Even though the cauldron isn’t lit, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have begun! We’ve got pre-Opening Ceremonies action in:
- Football
- Rugby Sevens
Find out how TKFLASTANI Perry Baker and Team USA fare in their first two games of the group stage. Plus, we can tell you what goes on in the stadium that you can’t see at home! If you’re still planning on coming to Paris, we’ll tell you what to look out for!
We also have an update on our personal safety in the neighborhood around our hotel. What’s the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee’s response?
Plus, we have many adventures to share with you, including (but not limited to):
- Jill hung out with French president Emmanuel Macron
- Alison got to tour the Athletes’ Village
- Jill went out to Bretagne to visit Doudou et Compagnie’s factory that’s making the Phryges for the podium, as well as some limited edition varieties
And, there’s even more news:
- The IOC provisionally announced the host cities for the Winter 2030 and 2034 Olympics
- The Canadian women’s soccer team coaching staff is in hot water
- The Opening Ceremony dancers are no longer striking
Don’t forget – the only way that we’re able to bring you this unique look at the Games is thanks to donations from listeners like you. Please support us financially so that we can continue to keep our flame alive. We have many ways to support us — and if you sign up as a paid Patreon member, you’ll get exclusive content!
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
Paris 2024 Day -2
Jill: Bonjour! And welcome to day minus two of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co host, Alison Brown. Alison, bonjour! How are you?
Alison: Bonjour! Je suis fatiguée.
Jill: Already? Yes. I know. I know. I haven’t
Alison: been sleeping very well.
So I think it was anticipation. And now that we’re in mood, I think I’ll be okay.
Jill: Okay. Excellent. Excellent. Um, it’s, it’s hard to believe we are getting closer and closer, but so much has happened today. So let’s begin the baguette.
Alison: So we may hear some background. We are working in the, the workroom at the Stade de France. So that’s, uh, atmosphere for you.
Jill: Yeah, we’ll be recording in a lot of different places. I think a lot of different workrooms because once again, we cannot record in our hotel room. It is too tiny. The Wi Fi is unsecure.
So, but we have lovely accommodations provided by Paris 2024, I think.
Alison: Well,
Jill: it’s a table. It’s a workroom. Oh, I thought you meant the hotel again.
Alison: No, no, no, no,
Jill: no. Oh, those. Okay, but the hotel again. Let’s give you a safety update. Uh, when last we left you, things were not good. We’ve tried many different ways to get to our hotel.
And, uh, Monday night, it is Wednesday today, so Monday night we, because, uh, accommodation has told us. Well, it gave us a map. Here’s where to walk. Here is a tram. It is fine. We’ve walked it before. And I, I responded and said, did you, what time did you walk it? Because we walked it Monday night at 11 15 p. m.
at the tram. Fine. The tram ride is actually Really good. It goes straight to the media center from our hotel. It’s fa we couldn’t ask for something better for that.
Alison: And then you get off the tram and it’s fine for a block. There were lights, there were people, there were still things open, surprisingly enough.
And then there weren’t. Right. There weren’t even streetlights on those last two blocks. So even just absolute basics, they’re still falling down.
Jill: So I immediately wrote to accommodation and laid out, this is the time, this is what happened. And, uh, got a reply. We’ve escalated this to security. Gee, thanks.
Alison: But, and then we tried a different tram, or our different train line. Cause they said, Oh, go this way. tried that. That wasn’t great either.
Jill: No. And again, it was fine until it wasn’t. There’s a lot of it’s fine until it’s not. And I think last night we walked through a drug deal. That was great because, uh, there was a, we were crossing a street and there was a car.
That was on our street and I looked at it to see if it was going to cross the road if we had to stop or not. And, uh, I saw two guys leaning into the car doing a funky hand slap that looked like passing something off. And then we continue walking down the sidewalk and there’s a man standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
To me, obviously, looking like a lookout. And then, as I passed by him, there was a little, like, I don’t know if it was a park entrance or something, but a building tucked in, so it was very shadowy, and there was a man standing there, and you could hear money flipping. So that It felt
Alison: like a gangster movie.
Jill: So that was fun. I was just like, huh. And I’m, I’m not, you know, it’s one of those, look forward, just keep moving, use your peripheral vision as best you can, and
Alison: And as we’ve discovered, we are not alone. And we are not alone in our hotel. Our friend Peggy Shin has mentioned she is in a different hotel, also in an extremely sketchy area.
Also, with a long walk from the, uh, train and also being told by accommodations, we did an inspection, we walked it, it’s fine.
