Postcards From Paris: Cody Simpson & Katie Hoff

26:44He has a very calm demeanor, exterior at least. I don't know what, I'm sure there's more going on inside when we're at meets, but he's very good at instilling a sense of calm confidence in his athletes, which I appreciated for the years that I was with him. and I think coaches, like there's different coaches for different athletes but I think the ones that sort of merge well with his personality do really well under him.

27:20He's really tough but in a calm sort of way. Yeah, he's also hilarious so that helps. And now he's stepping down. Yeah, he says, I don't know. We've all got money on like how long that'll last, but he says he's retiring. It's like a John Urbanchek who retired like four times. Yeah, he'll be back on deck in six months. Yeah, he's not gonna be able to hang it up for very long. But I read that Mel Marshall, the Loughborough coach from the UK, who's Adam Peaty's coach is taking over the role. She's taking over the group, yeah. Yeah, she's taking over that role. I mean, she seems like an amazing coach.

28:00Yeah, yeah. And I think she's wanted to, they've come down for camps a couple of times. Like she's brought the Brits down to train like with us a couple of times. And I think she's expressed interest in training, living and working in that area for a long time. Cause it's so nice. You know, I'm sure the welcome weather change from the UK. It's a big difference. So she's gonna be taking over that program back there. So I'm sure it'd be great for the group and it couldn't be a better coach to sort of take on what Bollie built there. Does Boll sort of stepping down impact your thoughts around continuing or?

28:41I don't know. Are those thoughts independent of that? Yeah, I think independent of that, you know, like as much as I love him and feel like if I were to continue that he'd be who I'd like to stay under. I think that having come back in a pretty sort of lone wolf fashion, I have this idea that I could do it anywhere with anyone if I wanted to because I did so much of my early training, like, you know, almost alone in, you know, 25 yard pools with no lane rope sector and COVID and, you know, all that stuff. So yeah, I don't know. I'd sort of have to look at what else was around. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

29:28I'm really interested in like, I've never had a pull of these two things. Like I was in swimming and I was locked into swimming. That's all I was gonna do. Like, are you right now, and maybe you're six weeks removed. So maybe it's too early to ask this question, but you have this incredible talent in music and you have this incredible talent in swimming. So right now, like was your brain, Where is your brain being pulled and in what direction? It's hard to decipher right now. I think I'm too close to it still. I really had to make a conscious effort in those couple of years to really lock in and not be pulled towards some of the other stuff.

30:07But I think if I was to come back to swimming, I'd be able to have a nice balance of, um, I'm still maintaining that part of my life. Um, but there are things I want to do, um, outside of the sport for at least a little bit. Um, my plan is not to slip too far off the, the, the wagon, you know, like I'm still, I'm still lifting. I'm still like, how can I hold onto this? Like, you know, I don't want to, impinging on my creative lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. So like, you know, I think I've built such good habits over the last, like four years that I don't plan on just becoming a slob. So I think if I can stay fit and stay strong, I think that at least over the next sort of six, 12 months, I think that makes it a little easier if you do decide you wanna slot back in that you're not, you haven't put on 20 kilos and lost any and all aerobic fitness.

31:10Nobody wants to see that on you. No, I don't. Wait, was that, but I never saw, like was that how much you had to lose? No, no, no. He was like a skinny guy. I was gonna say. He became like this. You just build a ton of muscle. I was, yeah, I was like growing up competing and swimming, like I always sort of had a swimming frame, I guess, but I was, it needed to be built upon. I think four years ago, I was pretty skinny. So yeah, but no, I never had any weight on, yeah. What I'm excited for you to explore is returning to the songwriting and the performing, but doing it on your own terms. Like you basically just broke all these rules.

31:53Like all these people said, what you're trying to do is impossible. It's a fool's errand. And you committed to it and you took it like way beyond any place that anybody thought realistically that you would go with it. And that has to expand your sense of possibility, right? And you are a musician, you're a songwriter, you're a performer, you're all of these things. Those things haven't gone away. They've just been kind of latent for a while. And now you get to return to that, but you get to do it with this renewed sense of capacity, right? Like you don't have to go back to LA and plug yourself into some crazy machine.

32:32Like you get to do it the way that you wanna do it. Yeah, it added a nice, one, it sort of added a nice layer to, I suppose, the story of my life so far. But two, it definitely did instill in me a sense of kind of do it however you want. You know, I think it also, swimming teaches you a sense of self-discipline and self-reliance that few other things can teach you. I think competitive sport at that level, in any sport, teaches you that. But I learned it through swimming, you know, that can be applied to whatever else. So I'm really excited to, I suppose, have that asset and set of tools to be able to apply to whatever it is I want to do next.

