Keep the Flame Alive

Olympic road cyclist Coryn Labecki joins us to answer one of our burning questions: How does a road cycling peloton work? Coryn's got answers--and why being short is a useful quality in a race. Plus, remember that wild race at Tokyo 2020 where Dutch favorite Annemiek van Vleuten thought she had won the gold--until she realized she hadn't? Coryn was in that second breakaway group and saw it all go...

Happy Olympic and Paralympic Year! It's been a while since we've been able to say that phrase, but Paris 2024 is coming, and we couldn't be more excited! This week we've got all the important news about the Summer Games: Hotel taxes, food, the Russian participation situation, and Snoop Dogg. More importantly: The lottery to get tickets to the TeamNL House is now open. Register here by January 17....

It's our last episode of the year! Film Buff Fran joins us with a lively discussion of the 2017 documentary "Over the Limit," which follows Russian rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun. Will it be a thumbs-up holiday family film recommendation? Listen to find out! We also close our year of looking back at the Seoul 1988 Olympics and Paralympics. Our summer Intern Annalee Deabel looked at the legacy of...

Book Club Claire is back for our final book of 2023,  Speed Kings: T he 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World by Andy Bull. It covers the early days of the sport of bobsledding--and so much more. So much so that Claire's take on it surprised us! Buy your own copy through our bookshop.org storefront (affiliate link, for which we may earn a commission). We're winding down our Seoul 1...

You can buy tickets to the Olympics and Paralympics, but then you can also buy "hospitality packages," but what does that really mean? On this episode, we talk with Will Whiston, Executive Vice President of Olympic and Paralympic Games for On Location to demystify "hospitality." It's On Location's first Games as the International Olympic Committee's official sponsor. Will tells us how that partner...

It's Thanksgiving in the U.S., which means we've got a helping of Lightning Rounds to serve up with your turkey dinner! Lightning rounds are a set of five questions that we ask every guest. They're not necessarily lightning fast, as you'll see with one of our guests, and often inspire additional questions. They're one of our favorite features because there are so many different answers there are f...

The world of sports has always been captivating, filled with stories of determination, resilience, and triumph. The legendary Tennessee State Tigerbelles are one of those teams that triumphed throughout many Olympics, even with the odds against them. On this episode with talk with Aime Alley Card, author of the new book T he Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State . Aime's book covers th...

What's it like to pioneer a sporting tradition in your country? Irish skeleton racer Brendan Doyle joins us to talk about his efforts as a solo athlete (Ireland currently has no funding for winter athletes) to qualify for Milan-Cortina 2026 and become an Olympian.  Follow Brendan on Insta and X , and check out his website . Brendan has also founded BuildThroughSport , a non-profit that aims to hig...

Cricket is one of the sports that made it onto the program for LA 2028. It's one of the world's most popular sports....except in the US. We've decided to give ourselves a five-year learning curve to understand how the sport works, and to kick off that learning, Andrew Nixon, writer at Cricket Europe , joins us to explain the sport and its colorful, colonial history. Check out Andrew's piece on cri...

This week we're delighted to have Olympic rower and podcaster Kristi Wagner on the show. Kristi competes in double sculls, finishing 5th at the Tokyo Olympics with Gevvie Stone. She now rows with Sophia Vitas and they won the world championships this year. We talked with Kristi about rowing, changing partners, and her new role as host of  the podcast The Other 3 Years. Follow Kristi on Insta and b...

The Paris 2024 Olympics will be notable for many reasons, but the International Olympic Committee wants to make sure you know that for the first time in Olympic history, the Games will have gender parity . But what does that really mean? We talk with Dr. Michele K. Donnelly, assistant professor of sport management at Brock University in Ontario, Canada to get to the heart of the matter. Find out m...

We welcome back Phil Andrews to the podcast this week to talk about his new(ish) role as CEO of USA Fencing, how governing this sport is different from his last role at USA Weightlifting, how he's dealt with the Alen Hazdic situation, how to get more women and para athletes involved with the sport, and what he's looking forward to in Paris. Follow Phil on Insta and LinkedIn ! In our history moment...

We're headed to the beach this week to talk with pro beach volleyball player and Olympic hopeful Betsi Flint. We talk with Betsi about the dynamics of partnerships in the sport--she currently partners with Julia Scoles--and some of the little details to look for when you're watching. Betsi is also married and has a daughter, so we get into the dynamics of balancing training and competing with pare...

