We are getting in boats today and going on the water! At the Team USA Media Summit, we talked with Olympic kayaker Evy Leibfarth, canoeist Nevin Harrison and rower Michelle Sachser. All three competed at Tokyo 2020 and have qualified for Paris 2024.
Evy competes in canoe slalom (whitewater) and this year will compete in canoe single, kayak single, and kayak cross, which is a new event for Paris 2024. Nevin will be defending her gold medal in the 200m women’s canoe sprint. Michelle will compete with Molly Reckford in lightweight double sculls rowing. This will be the last Olympics for lightweight rowing events, and it’ll mark the end of Michelle’s elite rowing career as well.
In Paris 2024 news:
- Paris has folded and has ordered some air conditioners.
- The largest military base in Paris since WWII is up and running.
- There may be an airport worker strike on July 17.
- Animal rights groups are upset about OnLocation’s use of foie gras in VIP meals.
- A major performer’s been snubbed and won’t be at the Opening or Closing Ceremonies.
- New Zealand has an official Olympic Games Glossary in Maori.
- Various National Olympic Committees are releasing facts about their teams–and we learn that no one can agree on how many sports there are on the Olympic Program.
In Milan-Cortina 2026 news, the ticketing portal is open for registration. Nothing will happen for a few months, but we break down the process anyway.
We also have news from TKFLASTANIs Samantha Bosco and Katie Moon!
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
Photos: Alison Brown
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 Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
354-Paddling at the Olympics with Team USA
Theme Music
Jill: Hello and welcome to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics.
If you love the games, we have the show for you. Each week we share stories from athletes and people behind the scenes to help you have more fun watching the games. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Alison: Hello, I’ve been test venting shoes now.
I have a hat. Do not yet have good shoes. Working on it. If anyone has good suggestions for not ugly but comfortable shoes for a big fat Fred Flintstone foot, please let me know.
Jill: And we’ve got to get those soon. We only have a week as we record on Wednesday the 10th. It is one week before we depart this country to head to France.
we have a lot of work to do. We. All right. Well, let’s get to this week’s interviews. This week we are talking with paddlers whom we met at the Team USA Media Summit. First off, we have Evy Leibfarth who is heading to her second Olympics and will be competing in three events in Paris, the canoe single, the kayak single, and the kayak cross, which I am.
Very excited about. . Canoeist Nevin Harrison won gold in Tokyo at only 19 years old in the 200 meter women’s canoe sprint. She is also the first American to win a world championships in canoe sprint.
And finally, Michelle Sechser. Rose in lightweight, double skulls. Lightweight rowing is being eliminated from the Olympic program after Paris. So this is Michelle’s last go at this class. Michelle competed with Molly Ruckford in Tokyo and the pair are back for Paris. Take a listen to our interviews.
Evy Leibfarth Interview
Jill: I’m so excited about Extreme.
Evy Leibfarth: Oh my gosh. It’s going to be amazing. Um, I think that I never really pictured myself doing like a contact sport, but here we are, and it’s so much fun. So I’m so excited to show it to the world.
Alison: Okay, first we’re going to have you say your name into the tape.
Evy Leibfarth: Okay. Uh, I think we both.
Jill: How far is that drop?
Evy Leibfarth: okay, so I am actually, like, super scared of heights. So every time I’m, like, sitting up top, I’m, like, looking down, and I’m like, Oh my god, I’m gonna drop in. Even though I’ve done it, like, hundreds of times at this point.
So I don’t know how tall it is exactly, but enough to scare me. Okay.
Jill: how do you drop and drop? Do you want to drop flat? Do you want to drop a little angled? Or, I mean, are you just at the mercy of the just fallen?
Evy Leibfarth: No, so there’s a lot of technique to it. You want to land at just a little bit of an angle.
Alison: Which way?
Evy Leibfarth: Uh, like pointed down just a little bit. So
Alison: nose down?
Evy Leibfarth: Yeah, but just the tiniest bit. You don’t want to land flat or else it just like hurts. Um, but you want to land flat enough that, you know, you skip out of it and there is like, you’ve gained so much time at the start, you know, you want to land and you already want to have your paddle in the water ready to take a stroke.
So. You gotta like react so quickly.
Alison: Does it matter which stroke is first, left or right?
Evy Leibfarth: It does not. I’d say most girls start with their paddle on the right side. I think just so that we’re not all, you know, hitting each other when we’re trying to balance it out. But it can be either.
Jill: But hitting each other is the name of the game, so.
You know, don’t you just want to like jab them? Oh my gosh. A little bit, or no?
Evy Leibfarth: No, not with your paddle, not with your paddle. So you’re not allowed to hit people with your paddle. Um, a lot of people are asking me that, and I think it’s so funny. I think that would be like my worst nightmare. Like my competitor just like swinging a paddle at my face.
