Day 7 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics brought many surprises, particularly at the ice skating arena, where the men’s figure skating finals took place with results that surprised Jill and most of the fans.
Meanwhile, Alison had a full day of culture at the Duomo and Casa Airbnb, one of the highly sought-after pavilions at the Games.
Sports on today’s program:
- Biathlon
- Cross-country skiing
- Curling
- Figure skating
- Ice hockey
- Skeleton
- Snowboard
- Speed skating
Thanks so much for listening, and until nex 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 Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.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 7
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] bonjourno and welcome to Keep the Flame Alive. Day seven, coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. I am your host, Jill Jaracz coming to you from Shuk Stan House. Joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison Chow,
Alison Brown: there was a lot going on today.
We have been busy, busy, busy, busy.
Jill Jaracz: Keep talking, I gotta take my sweater off.
Alison Brown: And you are, I’ve
Jill Jaracz: been wearing layers since I’ve been in an ice rink today. And I’m so sweaty.
Alison Brown: I was gonna say we, we’ve been busy [00:01:00] and we’ve been sweaty
Jill Jaracz: because it’s like 50 degrees here. I’m like, I’m going to an ice rink. And the last time I went to an ice rink, I just had one, my one sweater on.
Alison Brown: Not
Jill Jaracz: enough. And it wasn’t enough and I was freezing and don’t at me. ’cause you know, I know I’m supposed to have layers. So I have my big long socks on and I have Okay. Pants and a layer and I sweated all day long.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Well because the problem is you go from the train, which is. Hot to the ice rink, which is cold, but then back outside, which is hot again and then it’s cold in the evening.
It is impossible for to dress for this. Weather. Layers do not help.
Jill Jaracz: No,
Alison Brown: because unless you’re gonna take the layers off and carry them on the train, which you really can’t do ’cause you need your phone to get in and out of the train. So that’s a hand. And then what are you gonna do with the layers? So yes, we just have to accept that we are probably not the freshest smelling,
Jill Jaracz: oh gosh.
Alison Brown: People in the world.
Jill Jaracz: I check after I put on [00:02:00] deodorant, I put the deodorant away and then I do something else and I’m like, did I put on deodorant? ‘
Alison Brown: cause it doesn’t seem to be working.
Jill Jaracz: And the answer is yes, but hopefully I don’t smell because I don’t know if you have this, I know this isn’t a side and we have a lot of show, but do you ever, like you’re standing there like on the metro and.
All of a sudden you just randomly smell something weird and you’re like, is that me? And then you look up and like, it’s somebody who is from Europe and doesn’t shower on the regular.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Well, it’s
Alison Brown: so far it hasn’t been us,
Jill Jaracz: thank goodness. All right, let’s, let’s move on to what, what we forgot to tell you yesterday,
Alison Brown: because there’s always something Yes.
You know, maybe it’s ’cause we’re sweating so much and the information just leaks out of our pores.
Jill Jaracz: I think you’re right. I think you’re onto something. We need a scientist to check this out. So what do we forget? Okay, so [00:03:00] this could also be follow a file. I saw a podium mascot up close yesterday at Cross Country.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, this was, I think it was, it was Jesse Diggins podium. Mascot got tossed to somebody from US Snow, uh, ski and Snowboard. And I said, Hey, are they connected? And yes, they’re sewn together.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: Know they can’t pull ’em apart. So that is one question outta the way. Um,
Alison Brown: yikes.
Jill Jaracz: That’s okay. Who else did I see and have an encounter with at Cross Country?
Alison Brown: I’m afraid to ask
Jill Jaracz: Tina.
Alison Brown: Oh, you finally got up close and personal with Tina
Jill Jaracz: and pictures with. Oh, she’s adorable. I will say this is the one not a beef. She has really short arms.
Alison Brown: Yeah. She can’t put her arm around
Jill Jaracz: you. No, no. That’s the hard thing. But
Alison Brown: she kind of just sticks them out like a T-Rex.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: It’s really funny when you see her do the YMCA because she’s just like, why ish? See kind of another [00:04:00] letter.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. No, but that was cute. So I have a ton of pictures of me with her because of course I went Tina and the handler was like, would you like picture? And I said yes. Um, also forgot to mention that, uh, when I was talking with Bruno, she was talking about coming down for the opening ceremony and she got spend some hour, a few hours at the athlete’s village and she’s like, that is a village.
We have accommodations.
Alison Brown: Fair enough. They’re in the trailers.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. They’re, and, and I think it’s, it’s probably hard because it would be just them and ski jumping in Nordic combined. So there’s not a ton of interaction, I would imagine.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: So bummer too.
Alison Brown: I’m glad she got some time in the, in the main village.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. Exactly. Also follow up file. We have a listener, uh, voicemail from listener. Stephanie, check this out. Bonjourno and welcome to Keep the [00:05:00] Flame Alive, day seven Co bonjourno and welcome to Keep the Flame Alive. Day seven, coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, coming to you from Shuk Stan House. Joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison Chow,
Alison Brown: there was a lot going on today.
We have been busy, busy, busy, busy.
Jill Jaracz: Keep talking, I gotta take my sweater off.
Alison Brown: And you are, I’ve
Jill Jaracz: been wearing layers since I’ve been in an ice rink today. And I’m so sweaty.
Alison Brown: I was gonna say we, we’ve been busy and we’ve been sweaty
Jill Jaracz: because it’s like 50 degrees here. I’m like, I’m going to an ice rink. And the last time I went to an ice rink, I just had one, my one sweater on.
Alison Brown: Not
Jill Jaracz: enough. And it wasn’t enough and I was freezing and don’t at me. ’cause you know, I know I’m supposed to have layers. So I have my big long socks on and I have Okay. Pants and a layer and I sweated all day long.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Well because the problem is you go from the train, which is. Hot [00:06:00] to the ice rink, which is cold, but then back outside, which is hot again and then it’s cold in the evening.
It is impossible for to dress for this. Weather. Layers do not help.
Jill Jaracz: No,
Alison Brown: because unless you’re gonna take the layers off and carry them on the train, which you really can’t do ’cause you need your phone to get in and out of the train. So that’s a hand. And then what are you gonna do with the layers? So yes, we just have to accept that we are probably not the freshest smelling,
Jill Jaracz: oh gosh.
Alison Brown: People in the world.
Jill Jaracz: I check after I put on deodorant, I put the deodorant away and then I do something else and I’m like, did I put on deodorant? ‘
Alison Brown: cause it doesn’t seem to be working.
Jill Jaracz: And the answer is yes, but hopefully I don’t smell because I don’t know if you have this, I know this isn’t a side and we have a lot of show, but do you ever, like you’re standing there like on the metro and.
All of a sudden you just randomly smell something weird and you’re like, is that me? And then you look up and like, it’s somebody [00:07:00] who is from Europe and doesn’t shower on the regular.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Well, it’s
Alison Brown: so far it hasn’t been us,
Jill Jaracz: thank goodness. All right, let’s, let’s move on to what, what we forgot to tell you yesterday,
Alison Brown: because there’s always something Yes.
You know, maybe it’s ’cause we’re sweating so much and the information just leaks out of our pores.
Jill Jaracz: I think you’re right. I think you’re onto something. We need a scientist to check this out. So what do we forget? Okay, so this could also be follow a file. I saw a podium mascot up close yesterday at Cross Country.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, this was, I think it was, it was Jesse Diggins podium. Mascot got tossed to somebody from US Snow, uh, ski and Snowboard. And I said, Hey, are they connected? And yes, they’re sewn together.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: Know they can’t pull ’em apart. So that is one question outta the way. Um,
Alison Brown: yikes.
Jill Jaracz: That’s okay. Who else did I see [00:08:00] and have an encounter with at Cross Country?
Alison Brown: I’m afraid to ask
Jill Jaracz: Tina.
Alison Brown: Oh, you finally got up close and personal with Tina
Jill Jaracz: and pictures with. Oh, she’s adorable. I will say this is the one not a beef. She has really short arms.
Alison Brown: Yeah. She can’t put her arm around
Jill Jaracz: you. No, no. That’s the hard thing. But
Alison Brown: she kind of just sticks them out like a T-Rex.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: It’s really funny when you see her do the YMCA because she’s just like, why ish? See kind of another letter.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. No, but that was cute. So I have a ton of pictures of me with her because of course I went Tina and the handler was like, would you like picture? And I said yes. Um, also forgot to mention that, uh, when I was talking with Bruno, she was talking about coming down for the opening ceremony and she got spend some hour, a few hours at the athlete’s village and she’s like, [00:09:00] that is a village.
