Sadly, it’s time to say good-bye to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. We had a few more competitions to start the day, with Alison seeing the nail biter that was the men’s ice hockey gold medal final, which went to overtime. Meanwhile, Jill went to Verona for the afternoon, with some specific goals to achieve before heading to the nearly 2,000-year-old Verona Arena for the Closing Ceremonies. This included a visit to the highly interesting Palazzo Maffei.
Sports on today’s program:
- Bobsled
- Cross-country skiing
- Curling
- Freestyle skiing
- Ice hockey
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Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics-Day 16
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] Bonjourno and welcome to Keep the Flame Alive. Day 16 coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, coming to you one last time from Shukla Sta house in Milano. Joined us always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Allison Chow Coma. Sta
Alison Brown: the cauldron is out.
Jill Jaracz: The cauldron is out.
Alison Brown: That’s very sad. Yeah, I have thoughts.
Jill Jaracz: I I have a lot of thoughts on this
Alison Brown: one. Well, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll get to your
Jill Jaracz: thoughts [00:01:00] ’cause we forgot stuff yesterday. I thought, I really thought I had another day where I just didn’t forget anything and then I remembered like, oh yeah, we forgot to talk about the drummers at speed skating.
Alison Brown: Oh, were they back?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, they were, I had seen them before, but not drumming. I had seen them with day passes on, wandering around the stands. I’m like, oh, drummers. ’cause they were like Tyco drummers or something like that. Oh. But not Tyco, I think, I was hoping they were Tyco drummers, but they had drums and they came out and they were the, the pre-game show.
Alison Brown: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: Much like the band that was there in the beginning of the games, who I loved very much. But I will say, I don’t understand. Why the pre-competition entertainment was so early and then they had nothing to do and they were grabbing at straws, finding quote unquote famous people to talk to. [00:02:00] Or other athlete, you know, like the famous retired athletes.
That was boring. Talking, uh, singing Sweet Caroline, also boring. Uh, talking, just talking in general in a venue where nobody could understand you boring,
Alison Brown: you need the drums
Jill Jaracz: and you needed them not an hour before because nobody was in the audience. They were still working their way from the metro to row.
That’s a long time.
Alison Brown: Yeah. It’s a, that’s a long walk to carry a drum.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it did. Well, it probably came from the parking side.
Alison Brown: But still.
Jill Jaracz: I know, but they were, they were good. And then Tina was bouncing around with them, so that was fun too.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Tina was few and far between. Towards the second week.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I, I mean, it was just really weird.
It’s like they didn’t have enough Tina’s,
Alison Brown: maybe,
Jill Jaracz: maybe they cheaped out on Tina’s. I don’t know why. Since they had 25,000. Regions to go to. [00:03:00]
Alison Brown: You get one teen, one Tina per region?
Jill Jaracz: I, yeah, I guess so. Uh, is there an officiating or volunteer job you would like to do on the last day?
Alison Brown: Well, we have very similar ones.
I would like to be in the interpretive dance portion of the, of the program this evening.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Where they were, the butterfly type thing?
Alison Brown: No, not when the volunteers were dancing.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay. Oh,
Alison Brown: when Like the painted people were dancing.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Yeah, that was fun. Because they are volunteers too. Yes. That would be good that they were some good dancing tonight.
Alison Brown: There was some fabulous dancing.
Jill Jaracz: So I would like to be in the volunteer dance though
Alison Brown: when there were a butterfly. Yes. In the rings.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: And yeah, that was
Jill Jaracz: pretty
Alison Brown: cool. That
Jill Jaracz: was so, uh, did you have any cultural moments today?
Alison Brown: Well, the game was kind of cultural, I have to say. Oh. Because I ran into a lot of cultural people.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: But I’m gonna hold my cultural moments
Jill Jaracz: for hockey talk.
Alison Brown: For hockey talk. Okay. Because it, it all is part of a piece.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Let’s just, let’s just put it that way.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, good. [00:04:00] I went to Verona today to go to the closing ceremonies.
I
Alison Brown: know.
Jill Jaracz: Um, I will have more to say about the, the closing ceremonies at closing ceremonies time. But I went to Verona early ’cause I wanted to walk around the town a little bit and see what it was like. I had, uh. Looked up a little bit of like, what do people do in Verona besides go and see Juliet’s house and as his listener Charlotte, it’s like people, I don’t know why you’re all excited about this, because it’s a character, but there’s a statue of her in the house supposedly that Shakespeare got inspired by, or the balcony looks like it.
I don’t know, but she’s there and people grab her right breast and take their pictures. Well, I got on a, a train that got me there, I think one o’clock-ish or 1 45. And I had run into our friend, my friend Sergio, the photographer.
Alison Brown: Sergio is everywhere.
Jill Jaracz: He is [00:05:00] everywhere. He was at the train station trying to figure something else out and he’s like, oh, I was gonna get on the train after yours.
I’ll just get on your train. And. Even though there were no tickets available, he got on and got a seat. And so he is like, okay, we have to go to Juliette’s house and I gotta go here, here, here. And it was like he read Trip Advisor and, and was gonna take pictures and file a story of this is what it’s like.
’cause he is doing a lot of filing stories as well or talking right. Talking them in and somebody writes ’em up and so he is like, come on, we’re fine. We’re walking around town. We’re finding in Juliet’s house and. Take our pictures with a statue and then he is trying to get into the house and he is like, I’m a journalist.
And they’re like, do you have a card, a press card? Well, I’m like, I don’t got a press card and I don’t really want to go to Juliet’s house. I also don’t really like Shakespeare, so, and don’t at me people. There’s some, some stuff I like, but I’m just not a huge fan [00:06:00] of Shakespeare enough to. Go pay for Juliette’s house or try to get in for free as a journalist.