Well then, yeah, you have a point. But yeah, so it’s really just you’re hitting each other with your boat. So it’s boat to boat contact, not boat to body, boat to head. Nothing like that. So it’s supposed to be like relatively safe, you know.
Alison: But does that happen, incidental contact?
Evy Leibfarth: Oh, I mean, accidentally, yeah, 100%.
It’s really hard, you know, when there’s four girls all like, tightly clumped together, someone’s gonna get a problem to the face or something, but it’s never on purpose. Oh, oh, it’s like tight. Like, we are all right next to each other because at the Olympic level, you know, all of these girls, we’re all pretty much the same speed in the boat.
At that point, it comes down to who has the best strategy and technique. So, you know, for that initial sprint, we’re all going to be really, really close together. You know, paddlers over other people’s boats, and it’s a cluster.
Alison: So is the strategy based on the course, or who the other three girls are, or how you’re feeling today?
How do you come up with the strategy?
Evy Leibfarth: Oh, so it’s a mixture of all kinds of things. The biggest thing is kind of like the So, if you’re in second place and the first girl goes into the left up, then you’re going to go into the right up. Or, you know, follow the girl in front of you, try to knock her out of the way.
And it does depend on who the other athletes are. You know, we have some coaches who really study what the other girls are like, how they handle the pressure, all of that. So, it’s really like a very well rounded approach to it.
How is it trying to navigate the gates while you’re, virtually elbowing other
Evy Leibfarth: throwers, paddlers.
It’s really tricky. Um, so you come into the gate, and if you’re first, you’re trying to defend. So you’re trying to not let anyone touch you, you’re trying to just get up and get out of there as fast as you can. If you’re coming in second, you’re trying to knock that person that’s in the gate away from you.
So not only are you trying to, you know, paddle up the current to get around the gate, you’re also trying to, to, you know, react to other girls hitting you, or, you know, try to avoid them. Um, and It’s a lot to think about.
Jill: How
Evy Leibfarth: much of an
Jill: advantage do you get being the first one out and then shoved out towards the next one?
Or is it gate by gate because the current’s going to be different? Maybe somebody gets out a little bit better than technique wise or something.
Evy Leibfarth: Yeah, so you have a huge advantage if you’re like first off of the ramp. Um, you know, if you have a good start, it makes it way easier because it’s easier to defend than it is to pass.
But anything can change through the entire course. You know, there’s a couple different upgades where that passing can happen. And even in the downstream, someone can be pushed outside of the gate range or there’s just all sorts of things going on. So the race is not over until it’s over. Like it could be like the last second of the race and something crazy could happen.
Alison: Is there an advantage or disadvantage for gate positioning? You know, sort of as you’re dropping in, if you’re inside, outside, next to certain people. For
Evy Leibfarth: sure. So you, um, there’s a time trial to determine who gets first choice on the ramp. Um, and you know, first choice on the ramp is generally going to be on the outside, dropping into the fastest current.
so usually there’s a good spot and there’s a bad spot, and then the ones in between are fine.
Alison: And does that change venue to venue?
Evy Leibfarth: Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. So each venue is completely different. The ramp is in a completely different spot and a completely different part of water. And like you were saying, it totally depends on where that first gate is, you know, if that first gate is going to be down on the right, you’re going to want to be on the right side of the ramp.
Alison: We’ve heard about the wind in Paris. Is that affecting extreme as well?
Evy Leibfarth: No, actually not so much. Um, I’d say mentally, yes. You know, you’re sitting on the ramp and there’s this huge wind storm going on outside. And it’s a little intimidating, but the gates don’t move around because they’re actually weighted.
They’re filled with water. Um, so they don’t move so much cause you’re allowed to hit them in kayak cross.
Alison: Given how close you are, is there trash talking in extreme kayak?
Evy Leibfarth: There is not actually. so I, yeah. I think that one of, like, the hardest parts about Xtreme is that we’re doing it with our friends.
You know, everyone on that ramp with us, they’re some of our best friends. And, you know, you’re, like, looking at them, and, you know, maybe you’re, like, making a joke of, like, a But, really, like, you know, we all want each other to do well, so we kind of turn our brains off, we try to just get out ahead, and then as soon as we’re past that finish line, we’re friends again.
And I think that’s, like, one of the best parts, but also one of the hardest parts. You never want to To be the reason that your friend gets knocked out of an Olympic heat, you know?
Alison: Now I was talking before about that panic moment of having to go under.
Evy Leibfarth: Mm hmm.
Alison: How do you train that natural body reaction out of yourself?
Evy Leibfarth: Um, just years and years of practice.
Alison: Yeah.
