We’re back in Italy and ready for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics to start!
Between the Games, Alison went back to the States for some much-needed rest. Jill went to Lausanne, Olympic city, where she spent some time at the Olympic Museum and explains why it’s a must-visit.
After a long and surprising travel day, Jill made it to Venice, where TKFLASTAN House will be for the Paralympics. She also got to visit the Team USA processing center, which is a magical experience for their Paralympians.
Alison arrived in Italy just in time to catch the Paralympic flame celebration happening in Venice, and we share the highlights of that adventure.
Plus, wheelchair curling got underway today. We have the results from the first round of mixed doubles, featuring TKFLASTANI Steve Emt.
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Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
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Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics-Day -2
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] Nu and welcome to Keep the Flame Alive, day minus two coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games. I am your host at Jill Jarris coming to you from Stanhouse Venicia. Mare, not really Benicia, the island we’re on at Mare, the station. I’m joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown.
Allison ciao com
Alison Brown: Cha cha.
Jill Jaracz: It’s like you wanna say, okay.
Alison Brown: Okay. [00:01:00] I’m only a day out of traveling, so I think I’m still a little confused as to where I am, who I am, what country I’m in.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: What language I’m speaking it’s, it’s a little tricky.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. ’cause you went home between
Alison Brown: I did. I’m glad I did. It was a good break.
And you went to Lausanne?
Jill Jaracz: I did go to Lausanne. I went to the Olympic Study Center to do a little bit of research, and then I spent a day at the Olympic Museum. And in my research days I did do one. Day of lunch at the Olympic Museum restaurant.
Alison Brown: Ooh.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, they do serve the Olympic rings pasta there
Alison Brown: as they should.
I’d be disappointed if they did.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I know. Now that they have it, they, they need to serve it. The Olympic Museum restaurant very expensive. I did not get the Olympic rings pasta ’cause it was somewhere in the $30 range.
Alison Brown: Oh geez. Yeah, it’s, it’s a gold medal meal.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Well, no [00:02:00] it’s not. You know what’s a gold medal meal?
Weekend brunch. Oh. So I went, after I went to the museum, which I’ll talk about in a second, I really needed to eat, ’cause it was like two o’clock and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. And I went up there and they said, well, brunch is still on. And it’s like a half an hour until we have a snack. Time where they serve snack food.
And I said, oh, okay, I’ll do brunch. And he goes, it’s like 63 euros. And I went, I’m not gonna do brunch. It’s like, I think I will do snack time. Well, no, I didn’t wait. I left. Oh, I was not waiting for brunch to be over in snack to start. I left and I went to a gelato place that listener Nick recommended.
Excellent. So that was good. Uh, the, the Olympic Museum is very, very cool. It is. Um, I, I went a long time ago, way before interactive stuff really became a thing, and they have used interactive kiosks in a really innovative way. There’s like a, [00:03:00] a lot of stuff you can touch on and, uh, get more information on.
Uh, there’s a whole section on. The, the founding of the Olympics, obviously, and Pierre de Bertin’s, like little study, his fencing outfit, his one giant portrait of him in front of a horse, and he’s wielding a sword because apparently he wanted to start. Equestrian fencing as a sport.
Alison Brown: That sounds like a really bad idea.
He really liked this combining of sports.
Jill Jaracz: He did apparently,
Alison Brown: you know, you would think he invented biathlon the way he loves to mix things up. But Equest equestrian. Fencing. Oh, that just sounds like a PETA nightmare.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it, it sounded really bad. And they had the first flag that was made, the first one with the rings that was made for not a games, it was made for like a conference or something, and.
Uh, that’s [00:04:00] huge and it’s really beautiful and, and you could like look up and, and see the stitching, which is kind of a little wonky here and there, but I think it was made by a department store in Paris. Oh, wow. So, um, there, there was, that they had, um, all of the torches. They had and then like a montage of torch lightings.
So of course I am then wowed by Barcelona and then start crying for Muhammad Ali in 1996. But luckily that’s only, it’s not that long.
Alison Brown: It’s a montage. So it’s
Jill Jaracz: quick little snap. I, oh, thank goodness. ’cause otherwise I would just lose it. Uh, all of the mascots. Um, and some. Looked nicer in person and I was very surprised.
Nev and glitz. I liked them in person.
Alison Brown: Huh?
