# This Week in Skating / A Pre-Olympic Chat with Jackie Wong

An episode of [This Week in Skating Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1621874792), 30 Jan 2026, 1 h 13 min.

Audio: https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/b566aa11-6897-41f3-9c98-f3550ae97372/stream.mp3

In this episode, Daphne and Gina chatted with Jackie Wong, Chief Skate Nerd at Rocker Skating and Host of the Rocker Skating Podcast, ahead of the XXV Winter Olympic Games in Milano Cortina. Rocker Skating: rockerskating.com Rocker Skating Podcast: https://www.rockerskating.com/the-rocker-skating-podcast Follow Jackie on X: https://x.com/rockerskating Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_06\]: Hi everyone, I'm Vincent Jo.
[0:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi, I'm Kathy Reed.
[0:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I'm Allison Reed.
[0:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi, I'm Ashley.
[0:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi, I'm Grace.
[0:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We're from the Hidden X.
[0:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Welcome to this week in Skating, the weekly podcast bringing you the latest news from the world of figure skating.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Here are your hosts, Daphne, Gina, and Matteo.
[0:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And we're back.
[0:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's just Gina and I and a special guest.
[0:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As we talked to someone who has been on the podcast before multiple times, probably in the running to having been on the podcast, the most number of times.
[0:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, we are talking to our good friends and fellow media personality, Jackie Wong.
[0:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I.
[1:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Before he and Gina and Matteo had off to the Olympics, we wanted to do a couple of things with Jackie.
[1:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We've been trying to schedule this all season, but as you know how busy we all are, it's scheduling just doesn't work sometimes.
[1:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So we are doing it now just in time to release it just before the Olympics.
[1:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we're doing it just before Jackie takes like a nap because he's gonna get up and watch for continent life
[1:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: yep no lies detected yep there should be tons of appreciation for everything that Jackie does because he's up all night and any works like he has a regular job in addition to this like Gina and I and so we just keep going like it's what we do we just you know it's it's a marathon to get through a season and you know what we all love it
[1:56] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, if we cease to love what we're doing with figure skating we would stop right away Like there's no reason why we would be doing this to ourselves.
[2:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We didn't love it Exactly, I say that when I'm editing photos at like two in the morning
[2:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Posting articles or social media.
[2:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's like I still love this.
[2:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's why I'm still doing it.
[2:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, otherwise I would have stopped by now.
[2:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, someone gave me some great advice very early on that basically I've held on to and I use it for everything now do something because it's fun and when it stops being fun to reevaluate and stop doing it and let someone else pick up the
[2:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: mantra because otherwise you burn yourself out and you lose the joy in what you're doing.
[2:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I do that every year when I get ready to decide, okay, what am I going to do for this next year?
[2:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I take that advice to heart and figure it out.
[3:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So before we jump into Olympic stuff, Jackie, tell us what you've been up to because you have been very, very busy and you launched a podcast in the last six months, which people were used to hearing you are an ice talk, they've heard you before, what made you decide it was time to transition to doing your own thing.
[3:29] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So I stock for those who don't know was something that we did from 2016, false fall of 2016 to Olympic season of 2022 and then and then it was basically just continued.
[3:49] \[SPEAKER_07\]: The backstory is it there was a podcast that was launched by
[3:58] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then when I spent work went under, that didn't really go under, it was discontinued.
[4:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It was a U.S. figure skating product, right?
[4:07] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so U.S. figure skating then took it over and continued to basically keep it as an international, internationally focused podcast.
[4:18] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then one year they were like,
[4:21] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You know, we're going to try something different.
[4:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: We're going to have this be more US focus at which point I was like, no, I'm not doing this because that's not my brand.
[4:31] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm not a, I don't only talk about US skaters and
[4:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I don't only want to be interviewing U.S. care, so I told them no, and so they had Marina Gassu come on and be basically be the other person on the podcast.
[4:52] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then the next season, they decided to go back to the original kind of format and then I came back with Terran Nichols, Terra Wilman at the time.
[5:01] \[SPEAKER_07\]: to to to finish up basically that season and then after that it was like oh there was no podcast because they wanted they were they were they wanted to do some different things with media and so forth and so that was discontinued and I had always wanted to continue something but I but I didn't know who to continue it with right like I needed somebody who was
[5:29] \[SPEAKER_07\]: as in the weeds and as nerdy as I am on the stuff and be able to just like talk about whatever at any time.
[5:37] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so, you know, I kept sort of kept my eyes peeled or my years peeled for people who could work.
[5:48] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And it took a while.
[5:49] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then
[5:51] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You know, at some point I had this brilliant idea that Michelle Ellis, who I always in at figure skating competitions, I always am sitting with
[6:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: chatting about figure skating during practices.
[6:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm like, why don't we just bring this to a podcast?
[6:10] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And, you know, she had to get it cleared with NBC because she's an NBC researcher, all that sort of stuff, and then it all worked out, and I was like, okay fine, let's give this a shot.
[6:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: If it works, it works.
[6:21] \[SPEAKER_07\]: If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
[6:22] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And it seems like it's work so far.
[6:25] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And that's where we are.
[6:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, I've missed,
[6:29] \[SPEAKER_07\]: talking about skating.
[6:31] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You know, I love typing about it, but I miss talking about it.
[6:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: you don't get to talk about it even I feel like everyone's coming by talking to well I feel like everybody comes up to you in an event I know I do when I'm asking you events yeah events for sure but like on a regular basis I'm like talking to myself or to my dog I do that Jackie I have a podcast and I'm still sitting here talking about things like I'll watch it performance like what the hell
[7:07] \[SPEAKER_07\]: No, no, absolutely not.
[7:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You just say it out loud to like get it out of your system.
[7:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Can you say it out loud?
[7:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I would have to say Michelle definitely is in the weeds and as a researcher.
[7:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I've seen her at competitions for years.
[7:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I had never met her until this nationals.
[7:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I was right.
[7:28] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, because she's usually not around.
[7:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, she's usually with the NBC people.
[7:32] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So it's yeah.
[7:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You see her, like I've seen her, did not know her name, but I've seen Michelle at so many nationals.
[7:42] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, she's been around longer than I have.
[7:45] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like, she was around during the ABC days.
[7:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Oh, wow.
[7:48] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Okay.
[7:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[7:50] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[7:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I've always just seen her to like the left or the right of, you know, either Terry or Tara and Johnny.
[7:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But I never knew who she was.
[8:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And she was very knowledgeable about skating for sure.
[8:06] \[SPEAKER_07\]: that I mean between her and not Olympic champions they're here, like the two of them have so much knowledge.
[8:15] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And that's, you know, there are other people who are behind the scenes, who do all this stuff, Cindy Shea is one of those barb, barb,
[8:28] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Give her a camera real last name, starts on an S. But she's also a part of that whole thing.
[8:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And there are all these people who are behind the scenes behind these, you know, barb strain, that's her name.
[8:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I love barb.
[8:47] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, she's, she's great.