So this is where we, uh, separated. And then I also said, uh, ’cause the guy was, the guy in charge was not thrilled that we were showing up on a Sunday that was busy. And he’s like, you should have emailed before. And get your press card out and you have a digital copy. I’m like, I don’t got one, but do you have a bathroom?
And he’s like, Hmm, is it an emergency? Oh yeah, it’s an emergency. And he showed me the bathroom, Squatty.
Alison Brown: Oh.
Jill Jaracz: Had to
Alison Brown: was not.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, it was and it was gross. It was smelly.
Alison Brown: I’m ashamed of you, Juliet, with your squatty potty.
Jill Jaracz: Well, you know, it’s from like the 13 hundreds or whatever. When was she? I don’t know. You think they had indoor plumbing fly?
I was glad I was indoors, you know, [00:07:00] and flushed. So yeah, that was a fun experience. So then, uh, we separated. And I realized later that I do have a press card because I made them, because I own the press company that we are, and, uh, it’s in Canva and I could get it off my phone, which I did to go to a museum, I went to the Palazzo Mafi and it’s a pal. It seemed like a palace that got left to. Someone and they turned it into a museum with somebody’s collection that was quite eclectic and they were billing it like, we’ve got a Warhol, we’ve got a Ksky, we’ve got all these random things. And I saw the prices and then I saw Free for journalist and I was like, wait, I got a press card and I pulled it up and it worked.
I had to fill out a form. And they were like, yep, go on in. Nice. Here’s your [00:08:00] ticket. Alright, so, uh, I really enjoyed this museum. It was kind of random. You, it was two floors of art and then there was a third floor that I’ll get to, but the, they were organized into little rooms that could ha be on a theme.
So it would be like the Mother Mary, and you’d see whatever paintings they had in the collection.
Alison Brown: From any
Jill Jaracz: era. Any era. Any era. Oh, so you’d have random stuff altogether. And that was kind of fun. I really liked that. But there would be like, oh, this is a very important painting. This is very, very important.
Alison Brown: Look at this. We like this.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, wandered around there, saw some stuff. I really love it because you’re gonna die when you try to sort through all the photos that I took. But I saw some really cool stuff that I’d never seen before. The Warhol is of Marilyn Monroe.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: nice. The Kandinsky was nice. I do have some Picassos.
I know you’re not a fan, [00:09:00] but I like, I’m not a fan. I liked those. They were kind of interesting.
Alison Brown: We’re really, you know, going after the big names today. You don’t like Shakespeare? I don’t like Picasso.
Jill Jaracz: I know,
Alison Brown: I know. Who else are we gonna tear down while we’re
Jill Jaracz: at? I, they, they had a mural. They had a lot of stuff.
It was, it was really kind of interesting and some, uh, a lot of Italian artists that I didn’t know, but I really liked what I saw. So that was fun. And then I, I get to the third floor. Oh, and they had some like a video installation room and one that was more interactive. And then I wandered into their little library slash lecture room and they had a film running that was part of the Cultural Olympiad and it was this little short film about the Dolomites.
And they had a little section that was old bobsled runs. So that was fun to like stumble upon. Then I went up to the third floor and that was somebody telling me something that I didn’t understand and we finally worked [00:10:00] out that I needed to show my ticket again to get out to the terrace and it’s a rooftop terrace and you go out and you see the sky.
Oh, it was just like breathtaking.
Alison Brown: Beautiful.
Jill Jaracz: It was, it was so nice to see the skyline and, and all around and
Alison Brown: in Fair Verona.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. And uh, that was my big cultural experience because my agenda, unlike Sergio’s, which was
Alison Brown: Get a story.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, get a story. My agenda was. Lunch gelato app, a TiVo. That was, that was my, my big priorities of the day.
And I think I actually ate too much today for the first time. Like I felt like, ooh, I don’t know if I should have eaten now. Everything I did, so I did wander around a lot. I did walk a lot ’cause we had passed. A sandwich shop that looked good and I tried to retrace steps and I couldn’t get there. Stopped to look at the menu of another place.
And I had read this about Verona Restaurants will have [00:11:00] horse on the menu.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: and this restaurant did.
Alison Brown: Good thing. You know what it is in Italian,
Jill Jaracz: well also came in English.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: okay. So that it was, there was a lot of Italian and English around. So I think this is a big tour. Oh, it is a big tourist destination.
Because there was somebody who had a sign on their balcony that said, tourists go like go home, kind of thing. They did not want tourists. In Verona anymore, at least in the downtown little old city area. Um, but I did get a, a wonderful panini from my stand.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: And then I got some wonderful gelato, one of which was like she said, it was called cupid.
O like Cupid.
Alison Brown: Huh.
Jill Jaracz: And. She’s like, this is like an experiment. You should try it before you order it. Because it wasn’t really gelato E it was almost like frozen, like cool Whip had a texture to it. Oh, and it was [00:12:00] good.
Alison Brown: That sounds fantastic.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So it was gelato and cool whippy and it was light, and I had that with some coconut and the fresh coconut in the coconut.
Oh, it was so good. And then walked around a little more. Got at a TiVo, which was, for me, was an Aperol spritz and a pizza. And I ate the whole pizza and it was a big one. And that was, that did me in, because then it was trying to go to the closing ceremony, which we will get to later on in the show. But it was a nice day in Verona.
So hopefully, hopefully we’ll get tickets for the Paralympic stuff. And you can see,
Alison Brown: see it and try it again. Yes. Maybe we’ll go see Juliet’s balcony. Next time we’ll prepare and have a press card ready and email them ahead of time.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well, you know, the cauldron, the Olympic cauldron may be out, but we keep going. Keep the flame alive is on all year [00:13:00] round, so you can get the antidote to your case of Olympic fever. That is only possible thanks to listeners like you who support the show with, uh, not only your listenership. You’re talking to us when you do talk to us.