Jill Jaracz: I liked me. Maji from
Alison Brown: Maik from, uh,
Jill Jaracz: Albertville 1992. Nev and Glitz are from Torino 2006. A little frightening Heidi and Howdy from Calgary 19, really?
Alison Brown: Because they look [00:05:00] so friendly.
Jill Jaracz: Look. They’re a little weird looking. And, uh, the, the ones from Athens 2004, also little weird looking.
Alison Brown: Well, that looks like a foot. Yeah. So
Jill Jaracz: there’s
Alison Brown: no way to make that friendly. Here’s your friendly foot mascot.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right. Um, uh, I know Vu coach is a little foot Navu. Yeah. Vuca. The, from, from, uh, Sarajevo Wolf from Sarajevo. He’s,
Alison Brown: he’s terrifying at, at any. Point
Jill Jaracz: oh. But he looked kind of cuddly. He had a wily coyote look to him.
It was fun.
Alison Brown: You sound like the person who brings in a raccoon and says, mommy, can I keep it?
Jill Jaracz: Well, speaking of raccoons, the raccoon like rocky raccoon from Lake Placid. It’s not Ricky Raccoon
Alison Brown: Rodney.
Jill Jaracz: No, no, that’s no. Who would name a mascot? Rodney
Alison Brown: Hallmark actually did. No, it’s not Rocky. But it’s, um, but
Jill Jaracz: the, the raccoon, yes, it, it, oh, it does not [00:06:00] hold up well.
Age well, no, no. I don’t think it aged well in 1980 either. Um, and I’m trying to think. I, you know, ’cause I just had the winter ones on the brain, but I looked at the summer ones too. And uh, that was a lot of fun. They had, um, another floor that was. Artifacts from different games. So they’d have like three or four games grouped together and artifacts from each.
And it seems like they, they had, um, electronic cards instead of the card that you have by every piece describing what it is, the description, it seemed like that was done electronically so they could swap out when they wanted to.
Alison Brown: Oh, make it
Jill Jaracz: easier. Except for, except for they had stuff like, oh, this is on loan.
To, to Milano Cortina, basically. Yes.
Alison Brown: Right. Because we saw at the, uh, clubhouse 26 Yes. They had a huge collection Yes. On loan from Lausanne of all the metals and torches and some artifacts as well. There was a luge [00:07:00] and, and a snowboard. Yeah. And all those things were, were on display in the clubhouse, which was great if you got to the clubhouse, but not great if you’re going to Lausanne to see everything.
Yeah. But
Jill Jaracz: there was plenty of other stuff to see. Mm-hmm. So, um, your friend. His, uh, uniform and skates are there your friend Eric Hein,
Alison Brown: my friend Eric Hyden. He’s a very generous man, so I can see him, you know, giving those things to the museum
Jill Jaracz: and then a lot of other cool stuff, like they had a little corner that was from the archives and things that you might not know and, and that was a lot of fun.
Uh, there’s a little section on the Paralympics, which was nice. Then they had a, a temporary exhibit floor that this one was d. Kind of like the future of the games and it basically got into eGames eSports,
Alison Brown: which may or may not be surviving Ty Coventry. I’m
Jill Jaracz: very curious how that works. But the, the exhibit was kind of cool because it kind of showed the evolution of video games.
So it would start [00:08:00] out with like, here’s a living room from. The period of time that we’re talking and then you kind of progressed through different eras and then got to, and there were some hands-on stuff too that you could play games. It was, you get
Alison Brown: to play space invaders?
Jill Jaracz: Uh, no. They had some other kind of thing that was sort of like asteroid that I couldn’t get to work and then I just gave up and I was tired and hungry at that point.
Alison Brown: We couldn’t get asteroids to work back in the day either. So it’s, it, it was part of the display apparently.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, highly recommend the Olympic Museum. Uh, had a great time there. The shop expensive, and there’s a little sign there that says shopping is not an Olympic sport. And I said, yes, that’s right. So I will not be shopping.
Um, there were a couple things like magnets might have been about 10 euros, nine euros, but I wanted to get some notebooks. They had, you know, I like the notebooks. You love a good notebook, but they had hardcover notebooks from different editions of the games.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: and they had inserts in them with like the [00:09:00] pictograms and the mascot and little things like that, but they were over $30.