[8:48] \[SPEAKER_07\]: She's, Michelle and I keep joking like she, she, every single time I see her, she's like, oh, this is my last one and then the next one, she's like, oh, I've been here again.
[8:56] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Oh, this is my last one.
[8:58] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You know, it's one of those, you can't keep her away.
[9:00] \[SPEAKER_07\]: She'll be in Milan with us, so I'll be excited to see.
[9:03] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But you know, all these people who are behind the scenes who know we ever see is, and
[9:09] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You know, very under-appreciated work because nobody knows they're doing the work.
[9:14] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[9:15] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And, you know, there's a huge production behind these big broadcasts, whether it's NBC or it's CBC or any of these huge broadcasts, where there's all of this knowledge and it's all there.
[9:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And, you know, the TV personalities end up using 105% percent of it because there's only so much they can fit into a broadcast.
[9:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, but that, to me, seems like it's untapped resources, though.
[9:48] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Oh, absolutely.
[9:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: that we need to be aware of and utilize more because they have a lot to share and it's important I think to be able to have conversations like that because we hear from a lot of the same people all the time but those that are behind the scenes they're making things happen but we're not actually hearing from them in their own voices so I think it's a cool idea to bring someone
[10:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to be able to talk about what she knows.
[10:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Which I think it, I think it's great that, you know, we have Sarah who's, you know, with the run-through and then we have Michelle who's with my podcast and I think that that extra bit of insight and it's real insight, right?
[10:40] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's not.
[10:41] \[SPEAKER_07\]: people hearing from other people hearing from other people kind of news.
[10:47] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's it literally these people are this is these are primary sources.
[10:51] \[SPEAKER_07\]: They're they're talking to the athletes.
[10:55] \[SPEAKER_07\]: They're they're they're when things happen.
[10:58] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's not it's not stuff that is hearsay, right?
[11:01] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And and that's that's a very important part of this.
[11:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[11:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Separating fact from fiction that was something Gina and I very early on in this podcast decided that facts over fiction was our focus because we
[11:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: didn't want to be the podcast that was spreading more and more rumors and gossip.
[11:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We really wanted to focus on, okay, this is concrete, we see it, it's there, we've heard confirmation, here we go.
[11:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah.
[11:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We stuck to that.
[11:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We stuck to that mantra and we have kept it up for almost four years.
[11:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's
[11:43] \[SPEAKER_05\]: Gosh, has it been four years for this podcast?
[11:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Wow.
[11:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, crazy.
[11:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We started right after the 2021 Olympics.
[11:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yes, because Kelly Rippon was doing these Instagram lives and had Gina and I both on to talk about things and and told us, Oh, you guys should podcast on this and I've been podcasting on movies and other things for
[12:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: at that point, like almost two years.
[12:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I had the experience in producing a podcast, but this was combining podcasting with something that I'm really into.
[12:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that can go really well or it can go really badly because it's, I mean, it's a lot of work.
[12:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that's something that
[12:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it's lost sometimes is, Gina and I can't just get on here and talk.
[12:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have to get on, we have to do the prep work.
[12:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like we have help in the background to help us with things, but it's a lot of work to produce a weekly podcast.
[12:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yep.
[12:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it's easier if you're doing it live because then,
[13:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: you're not the editing like that there's not a lot of editing that goes into that but when you're doing a weekly like news podcasts which is what we do there's editing and editing takes time plus show notes and all of those other things the prep work so it takes a lot of time to really pull all of that stuff together and I knew that going into it because doing a movie podcast your or TV podcast you are
[13:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: watching the show or the movie sometimes twice.
[13:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You're taking notes, you're looking out facts, you're getting information so that it can be well-rounded.
[13:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is the same thing with skating, although I think skating takes a lot more prep time because you're looking at events and social media and news stories and it's just there's so many different places that you need to be looking for
[13:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: trying to watch everything is almost impossible.
[14:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it's, yeah, it takes a lot of time.
[14:07] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm also just very excited for the current landscape of skating podcasts that are out there.
[14:16] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, that's the fact that we have so many different people who are so excited about the sport and also are
[14:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: covering it well and covering it respectfully and covering it informationally and all of that.
[14:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's been nice to be part of this landscape, right?
[14:37] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like I came back to podcasting not so that I can compete with everybody else.
[14:44] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It was like I wanted to be part of this because there's just been so much that's been going on and
[14:53] \[SPEAKER_07\]: yeah, perspective and point of view that they bring.
[14:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I appreciate that too because you can't look at it like it's a competition.
[15:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You have to look at it like we all have something different to bring to the table and fans are going to gravitate towards the people they want to listen to.
[15:11] \[SPEAKER_05\]: Exactly.
[15:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But there's room for everybody.
[15:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It doesn't have to be this exclusive realm of
[15:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, someone's going to take my listeners because they started a podcast.
[15:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, they're adding to it.
[15:23] \[SPEAKER_06\]: It's literally everybody wants to listen to every podcast that is like, yeah.
[15:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I had people at Nationals coming up to me being like,
[15:34] \[SPEAKER_07\]: like after yours.
[15:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I listen to this other one and after that one, I listen to the other one.
[15:39] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yes, go do it.
[15:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Do it all because each one has something different and special to offer.
[15:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if you don't want to listen to someone,
[15:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Because you are just kind of like, well, they don't really have what I want.
[15:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's always another podcast that will have what you want.
[15:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so you can just listen to a bunch and figure it out.
[15:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I do that with any podcast I listen to.
[16:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I figure out, okay, these two sound like friends.
[16:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They're the ones I want to listen to.
[16:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, it really comes down to like having a good chemistry.
[16:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And a good knowledge base as far as making a good
[16:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: podcast and you also have to be invested in what's going on because otherwise you just don't sound like you're really in it or having fun.
[16:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I can always tell like on days that I'm a little more tired than other days because I'm just not as in it or I don't feel as in it.
[16:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it's like, okay, well, we got a dig deep because this is, you know, working full time and, you know, doing other podcasts photography, IDC, Gina has episode like there's just so much and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming, but I think that
[17:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, to your point, I think there's room for a lot of voices and skating and Gina and I were very lucky.
[17:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We met the folks behind squareography while we were in St. Louis.
[17:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they're there a couple, they're super nice, you know, and I hadn't listened to them that much, but I had listened some because I'm always trying to listen to what other people are doing.
[17:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was so cool to meet them.
[17:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Haley, another one of the newer content creators, put together this breakfast and just threw it out there and said, hey, if you want to come, we're going to have it here at
[17:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so, Gina and I were like, okay, we're going to go and I'm so glad that we did.
[17:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There was a mix of people there.
[17:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were probably like 12, 13 people there.
[17:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was a good mix and I think it was a great way of showcasing our building at camaraderie amongst people.
[18:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, because it's, it's, you know, you've been in this long enough Jackie, you've seen it covering skating continues to change.
[18:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I remember, and I was telling Gina this a while back, when I was at Nationals in 2007, people were getting in trouble for live tweeting from the event.
