Swimming at the Paralympics with Team USA Jessica Long, McKenzie Coan, and Olivia Chambers

345-Paralympic Swimming ladies and gentlemen the most transformative sport event on Earth is about to begin those who are in the stadium are on their feet it's just a long niggly climb cuz it is desperation now and there it is gold what a result another remarkable athlete about to write another chapter in par Olympic history [Music] hello and welcome to another episode of keep the flame alive the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics if you love the games we are the show for you each week we share stories from athletes and people behind the scenes to help you have more fun watching the games I am your host Jill jarus joined as always by my lovely co-host Allison Brown Allison hello how are you not as good as you you had some fun this weekend I did have some fun this weekend I think I have very red cheeks show for it I had went on a little test event to the Katie Moon pole vault classic which we will talk about later on in shook list on but oh my gosh it was more than I could have imagined I will say that so we will talk about that later in the show so you've learned sunblock and a hat I've got to figure out the Hat situation because I do not like wearing hats my head gets very hot very quickly so um I might have to figure out some sort of visor situation and see if that works which I don't love the idea of uh but I did get some heat training that's good that was very good That's essential it's going to be it's going to be a rough games if it gets really hot I will tell you that it it might be a rotation of indoor outdoor I was just going to say you need the outdoor indoor planning for the hottest part of the day oh geez I think this is a good time to see some indoor volleyball so we will get to the ktie moon P VA Classic results in a little bit but first we are talking Paris swimming today this is oh I was really exciting I did not expect to get time with these women uh first we're talking with Jessica long Jessica first competed Jessica Long Interview at the Paro Olympics in 2004 at only 12 years old since then she has won 29 par Olympic medals including 16 gold she competes in the S8 sb7 and sm8 classes which is uh an amputee class and Jessica has become one of the most recognizable faces of the US Paro Olympic team including appearing in a popular Toyota ad from Tokyo 2020 take a listen when you start if somebody has two full legs they get the flexibility in their ankles where do you get your start power from well we're all in different classifications so it goes through they all go through like a very rigorous process right but this is your classification with with a hodge podge yeah well I like to say it's not how you start but it's how you finish ra um but yeah I mean it's all different and and I mean I would still say the classification process is not wonderful yet um but I also know that like if I start slow I have a chance to catch up cuz at some point I feel like their impairment might come into play right right and you're jacked up top yeah it's been it's really interesting and I think that's one of the most confusing parts of Paralympics is just like how do you understand the classification system especially right now with it being kind of flawed um so I mean I think it's still we're not I I know a lot of us paralympic athletes aren't 100% satisfied and we want to make it the best um equal playing field for for all does having more competitors help make the classification better yeah it really does yeah um I mean I think the more that you have in your class you can kind of start I mean since I've been in it for so long I can kind of look at someone and be like oh yeah I know class you're in based off of like amputation I think the hardest thing is amputation versus like neurom that's even hard for me to understand just cuz I you know I'm very cut and dry all the UTS are cut and dry um but neurological is really hard because even on their worst day like my legs don't change day to day right and they have different you know every day is different um so I think we still need to figure that out in the Paralympics how has it changed for you and for the movement in general you've been doing this a few a few years I know I feel someone the other day was like or here was like what's your age I was like 32 okay you're way younger than us so just come sit here and you'll feel young I'm a leape baby so I just turned eight know but it's changed a lot like it's it's amazing how much it's changed right from the time that I was 12 years old at my first games to now going into my six games you know the fact that we're here at the 100 days out or the media Summit and there's the same paralympic athletes that there are Olympic athletes and there was a time I think in 2008 when I did one of the media Summits and people didn't even want to talk to me and I was like I have three gold medals like I I am I am an elite athlete so the fact that you're seeing so much just even up on the posters and the Paralympics next to the Olympics so the fact that it's you know the name is changing it has changed so much and I think there's such a level of respect I would say one thing though is we need to stop calling paralympic athletes Olympic athletes I still think that needs to be respected