Alison Brown: Oh
Jill Jaracz: yeah. And I said, that’s not worth it. Disappointing. Oh, speaking of, they also had a section on design of the games, which we
Alison Brown: love.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And they, they talked about, um, you could click on the interactive stuff and get designers talking about the different games that they designed. So Otto Iker from. Oh, uh, Munich 1972 was there.
The people from, uh, Mexico City in 1968 talked a little, your favorite love that design. Um, and throughout the games, and there were, uh, we looked at Lila Hamer 1994. ’cause they based those pictor rams and the, the design off, off of like fossils or something, something very particular to that area of the world.
So that was really fascinating to get into. I mean, I could have spent all day.
Alison Brown: Just in
Jill Jaracz: that display. Just, well, not that display, but maybe, but I really could have spent all day at the museum, but it was like, I can’t monopolize some of these things. [00:10:00]
Alison Brown: Yes, you can. You’re a professional. Yes, you can.
Professional interest,
Jill Jaracz: highly recommend. Um. Eventually got to Venice because we had, uh, I had a day, I had tra uh, travel was fun because when I was leaving to go to Loon, I got to, uh, Milano Central Train, cancel Otto.
Alison Brown: Oh no.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, went to customer service and they said you didn’t get an email. And I said, no.
I did not. And they said, here, take this one. So I took a picture of this woman’s phone. Thank goodness I did, because I referenced it throughout. So instead of taking two trains, I had to take three to Anne. And then on the way back it was. Supposed to also be three trains to Garibaldi, which is a different train station.
Yes. And then I would’ve taken the metro to Milano Centra and then gotten on the high speed train to Venice. Well, I got to, [00:11:00] I got through the first two trains and then I looked for my third train and they said, oh no, you have to take the bus. And I’m like, what bus? And they’re like, oh, it’s out the door to the right and I see signs with the arrow and they’re not quite sure where they’re pointing.
’cause there’s no, like, here is where you need to be. And I asked the woman who all the train Italia people were wearing jackets that said, no ticket, no train. So that, that was friendly.
Alison Brown: That was, yeah. That’s telling you what they think.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, I say, what’s. What’s the story here? And she said, oh yeah, you had to, she said something and I didn’t get it.
And then just like, well, the bus is coming. Like, well, when is it coming? Uh, about an hour.
Alison Brown: Oh.
Jill Jaracz: And thank goodness I had time built in to the, the, between this section and the Venice trip
Alison Brown: and
Jill Jaracz: the, the
Alison Brown: third section. The fourth section now,
Jill Jaracz: yeah. Because now, uh, [00:12:00] now I don’t know what’s the story. So eventually a bus comes, comes and.
I hear this is the one from Milano Central. Even though the signs that they put in the front of the window to tell you where they’re going, neither one of them says Milano Central. So we start on the auto strata going the right direction ’cause I am following on my map. And then we get off the auto strata and we’re local and we making stops along the way.
Letting people off. Picking people up. And then we, you’re
Alison Brown: hoping for the best.
Jill Jaracz: We get to like. Centro Cray or something, some town, and they were like, this is it. And I’m like, okay. And you ask, well, how do we get to Milano Central? Yeah, because we’re at a train station and they’re like, yeah, get down the train.
Go soon. Oh chill. I’m sitting and I’m so sorry and I’m sitting there going, alright, let’s hope. And there was a train sitting there that said Milano [00:13:00] Elli. And everybody who was from the bus was looking around like, do we get on this train even though it says we where we wanna go? I don’t know. So I finally went on turn of standing here, I’m getting on this train and I’m putting my luggage in the rack, even though I think that’s first class only.
And I was not first class. And they could have. I would’ve just left it and went, look at my hair. It’s gray. I’m, I’m, I’m putting my luggage there. I’m not dragging it upstairs to the second class cabins. Get to Milano centrally, thank goodness. And then didn’t have to wait very long for my lovely. Train to Venice, which you’re trying
Alison Brown: to tell you.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. The, the high speed rail is really nice. Yes. It’s very quick to hear. We are near the train station. We have to pay, uh, there’s an island tax basically to discourage, uh, that day. Trippers have to pay basically because people will stay off of the island because it’s [00:14:00] cheaper, and then they go infiltrate the island, which is already in down season.
Packed. Yes. It’s so touristy here. And, and I basically went, when I checked in, wait, we had to pay 50 euros each and, and she goes, yeah, the, the tax. And I went, but I’m not going, you have to pay 10, 10 euros a day. I’m like, I’m not, we’re not gonna be in Venice. For ten five days worth. And she goes, well, you have to pay the tax.