[18:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And you've made it a form of it and it's like mutually respected, accepted, supported now, but that shows how over time things have changed.
[18:32] \[SPEAKER_05\]: Yeah.
[18:33] \[SPEAKER_05\]: Totally.
[18:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I feel like we're in the middle of another change because I think people are utilizing social media in a way that is different than the classic website and
[18:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm interested to see where it goes.
[18:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like I love the stuff that Haley's doing.
[18:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it's interesting.
[18:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I feel like more people are going to start doing that.
[18:57] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And this is, by the way, this is, this is Haley as in F.S.
[19:01] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Skating Stan.
[19:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yes, that, that Haley.
[19:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She's, I really like her.
[19:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think she's got a lot of passion.
[19:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And obviously by bringing everyone together, it was really cool to,
[19:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: get to spend a little more time with her and talk to other people and the funny thing for me at that breakfast was I was the one that had been going to national the longest and I still feel like I've only been going to nationals for five years so it's like oh boy it really has been 20 years hasn't it yeah crazy yeah my long shot yeah
[19:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That's okay, Gina, there's plenty of time, but I'm halfway to like 20.
[19:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm at 10.
[19:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I will retire and you'll be able to pass me.
[19:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You're not retired.
[19:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I told you that.
[19:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You can't talk about retiring.
[19:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The one who, like, says, when you were talking about Barb there, Jackie, I always think of Anne and says this is my last nationals and it 88 years old.
[20:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Now she's telling me, no, no, I think I'm going to go to nationals next year.
[20:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She's already talking about like placid and I'm like, I thought you were never going there again, but what is going on?
[20:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So you get sucked in and you can't until you're 88 years old.
[20:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, I can guarantee I will have stepped away by then.
[20:22] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But, and Phil Hirsch is 80, he said this was possibly his last nationals.
[20:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hey, I'm just like, Phil, can you really stop?
[20:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: that I've been at and I just remember like the early days of Phil when things went happen we'd have the table media seating and Phil would just be jumping up and running around like talking to people like in that media tribune area and you know it's been 20 years but it feels like it hasn't so like okay if you have to retire Phil all right but
[20:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Don't feel like you have to because ages ages a number and Anne actually talked to him and said You know, he's like, well, I'm 80 and she said, well, I'm 87 and I think that Florida because she's still is like
[21:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: a spark like boom boom boom she just moves I sometimes I can't even keep up with her it's just yeah it's just how it is she's spark yeah so you Jackie what Olympics number is this
[21:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We did that, um, who, yeah, we did that for when Melanie and Danielle went to their first Olympics, which was 2022.
[21:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: No, that wasn't Danielle's first one.
[21:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That was her second.
[21:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That wasn't Danielle's first.
[21:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No.
[21:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think they just gave them a medal because they survived a COVID Olympics.
[21:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, my goodness.
[21:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yes.
[21:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That could be why plus because of COVID and everything that had gone on, I think we were starting to just celebrate anything.
[22:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: good and so yeah we bought the metals and gave them metals.
[22:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Amazing.
[22:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it was super fun.
[22:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Just a way of celebrating, you know, the cool stuff.
[22:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: that we get to do as part of this.
[22:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a lot of work, but there are so many fun things and memories and stuff that you can take from it that makes it worthwhile.
[22:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So Gina is heading to her first Olympics.
[22:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, yeah, I don't know if I survive it.
[22:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, Gina is going to her first Olympics.
[22:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Matails going is first Olympics.
[22:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Melanie is going number two to her second Danielle.
[22:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is her third Robin.
[22:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, yeah, this is their third.
[22:56] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, definitely we're gonna miss you there.
[22:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm holding the foot down right here.
[23:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like I'm holding down the foot here.
[23:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'll be doing a lot of production because Gina Mateo will be there.
[23:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They'll be recording.
[23:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'll have articles and photos coming from there.
[23:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm good.
[23:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Someone actually asked me the other day.
[23:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, what about you?
[23:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Why don't you go to the Olympics?
[23:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I'm like, it's not really my dream to go.
[23:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I like helping to facilitate other people going and so I was really happy to be able to.
[23:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: get credentials for Mal to go in 2022 and to have a journalist credential this time so that Matteo can go cover an Olympic sin is home country like it to me that is worthwhile.
[23:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I told Gina and the others that if I could go to a competition this year would be Junior World honestly.
[23:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I like that I stance field at Junior World so that's where I would go.
[23:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know that sounds crazy to anyone listening, but I love this next generation that's coming up and I'm really invested in their development and so I'm excited to watch that.
[24:11] \[SPEAKER_07\]: The best, the best Vogue rhythm dance of the season.
[24:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Man, that rhythm dance, one of my favorites, there's so much.
[24:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: for Rossity, is that what I would call it?
[24:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's just fierce, okay.
[24:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's so much attitude and sass in that.
[24:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I just love it.
[24:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm gonna be here because I pretty much have run out of PTO.
[24:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I have to stock pilot for next year.
[24:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm gonna be here taking care of everything behind the scenes.
[24:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm one of those people that's just gonna get stuff done.
[24:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm the one.
[24:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, I edit all the pictures that people see on IDC
[24:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it's, even if I don't take them, I'm the one that edits them.
[24:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But thinking I'm talking about the Olympics.
[24:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yes.
[24:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I feel like we had to have you on to talk about, you know, your thoughts about going to Milan and then what you're most looking forward to and, you know, we'll talk about the disciplines a little bit and how things are stacking up.
[25:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Well, in some ways, this is sort of my first
[25:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: urban Olympics, if you will, because Pyeongchang was in the middle of like a coastal beach town, and there was nothing, there was really nothing around there, because it was in Gangdong all the way to the east coast of Korea.
[25:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then Beijing was COVID Olympics, so it might as well not been in China because you couldn't get out of the, the, the, the, the big bubble.
[25:48] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So everything was in the bubble.
[25:50] \[SPEAKER_07\]: We were fenced into our hotels and, you know, you had to take a bubble bus everywhere that you had to go to.
[26:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So Milan is the first one where I'm actually going to be like this is actually it feels like the first.
[26:11] \[SPEAKER_07\]: regular if you will competition type of of experience of the three Olympics I've been to which is very interesting because it'll be in the city and you know I was in Milan in 17 for worlds that year and I'm familiar with
[26:29] \[SPEAKER_07\]: how to get there and all that sort of stuff but very interested to see what it'll be like during an Olympics given all the activity that's going to happen there.
[26:42] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Now a lot of activity is going to happen in Cortina and the surrounding area of Milan so it's not like everything's going to be in Milan but I'm excited to see the buzz and all the stuff that's going to happen
[26:58] \[SPEAKER_07\]: and I have some friends in Milan, friends, co-workers, people who are like, you're coming to Milan, let's get together.
[27:03] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm like, you know, idea, how little time I'm going to have.
[27:10] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So can you meet me for coffee at my hotel more?
[27:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[27:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[27:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You might as well be honest about it.
[27:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You might as well be honest about the situation.