Jill: Yeah, so this whole, I don’t think they understand that, I mean, I learned today that French labor law says you must have an 11 hour break after a shift, so they must think that people aren’t working late, even though workrooms are open late and the media center is now open 24 hours.
So I, I don’t know, but hopefully you did see yesterday morning.
You saw a heightened police presence and some, some cleaning.
Alison: I did see some cleaning of the area around our hotel. There were additional police, but they were gone this morning. Right. And it didn’t seem like there was any permanent improvement in the cleanliness of the area.
Jill: No. No. So, and this, and you know what’s really sad is that when you get on the train and you get, we’re in, we’re next to the 18th Arendiz Mall.
You get out of the 18th and it’s immediately cleaner. Like, seriously Paris, put some resources here. I don’t know what you think of this place, but put some resources. In this neighborhood.
Alison: Well, you have a new friend that you could have talked to about this. President Macron.
Jill: Oh, yes. I do have a new friend.
So the Presidential Palace had a welcoming party for selected media, and, uh, thank you, listener David, I think I traced it back to listener David who said, hey, there’s a party, you should sign up for it. And we both signed up, I got selected. Thanks a lot. I, I have no choice in the matter. I don’t, I mean they, I don’t know with the Kazakhs involved in this decision that kept me out, but it was a lovely reception for maybe 150, 200 people at the presidential palace.
It is stunningly beautiful. Uh, you know, the big chandeliers, you’re in this big, uh, reception area with the gilded painted ceiling all over the place. There was a kind of a, I would say the ante room to the, the reception area had a domed glass ceiling and the glass was red, white, and blue patterned. And so when the light shifted in the day when the sun was moving around, the light, uh, you know, the glass dome would shine red, white, and blue on the walls.
And it was just, that was really a nice touch. We stood around for a long time and eventually Uh, President Macron and T BAC and Tony Estanguet came out and, uh, T BAC and, uh, the President gave speeches. And then the President must have had something he really didn’t want to do because he stayed and started, uh, working the line.
And I was near the front. I was just like three deep in the, the line. And so I stuck around thinking that he’d work his way down to me. And he did. He wasn’t really moving and I got hungry because I hadn’t had lunch yet. And we’re at like 3. 30, 4 o’clock at this point. And so I went over to the massive spread of meats and cheeses and bread and fruits and vegetables.
It was just amazing. Little tiny desserts there and there was another one outside in the garden area. And I had some wine, because of course they had wine. And then I wandered out into the garden. Met the dogs and Then I said, oh, he’s still there and he’s trying to work the Secret Service are trying to work him out Through the garden into the other side of the he said
Alison: no,
Jill: he said no, so I went in there and Stood and and I kind of moved along and eventually I got my selfie So I think you can see did I put it in the group?
Alison: I think you did
Jill: okay, so yes, I did because so if you’re in our Facebook group, you can see me with my crown and uh Our good friend, uh, Nicholas Wallover, who’s in the group as well, he was with me. He got a picture, we got a picture of him with Macron. But Macron is not necessarily looking.
Alison: Macron was not, did not consent to this photograph.
Jill: So it was a lovely time. I met, made some new friends. And it was, it was a very nice way to spend the day. I’ll say that. You, on the other hand, got selected to go to the Athletes Village. I
Alison: did. So they had a media day at the Athletes Village. Obviously, most of the time, uh, the Athletes Village is closed to only athletes and team staff.
But they let the media in and they let us basically just Walk around. We couldn’t go in any of the team buildings. We could go in all the shared facilities. And we could go into the dining hall up to a point. We couldn’t go near any of the food. But we could see it.
Jill: Which is sad, because I did get a question if you ate, if you got to eat.
Alison: I did not, though I did get to um, get a snack from the Carrefour that they have there. They have a little Carrefour, they have the post office and the hairdresser, and we got to walk in all of those. And on the one hand, all those things are very small. You know, the hairdresser, it’s sort of the famous Olympic Village hairdresser had maybe five or six chairs, but it was busy.
It was hopping, but the village itself is enormous. I just kept walking. It is on two sides of the river. There is a footbridge that connects them. I want to know the calculus that went into putting countries where they put them, because, you know, who is next to whom? We put China with Cuba, but they’re far, they’re on the other side of the river from the United States house.
Um, so there’s definitely some significance as to where they put houses. On the one hand, the village is It’s interesting in that all the buildings are slightly different. They’ve built them with the intent to be apartment buildings, but it also did have a bit of the 1970s Soviet feel to it. Oh, yeah. I think just because it’s all these concrete buildings in the middle of the city in the The second you step out of the village, a horrible neighborhood.