33:29But I'm particularly excited to apply that to music and entertainment. The thing, though, about the entertainment industry and all that and the music industry is that it's not so black and white as a work turns into progress or success. rule like rule or theory as say sport is you know sports very much what you put in is where you get out kind of situation where you know the music industry there's you know there's that whole shaking hands and kissing babies side which I just I don't enjoy like or enjoy it was made to to do too much of it as a teenager that I'm just like have no interest in. So I definitely would do it on my own terms again.

34:18Yeah, I think we talked about this last time. Like there's this tension between effort and output. Whereas in swimming, it's pretty binary. Like the more you put in, the more you get out of it. And you learn to do this. To an extent, I suppose. Yeah, I mean, there's caveats to that. For the most part, yeah. But it is very much like - It's hard to go over the edge. The harder you work, you're putting yourself in the better position to succeed or achieve your goals. Whereas anything that is creative, you have to hold it loosely. You can't force a song. There's the business aspect of entertainment, but the actual creative aspect of it is more of an allowing.

34:57You can't take that swimming attitude and you could go into the studio and say, I'm not leaving the studio until I have six songs. But you also have to step back. and it's a different mindset. It's a grunt through like a set, you know, like the way you would in sport. Yeah, you gotta, it's a push and pull. Yeah, it's a different skillset that you have to like kind of resurface in yourself. Which I have to sort of reteach myself, you know. Well, I was gonna ask that, like did that, because I feel like some level of having the looseness in swimming is actually really healthy. Is good, yeah. And so did that help or did you continue that when you came back to swimming?

35:36That's a great question. Did you, were you able to have a little looseness? Because the fact that you're here and you're like, I'm at peace, I'm in awe of that. You know what I mean? So I think I'm wondering, you tell me, if that played a part. Yeah, I suppose so. Like approaching it in that way. I did have to keep reminding myself of it through that process because I did find times where I was holding on too tight, you know. And that would negatively affect my performance. because I go, no, I need to keep that like musical approach to this a little bit. And when I did swim my best, it was, you know, I'm sure it was the same for you or for any swimmer.

36:17Like when you feel you're swimming your best, it feels free and it feels loose and it feels - Flowy. Yeah, it feels musical in a way. Like it feels like a dance, yeah. You also have the added benefit of just, you have this other love. So like retiring from swimming doesn't create like an identity crisis for you. That's what I'm grateful for. And I think maybe that plays a part in the peace side of things too, because I wasn't afraid of what I was gonna want to do after or having to find something else. You know, I'm very grateful to have had built this or just to naturally have this other great passion that can certainly sort of ease the, you know, ease the post sort of swimming blues that, you know, I still kind of am getting because you're so used to a very particular regimen, but it's nice to sort of have something else to.

37:18You find yourself waking up at five or whatever it is anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so funny. Eating a giant breakfast and you're like, actually don't. Even some of my mates that I'm here with. I know, I'm like, I actually don't need to consume this many calories right now. Yeah, I don't need three breakfasts. I can just have an espresso and like a little croissant. You know, that's enough. I am, and I tell you, I am loving, that is the one thing you're done with swimming or your sport. And I would just do that. I'd be like, I don't need to consume an insane amount of protein. You know what? I'm just going to have a latte and a croissant.

37:48And that is good enough. Yeah, and that's good. And also when you're like lifting or, I was talking about this, one of my other buddies who I'm here with, he unfortunately missed qualifying for the Oz team as well. he actually won the 200 fly trials but wasn't Australia has these incredible time standards that they're ruthless about 155 maybe 56 maybe 56 but won trials but wasn't under the qual time but he's over here and we're going around to see some of the swimming and um you know he's like me i guess he sort of accepted that fact and swimming so cutthroat man like yeah it's crazy you know um but uh we were at the gym like yesterday lifting like oh we don't have to like destroy ourselves you know we can just like we can just like exercise to feel good to get some endorphins you know yeah like we don't have to just you know punish Like, wow, we can just, we can actually stop here after, you know, just four sets and like go get breakfast and feel good for the day.