[27:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, it's funny because people like to say, oh, you're going on vacation
[27:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, and it's time off from work, but it's not a vacation.
[27:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I try it.
[27:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[27:34] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Nothing vacation about it.
[27:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No.
[27:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I try to do some things like, in St. Louis, I went to the Aquarium, which was great.
[27:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But that's because a friend took it upon herself to pull me out of the bubble and to go do something.
[27:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm glad that I did.
[27:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But there's not a lot of time for that.
[27:54] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like is it fun?
[27:54] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's absolutely fun.
[27:56] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Again, if this wasn't fun, we wouldn't be doing it.
[27:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Exactly.
[27:59] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But is it a lot of work?
[28:01] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's a lot of work.
[28:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Is it a lot of self-imposed work?
[28:04] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's a lot of self-imposed.
[28:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yes.
[28:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Because we love this.
[28:07] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[28:07] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's filled.
[28:08] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Every single time, I wake up in the morning to go to practices.
[28:12] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm like, do I have to do this?
[28:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And I'm like, no, I don't have to do this.
[28:16] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But I want to do it.
[28:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so I'm going to do it and I, you know, I just brace myself for that and literally my, I had a, I had a session with my trainer yesterday and he was like, so what's going to happen when you're in Milan, I'm like,
[28:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Uh, I'm not going to be working out for three weeks and he's like, no, we're going to figure out a way for you to get 30 minutes of work out at every couple days and I'm like, do you know how tired are going to be?
[28:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Just bumping down the stairs a couple times.
[28:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, you do that.
[28:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Really, you know.
[28:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I feel like I feel like competitions can be a workout.
[28:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You kind of got to workout running back and forth between the screen and the table.
[29:02] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, until they put a screen, a little closer to where he was, he caught up on that.
[29:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, it's hard if you start working out at the gym, because I started back and October.
[29:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And you go somewhere and you don't you get out of your routine.
[29:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's very easy to not get back into your routine.
[29:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'll get back.
[29:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I hate it.
[29:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm just like, no, really can I take another day off?
[29:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, you can't.
[29:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You really?
[29:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, yeah.
[29:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I have, I have now worked out five, five days in row.
[29:33] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And I feel like I feel like I'm back.
[29:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like, you know, it used to be that every single day, I had some kind of soreness somewhere because I was working out.
[29:43] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then the last four weeks, it's been like,
[29:47] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm sore from not working out because I feel like a slab.
[29:53] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So yeah, I need that routine in my life.
[29:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[29:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a great time to go and just kind of, I think it shut off.
[30:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I have music in my ears, and I'm not, I can't physically do anything else.
[30:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It forces me to be in that spot.
[30:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's like, no, you can't do anything.
[30:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You have to get it on this bike, or you have to go to this machine, and you do not get to be on the computer, which is my, I love to be on the computer.
[30:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I love to get
[30:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to be taken care of yourself.
[30:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I am excited because there is a berries in Belon, berries, berries, boot camp, just what you speak called, and that's one of my main, like I do berries three or four times a week, and that keeps me in the rhythm of working out.
[30:43] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so that will at least force me, I will probably do some like six AMs and deal with it, but that will at least force me to keep
[30:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Could you're there the whole time, right?
[30:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So are you there like three weeks?
[31:01] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I'm there for three weeks.
[31:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I get there on February 1st and I leave on February 23rd.
[31:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Oh, okay.
[31:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: 22nd?
[31:06] \[SPEAKER_07\]: 23rd.
[31:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[31:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So three weeks?
[31:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[31:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm February 4th and then I come back the 14th.
[31:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So I'm only there part of it.
[31:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Just couldn't do the whole entire thing.
[31:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[31:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: A lot of money and also time off from work, you know, but yeah.
[31:22] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, I think I think people don't realize how expensive this is for people in the media.
[31:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like, if you're not, you know, covered by some large organization and you're doing this yourself or as a, as like a small organization, it's like,
[31:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, it's not cheap and, you know, the hotel, the flights and all of that, so yeah, so I was like, well, I could do part of it and that's enough for me, I guess.
[31:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Of course, I'm like bummed because I'm missing pairs and women and I'm sure that was going to be two great events.
[32:04] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think the whole, all of the events are going to be really good.
[32:09] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, you'll get the team event and you get a little bit.
[32:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, so yeah, team events going to be interesting.
[32:17] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I gotta say the team event, I, um, I feel like every single Olympics now.
[32:22] \[SPEAKER_07\]: What is this is a fourth Olympics we've had the team event.
[32:26] \[SPEAKER_07\]: People are dreading it less and less and I think people are more and more excited about the team event because of now they're expecting it that dynamics are there like,
[32:38] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You know, it's, it's a real competition because I think the first time they did it it was like, what is this fake thing about it together?
[32:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Exactly.
[32:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[32:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I wasn't super excited about it the first time they did it just because I was thinking about the athletes and what more they were going to have to be dealing with to be there like in some like early.
[32:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it, yeah, I just, I was thinking about them, but
[33:06] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I think they're just more prepared for it now, right?
[33:08] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Because they expect it to happen.
[33:10] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so the preparation is different.
[33:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: The expectations of what they do is different.
[33:16] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Their training schedules become different and all of that.
[33:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[33:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think the results could be really interesting because the US, I think, has a really strong case.
[33:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I also think Team Japan has
[33:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: equally as strong case and where some teams don't have some of the countries don't have strong like a strong dance team or a strong pairs team, other teams, it's flip-flopped and they have a strong pairs and not a strong, like it's very interesting.
[33:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think that the fight for the gold medal could be very exciting.
[33:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I also think that the fight for the bronze medal could be
[34:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: it really is going to depend on which version of what skaters show up.
[34:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Well, and the fight to just get into the free skate will be interesting.
[34:09] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yes, too.
[34:10] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[34:12] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's kind of, it's sort of, I wish there were five medals for the team.
[34:18] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And because like just getting into the free skate is going to be an actual, like,
[34:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, it's not it's not going to be easy.
[34:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's going to it's going to be work and countries are going to have to be very strategic in how they pick Who does what phase because this isn't like world team trophy where there's two men two women of pairs in a dancing you basically can swap out.
[34:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think twice
[34:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And for the U.S. when we had the Olympics in 2022, they swapped out Vincent did the long and Nathan did the short and then Maddie and Evan and Maddie and Zack split the dance event.
[35:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Right.
[35:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's up to the country what they want to do.
[35:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In some cases, they don't have a choice because they don't have like more than one person qualified for each discipline.
[35:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: so that person has to do both.
[35:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it's a gamble because you're looking at what might make the most sense will the athlete be willing to do it because they also have to think about their individual events as well.
[35:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm very interested in what the U.S. does because
[35:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think I know what they would need to do to, like, ensure that the gold metal comes home.
[35:47] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's to put Elia in to both.
[35:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[35:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yep.
[35:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think Maddie and Evan need to do both.
[35:54] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yep, the only one that they can switch out is the women.
