Beijing 2022 Day 7 Review
A massive day of Olympic action is behind us as we celebrate Australia getting back into the medals and celebrate a queen still being a queen as we recap day 7 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics! How great is it to celebrate Scotty James winning another medal and how great are we feeling that we predicted it would be silver? How are we feeling about the departure of Shaun White? Is Ester Ledecka still the queen despite not being able to back up her double double? Why is skeleton the sport that Australia needs to really get behind thanks to how great Jaclyn Narracott is doing and do we need to excited or worried ahead of tomorrow? Which special guest do we have on tonight to keep things a little Canadian without a Canadian? Why are we so excited about Irish cross-country skiers all of a sudden? And are we pumped for some excitement tomorrow with the medal tally or are we not feeling the vibe? Snow and ski your way into some more entertainment and get behind another episode you won't want to miss!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: It is off the podium. An Olympics podcast coming to you for day 7 of Beijing 2022. A medal winning day for Australia. Finally, the drought is over, this six day streak, five day streak without medals. Oh, there was gonna be inquiries, they were gonna melt all the snow, they were gonna cancel winter sports in Australia, never again. But today, finally, we can celebrate another medal. Scotty James, silver. We called it on Off The Podium, we said he would be silver and he has, we're right again, everyone else is wrong, cancel the Olympics, Off The Podium wins again. We've got a lot to talk about outside of just Scotty winning a silver and everything else. It's an Australian edition of the show today. Well, kind of that Canadian guy that is here, he's dead. I think he died, who cares? But I'll introduce the real person on the show, the MVP, the GOAT of Off The Podium, Jarrod Loobeek, Jarrod, welcome back.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you. It's good to be back on this podcast. It has such a great track record of predicting Australian results. Not gonna mention the curling, we've moved on, we've improved up our game and now we're right on the money.
BEN WATERWORTH: We are so good on this show. Colin not with us today, Colin having the day off, much deserved. He got out of quarantine today, so I think he gets to experience life. I don't know what that's like. I've still got like three days to go. But great day for Australia. Scotty James, winning the silver, he becomes Australia's sixth dual Winter Olympian medallist, joining an esteemed club of Stephen Bradbury, Alyssa Camp-Learn, Dale Begsmith, Lydia Lassler, and of course, Tora Bright. I went blank on the other one there, what was going on there. But fantastic, Halfpipe, silver medal, never in doubt. Jarrod, absolutely never in doubt. Silver medal, he was always the second best out there today.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's true. Romped it in. Wasn't worried after that first run at all. Yeah, great, great finish to the greatest final of all time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, yeah, I mean, but hey, cool. Like they've got to sell it somehow. But I mean, all seriousness, it's great that Scotty came out and, you know, the first run, yeah, a bit wobbly. The second run, fantastic. I thought he was very lucky to still be leading after that second run. You and I have talked a little bit about that today. And the third run, he was on for something there, but ultimately didn't quite get it. But took the silver medal, one better than he did, back of course in Pyeongchang, and another medal to add to the collection. He's just such a humble guy, Scotty. Like he just, nothing seems to faze him. Like I swear you could go up to this, you go up to Scotty and just go, Scotty, your mum's got cancer. Chloe's been shot. You've got a week to live. And he'd be like, oh yeah, no, that's fine. You know, love to the family, love to the family. Like he just, nothing fazes him. You know, again, won a silver medal and the guy is acting like he's won a gold again. So I mean, he really is. He just, why, I realise we love him every four years during the Winter Olympics, but I feel he should be loved more outside of it because he really is just such a great guy.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I agree. He's just got such like an even temperament. Like smiling like the whole time just seems like he's having like the best time of his life and not in like an annoying way that the Olympics don't matter. Like you can still tell that it really matters to him. And he was kind of, kind of bummed, I think, in a way to walk away with the silver and not the gold, but yeah, just a great athlete. And by the sounds of things, just like a great human being. So good on him.
