Postcards From Paris: Elizabeth Beisel, Katie Hoff, & Chris Morgan

25:10It's the real days where this all really kind of comes out. And we got to see it the other night with the men's four by 100 relay, which USA won, and then the women's version of that, which Australia won. So this is like keeping that tension and that rivalry. Keeping everything in check. Yeah, oh yes, yes, it's alive. But what is it like like on the deck with the swim when you're when you're I mean, you're there like seeing it all like firsthand as it's unfolding in real time. Yeah, it's like any normal meet that we like the Team USA warm up area in the back pool, which nobody really ever sees is pretty close to the Aussies.

25:46And it's like business as usual, like cowbells, Team USA cheers, like we're not changing anything. But like I'm in the mix zone. So I get all the athletes when they walk by me and like I'm saying good job to all of them. Like, they all deserve a good job. So I'm like, if Caitlin McEwen's going to walk by me, I'm going to say, dude, that was an awesome swim. But there's, like, there's always a rivalry, whether it's USA versus Australia or Great Britain or China, Russia, whatever. But I do, I mean, I love the story for how long it goes back, especially, like, 2000 Sydney Olympics. Like, it's fun.

26:21And I appreciate a good rivalry. But I think people need to also understand is like, yes, on paper, huge rivalry, but in person, homies. Yeah, yeah. Like, friends, hanging out. Like, it's not, there's no animosity. I think that's my issue with it. Maybe I am too goody-two-shoes and I should be more like, yes, let's go. Katie's Switzerland over here. She's okay with that. You're literally Switzerland. Yeah, you are Switzerland. I would still take a side now. I would still take a side. Yeah. So if you don't know, Elizabeth is the person who is on deck, who's grabbing the interviews with the athletes, like essentially right after they finish.

27:06Like, so if you're watching the coverage on Peacock or NBC, and some swimmer has just won a gold medal and you did this at the Olympic trials as well, you're the first person that they're talking to basically before they even get to see their friends or their coach or anything like that. And it's always hilarious to me because even if it's just the 50 free, like they're so winded, you know? Oh, I know, I know. They're not ready to talk to anyone yet. And your job is to like get something interesting out of them immediately. And as somebody who's a podcast host, I'm like, how do you think of, what's the right question to ask?

27:37How do you come up with this? And, you know, how do you, what is your strategy for getting something compelling out of these athletes in the immediate, like I'm talking immediate aftermath of them having like, you know, done something magical? Yeah, it's definitely a privilege. to be in the seat that I'm in. And I'm sharing the position with Melissa Stark. So I'm doing the prelims. She's doing the finals. And we'll switch. Like I did a few finals last night. But it's one of those things where I've been in the athlete position so many times. I want to do them right and not ask them a basic question like, how does it feel to win a gold medal?

28:13Like, can we put some effort in, please? So what I'll do is, like, I'll learn Katie Hoff's story. Like, what sets her apart? What's different about her? I'll learn her personality through scrolling through her social media or watching previous interviews that she's done. Like, I just, I want to be so prepared and make them feel like, oh, this person actually cares about me and my swimming and you'll always get a better interview. Like if you showed up to this unprepared, like it would be fine, but it wouldn't be great. And so for me, it's like a lot of these people are also my peers. So I also respect them so much because I'm friends with them.

28:49And I do think there's an element of like, I might have kind of an edge on everybody else just because I have that rapport with them. But there's a lot that goes into a two to three question interview. And I love it. Like I want, and here's the thing about swimmers. And I make a conscious effort in doing this in every interview that I do, regardless of who it is swimmers are so humble. They hate like talking about what they just did. Like if Katie Hoff breaks a world record and I'm the first person to interview her and I just started off with something basic, like tell me about that race, which has happened to us far too many times.

29:28You're like, and you broke a world record, but you would never be like breaking a world, like you would never bring it up. So my thing is like Katie Hoff, you just broke a world record. Like the last three years have been so up and down for you. Like I kind of like tee them up just so they don't feel like they have to boast about themselves. And maybe that's me projecting. But I love it. You're like the ultimate hype girl. I know. I'm like, we should be hype. Like this shouldn't be a basic interview. Like, my God, I'm talking to you before you're talking to your wife at home. Like I better do you justice.

