An Introduction

Join Ben, Colin & Jarrod as they bring you the very first episode of 'Off The Podium', bringing you their history with the Olympics, sharing some of their favourite moments from the games as well as why it's ok to pee on flower beds made up of Olympic logos and talking about ribbon throwing being an appropriate Olympic sport.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.

BEN WATERWORTH: Good afternoon, good evening, good morning, and hello to everybody tuning in to the very first episode of Off The Podium, an Olympics podcast, brought to you by the people who brought you the classic hits such as Survivor Oz, Double Oz, Seven Euros, Vision, and of course the qualifying lap. It's a thrill to be here in our first time attempt at covering something that a lot more people care about than those other shows that we've ever done, because it's the Olympic Games, the event that every four years stops the world, gets people excited, and always tries to find a way to ban Russia at something. So we're thrilled to be able to cover these games. We're going to Rio. That's right, Brazil. We're actually personally not going to Rio, because we can't afford it. But if you're in Rio and you're perhaps listening or you're going to Rio, maybe you're listening to us on the plane, then please let us know who you are, because we at least know we have a listener. I should introduce myself. My name is Ben, and of course I have previous Olympic experience in starting a joke bid for the Olympic Games. It turned a little bit too serious, and I didn't know what to do with it. And other than that, I have no experience at all, except for watching them for quite some time. And I've got two guys on the line with me who, as far as I know, don't have much experience. They might have qualified for Olympics. I don't know. I don't know exactly everything about them, including one man from a part of a city area state that hosted the Olympic Games about 16 years ago. I actually don't know how far away it is from Sydney, but I think it's part of Sydney. Emu Plains. Anyway, Jarrod Lubeck. Jarrod, welcome to Off The Podium.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you. It's exciting to be talking about the Olympics 50 minutes away from the Sydney Olympics. But I mean, when you're eight years old at the time, it doesn't really help. I'm glad that we've rolled around four years ago. My experience, if I put it all on the table, probably Athens 2004 PS2 Games broke some world records there. So look out.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm intrigued to find out which events you did break those world records in and just exactly what 50 minutes from the Sydney Olympics means. But also, speaking of 50 minutes from the Sydney Olympics, it's got nothing to do with this man, actually. As far as I know, he wasn't in Sydney at the time. And I think the closest he's ever been to the Olympics was when the Winter Games were slightly to the left of him about six years ago. I do, of course, speak from our dear Canadian correspondent direct from the beautiful city of Winnipeg. It's Mr Colin Hilding. Colin, welcome to Off The Podium.

COLIN HILDING: Oh, I'm going to have some fun. I have some good stories about how close I came to the Olympics along the way here. Some amusing and some sad, but we'll get into that as we go along on this show.

BEN WATERWORTH: I'm thrilled now. I really have no idea who these two guys are because I've got 50 minutes from Sydney, a guy who's probably won a gold for frickin Belgium or something like that in Athens that I have no idea about. So, hey, we're off to an exciting start. And I guess what we're here to do for this very first episode is talk a little bit about why we love the Olympics, why we're doing this podcast, and perhaps preview a little bit about the Olympic Games. Of course, the 2016, just in case you might be listening to this in, like, I don't know, 2030 or something like that, for the 31st, the XXX1 Games of the 31st Olympiad, is that the correct terminology, in Rio? Lots of exciting events happening in terms of the lead-up and all this sort of jazz, but it's more about us at the moment. And I guess I'm intrigued now, because we're sort of saying this is an introduction episode, talking a little bit about our history with the Olympics, and now that I've literally teased finding out from you two about these, I want to know more. Colin, I have to go to you now. What's going on? Tell me about this. Why do you love the Olympics? Why are you doing this podcast? And just exactly what was it like winning gold for Belgium in Athens?

COLIN HILDING: Well, sadly, I didn't win gold, but as far as my history of the Olympics goes, I mean, I don't really remember even knowing what it was until I was a kid. When I was a very young kid, I was in Taekwondo. I wasn't even living in Winnipeg. I was living outside of Winnipeg at the time, a city of the population of maybe 150, 200, smaller than Emu Plains, I should say, probably. And Hobart. Almost on level with Hobart. We had our own Olympic bid that failed for LaSalle, Manitoba, the village of LaSalle. But I was in Taekwondo at the time, and this was 1988, and the Seoul Olympics in Seoul, Korea were being held that year. And my academy, which was a nationwide academy, was going to be part of the Olympics because that was the year Taekwondo was just a demonstration sport. So it wasn't officially contested yet, but they were trying it out to see if they could go forward with it in the future Olympics. And the offer was put out there for anybody in our academy that we could attend the Olympics, we'd be able to be there at the opening ceremonies and everything. And ultimately what it came down to is that neither of my parents could commit to taking the time off work to take me. Otherwise, I would have been right there in the opening ceremonies. We could have been on the field and everything. I would have been like, well, I was the youngest person in the Academy. They accepted me kind of because we were in a small town and nobody was going to question it. They didn't normally take kids my age, but that would have been fantastic. So that's been my disappointment for my entire life that I missed out on attending the Olympics. But it was made up for it about a year later. The Calgary Olympics, which I watched only a little bit of. I didn't see a lot of the Calgary Olympics, but when we went out to Calgary about a year or two later, my cousin, older cousin, I should say, he's my dad's cousin, so more of an uncle, I guess. He was taking us to the Olympic Park, and it was closed. We had to go to the bathroom really bad, my brother and I. So when they're like, no, sorry, we're closed, the security guard at the front. My cousin took us outside and said, come on, kids, we're going to go water the flowers. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I don't know anything about flowers. I really got to go to the bathroom. He's like, no, just come with me. And he stands in front of a flower bed which has the Olympic logo, the Calgary Olympic Park, whips it out and starts peeing all over it. And I'm like, all right, I guess. I'm like a seven, eight-year-old kid at this point. I'm like, yeah, I'll go for it. So my history before really watching much of the Olympics was missing out on attending one and peeing on. Following that, once there was, I remember the Barcelona Games in 92. That's the one that I really got into watching, me and my brother in our room. We'd cheer for countries not knowing who it was. And then as I got older, Atlanta and Sydney and everything, it's basically got to the point where from the Sydney Olympics on, every single Olympics, I'm recording all of the major events. It used to be VHS, and now I'm recording a certain amount on my computer, and I have probably about 12 to 15 hours from every Olympics of footage that I recorded just hoping I never want to lose this footage. I have to watch it, and I'll go back and watch them sometimes as I go to bed. Let me put on Athens tonight. Let me put on Vancouver. Let me put on Sydney.

BEN WATERWORTH: You and I have a lot more in common than I ever understood right now, because we'll get to that in a minute.

COLIN HILDING: You peed all over it.

BEN WATERWORTH: I was in Calgary about two months ago, and all I did was just, big stuff, I'm going to piss all over it. I just felt the urge to. I couldn't explain it. Now I know why. It was meant to be. Jarrod, well, look, as you said, you were 50 minutes away from the Olympics. You were eight years old when they were in Sydney. You've lived, I guess, literally in a city during the Olympics. Besides that, what's your experience in history with the Olympics?

JARROD LOOBEEK: I suppose 2000 was kind of the first Olympics that I remember. Just being so close, I remember the torch really actually came through Penrith, so that was like 10 minutes away, and our school actually got to perform a dance. We made the Olympic rings and were in these horrible asbestos spacesuit type things. And I got dragged into the wrong ring, so that was a big mistake. And that's pretty much where my dancing career ended, because if you can't form the Olympic rings properly, that's a major disaster.

