Keep the Flame Alive

It's a Bucket List episode! Alison's been dying to talk about the infamous Blood in the Water water polo match from Melbourne 1956, and Jill's wanted to talk about the contentious football match between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia from Helsinki 1952. We get to cover BOTH of them this week with Harry Blutstein , author of the book "Cold War Games: Spies, Subterfuge and Secret Operations at the...

Rio 2016 Olympian Joe Maloy talks with Jill about what makes a successful triathlete (hint: think mental game). Joe is currently working for USA Triathlon as its Collegiate Recruitment Program Coordinator. You can follow him on Twitter and Insta . Some shocking news: Russia's worried about getting banned from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics because the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found some inconsiste...

It's Week 2 of Olympic weightlifting, and this time we're looking at it from the perspective of an official. Dan Kent, The People's Publisher from Weightlifting House, joins us to tell us what the technical officials and referees look for during competition. You can find The People's Publisher at Weightlifting House , coaching at the Warwickshire Weightlifting Club , publishing at Powerful Ideas P...

The International Weightlifting Federation's world championships starts on Wednesday, September 18, so we thought it was a great time to learn about Olympic weightlifting and what this sport is all about. Joining us to explain it is the Voice of the People,  Seb Ostrowicz , host of the Weightlifting House podcast and writer at its accompanying website. Seb talks with us about the two lifts that ma...

Olympic athletes rely on sponsors to help them earn a living--but during the Olympics, the most important time a sponsor can benefit from this partnership, they often can't market it. Why? The International Olympic Committee's Rule 40. We talk with Associated Press sports correspondent Karolos Grohmann to learn more about this controversial rule. Follow Karolos on Twitter --he's a great resource i...

This week, since it's the long Labor Day weekend in the US, we're bringing you a Lightning Round, featuring our Team Olympic Fever interpreter Grace Hahn, our Kiwi Connection Dr. Micheal Warren and our sports historian Dr. Victoria Jackson. Our team members have been busy since they've been on the show. Grace Hahn has a new ebook about being a global traveler/remote worker. You can also get tips a...

It's one year until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games! As we start to prepare to watch these Games, one thing stood out in our memories from watching Rio 2016: What's up with all of those classifications? Along with doping tests, para athletes have to undergo classification tests so that they're placed into competitive groups that all have similar limitations. Unfortunately for the casual viewer, th...

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic test events are well under way, and this weekend they're testing the triathlon course. We know that triathlon is swim-bike-run, but it's really more than that. Luckily for us, the USA Triathlon 2019 Age Group National Championships, which feature both a sprint and an Olympic distance were recently held in Cleveland, so Jill hopped on her bike and headed to Edgewater Park to...

We're excited to have Olympian John MacLeod*, producer at WitNit Productions, with us this week. John's been working on a fascinating project called "Beyond Bronze, Silver and Gold," which is a series of documentary films that share Olympians' untold stories. You've got to see the previews of his first two shorts -- they're riveting, and really well-told. John's working on the post-production port...

We're less than a year away from the Tokyo Olympics, which means there's not that much time for fans to prep. Never fear--Superfan Sarah is back to give us some tips on what we can do now. Plus, she's also spent a good amount of time in Tokyo, so she's got tips on how to beat the heat, different food to eat, how to get around and more! We always love it when Sarah's on because there's so much to t...

IT IS ONE YEAR UNTIL THE TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS!!! With all of the celebrations and ceremonies happening in Tokyo and with National Olympic Committees around the world, we couldn't be more excited. We wanted to get some perspective on what it's like on the ground in Tokyo, so we asked Roy Tomizawa to come on our show and give us some insight. Roy's the author of the blog The Olympians: From 1964 to 2...

Ever wonder what happens to Olympic medals and torches? Some go to museums; some go to auction and to a collector's collection. This week we're talking to Jon Becker, Olympic auction consultant for RR Auction, who tells us the type of items that go up for auction and how much they can be worth (you'll be surprised to know how much Jill has held in her hand). RR Auction's July Olympic auction is en...