Note: This episode does contain discussion of abuse. While having great athletic skills is key to being an Olympian, mindset also plays a major part in being able to compete with the best of the best. In this episode, we talk with Olympian Erin Aldrich-Shean about the journey she's taken from elite athlete to becoming a coach and consultant to help others attain an Olympic mindset. We talked with...

Cue our History Moment music and our Book Club music because Book Club Claire is on hand for a discussion about Richard Moore's The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100m Final (affiliate link). The title pretty much says it all--this was a doping scandal for the ages, and the book uncovers the history of the competitors in this race and all of the complexities...

We're excited to share with you the second part of our interview with freelance sports journalist and commentator Blythe Lawrence (if you missed part 1, go back to episode 300 ). Last time we focused on rhythmic gymnastics, and now we're checking out what's up in the world of artistic gymnastics. Follow Blythe on X/Twitter and Insta . She's also been commentating the Invictus Games with fellow TKF...

Author Stephen Lane talks with us about his new book Long Run to Glory: The Story of the Greatest Marathon in Olympic History and the Women Who Made it Hap pen. It's about the development of women's marathon as a sport, how it became included in the Olympics, and the very first Olympic marathon at LA 1984.  Stephen's book is a great read, so be sure to check it out. We have it listed on our Booksh...

We're going back to 1994 this week with our latest Movie Club pick: A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story. This SOBIG made-for-TV biopic had the blessing of Lillehammer 1994 gold medalist of Oksana Baiul and tells the story of her life through her surprise victory amidst the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal (though if you didn't know that scandal happened, you wouldn't learn anything about it...

We love hearing what the Games used to be like for pioneers of sport, so we're excited to have on Paralympian Lo Nigrosh, who was on the first U.S. women's sitting volleyball team. They competed at Athens 2004 and to many people's surprise, brought home the bronze. Lo tells us what the early days of the team were like and about her time in Athens. Today Lo is a lactation consultant, childbirth edu...

On this episode, we look at the world of rhythmic gymnastics with freelance sports journalist and commentator Blythe Lawrence (whose voice you might recognize from many a gymnastics feed). Blythe explains how the sport works and what we can look forward to at Paris 2024. Be sure to follow Blythe on Twitter and Insta ! In our Seoul history moment, Alison looks at the men's 100m butterfly race, whic...

Paris 2024 added a number of hip, urban sports to the program for their Games, including breakdancing. However, if you're an average Games fan and maybe have caught a little bit of breakin' here and there, you may not understand how it works. Not to worry -- American B-girl Sunny Choi is here to explain it all, including what happened to The Worm. Follow Sunny on Instagram and on TikTok ! Intern A...

This week we are moving to the fencing piste to learn how wheelchair fencing works. Contributor Ben talks with Paralympian Ellen Geddes about the ins and outs of the sport and how she got into it. Follow Ellen on Insta ! For our Seoul 1988 history moment, our intern Annalee Deabel tells of yet another controversy in the boxing ring, this time about South Korean boxer Byeon Jeong-il, whose headbutt...

We are officially at the one year to go mark before the Paris 2024 Olympics starts! That means it's time for a visit from our TKFLASTANI travel expert Ken Hanscom, who's got all of the details on what tickets might still be available, the hotel situation, flights, getting around Paris, and the hospitality houses. Follow Ken on Twitter (X) and Insta , and if you're on Facebook, join the Paris 2024...

Are you ready for surface talk?! This week we're joined by Paul Kamphuis, general manager at Polytan Asia Pacific, to talk about hockey turf. Paul tells us how the surface is made, why it's watered, and he's got a job Jill would like to do come Games time. Coincidentally this week was also Hockey Turf Day , so we hoped you celebrated appropriately. If you haven't, watch " The Surface ," a really i...

With just about one year to go until Paris 2024, we've got to start getting our daily show muscles into shape! We're training with you this week as we get deep into our yearlong look at the Seoul 1988 Olympics and Paralympics by watching the Olympics Opening Ceremonies .  For screencaps of some of the gems from the Parade of Nations, as well as a transcript, please visit flamealivepod.com. In our...