BEN WATERWORTH: You were involved in the Sochi Olympics, weren't you, when they fucked up with that ring? Like, that was you.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I was behind that. I'll take the blame. And then after that, yeah, I've just been following it since Athens came along, it was a big thing at school, we did all these assessments and assignments on it, and then Beijing is probably my fondest memories of the Olympics, just because of the time zone being so similar to Australia here. I think there's two hours different, so you got to see a lot of events live. You didn't have to stay out till four in the morning to see finals. Yeah, so I suppose from there, the love of the Olympics has grown, and I can't believe it's come back around. Again, it feels like it hasn't been long enough since London, but I'm glad that they're back.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's interesting. It's so fascinating hearing these varying stories, and I guess how ages really are coming through with this. Colin, you said you were what? Going to the Seoul Olympics. I was like one year old then, so I don't remember the Seoul Olympics. Sorry. vaguely remember Barcelona. I mean, I was only five. I think I remember Kathy Watt winning the road race for Australia, and of course Kieran Perkins and any Australian listening would obviously have very fond memories of him and the swimming and all that. My main one I remember a lot of was Atlanta. I remember the opening ceremony and, you know, I mean, kind of seeing Kieran Perkins in Barcelona made me a huge fan of his. So I remember his race in Atlanta when he wasn't meant to win and was in lane eight and of course famously won the gold from lane eight after Australia hadn't won a single gold medal in swimming for the entire games until that final day with him and Susie O'Neill. I remember collecting they used to have daily lift outs in our newspaper of like Olympic results and all this sort of stuff and I still got them. I kept them in folders and kept all these sort of things. I guess we're really not meant to be talking too much about the Winter Olympics, but I remember a lot of Nagano and then obviously in the lead up to Sydney was huge in Australia, of course. I was like begging my parents, can we go to Sydney? Can we go to the Olympics? And sadly I never got to go, but I just blame my parents for that every single day. But I remember the lead up, like Jarrod, you were mentioning about the torch relay. The torch relay came to Tasmania, and I remember seeing it run through the suburb that I lived in, and we followed it all the way up to this little park and watched them light this little cauldron. And then there was this lady there who was walking around showing off her torch, and we got to hold the torch, and it was so exciting. They had all these big huge festivals and parades that toured around Australia like in the lead up, sort of trying to promote the Olympics, and I remember all those. You know, the Olympics, of course, I mean, Sydney, I mean, they actually, I think, at least down here, they did, I assume they would have done it in every single part of Australia. They made school holidays work around the Olympics. So basically, for that entire two weeks, that was school holidays. So like, you know, all day you're just watching the Olympics and, you know, again, like you, Colin, recording it, VHS. This is a Tasmanian joke that will go over everybody's head. No, it was not here, so I can't exactly use this. I went to Chicken Feed and bought a bunch of VHSs, which I will say, sadly, that I did record over all of my Sydney Olympics. That's the last games that I just recorded over. I've got every single Olympics since Salt Lake, but I recorded over Sydney. So, I don't catch these games.

COLIN HILDING: The Canadian here is the only one who has footage of the Sydney Olympics.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I did buy the official Highlights DVD from Channel 7 and the Opening Ceremony DVD. So, I have them, kind of. But from there, yes, I just obsessed. I remember they had... They generally do parades in each of the capital cities of all our Olympians when they come back, and they brought down a couple of gold medalists down here, and I got to where I think Lauren Burns' gold medal from Sydney, and I was like, oh my god, and just from there, Athens, addicted to it, Beijing, London, Winter Olympics, and all that jazz. And yeah, I guess from in terms of personal experience, I've never been remotely close to the Olympics in terms of trying to compete for them. I used to play hockey, field hockey, but I was shit. Although, as I said, on a former radio show that I used to do, we jokingly started a Hobart Olympic bid, which was kind of like, haha, isn't this funny, Hobart could host the Olympics. And it kind of turned a little bit serious. It kind of went from one step to the next. We actually got politicians on board. We made national international headlines. I was contacted by major companies wanting to sponsor it. I ended up being nominated for Australian of the Year and as well as Tasmanian Yuck Achiever Awards. And it just went a little bit too far.

COLIN HILDING: They clearly never listened to your show.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, we loved it. We loved the attention. So it was great. But yes, still very sad that we lost to Tokyo for 2020. So, you know, we're still hopeful for 2028 at this stage. But yes, I'm excited for Rio now and these, you know, because I think Jarrod, it just comes around so quickly. But it's exciting because I always say after every Olympics, I suffer from SALS, S-O-W-S, Severe Olympic Withdrawal Syndrome, because for basically two weeks, I'm locked in a room and watching it. I'm not doing anything like, oh, Ben, you want to like do this? No, the Olympics are on. You know, it's, there's just something magical about them, isn't there? Like, it's, you know, I love a good major sporting event. You know, I love the World Cup. I love, you know, all these other events, but I just think the Olympics are it. They're the main ones, you know, and particularly the Summer Games. I personally kind of like the Winter Olympics a little bit better, but that's, I guess, for another discussion. But I mean, why do you like them, Colin? Why do you like the Olympics so much?

COLIN HILDING: I mean, one thing definitely it is, there's the competition, and there can be like national pride. I like the Winter Olympics better, too. That has a lot to do with the fact that Canada obviously succeeds in the Winter Olympics, in the Summer Olympics, not so much. We definitely have our sports, but yeah, you can become a fan of a sport that you've never watched before, even if it's not one that your country dominates. And a good example, even if your country does dominate, rowing is, as far as the Summer Olympics goes, that's been the big one for Canada as long as I've been alive. And that's what I remember, watching Barcelona, really the first Olympics I followed. And my brother and I would be at home, obviously it was summer vacation, so we're home, and we turn on the TV, and the Olympics are on, and it's rowing, and we're like, Canada wins at rowing? Like, this is amazing! And suddenly you become the expert in rowing, or the same thing happened in Sydney. I remember there was kind of a big drought with Canada, and all of a sudden this event, trampoline, which at the time, I was like, trampoline's not a sport! And all of a sudden Canada had this athlete, Karen Coburn, who became one of our biggest Summer Olympians, who dominated in the trampoline. And then the last time the gold medal for Canada, the only gold medal we won in London was in the trampoline too. So you can get these really obscure sports and become a massive fan of it just by getting behind one person. And it doesn't matter what you're watching on any given day. You can dedicate 10 minutes to a sport you've never seen before. And then you can dedicate a whole week to something like swimming. It builds and builds, okay, now we got somebody in this heat. There's so many different sports, and there's really no way to be bored. Because if something's on that you don't like, Equestrian, that one is particularly boring to me.

BEN WATERWORTH: Hey, don't you know the dressage, that is excitement galore.

COLIN HILDING: One of Canada's most famous summer Olympians, Equestrian, we'll get into that eventually throughout this show. But wait five minutes and there's Judo, and that's exciting, you know. Sailing might be on, okay, you're going to be put to sleep, and now here's Usain Bolt. I mean, it's like the only thing you can watch were just regular, everyday people who probably are being paid nothing, and half these people are working at McDonald's in the off season, and suddenly they're like the national hero. It's the most exciting thing in the world. I remember in Barcelona, there was, at the time I guess he was Canada's most famous Summer Olympian, Mark Tewksbury, the incredible swimmer, and all of a sudden, by the end of the summer, his face is on like every billboard around the city, promoting whatever. You just get these stars made. It's the most exciting thing you can watch. You only have to dedicate two weeks of your life to it. Of course, it consumes you for two weeks. Ben and I, and Jarrod were locked in rooms peeing in jars, because there's no flower beds around, or peeing in jars, because we don't want to miss anything. But you're only dedicating two weeks, and then you have a four-year build-up, and it's the most exciting thing when it finally comes up after four years.

BEN WATERWORTH: I really hope that people this week will go out to their local nursery and grab some flowers and some dirt, and grow some flowers in the shape of the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics logo in their bedrooms, preparing for the toilet breaks that they need to have in the coming weeks. Jarrod, what is it about you? What's so magical about the Olympics for you? Is it the art and skill of the dressage and the equestrian as well, like we all seem to love?