We have accommodations.
Alison Brown: Fair enough. They’re in the trailers.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. They’re, and, and I think it’s, it’s probably hard because it would be just them and ski jumping in Nordic combined. So there’s not a ton of interaction, I would imagine.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: So bummer too.
Alison Brown: I’m glad she got some time in the, in the main village.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. Exactly. Also follow up file. We have a listener, uh, voicemail from listener. Stephanie, check this out.
Hi, Jill and Allison. This is Patron Stephanie Nordstrom. Uh, first off, love the show completely in love with the work that you do, and it has added so much to my past few Olympic experiences, , and Paralympic experiences helped me understand so much more that really augmented my, viewership. So first of all, thank you for that.
I do subject my friends, family, [00:10:00] and coworkers to information that I learned from your show and references to your show frequently. I do have a question, as I’ve been watching the these Winter Olympics. I’m seeing all those cute little sprigs of pine that border or create boundaries or lines on so many of the outdoor snow.
Venues, and I’m wondering about those, how do those get there? Who’s responsible for putting them there? Are they having, are they being placed individually or is, are they all on a string that somebody just gets to roll out? Um, I think they’re super cute and they make me smile when I see them, but I have so many questions about how that happens and it seems like a keep the flame alive kind of question.
So just wanted to add that to the list. Um, and again. I love everything you do and, uh, keep doing what you do. Have a great time in Milan. chow [00:11:00] I.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. So I saw the pine branches at the cross country skiing finish and asked about them. I asked, and one of the other journalists in the mix zone who does Nordic stuff all the time, so they would know, and they said for at least that location, those little branches make lanes at the finish line.
So if they’re a couple of skiers coming in at the same time, they are separated so they don’t crash into each other.
Alison Brown: Handy.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So I’ll keep my eyes out for other pine trees. Although then he said, I don’t know how they get them or if they have a stack or how they put them in. Now I’m all curious about it.
So,
Alison Brown: and it’s like, yeah, we know you’re curious about it. We know we come up with these bizarre questions and our listeners come up with crazy questions and we love them for it.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. So thank you very much Stephanie. Um, follow up file on Kirsty Coventry. She did not realize the Israeli athlete at the opening ceremonies was wearing a special kippah and the team is reviewing it now.
Hmm. [00:12:00]
Alison Brown: Oops.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, so, and, and she also said they’re learning so much from the spread out games. They’re bringing in so much data. And this is something we’re gonna have to read between the lines, because right now everyone’s like, Hey, everything’s great.
Alison Brown: Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: whatever. Um,
Alison Brown: I hope French Alps is paying very close attention.
To the struggles with this spread out games because they had similar proposals of going very far afield with one or two sports. Please don’t do that. French Alps bring it back together. There is no reason why the downhill events are on two mountains on the opposite side.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: There’s no reason for that.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, Canadian, mark McMorris was in training today after his crash in Big Air. Uh, he, uh, had to withdraw. He had a concussion and some bro bone bruising at the top of his pelvis that strained his abs. But he’s been off for I think over a week now and he seems to be [00:13:00] akay for going into slopestyle.
Alison Brown: Okay, good on him.
Jill Jaracz: So, um, I will tell you also, this is allegedly because I was sitting next to some people at the media table, the in the Press Tribune at figure skating that may rhyme with, um.
What would it rhyme with a, a major network
close to Vespa.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: If you can maybe work that out, I don’t know, acronym it up, maybe. Major company who, uh, said that Lindsay Vaughn is going to be in the hospital until stable and then they’ll charter a plane to take her to Vail to get more surgeries.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: so this is not gonna be pretty?
Alison Brown: Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: and, and I will ’cause I kept spying on their computers and that was part of the group chats.
Doing work for you. Sh [00:14:00] Stan. Alright. Uh, do you have anything what you forgot? Did you remember everything yesterday?
Alison Brown: I did. Oh man. But I’m definitely gonna forget stuff today ’cause it was a lot today.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay. Um, what officiating or volunteer job would you like to do?
Alison Brown: I am the sled driver taking the snowboard cross people from the finish line back up to the start.
Jill Jaracz: When I walked into the fan zone, that’s what was playing on the big screen.
Alison Brown: I said I wanna be that sled driver. ’cause you can chit chat. You can encourage them or not. If they’re not chat, if they’re not chatty, Cathy’s. You just drive a sled, which in and of itself would be an awesome job.
Jill Jaracz: So I went to figure skating again, and I want to be the volunteer who gets the stuffed animals that don’t make it onto the rink because there is a good 10 feet Yes.
Of space between the boards and the stands. And if you’re in the corners it’s more, [00:15:00] and there were animals just not making it on. And or they’d hit the top of the board and sit there. And that was fun. And the first time it happened, it was a big hedgehog and the volunteer got it. And she’s like, what do I do with this?
You could tell she just didn’t know what to do. And she finally, while the next skater is like on the rink, tosses it on the rink. And I’m thinking. Oh my gosh. They’re gonna start this guy’s music and there’s gonna be this hedgehog.
Alison Brown: No, but the handler saw that hedgehog and she sent one of her minions out to get it immediately.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So it got taken care of, but it was a lot of fun to see stuff bounce off
Alison Brown: the wayward dogs and cats and hedgehogs
Jill Jaracz: and, and stuff bouncing off the cameras. Everything was great. I had a great time.
Alison Brown: So last year at World Championships, because we were in, uh, TD Garden and it was so huge. A lot of times it would hit the people, [00:16:00] the fans in the tier below you, and then they would pass it along to the ice.
So there was a buddy system happening
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: With the stuffed animals, which I don’t think is unusual.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And part of me wanted to say, just throw it back up, they can try again or give it to the next person. ’cause I don’t know, I, I couldn’t tell from the other time and I’m forgot to look today ’cause there was a lot going on.
If they’re taking new bags for every skater,
Alison Brown: generally they do.
Jill Jaracz: That’s what I thought. But um, yeah, it’s just one of those like, oh man. Wild. and also Victory Selfie presented by Samsung is now on the jumbotron.
Alison Brown: Yep. Sponsor watch.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Before we get to today’s results, we’d like to say thank you to everybody who’s donated to our fundraiser to get us here, and for those of you who have donated for us to keep our flame alive going forward, and to those of you who have, uh, donated to our Prosecco fund so that we can get through [00:17:00] the what happened today.
Alison Brown: Today has been a day and we are so excited to share this with you.
Jill Jaracz: And I’m enjoying my Milano Cortina 2026 official pro se official Prosecco, which is actually very, very tasty. You were correct on that. it’s, it’s very good. It goes down smooth. I wish I could take some home, but I’m never good with packing bottles of stuff.
Alison Brown: And it’s also under pressure.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: It’s not a regular bottle of wine. Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn’t want that bursting in your suitcase.
Jill Jaracz: No, no, definitely not.
Alison Brown: So we’ll just have to drink it while we’re here.
Jill Jaracz: Too bad. So, but thank you for those of you who have donated to the Prosecco Fund and who are keeping our flame alive through 2028.
If you would like to be part of that crowd, go to flame alive pod.com/support. We have a lot of options. You can one off, you can become a patron and uh, all that you give helps keep the show going because there are expenses involved in bringing two lovely women to Italy
Alison Brown: and home,
Jill Jaracz: and [00:18:00] home and podcasting for another two and a half years until we go to la We love it.
Alison Brown: Before we get to results, we gotta talk culture.
Jill Jaracz: Oh yeah, we do. Got a cold culture. I have a whole list of culture.
Alison Brown: My whole day was culture. I
Jill Jaracz: know you went to the dmo, but we’ll get to that. You started at Casa Airbnb?
Alison Brown: I started, started at Casa Airbnb and I was met by the lovely Jason who took me around.
He’s in charge of their Olympic endeavors.
Jill Jaracz: Nice.
Alison Brown: And he was kind enough to say that our show has been very educational for him.
Jill Jaracz: Really? Wait, how so?
Alison Brown: He listens and he’s learned so much.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay.
Alison Brown: About the Olympics in a good way. No, no, no. It wasn’t a sarcastic comment. It was a genuine, like, he’s learning a lot about his job from listening to the show.