Oh, is it really? It is really bad. Worse than ours? Much. Really? Yes. So the minute you get out of the village, we, we got a tram, we got a, um, a transport bus from the media center out to the village. And the minute you go through those Jersey barriers, it’s like the music opens up, and, oh, you have reached the safe place.
And the second you drive out of those Jersey barriers, it’s, it’s really not good. And I understand why they put it in Sansandini. They were trying to revitalize this neighborhood. I think in a couple years we’re going to see all the stories about how this has fallen apart.
Jill: Oh, really? You don’t think that people, even though the, they’re going to have people that they’ve moved, like, who are looking for housing, who may be lower class, working class?
Alison: It is so hard to have one section. Or one neighborhood of an area of the city that is rebuilt, and nothing around it can sustain it. So, let’s be hopeful, but let’s also be realistic. A couple of fun things. I saw Lilly King coming out of the dining hall. She was not slapping anyone or herself, so that was good.
I saw Maggie McNeil and a couple of the other Canadian swimmers very hostily riding bicycles. There was a lot of yelling at each other going on. I don’t know what that was about, but mostly it was not crowded there, obviously, because this is, you know, Tuesday before the opening ceremony. So there were a lot of people there, but there weren’t a lot of people there.
Did you? It was probably a quarter full would be my guess. Um, they have a bar that’s right outside. They have like a tiki bar.
Bckgd: Oh, that’s cool.
Alison: But they have a big sign that says, you know, 18 and older will be ID required. So I loved that. Um, it was what I expected of an Olympic village, but when you’re walking it, wow, Do they have a discotheque?
They have a village club, which is where the tiki bar is. And they have beach chairs and fake, not fake sand, but kind of a fake beach area. So that’s probably the closest thing, and I think at night they make that lively. I thought it was interesting that Team USA’s building is right next to the dining hall.
They understood that, um, there are shuttles that go around, um, so I think when people are trying to get to their events, they won’t have to walk half a mile to the transport hub, the athlete transport hub, uh, to, to then, you know, get on the bus to get to their venue. So it seemed like everything was running smoothly.
The volunteers were all lovely, um. Did you get to see the beds? No, because I was not allowed. You were only allowed in a building if you had a special invitation from a team. And I did not. I have talked to some people about the beds. There is mattress processing that they go through where you get to select different elements of your bed so that your bed is long enough for you.
And you have the appropriate firmness in sections. So I, I think the bed is kind of a non story to be honest. Um, I think it’s a fun thing for the press to pick up on, but I think these athletes have stayed in a lot of, um, more uncomfortable situations, but I do love that the basketball players and some of the really tall guys that we have seen can get an extra piece.
So instead of three pieces, they can get four pieces. So there’s no feet dangling, which is extremely important. Excellent. And then you, we’ve been busy with tours. We have
Jill: been busy with tours. So, yesterday I went on a factory tour because we got another email and it just said, if you want to be on a factory tour, and that’s all I had to read, factory tour, sign me up.
And I didn’t know where it was. I thought I had something to do with the medals. And they said, we will send you a train ticket, get the train ticket. It’s a two hour train ride. And then we get the schedule. It’s a two hour train ride and a 45 minute bus ride. Where am I going? So I went to, uh, Brittang. The, uh, we, the train went to Rennes, and that was a big city, and then we went to a smaller town outside of that.
And this is a
Alison: high speed train, we need to point out. Yes, exactly. This is two hours in a high speed train.
Jill: Exactly. A couple hundred kilometers, I think.
Alison: I was worried we were going to have another Jean Jacques situation, and I might not get you back.
Jill: But I went to Dudu and Compagnie and they are a stuffed animal maker, uh, made in France.
They got the contract to make the mascots. And at this particular factory, they do the mascots that are specially made in France because there is, uh, some that, there are, there are a lot that are made in China because there’s just too many. Uh, the, the managing director said, Oh yeah, I mean, just because production moved to China and all this stuff in the nineties and there’s not many places who can manufacture stuffed animals left in France and, and they make these adorable, very, very soft, uh, plus bears and little bunnies and foxes and all the little kids have their doo doo and company Toys that they go, they have the little blankets with the stuffed animal attached.
So they, you know, that’s, that’s a standard thing to have here in France. So they make the, the friezes that are made in France and then they are making two special edition friezes that are different kinds of shiny red fabric for the frieze instead of being plush. There will be 2024 of each edition and they are numbered so you can find that.