BEN WATERWORTH: We will also mention just on the topic of Australians, Valentino Gaselli, sixth place in his Olympic debut as a 16 year old. People are obviously making, I think, comparisons to Scotty James, because Scotty was 15 when he started in Vancouver, and Valentino is only 16. But pretty decent effort there from Valentino. I mean, he was only six points off Shaun White, who ended up finishing in fourth. So top half of an Olympic final at 16. I don't know what you're doing at 16, Jarrod, but I tell you what, me at 16, I wasn't making top six of an Olympic finals.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, neither. Very impressive. Air Valentino, which I still don't understand, doing well. And I think a little bit robbed on his third run to get the same score as his other run was a bit, but yeah, great result and expecting big things from him. Next time the Winter Olympics, roll back around.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ayumu Hirano took the gold, previously won two silvers. I mean, he shattered in there. Like again, his second run was better than Scotty's. We're being completely unbiased Australians here, and somehow he got what, like half a point or something less than Scotty James. I had no idea how, but when that third run went down, I'm thinking like, God, if they give him second again, I think I'm not even Japanese and I'm gonna riot, because that's bullshit. I mean, it was just hands down. I'm even looking at this score. He's only three and a half points higher than what Scotty James got. And I'm like, really? Like, I mean, that's probably at least about 50 points better than Scotty James. Again, no judge. I'm just a podcast host sitting in a hotel room right now. But I mean, it just hands down looked so much better than anything else on the day. I mean, just absolutely incredible. Thoroughly deserved the gold.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, the amplitude was insane. The fact that he's done this triple, which nobody else has done in like competition before. I was like, as soon as he landed that, he should have automatically like been at the top. It was just really weird. And I'm glad that he put down that final run because otherwise, I mean, I'm all here for like an Aussie gold, but it just, it wouldn't have been right. And then if anything, I feel like then that just gold would have been like tainted. There would have been old questions. There would have been like the top story everywhere. So I'm glad that the results worked out the way they should have in the end.
BEN WATERWORTH: And going on what we were talking about yesterday with how maybe certain names maybe get like a head start based on who they are, we talked about the Chloe Kim factor. You would argue, well, that would be the Shaun White factor. But in all fairness, it didn't really seem to play in his favour today. Shaun White, fourth, which if I'm not mistaken is where he also finished in Sochi, the only other final that he didn't win a gold medal in. And I believe he also finished fourth in that one. So, I mean, he put it out there. He definitely did. It's not like he didn't try, but kind of a humbling way for him to go out, fourth place. And obviously everybody gave him a standing ovation at the end and lots of cheers from him. Gave some good interviews there. Good little moment with him and Scotty James on Channel 7. I mean, what's your thoughts on the end of Shaun White's career?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's the end of the era, not the go way to go out. This is why people like... People should never, do not announce you're going to retire before the event. Wait till after and then like, there's no expectations and then it's not as bad. And then I feel like you can kind of make your mind up a little bit more whether your result was worthy to go out on. I suppose it's a little bit different with the Olympics having to wait four years rather than other sports where people announce their retirement. And then it's the Dylan Olcott factor of announcing his retirement before the Australian Open, winning it so many times and then losing in the final. Like, I don't know. Fourth, I think it's not a bad way to go out though. We've seen worse retirements from great athletes. So to only just miss out on the podium is still very impressive.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm just hoping, I don't know if Irene Vos has got any more races, you know, but at her last Olympics, I want the attention that we're getting for Shaun White and her. I mean, she's won like double the amount of medals that Shaun has. Admittedly, she has more events that she can compete in. But I mean, Shaun White could compete in the big air, the slope style, you know, parallel giant slats, it's a snowboard, you know, just put it on your feet. I'm sure you can do it, Shaun. I was disappointed in Taylor Gould, only getting fifth, didn't live up to his name, to be honest, Taylor, disappointing. Should mention bronze for Jan Scherer of Switzerland. Think he's the one who's been completely forgotten about here and the fact that he got a fricking medal. People in the news time are gonna talk about this final and gonna talk about first, second and fourth. Who got the bronze in that one? Oh, I don't know, some Swiss rider. But good job for him there as well. There were no Canadians in that event. So I just, while we're not really talking too much about it there as well. But I think like going into these Olympics, obviously coming off Pyeongchang with Maddy Graham, Jared Hughes and Scotty James and the chances of double meddling. Sadly for Matt didn't work out. Jared didn't work out. It's not gonna work out for him tomorrow. We'll talk about it. He's been selected, but at least sort of Scotty James. Cause I think we've got a bit of a habit, Australia of once one person gets a medal of then double meddling at the next Olympics, it's a common thing for Winters at least. Alyssa Campland did it. Dale Beck Smith did it. Lydia and Tora did it. So kind of that consecutive factor is something that often plays into favour there, but pretty bad, not a bad track record that I think what off the top of my head, we've had 14, 15 Australians have won winter Olympic medals and a third of them have won at least two. So who's, I mean, we're at that magical phase now where Australia have won three medals. This is now four Olympics in a row. We've won three and I've called it, we are breaking that drought, we're gonna get four. All right, there's plenty of opportunities for us to get at least four, but I'm now gonna put this out there. Who's gonna be our first three time winner? I'm just, Scotty's got a good chance. I mean, he said he's coming back from Milan. He's got the bronze, he's got the silver, he's going for the gold now. So, I mean, realistically, he's our only one who's up at the moment who can be a three time medallist come the next Olympics, unless Brie gets a monobob and a two woman medal coming up in these. Cause is Tess still there? Is Tess still in the big air? I don't know if Tess is still over there. Is she back home? I thought she was initially listed as being in the big air, but I don't know if she's still gonna do it. But it's gotta be Scott, right? I mean, you know, he's the only one going out there unless Dale Wigsmith comes out of retirement. Lydia comes out of retirement. Tora comes out of retirement. I mean, he's our best chance right now.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I feel like the only way that anybody else gets there before them is if they add in more events. If we somehow get like a second mogul event, then maybe Chikara is a chance.