and you know there was a time that I never corrected people when I was really little CU I was almost embarrassed to be a paralympic athlete right there was a time when people would be like oh my gosh you're an Olympic Athlete and they' be like oh like I I'm a par Olympic Athlete and you could see the difference right they would just be like oh like really sweet of you but for you and I think for me I took that and I decided to train with the greatest Olympian of all time Michael Phelps right I'm from Baltimore and I just realized I never have to question if I'm just as good as Olympic athletes because I trained with 16 of them for years um but I I'm really really excited to see the movement continue to grow and that you know the word perah is parallel to the Olympic Games right it's not par Olympics it's it literally is alongside the Olympics and I just want to continue to get that out that message out to everyone that we are the same thing Team USA and you have that fabulous Toyota commercial I know Super Bowl um yeah I think that was pretty cool I want to be like how many Olympians have super Super Bowl and really good ones too I know yes I think it won some awards but we filmed that in South Africa and my husband and I we ended up having our honeymoon after we filmed that but it's amazing to me how many people truly saw that and um being stopped in the airport or you know just traveling or speeches just how impactful that's been for women or people with disabilities or being an athlete or just in the paralympic space right they gave me an entire minute for Super Bowl commercial which is pretty unheard of and I never even thought they would use it for that right it wasn't supposed to be used for the Super Bowl it was supposed to be used for the start your impossible campaigns and the year before they actually told me they're like we were 4 days shy like short of submitting it in 2020 and I just remember being like please don't tell me that and then the next year they chose it so it really came full circle excellent thank you I love talking so it's hardk you thank you you too thank you so much Jessica McKenzie Coan Interview now we're talking with McKenzie Cohen McKenzie is a three-time par Olympian winning four gold and two Silvers she has won 16 World Championship medals and holds a par olympic record for the 50 meter freestyle she competes in the S7 sb8 and sm7 classes that's short of stature yes okay those are short of stature classes take a listen so this is not your first rodeo on media Summits how are they each different except for let's take out the Tokyo one because that was just weird yeah we were there it was very weird it's funny I feel like each media Summit is different because I'm a different person going into it as well and this will be my fourth games in Paris which is crazy to say out loud so I've had a lot more life experience I've had a lot more Team USA experience throughout the years and with each games I think I have a different goal going into it um and this one I just can't put it into words I can't believe I'm still here going into my fourth it's such a privilege and an honor and I feel like I'm just kind of soaking this in that much more and and talking about my excitement for the games because this is number four how is it being a more senior member of the team I don't want to say old I like that that was a great but I mean like a veteran you know what it you also you know these different stages so you know what it's like to be the first timer and and now uh you know swimming is really big and and the Paralympics have come so far absolutely and hopefully this will be just like London crazy oh my gosh but but like really how do you Mentor other people on the team or what are they looking for to you yes it's funny um I was telling someone this the other day I was 16 when I went to my first games in London and we were on a trip a couple months ago we were in Chile we at the Pan-American games and we had a 13-year-old there a couple 16-year- olds and I looked around I go oh my goodness to think being that young and being at something like this then it hit me I was in their same position one time so on that trip I started to think about all the things that I wish I would have known back then and for me it I definitely have days where I feel old around them but I see it as a really great responsibility and opportunity to share what I so wish I would have known or what someone would have told me going into it so I just try to spread as much like wisdom as I possibly can and try to make their Journey just a little bit easier a little bit better where I can what kind of things would those be yeah so I will never forget in London putting on my racing suit to go out there for my first par Olympic race and no one really they touched on it in team meetings like what that would feel like going out there I remember I was in the locker room and I burst into tears and I go I need my mom like I want my mom um and so now I I tell them when we get there go out to the pool and take a moment for yourself and realize that this is happening don't let it hit you 5 minutes before you go to the call room while putting your suit on Let It kind of the energy flow through you first and then you know team things what to pack what to bring um part of my routine is so like having