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Today we are joined by national team
head coach, Robert Fegg. Good Morning,
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Rob I brand. Thanks for yeah. So, for those interested in
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Rob's background, we did another podcast
together back in June, two thousand and
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twenty episode number six, so be
sure to listen to that. But today
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we are here to discuss the two
thousand and twenty two games. Rob,
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can you believe that they're just about
two weeks away from the opening ceremony?
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No, not really. I mean
you know it yourself. A quad goes
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by so fast. You start off
after note a big games and it's a
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blink of an eye and two four
years are gone and now you're right there.
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And today we're chatting from. Well, you're from your you're in Park
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City, Utah, where you've been
for about a week, and listeners will
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recall that last week we chatted with
the Olympic doubles team of Zack de Grigorio
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and Sean Hollander. They're out there
training on a new sled owned by Jason
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Tournament and you're they're coaching. So
how's it going for the for the doubles
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team? Yeah, it's going really
well, like the entire area here,
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track facility to track crew, the
weather, this led, everything plays together
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out here right now. It goes
really well. The boys are chested really
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fast to the new system, this
sliding world. The track is in great
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shape, the weather is fantastic,
the track crew is is crazily invested as
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super supportive. They try to make
everything work what's needed and it actually turns
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out to be a really good Olympic
preparation for those two youngsters. Yeah,
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that's great. You know, it's
it was kind of a gamble, maybe
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a little bit, to take the
last two world cups off, but it
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sounds like things are going pretty well. Yeah, we had two thoughts if
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it is it right or is it
not right? But in the end was
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the only right decision, since chasing
offered his sled and we knew that is
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that the fastest apple sled we have
right now. That has proven to be
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successful and for double to switch sleds
it just takes more than fourteen runs which
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they would have gotten over the two
weeks in the workup circuit exactly. And
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I know that you guys had to
make some changes to that sled number one.
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Probably the biggest part was lengthening the
COUPIN's to fit Shan is that right?
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Yeah, physically this is a completely
different double than Christen chasing and ever
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we had to do some substantial changes
to to the Kupins and but even that
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everything worked out well. I've rarely
had a build of a slat that was
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so flawless. There was not one
thing that really went wrong so far.
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I don't want to change it,
but we had done building so I can
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say it and know everything worked out
really well. And they look great on
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that sled and they off. They're
not slow on. That's lad. I
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would say that definitely already fasted and
they've been with their original sled. They
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feel it better. They have a
better feeling on it day. They enjoyed
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more. It's it was a one
hundred percent step in the right direction.
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That's awesome. And is Brittany out
there training alongside them? What about Duncan
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and Dana? Are they there too? Duncan and Dana? They are back
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in lake placid the training there.
Brittain is out here. She's joining US
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usually one of the two sessions a
day. So we have a nice comparison
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and since Brittany is a force to
be reckoned without in Park City. It's
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a good standard to compare to and
be really thankful that she that she stood
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up and just says, yeah,
of course I'm going to help. There's
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no doubt about it. You've got
a new coach alongside you, Jason Turnament,
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who was just in one of your
athletes two weeks ago. How is
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it coaching with Jason? Oh,
Jason is great. We had him coaching
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alongside US put entire season, some
of last season as well. Every time
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Chris went on single sleds, Jason
decided to come out and help, and
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so we know how he's coaching.
He's a great coach, he's a great
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dude and he just he doesn't more
than just you, sir, of being
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out here to help those boys.
I think everybody's really resonating with his story.
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It's really pretty great of him to
do. Like I messaged him and
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said, you know, you have
every right to be grieving on your own
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and staying at home and just grieving
not making the Olympic team, but you're
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going above and beyond. It's pretty
cool story. Yeah, I cannot praise
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him enough for that. You know, like that is quite the story.
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After they had the crash and the
decision was made, it took him a
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few hours and then he was there
and said, you know, it's not
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about me, it's about the team
and we do this, is what about
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this, and he was heavily invested
in his ever since. Is it easy
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for us? No doubt about it. It's not, you know, and
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nobody can blame him for that,
but he is here and fully motivated,
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fully invested, helping out with wherever
it's possible. And Yeah, that's it's
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just fantastic. Yeah, that's great. So what's head over to the World
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Cup circuit. The race and over
half wrapped up on Sunday, and you
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know, that is just a really, really tough track in general, and
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I kind of showed in our results. Yeah, it's not the easiest track.
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It's a typical track where you need
a lot of runs to first of
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all conquer it and secondly, to
be fast on and it's pretty visible who
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trains there a lot and who gets
two runs in. And unfortunately for us
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it has always been not the greatest
place to be. We had some success
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there, as US silly, but
it was never a very consistent success and
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this year was not really different.
Plus, we got a little bit unlucky
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with Emily's neck in see Goulda.
It really bothers her. So she took
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last week off because they are just
bigger goals than we coming over half this
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year. And then with summer as
while breaking her middle finger, and see
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Golda when she had to crash in
the race. That's an incredibly unlucky timing,
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but she tried last week. She
had the two runs just to grab
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a few points for seating. This
week in sent more she's back on ice,
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not paddling like normal, as she's
using knuckle spikes this week. Oh
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Wow, just to be able to
do something right. Yeah, and so
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far it seems to be working out
not too bad. Yeah, good.
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I was going to say we haven't
seen knuckle spikes in a long time.
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I think huckle was probably the last
one who use those efficiently. Yeah,
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he sure. When did you retire? In two thousand and six, I
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believe. Yeah, it must have
been the last time. Yeah, I
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was going to say last week in
on social media, summer announced that she
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had broken her finger and you know, in addition to making it difficult at
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the start pulling off the handles and
paddling, of course it's very difficult.