JARROD LOOBEEK: I think that's definitely part of it. I don't know if I put it at the top of my list, maybe second. I think it's just the pressure that these sports people are under. The fact that it only comes around every four years, and for some events, it's just they're separated by hundreds and thousands of a second, and the events are over so quickly. And just seeing people compete under that pressure and seeing people hold their nerve and just getting these amazing kind of success stories, and then you have the lovable underdogs who come through, and these champions who fail at the last hurdle. It's just the whole build up. And the fact that you may get to go to one Olympics, some people may to get to go to three or four, but in that moment, all the attention is on you, and you just have to perform, and seeing people compete at that high level, it's just so exciting to watch.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's fascinating. It really is. And, you know, I want to talk about, you know, given that we'll have Jarrod and I obviously focusing on an Australian perspective, we've got Colin, Canadian perspective. Colin, I, as you, I'm sure know, love Canada, and I always seem to pay close attention to how you guys go at the Olympics, and generally in the Winter Olympics, I'm always rooting for Canada anyway, because we're kind of like you in the Winter Olympics. We generally suck, so, you know, if we win a silver medal, it's like national celebration. But I guess, you know, throughout our time watching the Olympics, before we talk about that, I mean, do we have favourite Olympic moments, like a particular one maybe from your time watching the Olympics that you just remember more so than in any others, or I guess you could, I suppose, even bring up ones from the past that you weren't alive for, but you maybe watch a lot on YouTube, or when your parents whip out the old talkies or something like that. Colin, I mean, what are some of your favourite moments that you remember?

COLIN HILDING: Well, anybody who's listening right now in Canada, there's pretty much one name that comes to their mind, and that's Donovan Bailey, 1996 in Atlanta. It's good, he's famous everywhere else.

BEN WATERWORTH: He's more famous than that other Canadian sprinter about eight years ago that might have had a gold medal or two taken away from him.

COLIN HILDING: Yeah, well, that's what's funny, because in 1988, that was all I really remember, other than when I was in Taekwondo, and they brought the opening ceremonies in for us to watch as part of our class that day and a couple of the events. The only thing I really remember from Seoul was Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter who ended up having his medal stripped from him because he tested positive for steroids. And that was kind of like the shame of Canada. It was, at the time, probably the most successful athlete we had ever had in the Summer Olympics. And then flash forward eight years later, and we have Donovan Bailey, and that event, I mean, I think everybody can remember it vividly. My friend and I was sleeping over at his house when we were watching the event, and there was several false starts to the event. It just wouldn't get going, and eventually it gets going, and Donovan Bailey not only wins the gold medal, but he sets the world record. He's the fastest man alive. There's so much that went on with Donovan Bailey after that, where he almost became bitter and angry. A lot to do with the fact that he had another race, which maybe we'll get into another time, against the American who won in the 200 metres, Michael Johnson, where Michael Johnson kind of in a sketchy way pulled out of the race. It was more just an exhibition, and Donovan Bailey became a very bitter man. But he's kind of come back, and now he's all over TV. When you watch the Olympics, the Pan Am Games last year, same thing. He's their guy, he's their expert that they have there, covering all the events and giving the commentary. Still to this day, hands down, the most famous Canadian Olympian ever. Most of our stories would be from the Winter Olympics, but Summer Olympics, it's easily Donovan Bailey. Memorable moment, maybe for the wrong reason. We had Perdita Felicien in, I think it was Athens. She did the hurdles, and it was so exciting for Canada going in because we had never really had somebody where we could guarantee, oh, this is a lock, we're going to win. And it's interesting here because we get the American coverage, too. And one of the issues I have with NBC's American coverage of the Olympics is that in every event, the Americans are the front runners. Even if they end up coming in 16th, it's like, well, this is pretty much what we predicted. But before the event started, they're like, all eyes are going to be on Johnny Crabapple here, the men's 200-metre butterfly, and meanwhile, he's like nowhere in it. But it was so exciting because even when I tuned into the American coverage, waiting for Perdita Felician's event, they're like, the Canadian Perdita Felician is going to be unbeatable in this, and what happens, she trips on the first hurdle and takes out two other runners next to her. It was like right back to Ben Johnson, it was like the shame of Canada. But sadly, that is one of the more memorable moments, but it's something that my brother and I still joke about it. I was telling him the other day, yeah, we're going to be doing this Olympic podcast. Hey, you should get Perdita Felician on to apologise to Canada. Well, I mean, we're our forgiving country. She's another one of those people who's doing commentaries now on TV.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, sorry.

COLIN HILDING: Yeah, there's good and bad moments. There are good and bad moments for Olympics, but you remember both of them, I think.

BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, before I ask you, actually, I do have, funnily enough, a Canadian moment that I remember very fondly. Simon Whitfield in Sydney winning the triathlon. I think he did not win again in Beijing, from memory.

COLIN HILDING: I don't remember if he won in Beijing. Well, I believe he medaled, at least. But he's pretty much the go-to flag bearer that we had for several Olympics. He won the silver in Beijing, it looks like, here.

BEN WATERWORTH: I knew he won another medal, but no, I fondly remember that because triathlon was making its debut in Sydney, of course, and we're generally pretty good at triathlon, so they thought we'd win lots of medals, and we didn't win any in the men's. I remember, I think, what was the name? Was she won silver in Sydney? Michelle Jung. I'll come back to me in a minute. Anyway, Jarrod, your memories of the... your favourite memories, I should say, from the Olympics?

JARROD LOOBEEK: I think the standout for most Australians is that Cathy Freeman winning gold in the 400m. I think that's one of those races that you can just watch over and over again and still get goose bumps each time. Other than that, I mean, lots of wins in the pools. We had that whole golden age of swimming from 2000 to 2008. Ian Thorpe versus Peter Vanden Hoogenbaan. Every single race was just so good to watch between those two. Athletics wise, Steve Hooker winning the pole vault was just crazy. Sally Pearson in the hurdles as well is just... It's a shame that she's not competing again, but seeing her win silver and then win gold was just mind-boggling, because track and field wasn't something that traditionally we were great at at that stage. In terms of bad moments, I always will remember... I can't remember what her name was, but the female walker in the 2000 Olympics when she was winning, and she's coming into the stadium and then she gets disqualified. And that sticks in my mind as one of the worst Olympic moments ever. Yeah, it was just heartbreaking to watch.