39:08Enjoy the session for once. Not going to sleep for two hours now. Yeah, it's great. Yeah. I have to ask you, I love the little clip that you did with the Inspired Unemployed guys. I love those guys. Those guys are, do you know these guys? The Inspired Unemployed. Which one did you see? The one where you were getting out of the pool, taking the cap off. Oh, yeah, okay. Yeah, cool. So we did a longer, I think it came out today. It's like, I teach them how to swim butterfly kind of, they race each other and then I race the winner with like a handicap. It was pretty funny. I'll send you the clip. You don't know who these guys are, Katie?

39:43No, I need to look them up. They're Australian comedians. These guys, yeah, they're two of the funniest dudes you're ever going to, I mean, how do you explain it? They're like, so the humor is very Aussie, like, but they just make these really comedic videos on YouTube and Instagram reels and stuff. And they have a show in Australia also. Yeah, yeah. Like a YouTube show, like a TV show? They were like two dudes who would make these hilarious little videos on Instagram or TikToks or whatever. They're just like two Aussie blokes, but they're really funny together and they just blew up. They're so good that they just developed this huge fall.

40:19Yeah, they have a very funny podcast. I love that. And they make, and now they get to go to all these amazing events and make funny videos with like famous people. So they go to F1 and they did stuff with Daniel Ricciardo and now they're at their Olympics doing stuff with Cody and others, I'm sure. Yeah, they're doing like the correspondence for the Australian team or like something. It's kinda like the buttery bros in the crossfit world in the US. Like where it's like. They're just too, They do, they kind of like are like, they're normal guys. They're like blue collar guys. They're like blue collar guys.

40:52Oh, that's so cool. It's a very Australian kind of humor. It is like Aussie humor. Like I always hear people say like, oh, it's like Aussie humor. Like what is Aussie humor? Like why is it different? Like I don't actually feel like I'm good friends with Steph Rice and I always laughed at her jokes. So like, I don't know what the difference is. It's a lot of taking the piss. Yeah. You know? A lot of sarcasm. Take people down and off. Maybe be crude, yeah. We have this thing called like, which is one of the things I don't love about Australia, which is like, we call it tall poppy syndrome, which you guys don't have as much in the US where if someone kind of like gets a bit too successful or, you know.

41:35Kind of cocky. Yeah, not even cocky, just like successful. Oh no. In any working business, like people just start to try and cut you down. And I think it's, I don't know why that is in the culture. And that's why a lot of Australians that are moving overseas abroad to like further their careers, like they might go to the States or whatever, because you guys have this really beautiful culture of like, you know, lifting each other up and not sort of downplaying success, which I like about the States. And we probably need a bit more of that in Australia, but we, you know, that's also, I think what keeps a lot of Aussies like humble, but sometimes I feel like it's out of fear of being like, you know, yeah.

42:20Wow. But yeah, it's a little bit, um, we're probably a little more like, like judgmental of each other than Americans are of each other, you know, but then like, you know, sometimes we have the perspective of like, you guys do it to the point where like, you guys like to flex, you know, like the cocky. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are It goes, yeah. Extreme. Well, yeah, we're constantly, sometimes I feel like, yeah, we can go like over-overboard of like, oh my gosh, that was amazing. That is definitely in our nature. Yeah. It was like, it's almost like in Australia, if you drive like two flash for your car, like everyone's like, what the hell are you doing?

43:00Like get rid of that thing. Whereas in the States, a lot of places be like, man, like congrats, like you bought a whatever, you know. To an extent, I don't know. Maybe that's just LA, like going up there. I mean, you can get, it can be douchey. I don't, yeah. A hundred percent. I feel like especially in LA, like I used to live in LA and it's like, yeah. Like you look at that person. It goes overboard. Calm down, calm down. What are you trying to overcome? But I suppose what I'm trying to say is we sort of have that, we call it tall puppy syndrome where you can, which are, you know, to an extent it's all right.

43:32Cause it, I think it keeps everyone kind of grounded, but at the same time, I think you need a bit of, you know encouragement better go do whatever you want do you think you would ever move back to the states not full-time i could see myself going back and forth but i think just being back close to family um you know having my girlfriend and just having built this like really nice community of friends back home i think uh i enjoy and feel a lot happier in australia than i did when i was was overseas, because it was weird. Like in my 10 years in LA, like I probably made three friends that I've like, you know, been able to maintain.