Oh, we are. We are hitting 1 39 in the morning. I can feel it. Well, but those who have you who support us financially as well. ’cause that keeps our flame going. If you’ve appreciated our Independent Olympics coverage, we could use some support to get us through the Paralympics and beyond to LA 2028. Find out more at Flame Alive Pod.
Dot com and make sure our flame never goes out. We had some competitions today
Alison Brown: I know, which always feels a little weird on the last day.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: When they, when they throw in a bunch.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah. There were, there were a lot more than, than usual it felt like.
Alison Brown: Agreed. So we had four man bobsled finishing up and not a German sweep.
Jill Jaracz: [00:14:00] Interesting,
Alison Brown: which is surprising. So gold went to Germany’s, uh, pilot, Johannes Lochner Silver went to Germany’s pilot, Francisco Friedrich, but Bronze went to Switzerland. Michael Voight. Oh. Hm,
Jill Jaracz: interesting.
Alison Brown: Hmm. Yes. So Adam and Moore fell to fourth. He finished fourth and fifth in the respective third and fourth heath.
So he was slowing down
Jill Jaracz: Oh.
Alison Brown: While Voight was speeding up.
Jill Jaracz: Interesting. I wonder if the ice was changing.
Alison Brown: Uh, it probably was because I know in the, uh, cross country, which we’ll get to next, they talked a lot about how yesterday it was very soft and slushy and today was very icy and was, they were. Talking about suggesting that the cross country skiers change skis with different wax
Jill Jaracz: Hmm.
Alison Brown: In the middle of the race. So my guess is you obviously can’t do that to a bobsled, but the idea is the same. And Frank Del Duga and Josh [00:15:00] Williamson finished 12th.
Jill Jaracz: It sounds like a bummer, but I read the quotes and and they were happy.
Alison Brown: Yes. Two man is not their, uh, a rather four man is not their better race.
Two man is Frank’s Better race, so he was pleased with, with the finish.
Jill Jaracz: Did we talk to him when we talked to him? Did we talk about the difference between driving two and four? Like, like I remember. So you would remember, come on.
Alison Brown: I think we did. We did a little bit. You know, and he jokingly said something like, well, it’s a different weight.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. ’cause I wanna know now how it’s different piloting something so heavy versus,
Alison Brown: versus something lighter and, and. Why are you better at one versus the, you know, what makes you better at piling one versus the other?
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm. Okay. On the list,
Alison Brown: so we did have some controversy with Adam Edelman’s. Sled. He did not start today and couldn’t figure out why.
And you found it?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: From [00:16:00] the Times of Israel, the Olympic Committee of Israel officials barred the team from racing today for lying to officials. So apparently the story is that the, the team claimed that one of the teammates, Manum Chen, was ill to allow the, or the alternate Ward Raza to compete. Only problem was Manum Chen was not ill.
They made it up and Israeli officials found out about this and said, guess what kids? You lied. Now you’re not racing. Wow.
Jill Jaracz: And I get wanting your alternate to compete.
Alison Brown: Get a shot. They also falsified a medical report in doing this. It wasn’t just, Ooh, I don’t feel so good. No, they went so far as to falsify the medical report.
Jill Jaracz: It’s not Ferris Bueller’s Day off.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So I don’t know, uh, if there’s going to be consequences for this. Further than this being barred [00:17:00] from the competition.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Wow.
Alison Brown: That’s
a
Jill Jaracz: crazy way to, to end your Olympics. I’ll say that. We had one more race in cross country skiing. It was the Women’s 50 kilometer Mass Start Classic today.
Gold went to EBA Anderson from Sweden. Silver went to Heidi Vang from Norway and Bronze went to Nadja Kalin from Switzerland.
Alison Brown: And Ebba Anderson broke out pretty early in the race. I wanna say it was in the first, the end of the first loop, which would’ve been about at six kilometers, and that was it.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh.
Alison Brown: She took people with her, but nobody was able to stay.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
In curling, we had the Women’s Gold medal game. This seems like a nail bar. It
Alison Brown: was, it was tied going into the 10th end, so you can’t get much closer than that without going to an extra end. So Sweden beat Switzerland six to five to win the gold, and Sweden was leading the round robin and was ahead the whole tournament, [00:18:00] if you remember.
And, uh, Switzerland was constantly at their heels, so it kind of panned out to be the top three teams. Uh, in the round. Robin walked away with the medals. Wow.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, freestyle skiing happened today. Man, it looked beautiful in lavino. Clear,
Alison Brown: sunny, and I still can’t go.
Jill Jaracz: You’re
Alison Brown: so sad,
Jill Jaracz: so sad about that.
Alison Brown: You were in Fair Verona eating
Jill Jaracz: the
Alison Brown: gelato.
Jill Jaracz: I know. I know. Uh, but the Women’s Free Ski Halfpipe final, which had been rescheduled. I think at least twice.
Alison Brown: Yes. Twice.
Jill Jaracz: Um, finally happened. Gold went to Eileen Goo from China. She’s now the most decorated free skier of all time. Silver went to Lee, Fang Hui from China and Bronze went to Zoe Atkin from Great Britain.
I did watch this on the train ride.
Alison Brown: Very successful Olympics for Great Britain.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, they’ve been doing pretty well.
Alison Brown: Yeah, we’ve said that a few times.
Jill Jaracz: Um, [00:19:00] ’cause Zoe Atkin. Got some a jump that was like five meters up. That was seemed to be the highest that I saw. Eileen Goo got one that was four meters up, but I think she was consistently, uh, high over average, but she just floated.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh. Her run, her last run that I saw was so beautiful. Just she went, she keeps winning for a reason. Exactly. It was amazing in ice hockey. You went to the gold medal game.