And now we’re just going to Venice. We’re
Alison Brown: just going in as much as possible just to get our 50 Euros
Jill Jaracz: worth. Yes, also fun. Was, uh, I got to go to team USA processing.
Alison Brown: Yes. So this was kind of a, a, a message we got still during the Olympics that this was happening?
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And, and did, it was kind of last, like this is happening and then got another message.
Hey, we’ve got room.
Alison Brown: Would you like to
Jill Jaracz: come? Would you like to come? To which I said Yes. And they said, here it is. [00:15:00] And I looked it up and it was. An hour and a half by a couple of buses and a bunch of walking and I said, not gonna do that. I took a taxi, uh, ’cause that was only like 15 minutes expensive. I will say it was expensive.
Both ways were expensive. But when I got there in the middle of nothing
Alison Brown: really
Jill Jaracz: in if, like, if I had taken the bus, this would’ve been a disaster. I, you would’ve had a meltdown. I think just getting from bus one to bus two or something. Doubt. It was no doubt. It was not like, oh my gosh, where are we? We’re somewhere north of our side of Venice.
Oh, is where it is. And this big hotel thing. And they had a giant chunk of the first floor reserved for processing. And what happens is, and, and. If you’re in our Facebook group, keep the Flame Alive Podcast. [00:16:00] I’m working on video ’cause I have a bunch of stuff. Everything will go there first for the Paralympics, so join the Facebook group if you wanna see the stuff.
It’ll trickle into other social media, but, but you’ll get the first look there. Uh, athletes come in, they came in little groups and so I got to see. Para Nordic come in.
Alison Brown: Oh, our friends at
Jill Jaracz: Para Nordic. Yes. Para yes. And they walk down this long hallway that has big sticker on the floor. Team USA. You’ve made it.
They get to the end. And this is new for, for, uh, Milano Cortina. They had personalized video messages, like a whole montage of everybody in that group. Had little messages from people at home who were cheering for them.
Alison Brown: Wow. That’ll get you.
Jill Jaracz: And what happens when they come in? Everyone in who’s working and volunteering, they have to line the hallway and cheer.
So they come in, everyone’s cheering for [00:17:00] them, they get these video messages. It’s really something. And then they go into. Where we get the stuff.
Alison Brown: Yeah. ’cause now they get to shop.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. God, with no bill at the, oh my God. Starbucks bar set up. They get the little Starbucks bear cups. They get three pairs of Oakley sunglasses and a little sunglasses place.
There’s a little hat stand and everybody, all the guys were flipping out over the fedoras that they could get. Um, skims had a whole room for them. Uh, there was the Ralph Lauren. Room with three different dressing rooms. Everyone was set up for who was coming in. They had everybody. This, you get this, this group goes here, this group goes here, it’s all planned out.
Um, they go to the dressing room. The dressing room is already full of their clothes on the mirror. It’s got their name.
Alison Brown: Oh, they
Jill Jaracz: really go
Alison Brown: all
Jill Jaracz: out for processing. They went, oh my gosh. So, and the tailors are there to do the tailoring for
Alison Brown: the opening and
Jill Jaracz: closing [00:18:00] ceremony
Alison Brown: outfits.
Jill Jaracz: Same deal with the Nike room.
They have another, here’s a bunch of dressing rooms. Here’s, uh, you know, it’s all personalized for you. And, um, there’s a, there was a sports medicine table and there was the, the scrubs. Sponsor. Mm-hmm. Whose name I can’t remember right now. But for medical staff who come in, they get those, uh, the ring people who is OC Tanner who made the Salt Lake City Medals.
Oh, they do the rings. So they can have their ring customized different ways. So that’s, they had to take, set up. I
Alison Brown: knew they could get like gold or silver. It’s,
Jill Jaracz: yeah, it’s like a class ring, talk about kind
Alison Brown: of thing.
Jill Jaracz: It’s
Alison Brown: pretty fun.
Jill Jaracz: And um. Uh, then there’s like a little fuzzy gondola that they can take pictures in.
There are a couple of seating areas you can just hang out and it’s a lot of fun. So I was able to talk with a bunch of people. I just see how the audio is. Um, when they did the walkthrough, this, they started this like right after [00:19:00] Paris.