Evy Leibfarth: I, you know, I’ve been kayaking since I was like three years old. And I’ve been learning to roll since I was like, four. So, it’s just kind of, it’s very ingrained in me and it’s ingrained in all of us. So it’s not really something stressful, but it is exciting because a lot can happen when you’re upside down, even if it’s just for a second.
So, I think that’s a great way for spectators to, you know, kind of add some excitement into it. As if there’s already not enough.
Jill: How banged up does your bow get?
Evy Leibfarth: not super banged up because the boats that we use for kayak cross are plastic. Um, so they are like very durable. They’re actually, they have to be manufactured.
like anyone can buy them. They’re not made to order like the normal boats are. Um, so everyone is pretty much paddling one or two of like the same boats.
Alison: Is it at all customized for you, say in the seat or in the skirt or any pieces? Yeah,
Evy Leibfarth: so like the inside of it’s customized. We like, some people prefer a carbon seat.
Some people prefer a plastic seat, but the actual outside of the boat is almost exactly the same for everyone. Alison, I
Jill: see
Evy Leibfarth: a sport
Jill: maybe we could
Evy Leibfarth: do.
Alison: I’m not going under. I’m not going under. How often do you have to replace the boat?
Evy Leibfarth: You can have one for probably like five years. I replace mine every year because I do have a boat sponsor.
Um, you know, I get to choose my colors. I make them nice and pink and yellow and blue. And, but yeah, it’s a lot easier. It’s
Alison: a lot easier when someone else is paying the bill.
Evy Leibfarth: And it’s a
Alison: lot of awesome when someone else is paying the bill. I’m not arguing with that. What are you wearing?
Evy Leibfarth: Okay, so, I am wearing, it’s called a paddling jacket, which keeps all of the water out of my boat.
A spray skirt, which actually does way more than a spray jacket. and that actually like goes around the cockpit of the boat. Um, so that if you flip upside down, you don’t get anything in your boat. And then I have a PSD on, um, like a life jacket, and then a helmet. And the helmets have to be a little different than the traditional kayaking helmets, because they like, withstand a lot more impact.
They’re a lot more intense than the normal helmets are. Are you wearing
Jill: anything on your feet?
Evy Leibfarth: Uh, no, I’m a barefoot paddler. Uh, a lot of people do wear like little socks or shoes, but I like it to be barefoot. I need to be like, in shorts and barefoot. I don’t know why.
Alison: No, that’s perfect. I’m a barefoot person.
Jill: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I know, it’s like we could do I’m excitement now. I just have excitement. Um, jeez Louise, what else
Alison: do we got? Okay,
Evy Leibfarth: um, probably one of the people you should pay attention to is Kimberly Woods. She is the current world champion. She is a paddler from GB. And she’s Awesome. and then also Jessica Fox, who’s already won medals in kayak and canoe.
So she’s looking to add a third to her, her list of medals and she’s really incredible at it. Great paddler to watch, fully recommend.
Alison: And we have spoken to Luca Jones before and like Luca and Jessica, multiple disciplines within kayak. Why is kayak, I don’t want to say it’s easy to do the multiple disciplines, but is it just, you’re kind of, we’re all in the boat, so let’s just do whatever they tell us to do, because it feels very different.
Evy Leibfarth: Oh, it is very different. I’d say that kayaking canoes a lot more similar than kayak and kayak cross. Uh, but you know, the only similarities are that you’re going down rapids and you have that, that base skill of knowing how to paddle and knowing how to roll and knowing how to read the water. I’d say that’s a big one.
So it does kind of transfer a little bit between, but most of us, you know, we’re. because we like the excitement and the adrenaline. So why not add another thing to our list? And you know, keep it interesting.
Alison: Are you an adrenaline junkie in other parts of your life as well?
Or are you super conservative in other
Evy Leibfarth: No, I’d say I’m definitely an adrenaline person. I, you know, I always like to keep things exciting in, you know, all parts of my life. But, you know, outside of my competitive hiking career, I also do creaking and I do like bigger water stuff. Um, so like waterfalls and that kind of stuff.
So, you know, so even in the off season I’m always having that adrenaline whether it’s running rapids or racing. Excellent. Yeah.
Alison: We’re good. Yeah, I know you’re going to take her away from us. Thank you. That’s our card. We will
Nevin Harrison Interview
Nevin Harrison: I’m Nevin Harrison
Jill: Question but but if if your commute panel goes into the water too far, that’s gonna slow you down, right? So where’s the sweet spot? Like on the
Nevin Harrison: oar? Um, you want to fully submerge the blade, but not too far up the shaft. It’s really just repetition. Practice really does make perfect in that sense. I get my rate up to the mid 90s, so I’m taking over 90 strokes a minute in a race.
Not the whole time, but for the, the faster part of the race, that’s what I’m doing. Um, and like I said, it’s just repetition. It’s time on the water. It’s knowing that stroke as well as you know, like a stride. It’s, it’s really just repetition. mastering that one movement. So what is the best part of this?