BEN WATERWORTH: Just Michelle Jones was the name of the triathlete that won silver in Sydney for those who were desperate to know. Yeah, I have actually had the pleasure of interviewing Jane Saville several years ago for the Brink when I used to host it. And, you know, after all these years, she still sort of fondly remembers it. So for Colin, who might not know what I'm talking about, and for other people who may be listening to this outside of Australia, she literally was disqualified walking into the Olympic Stadium about to win gold. She was 200 metres away from entering the stadium, and just this guy comes out of nowhere and gives her the red card. Of course, in walking, you know, I think you get three warnings before you get it. And, you know, it was heartbreaking. And there was a really famous interview with her afterwards where the guy turned around and was like, oh, you know, so what would you like right now? What are you feeling right now? She's like, I'd like a gun to shoot myself because she was just absolutely distraught. You know, she had a gold medal just taken away from her. And yeah, no, that was her. You mentioned Sally Pearson. I think she was, she got married, did she not, between Beijing? So she was Sally McLennan, wasn't she, in Beijing? Yeah. But that was one. Speaking of interviews, look up on YouTube the interview of her post-winning a silver medal in Beijing, one of the greatest reactory interviews you'll ever see by an athlete. She is just so shocked and dumbfounded that she'd won a medal. And she's just like staring at the reporter going, I won! I won a medal! Like she's just so like over the moon. It's incredible. I mentioned before, Kieran Perkins, you know, I was a huge fan of his growing up. Swimmer, won back to back 1,500 metres in Barcelona and Atlanta. I think he won the 400, I believe, too, in Barcelona. But yeah, for Atlanta, he had no hope. Daniel Kowalski was the big hope there for Australia. I mean, generally, the 1,500 metres in swimming is always our sort of pet event. Of course, Grant Hackett won back to back in 2000 and 2004. And yeah, he basically had really bad lead up to it all. He barely qualified for the final, was in lane eight. You know, Kowalski was in lane four. So no one was like, oh, well, Kieran Perkins is going to win a gold medal. He's not even going to win a medal. And from nowhere won a gold medal. So I remember that. So much about Sydney, the four by 100 metres relay on that opening night. Of course, you know, Thorpe had won the 400 metres. And then, you know, America, because America had never been beaten, the four by 100 metres in swimming at the Olympics ever. And they came out because, you know, we're all like going, oh, it's our home Olympics. We might have a chance here. We've got Ian Thorpe. We've got Michael Klim. You know, we're pretty good. And America was all like, we're going to smash you guys like guitars. So, of course, you know, it comes to that final change over and Thorpe, you know, mows down, was it Gary Hall Jr. Touches him at the wall. You know, I remember Dennis Comedie's famous call. It was amazing. They get out of the pool. They're all happy, and they all start strumming air guitars, staring over at the Americans like, fuck you, America. It was amazing. And yeah, just so many other ones. A lot of them are going to be from Sydney. I remember Tatiana Grigorieva winning silver in the pole vault because I was madly in love with her because she was just absolutely gorgeous. And yeah, just I'm trying to think of more, but I'll be here all night. You were talking about sort of like moments like that. Yeah, Jane Saville definitely. And we have like, we've had a few similar ones like that where we're kind of like a lock to win a gold medal. And then we just completely suffer. There was Athens, was it not, when we had laid down Sally, the rower, that she literally stopped rowing, I think like about what, five metres from the end and cost us a gold medal or something like that. And she was just absolutely ripped into because it was in like the women's fours or the women's eights or something like that. And she just stopped rowing. And she literally laid down. And everyone was like, what the fuck are you doing? Like you just cost us a medal. And she just got absolutely ripped to shreds for it.

COLIN HILDING: This is like cool runnings where she just dove into the water and carried it right across.

BEN WATERWORTH: I have to finish the race. No, you don't. It's rowing, okay? It wasn't quite that inspirational, sadly. But yeah, no, it's fascinating, I think, to kind of compare what we're talking about here, because obviously Jarrod and I are from an Australian perspective. But I guess from both our countries, we've really got different sports that we're good at. And I didn't really know, Colin, that rowing was the one. So that is Canada's like baby. That's the one that you always go into thinking, this is where our medals are going to come from.

COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I would say rowing and canoe, along with diving. Diving is really big here, too. We've had the odd medal in like wrestling and swimming. You know, usually there's something in that. And then maybe every 10, 20 years, we get a great sprinter. But pretty much a guarantee every Olympics, we're going to medal in rowing, canoeing, and then probably diving as well.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm actually looking here at Canada's medal tally from sports over the years. You've won the most medals in athletics over the history of the Olympics, followed by rowing, swimming, canoeing, and kayaking, and then shooting is your fifth best sport. There you go. We're looking forward to the Canadian shooters in Rio.

COLIN HILDING: I don't know what years did we win shooting in. Is this like an old thing?

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, in the history of the Olympics, you have won four gold, three silver, and two bronze in shooting, which you won as many gold in shooting as you have in canoeing and kayaking in the history of the Olympics. So there you go. Fascinating. Whereas if you look at Australia, well, clearly, I think we can all guess our number one sport is, of course, Jarrod. What would that be?

JARROD LOOBEEK: That would have to be... Equestrian. Surely the dressage.

BEN WATERWORTH: The dressage, absolutely. Swimming, obviously, is our main one. And athletics is actually our second most in the history. Cycling, third, rowing, fourth, and sailing. Oh, we love the sailing in Australia. Equestrian comes in at six, Jarrod, so we are quite good at our... That'll be bombed up after Rio. Absolutely. The kids will just be going to their local riding clubs and doing it. But it's fascinating, because I'd like to hear this from Colin's perspective, because going into these Olympics, the AOC, the Australian Olympic Committee, are all talking up our chances, and what can we do, and all this sort of stuff. They're aiming for a top five position on the medal tally, which we have achieved, I think, four or five times in the history of the Olympics before. Did it in Sydney, of course, when we finished fourth. And I think, I'm pretty sure we became the first nation in the history of the Olympics to win more gold medals in the Olympics following the Olympics we hosted, if that makes sense. So we won 16 gold in Sydney, and then we won 17 gold in Athens. So we actually increased our gold medal tally four years after hosting it. But Colin, does the Canadian Olympic Committee come out and say, oh, hey, we're aiming to finish in the top 30 or something like that?

COLIN HILDING: I don't know exactly who it is. I know that for years, it was kind of like every year, every Olympics was a huge disappointment. Oh, we should have done better. We should have done better. And there's been talk over the years, well, should medalists actually be paid or be rewarded for this or whatever? And I believe this is the first year that they are saying that, where they're going to actually pay the athletes who win. So gold medalists will get like 50,000 silver medalists, maybe 25, and then bronze, you know, 10 or whatever. I think that's coming off the fact that in Beijing, for the first time, we did quite well in the medal count. But what happened in London is that we won the same amount of medals, but only a single gold the entire time. So there's been kind of every Olympics and ever-changing shift on, well, how do we get better results out of this? You know, now the focus is, well, maybe if we actually will pay our athletes, you know, something similar to what they do in America. I don't know if they do that in Australia as well.

BEN WATERWORTH: You get a stamp. If you win a gold, you're on a stamp.

COLIN HILDING: You're forever memorialized on something you lick the back of.

BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know, Jarrod, do our athletes get money for winning medals? Like, I legitimately don't know.

JARROD LOOBEEK: I have no idea whatsoever.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, legitimately, if you win a gold medal in Australia, you are on a postage stamp the next day. So I couldn't tell you. I'm looking here, yeah, London, Canada won one gold, five silver, twelve bronze. Australia won eight gold, fifteen silver and twelve bronze. Of course, we technically only won seven gold, but we eventually got given an extra gold because that Russian guy got disqualified in the walk, so Jarrod Talent won the gold medal basically later on. But yeah, I remember leaving London, well, not personally, as in Australia, the Olympics when we left it. We were very disappointed with that because we'd gone three Olympics in a row winning double-digit gold, sixteen in Sydney, seventeen in Athens and fourteen in Beijing. And then we dropped right back to, well, seven at the time the games had finished, which was our lowest count since Barcelona. And there was a huge big thing like, oh, this is poor, we only did this, we did that. I mean, Jarrod, do you feel that we have a shot at making top five? Because, I mean, maybe with Russia, that half of them are off, you know, in rehab, that we might have a shot of finishing an extra position higher. But I don't know, I think it's a bit optimistic that we can finish top five again. I think it's perhaps a little bit of a stretch that we might finish that high again.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think it's very kind of lofty goals. Obviously, they're expecting a lot of gold medals in the swimming pool, but I don't know. I don't see it happening.

BEN WATERWORTH: We won one gold in the swimming in London, and that was enough to cause a crisis, you know, generally when half of our gold are won in that first week in that, and then we just pick up a random sailing one here and there and a canoeing one every now and then. But we've lost half our team for injuries or they're scared of getting Zika or whatever the hell it's called, or if you're Nick Curios, you're just having a sook with the Olympic Committee so you won't bother going to play tennis for it. I mean, Jarrod, I know you're a huge tennis fan.

COLIN HILDING: So, I mean, you know, I don't want to dwell too much on the whole Zika thing. I mean, there's controversies. It's funny because I've heard a lot of people talk to me recently because I'm always going on about the Olympics, and they're like, yeah, you know, there's all these problems with Rio, isn't there? Really, this is the exact same thing we heard in Sochi. This is the exact same thing we heard in London, Vancouver. I mean, every Olympics, it's all the bad news before it starts. But has Australia had athletes who are dropping out because of the Zika issues?