So thank you very much for that. Jason. Cheers to you. And thank you for, um, taking me around Casa Airbnb. This is a fancy casa. So first of all, you get food, don’t,
Jill Jaracz: and, and it didn’t get into the casa,
Alison Brown: but don’t be upset because Jason [00:19:00] is our friend now and he will put you on the list anytime you ask.
Jill Jaracz: Hey Jay.
Alison Brown: So we had breakfast this morning. They have, um, curling. Mm-hmm. Like the plastic sheet curling. They had air hockey. They have experiences going on now. So in their space, there was a yoga class happening. There was a cooking class happening with some athletes.
Jill Jaracz: How big is this place?
Alison Brown: It’s a rent. It’s a rented.
Party space.
Jill Jaracz: Oh
Alison Brown: wow. So there’s a garden and two buildings.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: So there’s one small building where the food and the lounge is, and then another building where the Apre ski bar and their yoga studio is.
Wow.
Alison Brown: And then at the lower level was where they do some art and cooking. ’cause he, Jason was telling me that one of the Olympians who is competing next week had come and done a [00:20:00] couple of classes this week because it kept her relaxed.
Jill Jaracz: Nice.
Alison Brown: And then there was also a presentation by Neville Wright, who is a Canadian Bobs letter at 10, 14 and 18. And he’s doing, um, athlete experiences as well. So he’d had a whole demonstration of four man bobsled with people in four chairs. It was great. It was a lot of fun. And once you go in, you can just stay.
Jill Jaracz: Oh really?
Alison Brown: There’s no kicking you out. You get little chips for your food. So obviously when you use your chips, your, your food allotment is done, but you can just hang out there all day.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh,
Alison Brown: it was fantastic.
Jill Jaracz: Stop the presses. I gotta send an email.
Alison Brown: So I think you could probably arrange to get on the list for the evening, but if not from one of the early mornings, it’s definitely worth a trip over.
Nice. But it was great and we talked, Jason and I talked a little bit [00:21:00] about what they’re thinking for la.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And his response was, they’re thinking a lot for la
Jill Jaracz: Hey Jason, would you like to sassy podcasters to host events?
Alison Brown: We’re your girls.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right.
Alison Brown: So yes, Costa Airbnb was, was really, really lovely and, and quite enjoyable.
And then after that, after I was there for like two, two and a half hours, walked over to the Duomo for my guided Duomo tour.
Jill Jaracz: This, I’m very jealous of this.
Alison Brown: This was such an amazing experience. It is the third largest Catholic church in the world
Jill Jaracz: after St. Peter’s. And what? Notre Dame?
Alison Brown: No, um, the cathedral in Seville.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well, Seville for the Olympics. We’d like to see this,
Alison Brown: but the best part was I got to go up to the roof terrace, which is at the very, [00:22:00] very top. So you see the spires. Close up, you get a view of the city, and because it was so clear and beautiful today, you got a view of the Alps.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh. Wow.
Alison Brown: So I tried to take a couple pictures, but they were terrible pictures and you can’t.
You can’t capture this,
Jill Jaracz: right?
Alison Brown: Oh, it was just a moment. I did get a little nervous when we went to the very top of the building.
Jill Jaracz: What, but you have so much practice on rickety stairs.
Alison Brown: I do have, so, well, these are old stone stairs with the, the, uh, worked in divots
Jill Jaracz: Oh.
Alison Brown: Of centuries. Because the building originally started in 1385.
They finished in 1965.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh.
Alison Brown: And there’s a phrase in Milan that I learned about that when you say something is like the duomo, it means it’s never ending and it’s not a good thing because once they finished, they basically immediately had to start restoration on [00:23:00] the older parts. Oh my gosh. So the omo is never finished.
So if you say, oh, it’s like the Omo or that situation is the Omo, it’s never finished.
Jill Jaracz: This could be changed. Some cultural shifts in attitude could, could fix that. But I don’t, you know, maybe they like having that phrase
Alison Brown: Well, I think it’s more afraid because it’s true. You can never not be repairing
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: A building like this, because they were showing us portions that had been cleaned and then not cleaned.
Jill Jaracz: Oh gosh.
Alison Brown: And basically they, they clean and work the way around the entire cathedral, and then they have to start again.
Jill Jaracz: Isn’t it like Dodger Stadium where they paint it blue and they go around and they have to start again?
Alison Brown: Yes. It’s, and there’s a bridge, the, the Firth a fourth in Scotland where it’s the same thing. You paint and by the time you finish, you’ve gotta start over again. So it’s a never ending project.
Jill Jaracz: That’s a good job to get into though. You’re all [00:24:00] job security,
Alison Brown: but you can also secure Aspire. You can sponsor s Aspire and get your name put on a little plaque on Aspire
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Through the do uh, Omo Foundation.
Jill Jaracz: Squad goals.
Alison Brown: I want my name on a spire,
Jill Jaracz: but I’m glad you got a good day. ’cause it was sun. We have not had much sun in Milan.
Alison Brown: This was, this was spring today in Milan.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: And it was clear so we could steer straight to the Alps. Oh my
Jill Jaracz: gosh.
Alison Brown: How beautiful. And they didn’t look that far away.
Jill Jaracz: No, they don’t.
Alison Brown: But they are.
Jill Jaracz: We’ll find out. We’ll find out tomorrow.
Alison Brown: So that was my day of culture along with some hockey.
Jill Jaracz: Alright. Um, I went to, uh, well I, I slept in for the first time in a long time.
Alison Brown: Yes. Good. You needed some rest.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, I also hung around here. I had to do laundry to wash the mud off my pants.
And I [00:25:00] opted not to turn on the tv. I instead listened to, uh, the run through because, uh, we got a, a tip to listen to what they said about the free dance. Uh, this is, uh, not Olympic champion, Sarah Hughes, who has been on the show and, uh, Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippin. And it was very cathartic, very nice to have some friends in my earbuds, well not earbuds, but friends of my ears.
So that was a good morning. And then I was like, well, what do I do to kill time until men’s figure skating tonight? And I thought, well, let me go see if I can get to the mega store and go around some of these other fans on stuff because it’s a weekday and maybe the crowds are. Diminished. Oh no.
Alison Brown: So I walked by the line for the mega store on my way to the dmo.
That line had to be at least two hours.
Jill Jaracz: It is incredible. You can’t get stuff. I went to another tiny store. Where did I go to? Oh, I went to a store that’s near the [00:26:00] pin trading center, and these small stores are very small. It’s like one trailer long and like boxes everywhere. They’re like, we don’t have mascots.
Don’t even try. Just stuff’s flying off the shelves. I saw a new different sweater, which is nice, but you know, it’s like 75 or 80 and no prices on stuff.
Alison Brown: I have noticed that as well, that nothing has prices on it
Jill Jaracz: because I’m guessing prices are variable.
Alison Brown: Right. They change, they’re changing the prices based on, on supply
Jill Jaracz: all the time.
So, and yeah, it, it’s just incredible. I’m hoping to get into the mega store before it shuts down. But I don’t, I don’t know if I can. It’s crazy. Then I looked at that and turned right around and went, uh, up the street to where the castle is, because that’s where a whole bunch of other pavilions are in the fan zone, and Alibaba Pavilion was jammed.
That’s [00:27:00] some kind of virtual reality experience, which isn’t my jam. So I, I have a thought about people with pavilions companies. If you have a pavilion and Airbnb doesn’t sound like this applies to you, so Jason, don’t worry. Lay off the tech.
Alison Brown: Oh, there was no tech.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, but anything I go to that has tech involved, it is always one person at a time, and it always takes a long time.
So you’re stuck in line forever. If you want a line and get excited about like, oh, there’s a line, we’ve got demand, great. But the problem is that. You end up taking a quiz, and this happened at the, the Alpha Romeo thing where I get the quiz, I hit my button, and then we’re looking at the, the iPad for like five, 10 seconds waiting for the time to elapse.
There’s no like go forward or there’s a lot of the virtual ski things that we were on, and that takes a couple minutes. So it’s, it’s really tough for some of [00:28:00] these. And if you just have an analog experience,
the analog and pictures, pictures are also very long to develop. They’re fun, but they’re very, take a long time to develop. But analog experiences, get ’em in, get ’em out.
Alison Brown: Air hockey, plastic, curling, big hits.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. so air, uh, virtual reality out the little trailer store. That plaza jammed line for that.
