Speaker 1: Hey, this is Emily and you're listening to stuff Mom
Speaker 1: never told you. First, I want to give a major
Speaker 1: shout out and huge thank you to everyone in Colorado
Speaker 1: who came out to our Powerful Women in Podcasting panel
Speaker 1: on Tuesday night this week. It was so awesome to
Speaker 1: share a powerful space with so many rad, sminty listeners
Speaker 1: who came out to say hello. So shout out to
Speaker 1: you you came out to that event, and many thanks
Speaker 1: to Cat Jaffee of House of Pod who organized the event,
Speaker 1: as well as my fellow panelists there, Barry of Podcasts
Speaker 1: in color and Claire Enjoy, the fitness duo behind the
Speaker 1: podcast Girls Gone Wad That's w O d Wad as
Speaker 1: an work out daily. It was such a blast to
Speaker 1: hang out with y'all in person, and I hope we
Speaker 1: can do it again soon. Today's Conversation is a similar
Speaker 1: kind of shout out episode in that we are just
Speaker 1: bringing some love to today's Conversation for a few absolutely
Speaker 1: incredible women who are currently representing Team USA in the
Speaker 1: Winter Olympics. That's right, Emily, I couldn't be more excited
Speaker 1: to shout out these awesome, dynamic women of color who
Speaker 1: are really doing their part to change the face of
Speaker 1: how we think about winter sports exactly. And it's so
Speaker 1: critical that we trying to spotlight on women of color
Speaker 1: of the Women Olympics, because in the past, the Winter
Speaker 1: Olympics have looked pretty darn white. And as much as
Speaker 1: we'd love to give a shout out and tell the
Speaker 1: stories of every amazing woman of color at the Olympics,
Speaker 1: this year, we're sticking to the US team so that
Speaker 1: we can basically not be here all day. Um, but
Speaker 1: there are so many great American women of color who
Speaker 1: are representing Team USA that we wanted to shine a
Speaker 1: spotlight on their incredible achievements. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm definitely
Speaker 1: guilty of spreading the misnomer that winter sports are things
Speaker 1: that white people do. Growing up, we never really went skiing,
Speaker 1: we never did ice skating, and I sort of got
Speaker 1: into my head that those were things that black folks
Speaker 1: didn't do. I also grew up hearing the misnomer that
Speaker 1: black folks don't really die with the cold. And so
Speaker 1: again you can see how these cultural misconceptions that I
Speaker 1: myself I'm guilty of holding and perpetuating, can keep this
Speaker 1: particular subset of sports to be thinking of as kind
Speaker 1: of a white thing. Yeah, And I mean, honestly, that
Speaker 1: misconception isn't grounded in nothing, because if you look at
Speaker 1: the nine point four million skiers in the United States,
Speaker 1: of them are white. So I mean skiing is also
Speaker 1: from a socioeconomic standpoint, such a privileged sport. It's a
Speaker 1: hard thing to get into because it's expensive, especially when
Speaker 1: you go for just a day. Right. A lift ticket
Speaker 1: on a daily basis is super expensive, but a lift
Speaker 1: ticket on a season pass level, as I am the
Speaker 1: proud new owner of, is super affordable. But it's sort
Speaker 1: of like a barrier to entry in terms of especially
Speaker 1: if you're urban dwelling quite frankly, access to ski mountains
Speaker 1: and all the expenses that come along with it is
Speaker 1: a pretty high barrier to entry, right. And if you
Speaker 1: just don't grow up having these kinds of winter sports
Speaker 1: be part of your every day, like you don't grow
Speaker 1: up going to the mountain every weekend or whatever, you
Speaker 1: can sort of see how that perpetuates this idea that
Speaker 1: it's something that's not for you, And that's probably why
Speaker 1: you don't see more folks of color getting involved because
Speaker 1: of these different barriers that just habits so that it's
Speaker 1: not an everyday part of your upbringing. Exactly. One of
Speaker 1: the incredible Olympians who were going to talk more about today,
Speaker 1: Aaron Jackson, said when offering advice to young athletes of
Speaker 1: color who hoped to compete internationally, she said, quote, don't
Speaker 1: let the representation or lack there uf deter you from
Speaker 1: getting out there and trying these sports. Even if you
Speaker 1: don't see other athletes out there, it's always nice to
Speaker 1: be the first, which she knows a thing or dear about.