30:03So that's, and like keep the energy high. Well, you got the right energy. You have to. You're coming in hot. I do. Sometimes when I get more like quiet introverted ones, they're like, it was good. Maybe not like rowdy energy, but like you're, you know, like rowdy's on a whole different level. Oh, he's like 10 octaves above his normal talking voice. Like he's the best. Maybe we can go around to each of you. I'm curious which story, and it doesn't necessarily have to be swimming, but maybe it could be swimming. Like what's the story that has you the most excited, but one maybe that you feel like isn't getting as much attention.

30:39Like not the one that's the headlines, but like, man, this story I think is really cool over here. I want to draw people's attention to it. It could be an athlete. It could be, you know, is there anything that comes to mind for that? It's a tough one. I'm thinking more about like, maybe not a particular athlete, but what happens behind the scenes for these athletes. And I know that it's like circulating around social media, but I don't think the gen pop really understands. Like these athletes are on an hour and a half bus ride to the pool and then an hour and a half bus ride back. Oh, and then they do it again for finals.

31:15So they're on a bus for six hours a day at the Olympics. The food in the village is not amazing. Like I know you love to talk about fueling and just like what you're putting in your body. You're expected to compete at the highest level you've ever competed at. and they're running out of food. Oh, is that true? Are they? Oh, really? Oh, I didn't know that. They're running out of food? See, that's why we're here, Rich. Amazing. Like one of the athletes - I mean, not amazing, but - Yeah, not amazing. Amazing from a story perspective. Right, and like one of the athletes I was talking to on Team USA the other day, they got back from finals, which in Paris time are late because we're trying to cater as much as we can to East Coast prime time.

31:57So they're getting back to the village around one to 2 a.m. and the only thing left in the village cafeteria was bread rolls and sardines. Wow. That's insane. And that's what these athletes are fueling themselves on. And then they have to get up at what time to get to prelims in the morning. Prelims are at 11, so they're a little later, but still you're up at seven activating, eating, like waking up. So I think like that's a story. They're on those cardboard beds. I hear they're not the worst. They're not. There's been a lot of TikToks and a lot of videos made about that. A lot. So I think it's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that like maybe isn't getting told on broadcast.

32:37Yeah, because you know, the literal motto of the Olympics I feel like is expect the unexpected. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and it's so different than trials. Like I think like for me, like I saw in the exact same schedules in 2008 at Olympic trials and the Olympics, but the Olympics was so much more exhausting because not only do you have the transportation, but like you're getting, like for the distance swimmers, you're getting blood tested. So they test EPO, like that's a whole nother factor, like, you know, cause you hate needles, but like there's so many factors at the Olympics that are added on that don't happen at the trials that I think, at least from my experience, I didn't factor in because how do you know until you're there?

33:17And if you're succeeding and you have a packed schedule cause you're doing multiple events, on top of that there's all these media obligations as well right so you're doing interviews and interviews and interviews so that's cutting into your uh rest and recovery time as well yeah which is crucial i mean you know as a coach yeah definitely and i think um just talking about what you said even with team usa is uh you know without mentioning a name and i'm i applaud the people made this decision for one of our the u.s top swimmers is they're now in a hotel across the street just to make things easier.

33:50Even one of the US open water swimmers, I know it's a grind, right? They're trying to just train, still train, get the training in, but come watch final. I mean, it is brutal, brutal. Speaking of open water, how are we feeling about the sand? No bueno. I know. I was looking during opening ceremonies. I was like, wait, so all these boats, are they not ejecting pollution into the Seine? Like, didn't they just clean it and now they're polluting it again? But it's not the entire Seine. There's that one section that I think they're trying to keep clean for the purpose of doing a loop for the open water swim and for the triathlon.

34:29And it seems to be a very fluid situation in that every day they're testing it. They put a lot of money into like some filtration thing and these bypasses and stuff like that to clean up this historically very dirty river. And they had gotten to the point where it had passed enough tests like, you know, two weeks ago that the mayor and a select group of people like jumped in. There was a lot of media around that to prove that it was clean. And then it rained like two days in a row and then it wasn't clean. And that was the day that the triathletes were reconning the course. And they were then told like, no, you can't get in.

35:08So I think it's a day-to-day thing, whether it's going to be clean enough for that. If it's not, then the triathlon becomes a biathlon, which would be really tragic. Oh, my God. Because they can't change the rest of the course. The open water swimming, I think they have a backup plan to move it somewhere else. Yeah, they have a backup plan. Oh, that's good. But yeah, it's this day-to-day thing. And I think it opens a broader conversation around just Paris in general and for people that aren't here, what it's like to actually be here. I think there is to this idea that maybe there's some misconceptions.