[35:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[35:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yep.
[35:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think that's it.
[36:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't think that you can take any other chances.
[36:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think you have to do that.
[36:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I don't know that that's necessarily what's going to happen.
[36:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We were supposed to get those team announcements, right?
[36:11] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And it was no chance that they would have ever come out.
[36:14] \[SPEAKER_07\]: That was a complete mistake.
[36:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was in the breast release.
[36:18] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It was a complete surprise.
[36:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was a surprise.
[36:21] \[SPEAKER_07\]: There was zero chance we would get that.
[36:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's literal strategy, like, do you really have a team Japan to know?
[36:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No.
[36:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's okay.
[36:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Right.
[36:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No way.
[36:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You don't.
[36:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like, I just, I could not believe that that was that I was like, no, that's not that happened.
[36:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know.
[36:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We waited, though, Jackie.
[36:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're like, okay, they said so.
[36:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I also know that sometimes things are communicated.
[36:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And when mistakes like that happen.
[36:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: you just don't get the answer.
[36:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You'll get it when they release it.
[36:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think this reminds me a lot of ice dance that it still happens.
[36:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What's be honest, where people would keep their programs close to their chest until the last possible second.
[37:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's still happening in ice dance.
[37:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's still I think it's still happening.
[37:08] \[SPEAKER_07\]: They all skate to Ricky Martin.
[37:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I was talking to someone about music that was left to like that people didn't skate to.
[37:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And
[37:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, there's a lot of artists that people either didn't skate to them or picked the wrong song and it all comes down to what fits the beats.
[37:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and what fits like the requirements.
[37:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so that's why we get stuck with the same song over and over and over again.
[37:38] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, but but the skaters have not been shy to slow down music to make it work with the beats, which kills me.
[37:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know.
[37:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know of at least one instance.
[37:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: at Nationals where a song was slowed down like really because I know the song really well in my end and I'm like no no no this is too slow.
[38:00] \[SPEAKER_06\]: This is not register.
[38:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No it's not working.
[38:03] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And like all these all these kids who were born in the 90s or after the 90s getting to the stuff and I'm like would you do the same thing if they slow down Taylor Swift or whatever favorite artist is?
[38:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No.
[38:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They would not, they would not like it, they would not appreciate it.
[38:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I didn't hear as much of slowing down this year as I have in years past, but they were definitely some teams that I was like, why did you pick this song?
[38:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're going to do that to you.
[38:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't understand, but okay.
[38:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I think the team event again is going to come down to who is put in it.
[38:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's gonna come down to it and we're not gonna know until the last possible second.
[38:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think that's correct.
[38:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it may end up that all the teams are posted on the eye issue website at the same time and that's when we find out.
[39:00] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Well, that and also, that and also, once we start getting photos of who's going to Milan and who's going early, we'll start understanding who's the top of the team on the team.
[39:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, that's true.
[39:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You got to just watch, see, that goes back to what I said, where we have to watch social media, like there's so many things we have to watch to know what's going on.
[39:25] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So, I mean, I'm having fun alone because I'm not there for the first day of practices.
[39:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh my gosh, Jackie, how are you going to survive?
[39:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Wait, what is the question of the practices?
[39:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I think Saturday?
[39:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh.
[39:39] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Sunday, Sunday might be the first day of practice, and I get there on I get their Monday more morning.
[39:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay.
[39:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh my God.
[39:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: How is it survive?
[39:48] \[SPEAKER_07\]: This is how how is the internet going to survive without you there to keep us like it's okay if if if The other Olympics for any indication you go to these first practices and there's literally one person on the ice.
[40:04] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yep.
[40:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I got so remember, I wrote, I still remember sitting with Michelle and others in Pyongcheng and it was just Karri Sakamoto Beaming with energy on like by herself on practice just doing all these beautiful edge drills and like met carving all these patterns on the ice and we're just like, oh look it's curry
[40:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Little did we know that eight years later we would be seeing her in her third Olympics as an Olympic gold medal favorite.
[40:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's kind of crazy.
[40:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Isn't it?
[40:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, let's just transition to the women's event.
[40:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Don't cry.
[40:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it's the last event to take place.
[40:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It is.
[40:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That is the reason why I would have stayed if it was before.
[40:51] \[SPEAKER_06\]: It's going to be so good.
[40:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's going to be so good.
[40:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's a lot to love and a lot of, I think, variables because their skaters that are definitely capable of shaking things up, but the question is, will they put out the performances to make it as crazy as it could be?
[41:11] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, you've...
[41:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You've probably got at least eight skaters who can get on the podium on any, on any good day.
[41:21] \[SPEAKER_07\]: If not more, I need to go and actually do my entire preview at some point, but
[41:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: There's a lot, there's a lot, you know, all three US women, all three Japanese women, Adelea Petrosia, Nina Petricina, like that, I already named eight, and we're not done yet.
[41:40] \[SPEAKER_07\]: We're not done yet, we're not done yet.
[41:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They're more.
[41:43] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Gishin, who else, well, I, there's more.
[41:50] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, you know, you, you add the gubanavas
[41:57] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Luna Hendrix, and the Lara, not Keith Goodman, and the Sophia Samadilkina.
[42:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like those are gonna be outsiders, but still.
[42:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like they can get up there.
[42:12] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's gonna be tight just to get into the top 10.
[42:17] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And the way that these women have been skating the last few seasons, it should be,
[42:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: For me, it should be the highlight event of the entire Olympics.
[42:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And you know that I stance is my favorite.
[42:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I'm going to say that that's going to be the highlight event.
[42:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I can't disagree with you because I think all four disciplines have the potential to be a highlight event if the skating is where it can we know it can be.
[42:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think the men's event
[42:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What can we say about what can we say about what can we say about the men's of And let me tell you what I go back to is I just remember Nathan Chence first Olympics and that it was a lot for him like the short program.
[43:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He he struggled like I think it's
[43:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's hard to go into your first Olympics and know how it's really going to feel until you get there.
[43:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so, while Ilia is incredibly talented and the gold medal favorite for sure, I just hope that we all, you know, take a step back and remember that he's a human,
[43:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's see.
[43:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, he can, he's definitely been incredibly consistent and reliable.
[43:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So you know, we'll see.
[43:55] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, it, it doesn't, it doesn't get lost on a lot of us that this is the thing that he has been hyped up for for the last four years.
[44:11] \[SPEAKER_07\]: and Nathan didn't have that kind of hype in 2018.
[44:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, he did not.
[44:17] \[SPEAKER_07\]: He went in 2018, Nathan went in as one of the skaters who could win or be on the podium.
[44:26] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[44:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And, you know, it was still at that point.
[44:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It was still very much the the user era, right, at that point.
[44:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, and, you know, was Nathan of, of gold medal favorite, I don't think he was.
[44:42] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Could he have won the gold medal?
[44:43] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yes, he could have.
[44:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Absolutely.
[44:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[44:45] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But it, it wasn't the same as four years after that, where he really actually was the favorite.