Jill: Break the, okay, so this, to me, sounds like, uh, 200 meters is broken down into different segments or different races. Absolutely, yeah.
Nevin Harrison: Break it down. So, uh, every athlete has a different race plan. What’s worked for me, the first 50 is the fastest. So I want to get up to my top speed by the 50 meter mark. and once I hit that top speed, which is usually about 17 and a half kilometers an hour.
We go in kilometers, which is odd because no one in America has any idea what I’m talking about. Um, but once I get up to that speed, I try to hold it. to save my energy for the second half of the race at the hundred meter mark. That’s when I just go, I give it everything. Um, so really it’s kind of like up plateau up again.
Alison: Talk about your balance and your body. Cause you’re very much dependent on different moves on each side. So how are you training to Reconfigure yourself.
Nevin Harrison: Yeah, I mean, it really is a full body thing and focused primarily. I would say legs and core. My upper body is very strong as well. but the core is crucial to be able to keep yourself stabilized.
And then the legs are where the power comes from.
Alison: And what’s different now? Because you were very young, obviously, four years ago, your body has changed a lot. How has that been going through that process while still competing? Okay.
Nevin Harrison: Um, I think, I feel like I’m aging quickly, that’s kind of how I feel. Um, but injury definitely is more frequent and easier to get.
Um, so that’s really just about making sure I’m on top of my recovery, on top of my treatment, everything. Um, because it is really challenging to train through injury and, and face it. Those kind of, things that are going to prevent you from doing what you know you can.
Jill: What’s a common injury? Here it is.
Nevin Harrison: so I’ve re injured my hamstring three or four times in the same place. My left shoulder, again, rotator cuff, keep re injuring that. And then last year I had a really bad back injury. So, it’s, it’s everywhere. Um, and the spots that have been injured before are just more prone to getting hurt again.
Is it the
Jill: one hamstring over the other? Yeah, it’s
Nevin Harrison: the front hamstring, yeah.
Jill: How do you maintain that flexibility in your legs?
Nevin Harrison: Um, I mean, the movement itself is, It’s going to be a stretch that’s going to keep your flexibility there, but I mean stretching. Just kind of run of the mill, making sure you still have really good mobility.
Alison: Great. Cool. so much.
Jill: so much.
Michelle Sechser Interview
Jill: For the tape, could you state your name, please?
Michelle Sachser: Hi, I’m Michelle Sechser from the USA Lightweight Women’s Double for rowing. Okay, last, last game for lightweight. How are you feeling about this?
Yeah, it is. It’s a little sad and heartbreaking knowing that it’s the last time the lightweight double will ever be in the Olympic program.
it also is really exciting to me knowing that this is the last time. The last dance. And I think there’s something special about that that if I can make that Olympic final that there will be six countries sitting on that starting line. And this is it. Like no holds barred, nothing to hold back. The last time that that boat class will ever come down the racetrack for me means you’re going to be able to find a little something special up your sleeve.
Just dig a little deeper knowing you’re part of something historic.
Alison: Will you continue rowing?
Michelle Sachser: No, Paris will be the, the end of. It’s almost hard to say, um, Paris will be the last race of my rowing career. And in some ways it makes me a little bit sad, but But knowing that this is my last season racing really, actually, I find myself savoring the moments a little bit more. And in the earlier years in my rowing career, I was so focused on the racing and it’s like no fun shall be had because we must lay in the hotel room and rest our legs and recover.
And now, you know, it’s my last year and I found myself really just savoring, um, the special moments along the way that they are part of the racing. And I think the more you love your sport and appreciate your sport, the better racer you are. But it also just. It really deepens my love for this sport. So even after world championships last year, I did a lot of fall season racing, which we typically avoid in the fall because we’re really focused on training and building a really, well structured endurance base.
But, um, I took the opportunity to race some fun races. The head of the Charles, uh, there’s one up in New York called the tuxedo lake regatta. I erased the fall speed order. There’s a fun one down on the Cooper in New Jersey called the gold cup, which was a 750 meter sprint. distance, which is not my wheelhouse.
Um, but taking the opportunity to really just race my heart out and enjoy the sport, knowing it won’t be here much longer for me.
Alison: So have you been to the venue in Paris?
Michelle Sachser: I have not yet been to the venue in Paris. They did our junior world championships for rowing were there last year. And, um, seeing how that played out, the venue is.
It’s notorious for some tricky waves, a very challenging crosswind. So as rowers, you know, that can be, that can be a big challenge for us. And we’ve been training down on Mercer in Princeton, New Jersey, which also has challenging waves and a very tricky crosswind. Um, so it’s really changed my mindset a lot that when the weather’s bad and the wind is really blowing that this is something I need to be really good at if I’m going to perform well in Paris.