35:39Like the athlete village isn't like in the city center. It's like it's sort of distant in a way. It's not like you walk out of your dorm and you go across the street to the pool. Like it's these long bus rides. But in the city center, particularly like on the north side of the Seine, it's incredibly quiet. Like the streets are empty. And there was a sense like, oh, Paris is gonna be overrun. It's gonna be mobbed. It's gonna be impossible to get around. And I've been here for two weeks and it's been an absolute delight. Super easy to get around, no crowds. And so I don't know if that's gonna change because we're still just a couple of days into the games.

36:22But you would almost have, like if you're a kilometer north of the Seine in one of these neighborhoods, you might not even know that the Olympics are even going on. It's like business as usual. It's strange, right? It's so, I mean, where swimming is, I mean, I took a metro to get to where we are right now to record. It's only 30 minutes, but we're north of the Seine. And it's in a place called La Défense. And it is just like people, I'm right at the subway or the metro station and people are coming and going from work. Like it literally is just a normal day. And like, of course, there's crowds outside of the arena when the swimming is happening.

37:00But otherwise, Rich, I totally agree. I am a Parisian person now. I know my way around the city. I got my coffee shop. I feel like I live here. I know. I'm like getting better at French. Not that great. The way you just said that sounded so fancy. La Defensorine? Oui, oui. Yeah, I feel like because I think about Beijing or even Athens, and it was just like it was very clear that the Olympic Games were there. There were boards up, all these things. But yeah, I feel like I woke up for a run yesterday morning and I'm like, where is everybody? It's like 8 a.m. right now. What's happening? But it is a later kind of city.

37:36That's true. And it was Sunday morning. I had the same experience though. You're like, wow, it's like a ghost story. I know, I'm like, I can just run through. But the Olympics are happening here, right? I know, I know. It's kind of nice though. I feel like they've done a great, and maybe it's intentional and we're all thinking that it's just happenstance. But like, it's really nice that it's not, I also don't feel like we're displacing the people. which I always feel like happens at an open games. Although I think part of the reason it feels empty is a lot of Parisians just got out of town. They're probably Airbnb-ing their flags.

38:06They are. Just having lived here or in Europe for 15 years, know a lot of Parisian people and even have a friend who lives like right next to the start of the open water swim if it happens. And he's like, come over, we'll have some drinks, we'll sit on the balcony and watch. And I'm like, you know what? Rather than using the credential, I think I'm gonna go sit on the balcony and have a couple of cocktails and watch the open water swim. A thousand percent and you'll probably have a better view because you're up high. Did you guys? Sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. I think one thing that's really interesting just about being calm is, you know, not to bring it up, but if you really look, the number of police, gendarmes and other countries is formidable is the word I use.

38:45There's a lot to get around with, you know, literally, and not to bring it up, but just, you know, with guns that are ready to be used. Finger on the trigger. Finger on the trigger. Ready to go. Literally. I would agree with that, but I would provide a caveat, which is, yes, there are clusters of security everywhere you go. They sort of gather in groups of four or five, whether it's gendarmerie or military. But I don't have the sense that it's like a high alert situation. Like they're kind of like joking and they're very approachable. And you'll see this like really cute young woman and she's got, you know, she's like in her, her, her like, you know, uniform and everything like that.

39:30And you're like, oh, how nice. Except, you know, she's, she's carrying a gigantic rifle. I don't feel like, I don't have a sense that like they're ready to shoot anybody. You know, it's just like, it's like, it's a sense of like. Protection. Like I feel like I actually, which sounds weird. Like I walked past like 12 of them last night. I'm like, I feel protected. I feel at ease, which is a weird feeling when you walk by that many guns. but I'm like, I feel like they're all so friendly. Like they're all so nice. I'm like showing them. I was like taking photos with them. Like the first day I got here and I went on a run, I ran by Notre Dame and there was a whole bunch of them and they were like, hey, hey, hey.

40:04And I thought I was like in the wrong place and I was in trouble. And they're like, no, can you, will you take a photo of us or whatever? And then I took a selfie with them. Oh, that's awesome. I want to say something actually about the people that are here in Paris. Like I think there's such a stereotype of, oh, Parisians absolutely hate Americans. I have had such a wonderful experience. And like, I've definitely tried. Like when I go into a coffee shop, like I do try to order in French. They know immediately I'm not. But just the effort. But I think the effort like really goes a long way. And I've had, like, I cannot wait to come back and like play tourist because I love this place.