And then they are also making the podium friezes. And the podium friezes have the emblem in the center of the frieze is gold, silver, or bronze. The shoes are gold, silver, or bronze. I believe the, on the Paralympic one, the, the running blade will be gold, silver, or bronze too. And then on the back side it says, Bravo.
They’re beautiful. They are. And then the, on the Paralympic one on the running blade, it says Bravo in Braille as well. So, they are really, really cute. It’s a, it looked like a very complicated process, but they said it takes, Maybe 35, 40 minutes. They go through cutting. There’s 40 pieces on a frige. I got, you know, they showed us a little cutouts.
They showed one. I’ll show, I’ll put a picture in the Facebook group where it’s expanded out where all the pieces are cut out and laid out. So you can see there’s an embroidery section that can embroider several of the, the pieces. Pairs 2024 patches at once. They go to sewing. They get sewn inside out.
Bckgd: Yes, of course.
Jill: Then they have to get put right side in and then they are stuffed. They have this giant, it looks like a giant vacuum that’s tall. One of those circular vacuums that’s super, super tall, blows in the stuffing and then they get finished up. They go through quality control and then they get packaged right there and.
And they’re done. The company has partnered with a organization for people with developmental disabilities. So they have some people from there working with them and doing some of the steps. And that’s really, there were two of those, two people from that organization there. And one, it was a man and a woman and the guy, you can kind of tell he dug being filmed by a lot of people.
Kind of, not too much, but you can tell. And the poor woman just. Did not want to be. She just was like, who are these people? I don’t want to be, you know, I don’t want to be like, And uh, but they were very cute going from station to station. They have people they everybody kind of moves around to different stations Throughout the the day and and so that nobody gets uh You know, it’s repetition, so they want to make sure that people don’t get tired with one thing.
So they were moving around to different things and it was fun. They had this enormous, I got to hold one of the enormous, several hundred, how many hundreds of euros is that? That is
Alison: 800 euros. The
Jill: 800 euro frieze is heavy. How could it not be? It is very large, but yeah, um, we’ll have a video soon. I can’t tell you when, but we’re working on it.
And, uh, it was a, it was a lovely day. It was really interesting. So we’ll have more to share about that in other outlets, but thank you to Doodoo and company for letting me come and learn about the freezes. So we have some news from, from here. I mean,
Alison: Let’s start with the good news. So the IOC announced both 2030 and 2034 hosts for the Winter Olympics.
So we’ll be coming back to France and the French Alps for 2030. And as expected, Salt Lake City was named for 2034.
Jill: There are conditions on both of those. There
Alison: are conditions on both of those. So the, for the French Alps. The French government was not able to sign off on some of the required guarantees. I think it had to do with the turnover of the government, because there are elections coming in.
So, the current government couldn’t sign, and obviously the next government isn’t in place yet. So, this election was conditional on those guarantees being made. The more interesting condition was with Salt Lake City. So as I’m sure many of you have heard about, uh, there’s a little bit of a conflict between a lot of American athletes and the world anti doping agency concerning, especially the, It’s Chinese swimmer or Chinese swimming team, uh, who competed in Tokyo despite having tested positive for a particular banned substance, the, the, and I went to the press conference for Salt Lake City, and they were very clear in saying this guarantee is always.
In the host city contract, where the host city and the host Olympic Committee agrees that WADA is in charge of anti doping measures. They had to, the USOPC and Salt Lake City had to provide additional guarantees, which the governor described as a letter. Okay. That they wrote an additional letter saying, no, no, no, we really mean it.
We are not going to undercut WADA, uh, WADA’s authority during the games when they are here. There seems to be a great deal of concern in the IOC about the Rodchenko Act, which was an act that was passed a few years back now, having to do with doping and saying if you are involved in importing, using, administering, uh, drugs.
that violate, uh, anti doping rules, we can arrest you. And there seems to be some concern that during LA 2028, there are going to be FBI raids of team houses, if there’s any information. That, based on the questions that what other reporters were asking in the press conference, seems to be the scuttlebutt among IOC members.
That there is a great deal of concern as to how, USADA, the FBI, the United States government, the state of California is going to enforce anti doping laws in America when it comes to what happens at the Olympics and Paralympics.
Jill: That’s interesting.
Alison: So keep an eye on that.
Jill: Wow,
Alison: that is really interesting. This is why we’re going to these press conferences, because we get some scuttlebutt. I will be going to many press conferences tomorrow, so we’ll get to that.