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I think even just thinking about laying
down on the sled and holding on to
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the handles with a swollen broken finger
sounds pretty painful. Yeah, it definitely
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is. It's not a situation be
at any time, but definitely not right
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now. And she seems to be
handling it really good, like knowing that
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we are two weeks out of the
Olympics and this happened just right now towards
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it go. She worked for such
a long time. It's not easy to
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deal with and she's pushing through.
She's trying to find solutions that of being
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broken over the problem, you know, and and that's great. It's the
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great it's a great attitude and will
work out for him certain yeah, definitely.
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You gotta make some changes that you
can control and move forward and keep
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the eye on the prize. Correct, that's exactly what it is. And
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then you mentioned emily wasn't able to
raise. She needed to give her neck
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a little bit of a break because
the g forces in Segulda are just so
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strong and Oberholf has tight curves as
well. But she'll be back at the
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same merits race. Is that right? That is correct. She's training,
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will be racing and yeah, this
break was needed. I give emily complete
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freedom over those decisions, because there's
nobody who knows her body more than herself,
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especially the area with her neck after
that crashed. It happened in Ping
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Chung, and she is always made
the right decisions for that, and so
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indeed, that case it was just
the right decision. Again, she needed
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to take the time off. She
really pushed the envelope in Sigulda and yeah,
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it's working out again, like her
neck is in better shape and that's
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why she's back on a sleddens and
more. It's what are her symptoms?
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Is it like really tight, like
a really tight, stiff knack, or
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is it more pain? What does
she say happens when her neck is giving
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her issues? Yeah, I think
it's a mix of both, like the
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muscle gets tired, she gets tight, she gets stiff, it starts hurting
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and it's a A. I think
it's a mix of all of that and
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she never really expressed the exact words
what it is. But there's one thing
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where we can completely count on is
that she makes the right decision and that
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when it starts bothering her, she's
very quick in making that decision to not
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have it go any further than it
already is. Yep, she's got to
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be able to trust herself. So
it sounds like she has. One of
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the problems with missing an entire race
is losing points. What does that mean?
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Does that mean she'll have a not
a great start number for the first
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run? Yeah, great start number
is wow, I don't I don't know
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if we're going to have that actually, you know, a great start number,
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because when we've been in China and
the way it's over there right now,
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it's very dry, it's very cold, it's a nice weather. I
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don't think that the track will actually
slow down. So that's why we decided
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we can do that. We can
think about solutions like that to not put
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a disadvantage on the athlete before we
actually get to the Games. And of
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course there's always just a little bit
of a risk that weather terms and everything
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right. But that being said,
the risk seems to be very little,
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very small, and with those decisions
I don't think yes, she will probably
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be out of the act or there's
a chance that she will be out of
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the AC same with summer, but
at the same time I don't think that
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that will be necessarily a disadvantage or
an advantage. I think the track will
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stay the same, but the most
parts and it will only effect, if
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at all, the first race run
and they would be in the mix anyways.
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Of the rankings, because this is
different from a World Cup. I
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was just thinking that in a World
Cup, the a seed goes last.
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The first athletes to go off the
start are the Nations Cup qualifiers. But
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there is no nations cup, so
is the a seed. The first will
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be the first athletes to go off. That is correct. Why being a
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seed inable cup often turns out to
be, or could be a disadvantage,
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because you goes a late in the
race. At the Olympics it's actually turned
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around and the act is split in
two a seats, a one and a
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two. So want to six,
leap one to six and seven to twelve
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or something like that, and and
they go first off. So they definitely
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have to the early start numbers that
time around. And that's the only race
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in desert it. But, like
you said, the weather in general.
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I've seen some pictures from the track
this week over in Beijing and it looks,
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like you said, very dry,
pretty cold under I think it was
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seven Celsius which is pretty much perfect
for lose races. So shouldn't be a
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problem. Not We are not expecting
a problem with that and if there would
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be one and we deal with it
on site. But we don't see that
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coming. Like, as you say, like we saw some pictures and social
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media from the track last week in
and Beijing. Looks Great and talking to
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some Chinese coaches, like Vertub for
example, it's fantastic over there right now
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and it has been for quite a
few weeks. So the team made their
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way to Saint Marit's, Switzerland a
few days ago and you know, this
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is such a cool track. It's
unlike anything in the world. I know
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we've talked about it on the podcast
before, but this is the only track
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that's built from the ground up every
year. Most lose tracks are are built
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with a cement base and we know
going into a race basically what it's going
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to be like. But that's not
necessarily the case with SAT Maretza changes a
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little bit every year. Have you
heard from the athletes and coaches over there
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about how the track is this year? Yeah, talked to build and Bank
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a little bit about that. The
track is in great shape again, as
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it is always right. I mean
this is a is an artifact. How
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they built it and it's incredible how
close they actually can build it every year.
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is saying. Yes, there are
mighta changes, no doubt about it,
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and but it's every year a beautiful
track that have it incredibly under control.
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Of course you're very weather dependent.
There's also no doubt about it.
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But at the same time, for
the athletes, just an experience. If
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you have not been to send more, it's you're really missing something in your
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loose career and everybody who gets to
go to send more it's is super excited
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every time around. Yeah, I'm
excited to watch the race. It will
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be really fun, to say absolutely
will be interesting, it will be fun
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and it's definitely something different than watching
any other other race. What are the
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athletes working on during this final week
of racing prior to the Olympic Games?
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It's going to be mostly, hopefully
it's going to be mostly defined tuning parts,
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that you really get more confidence into
your equipment, that you that you
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slide on confidence in your sliding speaking, good position. Not to think too
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much about it. If you can, you work a little bit or dial
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in your start. If you haven't
done so yet. Basically, in the
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end it's just another race week.