BEN WATERWORTH: Dual moguls.
JARROD LOOBEEK: But mogul relay, mixed mogul relays.
BEN WATERWORTH: Mogul down.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Snowboard moguls. Yeah, I agree with you. I think Scotty, it's four years out. I'm already calling it now. It's not gonna be gold.
BEN WATERWORTH: We're very confident on this show.
JARROD LOOBEEK: He's in with a good chance.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, in all seriousness, Laura Peele could be one, for example. So if we qualify a male in the mixed teams for Milan, say she wins, or Danielle, of course, one of them wins a medal on, or Soph, I shouldn't, poor old Soph Ash gets discounted here. She's in the area of two men. We could sweep the podium for all we know. That yeah, we're looking far ahead here, but realistically in this sort of drought of Australia, the two medal club, Scotty James realistically is the one in the best seat to do that right now when it comes to that. I guess the other big thing before we talk about other medal events, we've got to talk about this because this is almost made as much news as has the Scotty James is. Oh, Jaclyn Narracott, currently leading the skeleton, halfway point, this is turn up for the books. I mean, yes, you won a world cup a couple of months ago, but holy shit balls, Jarrod Lubik. What's going on here?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, this has caught me completely by surprise. Like obviously we knew she was an outside chance, but I think realistically everybody was like, oh, she won like the last lead up event. I mean, I didn't know who exactly was in that event. Is everybody going to the very last lead up event? It did just make news that like she won that, our first ever obviously world cup win in the sliding sport. But yeah, this is, it's an interesting one. If she wins, it's probably going to be my favourite winter Olympic medal of all time. I mean, maybe not eclipsing Bradbury, but up there. But definitely moment of this game. So yeah, fingers crossed. I wish it was just, why isn't it a two run event? Who thought of four runs?
BEN WATERWORTH: Stupid. You know what it reminds me of? It literally reminds you of cool runnings, because no matter how many times I watch that movie, after the second run, when they're going to sleep and they're like, you've got a chance of winning an Olympic medal in the morning. And they, you know, John Kenny's that great speech to him in the bath, he's talking all up, sort of stuff like that. Like, it just reminds me of that moment in cool runnings when you know the outcome, but you're like, oh, they're gonna win a medal, they're gonna do it, they're gonna win it for Jamaica. And then they ultimately don't. So like, I've just got that feeling. And like, it is one of those weird things where it's kind of like, oh, this would be so fantastic. I'm with you, what a medal this would be. But it's like, why do I just have this weird feeling that it's just, it's just very Australian way of going into this and just, it's not gonna happen, right?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think particularly like in this event where it's a matter of hundreds of a second and it's just like one simple mistake and then all of a sudden you're off the podium. It's just, it's a lot of pressure. And going in, going in like, as like the fastest after two heats, like you just know that it's playing over in her mind like the whole of tonight, the whole of tomorrow leading up to the event. And like the Germans are coming as well. That's the thing. Like after the second run, they're coming.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's a sentence that hasn't been said in about 80 years.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's a lot of pressure, but I, I, I'm hopeful, but I'm the same as you. I am, I'm not chalking this one up as like a locked in win.
BEN WATERWORTH: You must not slide down the course that fast. The Germans are coming. Quick, Jackie, slide, slide.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It would be so much better though, if this was like the modern pentathlon and they left with their, with their leads and there's hundreds of them. Imagine how quickly they're going after each other.