Jill: Speaking of scuttlebutt, Team Canada has some issues with women’s football. Team Canada is the defending gold medalist on July 22.
Their first game is against New Zealand, and on July 22, Team New Zealand noticed a drone overhead while they practiced, and there was another drone. Another time. And so the, the drone operator got caught. And that man was Joseph Lombardi, who was an unaccredited analyst with Canada soccer. So they found footage and photos of the New Zealand practice on it, which would show some of their strategies.
The drone operator had told his Canadian The person he reported to on Team Canada, who’s an assistant coach named Jasmine Mander about what he was doing. And she did not escalate this or do anything about it. She has been removed from the team and sent home. Uh, Lombardi has been removed from the team, except for I’m not sure he’s going home because he got arrested.
Alison: Yeah, France laws when it comes to, uh, filming without consent are very, very strict.
Jill: Yes. So, uh, Devin Heroux from CBC had, they found the charge in French and, and translated it. He was charged with, uh, Beth maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. He was tried under a procedure of appearance on recognition of guilt.
The maximum sentence for that is one year in prison and a 45,000 euro fine. So he accepted a suspended sentence of eight months in prison. I, I don’t sure what that means exactly, but it, it
Alison: ain’t good. And I should say that the Canadian Olympic Committee has come out with some very strongly worded statements saying this was not in their purview.
They are working to fix this. This is not, basically, this is not okay. He bad. We going to punish him if you don’t. So.
Jill: And head coach, uh, Bev Priestman, she apologized and she has taken herself out of coaching the first game, which is Canada versus New Zealand. So good that she did that, but what an embarrassment.
It’s just not good. What is good is that the Opening ceremony dancers have called off a potential strike. I
Alison: didn’t even know about this. You know, we mentioned before we left that there was a potential strike of airport workers on the day we were landing. That also did not happen.
Jill: No, because I think stuff gets negotiated because apparently they have to announce they’re going to do a strike.
That’s part of the deal, so they’re going to announce like a week, uh, it seems like you might need to give a week’s notice that you’re going to strike. Which is all, striking is very French, and giving the notice is very French.
Alison: Oh, by the way, we’re going out on strike tomorrow.
Jill: Right, so there are 3, 000 performers in the opening ceremonies, and apparently there’s a big gap.
in terms of pay with who is dancing. So they filed a strike notice last week and said, we are not doing this. And then some protested during rehearsals on Monday by, uh, which were near the Seine and they raised their fist for eight minutes. So they got a deal and the lowest paid is going to get 160 to 240 euros extra, depending on what they do in the show, what kind of dancer they are.
Alison: By the way, raising your fist for eight minutes. That’s an impressive physical feat. These dancers know what they’re doing.
Jill: And just a quick note, in case COVID becomes a thing here, five players from the Australian women’s water polo team tested positive.
Alison: No, it’s not Tokyo. You haven’t traveled back in time.
I
Jill: know, I know, but I mean, it’s, it’s interesting how it still raises some feelings and, and, you know, self isolate and all that stuff. So we have seen some games today and we get to start our new, our regular segment. What officiating or volunteer job would you like to do?
Alison: Well, I’m going to start with, because we have been at so many press conferences, we I want to be the person who puts the Coca Cola bottles and the water bottles on the tables because nobody touches them.
And even if they wanted to touch them, all the bottles here, you need a bottle opener. So it’s not like they could just reach over and take their Coke sans sucre.
Jill: There could be a bottle opener on the table.
Alison: Possibly, but you know, that’s a job for me because you do it once, you do it right, and you don’t have to do it again the rest of the games because those bottles ain’t moving.
Jill: So we went to rugby tonight and I thought about ball person because there is a some choreography to how the balls get around, um, but they also have to rest on one knee. at all times. They do have little mats for their knee, and that just seems uncomfortable to do. And you, if you’re the ball person who is lined up on the center line, you got to sprint when it’s time for you to put the ball out.
Then there is the, we, I told you about this because there is a podium that the game ball gets put on and the teams come out around the ball and it’s a very rugby thing. And, I was stymied by when that would come out because actually I don’t think the podium was there for the first couple of games because then I noticed it and like, huh, I didn’t notice that before.
Alison: And then you put me on ball watch. Right. So I missed a game watching for when the ball would come out because once I had a job.
Jill: But then I told you that the ball had come out because then there are world rugby people who bring the right game. So they must watch the balls and have the right balls and make sure everything is okay.
So that’s not, I mean, it’s probably an officiating job, but then there are the, in between the sessions there was a ground crew who, uh, fixed the divots in the, the turf.