everything that I need to compete and being sure of that puts me in a really good space space mentally so I always tell them no matter what you need to bring no matter if you have superstitions if you have this or that you need to be comfortable going out there as yourself and not letting anybody else dictate that so just having the confidence to be you and to do what you need to do to perform what are you hoping for these games because it was like London was such an amazing Paro Olympics Rio tougher but they came around Tokyo weird unfortunately but you know there was much hope that like you turn back the corner and Co thanks right but now especially with England so close to Paris what are you hoping that this gamees achieves for the movement yeah I think there's a humongous opportunity it's so exciting for us here because not only are we going into Paris this year with a huge opportunity to go out there and highlight paralympian stories and everything we also have a games coming up in 2028 so it's kind of like okay how do we get all this momentum going in a really good place for Paris and how do we build off of that after I look at the movement I think back to 2012 how much has changed but also being in London and seeing how they kind of went about showcasing their par Olympians I saw paralympians on billboards going to the village and you know you're starting to see that here in the us but we need to amplify it right now put people out there get that exposure piece rolling and let's build off of this into La so I I feel like this here in Paris is a really great starting point and we've got to keep it going we need to amplify it by times like a thousand that's what I think how is it then because part of it is work on the media work with usopc but part of it is athletes making time in their schedule to do that work as well and that's hard especially par Olympians you got to balance a job or school and you're training and then do extra stuff especially if it's not comfortable for you absolutely um I've always said this and it's not anything um against my Olympic counterparts they have a lot going on as well but I've always felt as a par Olympian I have just a little bit more responsibility on me to go out there and be a big part of changing the movement and growing the movement um and that's a responsibility I've taken on since 2012 anytime somebody comes up to me I could be at an airport about to miss my flight if someone comes up to me and goes I saw the Team USA tags on your bag and they say you're in a wheelchair like what does that mean like what do you do I will take time to stand there and tell them all about the paralympic movement I will take the time to tell them all about the things I've been through yet I am here going out and competing for my country and you should watch the par Olympics because of that um so I've always felt a really big responsibility there I think every par Olympian probably feels that but a lot of that does at times come on us to go out there and essentially be Educators to society and the public what wait I know you're going what is your response to people who think the par Olympics is a Special Olympics yes so you know the Special Olympics is is really great it's tremendous um but what we do is very very different you know we are the same Elite level competitors as our Olympic counterparts we just so happen to have physical differences and um that's the exact same way I would present it to someone on the street it does not I will never be a person that is going to bark at someone for coming up and asking because this is an opportunity for me to you know tell them that's great but that is not what I do um and present it in that way because I also think I I have known people at times who get very upset sometimes if someone comes up and does not understand what we do and to me that's just not the best teaching tool you can get frustrated and everything else but at the end of the day you need to educate them because that could have an impact they could go tell their friends and family hey I just had a great experience meeting a par Olympian and I'm going to go watch the next par Olympic games like that's a huge opportunity who else at the par Olympics are you excited about getting a chance to go see oh my goodness so swimming is one of those sports that we we go all 10 days at the game so it's so hard to find time I've never seen another paralympic sport played in person but personally when I go back to the Village and if I'm in a team room you know refueling or whatever wheelchair basketball is like my all-time favorite and I'm I I feel like a fan girl over the wilter basketball players but I love it so much I actually I had fragile bones so I got recruited to wheelchair basketball to swim meet one time and then I went and gave my mom the business card and she's like I don't think we're going to try that so I'm living vicariously through them basically so wheelchair rugby is not on your no no I told Chu I I was like yeah I probably won't be out there with you anytime soon Chuck who's my favorite I know Chuck is like the best person ever his his social media gives me life too he is the funniest person ever well thank you so much it was great to have you thank you so much guys are you Handler thank you so much McKenzie and finally we're Olivia