So it has been helpful to not have seen it, but really know it. I’ve reached out to people that have raced there before to help kind of study the wind patterns. And when we talk about marginal gains and rowings, I think being able to handle the tough conditions really makes certain breaks. Who’s going to get on the podium or not?
Alison: So we talked to Kristi Wagner who also talked about the wind in rowing. Lightweight I assume the wind is even more of an issue for you. Talk a little bit about the difference.
Michelle Sachser: Yes. So the, the, I’d say lightweights are definitely impacted by the wind a little bit more just we’re smaller, you know, we’re weighing in at 57 kilograms.
So getting knocked around in a white capping headwind can definitely impact you. , as a lightweight, I think a lot of it also comes down to kind of skill and agility. So lightweights typically, not that I want to overstate it, but might have a little bit better technical efficiency going on there. And that can help us maybe manage the way it’s a little bit better, but it certainly places an emphasis on, you don’t have to just make weight, but you need to be a very strong, like strong through the core, very sturdy frame, rower in order to be able to handle the weight.
Alison: But you have to also be a pocket princess.
Michelle Sachser: Yes, but also be a pocket princess, be quick and light. And, um, yeah, a lot of technique actually goes into being able to grow the waves and the wind well. Yeah, it’s a tricky combination to manage.
Jill: How do you do that with a partner? Like, what do you talk about and how do you get that rhythm when you’ve got wind that may even be affecting you differently?
Michelle Sachser: Yes, yeah, and I definitely would say that having a, the double is a challenging boat as it is. So, I row with Molly Reckford and you know, so much of our speed comes from the synchronization that I can’t just row however I want to row and she can’t just go off the rails and start rowing however she wants to row that we have to be so in sync with our movements and that means she’s going to compromise her natural stroke a little bit and I’m going to compromise my natural stroke a little bit to meet in the middle.
So when we talk about it in the context of wind and waves, it really means that we’ve had to develop a common sense. clear understanding, like a clear picture of if we’re rowing in a headwind, which slows us down, what sort of technical adjustments or biomechanical changes with our bodies we’re going to make in a headwind.
And similarly, if we’re in a tailwind, what sort of technical changes we’re going to make in a tailwind. And it really is making sure we’re on the same page. Um, so we’ll come up for an example. Sometimes the wind can just be a gust. So the water’s typically flat and you’ll see it’s a huge gust of wind comes blowing across the lake.
You’ll see almost the color of the water change where the gusts come through. And Molly and I will say things like the second we feel the gust blow on our backs, we’re gonna kind of drop our weight heavy on the seat so that we’re really Starting the rowing stroke by driving our strong hips instead of opening the shoulders or any of the smaller muscle groups.
And so now, if Molly and I are rowing, without even saying anything, if I feel the wind gust blow on my back, I’ll really, again, drop that weight down to my seat, drive my hips a little bit harder, and I’ll see Molly in front of me making the same change. So, we talk about it on land, we practice it day after day, so that we don’t have to say it in the boat.
But if we feel the tailwind pick up, we both know the cues we’re gonna change, we’re gonna improve our posture, sit up a little taller at the front end of the stroke. and so it’s kind of fun having this secret language. We might assign a word or a cue for each little technical adjustment and knowing that, yeah, when we feel the wind change that her and I are on this mind meld of, um, how we’re going to adjust our stroke for it.
Alison: They’re yelling at us, so we
Jill: thank you,
Alison: thank you. Thank you.
Jill: Thank you so much, Evy, Nevin, and Michelle. You can find them on social media. We will have links to their Instagram accounts in the show notes.
Giveaway!
Alison: But before we go to Paris, I’ll be sending out a package and that package has lots of fun, Olympic and Paralympic and Team USA swag and gear and tchotchkes and all kinds of fun things.
And if you want your hands on that, you just need to sign up for our giveaway. It’s called the Countdown to Summer Olympics 2024. You will sign up for our newsletter and you can also get additional entries for liking and following us on social medias. We will have a link to that in the show notes. It’s been fun seeing all the entries.
And if you are already signed up for our newsletter, by the way, you are automatically entered, but you can still enter and get those additional entries. Entries for the social media links.
Jill: Yes. And if you are looking for your newsletter after signing up, we are, the newsletter is on hold this week as we prep for daily issues coming out to you sooner than we can realize, to be quite honest.
Alison: So yes, there’ll be a one week skip and then the week that we leave, , next week, you’ll see it again. back and better than ever. That’s right. Okay.
Paris 2024 News
Jill: Air Abort. I hope the L’Aéroport will not be fermé. Oh boy.
Four unions for Paris airport workers have called for a strike on July 17th to demand that all staff receive an Olympics bonus because apparently only some personnel are getting a bonus now, reports Le Monde. Thousands of athletes and two podcasters are expected to arrive starting July 18th when the athlete’s village opens.