Alison: They had a stick, they had a little hook, they stomped the divots. It was, it was very, I was about to say it was very groundbreaking, but it was very.
Ungroundbreaking. It’s very ground fixing.
Jill: So there we go. All right. You know, the only way we are able to be here in Paris is because listeners like you have supported us and because we’re an independent media outlet that makes it really tough to raise money against the big guys. And we can give you, and, and because we’re media, even though we’re not big, we are small but mighty and we can give you the low down in a way that no outlet can.
I mean, where else are you going to get divot news?
Alison: Backstage at the Salt Lake City press conference with Coke bottles.
Jill: Um, but being here does cost money, so we do ask you for your support. If you’re enjoying this show, if you’re enjoying the games, if you enjoy the community that’s around us, please do support the show.
You can go to flamealivepod. com slash support. Many ways to do it. We accept PayPal, we accept Venmo, we, uh, We also accept, uh, paid new patrons. We, if you want to be an ongoing patron of the show, you can join. And there’s a link there at flamealivepod. com slash support. Our patrons for Paris are getting bonus content.
All levels of paid patronage, get a picture of the day. That is something that doesn’t get posted anywhere else. And then, uh, the 5 level and above we’ll get random video content. Maybe some audio content, but random video content when we have something that’s really good. So there’s some presidential content up there from uh, McCon, there’s something from you from the Athletes Village and Oh, I can’t remember already.
I can’t remember what else is up there But there’s got to be a lot of fun stuff happening for patrons. So please do help us defray the costs of this show and visit flamealivepod. com support. So we do have results today. And we just got the last two. Oh, yes. Um, starting off in football. It’s the beginning of group play.
Whoa. This is a way to start an Olympics. Okay. This is the
Alison: men’s tournament.
Jill: Yes. Um, we’re going to start talking about Argentina because here in the rugby venue, we also experienced some, uh, not so nice People here don’t like Argentina. Let’s just flat out. But that’s part and part due to the Copa America, which is the soccer tournament for the men’s senior team.
The tournament here in the Olympics is under 23. Yes. With a couple of extras that are older. And at the Copa America, Argentina won. And then on their bus, they sang a very racist song. Calling out France, saying their players aren’t French, they’re Africans, and naming things, and, and having some really bad racial slurs.
Alison: The French remember.
Jill: Yeah. And, and, and they remembered tonight in rugby, too. So, one of the opening matches was Morocco versus Argentina, which, uh, Morocco was winning 2 to 1. And, in the second half, we had Over 16 minutes of extra play and in the 106th minute, Argentina appeared to score a tie goal, which was just an insane way of how this happened.
So there was a shot on goal, blocked by a player. Shot again, blocked by the goalkeeper, El, El, uh, Mounir El Khajoui. And he just did a phenomenal job trying really hard to do this because it’s all happening. Bam, bam, bam. Uh, there was a followup shot after this deflection. Good. Good. It deflected off the crossbar.
Then there was a header blocked by the goalkeeper and then headed in from close range was Christian Medina, who got the goal except for It
Alison: wasn’t a goal.
Jill: It wasn’t a goal. Here’s where it gets a little weird because fans got out onto the field. They started throwing stuff onto the field.
Alison: So let’s explain that it was offside.
It was called an offside. No, no, no. I wasn’t getting there. I was going to get to
Jill: that. So fans. Started getting onto the field stuff’s thrown onto the field. They pause the game We’re still an extra time then somewhere during that apparently because I found this out from John at anything but footy the They did a video review and and apparently there were fireworks there too somehow Unless fireworks mean people yelling.
I don’t know. He’s British, but then they did a video review and Medina was deemed to be offside. So the goal did not count. And then they still had more extra time. They had like three more minutes, but Morocco held them off two to one. So, that was a pretty wild way to start a tournament. Um, in other group play, Spain beat Uzbekistan 2 1, Egypt and Dominican Republic tied, Japan hardly beat Paraguay 5 0, New Zealand beat Guinea 2 1, Iraq beat Ukraine 2 1, France beat the U.
- 5 0. Three to zero? Wow. But, but it’s the men’s team. They, our men’s team isn’t known to be good, and France has France behind them. And then there was a tie with Mali and Israel at one all. Over in rugby,
Alison: where we were,
Jill: that’s right, uh, we were at the Stade de France, and it’s full. It was full. It was really lively, and you always kind of worry on the first day, because stuff, you got to break it in.