Chambers Interview talking with Olivia Chambers Olivia is a paralympic hopeful trying for her first par Olympics at her first national championships she broke a 10-year-old American record in the 400 meter IM s13 class that is a visually impaired class and at last year's World Championships she collected two silver and four bronze medals take a listen to our interview with Olivia okay Olivia we have been trying frantically to figure out if your classification does the tapping on the head when you're getting ready to hit the wall or no um you can if you choose so but you don't have to so most people don't okay so you are not tapped I am not tapped are you using blackout goggles no that's only S11 which is the lowest visual class okay so given that you are not getting tapped how are you planning that flip how are you knowing where you are in the water yeah it takes a lot of practice but one of the things that helps me the most is uh counting my Strokes so I know when I get to a certain stroke count I must be at least near the wall and so that helps me know when to flip as you get faster how does that stroke count how do you just have to build in the practice time yeah it does change and it varies from race to race and where I'm at in the race but I think it comes with a lot of practice and um your stroke count I feel like changes um over time it's not necessarily One race to the next it's going to be very different and it's something that I work on a lot just because it's so important for me to get that show count right freestyle and I am yes yes are you are you wanting to include everything yeah I mean right now at trials I'm swimming everything that's in the s13 glass and then at games um I think I'll try to do as much as I can okay now I know a lot of medley swimmers Love Medley what are you one of those yeah I do love it it's fun what about it makes it better you know it's a mix of everything it's all The Strokes you've got into One race and so it's really exciting because you can have um someone who's incredible at fly absolutely be terrible at breast stroke BR and so the leader can change throughout the entire race and whoever starts it might not be who um finishes first in the end which I mean is true for every race but especially so in that one because it changes so often and it's um I feel like one of the most interesting ones to watch too cuz you get to see a little piece of everything so in your IM how do you rate The Strokes in order of your strengths like best strengths oh yeah um that honestly differs from year to year I I've switched up The Strokes a lot I'm mainly a distance freestyler but um you know right now I'm feel like I'm really leaning into breaststroke but I train all of The Strokes um but you know who knows maybe and 6 months from now I'm you know really having a nice fly it changes for me quite a bit given the loss of vision was not from birth did you find the difficulty with balance adjustments yeah um with my vision loss I've have pretty much no debt perception so just honestly navigating and knowing where I'm at is really difficult but I think um over time and learning and just continuing to do what I love I was able to figure it all out do you ever lose your place in the pool um not too bad no when I have to switch from like say long course meters to short course yards every now and then I get a little confused but most of the time I'm I'm fully aware where I'm at you're swimming at college now how has that changed how you're training how you're prepping going into Paris um yeah I wouldn't say so lucky enough uh the college season is and parah like big param meets are at different times of the year so um from about like October to February I'm you know in the college season focusing on that but luckily it's all swimming and um I mean I'm still swimming still training so it's not like I'm um hurting myself in any way for the summer when um trials comes around or games comes around and I would just say it's more of just making sure I'm in a competitive State longer for longer time of the year and it might mean taking less breaks than say my college teammates or even my par of teammates are just having a different schedule as everyone else around what does competitive state mean to you just staying like in training throughout so just staying um in my best physical shape to go as fast as I possibly can what throws you off during a race or does anything throw you off I try not to let anything throw me off um I would say um with being a visually impaired athlete luckily we have plenty of warm-up times but every now and then you get to a pool where the lighting is just really weird you know maybe you brought um tinted goggles and the lighting's super dark so you can barely see anything or you know some pools the flags are a weird color you can't see them or just really small and so you have to adjust for that and luckily I can work those things out and warm up but every now and then something like that can throw me off in a race what are you thinking about CU I'm always curious especially for the long races and the focus what is going through your brain and how do you push that out yeah um a lot of the time I'm just counting my strokes but I'm also you know finding a song that um is like to the beat of the pace I need to go singing that or just I like to