Note to self, next time we don’t pick the day to arrive when the athlete’s village opens. Uh, Charles de Gaulle also has a new temporary oversized baggage terminal for big gear like kayaks, bikes, and pole vault poles if you are like us and wonder where those things are going in transit.
Alison: And they may be going nowhere because the workers may be on strike.
Jill: Let’s hope that all works out by the time we arrive. Let’s just say that. Also, something that will be cool. Literally, but maybe not cool as in, it’s not following Paris’s sustainability plan is the fact that organizers have ordered 2, 500 air conditioning units for the athletes village. According to a F P, uh, this seems to be, uh, the number of units requested and ordered.
And I still couldn’t understand from the story whether or not that includes the nine countries who said that we’re bringing air conditioners with us, but it does sound like there are going to be more air conditioners in the village than originally planned. So we’ll see how that works out. And, and, and I’m very curious to hear, uh, I’d love to meet some athletes who don’t have air conditioners and see how they’re, how that geothermal cooling system is working.
Alison: And what’s so frustrating is what, number one, what were the organizers thinking, honestly? And if they had put in air conditioning, they could have done a much more energy efficient sustainable process if you had built it into the building instead of basically sticking all these units in. post construction.
Jill: So I’m curious also as to how the final building, once, once it goes on the market to, actual, long term residents, what that will be like in terms of the heating and cooling system. I don’t know. Why do Europeans hate air conditioners? I don’t know. I don’t know. Because, well, I’m, imagine that, uh, Now, I would say back in the day, but they’ve traditionally had a lot cooler weather than we have, or we’ve had more humidity.
I don’t know. It’s just, they’ve never seen the need for it. It’s just like ice.
Alison: I wish I could bring my own ice. Un verre de glace. I mean, they’re going to just laugh at me.
Jill: Also in Paris is the biggest military base since World War ii, to accommodate the thousands of troops that have arrived in the French Capitol to help with security.
And, uh, we’ll post a link to a video from France 20 four.com. It was pretty interesting to see that they’re just all coming in. They have barracks, they have, uh, an eating tent, they have showers, and they are ready to protect and, hopefully. There will not be anything to protect against.
Alison: That they will have nothing to do.
That is the goal.
Jill: Yes. Yes. Paris has made a big deal about having a lot more plant based food. But you know what’s going to be on the menu for the VIPs? is foie gras is on location. VIPs packages will include dishes that have foie gras as an ingredient. They won’t necessarily be serving whole slabs of foie gras.
This is upset animal welfare organizations. So British based animal equity with the support of other non government organizations has started a petition to have foie gras removed from the catering menu. On location’s response is that it’s an ingredient that will be in total less than 1. 1 percent of the dishes served, but the preliminary numbers suggest that they are serving about 500, 000 meals.
So that’s still potentially a lot of foie gras. This story that was in Le Monde and also includes a quite graphic description of how Foie Gras is created. So thank you Le Monde for that. If you are trying to guess the performers for the opening and closing ceremonies, hope David Guetta is not on your list because he’s not gonna be there.
Alison: Yeah, I was really surprised that he Came out and said anything. I guess his feelings were really hurt. I
Jill: think so. Uh, LeMond, along with AFP are reporting that the DJ has not been provided to perform. He is very shocked at the snub because he is very popular and he’s one of the top artists in the world on some of the streaming platforms.
but the ceremonies director, Thomas Jolly said, quote, I will quote this one. Because it’s fabulous quote what he does as art does not relate to what we want to do end quote.
Alison: Good luck Thomas Jolly
Jill: So as always the performers for the ceremonies are a very closely guarded secret Jolie has said it would be wide ranging. We could see opera. We could see rap We could be see French touch, which I did not know this French touch Genre is French house music. Oh, I’m there for that.
And, there could be choirs. There’s just not going to be ghetto. Could there be a children’s
Alison: choir? I think we should take the over under on the children’s choir singing Imagine in French.
Jill: Oh, please no.
Alison: On a boat.
Jill: We have a bunch of fun facts from countries who have been finalizing their teams and they’re sending out big announcements about them. So we wanted to share some of the ones with you. so you know who to look for, especially if they’re not from your country, start with team USA is going to have a delegate that’s 592 athletes.
53 percent of those will be female, 250 returning Olympians. Three of them will be at their fifth games. the youngest athlete is gymnast Helsey Rivera. She is 16 years old, but there are also three 16 year olds total going to the games. She’s just the youngest of them. The oldest is Stefan Peters, who is an equestrian.
He’s 59. the fun fact for us looking at what sports everybody, every team is going to compete in. the number of sports at Paris ranges. Greatly, depending on the country you’re talking to. Right. So,
Alison: in the official releases, the French organizer said 32 sports, but then in their own list, Um, we had 45 sports.