44:16I don't know if that's just the transitory nature of like the city, because everyone's just coming and going and from somewhere else and whatever. But like, I've been able to really cultivate some really lifelong or what I hope to be lifelong friendships back in Australia. And like, I don't wanna live too far from that. Yeah. Am I gonna move to Paris with you? I'm planning to see I'm watering it every day every day she gets a nice little aesthetic video of like a beautiful street with like a guy playing accordion and I'm like you know I'm going I really like it here this could be every day yeah let's try three months

45:05Would you swim in the Seine if given the opportunity? Have they given it the green light yet or what's the deal? So here's the latest. Obviously we recap this the other day. Because they moved the triathlon yesterday, didn't they? So yesterday was supposed to be the triathlon. The men were going off first. They all got up at 4 a.m., went down to the start, called it off. The water wasn't testing properly. So they said, come back tomorrow. How are they gonna do enough in 24 hours to like - Check this out. What day is it today? It's Wednesday. 31st. So I woke up at like 4.30 this morning and it was raining.

45:42And I'm like, well, there's no way they're doing the triathlon today. Sure enough, women went off on time and men were just finishing the race when you arrived here. Isn't that so concerning? So they both went and the whole thing was - But if they called it too dirty yesterday, how have they done enough to change that? Exactly. Your guess is as good as mine. I don't know the answer to that. And are they still going to do the open water? That's my question. My understanding, I was talking to somebody at the pool the other day who has insight, a former Olympian who's talking to a bunch of the swimmers.

46:13And as far as I understand it, it's similar. Like the day that the event is supposed to happen, they'll show up for it and they'll let them know. That's crazy. And so here's the thing. Where do they warm up to for the 5 and 10K? I have no idea. Maybe in the scent itself, right? So if the water isn't testing properly, they'll send them home and they'll come back the following day, same thing. And they'll do that, I think, three times. That's like the rule. And then if it's still not clean enough, they have a backup, like a B plan, which I think is hosting the open water competition where they're doing the kayaking.

46:56Is that right? Some other water-related event. that's happening here. So they have - Is it rowing? Is it rowing? I don't know. I don't know where they're rowing is. Some secondary where they're doing some kind of competition. I'm mind blown how they were able to get it. But can you imagine the mindset of like going to do your thing. To prelims and then being like actually - Your heat is this morning. No, it's not. Okay, it's tomorrow now. No, it's not. It's the next day. Like how does that impact your mental game? Yeah, it's huge. Cause you're so used to knowing something's happening on a certain day at a certain time.

47:30I mean, your whole plan leading up to it, like I don't know about you, but I had like a three day out, like here's the pace I'm doing, here's what I'm doing like each time. So you would keep doing it and then you would - Well, you're timing your prep into this specific day, right? Like you have things you're doing each day leading in. And just mentally, like, okay, like you lock in 24 hours out. Yeah, exactly. I'm excited. So it's like to lock in, okay, no, no, no. Okay, now I'm gonna lock in again. You shut everything down. The emotional energy would be unreal. Yeah, so if you're Katie Grimes right now, I mean, that's like, what do you say to her to help her get sorted?

48:06I actually have talked to her a lot this meet before 400 IM and then she saw the 1500 prelim and unfortunately didn't advance. And I think for her, she's such a programmed person. And I think that's why we get along so well, cause I'm like that person too. And I was like, you need to just keep recreating the plan. Like, okay, like here's what I'm doing. like even from the 400 IM final, she had the prelim the next morning, she got back at 2 AM and then she has to get up. And my advice was like compartmentalize the emotion, make a plan minute to minute. Like for some people that is like the worst thing you can do.

48:41But for her, she was like, okay, cool. So my advice is like, okay, like just make the plan assuming it's gonna be happening. But then the second you find out, make a new plan, like don't start flailing. And I think it would be very easy to be like, like, oh wait, I had my plan and not sit down again, take the time, be in the moment and create a new plan. But for someone who is that type of person, it's the only way to get through it, I think. I think you'd hope that, well, at least for us, like, I don't know, our coach would sort of hope you try and emulate, you know, heats and final stuff in training.

49:16Like we do a suited morning and evening and you treat it like it was a heat and final on a little whatever, heat and semi, you know? And to go through, you know, not to a T, but similar processes as you would on like a race day with the, you know, a similar sort of downtime in between and, you know, similar sort of pre-activation and all that stuff. And so ideally like you get used to it and you can, you know, if you're good, you can run it back. And keep the added ripple here being all the bus rides, It's, you know, the village is like an hour away. And the buses aren't running well. No, she was going from the comp pool to the village, which is the villages north of the comp pool.