40:45Like it's been amazing. Yeah, everyone's helpful. We stereotype and having, again, lived. You've lived. You know, when foreigners come to the U.S. and growing up in the Bay Area, it's like, you don't speak English? But they're trying, right? They're trying to speak English, they have a thick accent. And I think, you know, and this might sound horrible to say, but I think I call it innocent ignorance of most Americans. And having now lived, all French people want is that you just try. And then if you don't try, they're like, okay, okay. And then they'll speak their best English. So yeah, Parisians are great.

41:17They're great. They're kind of like New Yorkers, but they speak French. Yeah, no, I love it. I've been having a great time. If anything, like I speak to waiters and restaurateurs and stuff like that, and they're experiencing like a downturn in their business. So it's one thing if you're in one of those protected zones close to the river, where they're kind of really trying to keep people at bay. And there's been a lot, like a lot of people are like, you know, you can't do anything in Paris. Like you see on social media, it's like, you can't move around, it's terrible. It's the worst thing ever.

41:46It's not really true. you're minorly inconvenienced but if you are a business owner in one of those zones or proximate to one of those zones you're suffering but even in the neighborhoods like around where we are right now and north of the Seine they were expecting to be like overrun with business and it's like yeah it's like not really so I don't know whether that's a pure attendance thing or what's happening but and I've never been to an Olympiad before so I don't know by comparison. This is your first? Yeah. Oh, I did not know that. That's really cool. And the irony is that I'm running around doing all kinds of stuff like this that I'm less apprised of what's actually happening in the competition than I would be if I was sitting at home watching it all until...

42:28Are you gonna get to go to anything? Yeah, I'm gonna be going. I'm going to swimming and track and field. I'm trying to get a ticket for tonight. For swimming? Oh, yeah. We can pull some strings. We can pull some strings. We'll talk about that later. Anyway, yeah, but I am going to be, you know, attending some events. I just haven't been able to yet, so I can't wait to do that. I think it's like, you know, the stands are full, right? Swimming, it's packed. Yeah, you can't get tickets. The tickets are sold out for everything. So it's not like you're, you know. I went by on the way to swimming last night and saw archery, and it was packed.

43:04Amazing. Which is so cool. I mean, and it's not anything negative about women's archery. Koreans won, as usual. but then the Mexican team got third and they were going, it was awesome. I think they were like taking tequila shots on the street. As they should be. That's amazing.

43:34One of the things that I think is really cool about this Team USA in swimming is that it is an interesting mix of veterans and up-and-comers. It's not dominated by all new people, and it's not dominated by the stars we've always known. It's like this hybrid, right? So you have Caleb Dressel, and you've got Ryan Murphy, and you've got Katie Ledecky, and these people that have been around for a long time. And then you have all these new names, and to see them together on relays, and kind of the mentorship of the old guard with the new people coming up, I think is really cool. I don't know, is it always that way?

44:14This feels like, it feels a little bit different in that regard. You can speak to it better because you were actually at camp, but from an outsider looking in, it looks like the team looks like it has way more chemistry than when I was swimming. It just feels like there's more like, we're gonna help each other versus we're in tunnel vision and we're all out for ourselves. own individual. Yeah. Yeah. I do think that that's been a cultural shift for sure. For sure. And you, I mean, for the listeners, I'll brag on Katie, like her first Olympic team, she was a fresh 15-year-old in 2004. Well, both of you were 15 when you made your first Olympic team, right?

44:52I know, but we're talking about Katie here, okay? she's like, basically what she means is like fresh 15 is like super naive and homeschooled. No, I meant you just turned 15. You have an early June birthday, whatever. So you were six months after that, but okay. Anyways, I think there is something to be said for like being a 15 year old on a team with a bunch of 20 something year olds. And like, how do you relate to a teenager that doesn't even have a license and like make them feel welcomed? And I think that happened enough times in a row with you and me and Ledecky and Missy that like we kind of adopted these teenage kids, like literal kids.

45:30Yeah. Onto the team. And it helped shift the culture. And like even Michael in 2000, he was 15. So I think we had a run of like four Olympics where we always had a 15 year old on the team. And I do think that helped the cultural shift to where we are now, where it's like, we don't care your age. We don't care where you're from. Like you have a seat at this table at the Olympic team and we're gonna make you feel like you belong here. Cause I know you and I definitely did not feel like we belonged. No, we just felt almost like ostracized a little bit. Yeah. So I feel like now, and maybe it's social media, but just like watching like camp and watching them all do their TikToks.