The Australian said, I think there were 30 something sports, but more than 32. Right. The American says there are 44 sports. So I think it’s just, I have to go back and actually, what I’m going to count. Is the actual pictograms and that will be our official count.
Jill: Okay. I like that. Because if they made a
Alison: pictogram, it’s an official separate sport because do you, on some list, time trial, uh, road and track cycling are separated.
And sometimes it’s together. So, I’m going to look for separate pictograms and that’s going to be. Our definitive list.
Jill: So because we were confused about how many sports were on the Comparis program, which I feel really dumb saying how many sports are on the program, the thing is like two weeks away. The event is two weeks away and we cannot come to an agreement about how many sports are on the neither can
Alison: Paris because they said 32, but then they said 45.
I mean, that’s a big difference.
Jill: But anyway, of the 329 medal events, there will be an American in 253 of them, which is incredible. And fun facts, there will be at least six sets of siblings and 34 dads and 12 moms on Team USA. Team Australia will have, 460 athletes. That is the fourth largest ever Australian contingent.
They believe they’re going to be the third largest team at the games. Their biggest teams are for athletics. They have 75 people there and 44 for swimming. They’ve qualified athletes in every sport except fencing and handball, and in our gender parity watch, they will have 256 women on the team.
That’s 55. 6 percent women to men. The average age of a team Australia athlete is 26. Their oldest team member is Shane Rose, who is 51, and he is an equestrian and eventing. Their youngest is 14 year old skateboarder Arisa True. They have five sets of siblings, and six athletes will be competing at their fifth games.
Incredible. Team Belgium announced. Huge! Yes, uh, 165 athlete strong delegation. This will be their largest delegation since Amsterdam 1928.
Alison: Fantastic. Yes. Very surprising. I’d love to do the per capita on that. Oh, yeah, that’d be interesting.
Jill: Projects for us to do next Olympics,
Alison: or maybe when we’re stranded at the airport because we have the strike,
Jill: their team will be 82 men and 83 women. So basically 50 50 split and they will be in 21 sports.
Also, France24. com was reporting on the Afghan team. This is a situation to watch because I’m very curious as to what the. NBC commentators will say during the opening ceremony and the parade of nations, if Afghanistan gets on the screen, because a lot of times, you know, when they’ll do like, Oh, while we were away at break, we saw X, Y, and Z teams.
So for Afghanistan, the National Olympic Committee is largely exiled from the Taliban run nation. The IOC has invited a team of three women and three men to compete. According to AFP, the Taliban does not recognize the three women. They say they are providing some level of support for the three men.
Five out of the six athletes on the team live outside of Afghanistan. The sixth. is a male, male judo competitor. The other men will compete in athletics and cycling. Women will compete in athletics and cycling. The team is going to use the black, red, and green flag of the former Western backed government.
If you’re into flag watch like I am, when the Taliban retook power in 2021, they brought back. Their flag, which is white with black Arabic words that are the shahada, which is the Islamic declaration of faith. So it’ll be interesting to see what the reaction is both at the opening ceremony and on the feeds.
To the Afghan team and what they’re going to talk, what they’re actually going to talk about.
And, uh, we have an interesting product from Team New Zealand. they have released the first official Olympic Games glossary in Maori and English. the country has been making efforts to revitalize and normalize the use of Maori in the country. It’s a language that was starting to die out, but they really want to make sure it doesn’t die out.
So the glossary consists of 1000 words and phrases for 30 different Olympic events. Don’t know if that’s all the sports on the Olympic program, but the, the glossary helps fill in gaps in contemporary Maori vocabulary. And then there were some words they had to create. So where they had to create words, they used a team of licensed, uh, Toi Reo Maori translators, and they created new words that were reviewed and approved by the Maori Language Commission.
So we will have a link to that in the show notes, and it’s fun to, uh, poke through that and see, uh, how you speak Maori. I mean, we’ve been trying to learn French. What
Alison: is breaking in Maori? And I don’t mean that sarcastically. I mean, like, what, obviously I don’t know New Zealand history very well. I don’t know this issue very well.
But, dying languages is not unique to New Zealand or to Maori. So, what a beautiful project. Mm
Theme Music: hmm.
Milan-Cortina 2026 Update
Alison: buongiorno.
Jill: We have not heard that theme in a long time and did not really expect to hear that theme going for a while, but Milan Cortina has announced that its ticketing portal is open. Why you’re doing this now?
Alison: They got jealous. It really did feel like a bit of a temper tantrum from Milan Cortina on this one.
Because you register on the platform, but no tickets are going to be available until this winter. They’re not doing any draws for several months.
Jill: So, so why are you registering now? It’s like you’ve, I feel like you’re filling out a form and then somebody on the back end’s got some paper and they’re going to write everything down and put you on a list
in a big ledger.