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, a couple. I know our Jason Day, the number one golfer in the world. Of course, golf, returning to the Olympics this year, aren't we all excited? I believe he withdrew because he was scared for the Zika virus passing on to his wife. I think there have been a couple others, haven't there, Jarrod?

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'd say so. I think there was a couple who kind of maybe had injury scares or concerns, and then kind of the whole Zika thing pushed them over the edge into not going.

BEN WATERWORTH: Is there a thing? So have there been people in Canada that have withdrawn because of it, Colin?

COLIN HILDING: I know of one for sure, and sadly, it's probably one of our best shots at winning a gold. The Canadian tennis player, Milos Ronic, who's coming right off of making the finals at Wimbledon, he decided to drop out because of the Zika scare or whatever, which, I mean, whether it has anything to do with that, or maybe you just want to be more well-prepared for more high-paying events that aren't the Olympics, who knows? But yeah, that was kind of sad, because I think especially coming off of Wimbledon, there was a lot of anticipation that Ronic could at least medal for Canada in tennis.

BEN WATERWORTH: I'm intrigued to talk about this throughout these Olympics, because there's always debates over certain sports, whether they should be in the Olympics or not. We'll talk a lot about this over the coming weeks, because we all will each have our own individual opinions. Tennis is always won, soccer's always won, the return of golf and rugby, this is big talking points, and we will get over those, talk about those, of course, throughout it. But yeah, it's interesting kind of, as you were saying, there's always controversies leading into Olympics about certain things. And, you know, like we've got a huge controversy over Russia in terms of their athletes, and now we've got this. Obviously, you know, we should mention this is the very first Olympics for new IOC President Thomas Bach. Summer Olympics, I should say. He, of course, was president during Sochi. But yeah, we'll see how he handles it. I saw a press conference with him earlier today where they were sort of asking him all these questions about Russia, and he just stared them down and was like, no, he didn't answer anything else throughout it. A couple other things I'd like to touch on in this introduction episode. I mean, we could cover so much. We don't want to be here all day. We don't want to be here till the Olympics actually start, because we'd like to perhaps do another episode proving a little bit more about certain things before the opening ceremony.

COLIN HILDING: What else are we supposed to do to keep ourselves busy for the next six days?

BEN WATERWORTH: They haven't even released an Olympics video game this year. Jarrod's still having to play at Athens on the PlayStation 2. I've still got London 2012 on the PS3. I don't have Sonic and Mario go to the Rio Olympics. I don't have a Wii. Come on. Because I don't have the Calgary logo to pee on. Now, rivalry, just in terms of countries, because obviously I could imagine, Colin, you mentioned you get the American feed. I'd love to know in terms of Canada and USA, in terms of rivalry. I mean, I obviously imagine it's quite big at the Winter Olympics, because as you said, generally you do OK in the Winter Olympics. You've finished, what, third at the last ones, and you've won the medal tally basically in Vancouver. For Australia, it's New Zealand. We'll get to that. But like, do you, is there a big thing in Canada about like, oh, we've got to at least beat America in one sport?

COLIN HILDING: Canadians are weird in that they don't like to get competitive unless they know they're going to win, I think. And we definitely do have that rivalry in certain sports. Like, I don't think there's ever a thing, well, we've got to beat the Americans at everything, even though Canadians are kind of always have that attitude. You know, I want us to be better than Americans. When it comes to hockey and the Winter Olympics, of course, it's always, well, we have to beat the Americans. With the Summer Olympics, we got that in Athens, obviously, because we had, you know, Donovan Bailey, they had Michael Johnson. They were in different events, but of course, they had that exhibition match, which ended in big controversy. There was the men's 4x100 relay for athletics, and that was a big deal that year. So in certain Olympics, yeah, and I think this is one year where there is going to be the same focus on we need to beat the Americans. I don't know whether it will be possible or not, because really you have Jamaica and the United States in athletics, which it's going to come down, I think, to the 4x100 relay. That's the thing that Canadians are going to be waiting for and also just the 100 metre too, because we have Andre Degrasse, who's pretty much our greatest athlete since Donovan Bailey is what people are promoting him to be. So certain events, we may have that focus, but overall, I think Canadians are more competitive with themselves. Like I said, the big controversy last time was we won just as many medals as Beijing, but we only won one gold. And there's always the focus, we have to do better than the last time. There's usually not a lot of competition with other countries.

BEN WATERWORTH: We'll talk a little bit about Canada's big medal hopes and that shortly, and we can go over some of Australia's. But Jarrod, I guess for us, obviously, as I mentioned, it's New Zealand. Now, we got a bit of a scare in London, because I think New Zealand's kind of similar to Canada in a way that they generally suck in the Summer Olympics. It's no offence, but New Zealand suck at both Olympics. It's not like they just suck at life, because they're New Zealand. But in London, they actually.

COLIN HILDING: Goodbye, all New Zealand listeners. Thanks for joining us for the first half hour.

BEN WATERWORTH: We love you, New Zealand. But New Zealand, they did pretty good in London. They won six gold medals. And as I said, we technically only won seven before they changed the medal tally, I think this year when we finally got that extra gold. And if you look at New Zealand's history hitting in to London, you know, going back to Bart, they won one gold, three gold, one gold, three gold, three gold. Then they doubled their tally to get six in London. So if you want to be technical, Jarrod, at the time they finished one. And that scares Australia when New Zealand can get within one gold of us. And I think for most of London, they were actually ahead of us on the medal tally from memory.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, that would have been embarrassing. I think when double digits kind of goes out the window and the focus turns to, we have to at least get more gold medals than New Zealand.

BEN WATERWORTH: If we come home with less gold medals in New Zealand, there will be riots on the street. It will be worse if Donald Trump becomes president.

COLIN HILDING: People will be peeing all over everything.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's just walking down the street. Pee on everything.

COLIN HILDING: Just public urination 24-7, just in protest.

BEN WATERWORTH: I can see it now. It's fascinating to look at New Zealand's medal tally's history because Australia, if I am correct in saying it, won every single Olympics we have ever competed in, except for the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, I stand corrected. What a game they were. We didn't win a medal, sadly. We only sent two athletes, so they failed miserably, both of them. But Canada, on the other hand, you've won medals at every summer Olympics you've competed in, including one solitary silver back in 1960 in Rome. But New Zealand, they did not win a medal in Moscow in 1980. That might be because they probably didn't compete at those games, because a lot of countries didn't go to them. 1948, London, they didn't win any. But I know that Canada and Australia hold a unique connection, which I don't know if either of you could guess. The trivia aspect that I'm trying to point out there, that's a really vague trivia thing, I know, I'm not giving you much thought.

COLIN HILDING: Does it have something to do with the Commonwealth Games? There's not a lot of competition.

BEN WATERWORTH: We love the Commonwealth Games, because we generally are the America of the Commonwealth Games and finish on top. We'll do a Commonwealth Games Podcast. 1976, of course, Canada, you famously did not win any gold medals at your own Olympics. But we didn't win any gold medals either at 1976. I think that was the only games we didn't win gold at for quite some time. So yeah, that was just a random, I don't even know where that...

COLIN HILDING: Winning the podium.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, exactly. Now...

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, standing with you in solidarity.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, we felt sorry for you. Well, I feel like Canada is not going to win a gold medal at the Olympics. We won't either. Who are the big medal hoaxes for Canada? Colin, you mentioned the sprinting guy. I've already forgotten his name. I'm sure we'll learn it off our hearts soon.

COLIN HILDING: Andre de Grasse.

BEN WATERWORTH: Andre de Grasse, what a guy.