BEN WATERWORTH: Slide, Jackie, they're coming.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Pass on the corner.
BEN WATERWORTH: And you know that the case is that they're going to ban the use of sleds come 2026 for animal cruelty, basically. But it was, what's so fascinating about watching this is because I'm sure you saw both the runs, but like the first run from Jackie, like she looked like she'd fucked it up. She looked like she'd pulled a nick. And all of a sudden she just, she went green out of nowhere. Like this isn't like a, I don't know, I watched Formula One, so you can kind of tell when a driver can make up some time in a corner here or there. And there are other sports where you can see if they're behind, they can make up. But we saw it in the snowboard cross, like sneaky little move inside and out, boom, you're straight back into the game. But like this, it's hard watching Lou Skeleton or Bobsled to go, well, how do they make up time in that corner? Because even if you're looking at them taking a line, going, I'm not going to hit the wall, it's so fast that it's blinking, you miss it. So somehow she went from being down in the red to being up. And then she ultimately was like 0.02 seconds behind on the first run. It's like, wow, okay. Behind the Canadian, of course, Reneva. And then Reneva fucked up on her second run. She's now like eight tenths down. Jackie's two tenths up over Hannah Nees, nice. The German. So it's just, it's just crazy to watch. It really, really is. It's such a fascinating sport. All sliding sports are. I mean, I was riveted to the lose relay. I love that event so much. So yeah, this is where I get confused too when they keep saying that she won Australia's first ever sliding World Cup medal. Brie won some Monobob World Cup. So why is that not counted in the sliding medals? The bobsled slides too, right?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me, but obviously somehow it's different.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I mean, skeleton and bobsled are under the same federation. Luge is one that's separate. So I don't know, but I mean, we're on for a good thing here in the sliding sports. Obviously, Alex had a good one. Nick showed up. He's still got two more runs to go tonight. Nick was memorable. Well, I mean, true. You remember Nick. And in the monobob, the training, they had two more training runs today. Bree was fastest in the third. So she was fastest in three of the four. She had, I think, fifth in the final run there. So yeah, the Aussies like this sliding track. Nick a little bit too much. He likes the walls too much, but you know, good fit. I feel we're not bagging you out, Nick. You're a valued member of the Off The Podium. We're to blame for why you hit that wall. We realise that basically with that. The Canada's perspective, no medals for them today so far. There is the short track Women's 1000 is on tonight, which it's Canada, they're good at that. And I don't think they're in with the chance of a skeleton medal in the men's going on, but they've got their women's hockey team playing tonight, which I mean, we know they're gonna win, so they'll go through to the middle rounds on that one. Just on last week, I guess, I do not know if I can, Canada did win a silver medal last night, basically while we were off air. Isabel Wiedemann got her second medal of the game, she got silver in the women's 5000 metres. Irene Schutten, Schouten, I think it was, because I believe Scott McGraw last night was saying everybody's shouting for Schouten or whatever these lovely little line was. She took the gold in the 5000 metres and bronze went to Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic. And a bit of a surprising result in the luge. Germany won the team, didn't pick that one. Gold for Germany, silver to Austria, bronze to Latvia. But I mean, look, can we talk about Natalie Geisenberger now? What's that? Six, five gold medals she's got for herself now. Same with Tobias Wendel and Tobias Aert. Johannes Ludwig, he's, I mean, this is the thing, right? This is where we need to be celebrating these athletes as much as we're celebrating. Shaun White, Eileen Gu, Chloe Kim. You know, these are household names in Germany. And no disrespect to our beloved Americans. We love you. We really, really do. But I mean, it's not always about America. Like the Germans, the Germans are here. They literally are. Look at them. They're like, swept the luge. I mean, that's absolutely ridiculous that they did that. And we were on air when we sort of announced it. Obviously the US won the mixed team aerials ahead of China, Canada. I've seen a bit of negativity around the mixed teams aerials. Not a lot of people were a fan of it, I think. Yeah, any extra thought on the mixed team aerials, Jarrod? I don't know if I'm really sold on the mixed team aerials.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I just think it could be thought out better. I feel like the structure of it's weird, that the six teams is not enough. Yeah, just, it's an odd one.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, I'm all for these mixed teams. You and I are the advocate of the mixed team events on this show. We know Colin's one is against it, but like it does sometimes seem that they're just like an afterthought, like let's just include them in the Olympics. And then kind of things happen how they happen. I mean, we're kind of seeing that with the snowboard cross tomorrow, in the fact that Australia somehow got a second team in it now. And then it's like, it's just straight to quarterfinals. It's kind of like, well, there's barely even like a, you know, if there's only like eight teams in something, like what's the point? Like it's great that you kind of got these opportunities, but they should be spreading it out a little bit more. I don't know. It just seems a bit strange. I mean, what the ski jumping, we only had 10 teams. The aerials, we had six teams. I mean, working off the top of my head, does that give us in the snowboard cross like 16 teams? Basically two of them are Australian. I mean, how many other countries have multiple teams? So yeah, like I'm all for it, but maybe it needs to be thought of a little bit more. I don't know.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I feel like it's a lot of these sports like we brought up in the sports episode. It's just the structure of like how it works. It's just weird. It was the same with like the softball in the Olympics, just like there wasn't enough teams in it. It was weird. It's just odd that you can have like all these teams in like the curling, but then in other events you have six. And then what was the point in the mixed aerials of them then going down to four teams? Like just why? Just keep everybody in for the whole thing if you're gonna have six to start off with. It's just odd.