Book Club Claire is back to discuss our latest book club selection, Making Waves: My Journey to Winning Olympic Gold and Defeating the East German Doping Program by Shirley Babashoff with Chris Epting. Our next book selection is Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph at the Olympic Games by David Clay Large . We'll be talking about it in November -- but get your book now (if you buy through the...

Book Club Claire is back to discuss our latest book club selection, Making Waves: My Journey to Winning Olympic Gold and Defeating the East German Doping Program by Shirley Babashoff with Chris Epting. Our next book selection is Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph at the Olympic Games by David Clay Large . We'll be talking about it in November -- but get your book now (if you buy through the...

It's Canada Day and Independence Day in the US this week, so we're celebrating by putting together a set of Lightning Rounds. We ask our Team Olympic Fever members five quick questions, and we love hearing how different everyone's answers are! In this edition, we've got sports psychologist Dr. Kristin Keim , Team USA's "Team Mom" Sherry Von Riesen and gold medal diver Laura Wilkinson. Who hooked K...

Hope you had a great Olympic Day! Alison did some sport climbing; Jill did elements of a triathlon, and we both participated on Team Olympic Fever for Team USA's Virtual Race (we're currently sitting in 3rd place--wooo!). We loved seeing everyone's celebrations -- if you haven't gotten your participation certificate, send us your proof of participation. We'll get a certificate to you! It's that ti...

Team USA sport climber and Team Olympic Fever member Josh Levin is back on the show to talk about his involvement with the sport since age 4 and training for the Tokyo Olympics. He also tells us which countries to watch out for at the Games. One of the other topics we talked about was moving up from the junior to senior ranks, and Jill was surprised to hear that Josh thought it was less stressful...

It might still be a year away, but it's not too early to start planning your trip to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This week we're talking with Ken Hanscom, COO of Ticket Manager and a recognized expert in ticketing, corporate sponsorships, traveling to and experiencing the Olympic Games. Ken tells us about the ticketing process, when to start looking for flights and hotel rooms and what else you can d...

At the International Olympic Committee Executive Board meeting a couple of weeks ago, the IOC Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Winter Games 2026 presented a report of its site visits. This large presentation shares details about each bid and sums up some of the important areas the IOC membership should consider when voting for a city (or in this case, region) to host the Games. In the first c...

Recently, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that women who compete in the 400m, 800m and 1500m in athletics (track & field) may not have testosterone levels above a certain limit. This limit seemingly targets runner Caster Semenya, a South African Olympic gold medalist in the 800m, who is a woman with elevated levels of testosterone and runs these exact 3 races. Any woman who's been around...

We love the fact that we have listeners from all over the world, and while we do love Team USA, we are also really happy when we can bring a different country's perspective to our show. Today we're talking about New Zealand and what participating in the Olympics means for its national identity. Our guest is Dr. Micheal Warren , an adjunct research fellow at Victoria University of Wellington in New...

We've been working on getting into equestrian events and thought, Well, why don't we start with how horses actually get to the Olympics? In this episode we're joined by Martin Atock, Managing Director at Peden Bloodstock, the firm that's been transporting horses to the Olympics since Montreal 1976. Martin tells us the incredible amount of logistical work that's involved and what it's like for a ho...

The US Olympic Committee's training facility in Colorado Springs plays hosts to hundreds of athletes every year. Some spend a week or two on campus for special training; others live there year round. To make sure the athletes are getting everything they need, the USOC relies on Sherry Von Riesen, athlete services coordinator -- or better known as Team Mom. In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, we...

It's time for another Olympic Fever Book Club episode, which means a great conversation with our friend Book Club Claire ! Today we're talking about "The Second Mark: Courage, Corruption, and the Battle for Olympic Gold" by Joy Goodwin. This book documents the judging scandal around the 2002 Olympic pairs figure skating competition, which resulted in a whole new system of judging. If you want to s...

The Lightning Round is back! We pose the same questions to our guests; you'll be fascinated by their answers. This time we're joined by the dulcet tones of wrestling announcer Jason Bryant, sustainability expert Matthew Campelli (or, as we prefer to call him, MCamp) and U.S. Olympic Committee archivist Teri Hedgpeth . We also have some information on tickets for Tokyo 2020.....or at least a sympat...