[44:53] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, and at, but Ilya, in his first Olympics, it's been building for four years.
[44:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It has, and I forgot that,
[45:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He won the Silver Medal at US Nationals in 2022 and they did not put him on the team, which made sense if you look at USFS's criteria for how they were picking the team, he, you know, he didn't have what the others had.
[45:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they, you know, it wasn't the first time that they left someone off the team.
[45:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like they've been using this criteria for a few Olympics now.
[45:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Elya.
[45:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I also think that maybe the team event will help him kind of get in the zone.
[45:43] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And you know, if last Olympic team event was any indication, it was the same thing for Nathan.
[45:51] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like once he did that short program and team, he was a different skater.
[45:58] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So, you know,
[46:00] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It was, it was funny how at nationals, all the guys were saying how, when they finished their short program, it felt like a relief because they had, they had done it once, whereas the women were like, oh yeah, let's do our hair, like it was like, it's like a little different.
[46:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It was such a different understanding of like stakes and pressure for the, for the, for the,
[46:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Amber Alyssa and Isavo have right now can we like we just need a bottle of whatever it takes like if everybody else gets escaped with the kind of at least on the surface freedom and like lack of whatever that they have it's it's uh it's pretty amazing when we were at nationals for the women's free skate i had no worries that
[46:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: they weren't gonna nail like lay it down.
[46:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I felt like, okay, yep, especially in that last group.
[46:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That was so fast.
[47:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So happens free skate.
[47:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Brady and Sarah, and then it was just like, yep, I have no question in my mind.
[47:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They are going to all skate incredibly well.
[47:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the vibe between the three of them
[47:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I just don't feel like we've seen it and I love it because it's different, it's more of support and building each other up versus tearing each other to pieces.
[47:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I love it.
[47:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I hope it continues because I think it's um, it's a healthy mindset to have.
[47:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, everyone has their own individual goals and what they want to accomplish in the
[47:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: how they behave together is definitely a breath of fresh air.
[47:55] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I think what's also so interesting about the three of them is that they are as much as they are contemporaries.
[48:01] \[SPEAKER_07\]: They are literally three different generations of skaters.
[48:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yes.
[48:06] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Right.
[48:06] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like Amber grew up in the juniors in the mid-2010s.
[48:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Isabel or Alyssa grew up in the late 2010s, isabel grew up in the early 2020s, right?
[48:20] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like there is there is that age difference between all three of them and I do think that there's something around that that has led to the the camaraderie and the closest that like, you know,
[48:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: is about looked up to Alyssa who looked up to Amber, whether or not it was like their favorite skater or they admire them, they watch them growing up as up and coming skaters, and I think there's something to that.
[48:52] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Versus if you go back to like,
[48:54] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Marae versus Ashley versus Caroline versus Gracie like they you know Gracie was a different generation but but you know Marae Ashley and Caroline were all in that same cohort that grew up together and and that that was maybe a little bit different than what we're seeing here today but yeah I don't know I have I have no diagnosis to for why they have such a relationship such a great relationship
[49:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: but i love it and i hope that others see it and continue it moving forward because i think it's a positive thing for the sport so outside of ilia we also have will have yuma kagiyama who is a raining Olympic medalist in his own right he won silver in 2022 i think he is a good bet for the podium but i also think that japan is sending
[49:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: a very strong team of men, as well.
[49:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Should Saddo, let's just look at it.
[49:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Should Saddo.
[49:57] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Japan is sending a strong team and then a complete wild card.
[50:06] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Which we're going to see this week with four continents.
[50:08] \[SPEAKER_07\]: What happens with calmiura, right?
[50:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I'm not surprised that he's on the team, but I am surprised he's on the team just because he's so unpredictable.
[50:18] \[SPEAKER_07\]: four months ago if you told me that come here would make the Olympic team the season I would have laughed in yes because he had such an awful start to a season and then like the grit and the determination and the
[50:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: just everything.
[50:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: He crawled himself back to contention and he made the team.
[50:41] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And there was no doubt about it.
[50:42] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like there was no doubt he was going to be the pick when they finished Japan Nationals.
[50:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, and you were there.
[50:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So you saw an in person.
[50:52] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[50:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like so you were there like to get the full effect of it.
[50:56] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[50:57] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like it was it was it was something else.
[50:59] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And and I said after Japan Nationals
[51:03] \[SPEAKER_07\]: He just went from, can I make it to the Olympics to really a dark horse for the podium?
[51:12] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[51:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Because he puts down clean skates the way that he skates.
[51:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Those are podium programs, but that's a huge F, right?
[51:24] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Well, well, it's a huge F.
[51:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: it makes me think of Daniel Grasso like if he puts it down but will he do it like again though that makes it kind of exciting right I mean you can say that about so many of the guys yeah including Adam Sayard and Far including one shot including Kevin Amos including I'm I'm missing out her off sure yeah I'm shiter off like I'm I'm missing people for sure
[51:56] \[SPEAKER_07\]: The fact of the matter is, this men's field, outside of Ilya and Yuma, can be very open and even a Yuma is not guaranteed a metal.
[52:12] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Illya more so given the consistency but like it's it's just been it's just been one of those seasons where you're like what the heck is going to happen with the men yeah it and again it just makes it really exciting like I feel like we need to build on this excitement and
[52:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: some say exciting and some say nervous wreck, which is what I will be when I'm there.
[52:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I will be excited but nervous for anyone in the field that I know, I will be more nervous.
[52:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think just because it
[52:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Olympics comes around once every four years.
[52:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a huge deal.
[52:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But you know, as well as I do in Gina, this sport, when the Olympics are over, we will shift and we will have junior worlds, we will have worlds.
[53:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then we will start another quad and continue with covering the sport in non-Limbing years.
[53:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like it's a continuous thing.
[53:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[53:17] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, we all, frankly, we all work to this moment, too.
[53:25] \[SPEAKER_07\]: being the thing that we wait for every four years and, you know, I won't speak for the two of you, but I think I could, you know, the Olympics is what brought me into the figure skating world, you know, it's the spectacle of it and it's a cool thing.
[53:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's an opportunity to get eyes on the sport and draw people in
[53:52] \[SPEAKER_07\]: My analytics this season has been double.
[53:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That's my God.
[53:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: My site keeps crashing because it's so high.
[54:00] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Double triple of the normal.
[54:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, yep, that's what I'm having to.
[54:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And people are looking up things that you would never imagine.
[54:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like they're digging into stuff.
[54:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I am just like, okay, we need this.
[54:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We need this.
[54:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then,
[54:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have that Netflix documentary that's coming out.
[54:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Pippoori first.
[54:22] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm saving that for my plane ride to Malon.
[54:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: That's... You will hear my voice a number of times.
[54:31] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Oh!
[54:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Talk to you, man.
[54:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh!
[54:33] \[UNKNOWN\]: OK.
[54:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You will see some photos of mine on that documentary because Michelle Ellis reached out to me.
[54:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She had me digging in the archives like I went back as far as I could like to find specific photos that she was looking for.