50:04And this bus driver's taking them all the way to the south of Paris. Because of the road closures? Just taking the wrong direction. Oh, because they got lost? Just like the bus driver didn't know where to go or something. Was there a meeting? She's like, I'm in the south of Paris now. We're going all the way back up. So she was on this bus for two hours or something after just having done a second evening swim last night, gets back at like 9 p.m. to the village. That's so frustrating. And then there's the food shortage situation. Didn't hear about that. You haven't heard about this? So apparently, maybe it's been rectified now, but I heard this at the pool the other night also, that it's a big problem.

50:42And when those buses are running late after finals and those athletes, whether it's swimming or some other sport, they're getting back to the village at like midnight, 1 a.m. and all there is is like bread rolls to eat. There's no food. Yes. Which is like the whole thing with France and Paris was like, we know how to do great food. Yeah. And late too. Like people eat at whatever hour. And that's been a real issue as far as I understand. I've heard that too. Yeah. I mean, I hope it, I feel like - When every cafe in the city is still open at midnight serving food, the one thing they should have is like - When you walk outside the pool venue there's all these hotels right there.

51:20Yeah. Like right there. I know. Still serving, whatever. Yeah, the first thing they should have is stuff available for the athletes. Well, then there's like the road closures, which has been a huge thing of like, you can't actually, I'm assuming the buses deal with it too, but you can't actually go through certain parts. So Sean Johnson, who was legendary gymnast, said she had to get out in the middle of the interstate and run a mile because she was gonna be late for finals and she was a correspondent. and she said she showed up. She was like, I look like I jumped in the pool, but. Wow. That's insane.

51:52Just like so stressful. Did we talk about the other day, the skateboarders who skated, the bus broke down and then they just all got out and were like, no sweat. And they just all skated to the venue. On their way to actually compete. Yes. So convenient. That's kind of badass, but like, still, yeah. Fuck, it's an Olympics though, right? Like the logistics, I mean, you'd hope they have it down, but stuff's gonna go wrong. Yeah, I feel like at every Olympics, there's something like in Beijing, the sky was orange for the majority of the, you know, cause of the pollution. So I feel like there's always something.

52:25And you gotta be adaptable. Yeah, there's always something. It's just, you just have to kind of pivot. Right, the mindset training. The cardboard beds. I heard they're not that bad though. Yeah, me too. I heard that too. But the mindset training being like resilience, like be prepared for all of these unforeseen variables. Yeah, they're gonna happen because they will. and they're gonna throw you off your game. And if you're so rigid about like, this is my thing, you're gonna get thrown off your game and you're gonna crumble. Yeah. I think adaptability is so important, especially when you just, if you're an athlete competing globally.

53:01But can you imagine coming to the Olympics with like a schedule like Michael Phelps, where it's literally just like multiple races at every session, like without just a relentless - And if there's an hour shift, like left or right. And if you're back and you're getting one hour less of sleep. No. Yeah. I couldn't. I mean, my first four days, I swam four 400s and six 200s in Beijing. Like I couldn't imagine being like, oh, but like you're gonna get back at 2 a.m. Oh, and you're not gonna have food. Oh, like I - Was it better there? It was like all pretty predictable. Food was not an issue there.

53:34And then I would say we got back. There's some commute. There's always some commute, but it wasn't two hours for sure. But yeah. They weren't taking wrong directions. They weren't going to the south of France, no. Yeah. What are some of the other things that you've noticed just being here in Paris that people at home who are watching it on TV might not understand or appreciate or realize about the experience of attending? It's pretty beautiful in the city. Like it's a beautiful city to host games. Like walking past Southall Tower and seeing the rings just illuminated in the evening is just awesome, you know, that kind of stuff.

54:11And it's nice to be. It's not that busy as we were saying before. It's shockingly unbusy, I've found. You can still catch Ubers around. You can ride the city bikes. The metro is not shoulder to shoulder, at least from my experience having taken it. So it's been like, it's quite enjoyable for the spectator at least. It feels like business as usual. I've been here for a while, so I feel like I live here now. And it's just like, oh, it's just, this is life here. Yeah. I had a couple buddies. The city would be overrun. It would be really difficult to get around. And there are like those zones and there are challenges.

54:52It's fairly clean overall. But that's all right around the venues around the river. Yeah. In the city, it feels like business as usual. Part of the, you know, some of the areas that are kind of blocked off. I think opening ceremony, like you couldn't cross the river. But like the next day they opened it all back up again. And yeah, it's kind of nice for the spectator, as I say. For the spectator. I also feel like they're just so warm and accepting. Like I have definitely put in, cause you know how sometimes you put in the Uber, like the actual place and then it'll give you four different options.