Forget that, uh, went to Coke the peak. Forget that. Oh,
Alison Brown: someone told me the other day the line was six hours.
Jill Jaracz: It, it would not be surprised because I have seen on Facebook, somebody went in Lavino and said, oh, I went at this time and the line was really long and then I went again and there was no line. And they had an a coke can with their face etched in it.
Alison Brown: Yes, you can get a Coke can [00:29:00] with your face in it.
Jill Jaracz: That is wild. Part of me wants one. Part of me doesn’t because again, getting that home. How do you
Alison Brown: get home?
Jill Jaracz: Well, that Coke would be drunk. I would tell you that right now.
Alison Brown: And then you just have a crushed can with your face
on
Jill Jaracz: it. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much.
So Skip Coke went in the fan zone. The fan zone was not super busy. For some of the lines, which was great. The, the makeup line Kiko. Oh, forget that. but I went to finish my scavenger hunt from the Fiat Alpha Romeo Lancia booth and got a photo taken there and a lovely little hard hardcover Italian pizza sticker book.
Alison Brown: Oh, look at you.
Jill Jaracz: It’s really cool. I’ll try to post a picture of that if I remember. And then, uh, listener Nicholas from Olympic Rings and other things. and I met up and uh, we went to [00:30:00] the Allianz and I got a winter hat. And a picture.
Alison Brown: You get all this good stuff. I don’t have the patience to wait.
Jill Jaracz: I didn’t even have to take the quiz ’cause it didn’t come in English.
That was the best part. I got allion’s travel insurance, so you know, hey, I’m a customer. when I went into the fan zone, and I don’t think I’ve posted video of this because that was in the early days where, I don’t know where that video is. I think it’s in Dropbox. ’cause boy am I having a photo, photo issue.
Alison Brown: We’re
Jill Jaracz: running outta
Alison Brown: space
Jill Jaracz: real fast. Nonstop photo issues and, and you know, most of our days in Beijing where logistics and in Paris for logistics most of my day here is like photo storage management. It is crazy. so. Hopefully I will get fans on stuff, but if I had gone a little farther, there’s a big Powerade set up.
Hmm. And they’re given drawstring, like backpack bags that look really nice.
Alison Brown: Okay. So
Jill Jaracz: [00:31:00] that’s,
Alison Brown: maybe I’ll swing back over there tomorrow
Jill Jaracz: on my list. Um, so I went there, also went to the PIN trading center.
Alison Brown: How was that?
Jill Jaracz: Sponsored by Looney Tunes. Very cute.
Alison Brown: Good.
Jill Jaracz: The first part of it, it’s a decent sized building, so they have a section that’s really geared towards kids.
So they have table set out that they kids can color and they have a rock climbing wall, and then they have a, a Bugs bunny and another the female bunny. They’re for pictures and they have a little display of kids’ clothes, please buy online. And uh, then they have a setup where multiple pin traders can set up to trade pins with you and then a little wall of pins that you can buy.
And they even have like a little starter kit that I’ve never seen anywhere else where you get, it’s 50 euros, but you get a lanyard and like four pins and it’s 2 1 2 designs, two of each. So you can keep [00:32:00] one and you can trade one.
Alison Brown: Which given how expensive the pins are.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, very for,
Alison Brown: it’s very nice. That’s actually not a bad deal.
Jill Jaracz: Very nice. So they also sell the pins of the day. And I did, I traded for one and then I bought yesterday’s pin of the day was cross country, so I had to buy that. And today’s pin of the day was figure skating. And that’s what I went to today.
Alison Brown: And speaking of pins,
Jill Jaracz: yes,
Alison Brown: I have. A Casa Airbnb pin for you from Jason.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, Jason, thank you so much.
Alison Brown: So, yes, that was, I forgot, I forgot that. Oh. But since we’re talking about pins, I have Awesome. And it spins, it flips around. Oh yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Those the best. Those are the best. I did, I did some decent trades today.
Alison Brown: Good.
Jill Jaracz: So I am very happy with that. And the PIN traders who are our friends from Olympian, were just living life.
I will say that they were so happy to have PIN trading. There was pin trading, like for the little, they, all the tables that they had for PIN traders were stacked up. They [00:33:00] had people outside all set up for pin trading and people were going gangbusters. So it was really, really nice. And then in that area, there’s also a grand Parata little pavilion that I wanted to go to.
But it also, both sides were tech. You do the quiz and you get something. Then you can get a little snack or you do the, the ski simulator and you get something and you get a little snack. And I really pondered this ’cause I was hungry and then I thought, chill. You don’t need to stand in line for half an hour to get a snack.
Alison Brown: You can just go buy yourself a snack.
Jill Jaracz: So I went and got some gelato.
Alison Brown: Okay, good. And then,
Jill Jaracz: and then I thought, I really thought about going to McDonald’s. Really thought about it.
Alison Brown: Well I started this in Paris where I did in fact go to McDonald’s and get a [00:34:00] Happy Meal. And I would like to do that here just as like a little silly thing.
Jill Jaracz: They have Playmobile toys right now. I’ve heard animals. The Playmobile animals. Yeah. That’s in the Happy Meal here.
Alison Brown: Okay, I’ll swing by there. At one point
Jill Jaracz: I thought about it, but I did, well I not even gonna put this in the figure skating section. I went to the media lounge at figure skating. ’cause I said I will get food there.
And what I did not realize, along with the sandwiches, they have muffins there. They have their take on the chocolate muffin. So if you go back to that arena, I, I think you should go get a chocolate muffin,
Alison Brown: see if it’s,
Jill Jaracz: see if it’s similar. Okay. Because it did have like the little pudding on the inside and Okay.
And all that stuff. Um, it was okay, you know. Um, and besides the regular sandwiches, they had the dish of the day,
Alison Brown: oh,
Jill Jaracz: I had gnocchi with marinara sauce and some cheese.
Alison Brown: Now where is that?
Jill Jaracz: That is. Okay. So if you go to [00:35:00] to the lounge or not to the lounge, to the press workroom, right? Yes. And that’s when we go in, you go to the left, left for the Press Tribune, right?
You go to the right for the workroom, go all the way through the workroom, and there’s the media lounge and then there’s now black curtains. And on the other side of those black curtains is the on location lounge.
Alison Brown: Oh. Which we will get to see.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, we will. The preview listeners, we get to see that. Um, but I and the guy had several plates of the day.
I think there was also ravioli and I, they made this stuff fresh ’cause it took few minutes to come up.
Alison Brown: Nice.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So it was really, really lovely and not. Badly priced either.
Alison Brown: Okay. Well we know we’re going back to uh, figure skating probably.
Jill Jaracz: And short track
Alison Brown: three, were four more times. Yeah. In that arena. So there you so yeah,
Jill Jaracz: there you go.
Alison Brown: I know what I’m having for dinner tomorrow night.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I mean getting some pasta and it was nice to have a decent meal ’cause I really did not pack food today. And I was [00:36:00] angry with myself, but I was not angry with myself later. Alright, so let’s get to some results. Biathlon today. Men’s 10 K Sprint on my list for replay.
It should be, oh my gosh. I saw the results and I looked at the shooting and went, oh, you had to shoot clean in order to get on the podium. Forget it.
Alison Brown: But here’s the thing that they said today. The announcer mentioned that no man has won this race at the Olympics without shooting clean since Sarajevo 1984, where apparently the weather conditions were really bad, so nobody shot clean.
Jill Jaracz: Oh God.
Alison Brown: And that’s the last time that the medalist, that the gold medalist at least, has not shot clean. So all three medalists today had clean shots.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Crazy gold. Went to Francis Ton. Silver went to, uh, vet Las Shot Dad Christensen from Norway and Bronze went to everybody’s favorite [00:37:00] Paramore Stir the home Reed from Norway.
I’m so thrilled that. QFM got a medal. He has not had a really good season. It’s his second gold of the game, seventh medal overall. Uh, he silvered in this race in Beijing, and he now equals Marta FCO as the most decorated French by athlete at the Olympics, which makes me so happy. I mean, oh, I love QFM
Alison Brown: and in, I know he’s, he’s a favorite of yours, and in his press conference he’s talked about that this quad has not been terribly good for him.
Mm-hmm. That he’s really struggled over the past few years, and so that this medal means a great deal to him because it’s a result of a lot of struggle where he could have given up, he could have retired. He’s not 20 years old anymore. Nobody would’ve said, oh, you’re giving up too soon. It would’ve been, oh, you had a great career.