Speaker 1: So I love that this year's boundary breaking Olympic athletes
Speaker 1: are in so many ways changing the look of the
Speaker 1: Winter Olympics. In the past, it was really dominated by
Speaker 1: wealthy Nordic and Scandinavian countries, and even now the Winter
Speaker 1: Olympics only include less than half as many countries as
Speaker 1: the Summer Olympics. So you know, from a global standpoint,
Speaker 1: there's a lack of representation. From a racial standpoint, per
Speaker 1: the countries that compete in the Winter Olympics, there's also
Speaker 1: been a historic lack of representation, which is part of
Speaker 1: what gets me so excited about these incredible women and
Speaker 1: the changing look of the Winter Olympics this year totally.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited that these women are finally getting their
Speaker 1: due and helping to really flip the script on this narrative.
Speaker 1: Because if you're a little black girl or a little
Speaker 1: brown girl watching these amazing powerhouse athletes kicking on the
Speaker 1: snow and on the ice, you might think that could
Speaker 1: be me one day. And so something I always like
Speaker 1: to remind folks is you don't know who's watching and
Speaker 1: who you are, planting that seed within that this could
Speaker 1: be something that they could do. And part of me
Speaker 1: wishes a young bridget Todd and maybe seeing more girls
Speaker 1: that looks like me out on the ice. I had
Speaker 1: to confess I'm not super into the Olympics in general.
Speaker 1: I mean, this year has really been you know, I
Speaker 1: mean it sounds bad. I just love it when black
Speaker 1: women win, right, So I'm like, wake me up with
Speaker 1: a black woman win, so my kids and be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's go, girl, get it, blah blah blah. And then
Speaker 1: any other time I'm like, Olympics will at Olympics. Who.
Speaker 1: So that's my that's my confession. Not watching the primetime
Speaker 1: coverage every day, not at all. But I know when
Speaker 1: one of us wins, and then I'm all of a
Speaker 1: sudden Bob Costas, I'm like, let me break down from
Speaker 1: what happened in this In this Bob sled historic black
Speaker 1: women's win, overnight snowboarding expert Bridget Todd's here to weigh
Speaker 1: in on how incredible pretty much I love it. I mean,
Speaker 1: this year's Winter Olympics are extraordinary when it comes to
Speaker 1: how much representation shin of of folks of color, people
Speaker 1: of color are competing this year. However, before we get
Speaker 1: too excited, before we share with you some of the
Speaker 1: stand out, extraordinary athletes who are competing on behalf of
Speaker 1: Team USA, I think we should also temper those cheers
Speaker 1: for a moment with a quick reality check on the numbers.
Speaker 1: Out of nearly three thousand athletes competing at this year's Games,
Speaker 1: black athletes and this isn't just black women, this is
Speaker 1: black athletes in general make up just one point four
Speaker 1: five percent of those vying for medals. According to BuzzFeed,
Speaker 1: Non white athletes, meaning black Asian American Olympians, et cetera,
Speaker 1: account for just under nine percent of the American team.
Speaker 1: So it's great and historic and all of that, but
Speaker 1: let's not get too excited. It really demonstrates how much
Speaker 1: further we actually have to go to get racial parody
Speaker 1: on this issue. I am all about celebrating the awesome
Speaker 1: achievements of these awesome women, but I want to keep
Speaker 1: it real that we have a long way to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: exact way. And as to your prior point, you know,
Speaker 1: people can't be what they can't see. So I think
Speaker 1: progress begets progress on a thing like this when we
Speaker 1: see more people representative different backgrounds and different races and
Speaker 1: different sexualities, which has also been kind of groundbreaking. Uh
Speaker 1: and this year's Olympics, it gives permission to others to
Speaker 1: see themselves in that light as well. Maybe I could
Speaker 1: be a little future Olympians someday. There are lots of
Speaker 1: children who are saying that right now. I hope that's true.
Speaker 1: But I hope there's a little brown and black girls
Speaker 1: out there thinking that's gonna be me. Yes, me too.
Speaker 1: If you sminthy listener, know a little black or brown
Speaker 1: girl who's got those kinds of vibes going, we want
Speaker 1: to see the photos. We want to see her, um
Speaker 1: so share her story with us after today's episode. So
Speaker 1: let's get down to it right there are two women
Speaker 1: who I am especially excited about for this year's winner Olympics,
Speaker 1: and that is Alana Myers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs. And
Speaker 1: I have to put in a little disclaimer here because
Speaker 1: I am very biased in that I adore Lauren Gibbs.