COLIN HILDING: I'll say this. Andre de Grasse, he's only 21 years old. He only started running four years ago when he was in high school. And the Pan Am Games, which is really the Olympics for this side, Canada or North America, Central America, South America, he performed incredibly there. And then at the World Championships last year, he came in third. Usain Bolt actually came up while Andre de Grasse was giving his interview, his post-race interview. Usain Bolt came up and interrupted and basically said, I never saw this guy coming. This guy is the future of the sport. There's real hope. Personally, I'm a big enough Usain Bolt fan that I would be okay with Andre de Grasse losing. If Andre de Grasse could come in, even just place in the 100 metre, I'd be happy. But I think he's real competition, especially if he's not going to win gold this time, he could be the next Usain Bolt. Trampoline, like I said, it's a bit of a joke. It was a joke in Sydney when it first happened, but that's become Canada's event, and the only gold we won last time was Rosie McClennan winning the golden trampoline, and she's pretty much the front runner this time. Diving, which has become, like I said, a huge sport here, particularly the women's diving. The men's diving has taken a bit of a, I guess, dive. Yeah, since London, but women's diving, especially the synchronized one, that's going to be a big one. And of course, as always, Equestrian, very big in Canada. We're really looking forward to that here.

BEN WATERWORTH: I just need to work out the time zone difference and everything so I can set the recorder and just watch the dressage live and record it and just watch it and just stuff the other events. I want to watch those horses with their leans.

COLIN HILDING: It will be a live commentary for all six hours of that event. We will be broadcasting live.

BEN WATERWORTH: I honestly would love to, maybe we can set this as a goal for us throughout these episodes, to track down a dressage commentator and be like, so did you like, wake up as a little kid and be like, I really want to commentate dressage. Come on, there are sports that you want to commentate. Your dream, of course it was. Jarrod, Australian medal hopes. I mean, we have a few more than Canada by the seams of things. Are there any particular ones that you, I guess, are looking forward to seeing or that you think will have better hopes than others?

JARROD LOOBEEK: I think we've got a couple of chances in the pool. I don't really know any of them. I feel like swimming in Australia has kind of lost its touch and we're waiting for kind of the next person to step up to take that mantle. So it'll be interesting to see if somebody can do that. Outside of that, Anna Mears, it would be good if she could get another gold medal. She's holding like a couple over the years. It would be nice for her, yeah, as a flag bearer to bring in a gold medal. I think it's like high time that we win. I don't know if we've ever won a medal, but we definitely need to get a gold in the BMX. That's one of my favourite events to watch, and I feel like it's something that Australia should excel at. Yeah, silver.

BEN WATERWORTH: Silver, I believe, in the men's. And there's the female athlete. She escapes my brain right now, who was favourite four years ago and crashed. But yeah, no, like yeah, absolutely swimming, as you said. I think our women's swimming mainly, our men's swimming, yeah, we haven't really got much going for us there, as we used to, since Thorpe and all that left. You've got the Campbell sisters, Emily Seabalm, of course. They're the ones who generally will go well for us in swimming. Outside of lunch, you mentioned, of course, hockey. Our men's hockey team has pretty much been the number one hockey team in the world for 50 years and have only ever won one Olympic gold medal. So we generally always choke when we get to the Olympics. And I actually played hockey against one of their main stars, Eddie Ockenden, who used to score a shitload of goals against me when I was growing up.

COLIN HILDING: Did you get at least one good shot in on him?

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I was goalkeeper, so... I just gave him practice, because I knew he was going to make it one day. So you're welcome, Eddie.

COLIN HILDING: Just bedcowering in the corner, stop, stop, stop!

BEN WATERWORTH: Sailing, I couldn't tell you one single Australian sailor, but we'll probably win a few gold in sailing. I don't think any Australian knows the name of any of our gold medallists from London, because they won, didn't they win about three or four gold medals when we'd only won a couple at that point? And we're like, yeah, we're saved by the sailors! And to this day, we have no idea who the hell those people are. So they're probably working at McDonald's, as you said, Colin, like I probably got served by one yesterday, for all I know. And cycling, obviously, you mentioned Anamir's, you know, we've got a great group of cyclists. Our Rugby Sevens women team are the best in the world. They've got a huge chance there. Tennis, Sam Stozer. Jarrod, what do you give her chances for a Sammy Stozer medal?

JARROD LOOBEEK: But you never know.

BEN WATERWORTH: Is Miss Bauschard competing, Colin?

COLIN HILDING: She is. Can I just say, there's really no hope at this point for her doing much.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, well, we can dream. Triathlon, I think we've got a few good chances there. Equestrian, of course. I believe we've even got a couple of modern pentathletes, Jarrod. Now, you're talking up Equestrian. I'm all for modern pentathlon, because it's a lot better than old pentathlon. It's modern. It's new. So I'm looking for that. And basketball, of course. The Boomers. We have a very good shot apparently of finally winning a medal. We've never won a medal in men's basketball. The Opals are generally top two, top three in the world. I think we've won the last three or four silver medals. We always lose to America in the gold medal match, so we look forward to another silver in the women's basketball. So yeah, there's plenty to look forward to from Australia. Sorry Colin, that we've got a few more chances than you do, but we can give you a medal or two if you want.

COLIN HILDING: On that note, I mean, this is the great thing is that if your country is not that great, I mean, we have our events we'll be watching here, but when it comes to swimming, we have maybe one swimmer, Ryan Cochran. It's interesting that you will eventually get behind other countries too, because you still want to watch the events, and I think for us here in Canada, there's obviously not, I wouldn't say just Canadians, but overall, Michael Phelps is kind of one of those people controversial. He rubs some people the wrong way. Obviously, he was retired. He's coming back this time. There's going to be a lot of folks on him. But really, the up and coming, I wouldn't even say up and coming, the one they're already saying is the female Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin in swimming. She was 17 years old last time, and she won four medals. And she actually holds dual citizenship with Canada and the United States. She competes for the United States. But that's another one that Canada is always watching. It's OK for us to cheer for an American, because she's got dual citizenship. So you can always get behind other countries as well.

BEN WATERWORTH: Shouldn't they count for both countries then whenever she wins a medal? Like if she's a dual citizen, like here you go, half a medal for Canada, half a medal for America. That works.

COLIN HILDING: We're going to split this in half. One side can never cross the border.

BEN WATERWORTH: She just has to sit on the border, so half is in each half of the country every single time. Actually, just when we talk about felps, obviously superstars outside of our own countries, I mean, felps, yes, the same bolt. We all like, who doesn't love a bit of the same bolt? I mean, if you don't love the same bolt, I think you're not human, right? I mean, the guy is just a machine. Clearly, we both love him. I thought we might get some opinion of the same bolt. I mean, if we don't have any, because we all agree he's awesome, then that's fine.

COLIN HILDING: Well, this is where it could potentially turn into a four-hour podcast, because I mean, you can't, we could just do Usain Bolt on the podium, and that would be the entire podcast. I mean, the greatest thing about him, this is why it's sad that this will be his final Olympics. I mean, maybe he'll pull Michael Phelps, get arrested for a DUI. It's like, I gotta improve my public image. Let me get out there and win another Olympic medal. But with him, this is like the Muhammad Ali. I said this to somebody who wasn't familiar with him, and they kind of laughed at me, but for somebody who is familiar with him, I said this is the Muhammad Ali of the modern age, not just of his sport. This is the new Muhammad Ali. He's the guy who's not only the greatest athlete in the sport, he's probably the most charismatic athlete you've ever seen. I mean, I remember back in London when he was setting an incredible pace, and he intentionally slowed down a bit to turn and pose as he crossed the finish line. And people love the fact that he cost himself a couple of fractions of a second just to showboat. I mean, there's nothing that you don't love about the guy. When he's arrogant, you love him, and that's the same thing Muhammad Ali had. It's going to be so sad when he's gone, and that's why I said, if Andre DeGrasse, I don't expect Andre DeGrasse to be Usain Bolt, but if Andre DeGrasse does, in a way, I'll be a little bit sad because I want Usain Bolt to go down as like the greatest athlete in Olympic history.

BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, I mean, you gotta love the man.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, he's the exception to kind of the rule, like generally, I can't stand sprinters and I hate kind of the front that they put on, but with Usain Bolt, I mean, he's earned it. He's earned the right to kind of act like that and be that way, and his results speak for themselves. And in a sport that, I mean, races can be separated by hundreds of a second, it feels like the rest of the field just has no chance whatsoever. And he does, he puts in that big gap in front of them. He can slow down, he can speed up. It's just amazing what he does in that short space of time, and it's fascinating to watch.

BEN WATERWORTH: He's just gonna come out and probably run the 100 metres in like 4.6 seconds and be like, Hey man, the whole time I've just been slow. This is how fast I really am, man. And just like kill it.

COLIN HILDING: Can you imagine if he's just been messing with us for like the last several Olympics? I really am the flash. I just didn't want anybody to know yet. Now that it's retirement, you could all know it.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, exactly. I should mention, I mean, Australia generally sucks in the 100 metres. We're not a fast country. I don't think Australian has ever run under 10 seconds. So that's generally how good we are in the sprinting. But we actually have got a guy who's qualified for the 100 metres. The first, I believe, since Athens, if I'm reading this correctly, Josh Clark. Now, I have no idea who this guy is. Neither does Jarrod, neither does Australia. But if he makes it out of the qualifying rounds, to us, that's as good as winning a gold medal. So go Josh Clark in the 100 metres.

COLIN HILDING: It really is a big deal because anywhere you go in the world, the first name that comes to your mind when you think of 100 metres is Usain Bolt. The second name is Justin Gatlin. The third name is Andre DeGrasse. The fourth name is Tyson Gay. And probably when you get down to about 35th or 36th, Josh Clark is the first name that comes to mind. So we'll all be watching Josh Clark this Olympics.

BEN WATERWORTH: Now one person that we can all watch for various other reasons, I will say, speaking of athletics, I'm a big fan of hers, and I know a lot of people on the internet are after she did her little dance at the, I think it was the Youth Olympics she did or whatever. Michelle Jenike, she's an Australian hurdler. Everybody just Google her right now, and you will be very much appreciative that I offered you to do that. And she got very famous for her little pre-race dance and went social media. So anyway, I just thought I'd bring you up.

COLIN HILDING: When you said everybody Google her, I did, and you said you'll be very thankful, and I'm realising why you said that. I don't see any dance though.

BEN WATERWORTH: There is a dance. Trust me, I'm not just saying that to you.

COLIN HILDING: Okay, I'll take your word for it.

BEN WATERWORTH: Now, a couple of things quickly. We touched on the dressage. I know everybody's answer to this is going to be the dressage, but besides the dressage, is there one sport that is like a guilty pleasure that, you know, maybe it's something that you never get to see except if it's in the Olympics. This is why I love the Winter Olympics, because Australia sees curling as much as Canadians see a kangaroo. It just never happens, so I love it. But like, is there an event, Colin, coming into these that, you know, like, I mean, you're an absolute avid badminton fan or something like that?

COLIN HILDING: Sadly, no, not for badminton. But like I said, if this was back in Athens, this is a joke, but nowadays trampoline is so big, and I'll be glued to the set during the trampoline. That, I guess you could call it my guilty pleasure, although it's one of those things, I think, if you mention that in other countries around the world, they're not even going to know trampoline is an Olympic sport. Here in Canada, this is like super competitive. I mean, our flag bearer for this Olympics was the gold medalist in trampolines. I mean, that's probably helped by the fact that she was our only gold medalist last time, but it's still a big deal. Rosie McLennan is a national treasure, and I will defend her honour during the trampoline event.

BEN WATERWORTH: I could imagine the Canadian Olympic Committee sitting there and, okay, guys, who should it be, our flag? Rosie McLennan? Okay, done. Right, thanks, guys. Simple. Jarrod, do you have a guilty pleasure sport you like?

JARROD LOOBEEK: I don't know about like, but I always am fascinated to watch the rhythmic side of the gymnastics. Talking about sports that maybe they shouldn't be in the Olympics, that's always one that kind of springs to mind. Yeah, it's bad enough on the floor routines in artistic when they try and do dancers in between, and you're sitting there, you like, just get to the tumbling already. When it's entirely dedicated to somebody throwing up a ribbon or like juggling cups or whatever they do. It's just like, why is this there? And you see other sports get pulled out, and you're like, oh, those poor squash players, the poor baseball players, the poor softballers, and you're like rhythmic gymnastics. Now that's a staple of the Olympics that has to stay.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's just like, I think I agree with everything you just said, because you can't take a sport seriously, where you've got this like, you know, this athlete, quote, athlete, who's like made up so much, like her hair is so tight on her head, she's wearing the most tightest leotard you've ever seen, and all she's doing is throwing a ribbon in the air.

COLIN HILDING: I just want to see every event with people throwing ribbons in the air, like Hussein Bolt is slowing down the last 50 metres to throw his ribbon up, and they're like, ooh, you know what? That ribbon didn't have the right landing. We're going to have to deduct a half a second off of his finish time.

BEN WATERWORTH: And it's so serious and tense, like they cut to the faces of the judges, and they're all just like furiously writing down, and the commentator is, oh, no, there are James. No, she just didn't throw that ribbon high enough. I just don't know if she'll get a deduction for that. Like, it's a fucking ribbon. Anyway, hello to all our rhythmic gymnasts listening to Off The Podium. Download now via iTunes. I actually am a bit of a guilty pleasure fan of just gymnastics in general. I think it is a fascinating sport. Like, I mean, you know, having to walk on that tiny little beam and flip, and I mean, I can't even get out of bed without falling over. Like, I mean, it's pretty crazy what they can do. I love the handball. I am a huge fan of handball. We played that a bit in school, and it's just fun. It's just a fascinating sport to watch. Modern pentathlon. Seriously, I know nothing about modern pentathlon. It just seems like... I swear it's the sport at the Olympics that no one gives a shit about. Like, you never hear anything about the modern pentathlon unless you're from, like, Kazakhstan or Bulgaria. And, you know, good on them. I mean, I'm sure it's probably like national heroes are made from their modern pentathletes. But, you know, a sport that combines, what, shooting, equestrian, you don't shoot the horses. You know, swimming, athletics, and what else do they do in modern pentathlon? What am I missing? Fencing, of course, fencing. Why not? So they chop the horse up after shooting it before swimming it across the river and running it to their village. It's classic ancient Olympics. That's what they did back in Greece. So it's fascinating. I actually fencing.

COLIN HILDING: I remember back in the good old 2002 London matchup of James Bond and Gustav Graves in the modern pentathlon.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, wasn't that good? Yes.

COLIN HILDING: Die Another Day reference.

BEN WATERWORTH: One of the ages. Wow, even I'm not bringing up Die Another Day. Colin's bringing it up now. What's going on? It's really rubbed off on him. But yeah, no, handball definitely. I love watching it every four years. And wrestling just for the fact that I don't know what I'm watching.

COLIN HILDING: You're like, why aren't they hitting each other with chairs?

BEN WATERWORTH: Like, where's, you know, The Undertaker? Like, it's a strange sport. Like, I get it. It's very ancient Olympia and all that sort of stuff. But, you know, like, yeah, I think it's only a few leotards removed away from porn. But we'll maybe discuss that at some point.

COLIN HILDING: Hey, wrestling is one of Canada's sports.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, hey, whatever floats your boat.

COLIN HILDING: I didn't say porn was. I said wrestling was.

BEN WATERWORTH: Now, just before we go, I wanted to quickly mention our respective networks who broadcast the Olympics, because obviously, sadly, none of us will be in Rio to watch them live, because we are not currently kidnapped or getting evacuated for bomb scares. We're all afraid of Zika.

COLIN HILDING: Let's just say it, OK?