Alison Brown: Wow.
Jill Jaracz: So you get home from Paris, you immediately work on this. It takes a good year.
To get stuff. They ship some stuff from Europe, they ship some stuff, slow boat. Um, Nike has to make all of the clothes without knowing who’s made the team.
Alison Brown: So you kind of have generic hope sizes as to
Jill Jaracz: not just sizes. Arms length of sleeve.
Alison Brown: Oh
Jill Jaracz: yes. That kind of sizing is what we were looking at are, uh, you know, are we, how short are we?
How tall are we? That kind of thing, right? Is what they were all working with. And it was just kind of amazing to see how much thought went into this. A bunch of athletes said they loved the garden of the God stuff.
Alison Brown: Really?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So Morgan might see some guys rocking those skirts, those, those puffy skirts.
What they like about it is that. It’s something different. It doesn’t have a flag on it.
Alison Brown: Yeah, I can, I [00:20:00] can get with that.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. They get so much stuff, but you know, like Aaron Pike was saying, Hey, they sat and they listened and, and Nike was saying, you know, we had a whole bunch of design meetings with athletes and we listened to what they wanted in terms of design.
Like, so pockets in the front, so if you’re in a wheelchair, it’s easy to get in your pockets, the magnetic zippers, all, all these kind of things that make. Close, more adaptable. And then design-wise, the, the garden of the gods is really a tribute to Colorado Springs and where they train and all of that stuff.
It was pretty special.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So really fun time. Even though it was, uh, a long camp ride.
Alison Brown: Did you get But I
Jill Jaracz: got to listen to Italian radio in the cab. It was great. Oh my gosh. I had this good, this cab driver who was listening to pop radio and I just loved that.
Alison Brown: Did you get any presents while you were there?
Jill Jaracz: I did not
Alison Brown: Disappointing.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it was, but but that wasn’t for me. That was for, that’s
Alison Brown: right. It’s for the athletes.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. [00:21:00] So,
Alison Brown: but still, I mean, at least a Starbucks
Jill Jaracz: that would’ve been lost on me.
I Good time there. Um, and then. We’ve now been in Venice for a couple of
days.
Alison Brown: We’ve been in Venice for a couple of days and we’ve done lots of Venetian things. We went to San, uh, San Marco Piazza and we went up the bell tower. Did not have to take the stairs.
Jill Jaracz: No.
Alison Brown: Got an elevator, which was a great relief to me ’cause I had just come off the plane and I wasn’t sure I was gonna, I said I will try.
And we’ve eaten a bunch of different things, which has been fun.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, yes. And Venice is just, if you haven’t been here. What a different city.
Alison Brown: You know, Milan is a real working city. You know, I felt like we were in somebody else’s city. Venice is a real tourist city and everything is geared towards the tourists, and it almost feels like the people who live here.
Are the ones who are inconvenienced.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It, it’s just, but the, [00:22:00] the feel is very different. I mean, and tourism. You did, we did see a store that said The Merchant of Venice on it, and I just went, huh, lost on me because you know how much I love Shakespeare. Actually, we passed that. Store a couple of times, and I pointed it out every time just to irritate you.
Look,
Alison Brown: it’s the Merchant
Jill Jaracz: of Venice. Who is the merchant of Venice? It’s a pharmacy. Okay. That’s what the, is that really what the Merchant of Venice is? I don’t know. Some guy named Luigi. Oh, what did he do? Sell some bad drugs. Oh, Shakespeare die.
But up in the bell tower, none
Alison Brown: of that was accurate. Let’s just
Jill Jaracz: clear that up
Alison Brown: right
Jill Jaracz: now. You know, I’ll put it on my list. Okay. I’ll put my merchant Venice right at the bottom and it will keep moving down.
Alison Brown: But yes, when we’re up in the bell tower, I looked out on one of the, the views and I said, why are they building a Milan Cortina stage?
So when we. Went back down in the elevator [00:23:00] ’cause we didn’t have to walk down. We walked over and we found out that the torch was coming today. Yes to Venice. Yes. And that this was going to be the center of the activity. So we said to ourselves, I know what we’re doing today. So we ended up going to the torch relay event, which was great because we’ve talked about a lot of these events.
But other than we’ve seen torch relays in the past, we never got to be at one of the center points where they stopped and they lit the little. Mini cauldron and had the different booths set up. So we really got to experience the whole torch relay visit that we haven’t gotten to do before. So that was pretty fun.