Speaker 1: Because when I was a little college freshman entering my
Speaker 1: freshman year at Brown University on the volleyball team, Lauren
Speaker 1: Gibbs was my senior captain and she was by far
Speaker 1: the strongest member of our team. She was a lefty
Speaker 1: like me, she was a right side player like me,
Speaker 1: and she was all my goals embodied into one human being.
Speaker 1: And so to see my former college captain of the
Speaker 1: volleyball team ascend to new heights, granted in a totally
Speaker 1: different sport, has been an amazing years long sort of
Speaker 1: journey that I've I've borne witness too. So she just
Speaker 1: an amazing athlete large Like whether it's volleyball or winter
Speaker 1: sports or whatever, she's like good at whatever she touches.
Speaker 1: She is fierce. Okay, she got really into CrossFit, and
Speaker 1: I think that's part of how she was discovered in
Speaker 1: some ways. But let me back up for a second
Speaker 1: and mentioned that Alana and Lauren are competing in this
Speaker 1: year's US Bob sled team, and going from volley ball
Speaker 1: to Bob's letting is not, you know, and not a simple,
Speaker 1: I think thing to do. But what's fascinating is that
Speaker 1: a lot of Myers Tailor is a veteran of the sport.
Speaker 1: She has long been one of the most powerful pilots
Speaker 1: in the sport writ large. She competed in the Vancouver
Speaker 1: and Sochy Olympics, as well as numerous World Championships that
Speaker 1: she was a part of. Uh and she was on
Speaker 1: the hunt for her teammate, you know, she was sort
Speaker 1: of looking and searching for and taking a very active
Speaker 1: part in grooming the next champion to be her teammate.
Speaker 1: So it's really cool to see her paired with Lauren Gibbs,
Speaker 1: who has been training very hard for years now to
Speaker 1: qualify and make this year her Olympic debut. The pair
Speaker 1: are a spotlight in terms of the strengths that they
Speaker 1: bring to the table, One a season veteran and one
Speaker 1: described by NBC as a quote eager first time olympian,
Speaker 1: which is a major understatement. Knowing I just gotta make
Speaker 1: a quick plug here. You know how they always do
Speaker 1: those female reboots of movies like Female Ghostbusters Female this.
Speaker 1: I would die for someone doing a cool running style
Speaker 1: boot of black women Bob's Letters. Yes, this thing writes itself.
Speaker 1: It does. Who would you cast as obviously those two? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean who would you if they were in the movie.
Speaker 1: Who would play your friend Lauren? I don't think anyone
Speaker 1: could play Lauren Gibbs, but Lauren Gibbs. Okay, knowing these
Speaker 1: women and knowing Lauren especially, there's no one you can
Speaker 1: do it like her. If you're a Hollywood Asian out there,
Speaker 1: call them make this movie happen. Please, We're dying for
Speaker 1: a cool Runnings reboot. And actually, isn't this year Jamaican
Speaker 1: bob sleddings happening at the Winter list is so wait, okay,
Speaker 1: smithy listeners, I have to level with you. We just
Speaker 1: took a quick break to look up the details around
Speaker 1: the Jamaican bob sledding team because we were right. This
Speaker 1: is the first year that Jamaica was putting up a
Speaker 1: women's bob sledding team, which is extraordinarire talk about women
Speaker 1: of color at the Olympics, and yet the head line
Speaker 1: we just came up against is Winter Olympics Jamaican bob
Speaker 1: sled coach Quits says she owns team sled, so basically
Speaker 1: the coach is like that, only am I out. I'm
Speaker 1: taking that sled with me taking sled. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: it's awful. It's hard out there for a bob's letter. Seriously,
Speaker 1: I hope it all works out. But this is a
Speaker 1: developing story. You can always count on Sminthy for your
Speaker 1: late breaking Jamaican bobsled team news and updates. Stay tuned
Speaker 1: for more. We should really be um the announcers for
Speaker 1: the impacts. What are they that we I think the
Speaker 1: commentator you would be Tera Lepinsky. I would be Johnny
Speaker 1: weirphones amazing, amazing. I love that that you watch something
Speaker 1: and it's like these this beautiful display and they're both
Speaker 1: so unimpressed. But yeah, they're like that contrast. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: let's get back at it to refocus here on the
Speaker 1: incredible a lot of Myers and Lauren Gibbs. A little
Speaker 1: background on Alana. She actually played softball at g W
Speaker 1: you right around the corner from here before she became
Speaker 1: one of the world's top bobs letters and a decorated Olympian.