So to win this was a big deal to him.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah. He really, yeah. He has had a, he has had a couple tough years and he’s such a good athlete. [00:38:00] Ugh. Cannot say. More
Alison Brown: so a follow up to the, to the log grid story. The woman has spoken publicly, she’s trying to keep her anonymity, and I said, when this first came up, they’re gonna find her and they’re going to splash her all over the newspapers.
Thankfully the press seems to be respecting her anonymity and quoting her without her name. And what she has said is that his cheating is, quote, hard to forgive. So his little outburst has not rekindled the romance, to which I say good.
Jill Jaracz: Right. I mean, that’s an, I mean, six months is not much for,
Alison Brown: I mean, if you cannot stay faithful for three months
Jill Jaracz: mm-hmm.
Not the love of your life, apparently. Geez.
Alison Brown: Or you’re just a really bad boyfriend,
Jill Jaracz: right?
Alison Brown: Doesn’t,
Jill Jaracz: Hey ladies,
Alison Brown: don’t date me.
Jill Jaracz: So this is, this is gonna come back up later on. I’m, I’m [00:39:00] not excited. It’s a Prosecco. Uh, this is an interesting story for the games. I’ll say that.
Alison Brown: And just to follow up on this, Sean Doherty finished 65th.
He had six shooting pen penalties, so he does not qualify for the pursuit.
Jill Jaracz: Tough day. Sean Doherty. I’m sorry to hear that. Curling more Rob, round Robin. Action. So the men had the big day today on the sheets. Uh, Canada beat the US. Six three Italy beat Great Britain. Nine seven Norway beat China. Eight six Switzerland, beat Chea.
Seven three Switzerland beat, uh, China. Nine seven. Norway beat Czechia. Seven four Germany, beat Italy. Six five in an extra end. Oh man, Italy, come on. Poor a you gotta do it for Amos.
Alison Brown: He’s trying hard.
Jill Jaracz: He is trying hard. And Canada beat Sw uh, Sweden. Eight, six. So the men standings. We have two [00:40:00] teams who are undefeated so far.
That’s Canada and Switzerland. Uh, great Britain and Germany and Italy and Norway are all two in one US is one and two. And, uh, China, Czechia and Sweden all have to get a win. Sweden, it hurts me to see you on this list.
Alison Brown: I know they’re really struggling in curling this Olympics. Just overall.
Jill Jaracz: I wonder if they had a changing of the guard,
Alison Brown: but
Jill Jaracz: mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: Let’s get to the women and Sweden’s doing a little better
Jill Jaracz: there. Alright, that’s good. So, uh, the women had one session today. Sweden beat Denmark. Six five Switzerland. Beat China. Seven five USAB Canada. Nine eight. Oh, that’s a big one. And uh, Korea beat. Oh, I know there’s probably not many of the garlic girls left.
Maybe there are.
Alison Brown: I don’t know. I haven’t seen them on the list go yet on the list, so we’ll have to, I’ll have to tune into one of the matches. Alright. ’cause the match that I saw today was the Italian men. [00:41:00]
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And the, uh, Brits.
Jill Jaracz: Oh,
Alison Brown: that was the match. That was on Acosta Airbnb while I was having my gingered orange juice.
Oh my.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh. Ginger orange juice. Geez. What else did you have? I just see like flaky croissants.
Alison Brown: There were flaky croissants. I had a muffin and I had a macchiato that was made by a very handsome barista who put the little heart at the top.
Jill Jaracz: Stop it. Anyway. Korea beat Great Britain nine three. So we have a couple undefeated teams so far, Sweden and Switzerland, and then Korea and USA are two in one, Canada and China are one in one den.
Markets one and two and then, uh, still to get a win are Great Britain, Italy, and Japan. I want Korea to do really well.
Alison Brown: I know we always did. Ever since the garlic girls, we fell in love with them.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. Uh, let’s move over to cross country skiing where the men had their 10 kilometer interval start freestyle.
Alison Brown: Oh gee, guess who [00:42:00] won?
Oh
Jill Jaracz: my gosh. Johannes Clay bow. And, and this is his worst distance supposedly.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Allegedly, this is what he really struggles with and he has not won a major championship at the 10 k distance. So some of his competitors were saying, yeah, we’re all in trouble. If Kla Bo’s winning 10 Ks.
Jill Jaracz: So, um, it’s, it’s really exciting. He’s got another gold silver, went to Matisse Delo from France, and bronze went to Iar Hegar from, uh, Norway. Um, he was in the lead IAR until the last kilometer, and he said, I felt well until I didn’t feel well anymore, and it was a hit that he’d never had and got he, he said, I mean, everybody’s English is phenomenal compared to our other languages.
Uh, it got completely black in my head and in my body. I almost lost my eyesight when I crossed the finish line. I was dizzy, couldn’t see clearly, and lost the [00:43:00] hearing in my right ear for a long while afterwards. That is. Pain locker like I’ve never seen.
Alison Brown: That’s hypoxia, that’s oxygen is not getting to that young man’s brain.
Jill Jaracz: But he had enough to say about stir the home. Long read everyone’s favorite by athlete and boyfriend du jour.
Alison Brown: He is enjoying the drama. This, this is a young man who would love the Real Housewives of the Olympics,
Jill Jaracz: right? Because he said, well, because somebody asked him what? Like what do you think of watching, uh, Reed and his, his cheating thing?
And he is like, well, it’s nice to be in cross country right now. What’s happened in the past few days is a show like no other. And I have to admit, I really enjoyed reading all about it. It’s been hilarious. So keep it coming. Go for it guys. And he’s been playing detective too. He’s been trying to find out who the woman is.
He has info. He’s not telling [00:44:00] anybody I give, I give it to the Norwegians for
Alison Brown: Yeah. ’cause Norway doesn’t. Exactly. You know, I would think the biathlon and the cross country worlds are not very big.
Jill Jaracz: Right?
Alison Brown: I mean, they’re big, big, but Norway is not a, a large place. So I would think that there’s a lot of information that, you know, a lot of, of sharing, right.
Of things that, that goes on there. So he would have some insight.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So he is appreciative that, uh, he’s had this distraction to help relax him before racing. But he also said, quote, I know stir love bit and he’s a loose cannon that he was going to do what he did surprised me. But if there was going to be one person to pull off that stunt, it was going to be him.
End quote. So, which was awesome. The quotes just kept coming on, on Ster Holmes Reed. Alright, let’s move over to figure skating.
Alison Brown: This was a night.
Jill Jaracz: This [00:45:00] was a night.
Alison Brown: So I had planned to go to, to hockey games.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And I went to the first hockey game and then I said to myself, I really wanna see the men’s figure skating.
So I came back
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: And didn’t see the second hockey game. And I’m so glad I did because if you had told me what happened, I would’ve smacked you. Oh wow. And said, you are lying to me.
Jill Jaracz: This was unreal. Well, we will start with, I got to the venue, the, the event started at seven o’clock in the evening. I got to the venue at 10 to five.
I got one of the last two Press Tribune seats. Table seats, thank goodness. And the other one went like. Within a minute after me. So I am two people down from Jackie Wong.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Jackie has a spot. Yes. You don’t mess with Jackie.
Alison Brown: No.
Jill Jaracz: Next to him [00:46:00] was empty for a little while when I, I went and I got my meal and then I came back and I’m working away and volunteer comes over and says, you have an empty seat next to you.
And Jackie’s like, that’s taken, when are they coming back? I don’t know. Maybe an hour. You can’t hold the seat for an hour. So Jackie pulls out, an Olympic champion is sitting there. You can’t do that. You have to, it’s, it’s an Olympic champion, blah, blah, blah. And they go back and forth ’cause this volunteer is not happy.
That Jackie is holding a seat for somebody. But like the deal is you put your stuff down and I, I, there might’ve been something there, but A, you don’t mess with Jackie and B, you still don’t mess with Jackie. And the volunteer didn’t know that. And the volunteer had that very voice. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, remembering beforehand, [00:47:00] when I went through security, I saw the bin of confiscated items.
Alison Brown: Was my plastic fork in there?
Jill Jaracz: Don’t know. Um, ‘
Alison Brown: cause they took it away from
Jill Jaracz: me
Alison Brown: the
Jill Jaracz: other day. What I, what I saw looked like a box of Kleenex that was branded with Tina. I’m like, they have Tina, Brenda, Kleenex. And I walked and I said, I wonder if I can get that Kleenex. And I went back and I said, could I have that?