[54:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, um, intent them off to her.
[54:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I am excited for that because I hope that it will draw attention like whatever can draw attention to the sports that it's not.
[55:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: forgotten after the Olympics for another three years and then we we come back to it in the Olympic year.
[55:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I love for more people to be drawn to the sport and I'm hoping that the intensity and the competitiveness will help draw people to it and and this documentary I'm it's a nice dance documentary
[55:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I think what will be interesting, they, I know Netflix had started with this idea at the beginning of the season.
[55:38] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so a lot has transpired over the past few months, including Gabriella Papadakis's
[55:55] \[SPEAKER_07\]: continued to even a little bit longer because the dynamics, which were already a little weird, have changed even more over the past month and they don't have any of that document it, right?
[56:14] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like they were editing this and the end of November or something like that.
[56:17] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So it was like, I think they followed everybody through the Grand Prix and they were like,
[56:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: make this thing go.
[56:25] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And so, you know, I think there's the, they're going to be things that talked about in this documentary that fans know and, and, you know, it's Netflix, so they're not, they're not going to,
[56:40] \[SPEAKER_07\]: They're not going to dance around issues that are part of this, so they're definitely not.
[56:47] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But the thing that they won't be able to talk about because they didn't have the material or the footage or the time is the latest sort of developments that have come out from the book.
[57:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, and that seems to be a daily thing that's happening like we're getting more and more information because the book was of it's available in French but people are translating parts of it and posting it and that's how I'm learning more about it plus Mateo was reading it so I'm anxious for him to finish it so we can tell us more about what is actually in there but it's
[57:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It doesn't paint, Guillem says her on in the light as to which we are used to seeing him painted in and so it's
[57:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a very complicated situation.
[57:50] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Well, and I do think that this originally was more supposed to be focused on Maddie and Evan going for their Olympic gold.
[58:00] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And I think Netflix was like, oh, the interesting that there's this now whole thing around this new team that has lots of baggage.
[58:13] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And I'm sure they like,
[58:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Of course, it's drama.
[58:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We've got to have the drama, they got to have the drama.
[58:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so talking about ice dance, I mean, it's been a very interesting 12 months, I guess.
[58:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This season in particular has been incredibly strange just because of multiple reasons we have Lawrence for New
[58:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: coming into the picture, a new team, like you said, with a lot of baggage, they might need a few carts for the baggage that they have just a few.
[58:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they've kind of exploded onto the scene, but they've also had some situations with judging and have
[59:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: world silver medalists.
[59:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And now they may not even make the Olympic podium.
[59:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Because they're not it's just not adding to me.
[59:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's not necessarily adding up with the with the judging but bubble sea and then lily fear and Lewis Gibson seem to be all in on this season and and wanting to metal and potentially meddling at the Olympics.
[59:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think there's a lot of variables, though, with it.
[59:44] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Totally.
[59:44] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I mean, I think, you know, getting your favorite, have finally gotten themselves back in the Olympic conversation after your wins.
[59:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes.
[59:53] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And they do look stronger here than they have looked in a long time as well.
[59:58] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[59:59] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Call it what you will, but whatever the troubles and obstacles that they've had during the season have actually made them a stronger team.
[1:00:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think a fire is under them.
[1:00:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They definitely have a fire lit under them and it's kind of like wait a minute.
[1:00:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Don't take us out of the conversation.
[1:00:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Right.
[1:00:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, yeah.
[1:00:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Very much here.
[1:00:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We are still the skaters that you can count on.
[1:00:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're getting it together.
[1:00:22] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[1:00:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But it's it's five.
[1:00:24] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's five skaters for three metals.
[1:00:28] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I was a five
[1:00:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, and there's going to be, it's going to be a fight because I feel like the gold medal is between two teams, the bronze medals between three teams, unless someone has, like, completely melts down.
[1:00:45] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I don't even think it requires a complete meltdown, requires one mistake that isn't.
[1:00:51] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah, the small to medium, probably medium, probably medium.
[1:00:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We saw what happened at European.
[1:00:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Right.
[1:00:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, fear Gibson had a mistake, and it opened the door or fork in Yad and Fibre to walk through and take the silver metal over them, putting them back into the conversation.
[1:01:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think as far as like Madison chalk, Evan Bates, and Lawrence, Furnier, Bojria, Giamsizaron, I think they would have to melt them, like in order to not.
[1:01:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I feel like they're good locks for the podium.
[1:01:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, outside of that.
[1:01:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, if you had told me before this season before they are come, Lawrence and Geomes bursting onto the scene, I would have said very similarly, okay, um, Maddie and Evan, Feren Gibson, probably Piper and Paul, those will be your
[1:01:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the Olympics base, but then that didn't happen.
[1:01:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So again, I think it's the same teams, but we're adding one in.
[1:02:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Right.
[1:02:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For me, I am also incredibly excited for the next group behind them, just because I think there's a lot of potential in those skaters and they've been waiting a long time already.
[1:02:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm interested to see what happens with that.
[1:02:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But that brings us Jackie to the pair's event.
[1:02:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if you want to have gotten more and more unpredictable, yes, yes, it totally has, um, yeah, look, just look at your opinions.
[1:02:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, um, again, no.
[1:02:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Metallica in a barrel of a
[1:02:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: when they are on our love, they're lovely and they can put it together, but they are not the most consistent.
[1:02:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, you can't count on them.
[1:02:54] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Especially in big competition format.
[1:02:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, like this is, this is a huge test.
[1:02:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The pressure is the variable that we don't really know yet.
[1:03:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: How it's going to affect people.
[1:03:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we have to remember, we have Kantian Machi, who were missing from your opinions.
[1:03:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Now, what are they going to come back to the Olympics and what kind of shape?
[1:03:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We know they have to do the team event.
[1:03:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Well, actually, they don't because there is a second team, but they kind of need to, if it leaves, any chance at a metal in the team event, they need that.
[1:03:31] \[SPEAKER_07\]: They need that.
[1:03:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Right.
[1:03:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, they have to be.
[1:03:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's a home Olympics.
[1:03:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So never underestimate the excitement and drive to want to get a metal in the home Olympics.
[1:03:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, and we heard that there's like an injury, but we don't know like if it's minor, you never know it's that sort of thing too.
[1:03:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And it would've been great to see them at your opinions ahead of the Olympics, because now you have this unknown as to what they're going to be like, I feel like if they had been in top form at your opinions, they would have probably won.
[1:04:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, absolutely.
[1:04:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They had skated well because there's just something really special about them.
[1:04:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Minerva Fabian Hasa and Nick Kita Voloden.
[1:04:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not their best performances at Europeans.
[1:04:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I still though remember, last year at worlds, thinking they just won the gold medal.
[1:04:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, even though they didn't win the gold medal, I felt like they had, because that free skate was just so beautiful.
[1:04:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then Rikumira, Riyuichi Kihara,
[1:04:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, could they win the first Olympic pair's goal for Japan?
[1:04:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Absolutely, they could.