But yes, you're coming closer to the
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Olympic Games and you have to make
sure you put yourself into the right mindset.
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You try to find those last little
bits and pieces that are missing that
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you could squeeze out of it to
be even better at the Games. And
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Yeah, just getting ready. Speaking
of the Olympics, can you give us
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a quick rundown of how and when
everyone is getting over to Beijing? Yeah,
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so once we have done in sent
more it's with the World Cup,
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we going to head down to Syrik. This is where our planes going to
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leave section and myself. We're going
to fly over on on the twenty two.
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We're going to arrive in Munich on
a twenty three and we can meet
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up with the team in Syric.
Then Day later we're going to fly out
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of styrgue on a twenty six,
arrived in bashing on a twenty seven and
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move into the village and right away. We were thinking about splitting up the
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team, but with going into China
being quite a bit of a hassle and
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for the disciplines having their systematic runs
so early as well, it didn't make
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really any sense. So we bring
everybody over, we take the advantage of
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having the time to acclimatize a little
bit better, not being as chadlicked,
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and try to take advantage of that
situation that you mentioned. A systematic run.
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Does everyone get a systematic or is
it just the lower seated groups?
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And when will those happen? Now
everybody gets two systematic runs. Actually Right,
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I'm not certain if there was in
the past like that as well,
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if it was one or two,
but this time around they get to the
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systematic grounds for the men and women
will be on February first. The systematic
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runs for the doubles will be on
February five. So the doubles have quite
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a bit of time knowing that there
will be all the rate training runs for
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the other two disciplines and the racist
before they actually get into action with their
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race. That's quite a bit of
time off of a Slod. So what
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is that? The twenty two until
the V for them to be off their
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slid? How how are you going
to, as a coach, talk to
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Zach and Sean and try to help
keep them in the game to be ready
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to go on the V for their
training? Well, first of all,
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they must be aware of the situation
right, and they are, like we
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talked about this, about this stuff
quite a bit, and try to get
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them ready. Of course we hope. We don't have conformation, but we
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hope that they're allowed to go out
to the track while the other ones,
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the other disciplines are training, just
watching and stuff. And all that being
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said, they it doesn't it won't
hurt them to be off the slife for
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a little bit, because those ten
days be training park city. Right now
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they're pretty high volume, like,
as I said earlier, the fourteen days,
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that fourteen runs in over half in
sent more it's combined, would have
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not helped them. We have done
fifteen runs in the first two days.
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Oh Wow, we're going to get
together after those ten days with approximately fifty
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fifty five runs, and so it's
going to be okay for them to have
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a little bit of break and it
would be even better if they're allowed to
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get to the track and watch the
men's singles and the women's singles train and
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use the time to acclimatize. And
nevertheless, it's going to be a little
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bit of a hassle because it's a
long time being there not being able to
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slide or not being to do a
lot because the restrictions are high as well.
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You basically allowed in your village and
right that's it. So we got
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to make sure that we going to
keep them busy to to some extent.
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You know this a little bit.
Games is going to look very different compared
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to others because of covid. I
just saw that they're not going to sell
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any tickets to spectators, that they'll
just I guess it sounds like they'll invite
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smaller groups of spectators to the different
events. So it's just going to be
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different. Yeah, it will be
very different. Like the spected, a
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question is definitely out there. It
was going back and forth, back datas.
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No spectators, just a few spectators, just Chinese spectators, like a
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lot was out there and I don't
even know if there's a final decision made,
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but one thing's for is a fact. It's going to be way different
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than any other Olympic Games you've seen
so far in the last few decades and
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absolutely it is sad, you know, for especially for the first timers.
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They miss a good part, a
good chunk of that experience of participating at
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the Olympics. Nevertheless, another part
is still right there. It is still
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still has that label. It's still
going to put a different perspective on that
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race and they still should try to
enjoy it as much as possible, you
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know, and it's good. Still
going to be fun. It's going to
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be it's going to be stressful at
times, it's going to be different at
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times, it's going to be it's
going to seem very unorganized at times and
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and with all the testing they have
to do, it's in testing. You
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know, it's going to be just
an add on. But nevertheless, it's
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the Olympic Games and they are ready. They they are ready to participate.
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Will our lose athletes participate in the
opening ceremony? I strongly believe so.
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Yeah, absolutely, as long,
especially since we are supposed to be an
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Olympic bubble like once we arrive in
China, I don't think that there will
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be any restrictions on who can go
who cannot go as off athletes anyways.
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So I would assume that they going
to participate in your a big opening ceremonia
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and I know from speaking with other
athletes who have been to the Games that
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one of the best parts is after
competing, being able to go to other
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events and cheering on your countrymen and
watching their events. Will our athletes be
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able to do anything like that or
are they planning to leave right away?
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That is still in discussions as far
as I'm informed. But that being said,
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even if they would be allowed to, it's definitely worth a second,
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second thought. All flights right now
a booked for February thirteen, while the
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last competition being February ten with the
team relate. So they would be two
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days where they could visit other events. But that being said, if you
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do visit other events and you do
turn out to test positive, if you're
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stuck in China for quite a while, and so I don't know if somebody
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wants to take the risk or not. Right it's definitely debatable. And from
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friends with Tony Bunch off on facebook
and I saw some of his post about
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being stuck in a hospital for fifty
four days. That does not sound ideal.
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Were over for the test event.
They had a nice talk with them
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as well and he told me that
story and it's not nothing you would want
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to desire to go through, you
know. No, definitely not. I
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imagine, even though that the Games
are going to be really different. Are
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The athletes still must be really a
cited? Absolutely, absolutely, still an
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achievement. You know, you know
yourself like as an athlete. This is
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the the one goal everybody works towards
to and when you do achieve that,
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being qualified for the Olympic Games,
you are super excited to get there.