Alison Brown: I did. I was so lucky to be there. So, uh, ran into, uh. Our friend Ben Waterworth from off the podium. So we took the train over, which was great to have some company, also great to have somebody taller than I am to get through the crowd a little bit.
Um, he helped with the view, I helped with the wiggle through the small spaces, so we worked well together as a team. Um, when we arrived at the train station, it was heavily Canadian and the stadium [00:20:00] was heavily Canadian, which surprised me. I would say it was probably two thirds Canadian. Really? Yes, to one third American.
Jill Jaracz: That’s surprise. But for the women’s game, it was also pretty Canadian too.
Alison Brown: Yeah, just Canadians came to this Olympics. They decided that Milan was a good place to be and came out and came out for their teams. There was a man offering shots of tequila. On the way up to the stadium bend. I did not take one.
Ben did and then seemed surprised that it was actually tequila. So sorry for outing you. He was like, oh my goodness, that’s real. I’m like, did you not think that? This, these are Canadians. They don’t fool around about tequila
Jill Jaracz: and he should know since he is Canadian Co-host.
Alison Brown: Exactly. And there was a man with a v Vella, oh my gosh.
On the shuttle bus.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, that poor bus [00:21:00] driver.
Alison Brown: Yes. And there was a woman, I don’t know where she was from, but she had a German esque. Accent. Mm-hmm. And she said, oh, the poor driver. And then she said, oh, poor us.
Because he kept blowing the V on the bus. I was hoping they would’ve taken it away from him, but he was in the stadium with it. They took away people’s cowbells, but not this man’s giant. Well, no, I don’t. I don’t mean today. I just meant in general. But they let this man have this enormous VLA that was as big as he was.
Holy cow. I don’t know. So electric, I mean, people very casually say it was an electric atmosphere, but it really was an electric atmosphere. It really was hyped up. The Canadian crowd was wild. USA scored first in the first period, and it was one, nothing from. Quite a while, I wanna say until the beginning of the third and then Canada tied it up.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Either end of the second or beginning of the third. Very, it was [00:22:00] a long time at one zero, and then we went to ot. Oh.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I, I saw the otm. It was like, wow, this is really gonna be a game.
Alison Brown: It was a game, and Jack Hughes scored the winning goal, and it almost was a surprise because the way he scored this goal, he just kind of went straight at the net and shot it.
And it, there was a delayed response, like a split second where nobody could believe he actually scored this goal. We really thought it was gonna get blocked, and then the crowd erupted. You know the American crowd? Mm-hmm. Erupted and
Jill Jaracz: free bird.
Alison Brown: I don’t remember hearing free Bird, but honestly it got so loud I could have missed free bird.
Jill Jaracz: I, I’m sure that that arena does get loud and it’s exciting.
Alison Brown: Yes. To be in
Jill Jaracz: there
Alison Brown: and everyone stayed. It was kind of heartbreaking to watch the Canadian players while the Americans celebrated. I mean, Sid Crosby did not play.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, he’s that hurt.
Alison Brown: Huh? He is hurt enough that he did not play in [00:23:00] the gold medal game.
So I have a feeling whenever he goes back home, we’ll hear about, because they’re gonna have to put him on injured reserve,
Jill Jaracz: right?
Alison Brown: Um, or maybe in three days. He will have healed enough to not be injured enough to be uninjured reserve on the team. But I’m sure when he goes home, we’ll hear more about what actually happened.
But showing him on the jumbotron just nearly in tears almost killed me. Oh, and um, what you didn’t tell me about the bronze medal game was the fins got their bronzes.
Jill Jaracz: Oh yeah. Because weren’t, weren’t there.
Alison Brown: They,
Jill Jaracz: so they weren’t there. I don’t know. I left when the game was over because I thought they weren’t getting their medals until, ’cause for the women they brought, they had a full podium ceremony.
Yeah, well, full carpet, carpet, Imodium ceremony, carpet carum instead of podium. A
Alison Brown: Carpe.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: A Rium
Jill Jaracz: Rium. I like that better. [00:24:00] Yeah. It was a rium. That’s, but they, the Swedens were there. The Swedens, the Swedes were there.
Alison Brown: Yeah. No, the Fins were not there, so Wow. They must have gotten their bronze medals after the bronze medal game.
Jill Jaracz: Maybe it was like they can go to the closing ceremonies.
Alison Brown: Right. Because they couldn’t have gone otherwise far out. And getting those silver medals was probably the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. Oh, yeah. But of course, the Americans were thrilled.
Jill Jaracz: Right. Well, you know, and. Saw it last year at, uh, Beijing For the women, or last year?
Last time around Last Olympics. You know, the, the Canadian women were super sad, but I saw that in 2022 with the American women just crushed in reverse. Yeah. It, it’s, it’s crushing.
Alison Brown: It’s crushing when you’ve lost this game and to lose this game this way.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: Where it goes into ot, you’re fighting for every inch.
And the Canadians, I think, had twice as many shots on goal. Wow. As the Americans, it was crazy how much. The goalkeeper was keeping the US in this game.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Wow. So, yes, if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth [00:25:00] taking a look at. Even if you know the finish, especially if you know the finish and just wanna watch that section of ot, it’s, it’s quite a shot he made.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Wow. Well then it is onto the closing ceremonies, which are at the Verona Arena, which is a Colosseum that’s. Thousands of years old. I think it’s maybe from about 30 80. Um, press Tribune is on the benches up in the, there’s some seats in there, there’s some seated section. Uh, the seat athletes got into a big seated section and they had the bracelets.
Nobody else got the bracelets that light up, but they did. Um, uh, we got a little bag. Of stuff for the closing ceremonies, which was a, a tote that has the flow on it, A seat cushion. ’cause we’re on the benches. And by benches I mean marble.