46:07And like, I just feel like they're all having so much fun and it's not just like these segregated clicks. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Speaking of TikToks, my new favorite Olympian is this female rugby player, Alona Marr. She is a superstar. She's hysterical. She has exploded. I don't know how many Instagram followers she had before the Olympics, but she now has like over like 1.3 or something like that. I saw that, yeah, she crushed a million. days because she's making these amazing videos. And like, my daughters are like, you got to see this woman and everybody's talking about it. Like, it's such a cool thing for, uh, for an athlete in a sport that probably doesn't get enough recognition or ink or attention to come in.

46:48And then like, just, she's so made for these videos. Right. And it's like telling these stories from the village. She's so funny and fantastic. The villa. Have you seen, you know what I'm talking about? No, it's fantastic. We need somebody to do that for swimming. But again, back to the earlier point we made, like no swimmer is going to be doing that. Like right before. I know, I know. And like, and why are we like that? Like, is it, I feel like there's such a stigma of like, well, if you're focusing on TikTok or if you're focusing on posting on social, that somehow detracts from your focus, which I, maybe for some people, but I actually don't, I think it is fun.

47:25Yeah, I mean, I don't like the idea that athletes should feel pressure to use social media. Like, isn't it enough that they're trying to be the best at what they do? And I think there is that sense like, oh, if you want to have a career, not only do you have to be the best at your sport, you also have to be broadcasting all this stuff all the time. But I think for the right personality type, that person who's just constructed to be an extrovert in that way and it's just kind of funny and entertaining, the sky's the limit. Like if you're looking for, like Olympic athletes, I don't think most people realize, like they're not getting paid, like except at the highest level, like they're working jobs to try to make it all work and it's hard, right?

48:13And here is an opportunity for that right personality type to kind of create their own future by the use of this thing that we all have in our back pocket. Yeah. Kind of for the first time. Like, I mean, they, USOPC has a program I'm part of is like the USA creators and they're bringing over people from TikTok and meta, like never been done before. And I just think it's incredible because we can collaborate with these TikTokers, with these people who have millions of followers and it's only going to elevate the Olympics. But I know there's like, there's varying opinions on that of bringing over someone who knows nothing about the Olympics, knows nothing about these sports, but I kind of love it.

48:50And there's a lot of rules. Let's just leave it at that. There's a lot of rules. There's a lot of rules. You can and cannot say that we're all sitting here very conscious of as we're trying to chat openly. What's interesting is, I don't know about you guys, but 2008, we were all there is, that's where I signed up for my Facebook account. That's at In The Village. And so now you think we're 16 years later. Yeah. and it's a whole it's a whole new world I don't know how old Thomas I'll slaughter his last name Heilman 17 17 okay well so even what he was one right when we were there so thanks Chris yeah that's why they're like wait who are you we're a lot older the two of us but yeah how and what we were talking about before and not to is how do these young kids and then how is it affecting their training right like why aren't they tick tocking and everything before when you know when you ladies were training your asses off at that age.

49:45And, you know, as the training probably has changed for - The training has changed. That is something maybe, I don't know if we wanna go down that rabbit hole now, but the training has changed a lot, at least in swimming from your day to now. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's a hot topic. I mean, I think you look at someone like Michael Andrew who kind of kicked things off in what year was that? Like 2013? It was like, yeah, 2012, 2013. It's called Ultra Short Race Pace Training for people who don't know. And essentially just like, you're basically going fast all the time. It's not as much volume. And I feel like we had them on our podcast and there's varying philosophies and opinions around that.

50:30But I feel like we have shifted towards more of a focus on power explosiveness sprint. and that's kind of cascading throughout the nation. And so, you know, for the 400 IMers, for the distance swimmers, I still think at the tippy top, those people are doing those things. I just think there's less volume below, which, you know, it's a funnel of, and I don't feel like we have the same level of volume where club teams are doing the crazy 10 ,000 meter workouts that we used to do. That's my opinion on it. It's, I think another perspective on this, and I agree with everything, is I think the powers that be want to help grow this sport.

51:11And people like everybody nowadays, they have very short attention spans. And watching a 50 is a lot more entertaining than sitting down and watching a 1500, which takes 15 minutes. So I think there's almost like a cultural pressure to start training for these shorter events because it's more fun. We're going to add the 50s to the Olympics and world championships and have these mixed relays, which, yeah, is great for the sport. But to the detriment of the distance events, which Katie and I used to swim. I mean, we're not. Katie still has the American record in the 400 IM from 2008. It's insane.

