press conferences, it’s just the press asking you questions. You don’t get much chance as an athlete to make a statement. And to refuse to answer questions and to say, I want to answer questions about X, you know, you don’t get much power in those press conferences to direct the conversation.
It’s very much thrown at you. Right? And will they [00:49:00] allow athletes more control over their press
Jill Jaracz: conferences? Right? Will there be say, you know, it’d be interesting. I know there’s a lot of materials prepared for the media in advance or the media is preparing their own materials in advance and doing research and putting together bios and things on, uh, the athletes will athletes who have particular causes that they care about.
Have that highlighted in those bios. That’ll be interesting to see. Will that be part of the story that is encouraged to be reported upon? Uh, one of the other, uh, solutions that they’ve come up with is incorporating collective messaging into different areas of the games. So we’ll probably see some signage to.
That talks about celebrating peace and respect and solidarity and inclusion and all their buzzwords. So they’re looking at getting apparel for athletes that they can wear digital [00:50:00] messaging, all around things that are going to be in the village for them to take part in. So hopefully they’ll, uh, I hope this is a nice compromise
Alison Brown: and it’ll be, it’ll be especially interesting to see.
In Tokyo, given the limited interactions, right? You’re going to have much fewer members of the press. You’re going to not have public gatherings. You’re not going to have all these international fans. It’s really going to be a TV event in a way that. Yeah. Obviously, most people see it on TV, but it really is going to be designed to be a TV event.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly.
Alison Brown: And how is that going to play out versus how it plays out, say in Paris when you, we would assume it’s going to be more back to what we expect.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. I am [00:51:00] very curious to see how this plays out and how quickly they can pull stuff together and, and, uh, make that happen. Um, the last thing that. Was very interesting coming out of this press conference was that T buck had proposed in the last session, one of the earlier meetings this year, because they’re all running together now.
Uh, but he talked about changing the Olympic motto. Citius Altius, fortieths two Citius Altius, 40th communion. So adding that spirit of community and solidarity to the faster, higher, stronger. So they talked about this idea at the executive board meeting today, they’ve gotten support from the international peer to Cooper town committee and, uh, They’re now going to turn to the IOC membership to get their comments and, um, may make a change to the Olympic charter to include this new, [00:52:00] uh, motto at the IOC session in Tokyo.
Alison Brown: Uh, my first instinct is to not let.
Jill Jaracz: Right. Cause it’s,
Alison Brown: cause it’s changed. And I like the three, you know, that, you know, that rule of three in design and stuff, but I’m going to keep my mouth shut and I’m not going to say I don’t like it until I read more about it and get the background on it and not knee jerk.
I don’t like any change, get off
Jill Jaracz: my lawn. Right, right. But it’s interesting how inclusion has been a big part of. The discussions of what the Olympics are now. I’ll
Alison Brown: check with the robot or overlords, if they exact
Jill Jaracz: communities, oh, you report back when they let you. And in the meantime that will do it for this week.
Let us know what you think about BMX racing. Email
Alison Brown: us@flamealivepodatgmail.com. Call or text us at [00:53:00] (208) 352-6348. That’s 2 0 8. Where flame alive pod on Twitter and instant and keep the flame I’ve podcast group
Jill Jaracz: on Facebook. Join us next week for more Olympic stories, we have done a ton of interviews lately, so it’s so exciting to be able to bring those to you next week.
It’s book club, we’re talking Fox. And we’ve got more athlete interviews on the books. So we are looking forward to bringing you those as we go out to music by Archdale. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, keep the flame [00:54:00] alive.