Alison Brown: That must have been cold on your [00:26:00] tushy.
Jill Jaracz: Oh. Do you have the, do you have the bag near you?
Alison Brown: No.
Jill Jaracz: .
This is the cushion. Oh, it is. It’s a
Alison Brown: seat cushion.
Jill Jaracz: It’s a seat. Well, I mean like it’s a seat cushion that might be half an inch, three quarters of an inch, and it’s not wide enough for my butt. I can tell you that right now. Thank goodness I had packed my lap blanket from Beijing that they gave us for the ceremonies there.
I was very glad I had it ’cause I had to wrap it around my hips to give me a little extra. Room so I wasn’t marbleized. ’cause it, it did get cold. I was glad I had my hat. And of course as I’m sitting there going, I wish I had a base layer on and then I thought, but I would’ve been miserable walking around the rest of the day and everywhere else.
Without it. Oh my gosh. It was just, that part was a mess in a way. , Getting into the arena just required walking [00:27:00] around until you’ve got somebody who, who knew where you were supposed to go and let you in. That was a surprise. No. Well, it shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Alison Brown: Well, you know, Ben and I were talking today about how good the signage has been.
Yeah. You know, we always know where to go. The media entrances are pretty well marked. The Tribunes have been pretty well marked so that you. Could have been surprised because we haven’t really had that issue.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And the signage was not bad here. It was just like, which entrance do we go in? That was not clearly marked.
I saw the athletes’ entrance and it was, it was cool because there were, uh, just regular citizens around by the athletes’ entrance were, I mean, by the, the gate, the guardrails. Things that they had at the barricades and in other places where they could see the athletes get off the bus, but they were not able to get near them, but they would cheer when they got off the bus and walked by.
It was really [00:28:00] sweet. And then, um, I did find my entrance and I found the, the media center and hung out there for just a little bit. And then finally. I figured out where the Press Tribune was and I guess we were supposed to go out a certain door. ’cause one of the other journalists was like, oh, we were supposed to go out Gate 23.
I’m like, I don’t even know where Gate 23 is.
Alison Brown: You’re like, I’m lucky. I got in and I got out,
Jill Jaracz: I got in, let’s go with
Alison Brown: that.
Jill Jaracz: I got into the, one of the gates we were supposed to go in and I got out with everybody and just. Hoofed it as fast as I could to the finding the buses and, and I met up with Sergio again.
Alison Brown: Sergio,
Jill Jaracz: man, it is just everywhere. He’s like, oh, hey. We get on the bus, we get separated on the bus, but somehow we get on the right train, one of the first trains back to Milana, which is great ’cause it’s like an hour 15 ride. It’s not bad. The, the terrain is really nice and, um, but I. The opening [00:29:00] ceremony or the closing ceremony was weird.
Alison Brown: Yes,
Jill Jaracz: it was very disjointed. We started with, um, uh, well the stage was this kind of eye like thing, so you had a round, uh, stage in the center of the, the arena floor with ramps on it, and then kind of a. An amphitheater type shell, I guess you would say in the back of it and stuff. People could come up.
There was a part of the stage that was round and was an elevator that went up and down, so things could change in there too. There was some digital projection behind the stage. Uh, those seats were not being used. They were all lights and flags of the nations. And then the dignitary speeches were in the athlete section, which I thought was kind of cool.[00:30:00]
And, uh, that was kind of it for staging very effective stage. I really liked the stage and the, the projection mapping. Didn’t love all of the video because again, we’re back to bigot, trons.
Alison Brown: And there was a lot of video.
Jill Jaracz: There was a lot of video.
Alison Brown: I’ve noticed that on the television thinking, oh, what are they doing in the stadium?
When I think there was at least five different videos.
Jill Jaracz: There was some changing of scenery, but like, it wasn’t horrible. But all the, all of a sudden I realized, oh, we’ve got some storyline, like the opening ceremony in Paris where it’s. People wandering around underneath the
Alison Brown: So Colletto
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Was the, the idea is you were walking through many of the famous operas, so you were supposed to see Aida.
You were supposed to see RTO
Jill Jaracz: check.
Alison Brown: You were supposed to see other operas.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. [00:31:00] Yes. Madam Butterfly.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Check on that. Uh, they all showed up, all the, all the divas showed up there on stage, but there was a lot of stuff going on on the screen. And then whatever orchestra they had was playing someplace else if they were playing live
Alison Brown: because there was the fake orchestra.
At the very beginning. Right in the staged
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Section of the, the 17th or 18th Century Opera.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Creation.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So I don’t know if even anybody was singing, but they did this opera tribute. They did. Um, oh, you know, we’ve gotta work on the flag fan technology for the next four years.
Alison Brown: You know, we say that every year.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Every time there’s an event, we
Jill Jaracz: say FLA fan. Flag fans. Flag fan. Flag fan. Okay.
Alison Brown: Flag fan. Technology does not work properly.
Jill Jaracz: No, and it [00:32:00] really was bad here and it’s these fans that are blowing on the flags to make them wave and make them, but the waving is they gotta blow heavy. It’s like you’ve set your hairdryer or the leaf blower on the highest possible setting, and it never gets the whole flag.
It always gets a chunk of it
Alison Brown: and part of it sticks to the pole. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It’s just not need, it’s good luck.
Alison Brown: What? You know, what we need? We need some more of the Beijing flag flickers.
Jill Jaracz: I know. Because they, they know how to do it. Oh, me and those army guys in, in China, they knew how to wave a flag.
Alison Brown: They, they knew how to flick that baby.