55:21Then I instantly have a freak out cause I'm like, what's the option? And they'll come find me. Like they're just like, that is not happening in the States. Like they're mad. You're getting a one-star review. If you're not on the corner that you say you are at the time they arrive, like they're canceling on you. But they're so, they're like, it's okay. I got, like, I just feel like I feel like they're like very welcoming to, they understand, you know, we're not from here. And so that's been, I think a surprise for me. Yeah, that whole sense that Parisians hate Americans or hate English speakers.

55:49Yeah, it's not, I haven't had that experience at all. No, not at all. I've had plenty of, it's welcoming to, you know, English speakers and all kinds of people. So, and I've had, well, I had, I had caught up with a couple mates that live in Paris, like they're Parisians the other night. and they were saying it's quieter than it usually is at this time of year. Oh, okay. Because summer tourism is usually packed in Paris. And the Parisians have left. The Parisians have mostly left and they were like saying it's surprisingly, this is quiet for July. So, yeah. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Quieter than it would be ordinarily is like a weird thing.

56:31During Olympics, yeah. During Olympics. But I feel like, I mean, the French pride is like palpable in the pool. I mean, Leon is getting chanted like every five seconds. I was like, it was 400 AM final the other night and it was deafening in there. Yeah. Like, which is cool to see the patriotism for the French here. Like I'm not even, yeah, I'm sitting there an American and I'm like, I'm about to start chanting his name because it's just infectious. America does that probably the other huge presence in the stands. I think I would say France and the US have the biggest presence in the stands. So you're either hearing like LA someone, LA Leon, they're going LA Leon, or it's USA, USA.

57:13Yes, I agree. Fortunately, no cowbell though. I was with a small contingent of, yeah, no cowbell. Come on, the Australia's kidding. I'm not a cowbell. I understand. Well, that's the thing. It's not actually, I'm actually really surprised that there's not a, because at trials, they were handing them out left and right. Yeah, I'm surprised. Like shaking it. I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm also surprised out of spite that someone didn't come with like 50 cowbells in a bag and was like handing them out to all the US spectators, you know, just to take the piss. Or like one massive one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Have you had any surreal moments, any like shoulder to shoulder moments with celebrities, you bump into Snoop Dogg, anything like that?

57:51Not yet, no, not yet. Okay, yeah. He was at the pool the other day though, wasn't he? He was sitting with Megan Dressel watching, like they're just hanging out. Yeah, there's been some cool, People have come and really seen, watched the swimming. I think maybe Tom Cruise went and watched the swimming. Oh, he did? Gaga went out. There's been a couple of people who've gone out and watched the swimming. Bill Gates. I actually, I was so upset. So I had to do this video with someone and we were trying to keep it quiet of like the doors leading out to the stands. And apparently Bill Gates was trying to get through and they blocked him.

58:22And I'm like, next time, just a rule here. They didn't recognize him, I guess. Let Bill Gates through. I would love to meet him. This is a stupid video that I don't really need. and he's like in the corner. Like you can see him like kind of trying to get through. Wow, no one's helping him? No, they were like, I'm sorry, sir. You can't go through because of my video. Oh my God. Oh shit. Mortified, mortified. I'm like, next time he can come through. It's fine. We can do it again. You can come in the video. That's funny. Yeah. So Katie, you're doing videos for Team USA where you're grabbing certain people and just doing like short, like sort of man on the street sort of thing.

58:59Yeah, for Team USA, and then Yahoo Sports as well. So just kind of similar, like the behind the scenes of what it's like to be here. It's hard to get actual athletes a lot, but I actually got Noah Lyles, which was cool. Oh, wow, cool. So I'm holding that video for when he competes. But I feel like the thing here is just like, yeah, like people want to see, people want to see like where you're going. And like, I have to kind of remind myself of, for us, it's kind of status quo, like going to the pool or going to Team USA house or all that. It is cool through the city. They got all the different houses in different countries.

59:34And they're often, they're like little pop-ups all around central Paris, which is cool. How's team, I'm assuming Australia has a house here? I haven't been there yet, but yeah. I haven't been to any of those. Well, like team USA house, they're charging a little cash to get in. I have a pass, I have a pass. It's a huge old building, right? It's a giant building. It's an epic building. And it's, I mean, I was there on night one and that again was just surreal. was when the Americans won gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay and the place erupted. And because it's kind of enclosed, it was, I mean, electric.