Speaker 1: She didn't just compete in those World championships and at
Speaker 1: the Olympics, she also meddled there. She won the bronze
Speaker 1: medal at the Winter Olympic Games as a part of
Speaker 1: the two women bob sled teams. So now she's back,
Speaker 1: she's hungry for more. But what's really interesting is the
Speaker 1: Washington posted this great article kind of chronicling her come up,
Speaker 1: and she says that the hardest part of her job
Speaker 1: is constantly looking for talent. She says, quote, I'll do
Speaker 1: whatever I need to do to bring more athletes into
Speaker 1: this sport because, according to the USA women's bob sled
Speaker 1: coach Sepplaza, she says, quote, you never can have enough
Speaker 1: people and athletes coming in to try out. That is
Speaker 1: what we live for. Really, not enough athletes in the
Speaker 1: United States grow up bob sledding to field a national team,
Speaker 1: So the federation has to work double time on recruitment
Speaker 1: efforts um and really convince them that their path to
Speaker 1: the Olympics comes in the form of bob flooding. It's
Speaker 1: a really interesting persuasion campaign. But I mean that makes
Speaker 1: sense because what kind of kid grows up thinking they're
Speaker 1: going to bob sled their way to the Olympics. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that seems someonelikely, but what I love about that is
Speaker 1: the investment in lifting up new talent. And so you know,
Speaker 1: one of our sort of de facto sayings on the
Speaker 1: show is lift as you climb. I love that she's
Speaker 1: not just thinking about herself. She says, I need to
Speaker 1: get a team together. How can I develop and foster
Speaker 1: new talent and make sure folks know this is an
Speaker 1: It may sound unlikely, but it is an avenue and
Speaker 1: a sport that you could actually do exactly. And what
Speaker 1: I love about how Lauren got into the picture here
Speaker 1: is that I actually interviewed her for a Bossed Up
Speaker 1: webinar that we were hosting a few years ago now
Speaker 1: because of the fascinating career transition story that she has
Speaker 1: behind her. Lauren Gibbs has an NBA from Pepperdine. Lauren
Speaker 1: Gibbs was crushing it on a corporate career trajectory when
Speaker 1: she was persuaded to leave that behind to train full
Speaker 1: time for the Olympics. Can you imagine that conversation at
Speaker 1: your dinner table, mom, Dad, I have some big news.
Speaker 1: I'm leaving my successful corporate gig. Oh what am I doing?
Speaker 1: I'm going to be a professional bobs letter chasing boss
Speaker 1: led glory. I know. It's insane, amazing, It's really insane.
Speaker 1: And Lauren herself has said, and I quote, I had
Speaker 1: a corporate job and wore a suit to work every day,
Speaker 1: and I just kind of felt like I wasn't living
Speaker 1: my authentic self or doing what I was passionate about.
Speaker 1: At the time, she was living in Denver, of all places,
Speaker 1: working as a sales manager for an online retailer, and
Speaker 1: doing CrossFit as a hobby. You know. Granted, when Lauren
Speaker 1: does anything as a hobby, she crushes it. So she
Speaker 1: was making waves in the CrossFit community in Denver when
Speaker 1: she encountered a friend UH and a rugby player, Jillian Potter,
Speaker 1: one day at the gym. Potter recognized Lauren's strength and
Speaker 1: power right away and started asking her questions leading up
Speaker 1: to urging Gibbs to try out for the US bob
Speaker 1: flooding team, which really, I mean, if it hadn't been
Speaker 1: for Jillian Potter probably wouldn't have occurred to her. But
Speaker 1: she had played on the US rugby team with Myers
Speaker 1: Taylor and saw that Gibbs had the strength, speed and
Speaker 1: power to be a brakeman for Myers Taylor at the time,
Speaker 1: who was also in Bob's letting. How what a story.
Speaker 1: I mean talk about a come up story. And it's
Speaker 1: like meeting all the right people who encouraged her and
Speaker 1: all the right ways at all the right times really
Speaker 1: is kind of why she is where she is. It
Speaker 1: sounds right. And her first reaction in the gym was quote,
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, one, Bob's led That's just not something
Speaker 1: people do. And I mean, that's what I would think, Like,
Speaker 1: Bob sledding is something that you people just don't grow
Speaker 1: up thinking is a thing that people do, and this
Speaker 1: incredible Bob Slayer is no different. It's not like she
Speaker 1: grew up wanting to be a Bob's letter exactly. So
Speaker 1: after doing some research, Gibbs went on to Colorado Springs
Speaker 1: the training center there to learn more and she's like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is like in the Olympics. And you know, at
Speaker 1: the time she was connecting with Myers, who was already
Speaker 1: a two time Olympic medalists, so she knew she was
Speaker 1: in good hands. And then it was years of intense
Speaker 1: competitive physical training and competitions in the World Cup level
Speaker 1: for her to really get there. But that meant walking
Speaker 1: away from her mb A corporate job, right, Like walking
Speaker 1: away from that kind of stability to pursue this all out.