Jill Jaracz: Um, so that, that was really weird. They did some, uh, tribute to Italy, like Faces of Italy brought out the Italian medalists special. Uh, they showed some, uh, dolomite stuff, which was pretty, and um, the flame was carried out in a lamp.
Alison Brown: [00:33:00] We’ll be seen this before, haven’t we?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, that was Paris all over. I’m like, oh no, we’re gonna have this.
It’s in a lamp, but then it. Disappeared. It went down the elevator and I thought, oh, does that mean it’s out? I didn’t know when the flame went out to be cool. Let’s be honest. I had no idea. The flame went out and I thought, is that it? And I think they brought it back. They did. I don’t know. But they finally said, the flame is out,
Alison Brown: and you’re like, oh, okay.
I believe you.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It was really, really weird. One of the cool people that they had was a volunteer who had volunteered at. Cortina 1956 as well.
Alison Brown: Yes. He was 88 years old, which realized he had been a child volunteering at Cortina. Yeah. Yeah. It was jam Petso, but still, what a nice little touch to throw that in.
And he danced. He had some, did. He had his, his dance moves.
Jill Jaracz: He, he was so excited, uh, really hard to hear stuff when the police. Helicopter goes over the, does a [00:34:00] flyover that in the middle of the ceremony, that was not fun. Uh, the flags came into some spaghetti Western music. It was so bizarre.
Alison Brown: Dodo
Jill Jaracz: it really, really weird.
Um, and. They had to hu when the athletes came in, they had to hustle Team USA, ’cause team USA kept taking pictures in front of the, the video amphitheater shell. And they’re like, come on, let, let’s go. Keep it going, keep it moving. Um, then we had, once all the athletes got through, there was this. Montage of dancing with these giant mirrors.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Now we get into like CIR stuff because then we had like a trampoline
Alison Brown: and we had, I did not understand the trampoline or the, the idea was supposed to be at different points that we, they were honoring the European Union.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, really? Because I [00:35:00] didn’t read the book.
Alison Brown: Yes. They were honoring the athletes and how hard they work.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: That was part of the trampoline mirror thing.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: There was a lot of honoring of people. But it didn’t make any sense.
Jill Jaracz: I got the athlete thing because there was, uh, projections of, of like fists and athletes kind of working out and, and I get that the trampoline wasn’t high enough. That person just could not bounce, could barely bounce over the mirrors ’cause they were these tall.
Mirror boxes on wheels. And you could, ’cause people would move them during the thing and they moved them all around this trampoline. So you never saw the tramp, but you also barely saw the artist as well. And then they had people, suspended kind of in this grid, metal grid, uh, mountain thing. And that was interesting.
All trust up. Yes, all trust. All trust [00:36:00] up. So that was wild. I just, I loved it. I, I thought it was just way out there, but it was fun to watch. Did, did you
Alison Brown: It was a whole bunch of interpretive dance. I know. On, on the screen. I was like, okay, I, I love me some interpretive dance, but I don’t get it.
Jill Jaracz: I know there was supposed to be a whole lot with water as a theme and as.
I put the photo on Facebook, they told us to put on these ponchos, ’cause they gave us ponchos in our little bag. And I thought, oh well that’s probably ’cause it could have rained or could we could have had weather and you’re just being prepped. And then they told us to put ’em on because they’re gonna be part of the show.
They were never part of the show except for, unless they wanted us to make weight. That’s all I could think, because I started to get really hot underneath it and I’m like, oh, great. They, they know. They know we all just need to cut a couple pounds. Here you go.
Alison Brown: Maybe there was supposed to be some spraying water that just didn’t happen.[00:37:00]
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know where it could have come from though.
Alison Brown: Oh, fair enough.
Jill Jaracz: So
Alison Brown: the trampoline.
Jill Jaracz: Maybe, maybe. Um, the handover ceremony, uh, was
also weird in a way. I mean, because France just did kind of like music and they had people playing or quote unquote playing, and they were so like in a mass in the center of the stage. And then around them were people with lights on. And they had video as well.
Alison Brown: Again, another video. We are really getting into the handover ceremonies being, we’ve gotten away completely from that.
We’re gonna do a huge production number and I, in venue,
Jill Jaracz: I had high hopes with all the random dancing.
Alison Brown: I know
Jill Jaracz: they had a volunteer dance that looked like butterfly. They had it just, there was a, they had [00:38:00] some hip hop stuff going on and uh, goodbye. Speeches were quite nice. Kirsty Coventry said that Italy has set a new standard for games.
They set a very high standard and a very different, it’s a new standard in terms of being very spread out. So I wonder if we will see more of this.
Alison Brown: Well, I think we’re gonna see more of this in four years.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah,
Alison Brown: that’s for sure.
Jill Jaracz: And maybe that’s it. Who knows? I did hear some athletes I got on the train home, I was around all these athletes and I.
Listen to, uh, some who were from Cortina and some who were from Milano comparing the villages, which we had heard in the presidential press conference were exactly the same, but no, no, they were not, like, did you have the p and g experience? No. Did you get your, the, the Coke can [00:39:00] apparently, if you got the Coke can in Cortina, they sent it over to Milano to have it.
Etched because it was, I think it was the same thing as you could get at the Coke Peak experience for the fans. Yes. Which was your face etched in a Coke can, but they had to send the can or whatever, the design over to Milano to get etched here
Alison Brown: and
Jill Jaracz: then, and then they back, send it back to Cortina.
Alison Brown: Hmm.
Jill Jaracz: The Corina village was quite far from downtown. It would be like an hour walk.
Alison Brown: Oh wow.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So, uh, the Canadians I heard got stuck in the city and had to beg for a ride somewhere. That was not fun for them. Um, then once we were done with everything, there was a grand piano. And a person playing it. And I didn’t know if that was part of the handover ceremony [00:40:00] because it sounded a lot like Amelie soundtrack to me.