cheer myself on in the race like keep going um try my hardest or just you know think about random facts do you ever lose count of the the lamps in a 1500 um I mean is that a yes or a no Mom I do not um I I'm usually pretty on top of what lap I'm on I mean every now and then I might lose a little track especially that's more in practice is where I lose track but usually in the race I can stay on top of the count what is success in Paris going to look like for you honestly just getting there I think if I get there and um I just really want to take it all in and not be too stressed about my races and to just be grateful for the opportunity that I've been given to compete with the flag on my cap um and to really just have fun do you wear one cap or two one how do you keep okay this is I was I was an age group swimmer and I could never keep my goggles on when I dive in how do you keep your goggles on when you dive in um just keep them tight um they pretty nice maybe you just had a fat head Jill I probably did or maybe they didn't suction to your face nicely um I don't know it was the 80s come on oh thank you thank you so much Olivia and thank you Mah thank you so much Olivia the US par Olympic team trials will be in Minneapolis Minnesota from June 27th through 29th everybody's on Instagram will have links to those in the show notes Jessica and McKenzie also have websites that's Jessica long.com and McKenzie cohen.com it's less than 50 days to go it is less than 50 days to go Get your Paris Viewing Guide are you panicking yet yeah there is a lot of panic going on so I there might be some panicking as to what people are going to watch what people are going to see but we have you covered there so the keep the flame alive viewing guide Olympics and Par Olympics summer 2024 is available as an ebook from both Amazon and Apple Books and in there you've got daily detailed schedules we've got easy to use tables if you're looking for metal events and info on all the sports that will be on the Olympic and Par Olympic program this is the coolest part to me as we do updates and get those round robin and pool events we're going to be updating the schedules and those will automatically be sent to your device whatever it is uh for all the latest matchups and you can find a link to purchase those in the show notes and through a graphic on our website flame alive pod.com and if you get Kindle unlimited it is part of the Kindle unlimited program so you can borrow it early and often to see all those Paris 2024 News updates oh the realization that we are with less than 50 days to go oh man d i I'm not even I could swear in French I have been learning some French swear words but I don't want us to get a not familyfriendly rating oh that that's good we are 50 days to go the Olympic rings went onto the Eiffel Tower very exciting to see and that was no joke those things are huge they are huge they are uh they weigh 30 tons first off they are uh made of recycled French steel and they're 29 m M wide 13 M High each ring is 9 m in diameter so these are Big Rings they are meant to be seen all over uh they are on the south side of the structure so you can see them from the sen and between the first and second floors of the structure they also contain 100,000 LED bulbs to be part of the nightly light show so this is going to be pretty spectacular they are supposed to stay there until the end of the Paralympics which you know I thought that maybe they get swapped out for the gios I don't know swapping those out would be a little rough yeah I mean I guess I mean it would take time to to take those up and take those down and you probably have to close the tower while you're doing it and that's Prime tourist time so I'm guessing that's the reason why but I'm kind of hoping that we get nice ago somewhere I mean the towers got four sides there you go why aren't we putting them on the other side I don't know maybe maybe with yeah well maybe that'll come with like 75 or 50 days to go to the paral Olympics don't know new to the athletes Village this year will be an area called the 365 athlete 365 mind Zone this is going to be a mindfulness and relaxation area that is designed to help athletes with their mental health a little bit more and it will have VR headsets for meditation they'll have sleep pods there they will have art activities the whole area is going to have low lighting so it will be very relaxing there will be an alcohol-free bar in the village so very different from Montreal 1976 that's that's of course the first thing I think of is like oh the Disco oh the aspirant lessons oh the cigarette ashtrays in every athletes room so different from 2024 where we have cardboard beds and sleep pods and alcohol free bars but if you do remember from some earlier reports we did that the Olympic condoms are back yes that's very true so so there is that that through line from 1988 can you imagine I mean they are going to do some uh media tours of the athletes Village so I'm very hopeful that we will get to go on one of those but can you imagine I I'm gonna be the idiot going uh where's the Disco uh are they doing espiranto lessons this year I want to go to the Olympic Barber oh I know and see what the sty hair stylist looks like no I want to go like I just I want them to cut maybe some aidos into my hair I mean I I want to