Speaker 1: So I could not be more excited that that initial
Speaker 1: meeting between a lot of Myers Tailor and Lauren Gibbs
Speaker 1: went swimming lely and seemed to go, well, Uh, they
Speaker 1: were on the right track. Did I couldn't make a
Speaker 1: swimming reference and then not get it right? Okay, So
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be cheering them on, especially seeing someone
Speaker 1: like Lauren Gibbs I've known for so long just rise
Speaker 1: up in this Bob setting world. So get excited, y'all.
Speaker 1: What a story, right, Let's hear more of those stories
Speaker 1: after a quick break and we're back, just getting pretty
Speaker 1: excited talking through some of these awesome red women of
Speaker 1: color on skates, on sleds, on skis, all of that
Speaker 1: good stuff, one of whom is Aaron Jackson. Aaron will
Speaker 1: be the first black woman to compete for the US
Speaker 1: in a long track speed skating, which is freaking awesome. Again,
Speaker 1: Aaron is someone who really kind of took to this sport.
Speaker 1: A fun fact about her is that she just sort
Speaker 1: of didn't get her start skating at all. She was
Speaker 1: initially a roller derby champion and just four months into
Speaker 1: speed skating nailed it and qualified, which is she still
Speaker 1: skates with the new Jack's City Rollers out of Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: where she's from. At just twenty five years old, she
Speaker 1: only had four months of speed skating on the ice
Speaker 1: before making it to the US speed Skating Trials in
Speaker 1: early January. She really at the time said she hoped
Speaker 1: to someday make it to the Olympics, and boom, there
Speaker 1: she is. Again. That just shows what can happen when
Speaker 1: you try new things and try something out. The same
Speaker 1: way we were talking about how you might not grow
Speaker 1: up thinking that bob sliding is the thing that you do,
Speaker 1: but if you try it, you never know. And so
Speaker 1: I love that Jackson maybe thought of herself as a
Speaker 1: derby girl rocking her scathe on the rink and just
Speaker 1: try it, tried trying out those skills on the ice
Speaker 1: and it was really successful. I also think it's important
Speaker 1: to note that the same thing that we were talking
Speaker 1: about earlier in the show about how you don't really
Speaker 1: see many women of color out there in winter sports.
Speaker 1: Jackson is pretty keenly aware of this. She's quoted as
Speaker 1: telling Time it's a pretty exciting thing, especially since you
Speaker 1: don't see many people of color in Winter Olympics. And
Speaker 1: again that only is she aware that she's sort of
Speaker 1: breaking barriers in that way, but who knows what her
Speaker 1: presence in the Winter Olympics will do. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to see the legacy that these women have made reverberate
Speaker 1: through history and through time, and I do not doubt
Speaker 1: that they will be responsible single handedly for changing the game. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Don't you think that there must be a lot of
Speaker 1: women out there and people in general out there who
Speaker 1: are like potential Olympic athletes who have just gone undiscovered.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Yes, it's just it's just hitting me.
Speaker 1: How are you saying that maybe I'm a potential Olympic
Speaker 1: athlete undiscovered because of racism and systematic barriers and gendered
Speaker 1: by its Yet Oh my god, I could be it.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what I'm going for. A RB Bridge is
Speaker 1: about to go try for you in four years for
Speaker 1: the Olympics. I'll do it in I love it. So
Speaker 1: there's another incredible speed skater that we have to mention
Speaker 1: as we're talking about Aaron Jackson, and that is mom
Speaker 1: A Biny who is. I am convinced the happiest human
Speaker 1: being I have ever seen in my life I've ever
Speaker 1: seen on TV. When I was watching the opening ceremonies
Speaker 1: because I do because I'm an Olympic nerd and I
Speaker 1: love that stuff. Um, they interviewed mom A and just
Speaker 1: the kind of beaming, smile and effervescent personality that was
Speaker 1: coming through may me lean in and want to know
Speaker 1: everything I could about her. And the more tape I
Speaker 1: watch of Mammy, the more you will see like she
Speaker 1: is this overjoyed every time there's a microphone in her face, granted,
Speaker 1: because she's crushing barriers and she's absolutely dominating in her field.