1:00:09And so it's kind of cool to see like the families congregate there and have everyone just scream their heads off together. That's cool. But those nation houses are different from the kind of Bonnaroo carnival environment that's way up the canals. Like, have you seen that? Yeah, yeah, they suck up. And there's like fairgrounds where each country has its own kind of like little area. Separate from that. But you can go up there and there's like activities and all kinds of stuff. I haven't been yet. There's like a huge Olympic fairgrounds. Yeah. And they have like merry-go-rounds. That's fantastic.

1:00:43They have rides? Yeah. There's like all kinds of stuff up there. It's like Olympic Disneyland. Like if you go run, like next time you go running, just take the canal as far as you can north. Like you'll get, you take it north and you'll go through the kind of area where there's a bunch of cafes and then there's a big intersection and then you cross it and you keep going. And that's where they built in this like pool into the canal that I think it's closed right now, but normally is open to people. And then it keeps going and it opens up into this huge park. And inside there, there are all these like activities and things happening in there.

1:01:14I'll have to check that out. My next outing. That seems like more of a marathon situation. It's not that far away, but to the point of like helping the audience understand like every time there's an Olympics in a city, all these brands have houses and like hospitality suites and they're kind of open to the public or semi open to the public. And then each country has its own house. So there's all these like social act, there's a whole social world that's going on at the same time as the games. And it's stratified, right? Like there's the super fancy parties at the Louvre that, you know, A-list celebrities go to.

1:01:50But then there's all these other kind of activations going around with all these brands that have athletes who are competing. And so even if you don't go to any of the events, there's still like all this stuff to do and a lot of fun to be had. Yeah, it's a good vibe here, at least from my experience so far. Are you gonna play some music while you're here? I got the guitar here, but no. People must have asked you. Yeah, I haven't really wanted to, I don't know. Just keep that aside for now. Yeah, yeah. You should just have no obligations. I'm surprised you even said yes to this. like you should just be having a good time.

1:02:26You know what I mean? I'm doing both, don't worry. Well, I did text you and you went dark on me for like 24 hours and I was like, I should just leave this guy alone. He just wants to have fun. I was definitely out. I don't remember what night it was, but we've been out a couple of nights. Yeah, enjoying the relief of not having the early mornings anymore. Yeah. Cool. Well, I think we need to let you go because you got somewhere else you gotta be. And it's good to be here. Thanks for having me. It was really fun. Nice to talk to you guys. Nice to talk to you too. And just, you know, normally like I do intros like that I record later before these so I can kind of contextualize everything.

1:03:07And these are just kind of going up, you know, rough as they are for people that don't know and haven't listened to the podcast that Cody and I did a while back. What was that like a year and a half ago? I still got a lot of great, yeah, it was probably about a year ago, four months ago. Still got a lot of great feedback from that. Yeah, I mean, your story is incredible. I think the way that you navigated this chapter of your life showed a lot of maturity and integrity. And I just have mad respect for how you've conducted yourself and the way that you showed up for something that you cared about and the way that you shared the story of the whole thing very transparently.

1:03:42And it's great to see you here and in a really good headspace. And like I said at the outset, I'm excited for this next chapter for people that are like, who is this Cody guy? and like, what are we talking about? Like go back and listen or watch that podcast that we did. Cause I just, I think you're a really, you know a really super interesting guy. And so it was a privilege to have you here today. Privileged to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I mean, I'm inspired. Like, I just think to be able to see someone make that transition in the way that you are and genuinely like you can tell when an athlete is just like saying words to kind of get through it before they deal with their stuff.

1:04:18It's inspiring to me having gone through transition to see the way that you speak about it. So it's cool. Thank you. Yeah, cool. Yeah, I hope I can inspire like other athletes to not be sort of afraid to, you know, come in and out of their sport and, you know, be okay with sort of - For you to take that long of a break and not even like you didn't even get going in your real swimming career, right? Like it was cut short before it really even began. I suppose so. And then to step in like so many years later and do what you did opens up the possibility for other athletes thinking differently about their approach to sport?

1:04:52Yeah, yeah. Particularly for, at least I can't speak for like longer distance events, but particularly for the 100 meters, like I think there's that sort of common conception that you need to have done 10K a day from the age of 14 to have any chance to compete at a high level. And I think it's being proven more and more that that's not necessarily the case and that, you know, may not necessarily be too late to come in as long as you then commit to the work required. Obviously, it's like, you know, I'm not saying anyone can just come and go in and just swim, you know, but I think there's a sort of age-old conception around, you know, the amount of years you have to have sort of I've been putting in Ks, you know.