51:5216 years old. I can't either. People like they're like, wait, you still do? I'm like, I know. I don't. I don't. And we're not. Even more reason for the comeback. Even more reason for the record. I know, right? Protect the record. Protect the record. Katie Hoff 2.0. And that is not a knock on the current athletes. No, not at all. Swimming distance events. Not at all. It's a compliment to her and her training. It's a compliment to Katie and her training. Like that is like how far ahead of your time you were. And there, of course, are people putting in the work, getting their asses kicked every day.

52:22But I do think those numbers are dwindling and the numbers are growing in terms of like, oh, like being a sprinter sounds a lot better. Like more longevity in the sport. probably make a little bit more money, more of a big name. So it's interesting. Yeah. That's actually a good point of like the recruiting factor of like, you know, you're bringing like 10, 11 year olds, you're going to join swim team. What sounds more appeasing, 10, 400 IMs or 10 fifties off the blocks? Like, oh, and by the way, you'll be on every relay and you'll win all these medals and you're going to be the who's who. As somebody who is in the sport in the late 1980s, it was all about volume yeah it was just how much volume can your body handle so we would do at the most intense periods of the year like we're 20 ,000 meters a day long course etc and you would just be exhausted like my entire from age 15 to 21 I just walked around in a fog like over trained completely exhausted but the whole idea was beat your body up as much as you And it's not like there was no periodization.

53:27You just go hard in every set, every day, and every workout. Maybe you get one morning off a week or something, and then you roll the dice on a two-week taper, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. And I think we saw massive explosions in world records, setting aside the tech suit stuff, when some consideration went into the explosiveness off the walls and generating power and acceleration. And I think all of those things really advanced the sport. But to your point, both of you, it's a pyramid, right? And at the base of that pyramid, the foundation is like an endurance aerobic base, right?

54:08And that only comes through putting in a huge amount of volume. And then as you move up the pyramid, then you get into the specific power and acceleration and strength kind of stuff. And it sounds like maybe you're saying it's tipped a little bit towards that and maybe it'll find its balance point. But when you look at the times and you're like, it used to be every Olympic trials or every year even, like just world records are getting broken all the time. And that seems to have balanced out. And maybe that's just because human performance is getting closer and closer to the peak of what's possible.

54:41But maybe not. And maybe it does have something to do with the way coaches and the sport itself is like thinking about training and competition. I don't know. Yeah, no, and I think, you know, and we talked about it, you know, I don't, and I say this again with a lot of passion, I just think the kids are not as tough as they used to be, and that's not. Oh, yeah, it's not that sentence, huh? Shots fired, Chris. I'm sure. Yeah, like, big bangs. I don't know. It's not their fault. Yeah. But, you know, I think. The comments are coming for you. Yeah. They can comment. Old man. Grandpa. Grandpa. What's he?

55:16No. Get off my lawn. The old curmudgeon is, and especially with Elizabeth, I know the work she put in with two of her coaches, Greg Troy and Chuck Batchelor. That is hard work. And we talk about the physiology. We talk about the physical part, the explosiveness. But there's a psychology and you just need to be tough, especially for the event they swam. You cannot just do USRPT and then bust out an American record and break Katie Hoff's American record. You can't, you have to work. You have to put in work. Yeah. So it is maybe some shots fired, but I just think, but I think it's because we've, we've, you know, like I said, I signed up for Facebook.

55:56I don't even use it in 2008, but now, you know, kids can, you know, they do their whole, I mean, everything is so much easier. Yeah. So the other thing that is newer or newish, I think, is awareness around mental health issues. Like there was no tolerance or room for that conversation maybe until just the most recent Olympiad. But now it's sort of accepted and embraced to kind of own the issues that you're going through and to take a break when you need to take a break without like risk of whatever. But, and this is something Mike Gervais talks a lot about. We talk about mental health or we think about it in the context of something being wrong that needs to be addressed.

56:43In other words, like a crisis or a down cycle, as opposed to the flip side of mental health, which is optimizing it for performance, right? Like, just like the physical body, the mind and your emotional and psychological state can be honed for heightened performance. And so it shouldn't be thought of as a pejorative, it should be thought of just as, you know, in the same context as we think about physical training. So how do you guys think about that? And what is with your, you know, being on the deck and being at the pool and around all of these swimmers, like what is that conversation around mental health like at the moment?