Speaker 1: So let's say to listen into the interview she gave
Speaker 1: right after succeeding in the qualifying trials that would determine
Speaker 1: whether or not she would make it to the Olympics.
Speaker 1: It's crazy awesome because like, I've dreamt about this movement
Speaker 1: for like since June, and I am just so happy
Speaker 1: right now. She's completely losing it with joy, which I
Speaker 1: absolutely love. You have to watch mom a viney on
Speaker 1: video to get the full effect. But she is just
Speaker 1: the most overjoyed, grateful, fierce competitor I've ever seen interviewed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love the effervescence that she gives off, Like, how
Speaker 1: do you listen to her speak and not feel happy.
Speaker 1: It's so easy to root for someone when they seem
Speaker 1: genuinely excited to be doing their craft and genuinely stoked
Speaker 1: to be doing it so well. So I'm really rooting
Speaker 1: for her. And again, I just think it just goes
Speaker 1: to show how when you give black women and black
Speaker 1: girls a chance, they nail it and it's just amazing.
Speaker 1: It's amazing for everybody, and so we need to be
Speaker 1: inspiring and lifting up and encouraging and all of that
Speaker 1: to make sure that we have more. Maybe Bailey's out
Speaker 1: there exactly, and I think she kind of knows that, what,
Speaker 1: you know, what kind of an importance her presence at
Speaker 1: the Olympics is serving. She says, quote, I am super
Speaker 1: honored to be able to be part of this because
Speaker 1: I know that US African American girls and women haven't
Speaker 1: been able to be in this situation before. I'm really
Speaker 1: honored to inspire other women African American or any other race,
Speaker 1: to get out there and do what you can to succeed.
Speaker 1: So it's no coincidence to me that almost every woman
Speaker 1: that we've talked about so far, when asked what does
Speaker 1: this mean to you, how are you feeling, they all
Speaker 1: throw it back to that that I understand that there
Speaker 1: are not that many of us out there, and that's
Speaker 1: why it's so important for me to be here. I
Speaker 1: think that it's so interesting and not at all surprising
Speaker 1: that each and every one of them seems so keenly
Speaker 1: aware of what it means that they're They're absolutely and
Speaker 1: I mean she is breaking down barriers. She's becoming a first.
Speaker 1: Viney is the first black woman to qualify for the
Speaker 1: short track team, following Shawnee Davis, the first black male
Speaker 1: athlete to make the short track team back in two
Speaker 1: thousand two. So we've got Aaron Jackson, the first black
Speaker 1: woman to serve on the speed skating team for the
Speaker 1: long track, and in the same year, mam A Viney
Speaker 1: the first black woman on the short track. It's just
Speaker 1: an amazing year full of first and it shouldn't go
Speaker 1: without being mentioned that Mammy turned eighteen just days before
Speaker 1: the opening ceremony of the Games of January, making her
Speaker 1: the youngest member of Team usas speed skating team as well.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a lot of first, a lot of first?
Speaker 1: Can we say this might be one of the most
Speaker 1: historic Black History Months ever? Right? And tell you last
Speaker 1: Black History Month open with Beyonce performing at the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: This one is opening with all these amazing black women
Speaker 1: killing at the Olympics and black panther and black panther.
Speaker 1: So it's it's been a it's been a good February.
Speaker 1: It's been a good February. All right, let's take a
Speaker 1: quick break, and when we come back, we've got more
Speaker 1: wildly awesome women of color at the Winter Olympics. And
Speaker 1: we're back and we're talking through some of the incredible
Speaker 1: women of color at this year's Winter Olympics who are
Speaker 1: representing Team USA. And we were just mentioning how incredibly
Speaker 1: young mom a Byney is at eighteen years old. She
Speaker 1: just turned eighteen a few days before the opening ceremonies. Now,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite performances to watch at the Olympics
Speaker 1: thus far has been the half pipe. Um the snowboarding
Speaker 1: half pipe is just an incredibable feat to watch the
Speaker 1: way that those athletes make It seems so effortless as
Speaker 1: they're floating through the air and trying to stick their
Speaker 1: landings on the way down, only to soar once again.
Speaker 1: Gives me chills, especially as someone who does on occasion
Speaker 1: fly down a mountain on a pair of skis. I
Speaker 1: just cannot imagine doing what these snowboarders are doing on
Speaker 1: the half pipe. And the one you have to watch
Speaker 1: if you missed it is Chloe Kim, who already earned
Speaker 1: a gold medal on Tuesday morning, and in doing so,
Speaker 1: basically realized this American immigrant dream. I love the way
Speaker 1: that she was talking about her parents who immigrated to
Speaker 1: the United States from South Korea only to go watch
Speaker 1: their incredible, profound daughter compete at the Olympic Games in
Speaker 1: South Korea. It seems like this coming home American story
Speaker 1: and that VI was totally totally on display after her win.