What is this? Is this Kleenex? And what is this? They’re like, yeah, you can have it. And I pick it up and it’s a snow globe. And they said, you can have it, but you have to leave. So I put it right back in the bin.
Alison Brown: The things I saw in the bin when they took away my plastic fork that I was going to eat my dinner with the other day.
LA Forte in your bag. I’m like, yeah, ’cause I’m going to eat dinner
Jill Jaracz: and it’s plastic.
Alison Brown: And it’s plastic. What do you, what am I gonna do with it? Poke my own eye out. Seriously, it was tiny. [00:48:00] There was a bottle of perfume
Jill Jaracz: who, who was bringing per, although maybe we should be bringing perfume for the amount we’re sweating.
Maybe next time I’ll ask him if I could use, it’s good to know. I saw some like non-alcoholic beer or something in there. It was wild. Anyway, so the Jackie and the volunteer go at it for a good minute and the volunteer finally backs off and who comes into that spot? But a Wall Street Journal reporter who.
Was in my hotel at Beijing and got COVID.
Alison Brown: Oh dear.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, so I asked her about it because I’m like, wait a second, you’re the Wall Street Journal reporter. And I’ve read this big essay about how she got COVID afterwards and we had the theory in our house that she had, quote unquote, had COVID. And uh, she said, yeah, I brought my own COVID test.
And yes, [00:49:00] I did have COVID. So that was that. And uh, I’m sitting next to Aspen on the other side of me and I’m spying all on their chats and things like that. And if you don’t know what’s going on in the Press Tribune, a lot of people have one focus. And that’s all they’re there for.
Alison Brown: They’re only there for a single sport.
They go to the same venue
Jill Jaracz: every day. Right? Or they’re only there for a single person. Yes. Or a few people, whatever that one team. And that’s all they care about. And they gotta sit there the whole night. And a lot of people, and they’re on deadline, they’re trying to get their stories out as fast as possible.
So the person next to me is writing multiple versions of Ilia Melin wins, and Ia Melin then loses.
Alison Brown: So he’s kind of prepping the setup, but there’s no way he could have prepped this
Jill Jaracz: or she,
Alison Brown: she
Jill Jaracz: and, um, I learned that figure skating is so [00:50:00] long. Yes. I also learned that Jeff Goldblum is in the building.
Alison Brown: Yes.
He was
Jill Jaracz: not important enough if a deal,
Alison Brown: Simone Biles was in the building.
Jill Jaracz: I, yeah. On my list to say Simone was in the building, Kaitlyn Weaver was in the building. So a lot of people going on, I will say if you listen to Beijing and you listen to my diatribe about the men and not liking their music, that has changed.
Everyone seemed to really get into their music this time around, so that made me very happy. It, it was a, I’m looking like, oh, Donovan Carillo. Wow. That was a long night.
Alison Brown: Yeah. You’re there for four hours.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, the crowd was so there for Donovan Yes. From Mexico. He’s a Mexican skater first, uh, figure skater from Mexico.
Um, did well he popped a triple into a single, but he got a season’s best. It is fun to sit a few down from Jackie. ’cause every once in a while you hear Yes. Yeah. Or [00:51:00] oh. Oh. And it’s, it’s fun when Jackie actually emotes ’cause he is very serious at what he does. Amazing crowd. They are there for everyone. And any chance to clap, they will clap.
So pick your music well ’cause you will get the crowd to clap with you. Uh, so many flags. I have a lot of pictures on my phone that are my collection of the best flags they will get thrown into the Facebook group. Um, Maxim Na off who everybody in the audience basically knew his story of his parents being killed in the plane crash last year.
And, uh, not great. He fell crowd, but, but like when they fall, it’s just like anything else they do. They get net like massive cheers to be like, you can do this, you can do this. It was so beautiful. Um, we got the introduction of the leader’s chair. I don’t [00:52:00] know, maybe they had this in ice dance, but they didn’t.
They did, um, did not have this in the team. So that was kind of funky to have the chair there that somebody needs to sit in for as long as they need to sit in. Um, what are the odds that, uh, so we had a, a neutral athlete. My first neutral. Yes. And this was a Peter Nik who had a big fan base there. Yes. I Peter signs, he did do five quads in this program.
It was very, he did a really good job, but I was really like, oh, we gotta, we gotta rush in here.
Alison Brown: Yeah. It’s, it’s, I had this at speed skating. I had neutral athletes and at one point the neutral athlete was winning. And I did think to myself, Ooh, I really don’t wanna do a neutral athlete, uh, medal ceremony.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it’s been, it’s weird. I have to sort out my feelings about the Russians in general. Um, [00:53:00] what are the odds that he gets followed by a Ukrainian skater, which is horrible. And he, uh, this was, uh, Carolo Marsac from Ukraine. He had just a tough, tough night. Lots of mess ups.
Alison Brown: Let’s just short circuit this for, for everyone.
Everybody with the exception of the man who won, had a tough night.
Jill Jaracz: Pretty much.
Alison Brown: Even,
Jill Jaracz: even Torgus chef had a bobble.
Alison Brown: Everybody was struggling tonight. Yeah. And struggling hard. Not just Oh, you two footed or under rotate? Oh, I’m sorry.
Jill Jaracz: Not Torgus Chef, for all of you adding me at the moment, uh, shut her off.
Alison Brown: Yes. I don’t know what was happening tonight in that arena, but it was like somebody put a curse on the ice.
Jill Jaracz: Maybe. ’cause I. You randomly hear people talk, and this was not in the press tribute, I believe I heard this, and I believe is emphasized here on the [00:54:00] train maybe where people were saying like, there could be something with the ice just not being right.
Alison Brown: It’s possible. It’s happened before. I mean, this happened in 92 and 94 where you had really some sketchy, uh, performances over and over and over again. Mm-hmm. And you saw Alex Iman of, uh, Mikel Shut Off’s coach kind of won in 94.
Jill Jaracz: Geez, Louise. Oh my gosh.
Alison Brown: At
Jill Jaracz: wow.
Alison Brown: At a games that ha he was kind of a surprise gold medalist.
Jill Jaracz: Well, he
Alison Brown: knows how to, at games like this,
Jill Jaracz: he knows how to coach ‘
Alison Brown: em. He knows how to coach. And I think he’s also going to do a very good job of taking care of this kid through a very unexpected situation.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: Nobody could have predicted. Shatter off as you called that list.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Uh, get there.
Yeah, because like Kevin Amos
Alison Brown: really held, he messed up, but he really held on to a lot [00:55:00] of his jumps. You could by this ski
Jill Jaracz: him throw Yes. Skin his teeth. Um, uh, so by the time we got to, uh, Daniel Grassle from Italy, I will say the opening story of the opening paragraph of the Moline winning story was approved next door to me.
That was interesting. Uh, and I also saw the start of him losing story, which I thought, wow, you gotta do that too. You’re not gonna need that. And then they needed it.
Alison Brown: I know.
Jill Jaracz: Crazy. I did not remember that. Adam Shin Fa from France, his music is the creation of Adam.
Alison Brown: Yeah. He, he often does the short and long programs that tell a complete story.
So the, the Leonardo da Vinci. Short program continues on with the creation of Adam in the long program.
Jill Jaracz: Well, not his bed’s night either, [00:56:00] but he did. He was the second person to land a backflip or the first person of the night to land a back flip. Um,
uh, then shut her off, came out and he’s the third to last to skate, and he is what non Olympic champion Syracuse would call a children child of the void.
Alison Brown: This program is definitely child of the void, but what I wanna say about his child of the void is that is an emergence of style for him. The improvements that he has made since last year when it comes to musicality and choreography, leaps and bounds.
Jill Jaracz: Well, that is good
Alison Brown: because he’s committed to the bit. He’s like, yes, I like this absolutely bizarre. Kazakh opera slash punk music, and I’m gonna go with it and totally lean in.
Jill Jaracz: Well, [00:57:00] he brought the void onto the rink and he took everything back with him into the void because after him was Yuma who has just a career defining program.
It is. The music is beautiful, the choreography is beautiful. Yuma is such a beautiful skater,
Alison Brown: not tonight.