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You are super excited to compete.
You you want to give it your best
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and you want to be successful as
well. So yes, they are very
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excited, they're very motivated and they
are ready to go full forth. I
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listened on a press conference last week
with all the athletes and Emily Sweeney mentioned
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that basically right now she's concentrating on
doing everything she can in her power not
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to get covid right now and it
sounds like it sounds like the Chinese standards
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to get a negative result on a
covid test are more stringent, a little
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more difficult. So what are you
telling the athletes right now about staying safe
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making smart decisions? You know,
right now no one can get covid,
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otherwise they're Olympics is in jeopardy.
Yeah, it's not that easy and it's
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basically the same message as we tell
them all season and they are smart about
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it, like they're not risking really
anything with it. Don't have to.
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You gotta stay safe, you gotta
stay secluded as much as possibly, got
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to be washing your hands all the
time, you got to keep your mask
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on as much as possibly, especially
when you're around people, and and that's
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just the name of the game since
this entire pandemic started, and it's becoming
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more and more important, especially now, you know, because there is no
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way back anymore. If you get
tested positive now it's going to be a
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tough one to go over there and
compete. That being said, even though
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we are supposed to be in an
indie fair bubble, which you only can
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be as strict to certain degree as
well, just last week there were two
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positive cases, right, and so
you're not a hundred percent safe, but
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you got to do your part to
try and stay as safe as possible.
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And our athletes, they really know
the risk and and emily is not on
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my own and that that they're trying
to stay safe as possible. They're very
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smart about the decisions they make and
trying to stay away from from any occurring
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risk. You said there were two
positive covid tests I'm assuming they weren't Americans.
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Know they were not Americans. That's
correct. Yeah, well, sending
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my thoughts to those folks and hopefully
they are having, you know, no
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symptoms and can heal in time to
get over the Beijing. Yeah, as
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far as I'm informed, they are
okay and as far as I also know,
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they got to be in Beijing.
How great in your eyes. What
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will success look like in Beijing?
First and foremost, and that has always
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been my thing, success is to
deliver a good race, and that's from
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the perspective of an athlete in first
place, speaking in the singles disciplines,
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for consistent, good runs. Every
one of our athletes in on the Olympic
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team to have the capability to be
consistent, to slide well and then obviously
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slide with the right choices of equipment
that we do have. And it also
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has been shown this season that,
especially in the women and in the doubles,
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they can be fast our slats and
as long as those two factors played
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together well, and then we do
have a good day as well, because
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there's always a little bit lucky.
Only three medals participline and quite a few
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of contenders for those three spots.
We going to have very good results.
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You know, I don't want to
say what I'm expecting because I really do
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only expect for consistent runs and then
we get what we get and everything close
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plays in our favor. It's going
to be good results well, and and
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you kind of Said like there are
three medals over four runs, which is
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a lot of runs and a lose
race, and on a track that doesn't
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have many runs on it. What
meaning? Athletes don't have that much experience
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on that track. So really anything
can happen. Anything can happen, and
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the test race in November has shown
exactly that. People who were dominating or
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were really fast all the way down
the track. It took them until the
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last fifteen minutes before the finish line
and they had a mistake there and the
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result was not the one that they
expected. It'll be very fun to watch
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and I know we're all very excited
and sharing everyone on from home. Is
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there anything you'd like to mention that
I haven't asked? The main thing is
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that we all stick together through the
time, trying to stay safe and nevertheless,
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the Olympics are going to come.
We going to be racing over there
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and I hope, despite the fact
that no families are allowed to come and
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join in person and cheer on their
kids or or family members, you guys
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being home and watching on TV and
watching on those loose parties, it's got
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to be fun. You know,
you gotta. You got to go out
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there and enjoy it at and make
party, because that's still part of it.
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COVID or not, Ye, the
part of and the athletes will feel
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that energy across the ocean one hundred
percent. Rob thanks the ton for taking
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the time to chat today. I
know you've got a ton of work ahead
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of you today in the in the
Slood shop and out on the track,
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but just thank you so much for
taking the time brand it was a pleasure
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any time. Again, awesome.
It's pretty hard to believe that in just
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two weeks from today, our athletes
will be participating in the opening ceremony for
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the Beijing Winter Olympic big games.
In some ways this quad has flown by,
361
00:26:56.829 --> 00:27:00.990
but for those of US watching from
afar, it is also moved in
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00:27:00.150 --> 00:27:03.299
slow motion. I think we can
all agree that it will be great to
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00:27:03.339 --> 00:27:07.819
cheer on our favorite athletes in just
a couple weeks. Have you checked out
364
00:27:07.859 --> 00:27:12.099
our junior national team results. Head
over to us a log dot org to
365
00:27:12.299 --> 00:27:18.609
the news section to read the latest
about their incredible success. During this season.
366
00:27:18.009 --> 00:27:25.250
The US has been extremely successful in
all disciplines. Congratulations. Facebook,
367
00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:30.079
instagram and twitter are also great places
to get us a loge news, as
368
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:34.920
those social media spots are updated frequently. If you enjoyed this episode of blank,
369
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.240
make sure you subscribe, as well
as rate and review it. I
370
00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:44.160
really appreciate it. Thank you for
listening to blink, a podcast about what
371
00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:48.269
it takes to win a lose race
in the blink of an eye.
1
00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:12.150
Today we are joined by national team
head coach, Robert Fegg. Good Morning,
2
00:00:12.189 --> 00:00:16.949
Rob I brand. Thanks for yeah. So, for those interested in
3
00:00:16.989 --> 00:00:21.269
Rob's background, we did another podcast
together back in June, two thousand and
4
00:00:21.269 --> 00:00:24.579
twenty episode number six, so be
sure to listen to that. But today
5
00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:28.300
we are here to discuss the two
thousand and twenty two games. Rob,
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00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:32.219
can you believe that they're just about
two weeks away from the opening ceremony?