Speaker 1: After she won, her father reportedly pointed to himself and
Speaker 1: kept shouting, American dream, American dream, and honestly, give us
Speaker 1: you chills, because that is the American dream, right that
Speaker 1: we all are Americans and that we can all represent
Speaker 1: our country and no matter where what our origin story
Speaker 1: is where we come from for all Americans United, and
Speaker 1: it's just it's I don't often feel that sort of
Speaker 1: patriotic rara warm fuzzy feeling. But I definitely got it then, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, Chloe says that herself. She says, quote, my
Speaker 1: dad is definitely sacrificed a lot for me, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if I could do it if I were
Speaker 1: in his shoes, leaving your life behind and chasing your
Speaker 1: dream because your kid is passionate about this sport. I
Speaker 1: think today I did it for my family, and I
Speaker 1: am so grateful for them. Is As it turns out,
Speaker 1: John Jin, her father, prodded Chloe to jump out of
Speaker 1: snowboard when she was only four years old, and nearly
Speaker 1: a decade ago, he quit his job as an engineer
Speaker 1: to help his precocious daughter reach glory on the slopes.
Speaker 1: Her parents frequently drove Chloe from their home in Torrance, California,
Speaker 1: to Mammoth Mountain, where she trains, a six hour ride. Wow.
Speaker 1: That just goes to show you that oftentimes when these
Speaker 1: athletes win, it isn't just a win for them, it's
Speaker 1: a win for their entire family. Right, It's a win
Speaker 1: for your dad who quit his job and got up
Speaker 1: early to drive you to practice and all of that.
Speaker 1: And I just love seeing these athletes reaffirm that. It's
Speaker 1: it's so beautiful and it just reminds you how behind
Speaker 1: every athlete is a village of some kind or another,
Speaker 1: our family who has made their athletic dream possible by
Speaker 1: shuttling their kid around, or by getting them on the slopes,
Speaker 1: or by making those opportunities a priority. And it's just incredible.
Speaker 1: And beyond that, something that's been really heartwarming to see
Speaker 1: is how that community, that village in a lot of
Speaker 1: these cases is often to other athletes. It's other athletes
Speaker 1: lifting each other up and getting them there and and
Speaker 1: lifting as they climb. It's really a beautiful story about
Speaker 1: how athleticism really is a tapestry of support. Just really,
Speaker 1: it's really something. It is a beautiful story. And if
Speaker 1: you have missed it, like I said earlier, you have
Speaker 1: to go back and see Chloe Kim's performance on her
Speaker 1: very first run, she landed a score above ninety three
Speaker 1: out of a hundred. I mean, I'm no sportscaster here,
Speaker 1: but she was landing tricks that I can't even pronounce,
Speaker 1: and the entire rest of the competition was struggling to
Speaker 1: keep up with her scores after Chloe's first run, but
Speaker 1: by the time that her final take on the half
Speaker 1: pipe came around, she was already gold medal secure. She
Speaker 1: was free to take a victory lap, but instead she
Speaker 1: added an extra exclamation point, as NBC described it, by
Speaker 1: landing her most technical sequence of tricks, the back to
Speaker 1: back ten eighties, the combination of a front side ten
Speaker 1: eight into a cab ten eight in the middle of
Speaker 1: her run, and her final score from judges came in
Speaker 1: at nine eight point to five, which is insane, making
Speaker 1: her officially the new Olympic Champion. I love her. You
Speaker 1: have like a girl crush on her. I do have
Speaker 1: a girl crush on her. She's just so California cool.
Speaker 1: Everything about her is like so effortlessly cool, and she's
Speaker 1: like the epitome of snowboarder cheek in every way snowboarder
Speaker 1: ch Well, I'm a skier, so it's not me. Um.
Speaker 1: Snowboarders are like the way cool, laid back, like you know,
Speaker 1: shredding on the slopes without even looking like you're breaking
Speaker 1: a sweat kind of cool people. Um, at least some
Speaker 1: of them are, some of them are very annoying as
Speaker 1: a skier. But Chloe is like the epitome of just
Speaker 1: effortless perfection and it's amazing to watch her. And I
Speaker 1: don't want to say that to detract from all the
Speaker 1: effort that went into it, because clearly she busted her butt.