get some Olympic hair going anyway the the 365 athlete 365 mind Zone will also uh have guides to maintain good mental hygiene I.E avoiding screen time and they're going to have a mental health helpline in 70 languages now 90 countries are bringing along their own mental health welfare officers with their teams and which is a big deal for teams this time around this is a new type of accreditation apparently that was implemented in 2022 after we all learned in at Tokyo 2020 how important mental health was for athletes we got some new members of the NBC Universal team broadcast team coverage team Sesame Street muppets are back way more excited about this than Kelly Clarkson I gotta be honest I'm more excited about this than Snoop Dogg okay I'm more excited about Kelly CL Clarkson than Snoop Dog to be quite honest but you know way more excited about Elmo uh very very true so uh Elmo Cookie Monster Abby kadabi and Tango will be part of the coverage team they will be on social and broadcast coverage do you know who Tango is I do not know who Tango is Tango is Elmo's dog oh okay can you imag oh can you imagine doing a Quant tour with Cookie Monster that would be nice I cuz I really worry for him because they don't really do chocolate chip cookies and Paris I think he has expanded since we were kids oh well that's good he he will he will experiment with a bisat or I didn't learn I didn't get bis that's it oh yes so there are cookies there's biscuit so you know but but I I think chocolate chip cookies are kind of a distinctly American food so that would be very TKFLASTAN Update exciting welcome to shlan it is the time of the show where we check in with our team keep the flame alive these are past guests and listeners of the show who make up our citizenship of our very own country shook flan how about some results Chuck Aoki and the US wheelchair rugby team took fifth at the Canada Cup Katie Moon Pole Vault Classic Report all right Katy Moon PVA classic okay oh oh my gosh this was so cool to see in person I went to a press conference on Friday with uh Katie and Emily Grove who is qualified for the Olympic trials and also Gabriella Leon who is also qualified for Olympic trials and uh they were very nice it was it it's at Katie's High School where she went so we had like we were in a big room with the high school backdrop and just had access and could could talk to these ladies for quite some time then the day of the competition I did not know to what to expect or where we would be or anything but it was basically you have a credential here we're going to let you under the flags and onto the competition area so all they said was oh media you got to stay one side of this this line you can't be by the top of the runway where the athletes are you got to go sit over by the pit so I sat like I know I was like 12 feet away from where they were jumping that's why I got sunburned yeah there was no shade where you were no I was with Elizabeth our friend Elizabeth Emory from here her Sports and she was in like under a tent for a good chunk of it and she had a hat she was smart enough to bring a hat but I'm out there in the sun love and life um seeing P vault in person is pretty amazing because you don't realize on TV how short the runway is and how fast they have to get up to speed how long those bars are Gabby Leon when we were talking with her at the press conference she said that when she drives uh she will see the you know when you're driving on the highway and you go under a bridge and they've got the height of the bridge she will think I can Vault this oh I already love her right she she was fantastic I could Vault that bridge no problem I know right or if it would be like can't get that one yet I'm working up to that height you know she would have a field day here in Connecticut driving down the Merit oh oh totally totally I should have asked I should have remembered to ask her I wonder if she would do better than the trucks at the on storo Drive in Boston much but it was amazing to see canisters of poles strapped to the top of a car i' I've posted pictures around on social I'm probably going to have some more pictures too but being so close to the action you just saw how much work goes into it and and the event was about three hours long we had um 11 volters take play or take part in it and by the end I was starting to get to understand what to look for and when somebody was going to run through or not make it and that was really interesting just wanted more and there were they said they they had registered cuz tickets were free like 2800 people were there and it was pretty deep everybody was on the football field so the runway was parallel to the end zone if you can picture that so the whole Runway did not cover the whole end zone either that's how short it is wow that's yeah so if you're going across the End Zone from not not from End Zone to end zone but the other direction that pole vault area is shorter than your End Zone East West versus North South yes yes wow that is that is not much it's very short it's not very much and they weren't even using the whole Runway either so that was pretty incredible behind me were some girls who were a lot of like high school aged girls there I know it it about melted your heart with everybody there who was pole vating already and wanted to watch so