So the best part was Coca-Cola sponsor of the Torch. Relay had its can at Chang. The line was reasonable.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And we got there, the, the show started at five 30 kickoff and the torch [00:24:00] wasn’t coming until seven 30, so we had two hours to kill.
Alison Brown: Right. So we said to ourselves, we can get our faces etched on a Coke can and not have to wait on that insane line that we saw in, you know, the two three hour line that was in Milan.
We waited maybe 20 minutes.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It wasn’t bad. And they had people on stage. Dancing
Alison Brown: away. Yeah. I think there was, there was music to entertain us while we waited and, and dancers and a Zumba class. It felt like I, I was ready to get up there and say, I know this routine. We did this in Zumba last year. Um, so that was great.
So we got our faces on the Coke hands and they’re quick when they etched them.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I was surprised because that line is so long at the peak in Milano and. Yeah, once we got up there, every, a couple minutes each,
Alison Brown: it was nothing,
Jill Jaracz: not bad.
Alison Brown: And then we got pictures with the tor, uh, with the torch.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Because, um, of
Alison Brown: Allianz,
Jill Jaracz: Allianz had some igloos and coke also had a torch, so you could get your picture taken [00:25:00] with.
Either torch, wear gloves, please. You had to put on some special gloves, and that was fun. We got a little bag, a little drawstring, little
Alison Brown: ions bag, which proved helpful because the other thing they were doing was handing out Coke Zero, like it was going outta style. We have little candy, so they just. Walk around with the little six ounce cans.
Would you like one? Yes, thank you. Yes, we would. And into the little drawstring bag it went. So we have a handful of little six ounce Coke zero, uh, cans that will keep us going for the next few days.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And um, Allianz was also taking donations for, um, uh. Paralympics Parasport fund, I believe. Yes. And they had a little exhibit in a different Igloo Coke also.
Uh, besides having the torch, they had something else and they were giving both, everybody was giving away hats that we never could find who was giving them away.
Alison Brown: Right? So Coke and Allianz both had hat giveaways, but there were people walking around allegedly with the hats. [00:26:00] But you kind of had to find them.
Jill Jaracz: Right?
Alison Brown: Which we never did.
Jill Jaracz: No, but who we did find was the person with the foam LightUp. Sticks.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Like batons. And we grabbed two of those. We did. Did Because they proved to be a lot of fun.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: With the, the, the singers and dancers. So you got interactive dance.
Alison Brown: I, I didn’t know we were going to the. Torch Relay
Jill Jaracz: Rave.
I know it was, it did feel like a rave. So there were a lot of songs they were singing for Lare. There were some other Italian stuff we were singing and I recognized a little bit and like, this is what I am here for these Italian songs. Um, and then when the DJ set was done with the dancers and the dancers were two men, two women wearing very shiny, puffy coats.
Alison Brown: They looked like aluminum cans.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, that was fantastic. And they get off. And then this. Show choir of sorts.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Piles [00:27:00] onto the stage and there’s maybe 25, 30 on this little stage, and then there’s a whole nother group of them that don’t fit on the stage.
Alison Brown: Probably the altos. Because Altos always get shoved aside.
Jill Jaracz: So they come on and start saying, they sang sweet Dreams. They sang a lot of them English songs.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So they did Sweet Dreams. They did a whole very long Beatles medley.
Jill Jaracz: Yes,
Alison Brown: they did. A queen medley.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Twist and shout.
Alison Brown: Twist and shout.
Jill Jaracz: Um. That was something that was really, it was interesting. It was a different mood, I will say that.
Alison Brown: But we did use our light up sticks to cheer for them.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So, and then it was time for the flame to come in and, and it came in the back of the piazza. So we walk back there very quickly and then. Everybody is going back there and trying to get the flame and they’re kind of mobbing it. And so the police and the torch [00:28:00] relay guards are trying to make a lane.
And somehow I get kind of caught up behind a guard somewhere and I just kind of keep moving in line with them.
Alison Brown: You just stayed with him and said he knows where he is going, so I’ll, and we got very close to the torch.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: It was not because the crowd was nice, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The Piazza wasn’t full.