Speaker 1: But that's the thing. She makes it look easy, something
Speaker 1: that takes an incredible amount of training and skill and
Speaker 1: poise and talent. She makes it look easy. She makes
Speaker 1: it look like anyone who get out there and do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's amazing. And speaking of making things on the snow
Speaker 1: and ice look effortless, we would be remiss to not
Speaker 1: mention Marai Nagasu. Now, Marai made history when she became
Speaker 1: the first American woman at the Olympics to land the
Speaker 1: coveted and notoriously difficult triple axel, and she did so
Speaker 1: making it look like it was nothing like it was
Speaker 1: the easiest thing in the world, you know, just the
Speaker 1: vision of poise and athleticism. And again it shows you
Speaker 1: how difficult these things are, how much training and talent
Speaker 1: and skill and strength they take. These women do it
Speaker 1: and they make it look so easy. Yeah, it's an
Speaker 1: incredibly tough skill because the triple axel is the only
Speaker 1: jump in which the skater flies into the air while
Speaker 1: facing forward, requiring a three and a half rotation before landing.
Speaker 1: Only two other women in the entire world throughout history
Speaker 1: have ever completed such a feat at the Olympics, the
Speaker 1: two others being from Japan Midori Ito and Mao Asada.
Speaker 1: Something that I love that Nagasu said about her win
Speaker 1: is that she said, this is definitely history or history,
Speaker 1: whatever way you want to put it, and it kind
Speaker 1: of it just goes to show these women know that
Speaker 1: they are breaking barriers out there and how important that is.
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting how each and every one of
Speaker 1: these women they're not just out there doing it for themselves.
Speaker 1: They're doing it for all of us, and they're keenly
Speaker 1: aware of how significant their presence is. I love that
Speaker 1: she finished for the one thirty seven point five three
Speaker 1: overall score, which was the second best of the Ladies
Speaker 1: free skate, helping Team USA to win a bronze for
Speaker 1: the team event in figure skating. When speaking to the
Speaker 1: press after her win, she said, quote, I knew in
Speaker 1: my heart that this day would come. I love that
Speaker 1: don't you kind of want to be best friends with
Speaker 1: all of these women? Yes, I mean I saw her
Speaker 1: performance lived. It was beautiful. It was absolutely astounding. And
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles native has competed in the Olympics before.
Speaker 1: She was at the Olympic Games in Vancouver where she
Speaker 1: finished fourth, so she has a long history of crushing
Speaker 1: it at the Olympics, and it's just wonderful to see
Speaker 1: such a poised, incredible athlete like her absolutely nail this
Speaker 1: incredibly hard trick under all of that pressure, with all
Speaker 1: of those eyeballs, making this Olympics her moment to shine.
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine. And beyond the physical strength, this
Speaker 1: takes the mental and emotional poise you would have to have,
Speaker 1: I certainly laugh, do not have it. I mean what
Speaker 1: we've talked about the world of figure skating and how
Speaker 1: hard it is to be a fierce athlete and ladylike
Speaker 1: throughout the whole competition with Sanya Harding's up. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just a good reminder how it's often this tight rope
Speaker 1: of balancing so many things mental, emotional, physical, you know,
Speaker 1: looks this that, and some of these women do it,
Speaker 1: and they do it so well. It's just almost hard
Speaker 1: to fathom. Absolutely, it's amazing. Well, I hope you have
Speaker 1: enjoyed walking through with me some of the most incredible
Speaker 1: women of color competing at this year's Olympics. I certainly
Speaker 1: have enjoyed watching them get up there and prove to
Speaker 1: the world that women can do anything, and that we
Speaker 1: need more women of color in these arenas totally. So
Speaker 1: go out there and encourage the women of color in
Speaker 1: your life to do whatever they want, whether that's bob sledding,
Speaker 1: or ice skating or whatever, skiing, snowboarding. Let's build a
Speaker 1: culture that says it's okay for women of color to
Speaker 1: do those things. I love it, So tell us s
Speaker 1: Mendy listeners, who are the women that are inspiring you
Speaker 1: this Olympic season, Because we know we couldn't have mentioned
Speaker 1: them all. These are just some of our favorites we
Speaker 1: wanted to shine a spotlight on. Hit us up on
Speaker 1: Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, Send us a snap of
Speaker 1: the Olympic dreamers in your world on Instagram at stuff
Speaker 1: Mom Never Told You, And, as always our inboxes open
Speaker 1: mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com.