behind me were a couple of girls and one girl and her mom wearing Team USA and US Olympic gear so of course I had to say something to them they drove from Utah to be here yes it was unbelievable and exactly why Katie wanted to do this exactly and she's sitting next to the uh a girl from Indiana who they had just they just met sitting there and talking and they just were like oh we love being able to analyze the jumps it makes me feel invested to into their sport so um shout out to Lacy and Hannah and thank you for being my go-to because if I had questions I was sitting there and if I had questions I'd just scoop back and be like okay what's up with this they were very kind to me you're like one of mom's friends right yeah it's crazy old lady she was getting sunburnt but it was really really cool officiating job I would like to do oh cuz oh my gosh the officiating jobs just for this alone we had a woman on the mic who was telling who was up who was on Deck who was in the hole there was a guy with who was by the timer because they have so many minute they only get like a minute to jump and unless they are jumping repeatedly or in a row because sometimes they would be the only jumper to go and then they have like 3 minutes and that person has a flag because once the timer goes down so far they raise the flag to tell the jumper you got to get this thing going then there is another guy who sat near where the jump happens with the red and the white flags to know if it was a legal jump and then also has a cone because the cone every time there's the bar falls off or a uh new height is added he puts the cone in the runway so nobody goes and then you have the two guys who are Manning the bar and have to put the bar up with special pulse every time that is the job I want which is ridiculous because I'm the shortest person in the room and could never get this job even with their extended poles but when you posted the pictures I never this is so silly and I'm sure a lot of Spectators who watch most of these events on TV have the same experience I do you never think about how does the pole get back up there how is the height adjusted you know we we saw in Tokyo all the field service robots bringing the the shot puts and the javelins back and that was the first time I ever thought about that need MH and when you were posting the pictures of oh yeah these guys are are moving the of course there has to be a person who does that right I I mean because you you would think that there would be a system with like a little elevator almost to take it up to the to to the right height but maybe that's just because we were at a high school so there were four or five different pins for the bar to sit on depending on what level the athletes were at so this sent me down a rabbit hole of watching of trying to find videos and when you're at Olympic World Championship that is more automated the pole kind of expands I mean there's still somebody who's in charge of making sure it's all correct but it is more elevator like and not So Much by hand but still somebody's got to take the pole off the mat if it falls and so there's all those things still have to happen manually but the height adjustment right is more automated well and there's also may maybe this would be the person for you because every time the bar had to move up a height there was a woman there that had a measure no no it well they did Crank It Up they had to to to twist it up but there is another woman who came in and was about where they placed the pole in the the little hole where you had to place the pole and she had some sort of measure sensor to make sure the bar was at the right height I was hoping you were going to say she had like um a tape measure that she went out there was a tape measure on the ground but but in case any of the automation failed you have to have the manual backup and there's also an element that I probably should have asked but there's an element of the bar will move forward and backward so they had to keep like kind of moving it backward into play into the right place yeah it's very complicated I would say that about this this element yeah and now multiply that event by how many field events there are how many track events there are how many different sports with events in there and that's where you remember why do we need an army of 20,000 volunteers exactly and of course the best part was they did give me a score sheet because I asked if they had to run down they were like oh here just have a score sheet like oh you don't I didn't even I I was very good about not geeking out about that but I did keep score I I can't geek out in front of other officials come on game recognizes game gel those officials took one look at you and said I see that stopwatch in your pocket so that was fun because then it well it keeps you engaged with stuff it but I will say Marissa Kelsey American vter she made the Olympic standard because this is was like one of the last meets you could qualify on like the I think Saturday was like the day and end of qualification day she made the height it was so good and and so much fun to see her just bouncing off the mat and cheering like crazy so that was really cool um so many things they they all had their own Hype music so I don't have a whole lot of sound from the day because we can't have other