You got to find out, even though you’ve planned everything, what works, what doesn’t work. Finding out where we needed to go. It was a little hard, and I ended up going up these stairs, this staircase, and, uh, police were manning it, and they started inspecting everybody’s bags before they’d let us up the staircase, and I thought, oh, this is going to take a while.
Then I find, but I don’t, you didn’t go in the same place. I was turned away from that staircase. So hopefully we have to go into a different place and not have to deal with it anymore media entrance had a big Like Disney World line set up and people were standing there and we’re all like we got to get in because we’re an hour Out tops, maybe not even that the gate was locked and they literally could not get it open So there was a lot of jiggling and, and kind of pounding on it.
Eventually they got it open. We got in, um, there’s, you know, we have to get x rayed in to all the venues, come up to our media center, check it out, sit in a very nice tabled seating for us because we have swivel seats. That’s going to be great come track. Are you just going to be swiveling around? I know it’s great.
I just love the seats. And, um, the. We have a dedicated concession stand, which is very nice to have a dedicated concession stand because, uh, the lines for stuff are going to be pretty long. Um, that said, public could access this concession stand. So there was a lot of turning people when they, when I went down the second time, uh, they clearly had moved all of like three signs that said, This is for media only.
So that’s not fun, but that’s helpful because, uh, our snack situation. Yeah. What snacks? It’s not great. You get their, uh, bowl of granola bars and a bowl of fruit and that stuff gets taken pretty quickly. Like when we got here, I got one of the last two granola bars and I took an apple.
Alison: And I got here a few hours after you and there was not even hot water for tea.
Jill: And. There were more granola bars later, but the granola, the problem with the granola bars is that they don’t have any heft to them. It’s like you’re, it’s, it’s kind of like candy bar, you’re like eating, eating rice or something like eating rice, something. So there’s no kind protein that I would hope would be in there.
That’s going to be unreal.
Alison: Hence the concession stand is useful. And
Jill: why I had two meals there. I think I’m going to be eating at the canteen a lot. Um, I did not know they did this and, Oh, our friend, Chris O’Reilly, Chris O’Reilly from Olympapod was here tonight and it’s great cause he’s here for handball.
So, uh, it was fun to see him. Um, there was like The first tap of the shillelagh? Or the walking stick?
Alison: I don’t know if it was the shillelagh.
Jill: I don’t, you know, it looked like, it looked like a walking stick, but I have a shillelagh that looks like a walking stick, too, that you’re just supposed to walk, and if somebody starts to fight you, you just whip it up and BAM!
Well, that’s appropriate for rugby. But Dan Carter, a very famous rugby player who played here for a long time, he was the first one to do it. And he just tapped it. He was standing in front of the door where the teams and the ball come out. And he just tapped it on the ground three times, just bam, bam, bam.
And it felt like a first pitch for baseball. It was the ceremony. Yes, exactly. Um, a lot of fun stuff to watch in the stadium, especially they have like, uh, When they do the cameras around the audience, there are little
Alison: graphics,
Jill: graphics that they put up to make it. It’s kind of like Snapchat filters or whatever, where they’ve got freezes and they try to put them on people’s heads.
They give people the Olympic sunglasses. Uh, there’s a game. And I’m guessing this is at every venue. It’s called Find Pierre. It is Find Pierre de Coubertin, a guy dressed up like Pierre de Coubertin will be wandering around the stadium, and if you find him you take a picture and then there’s a QR code and you might get a little something something.
But that is funny. There’s a lot of throwback to 1924. There was
Alison: these very bizarre videos that they were playing where it’s still photographs from 1924, animated, so the people are singing modern pop songs. Which I’ve seen these videos before, but I never not find them creepy.
Jill: There was, people sang Sweet Caroline, and they knew what to do, and that was weird.
But then they sang some old French song that, Everybody kind of knew because play was going to start again and this was a halftime thing. And play was starting again and everybody just continued singing the song until it was done. It’s the sweet
Alison: Caroline of rugby in France, I guess.
Jill: So that was a lot of fun.
We had a pool play today and, uh, in men’s pool, a New Zealand and Ireland have two wins and they have the same point, point differential. So they’re essentially tied in pool B, Argentina and Australia have two wins, but Argentina leads on the point differential. Martina, Argentina got booed a lot tonight.
Alison: They did. And not just a little boo, like it was hearty, like anything that Argentina did. This French crowd went after them.
Jill: Uh, Pool C. Fiji is on top with two wins and a 54 point differential. France is next. They’re one, one win, one tie. Their point differential is seven.
Alison: When Fiji took the field, we know Fiji is good.