7
00:00:32.939 --> 00:00:36.689
No, not really. I mean
you know it yourself. A quad goes
8
00:00:36.729 --> 00:00:41.729
by so fast. You start off
after note a big games and it's a
9
00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:44.530
blink of an eye and two four
years are gone and now you're right there.
10
00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:48.850
And today we're chatting from. Well, you're from your you're in Park
11
00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.679
City, Utah, where you've been
for about a week, and listeners will
12
00:00:52.679 --> 00:00:57.439
recall that last week we chatted with
the Olympic doubles team of Zack de Grigorio
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00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:02.520
and Sean Hollander. They're out there
training on a new sled owned by Jason
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Tournament and you're they're coaching. So
how's it going for the for the doubles
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00:01:06.909 --> 00:01:11.629
team? Yeah, it's going really
well, like the entire area here,
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00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:18.549
track facility to track crew, the
weather, this led, everything plays together
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00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:22.299
out here right now. It goes
really well. The boys are chested really
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00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:26.299
fast to the new system, this
sliding world. The track is in great
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00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:32.260
shape, the weather is fantastic,
the track crew is is crazily invested as
20
00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:38.090
super supportive. They try to make
everything work what's needed and it actually turns
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out to be a really good Olympic
preparation for those two youngsters. Yeah,
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00:01:42.930 --> 00:01:45.530
that's great. You know, it's
it was kind of a gamble, maybe
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00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:48.959
a little bit, to take the
last two world cups off, but it
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00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.840
sounds like things are going pretty well. Yeah, we had two thoughts if
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00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:55.680
it is it right or is it
not right? But in the end was
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the only right decision, since chasing
offered his sled and we knew that is
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00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.510
that the fastest apple sled we have
right now. That has proven to be
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successful and for double to switch sleds
it just takes more than fourteen runs which
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00:02:08.270 --> 00:02:13.949
they would have gotten over the two
weeks in the workup circuit exactly. And
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I know that you guys had to
make some changes to that sled number one.
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Probably the biggest part was lengthening the
COUPIN's to fit Shan is that right?
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00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:27.900
Yeah, physically this is a completely
different double than Christen chasing and ever
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00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:32.009
we had to do some substantial changes
to to the Kupins and but even that
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00:02:32.289 --> 00:02:37.330
everything worked out well. I've rarely
had a build of a slat that was
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00:02:37.409 --> 00:02:40.289
so flawless. There was not one
thing that really went wrong so far.
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I don't want to change it,
but we had done building so I can
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say it and know everything worked out
really well. And they look great on
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that sled and they off. They're
not slow on. That's lad. I
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would say that definitely already fasted and
they've been with their original sled. They
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feel it better. They have a
better feeling on it day. They enjoyed
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more. It's it was a one
hundred percent step in the right direction.
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That's awesome. And is Brittany out
there training alongside them? What about Duncan
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and Dana? Are they there too? Duncan and Dana? They are back
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in lake placid the training there.
Brittain is out here. She's joining US
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usually one of the two sessions a
day. So we have a nice comparison
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and since Brittany is a force to
be reckoned without in Park City. It's
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a good standard to compare to and
be really thankful that she that she stood
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up and just says, yeah,
of course I'm going to help. There's
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no doubt about it. You've got
a new coach alongside you, Jason Turnament,
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who was just in one of your
athletes two weeks ago. How is
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it coaching with Jason? Oh,
Jason is great. We had him coaching
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alongside US put entire season, some
of last season as well. Every time
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Chris went on single sleds, Jason
decided to come out and help, and
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so we know how he's coaching.
He's a great coach, he's a great
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dude and he just he doesn't more
than just you, sir, of being
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out here to help those boys.
I think everybody's really resonating with his story.
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It's really pretty great of him to
do. Like I messaged him and
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said, you know, you have
every right to be grieving on your own
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and staying at home and just grieving
not making the Olympic team, but you're
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going above and beyond. It's pretty
cool story. Yeah, I cannot praise
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him enough for that. You know, like that is quite the story.
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After they had the crash and the
decision was made, it took him a
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few hours and then he was there
and said, you know, it's not
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about me, it's about the team
and we do this, is what about
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this, and he was heavily invested
in his ever since. Is it easy
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for us? No doubt about it. It's not, you know, and
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nobody can blame him for that,
but he is here and fully motivated,
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fully invested, helping out with wherever
it's possible. And Yeah, that's it's
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just fantastic. Yeah, that's great. So what's head over to the World
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Cup circuit. The race and over
half wrapped up on Sunday, and you
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know, that is just a really, really tough track in general, and
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I kind of showed in our results. Yeah, it's not the easiest track.
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It's a typical track where you need
a lot of runs to first of
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all conquer it and secondly, to
be fast on and it's pretty visible who
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trains there a lot and who gets
two runs in. And unfortunately for us
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it has always been not the greatest
place to be. We had some success
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there, as US silly, but
it was never a very consistent success and
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this year was not really different.
Plus, we got a little bit unlucky
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with Emily's neck in see Goulda.
It really bothers her. So she took
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last week off because they are just
bigger goals than we coming over half this
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year. And then with summer as
while breaking her middle finger, and see
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Golda when she had to crash in
the race. That's an incredibly unlucky timing,
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but she tried last week. She
had the two runs just to grab
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a few points for seating. This
week in sent more she's back on ice,
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not paddling like normal, as she's
using knuckle spikes this week. Oh
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Wow, just to be able to
do something right. Yeah, and so
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far it seems to be working out
not too bad. Yeah, good.