Jill Jaracz: No, no. But there were a few hundred people there, I would say. Agreed. Um, and. Yeah, they, the, it came through the piazza around the side of the stage. Uh, we saw the guy who had the backup torches,
Alison Brown: yes. His little light lanterns
Jill Jaracz: and, uh, onto the stage and then lit the cauldron. More flame than the actual cauldron.
I was thinking the
Alison Brown: same thing that that’s a lot of flame, but it’s a temporary flame.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: So it won’t burn for the full two weeks.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So it, that’s up. They say some nice things and then the show was over.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So it was a lot of fun. [00:29:00]
Alison Brown: It was. I would definitely, when the LA 28. Uh, torch Relay comes around.
It’s worth a trip to where if it’s, if it ends up close by you
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And then, and if you’re close to the end station for the night and they do these little parties. Yeah, go and make sure you’re there early way before the flame shows up so you can enjoy the stuff that they have around. So, nice job.
Milano Cortina, torch relay team. It was a lot of fun. Alright, we have, we have some results today.
Alison Brown: I know. So, wheelchair curling, the mix doubles competition. So this is new for this Paralympics that has kicked off. Surprisingly, it feels. Like, oh yes, we’re, we’re here for the Paralympics.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, but the, but what happened is we got back to our hotel and, uh, they weren’t on anymore.
And I don’t know if it’s because the gate, they, they might have been over.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: Quite, that is very real [00:30:00] possibility. But we also don’t have our access to. HBO Max yet, so we couldn’t replay, we don’t have all the feeds and, uh, we don’t know. Re I mean, we’re giving you results that we have a little bit more information,
Alison Brown: right?
We have not been able to see
Jill Jaracz: right
Alison Brown: things yet, and we don’t know what we’re gonna be able to see.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, this is gonna be a lot of fun. Buckle up listeners. We’re gonna have fun. This be, be a
Alison Brown: surprise.
Jill Jaracz: Fun with transportation because I did not realize that para bi, I thought things were closer together with the exception of Para Alpine High.
No. Para of hockey. No. ’cause Alpine is over. It’s near Cortina. It’s been telephonic, but I did not realize that Biathlon and uh, cross country skiing were in Tesero. PR Val, which is more in the center of the country, uh, central of the north. And that’s gonna be a hike to [00:31:00] get to. Yes. So it’s gonna be me.
Having fun with the transport app for hours while we figure out what’s going on.
Alison Brown: Yes,
Jill Jaracz: but, but that’s not
Alison Brown: today.
Jill Jaracz: That’s not today. But we do have results. And in our first round of mixed doubles, mixed doubles play eight ends of curling. We had Italy versus Korea. Italy, uh, one, seven to five. Now Korea is the world number one.
They found themselves behind four, nothing at the end of the third end. And they tied it up in the fourth, but then Italy got points in the next three ends, and in the eighth, Korea could only get one point. And so they lost. Um, orient Alberto from Italy said they weren’t thinking about the other team and the fact that they were the number one, they were just playing their stones.
So that got them through. And then Paolo ti from Italy is. H 54.
Alison Brown: Nice.
Jill Jaracz: He has waited 18 years to become a Paralympian. Well now. And he finally did it.
Alison Brown: Now he’s done it. He can put the letters after his name. [00:32:00]
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. Uh, China and Japan faced off China or Japan is the reigning world champion. Uh, they got a two oh lead after the second end, but then China got four points, basically controlled the game from there and won ten three in seven ends.
Uh, China thought maybe they adapted to the venue better than the Japanese did. Uh, but they also said, yeah, we prepared a lot because the last time we were in a tournament. With them. Uh, first round, uh, we lost, so we weren’t, we did not wanna do that again. So they really prepared for this one. Estonia Beat Great Britain, ten seven.
This one went back and forth, but Estonia scored five points across the seventh and eighth ends to nail it. And then USA, our Steve E. Nice
Alison Brown: start to the tournament.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. With his teammate Laura Dwyer, who is now a team shook Stan by default.
Alison Brown: Oh yes. Dwyer is on, is part of us now.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, they won [00:33:00] against Lavia 11 to six.
They were up three. Oh. At the end of two. Latvia got four points in the third. US responded with three points in the fourth to go up six, four, and then Latvia got some points in the next two ends, but then America got one in the seventh and four in the eighth. Clinch the victory. So that is that. You know what we didn’t talk about today, which I’ve remembered before, we are closing the show, so we might not have a, what did we forget?
Segment. We did not talk about this. I put it up on the Facebook group as a question because. The US and Israel have bombed Iran.