But to see them actually win, play. It made the other team look like a professional team playing a high school team. It was unbelievable how good Fiji is. And how big they are. They are some large, large men. And fast. I don’t know how that is physically possible to be that big. and that fast. And they’re, and they’re probably lovely men.
They’d be so polite. And so, I mean, when we spoke to Ben Ryan, who coached the, the Fijian team, how, how lovely these men are and family oriented and polite. And yet you see them and they are absolutely terrifying.
Jill: So the U. S. did play twice. They first played France, and they, that was the draw, 12 12. Uh, Perry Baker, who’s one of our Shoklastanis, had a really nice run.
Dude, that dude is fast. He is a fast man. And he had, he, Um, he was a good team player cause he knew when to pass. He also was like really good on strategy because France was moving forward and somehow the ball got out. He was, he wasn’t going to be able to leap onto it, but he kicked it. So it pushed France further back.
And that was, I’m like, Oh, that was a pretty good play. And he also did get a try. So there, no, he, no, no, no, no. He did a nice pass that ended in a try. So that was really good. He got a, he got an assist. Um, yeah. Their, their next game was sadly against Fiji and Fiji beat them 38 to 12. The U. S. scored first.
And Perry
Alison: Baker did get a try in that game.
Jill: Yes. So that was very good. And you’ll recognize him because he has his head wrapped and his ears are protected like nobody’s business. I was like, good on you, Perry. Keep those ears safe. So, um, it was a lot of fun to watch. People were, um, rooting for Samoa. And poor Samoa couldn’t, couldn’t make a whole lot happen.
People, a huge Kenyan contingent was here cheering for Kenya. And, uh, Kenya didn’t do so great either. Um, and then it was just kind of like when Australia was playing, everyone’s like, Oh. They’re playing, you know, they’re going to win, yeah. So we’ll see. Tomorrow’s the end of pool play and then we start the lower standings and, uh, the U.
- has to play Uruguay. Uruguay is on the bottom of their pool standings. So hopefully we’ll eke out another win and then it will depend on the point differential because France gets to play Fiji. So we’ll see how that goes.
Alison: And when France plays, my ears are still ringing. It was loud.
Jill: Yeah, it was. It was really loud.
One of their star rugby players opted to play sevens in kind of a shocking move. He did score a try in one of the game, in the game that you were here for with France. So that was kind of good redemption thing. But, uh, yeah, they are just nuts and it’s great.
Alison: Perfect. That’s how you want to see world rugby.
I hope is thrilled with how this tournament is starting for them.
Jill: And yeah, packed stadium. It was great. Let’s take a look at our shook list on watch for who is competing tomorrow or medal counts. Um, We also have news, Shukvostan news in this section. And this
Alison: is adorable. So Roblox has created an interactive game slash immersive experience.
You know, they use the big words. Don’t make that face at me called Team USA Ultimate Obi. I have never seen Roblox before, so I apologize. I’m getting this all wrong, but the important part of this is that. About half of the athletes in this game are Shukla Stanis. Sonny Choi, CJ Nicholas, Elise Willoughby, Jamal Hill, Ashley Johnson, Brian Bell, Evie Liebfarth, and Jesse Gruper are all in there.
And you can get a hold of that at TeamUSA. com slash Robox. It’ll be available on July 26th, but you can preview it now.
Jill: Uh, women’s archery gets underway tomorrow. So that means Casey Coffold will be starting in the ranking rounds.
Alison: Perry Baker will be back tomorrow with Team USA and Rugby Sevens.
And the U. S. Paratrack and Field team has been named, and it includes Jaden Blackwell, Justin Fong Sivan, Noel Malchimaki, and Daniel Romanchuk, whom you will meet after the Olympics, but before the Paralympics. And that’s going to do it for our very first day of coverage here from Paris.
Alison: Oh boy, we made it through. And you can 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. Chat with us and other fans on our Facebook group. Keep the Flame Alive podcast. It is hopping. So please get in there and you can sign up for our special daily games time newsletter at our website, flame alive pod.com
Jill: right?
And do uh, hang out in the Facebook group. That’s where. where at least I’m hanging out there more than I did on Twitter this time around. Last time I was on, last time for Beijing I was on Twitter a lot. I’m gonna be spending a lot of time in the Facebook group with, because I know y’all want to hear from us and we all want to hear what you think as well.
So join us again tomorrow for more action. Please don’t forget to tell your friends about the show because they might be starting to get into the Olympics just about now and we’d love to find more of our people. Thank you so much for listening and until tomorrow, keep the flame alive.