Mm. Which I enjoy. I enjoyed very much and I didn’t quite understand what this meant for the ceremony.
Alison Brown: It was just pretty piano music to play you out.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. But then we had our, um, uh, then we’re told the flame is out, but it lives inside of all of us. And I said, I know. We keep the flame alive.
Alison Brown: We have a whole show based on that idea.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. Um, then there was the, the DJ set with Diplo. Was Diplo here?
Alison Brown: I don’t know who the DJ was. He played Blue.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, he did play blue. But a be, i, I still don’t know if I’ve heard a song from 2025.
Alison Brown: Yeah, no, definitely not.
Jill Jaracz: Um, it,
Alison Brown: and it’s funny ’cause my announcer said, oh, that song’s about 25 years old.
But I guess it’s made a comeback.
Jill Jaracz: It has made a comeback. ’cause a couple years ago, somebody remixed it.
Alison Brown: Mm.
Jill Jaracz: [00:41:00] Um, and that was a hit. And I get it. It was a ni, I thought it was a pretty good remix for if you were a dance. Dance if you were a dancer in the club? No. If you liked clubbing or went out dancing, you probably heard that and loved it, but you know, three years later, come on.
I just didn’t know what decade we were in anymore.
Alison Brown: Well, we were in Juliet’s decade, which you think is the 13 hundreds apparently.
Jill Jaracz: Maybe. Maybe. And a cool thing with the dj, because they had the, the two DJ DJs and then they had dancers dancing. Them. And then they had this confetti cannon that surprised everybody and was very exciting.
Alison Brown: So now everyone’s covered in confetti, like the rest of the city.
Jill Jaracz: Well, I mean from carnival, I mean I, the stage it, ’cause it was really contained to the stage. They didn’t have a ton except for the lights that they placed behind the stage. There was nothing [00:42:00] else around the stadium. Gotcha. And I bet that’s just because it’s.
Old,
Alison Brown: we must protect the old stadium.
Jill Jaracz: Right? They did have firework stuff, but that was like fountains that was embedded into the stage. That would show up every once in a while, and that was really cool. But again, we had no closing fireworks,
Alison Brown: just as we had no opening fireworks.
Jill Jaracz: I know. And, uh. Then the last person to come out was Achille Laurel, who is popular here and sang a song.
Or we saw him walking through the stadium underneath and I, ’cause I noticed the rickety stairs, I’m like, oh, you too Achille Laurel,
Alison Brown: I have to deal with the janky stairs.
Jill Jaracz: So he comes up and comes out, sings a song, which is kind of like a ballad. And they’ve got the. Projection of a waterfall behind him, which looked really effective on the bigotry.
My angle on it wasn’t dead on, but it [00:43:00] looked, looked really cool if you were watching at home. And then he ended and then they were like, the show’s over and I went, wait, we ended on a ballad.
Alison Brown: They did that in Paris too.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. I mean it was just like, again, with the, we have to wait for the Paralympic closing ceremony to have a good one.
Alison Brown: To really,
Jill Jaracz: yeah. Like this is over. Bring it
Alison Brown: home.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So it was, it was good in a way. ’cause I did love the interpretive, the, the random interpretive dancing and the circ stuff and the, the random opera people just walking around. I love the return of the, uh. Placard women from the opening ceremony, but this time they were in gold dresses
Alison Brown: made sense
Jill Jaracz: and just looking.
You could tell, you couldn’t even see their faces and you could tell that they were just.
Alison Brown: Over it.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. You could tell it was great. They were fantastic.
Alison Brown: It’s like I look at all of you with disdain.
Jill Jaracz: [00:44:00] Yes,
Alison Brown: I am a placard woman in a gold puffer dress.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, it was. It was. That was fantastic. And I mean, really, I had very, no, I had no hopes.
’cause I’d never have hopes for a ceremony anymore. But it was good in some ways and really disjointed. Especially at the end, they just didn’t know how to end it. ’cause the, the, the DJ set was exciting and the, the athletes were dancing in the stands and I thought for sure that they were gonna try to rush the stage ’cause they wanted to dance.
And then Achill Laura comes out and just brings everyone down, I guess.
Alison Brown: Depressing ending.
Jill Jaracz: It was, it was really weird. How did it play on tv?
Alison Brown: It was a little odd. The beginning part, I thought to myself, wow, this must look with the mirrors. Oh, it was cool that that must look really cool in person. And the rest of it, there was so much video that, you know, I was thinking of it as how [00:45:00] is this playing in the stadium rather than just enjoying it on the screen.
Mm-hmm. Because I think if I had just enjoyed it on the screen, I would’ve enjoyed it more than thinking, oh, how is this working?
Jill Jaracz: Yes. ’cause I tried to look for. Okay, what are they doing set up wise? And there were a lot of just small set pieces like, oh, we gotta get a piano on stage and put these giant candelabras all over them.
Oh, speaking of candelabras, that was one of the things in the beginning
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Where it was like the reverse phantom of the opera. This, the chandelier went up.
Alison Brown: And was Ring Leto in the chandelier at one point? I, I think somebody was in it. Yes. Somebody singing in the chandelier. Yeah. It was, there was a lot going on. I did appreciate that the announcers on the television said very little, but said some things as to what was going on.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Which was very helpful, but I still didn’t get it.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it was, it was kind of random. A a lot of random pieces thrown [00:46:00] together. With a video tie through in a way that didn’t work. ’cause we’re on big arons in the stadium. It works at home because you don’t know. Right? You just see
Alison Brown: what you see.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It was just really hard to follow if that was the through storyline.
So, uh. It was good. It was bad. I’m curious what the Paralympic ceremonies are gonna be like. ’cause let me tell you about accessibility in the year of like 30 B, c, e or whatever. Yeah. It ain’t fun. Even I thought the stairs were bad. It was not pleasant.