BEN WATERWORTH: We're terrified.

COLIN HILDING: We're no better than Milo Sranic.

BEN WATERWORTH: Our budget was going to take us over there, but then we just paid for lots of vaccines instead. Now, Colin, tell us a little bit about the Canadian broadcaster of the Olympics. Is it a new broadcaster? Have they broadcast the Olympics for a long time? Are they good? Are they bad? Do you get special things like apps and websites and extra channels? Give us a perspective of Canada watching the Olympics.

COLIN HILDING: Well, the main network they broadcast at is CBC, which is really Canada's sports network. They've had Hockey Night in Canada, which is the highest rated show in the entire country for pretty much my entire lifetime. And they have broadcast every Olympics, at least that I've been alive for, with the exception of Vancouver. They lost the rights for Vancouver, but got it back for London and Sochi. So they'll be doing it again, and they basically will cover it day and night. There will be the daytime feed. They'll break for an hour to do news. They'll do the evening feed. They'll break for an hour to do news. They'll do the overnight feed. And on top of that, we have TSN, which is, you could say Canada's ESPN. It's Canada's sports cable channel. And they expanded to five networks a couple of years ago. So we'll basically have CBC as the network coverage, TSN, one, TSN, two, three, four and five. And between all of them, you can get the apps where you can watch it online and stream it, which is what I'll be doing every day while I'm on my way to work, while I'm at work, while I'm going to the bathroom, while I'm showering, I'll have it playing about 10 feet away, just high volume, just nonstop around the clock.

BEN WATERWORTH: And we should mention, of course, you're in a fairly good time zone, too, with Rio, aren't you? You're only about, what, an hour or two behind, I believe, Rio.

COLIN HILDING: Yeah, so, I mean, it will be, like, regular coverage for us. Like, Basochi, if you want to watch something live, you're waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning or whatever. This is gonna be much easier to follow here.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, on the other hand of things, Jarrod and I will be waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning. Basically, you know, for example, the opening ceremony is on at 9 o'clock in the morning for us on Saturday. So, you know, I think we're 13 hours ahead of Rio, so the easiest way I work it out is just minus an hour and then work out the opposite of what it is. So, like, right now it's 11.30, we're recording this, so it would be 10.30 in the morning in Rio if my calculations are correct. Jarrod, we know that Channel 7 have got the Olympics back. What are your thoughts on Channel 7? Because I don't know if mine will come across very nicely.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Um... I feel like I have fond memories of Channel 7 with the Olympics. I can't say the same thing about all other shows, but to me, the Summer Olympics just is a Channel 7 event. London definitely felt a bit weird. I feel like the Winter Olympics are kind of fair play when it comes to the networks. But for me, it feels like the Olympics are home on Channel 7. And that sounds cliché and all, but that's just what feels right, in my opinion.

BEN WATERWORTH: In all fairness, you are right. I think I've always had them for the most part, except for every now and then. They lost it after 2008, and Channel 9 had Vancouver and London, and Channel 10 had Sochi. So we're basically all three of our major networks have had the Olympics in the last four years. But I mean, I'm not a general fan of Channel 7 really at all. I'm a fan of Bruce McEvaney. That's about as far as I can go. But yeah, to put it in perspective for anybody who doesn't really know how Olympic coverage works in Australia, we'll get seven full days of like 18 hours of swimming coverage. Oh, remember that gold medal we won on day one? Let's watch it five more times in a row, in different angles. Oh, and by the way, there's apparently a rowing event happening. Let's watch. Oh no, we're back to the swimming. So that's how it works. But thankfully, we are, I believe, getting the two digital channels with channel sevens, Seven Two and Seven Mate. Yes, there is a channel in Australia called Seven Mate. We'll be broadcasting other events. I just realised that when you explain that to somebody, it kind of comes across quite ridiculous. But there legitimately is a channel in Australia called Seven Mate. Wow. Coming up next on Seven Mate, it's the fucking Judo.

COLIN HILDING: I want to get the Seven Meet app now.

BEN WATERWORTH: I really hope that that's how they do it. I don't know if they're going to just really, oh, the most Australian sport of them all, dressage. Next on Seven Mate, get your beers out and just watch it. But yeah, they've launched an app, which yes, will have varying things, but I also believe that they've got a service this year which you have to pay for. But if you pay for it, you can watch every single event live. So you could watch dressage. I'm sure they'll have the dressage highlights channel for your, and it's worth the money in itself. So, I mean, that's pretty exciting. I don't know the costings of it or anything along those lines. We really shouldn't have no research coming into this episode, but exciting for Australia to watch that, and we'll see how it goes really. So yes, we've talked about a fair bit and also not a whole lot at the same time. One thing I will say, it kind of sounds like I'm being paid to give a plug for this. I'm not. I legitimately am not. I picked up a copy of this the other day, actually. There's a magazine out in news agencies. Official Australian Olympic Team Guide to the Olympic Games, hashtag one team. I'm guessing that's what we want to use on Twitter. It's actually quite good. I don't know if either of you go out of your way to buy things like that or if they have them in Canada, Colin, you know, the Canadian Olympic Preview, which is like two pages long. But, yeah, it's worth it. Go get it. Colin, did you want a copy of the Australian Olympic Guide to the Olympics?

COLIN HILDING: Send it to me right away. I can't wait to see it.

BEN WATERWORTH: You'd be like, wow, you can win in more than one event? What's this multiple medals you speak of?

COLIN HILDING: Olympics exist outside of rowing and trampoline?

BEN WATERWORTH: What's this? What's this? Athletics. Never heard of it. But yeah, we hope to come back possibly before the opening ceremony for maybe a bit more of a, you know, I guess talking about the actual Olympics, talking about Rio, talking about some of the news, talking about, you know, other events and all that sort of stuff. And when it comes to the games, we're looking at hopefully bringing a daily episode. We'll have segments, updates, you know, quote, comedy thrown in there somewhere as well. Interviews.

COLIN HILDING: Hilarity all around. Hilarity.

BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, everybody who's listened to any of our other shows know we're just the funniest thing ever. We're comedic geniuses, as I believe we called ourselves on 007. And look, we're also even hoping to get some special guests on the show. We are in touch with a couple of people actually in Rio who we hope to get on the show. And look, we might even track down an Olympian or two. I'm sure we go to McDonald's tomorrow when we could just be like, hey, didn't you finish seventh in modern pentathlon in Sydney? So we'll see how that works out. But this is fun. I'm looking forward to this, Colin. I'm loving getting this Canadian perspective from all things to do with Olympics. I know you're going to give us a great insight throughout the next couple of weeks.

COLIN HILDING: And for anybody listening who is not Australian or Canadian, we will talk about more, we promise. Just right now, that's all we know.

BEN WATERWORTH: Seriously, if you're in America or New Zealand or Tajikistan, we will fill in the gaps at some point, because I know we're all keen to find out how Tajikistan are preparing for the Rio Olympic Games.

COLIN HILDING: And their famous rivalry with Uzbekistan is legendary, so we have to cover that.

BEN WATERWORTH: A lot of people right now are currently Googling Tajikistan. Jarrod, looking forward to your perspective as well and finding out your further insights into ribbon throwing for the next couple of weeks.

JARROD LOOBEEK: Yes, it should be fun. Plenty to see. It will be over way too fast, but gotta relish the moment while it's here.

BEN WATERWORTH: You can head to our Facebook page, facebook.com forward slash off the podium podcast. It's all well case in one word. If you want to check out everything there in terms of updates and send us a message or just like the page. We're on iTunes, at least I hope by the time you're listening to this. And leave us a rating on there. Why not? Listen to it was shit. Well, thanks to our Swedish listeners. My, this was bad. Thank you for tuning in. We're looking forward to covering the Olympics in the next coming weeks here at Off The Podium. And until then, keep growing those Calgary rose bushes and get ready to pee on them all day long.