57:22Yeah, I mean, Katie and I, my first Olympic team in 08, her second, we didn't even have like a sports psych with us. Like that was like, what? I don't, why would I need that? And then it wasn't until I think 2016, we as in Team USA traveled to the Olympics with a sports psych. And that's kind of at least when I started noticing the conversation picking up a little bit. But was that, sorry to interrupt, but was that about like, well, if something's wrong, you go talk to them? Or is it like, go talk to them to like elevate? No, there was definitely still the vibe of like, oh, like if you go talk to whatever his name was.

58:02You're freaking out. Like, ooh, yeah, he's not in a good place. You know what I mean? She's going off the defense. And it's like, no, it is the, I mean, we can beat this horse dead, but it is the same thing as going to the athletic trainer and being like, hey, my shoulder hurts. Can I get ice? But like, I don't even think we're still quite there yet with the mental side of things. But I do think at least this Olympic team, like being at camp, which we kind of referenced earlier, I was in Croatia leading up to these games with the swim team for a few days, just seeing how they were, the vibe, and they just felt like good, home, at ease.

58:37And I think a lot of that has to do with taking care of the mental side. And like I said earlier, those 10, 20 minutes before your race, that's make or break. Yeah. And if you can't handle those 10 to 20 minutes, you need to figure out why. And somebody needs to help you to do that. Or if you think you've got it handled, but maybe there's another level that you can get to. Exactly. And why not explore that? It doesn't have to be that there's something wrong. It's like, how can I actually improve, right? Right. Yeah. I mean, you have been on your own journey. So I would love to hear like - Oh yeah.

59:09Well, I mean, I feel like it's almost like, I use the example of like soft tissue work foam rolling. Like for me when I was swimming and now, like I try to do it every single day, regardless of whether I feel sore or not. And I feel the same way about like, even if you're having the best week ever, you still should be going to your therapist because, you know, and I think that now, like every single person, athlete I've talked to, it's become just a normal, like, yes, I have therapy on Thursday. And like, it's just this, like, it's as common as brushing your teeth now. It's amazing because why would you not want to take care of your mind?

59:40Why would you not want to take care of your mind? So, yeah, I'm definitely jealous because I feel like I, yeah, I didn't have that when I was swimming and it wasn't supported. And now it's just this common thing. And I'm hoping that not only does it help the athletes leading into the meet, but also their longevity in the sport, the way that they look back on the sport. Like I'm 16 years removed. Like I wish that I was in Rio and, you know, like coming back to the sport sooner. And I think I'm hoping that these athletes will have this positive relationship with their sport because they have the mental side down.

1:00:16I heard, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that in the Olympic Village, there's like a meditation mindfulness room, like a space for that. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. They had it at trials. Oh, they did? Yeah, they had like a mindfulness room and it was actually beautiful. They had like greenery and like dimly, I think they had red lights. Like it was just like a very chill vibe to kind of, did you see it? I didn't. It was like right near the warm-up pool and it was called like the mindfulness area. And I was like, this is amazing. Like even just a place to just like be quiet and get ready for your race.

1:00:54Didn't they have emotional support dogs too? Yeah. Oh, really? I tried emotional support dogs, like puppies. Who doesn't like a puppy though? I don't know, I'm of two, my grandpa, and like, I'm like, really? Like part of me is like, really? Like, you need an emotional support dog that's not even your dog in order to like, okay. So I don't know on the village, but we'll check on that. Like that would be, I mean, I have yet to see anything like that at the pool, but that would be cool if it was actually in the village. I'm sorry, I'm like imagining. He's still in the puppies. I'm imagining like an athlete walking out for finals, but having their emotional support dog on a leash.

1:01:34That's how we'll do it. Hey, Bentley, wait here. In Los Angeles, Elizabeth will be walking up to her comeback with a dog. I find myself lining up with Chris on like, we just need to get a little bit harder. Well, that is the question, though. Like when I think it's swung the other direction of like, we need to find a happy medium. Like nerves are good sometimes. Being uncomfortable is good sometimes. And it's a hard thing to talk about because what's the, like how do you tell a young person what's tipping over the edge to be negative and what's not? Yeah, amazing. We're gonna have to wrap this up in a minute, but before we do that, what are you most excited about right now in terms of like what's unfolding, the stories that are unfolding, what we're about to see, what's happening?