[1:04:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yep.
[1:04:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Will they?
[1:04:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't know, because it really, again, comes down to you.
[1:04:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As you were talking about in dance, not making mistakes.
[1:04:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't feel like any of these pairs can make mistakes, because there's going to be a team behind them to...
[1:05:03] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I keep being like, I keep being like, are all the pairs going to make a mistake.
[1:05:08] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like, that's been the theme of this season.
[1:05:12] \[SPEAKER_07\]: It's, there's been very few clean skates among the pairs.
[1:05:16] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yeah.
[1:05:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But there's so much talent among these pairs.
[1:05:22] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[1:05:23] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You, you, you named, what?
[1:05:26] \[SPEAKER_07\]: But four or five pairs of four or five of them in there are four outside of that there's still out of the shop There's sway and hunt.
[1:05:33] \[SPEAKER_07\]: There's you know, there's Pavlovos Itchika.
[1:05:36] \[SPEAKER_07\]: There's there's all of these all these pairs who have the potential to make it to the podium none of them have really Separate themselves the season as like
[1:05:49] \[SPEAKER_07\]: the pair to beat yet.
[1:05:54] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So yeah, it could be anybody's game.
[1:05:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You can only go by what you know about who might be more consistent.
[1:06:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But again, on Olympic ice, I feel like it's like another
[1:06:19] \[SPEAKER_05\]: No.
[1:06:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it doesn't make it exciting.
[1:06:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Never again.
[1:06:24] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You say excited.
[1:06:25] \[SPEAKER_07\]: You say excited.
[1:06:27] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And I say pearl clutching.
[1:06:30] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like, I'll have, I'll have all my pearls there to clutch all day long.
[1:06:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But Jackie, I'm looking at it from like what a casual fan might think.
[1:06:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I'm thinking about could this draw more eyes to skating?
[1:06:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Cause I would love for.
[1:06:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: more people to get invested because I think there's a lot of personalities that are intriguing and they can be drawn in.
[1:06:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well I be nervous watching absolutely I will, but I also think it's very exciting because you kind of don't know what's going to happen or you might know
[1:07:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I'm very excited for it.
[1:07:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I am going to be watching from home.
[1:07:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I am totally fine with that.
[1:07:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We just got a brand new television.
[1:07:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's perfect for this time.
[1:07:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's perfect.
[1:07:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We'll be driving Chris crazy with the Olympics all the time.
[1:07:35] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And that's their cross-to-bearer.
[1:07:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Exactly.
[1:07:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I have to ask is a newbie heading to the Olympics.
[1:07:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: What should I know?
[1:07:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: What should I be prepared for?
[1:07:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Like any advice you can give me.
[1:07:50] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, be prepared for pin trading.
[1:07:53] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Bring pins that you have.
[1:07:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes.
[1:07:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Okay.
[1:07:57] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Because it will be a thing.
[1:07:59] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Even if you don't even even if you didn't think you were a pin person, the fact that everybody has pins there is going to be
[1:08:09] \[SPEAKER_07\]: it's going to be a thing.
[1:08:11] \[SPEAKER_07\]: What I would also say is if you are a souvenirs person, go get your souvenirs as early as possible.
[1:08:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Okay.
[1:08:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like do it at the beginning when they're still stuff in the stores because if you wait until the last week, it'll be like, oh no, what happened to everything?
[1:08:29] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Like that was what happened to me in
[1:08:31] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Pyongchang, because I was like, oh, there's so many things that I was left in the store all the way to like later to get this, and then I go there like the last week and all like all the stuff that I wanted, we're already gone.
[1:08:45] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So when I went to Beijing, even though it was like nobody was actually there, I just I just went and just like grabbed everything I could the first week.
[1:09:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: There's a, there's a whole media press center.
[1:09:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Make sure you go there because there's always a free thing for you every, the last two years or the last two Olympics, there's been a nice backpack that they've given everybody.
[1:09:16] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So make sure you get that stuff that they don't tell you.
[1:09:22] \[SPEAKER_07\]: And then also make sure that you, um, you know, if you're going to go to the opening ceremony, you need tickets for that as a press member and so you kind of like get those things reserved or whatnot.
[1:09:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[1:09:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[1:09:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think I sent the email for that to the,
[1:09:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: US so Olympic committee person who sent an email about it, so yeah, and then of course I'm hearing things about tickets and other things we have to do as media, but I was just, you know what are things I need to know because it's literally two weeks for me until I leave and it's like, ah, I have a lot of stuff I have to do.
[1:10:02] \[SPEAKER_05\]: Yeah, it's it's going to be a crazy few weeks.
[1:10:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, Jackie, are you planning to do like your live streams or I'm assuming you're gonna podcast and do live streams from the idea is I will be on live every day.
[1:10:21] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Wow.
[1:10:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay.
[1:10:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right.
[1:10:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's good.
[1:10:26] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I don't know, what kind of condition I'll be in come February 22nd, but that's, that is the idea.
[1:10:31] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Michelle will not be joining me because contractually she is obligated to not do other things when she's in Milan, so you don't have to listen to a lot of me, but hopefully I'll be able to bring on other folks.
[1:10:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You will, I'm sure, be educating all of us that are not in attendance.
[1:10:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, as to what is going on.
[1:10:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, Gina and Mateo are going to do some things.
[1:11:00] \[SPEAKER_07\]: That is great.
[1:11:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, they're there.
[1:11:02] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, I will also be on Gold Zone on Peacock.
[1:11:05] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, kind of like last time, when I was on, um, Olympic ice on Peacock.
[1:11:12] \[SPEAKER_07\]: So TBD as to when they're going to have me on quite yet, but that's the, that's the plan.
[1:11:19] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Um, yeah, the usual.
[1:11:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, well, if you're living under a rock and you don't know who Jack is, you can find out everything you need to know at rockuscating.com.
[1:11:32] \[SPEAKER_07\]: I don't know if they're still listening if that's the case.
[1:11:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I feel like they would be based on our numbers from previous episodes Jackie there's still other soliciting at this point.
[1:11:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, yeah Yeah, you can find Jackie at rockersgating.com on all the socials and We wish you safe travels on your way to Milan.
[1:11:55] \[SPEAKER_07\]: Yes, you too Gina.
[1:11:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Thank you I look forward to seeing you Milan
[1:12:00] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yes.
[1:12:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of This Week in Skating.
[1:12:04] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Remember, you can keep up with us throughout the week by visiting our website at www.thisweekinscating.com Connect with us on social media for additional updates.
[1:12:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You can find us on Twitter at This Week in Skating without the ease or Facebook Instagram and Threads at This Week in Skating.
[1:12:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You got a burning question or feedback for Gina Daphne or Mateo?
[1:12:24] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Reach out to us via social media or drop us an email at thisweekenscading at gmail.com.
[1:12:29] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And if you're really enjoying the show and want to support us further, consider joining our Patreon community at patreon.com slash this week in skating.
[1:12:37] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Until next time, have a nice week!

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