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I was going to say we haven't
seen knuckle spikes in a long time.
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I think huckle was probably the last
one who use those efficiently. Yeah,
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he sure. When did you retire? In two thousand and six, I
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believe. Yeah, it must have
been the last time. Yeah, I
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was going to say last week in
on social media, summer announced that she
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had broken her finger and you know, in addition to making it difficult at
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the start pulling off the handles and
paddling, of course it's very difficult.
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I think even just thinking about laying
down on the sled and holding on to
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the handles with a swollen broken finger
sounds pretty painful. Yeah, it definitely
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is. It's not a situation be
at any time, but definitely not right
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now. And she seems to be
handling it really good, like knowing that
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we are two weeks out of the
Olympics and this happened just right now towards
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it go. She worked for such
a long time. It's not easy to
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deal with and she's pushing through.
She's trying to find solutions that of being
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broken over the problem, you know, and and that's great. It's the
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great it's a great attitude and will
work out for him certain yeah, definitely.
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You gotta make some changes that you
can control and move forward and keep
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the eye on the prize. Correct, that's exactly what it is. And
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then you mentioned emily wasn't able to
raise. She needed to give her neck
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a little bit of a break because
the g forces in Segulda are just so
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strong and Oberholf has tight curves as
well. But she'll be back at the
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same merits race. Is that right? That is correct. She's training,
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will be racing and yeah, this
break was needed. I give emily complete
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freedom over those decisions, because there's
nobody who knows her body more than herself,
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especially the area with her neck after
that crashed. It happened in Ping
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Chung, and she is always made
the right decisions for that, and so
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indeed, that case it was just
the right decision. Again, she needed
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to take the time off. She
really pushed the envelope in Sigulda and yeah,
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it's working out again, like her
neck is in better shape and that's
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why she's back on a sleddens and
more. It's what are her symptoms?
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Is it like really tight, like
a really tight, stiff knack, or
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is it more pain? What does
she say happens when her neck is giving
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her issues? Yeah, I think
it's a mix of both, like the
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muscle gets tired, she gets tight, she gets stiff, it starts hurting
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and it's a A. I think
it's a mix of all of that and
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she never really expressed the exact words
what it is. But there's one thing
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where we can completely count on is
that she makes the right decision and that
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when it starts bothering her, she's
very quick in making that decision to not
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have it go any further than it
already is. Yep, she's got to
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be able to trust herself. So
it sounds like she has. One of
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the problems with missing an entire race
is losing points. What does that mean?
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Does that mean she'll have a not
a great start number for the first
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run? Yeah, great start number
is wow, I don't I don't know
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if we're going to have that actually, you know, a great start number,
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because when we've been in China and
the way it's over there right now,
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it's very dry, it's very cold, it's a nice weather. I
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don't think that the track will actually
slow down. So that's why we decided
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we can do that. We can
think about solutions like that to not put
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a disadvantage on the athlete before we
actually get to the Games. And of
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course there's always just a little bit
of a risk that weather terms and everything
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right. But that being said,
the risk seems to be very little,
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very small, and with those decisions
I don't think yes, she will probably
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be out of the act or there's
a chance that she will be out of
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the AC same with summer, but
at the same time I don't think that
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that will be necessarily a disadvantage or
an advantage. I think the track will
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stay the same, but the most
parts and it will only effect, if
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at all, the first race run
and they would be in the mix anyways.
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Of the rankings, because this is
different from a World Cup. I
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was just thinking that in a World
Cup, the a seed goes last.
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The first athletes to go off the
start are the Nations Cup qualifiers. But
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there is no nations cup, so
is the a seed. The first will
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be the first athletes to go off. That is correct. Why being a
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seed inable cup often turns out to
be, or could be a disadvantage,
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because you goes a late in the
race. At the Olympics it's actually turned
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around and the act is split in
two a seats, a one and a
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two. So want to six,
leap one to six and seven to twelve
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or something like that, and and
they go first off. So they definitely
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have to the early start numbers that
time around. And that's the only race
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in desert it. But, like
you said, the weather in general.
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I've seen some pictures from the track
this week over in Beijing and it looks,
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like you said, very dry,
pretty cold under I think it was
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seven Celsius which is pretty much perfect
for lose races. So shouldn't be a
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problem. Not We are not expecting
a problem with that and if there would
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be one and we deal with it
on site. But we don't see that
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coming. Like, as you say, like we saw some pictures and social
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media from the track last week in
and Beijing. Looks Great and talking to
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some Chinese coaches, like Vertub for
example, it's fantastic over there right now
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and it has been for quite a
few weeks. So the team made their
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way to Saint Marit's, Switzerland a
few days ago and you know, this
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is such a cool track. It's
unlike anything in the world. I know
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we've talked about it on the podcast
before, but this is the only track
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that's built from the ground up every
year. Most lose tracks are are built
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with a cement base and we know
going into a race basically what it's going
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to be like. But that's not
necessarily the case with SAT Maretza changes a
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little bit every year. Have you
heard from the athletes and coaches over there
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about how the track is this year? Yeah, talked to build and Bank
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a little bit about that. The
track is in great shape again, as
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it is always right. I mean
this is a is an artifact. How
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they built it and it's incredible how
close they actually can build it every year.
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is saying. Yes, there are
mighta changes, no doubt about it,
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and but it's every year a beautiful
track that have it incredibly under control.
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Of course you're very weather dependent.
There's also no doubt about it.
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But at the same time, for
the athletes, just an experience. If
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you have not been to send more, it's you're really missing something in your
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loose career and everybody who gets to
go to send more it's is super excited
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every time around. Yeah, I'm
excited to watch the race. It will
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be really fun, to say absolutely
will be interesting, it will be fun
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and it's definitely something different than watching
any other other race. What are the
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athletes working on during this final week
of racing prior to the Olympic Games?