Jill Jaracz: And he stumbled and just, you could tell that he wasn’t all there and, and I’ve seen him do so much better, and I think he was just nervous and I was really surprised that he hung on for silver with that.
Alison Brown: He ended up getting the silver because of his short program. Oh, he lost in the, he did. He was beaten in the, the long program, but he had enough give in his short program points to hang on for silver
Jill Jaracz: who did not have enough give apparently was the quad. God himself, Ilia, Lenon. [00:58:00]
Alison Brown: I was sitting here and the first stumble, I said, okay, nerves are showing.
Then he singles an axle and then he falls, and I just gasped.
Jill Jaracz: I never seen him fall.
Alison Brown: I have never seen, and then that was just it. He completely lost control of the program and finished 15th? Yes. In the, in the free skate.
Jill Jaracz: I, I did not realize it was that bad, and I’m sitting there and. When you go on to olympics.com.
’cause I, I look to see if the fans could get this too. You can see everybody’s program and what they have planned and then it flips to what happened with the scores. So it’s really, really cool actually, except for, I wish they’d have a column for what was planned and what actually happened, because I immediately forget.
And I, that does [00:59:00] not make me happy. But you can see how different things happen. ’cause there, there are also skaters who throw something in.
Alison Brown: Yes. And, and, uh, melanin is one to change his technical often. Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: I don’t, I don’t think he could. He just once and he said like, everything, the, the pressure was unreal and he just didn’t know what was going on.
He wasn’t aware of where he was in the program. And it just was going by so fast he couldn’t keep up with it, which was surprising to me,
Alison Brown: I think. And we saw this starting in the team, we saw this crack showing in the team event and the fact that he hasn’t been beaten in nearly three years and then he gets to the Olympics and Olympic ice is different, literally and figuratively.
And it showed, [01:00:00] it showed what a young kid he is,
Jill Jaracz: right?
Alison Brown: And all the bravado and all the arrogance just melted away. And I feel horrible for him. What a horrible night he has to live with now. When even, I remember when our car conversation with Sarah Hughes, it was, he’s gotta fall three times.
Jill Jaracz: And he did.
Alison Brown: Basically he did. Plus
Jill Jaracz: it was ended up eighth. Unreal. How much that program. It got devalued. I just couldn’t believe how stuff just kept happening. And I’m not the biggest fan of him, and I’m really not a fan of the music on this program, but I don’t want to see him go down like this.
Alison Brown: No. Nobody wants to see a competition where people are skating poorly.
Where’s the fun in that? And where’s the fun in beating another competitor? Because that competitor [01:01:00] did not perform up to his potential,
Jill Jaracz: right?
Alison Brown: You want everybody skating clean and the best man wins,
Jill Jaracz: right? And when everybody’s getting their seasons best, it’s like, oh, they did the best they could. Maybe they don’t have the chops as oth as much as other skaters, so they’re not gonna have the technical scores.
But when you get your best on the biggest stage, and now he’s got this, so it’s. You didn’t make the Olympic team four years ago now you didn’t live up to the potential. Hopefully then you got another four years of redemption to work on. How much does this mess with your mind? Because I mean, like,
Alison Brown: and he’s all of what, 21, 22?
He’s a baby. You know, he, I mean, honestly, he’s a very young man and, and to have this kind of experience at this point in his life when he [01:02:00] has been so built up the quad, God and all of that,
I hope he’s got people around him who are gonna take care of him in the next few weeks. ’cause this is gonna be a rough stretch for him.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, it’s gonna be awful. And hopefully the, the media will be kind. In, in a way of like allowing him to explain himself, there’s
Alison Brown: or not, or just
Jill Jaracz: let him
Alison Brown: be. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Um, it’s hard.
Yes. He just turned 21.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So this is really, really tough. And I,
Alison Brown: I wish we could send him a bottle of Prosecco and just say, dude,
Jill Jaracz: you probably need this. He,
Alison Brown: yeah.
Jill Jaracz: But, um, yeah, that it, and it just was a hard end to the night.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: To have two skates that weren’t great and you had shotter off who just knocked it outta the park.
He was so ecstatic with what he did. He
Alison Brown: [01:03:00] really did the best program of the night, which outstanding. And I do adore him and I do wanna put him and his little floppy hair in my pocket. And the, the, the interaction with him and Alex are Madoff was. So great to watch and, and the emotion was so real in, in his expression, first Kazakh to win the, the figure skating title.
Yes. Gold. I’m Dennis
Jill Jaracz: 10. De won Silver. I thought of like the legacy of Dennis 10,
Alison Brown: who Michael Shutoff talked about only the second Kazak to win a gold medal at the Winter Games ever. The last one was in 94. So you mentioned that the Kazakhs in the house, the co
Jill Jaracz: there was a whole Kazakh corner and
Alison Brown: they were going nuts.
It was going nuts. Well, they haven’t had a gold medal to celebrate in the winter games since before a bunch of our listeners were born.
Jill Jaracz: It’s crazy to think about, but they were going crazy. They were so excited. Even outside they [01:04:00] were cheering and, and.
Alison Brown: I’m just thrilled. The other point that the announcer made was that, uh, Michael Shutoff is Kazakh.
He’s not an import. A lot of the former Soviet republics have imported ex Russians as skaters. George is big on this.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: But he grew up a kid in Almadi and now he’s the Olympic champion. And, and
Jill Jaracz: I do kind of love, I I
Alison Brown: I love that for him. I didn’t, I obviously none of us expected it. Now. I could see him doing this for years.
I knew he, I really wanted him to medal this time around ’cause I enjoy him. He’s a great Olympic champion to have.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: I think we’re gonna see him grow a lot from this and I think he’s just gonna be a better skater for it.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And to have that. Legacy and I, I, we didn’t, I didn’t have time to go down to the mix zone ’cause it just was gonna be forever for a [01:05:00] chaos
Alison Brown: and chaos.
You know, it gonna
Jill Jaracz: be
Alison Brown: chaos down there. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Um, I do wanna see if he talks about Dennis, and if you don’t know, Dennis 10 won a silver in what, like 2010?
Alison Brown: Uh, in Sochi?
Jill Jaracz: In Sochi. And then he was like kind of walking around and got randomly stabbed in the thigh and bled out and died. And it was just a horrible tragedy.
And he had really put Kazakhstan skating on the map and was a really good person. And the, the legacy he left behind is, uh, it, it’s been a long time coming, but uh, we got one nice to say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What a weird, weird night of figure
Alison Brown: skating. And it does make me worry for the women. Oh, that we’re gonna have this kind of a night with the women, which is gonna be rough on all of us.
Jill Jaracz: I hope not. I hope not. Oh, they did have at the podium celebration, they, everybody came out on skates and it really was like, [01:06:00] they were all still in costume. They were chop chop,
Alison Brown: which is, which is what you usually do at figure skating, right? This was how it normally goes, not how it wented on the, on the team event.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So I, I saw them, they laid out the carpets, so I’m like, okay, here we go. And then they put out the podium on the edge of the carpet, the back edge, and I thought, uh oh. And everybody came out and skates. But then you could tell there’s like, uh, that layer of felt kind of carpet on top now. So they’re okay.
Alison Brown: Not the sandpaper. And anyway, their competition is done, so if their blades get scratched up, it’s not a big deal.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, wild night at figure skating. Alright, let’s move on to ice hockey. Men are still in action with, uh, uh, prelims, uh, Finland, beat Sweden. Four one. Slovakia beat Italy. Three, two, and then Czechia, beat France six three and Canada beat Switzerland.
Five one women had the quarterfinals. Sweden beat [01:07:00] Chea two zero and USA beat Italy. Six. Nothing. Wow. A
Alison Brown: lot, A lot of free bird,
Jill Jaracz: but not surprising. But Italy had a really good run, I will say, for not being a hockey nation and, and getting the buy in because they’re the host and, uh, putting together a team.
So good. Anya, Italy. I hope that continues. Moving over to skeleton, which has started. Uh, the women had, uh, the first couple of heats, the standings after two heats are, uh, Janine flock from Austria is in first. She set the track record in her first run. And then, uh, Susanna Reher from Germany is in second.
Jacqueline Pfeiffer from Germany is in third, and Hana ni Nysa is in fourth. Germany.
Alison Brown: Germany, Germany.
Jill Jaracz: Crazy. Uh, the men had the last two heats of their skeleton race. Oh,
Alison Brown: thank
Jill Jaracz: goodness. Great. Britain got a medal here.