1:05:49It's the culture of swimming, I think. Yeah, it's the culture. It's the way it's always been done, right? Yeah, yeah. It's gate kept in that way, but it's not necessarily the truth. Yeah, so you're like an explorer. Yeah, I suppose so, yeah. It'll be interesting to see other athletes, do their version of experience and what that might look like. I'm already seeing it, like at least in Australia and people have come up to me saying, you inspired me to do this and that. And that's really cool. You know, if I can inspire someone else to have an experience like I had, I gained so much from my experience in the sport again that I hope others can like do something, do the same thing, you know?

1:06:28I'm just imagining like some 30 year old dude rolling up on you and being like, you know, I went 55 in the 100 fly when I was 16. What do you think? Should I get that shit? You're like, uh. Oh, that's not what I meant. I will say though, I - Masters maybe, I don't know. I am trying to make, I've not, I've only said this like in a small forum. Katie's making a comeback. No, like not for like, not to the make the Olympic team, but I just was so inspired at Lucas Oil, but you saw Graeber's did it. So I want to make my Olympic trials cut in the hundred breaststroke so I can - Just to do it. Just to do it.

1:07:03Swim again, yeah. And like swim again and just see how it feels. But like I'm full on committing to doing that a year out. Oh, that's cool. So I think like just seeing Graeber's - For LA. For LA, yeah. Yeah, cool. That would be cool. Deck access, you know? Who was the breaststroker who made the final? Gabrielle Rose did it too. Yeah, in breaststroke. How old is she? 46, I'm gonna be 39. Yeah, that's impressive. So I'm gonna be spring chicken. Yeah, that's cool. Do you know that there is a athlete here in the Olympics competing in table tennis who is 61? Stop. Wow. Yeah, there was a Wall Street Journal article about her the other day, yeah.

1:07:36I don't think that could happen in swimming. See, Cody, Cody's mind's about to explode. He's like, I thought I was done. Table tennis? Maybe. She was like competing in world championships in like the 70s or something like that. Oh my gosh. Yeah. No. I think it's like - 35 years to get good. For six Olympics or something like that. I don't know. Wow, that's impressive. That's cool. Yeah, man. Rewriting the rules, buddy. Yeah, thanks, man. Meanwhile, go out there, make some music. You came out with this kid's book too. Yeah, yeah. Well, I just dropped a track like last week for the strain team. I saw that.

1:08:11I saw that. It's beautiful by the way. I didn't see that. Yeah. It's called Fly. Like I pretty much right off the trials, like jumped in and I'd already written the song, but I jumped in and like produced it and finished it up and like dropped it as a little like theme song for the Australian dolphins. And it was sort of just a timely, it was, it's also a reflection on what I'd been through. So I put that out as just like a little, sort of a diary entry on what I'd just been through and the mindset that it required and all that stuff. And hopefully to sort of give the Aussies a little boost. Yeah.

1:08:40That's cool. It's cool. They put it to like, you know, all the swims and kind of that. So it's like over, over late with that. Yeah. I got chills. It's great. It's really great. Thanks. And then Katie, you got the unfiltered waters podcast. Yes. Newly minted. Newly minted. I was talking to him. I'm like, if you could give one piece of advice, you're 12 years in, in your year one, what would you do? So I'm very newly minted, have the podcast with Missy Franklin. And it's been so fun. Like so many of the athletes that are competing here are actually have been on the podcast. So my goal is just to, you know, that person beneath the athlete type of thing.

1:09:16So that's been really, really rewarding. Everyone tell their stories. Yeah, and just a more of a forum like this, then how'd you feel about that swim type type vibe. So it's been very rewarding. Because everyone is filtered usually in those post-race interviews. Exactly. So it's nice to, yeah. Those are tough. Get the unfiltered so to speak. Yeah, unfiltered version. Yeah, it's just like the same thing. The same, yeah, like, oh, I feel good. Yeah, like that's, and I do see - I just wanna thank my family. You're like, yeah, I had a great time. It's an honor. I'm like, no, I want like the five layers below that.

1:09:48Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it's been really fun. Hopefully keep things rolling. Hell yeah. All right, well, I think this postcard has been written and is ready for a stamp to be sent across the world. Yes, sir. I'm gonna let you guys go. Enjoy Paris. Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. Have a great time. Thank you so much. Great to meet you too. And yeah, maybe I'll see you at the pool tonight. We'll see. Yeah. Do you want to be out there? I am. All right. I'll see you. Cool.

1:10:37Thank you.