songs in the background but everybody had their own Hype music and everyone was very different because Katie would have like that that I'm good and I'm feeling all right that the the one where I want to sing blue bab be the original song because I'm old uh and then there was somebody else who had like Red Hot Chili Peppers and E DC type stuff and there was some da Punk Around you know whose dad picked out their Hype music that they've been training to as opposed to them picking it themselves oh I'm sure no actually she looked like she would like some Red Hot Chili Peppers so so it was quite nice that everybody was there everybody was super excited they'd be clapping and cheering for everybody um Canadian Olympian anuka new was there did not have a great day and I was talking with her uh afterwards because she ended up placing tying for sixth and uh was pretty far back and just she said yeah and I'm a coach too so I'm analyzing everything and and it was interesting because they'd jump they'd Vault they'd immediately get off the mat and go to their coach and watch the Vault and analyze it and try to like how do you analyze this and pick out one or two things to adjust cuz like how much can you adjust Vault to Vault seeing Katie in person and a she recognized us so thank you Katie I know I was just like oh my gosh you know who we are the determination on her face in person and just how she dialed in for competing was so fascinating to see and the speed that she can get some of the speed that some of the others can get and some of them with just like the high knees ability to run down the runway it's just phenomenal about all the little things that you have to think about when you Vault except for you can't think about anything when you're vaulting and all the the little adjustments that you can make to do better and it was just it was just a really cool event don't know if it'll come back next year I hope it does and most importantly who won Katie Katie Moon thank good goodness cuz how bad would that have been I think it would have been rough so this the Vault started at 4.18 M and then they'd go up from there she did not start vaulting until 4.53 meters she skipped 4.58 and then went to 4.63 she in both of those her first two heights she missed a jump she missed her first jump got it on the second one and uh she made four she skipped 4.68 made 4.7 three right away and then that she was already the winner of the ra of the meet at that height so then she decided to bump it up to 4.86 to get a season's best for her and a world lead she unfortunately missed all three attempts so congratulations to Katie on what sounds like just an amazing event yeah she was there were uh a a few tears because like they named the the P VA Runway after her and she got to spray her name in the AstroTurf there so that was really cool the crowd was cool her talk like she talked to everybody afterwards and signed a lot of stuff the the girls who all look up to her what what a a great way and like she would have stayed there I don't know how long she ended up staying there because she was starting to give advice jumping advice so I know I know and and you could see these these girls be like okay how about that they're just kind of dialed into talking Vault and Katie was so there for that she said that uh her injury is getting a lot better she's still a little rusty but she's she's doing better she used to have to uh the other week she competed and she had to massage her calves a couple of times here she only felt like she had to do it once so that is an improvement she's just like it's it's getting better and better all time so look for look for a few more reels look for probably a few more pictures probably maybe some audio will show up too it may show up for patrons I'm not quite sure yet but great day great test event thank you Katie thank you almost at Falls High School for putting it together and it was it was a great time TKFLASTAN Update (continued) so some more news from shlan Jacqueline Simo has officially been named to Team Canada's Paris 2024 artistic swimming team and it was also announced that the Canadian olymp foundation's great to Gold initiative would be offering up $80,000 in support for the artistic swimming team to split Kelly changen and Sarah Hughes won the volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 in ustraa chea and congratulations to rugby coach Ben Ryan he and BBC presenter Michelle akerly were married at the end of last month and that will do it for this episode let us know what you think of swimming at the paralympic you can find us on X YouTube and Instagram at flame alive pod send us an email at flame alive pod gmail.com call or text us at 208 352 6348 that's 208 flame it chat with us and other fans on our Facebook group keep the flame Alive podcast and sign up for our Weekly Newsletter with even more Olympic and Paro Olympic info for you at our website flame alive pod.com on Thursday we are staying in the pool with interviews from the Team USA media day on swimming diving water polo and artistic swimming we are just ahead of the US Olympic swimming trials I and I'm going to be there at at least for a few days so we're getting ready for that please do not forget to tell a friend about the show thank you so much for listening and until next time keep the flame alive