Alison Brown: Yes. And broken the truce.
Jill Jaracz: Broken the truce.
Alison Brown: It’s so funny you mention that because when I flew home and I was driving home with my husband and he was asking me, kind of filling me in on world events because as you know, when we’re, when we’re here, we’re a little, out of the loop, and I said, oh.
I hope somebody [00:34:00] tells the US government about the Olympic truce and clearly nobody did. And this is the reason Russia was banned because they broke the truce and now the US has broken the truce and we are the next hosts.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, for the summer games. And then we’re also hosting Winter 2034. So what do you do?
And. I think some people in the Facebook group said, well, there is a slight difference in that Russia invaded Ukraine to occupy and take the land back. But I mean, what, you know, how do you differentiate bombing from bombing,
Alison Brown: right? I mean, breaking the truce is breaking the truth.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. I, I just, I, it makes me kind of sick.
Alison Brown: You know, nobody has brought this up. I have not heard any discussion about it. I guess it was very, it was [00:35:00] obviously very different when Russia invaded Ukraine in the sense of Ukraine, had a lot to say.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And, and are very active in the Paralympic, uh, movement and the Olympic movement, whereas Iran
Jill Jaracz: so Iran has one athlete competing here, and I believe Israel is also. Low on number of athletes here. So is there an element of how much does this affect the games? It’s also affected people traveling, I believe, from Australia because they would’ve stopped in Dubai along the way. Can’t do that.
So I, I mean,
you feel like there’s an element of privilege. Happening here because, how would you say us
Alison Brown: You can’t be here anymore. Right? And the reason that Russia specifically was asked to [00:36:00] leave Beijing was because of the tension in the village. And they were very concerned about the safety, both of the Russians and of, of the Ukrainian athletes that that would blow up with, with the very small numbers that we’re talking about here.
That’s not an issue. Right,
Jill Jaracz: right.
Alison Brown: So that point, but what do we do ramifications wise and consequences wise? Can you ban the US for breaking the truce?
Jill Jaracz: Well, we haven’t been able to get up to Cortina yet.
To the media center and to see what the IPC says. But the other element of this is that the International Paralympic Committee requires membership to take action. Right? Remember? And they had to have all those special meetings, and they had originally said, no, they, you know, our constitution says that we have to let Russia here.
And then it was just the escalation by the athletes and the officials that. Push [00:37:00] them over the edge, and I don’t think we’re gonna get that same kind of escalation.
Alison Brown: Right. So somebody has to say, we want the United States to be banned. It can’t just, it doesn’t just come from nowhere. It’s kind of like a, a Supreme Court case.
Somebody has to file a case. Somebody has to, to, to make that point. Yeah. And, and who’s gonna do that?
Jill Jaracz: Well, and the, and the membership of the IPC would have to vote on this. Right. And they’ve already, and. That takes a lot of time. So I don’t know. We’ll have to ask around when we get up there and see what happens.
Alison Brown: Yeah. See what the, the zeitgeist is, is saying about this and, and if it’s really there. If people are just sort of, let’s focus on the games. We’ll deal with this after.
Jill Jaracz: But it’s been a interesting conversation on the Facebook group, so I appreciate everybody who’s chimed in. ’cause I, I. When I posted it, I just don’t know what to think.
Alison Brown: Right. Fair.
Jill Jaracz: So conflicted. So conflicted about that. Anyhow. I remember to tell you that today,
Alison Brown: so we won’t have forgotten anything [00:38:00] tomorrow.
Jill Jaracz: I get dessert.
Alison Brown: That sounds lovely
Jill Jaracz: actually.
Alison Brown: Alright.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So, uh, who’s, who’s competing tomorrow?
Alison Brown: The one event that’s happening, our one event that’s going on. Yes. So Steve Ton Laura Dwyer will face both Japan and Estonia in doubles wheelchair curling tomorrow.
And that’s gonna do
Jill Jaracz: it for this episode. Be sure to tune in tomorrow ’cause we’re going up to the mountains.
Alison Brown: Oh, goodness gracious. Don’t leave me there alone. We know what happened the last time I went to the mountains by
Jill Jaracz: myself. You gotta hope that somebody’s there. I’ll be sure to tune in tomorrow to see if we make it back.
And then, until then
Alison Brown: and until next time, chow. And keep the flame alive.