Alison Brown: Well, we’ll have to see how this actually, if they
Jill Jaracz: mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: What they can do.
Jill Jaracz: Well, I’m, I’m really curious. Thank goodness the Paralympics are a lot smaller and maybe they’ll just put everybody on the floor. ’cause there was space and there were some people on the floor, but I, I, I mean, they put all these athletes in the stands and I don’t think they’re gonna be able to [00:47:00] do that effectively with.
The stairs are, the stairs are killer.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So we’ll see. Can’t wait to see what you think of this.
Alison Brown: Now I’m more afraid than I was before
Jill Jaracz: about going to
Alison Brown: Verona.
Jill Jaracz: But the, I mean, the stadium is beautiful.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: It’s the, it’s an
Alison Brown: experience.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, it is an experience I highly recommend. Um, that was just, it was a nice size too there.
I mean. It was kind of a small place for closing ceremonies and hopefully they, they, well, they had bags everywhere, so there were sections that probably didn’t sell, but you missed kind of an interesting show. I think Listener Patrick was there and, uh, I would be curious to see what he thought. Hmm. But that means the games are over
Alison Brown: Step one.
Jill Jaracz: [00:48:00] Wait, are the games over? If we don’t know if the flame went out, even though they told us the flame was out, they have to, you know when you have to say the flame is out?
Alison Brown: Yeah. You, you should, it’s, it’s, this is different. Definitely a show don’t tell moment.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: But the flame won’t be out for long.
Jill Jaracz: No. ’cause we get to go to the Paralympics.
Alison Brown: We get to do this all over again.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. And we have to say. Farewell to our mascot.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So Abby, your mascot for the length of the games, our beautiful torty cat is time to retire her from her job and now she can go rest and get some treats.
Jill Jaracz: And try to get out the window and chase squirrels.
Alison Brown: I think she deserves it for all her hard work as a mascot.
Jill Jaracz: She has been a very good cat. Thank you very much, Abby. We also have some shout outs.
Alison Brown: Yes. So first up is Claire Nettleton from Salem, Oregon. She had said she’s a mix of a Milano and a Cortina, and she wished us [00:49:00] smooth sailing on your trip with enough quote unquote fun. To entertain us with the stories. We, we, we hope the stories have been fun
Jill Jaracz: and that would be clear.
Like Claire, there’s not a nettleton, but there’s close. It’s Neal. From France. She was a curler in 1992 in Alberville when curling was a demonstration sport.
Alison Brown: And next up is Yari from Dham, Massachusetts
Jill Jaracz: like Yukari Kawasaki the Archer from Athlete Athens 2004. So thank you very much, both Claire and Yukari for your support of the show.
And that’s gonna do it for this episode and these Olympics. But we are not done with Milano Cortina yet.
Alison Brown: We’re gonna have two call-in shows.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, this is exciting. So this week in between the Olympics and Paralympics, we want to know what you think about Milano Cortina 2026 so far.
We are going to open up our [00:50:00] online studio on Wednesday, February 25th, uh, at two different times. So the first time will be 8:00 PM Central European time, or that’s 2:00 PM Eastern Time in the us. That will be an hour to chat with me, and then you’ll be up on Wednesday the 25th at
Alison Brown: 8:00 PM Eastern Time,
Jill Jaracz: which is.
Really early in Central European time.
Alison Brown: Exactly. So Jill will be sleeping during, uh, my, uh, my time, but you can call her in the afternoon on Eastern or, uh, in the evening, European time or talk to me, uh, evening in the US
Jill Jaracz: we will have a link to the studio in the show notes and, uh, please use Chrome. It’s not a super fan of Safari.
So, or there’s an app, it’s called Riverside, that is our, uh, online studio provider. We are looking forward to talking with you and hearing what you thought of the Olympics. It’s been so much fun to hang out with people in the Facebook group. [00:51:00]
Alison Brown: I have lots of questions for people about what’s been happening back in the us
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: So I’m curious. So please definitely jump on even if you’re not sure you have a question. I have a question for you.
Jill Jaracz: and if you want even more of the most fun coverage of the games. You can hold on because we’ll be back in a couple, uh, like a week and a half.
Alison Brown: Week and a half starting the para, the Paralympics para.
Jill Jaracz: And we’re going to Corina.
Alison Brown: Oh boy.
Jill Jaracz: I’m excited.
Alison Brown: I’m a little scared.
Jill Jaracz: We’ll get used to it.
Alison Brown: It’s true. Once we do it once, I think the first couple times we need to do it together.
Jill Jaracz: Oh yeah.
Alison Brown: And then I won’t be scared anymore.
Jill Jaracz: There you go. We’ll be fine. Um, and. Otherwise you can find us@flamealivepod.com. That is your source for our our socials newsletter and direct ways to contact us. If you’re on Facebook, find us at Keep the Flame Alive Podcast Group. That’s our big hangout [00:52:00] place and wow.
Over
Alison Brown: doesn’t feel like it yet.
Jill Jaracz: It doesn’t feel like it, but the last couple of days have been like, okay, there’s nothing going on in Milan. Really.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: Kind of done. So,
Alison Brown: and the flame’s out.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Can’t wait to figure out what the, I, I, I’m curious how these will pan out in the echelon of good games
Alison Brown: Yes. And how it played back home.
Jill Jaracz: Very much so. So. Be sure to, uh, join us in our online studio. Listen for that episode coming next week, and then we, we will be back the following week with daily episodes for the Paralympics and maybe we’ve forgotten to tell you something about today and
Alison Brown: we’ll remember it next week.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, so pour
Alison Brown: and until next time, chow.
And keep the flame [00:53:00] alive.