1:02:21I think for me living my life at the pool, I'm kind of like you, I'm in my own bubble. I only know about swimming right now. Like, don't ask me about another sport. I won't, no. But I think the youth of our team is looking really good heading into a home Olympics. And that's what I'm excited for. It's like, of course, I'm excited to see what the rest of Paris has to unfold. But I've already got sights on LA 2028 and like home Olympics. You see Leon Marchand win the 400 IM last night in front of a home crowd. That's going to be us as Americans. In SoFi Stadium. In SoFi Stadium. And I get chills.

1:02:55Like, I literally have chills right now. I see that the pool's gonna be in so far. I know. And like, who's it gonna be? It might be somebody that's on this team right now that like maybe is making the final, maybe not. Like maybe just a name that we don't even talk about on this podcast or broadcast, but like give it another four years. They're the it name. That's what gets me excited. What about you, Katie? I would say it's been really cool to be at Team USA House, which is where basically the family and friends can all gather. and they do this thing every evening where they have, you know, you win an Olympic medal and you go in and it's called the order of the ecos.

1:03:33And so the athletes actually are able to recognize the people and person who really made an impact to get them on the podium. And I just feel for the athletes, how cool to be celebrated live with their family and friends. And I feel like that's something that we didn't really have. And so watching that happen, it happened to Cook and Bacon after winning the first medal of all of Team USA. And they got to stand up there and everyone erupted and appreciated them. And I just think that's like gonna be really cool to see that unfold. Cool. Yeah. Chris. Wow. I mean, just like Elizabeth, I think going into a home Olympics, you know, again, having a little bit split, having spent a third of my life in Europe living there, you know, just the new names and kind of seeing some normalcy come back to the Olympics.

1:04:20I'm a fan of the Olympics. and from Rio to Tokyo, it was nothing to do with Tokyo and it's unfortunate because I don't think Japan got its fair shot to really put on a really post-program for a year. But just some normalcy and of course there's a lot of stuff in the media about USA and things that whatever but that they're going to not host the Winter Olympics and Salt Lake, whatever. But I think seeing some normalcy and I will say a little plug for LA28, we have a former swimmer who's kind of the big boss there with Janet Evans. So it's gonna be really neat. And that's our generation. You two are a little bit too young, but Janet Evans.

1:05:00John Moffitt's involved. And John is involved. We love John Moffitt. Yeah, Stanford guy. I'm sorry, we didn't even talk about this. Oh, I'm gonna text you. We have to take, yeah, we'll take a picture and send it to John. That's cool. Yeah, I mean, I'm just delighted to be here as somebody who's been a fan of the Olympics for as long as I could remember back in the days when we had a monoculture and everything stopped when the Olympics were on and everybody was watching. You know, the world's very different now, but that Olympic spirit is alive. It's such an honor and a privilege to be here and to get to talk to people like yourselves and to bear witness to such a beautiful event.

1:05:36I mean, in a culture that feels fractured at times, this is something that can unite all of us. And I think that's something that we need right now. And I think so on a broad general sense, that's what excites me about the Olympics. And of course, then there's just all the stories. Like what I get excited about are the unknowns that come out of nowhere that you're not following and suddenly something amazing happens. And it wouldn't be an Olympics without that. And that is already starting to unfold. So it's really cool to be here. And we should do this again if you guys wanna do it. Like this was super fun.

1:06:12I don't know about you guys. So much fun. Wow, so much fun. Yeah. Do I have to go to work tonight? And you do it with the pros, right? We got Elizabeth Faisal, who is an international broadcaster. Oh, please Rich. In addition to being this unbelievably decorated athlete. And then Katie, podcaster now with the Unfiltered Loancast. I know, I know. It's awesome. So you're a pro in this space as well. I'm not a pro, but I'm making my way. Yeah, you are, it's incredible. Dominating the discourse around swimming in a really cool way. So I think it's great what you're doing. Appreciate that. Yeah, I'm here to support you in that regard.

1:06:48I have some questions. And if you wanna watch the swimming broadcast in French, Chris is your guy. Can you find that on the internet? Like, where do you get? It's hard, yeah. It's hard. You got tired. Go to the dark web. It's good. And I've seen a lot of people. Right on. We appreciate you, Rich, because you really help a lot of people and have for years. So I appreciate what you do. Yeah, well, this was great. Thank you so much. It was a real treat. Appreciate it. All right. Postcards from Paris, episode one, complete. Is that why you're calling it? I don't know. I love that. You should. It's cute.

1:07:20I love it. Good? Approved? Love it. Stamp of approval. Cheers. Cheers. Thanks, guys. Thanks. Hell yeah.

1:07:46Thank you.

1:08:13Thank you.