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It's going to be mostly, hopefully
it's going to be mostly defined tuning parts,
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that you really get more confidence into
your equipment, that you that you
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slide on confidence in your sliding speaking, good position. Not to think too
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much about it. If you can, you work a little bit or dial
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in your start. If you haven't
done so yet. Basically, in the
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end it's just another race week.
But yes, you're coming closer to the
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Olympic Games and you have to make
sure you put yourself into the right mindset.
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You try to find those last little
bits and pieces that are missing that
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you could squeeze out of it to
be even better at the Games. And
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Yeah, just getting ready. Speaking
of the Olympics, can you give us
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a quick rundown of how and when
everyone is getting over to Beijing? Yeah,
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so once we have done in sent
more it's with the World Cup,
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we going to head down to Syrik. This is where our planes going to
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leave section and myself. We're going
to fly over on on the twenty two.
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We're going to arrive in Munich on
a twenty three and we can meet
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up with the team in Syric.
Then Day later we're going to fly out
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of styrgue on a twenty six,
arrived in bashing on a twenty seven and
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move into the village and right away. We were thinking about splitting up the
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team, but with going into China
being quite a bit of a hassle and
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for the disciplines having their systematic runs
so early as well, it didn't make
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really any sense. So we bring
everybody over, we take the advantage of
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having the time to acclimatize a little
bit better, not being as chadlicked,
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and try to take advantage of that
situation that you mentioned. A systematic run.
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Does everyone get a systematic or is
it just the lower seated groups?
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And when will those happen? Now
everybody gets two systematic runs. Actually Right,
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I'm not certain if there was in
the past like that as well,
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if it was one or two,
but this time around they get to the
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systematic grounds for the men and women
will be on February first. The systematic
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runs for the doubles will be on
February five. So the doubles have quite
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a bit of time knowing that there
will be all the rate training runs for
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the other two disciplines and the racist
before they actually get into action with their
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race. That's quite a bit of
time off of a Slod. So what
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is that? The twenty two until
the V for them to be off their
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slid? How how are you going
to, as a coach, talk to
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Zach and Sean and try to help
keep them in the game to be ready
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to go on the V for their
training? Well, first of all,
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they must be aware of the situation
right, and they are, like we
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talked about this, about this stuff
quite a bit, and try to get
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them ready. Of course we hope. We don't have conformation, but we
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hope that they're allowed to go out
to the track while the other ones,
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the other disciplines are training, just
watching and stuff. And all that being
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said, they it doesn't it won't
hurt them to be off the slife for
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a little bit, because those ten
days be training park city. Right now
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they're pretty high volume, like,
as I said earlier, the fourteen days,
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that fourteen runs in over half in
sent more it's combined, would have
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not helped them. We have done
fifteen runs in the first two days.
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Oh Wow, we're going to get
together after those ten days with approximately fifty
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fifty five runs, and so it's
going to be okay for them to have
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a little bit of break and it
would be even better if they're allowed to
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get to the track and watch the
men's singles and the women's singles train and
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use the time to acclimatize. And
nevertheless, it's going to be a little
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bit of a hassle because it's a
long time being there not being able to
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slide or not being to do a
lot because the restrictions are high as well.
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You basically allowed in your village and
right that's it. So we got
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to make sure that we going to
keep them busy to to some extent.
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You know this a little bit.
Games is going to look very different compared
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to others because of covid. I
just saw that they're not going to sell
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any tickets to spectators, that they'll
just I guess it sounds like they'll invite
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smaller groups of spectators to the different
events. So it's just going to be
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different. Yeah, it will be
very different. Like the spected, a
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question is definitely out there. It
was going back and forth, back datas.
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No spectators, just a few spectators, just Chinese spectators, like a
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lot was out there and I don't
even know if there's a final decision made,
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but one thing's for is a fact. It's going to be way different
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than any other Olympic Games you've seen
so far in the last few decades and
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absolutely it is sad, you know, for especially for the first timers.
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They miss a good part, a
good chunk of that experience of participating at
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the Olympics. Nevertheless, another part
is still right there. It is still
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still has that label. It's still
going to put a different perspective on that
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race and they still should try to
enjoy it as much as possible, you
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know, and it's good. Still
going to be fun. It's going to
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be it's going to be stressful at
times, it's going to be different at
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times, it's going to be it's
going to seem very unorganized at times and
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and with all the testing they have
to do, it's in testing. You
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know, it's going to be just
an add on. But nevertheless, it's
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the Olympic Games and they are ready. They they are ready to participate.
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Will our lose athletes participate in the
opening ceremony? I strongly believe so.
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Yeah, absolutely, as long,
especially since we are supposed to be an
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Olympic bubble like once we arrive in
China, I don't think that there will
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be any restrictions on who can go
who cannot go as off athletes anyways.
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So I would assume that they going
to participate in your a big opening ceremonia
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and I know from speaking with other
athletes who have been to the Games that
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one of the best parts is after
competing, being able to go to other
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events and cheering on your countrymen and
watching their events. Will our athletes be
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able to do anything like that or
are they planning to leave right away?
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That is still in discussions as far
as I'm informed. But that being said,
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even if they would be allowed to, it's definitely worth a second,
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second thought. All flights right now
a booked for February thirteen, while the
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last competition being February ten with the
team relate. So they would be two
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days where they could visit other events. But that being said, if you
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do visit other events and you do
turn out to test positive, if you're
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stuck in China for quite a while, and so I don't know if somebody
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wants to take the risk or not. Right it's definitely debatable. And from
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friends with Tony Bunch off on facebook
and I saw some of his post about
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being stuck in a hospital for fifty
four days. That does not sound ideal.