I mean, maybe they were looking for people are paying attention to the word Olympics. So let’s get people on there on our platform and get their email addresses and get them in our system while they’re thinking of it. Whereas, Um, you know, come December, January, right before people are not going to be paying attention anymore.
So I get it from a marketing point of view, but it did feel somewhat petty,
right? So again, we’re using the same system that we used for Paris. So you register for the platform, the ticket portal, that’s free in January, 2025, they’re going to hold the event. a what they call the ballot to determine your place in line.
This is not a lottery. Everyone will get a spot in line. So the ballot is just a line determining tool to figure out where you are in the line to buy tickets. There’s no obligation to buy tickets by entering this ballot. Uh, it’s just a place in line and you can decide whether or not you want to buy tickets.
Later. What? And, I mean, seriously, when I think about the ticket buying process for Paris and how that has played out, why bother? Why bother register? Unless there are specific things that you really die hard want to have to go to. There’s no reason.
Alison: I’m sad for Milan Cortina, given that it feels like one of the big stories coming out of Paris is there’s still a lot of tickets available.
So people are going to be hesitant, rush, especially a lot of people with Paris with the lotteries bought tickets they didn’t want. Right. Because they had to buy things.
Jill: Right. And they had to buy those three packs, remember? So they just bought something to fill out their three pack. Then they thought they’d resell it on the resale platform.
Well, you can’t change the price on the resale platform. So Paris keeps dribbling out tickets all the way up to the games. Nobody’s looking for resale and you can’t discount your tickets. Even if you wanted to just if you just wanted to get rid of them and would take a hit. You’re not allowed to do that.
So I’m curious as to how many tickets will be available and if they’ll alleviate that or they’ll shorten that 12 hour window. To buy because remember, because it’s not like you can go on to the ticket platform a couple hours ahead of a, an event and go, Oh, I have time. I’d like to see an event. No, you’d have to know that 12 hours in advance.
So we’ll see, like with the ticket process that’s going on in Paris, how that affects people actually even registering for the ticket lottery in Milan, and I’m curious that they’ll try to do that three pack thing that I don’t think that was a great idea. It certainly
Alison: hasn’t worked out in the end. People are not happy with getting stuck with tickets that they did not want.
And it’s not getting, I think the point was, let’s get people to go to some of the smaller events. But I don’t think they’re going to go. I think you’re going to end up with some pretty empty venues. I hope not. I hope not. The athletes deserve better. But this was a mistake.
Jill: Once you’ve been put into line, you’ll get an email with your 48 hour buying window.
So quote, you can buy the tickets you want with confidence. And then the next step is wait your turn patiently until February, right? And in February, 2025, the tickets will go on sale. So then you’ll, your windows will start opening and you’ll be able to buy tickets, general sale. And if you just decide not to buy anything in the lottery, general sales will start April 2025.
And then, the same process will happen with the Paralympic tickets. The Paralympic tickets will go on sale in March because they’re trying to do things a year and a half, a year in advance.
Alison: But the short answer is just register at Fan 26. We’ll have the link in the show notes. It can’t hurt you. It’ll get you some news.
It’s Milan’s answer to Le Club.
Why not?
TKFLASTAN News
Alison: welcome to Shook Fla Stan.
Jill: It is the time of the show where we check in with our team, Keep the Flame Alive. These are past guests and listeners of the show who make up our citizenship of Shook Fla Stan. Not much is going on. We’re getting that dead spot right before the games.
Alison: Everyone’s packing and getting ready for the airport, which they may not get to.
Jill: Uh, cyclist Samantha Bosco has been named to the U. S. Paris cycling team. If you read our book club book by Oksana Masters, she has also been named to the cycling team.
Alison: Katie Moon will be competing in the Diamond League event in Monaco starting on July 12th.
And that is going to do it
Jill: for this episode. Let us know what you think of Olympic paddling.
Alison: Find us on X, YouTube and Instagram at flamealivepod. Send us an email at flamealivepod at gmail. com. Call or text us at 208 352 6348. That’s 208 flame it. Um, chat with us and other fans on our Facebook group, keep the flame alive podcast and sign up for our weekly newsletter with even more Olympic and Paralympic info for you at our website, flamealivepod. com.
Jill: On Monday, we will have more interviews from the Team USA Media Summit where we talked with a bunch of Paralympians. please do not forget to tell a friend about the show. If you’re getting merch to wear while you watch, you’re getting close to deadlines for shipping to get that in time, so please do so.
You can find a link on our website if you scroll down to the store. That’s at flamealivepod. com. Also do not forget about the viewing guide. And if you’re going, we also have travel journals for sale, so you can all find that on flamealivepod. com. Thank you so much for listening and until next time keep the flame alive