Alison Brown: Oh, [01:08:00] I know. Anything but footie guys we’re celebrating with you.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Uh, Matt Weston from Great Britain won gold.
He broke the track record on every one of his runs. Axel Yung from Germany, one Silver and Christopher Grier from Germany. One bronze, uh, uh, Vladislav, uh, Kovich from Ukraine had applied for, uh, a. Applied for an, a appeal of the decision that the IOC made against his helmet to the court of arbitration for sport.
They denied the application because they found that the freedom ex of expression guaranteed at the Olympic Games was sufficient and not on the field to play. And apparently there’s a lot of hullabaloo because one of the other racers has a Russian flag on their helmet, but it’s because they had the flags of every country.
They were in the Olympics and they were at Sochi. And it, it’s one of those like. But the [01:09:00] meaning behind it is, these are the games I was at, not
Alison Brown: the
Jill Jaracz: war.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So intent does play a part in how these things are viewed.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And I was reading a little bit about track record. Well, we’ve seen track records being broken right and left.
And granted it’s a brand new track, so that’s gonna happen. But there’s speculation that perhaps the sport should go to thousandths of a second, like luge.
Alison Brown: Wow.
Jill Jaracz: Hmm. We’ll see what happens in the future. Snowboard women had the snowboard cross today, which was on in the fan zone in Italian. Then everything I heard, I couldn’t quite see it.
So that was a bummer. But I only heard Italian, but it was fun. There were just a lot of people in the fun in the fan zone.
Alison Brown: It
Jill Jaracz: was a fun zone. It was a fun zone. Um, so I commend Milano Cortina for putting together a nice little area to hang out in gold. Went to Josie Bath from Australia. Silver Went to [01:10:00] Ava, uh, Kova from Czechia, uh, who got a complete set of medals.
You love it.
Alison Brown: I do love that.
Jill Jaracz: She’s also a recent mom. There was a lot of recent mom stuff in the news today. Uh, and then bronze went to McKayla YOLO from Italy. So this is Australia’s second gold.
Alison Brown: And it’s the first time since 2010 that Australia got more than one gold medal at the Winter Games.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Party down under.
Jill Jaracz: And one of the athletes who got, um, I I, she may have gotten seventh or something, but, but she showed up in the quote section. We have a whole little news area that we can get quotes from and uh, her name is Faith Alan. She had a baby six months ago and, uh, decided to come back.
Alison Brown: Good for her,
Jill Jaracz: and [01:11:00] had a lot of fear throughout the season.
But she’s having fun. Her fifth games
Alison Brown: and now she’s got babies.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. She has two kids because she retired to have children. She came back. It was nice. Um, and you know what? Her uterus didn’t stay on the track.
Alison Brown: You know, and that was even loosened by childbirth and it still stayed in there.
Jill Jaracz: So, hey men, we also had the men’s half pipe today.
Gold went to t Toka from Japan. Silver went to Scotty Janes from Australia, repeat silver medalist, and he had bronze and Pyeongchang and uh, ADA from Japan won the bronze. In speed skating, we had the men’s 10,000. Um, YOKA from Czechia who was the favorite to win, won the gold. He is the first Czech male speed skater to win Olympic gold in the winter, and now [01:12:00] has gold and silver here in, um, Milano.
Corina, just 19 years old.
Alison Brown: Oh, baby, baby.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right, right. And you could have a long career here. We’ll find out in a second. Vladimir, uh, semi ronney from Poland got the silver and Yuri Bema from Netherlands. Got the bronze, who celebrated his 40th birthday on February 1st, and now has a full set.
Alison Brown: Happy birthday.
Jill Jaracz: Right. Um, this was funny because, uh, American Casey Dawson withdrew from this race to focus on the team pursuit in the 1500. And Bergman said, oh yeah, this made me happy because it meant he got to race, uh, in the pair with, uh, David Chito from Italy, and that pushed him to go faster. That pairing,
Alison Brown: was that the assumption that Casey Dawson would not have pushed him to go faster?
I don’t know.
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know that changed or he would, would’ve been in a totally different pair.
Alison Brown: Um.
Jill Jaracz: T has fans, they’re called the [01:13:00] Mattis because they have, they all wear the same bullet hairstyle with hairbands.
Alison Brown: You mean like Bjorn Borg?
Jill Jaracz: I think so, yeah. It seems to be. And um, uh, they’re called Mad Mads because it’s Dutch for mates, and that’s really close to the Dutch word for mullet. And so they’ve been filling the, the speed skating venue with these mullet hair wigs.
And apparently that started spontaneously at the Dutch qualifiers. And then when, and, and Bergsma said, when I finished my race, I saw such a big group all rocking that same hairstyle, and it was so much fun. So the Mads have recorded a song called Mati Na Milan. So, which Mads to Milan, which has quickly become a team favorite.
And, uh, listeners, uh. I don’t have the capacity. I tried to look it up real quick. If you have seen or can find [01:14:00] MA’s na Milan, please send us a link. That’s all I’m asking because this sounds like a a a happen in time and, and a need to get back to Speed Gang. That’s for sure.
Alison Brown: I had not noticed the Maddie’s, but I guess next time, I think I’m going to speed skating tomorrow.
Jill Jaracz: You got something for your list?
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Speaking of tomorrow, Shukla Stone is competing.
Alison Brown: Julia Kern is in the cross country, four by seven, uh, and a half kilometer relay and Deidre Irwin and his Biathlons woman, seven and a half kilometer sprint.
Jill Jaracz: And we have shout outs today.
Alison Brown: Yes. Jackie Tuthill from London Dairy New Hampshire.
I have been there.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, nice.
Alison Brown: It’s lovely.
Jill Jaracz: And there is a Tuttle who is an Olympian. That would be Nicola Tuttle from Ireland who placed 16th in hammer throw at Paris 2024. So Jackie, if you ever like, [01:15:00] feel the
Alison Brown: the need to throw a hammer
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. It’s in your blood. Right? And then we also need to shout out
Alison Brown: Manu, oh, our dear friend Manu, who has been our friend from the beginning.
So Manu Paolo from Helsinki, Finland, who has, I think, been a listener within months of when the show premiered.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it’s been great. Manu Manu, if you are in the Facebook group, Manu Hass got the best stories, which is, I, I just love it. So Manu has come up with a good story ’cause now we’ve pumped you up.
But, um, there is a Paola Immo Paola played Pesa Palo. Or finish baseball, which was a demonstration sport at Helsinki 1952.
Alison Brown: And we have no idea how common that last name is in
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: In Finland. Like, could he be a relative?
Jill Jaracz: Right? So if Manu,
Alison Brown: if you’re related, let us [01:16:00] know,
Jill Jaracz: right? Or if you can tell us anything about this finished baseball stuff, we’d like to hear it.
And we have mascots.
Alison Brown: We have mascots. Let’s mention your mascot for the games, which is the lovely, adorable, cuddly Abby who does no, who does love to curl up in baskets.
Jill Jaracz: She does, she curls up in anything really. It’s a cat.
Alison Brown: I have pictures that I have shared on, uh, Instagram and in the newsletter.
Jill Jaracz: Speaking of, oh my gosh.
Brad’s, Brad Berger’s. Dogs from yesterday. Adorable. They’ll be back. So adorable. Excellent, excellent.
Alison Brown: They’ll be back for the Paralympics. Excellent. So they are fantastic. Mascots.
Jill Jaracz: Mascots. We appreciate you because boy do we need the support. Just kidding. Through the day. I mean, we’re having a blast,
Alison Brown: but we’re exhausted.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly.
Alison Brown: And tomorrow, Jill’s going to the mountains, gonna different mountains. Jill’s going to a different mountain. I have honestly been too afraid. I think I’m having [01:17:00] flashbacks from Beijing. I’m getting lost on the mountains, so I’m I, my fear is overwhelming me. So maybe if you go and come back, we’ll go together next week
Jill Jaracz: for me.
You’ll get ready. Oh, that’s gonna to do it for this episode. If you would like even more of the most fun coverage of the game, set us up. We’re at flame live pod.com. That is your source for our socials, our newsletter, which is fun. It is so much fun and other direct ways to contact us. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for what we forgot to tell you about today, although I really think we might not have.
Alison Brown: I think we might have gotten it, but I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll
Jill Jaracz: find out. Uh, gra
Alison Brown: and until next time, chow and keep the flame alive.