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Were over for the test event.
They had a nice talk with them
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as well and he told me that
story and it's not nothing you would want
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to desire to go through, you
know. No, definitely not. I
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imagine, even though that the Games
are going to be really different. Are
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The athletes still must be really a
cited? Absolutely, absolutely, still an
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achievement. You know, you know
yourself like as an athlete. This is
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the the one goal everybody works towards
to and when you do achieve that,
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being qualified for the Olympic Games,
you are super excited to get there.
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You are super excited to compete.
You you want to give it your best
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and you want to be successful as
well. So yes, they are very
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excited, they're very motivated and they
are ready to go full forth. I
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listened on a press conference last week
with all the athletes and Emily Sweeney mentioned
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that basically right now she's concentrating on
doing everything she can in her power not
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to get covid right now and it
sounds like it sounds like the Chinese standards
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to get a negative result on a
covid test are more stringent, a little
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more difficult. So what are you
telling the athletes right now about staying safe
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making smart decisions? You know,
right now no one can get covid,
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otherwise they're Olympics is in jeopardy.
Yeah, it's not that easy and it's
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basically the same message as we tell
them all season and they are smart about
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it, like they're not risking really
anything with it. Don't have to.
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You gotta stay safe, you gotta
stay secluded as much as possibly, got
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to be washing your hands all the
time, you got to keep your mask
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on as much as possibly, especially
when you're around people, and and that's
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just the name of the game since
this entire pandemic started, and it's becoming
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more and more important, especially now, you know, because there is no
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way back anymore. If you get
tested positive now it's going to be a
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tough one to go over there and
compete. That being said, even though
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we are supposed to be in an
indie fair bubble, which you only can
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be as strict to certain degree as
well, just last week there were two
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positive cases, right, and so
you're not a hundred percent safe, but
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you got to do your part to
try and stay as safe as possible.
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And our athletes, they really know
the risk and and emily is not on
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my own and that that they're trying
to stay safe as possible. They're very
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smart about the decisions they make and
trying to stay away from from any occurring
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risk. You said there were two
positive covid tests I'm assuming they weren't Americans.
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Know they were not Americans. That's
correct. Yeah, well, sending
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my thoughts to those folks and hopefully
they are having, you know, no
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symptoms and can heal in time to
get over the Beijing. Yeah, as
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far as I'm informed, they are
okay and as far as I also know,
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they got to be in Beijing.
How great in your eyes. What
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will success look like in Beijing?
First and foremost, and that has always
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been my thing, success is to
deliver a good race, and that's from
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the perspective of an athlete in first
place, speaking in the singles disciplines,
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for consistent, good runs. Every
one of our athletes in on the Olympic
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team to have the capability to be
consistent, to slide well and then obviously
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slide with the right choices of equipment
that we do have. And it also
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has been shown this season that,
especially in the women and in the doubles,
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they can be fast our slats and
as long as those two factors played
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together well, and then we do
have a good day as well, because
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there's always a little bit lucky.
Only three medals participline and quite a few
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of contenders for those three spots.
We going to have very good results.
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You know, I don't want to
say what I'm expecting because I really do
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only expect for consistent runs and then
we get what we get and everything close
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plays in our favor. It's going
to be good results well, and and
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you kind of Said like there are
three medals over four runs, which is
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a lot of runs and a lose
race, and on a track that doesn't
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have many runs on it. What
meaning? Athletes don't have that much experience
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on that track. So really anything
can happen. Anything can happen, and
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the test race in November has shown
exactly that. People who were dominating or
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were really fast all the way down
the track. It took them until the
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last fifteen minutes before the finish line
and they had a mistake there and the
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result was not the one that they
expected. It'll be very fun to watch
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and I know we're all very excited
and sharing everyone on from home. Is
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there anything you'd like to mention that
I haven't asked? The main thing is
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that we all stick together through the
time, trying to stay safe and nevertheless,
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the Olympics are going to come.
We going to be racing over there
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and I hope, despite the fact
that no families are allowed to come and
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join in person and cheer on their
kids or or family members, you guys
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being home and watching on TV and
watching on those loose parties, it's got
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to be fun. You know,
you gotta. You got to go out
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there and enjoy it at and make
party, because that's still part of it.
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COVID or not, Ye, the
part of and the athletes will feel
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that energy across the ocean one hundred
percent. Rob thanks the ton for taking
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the time to chat today. I
know you've got a ton of work ahead
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of you today in the in the
Slood shop and out on the track,
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but just thank you so much for
taking the time brand it was a pleasure
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any time. Again, awesome.
It's pretty hard to believe that in just
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two weeks from today, our athletes
will be participating in the opening ceremony for
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the Beijing Winter Olympic big games.
In some ways this quad has flown by,
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but for those of US watching from
afar, it is also moved in
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slow motion. I think we can
all agree that it will be great to
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cheer on our favorite athletes in just
a couple weeks. Have you checked out
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00:27:07.859 --> 00:27:12.099
our junior national team results. Head
over to us a log dot org to
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00:27:12.299 --> 00:27:18.609
the news section to read the latest
about their incredible success. During this season.
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00:27:18.009 --> 00:27:25.250
The US has been extremely successful in
all disciplines. Congratulations. Facebook,
367
00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:30.079
instagram and twitter are also great places
to get us a loge news, as
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00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:34.920
those social media spots are updated frequently. If you enjoyed this episode of blank,
369
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.240
make sure you subscribe, as well
as rate and review it. I
370
00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:44.160
really appreciate it. Thank you for
listening to blink, a podcast about what
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00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:48.269
it takes to win a lose race
in the blink of an eye.