BEN WATERWORTH: And like I get this, there's quotas like athlete caps, like I think in the summer Olympics, you're only allowed to have 10 and a half thousand athletes. I'm sure there's a similar cap in the winters. And so I get it then, like you got an interest in your event, like you may increase the teams in one, you're gonna have to decrease. Like I get it. There's sort of the ISE juggling lots of things there. But when it comes to a mixed team event, you've already got your athletes there that are qualified and like you can kind of make do with what you've already got there. And yeah, okay, Australia, well, if you don't have a male athlete, then yeah, we can't enter it in. But I don't know, like can it be like mixed team optional? You know what I mean? I mean, in this day and age where gender's becoming less and less of a thing, can we not just enter, so Flora and Danielle and just be like, well, hey, we'll go up against the god. What does it matter? A mixed team event, just because you've got one team with all women, one team with all men, one team with two men, one woman. That's still mixed, isn't it? So, and I don't feel this is one of those ones where you're in an advantage or a disadvantage if you've got, because this is the thing with the mixed team aerials, you could have two men and one woman or one man and two women. Like it wasn't set. Like this is the thing. So what does it matter if you've got three women, three men, two women, one man, one man? You know what I mean? Like it, yeah. It seems like it could be a bit of leeway with that.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah. It's just very, very, such a very strange setup. It feels like they just added it for the sake of having another event in the aerials. And like, did we, did we really need it? I'm all for like the mixed team events. I think some of them are really exciting, probably more so I would say at the summer Olympics, because you have like the changeovers and men racing against women, which Colin hates, but then it's exciting because you don't know who's in the lead right till the end. Um, but this one, yeah, it's just, it's, it's a bit weird on like the point scoring ones where they're not like racing against each other. And it's just, okay, next athlete, next athlete and combine the scores, scores together. I'm with you. It could just be like a teams event. I don't know why it needed to be mixed.
BEN WATERWORTH: The, the, the, the Luge is like the best example of what you can do perfectly. That is just brilliant. Seriously. Like that is just such a great event. Um, I should also mention just also last night as well, the big one that I'm the only one apparently who cares about it. And even Canada doesn't. They should be the ones caring about it. Uh, five one over Germany, sweet revenge of Pyeongchang in the men's ice hockey. Good job for them. And USA ate nothing over China. So not a biggest spanking is some thought, but still a pretty decent win there. Um, the medal events, uh, decided today so far, um, that we've had, uh, sad news in the Alpine skiing, Ester only got fifth, which actually is still a pretty bloody good result. Um, even she's come out and tweeted saying like not bad for a snowboarder. So, uh, sadly not the double double for Esther, but she still got a fifth and she went second. So, uh, and she was still only, I think, like three tenths off getting a medal. So very good result for us. And she seems to be actually pretty happy with that. Uh, and she's actually even come out afterwards because she expected the downhill, but she's actually basically said she needs to use after. She's like, yeah, I might do the combined now as well. So just, just queen being queen. So yeah, I'll do this. I'll do that. Yeah. Might, might do the skeleton myself actually. I think I could just halfway join in, you know, just pop it on there. Why not? But in the women's super G, Lara Gutberrami of Switzerland took the gold ahead of Miriam Putschner of Austria and Michelle Geisen for Switzerland. And great news for Michaela Schiffrin. She finished. Well done. Well done, Michaela. Good job. I think she got ninth. So national holiday in the US tomorrow. She's nearly lost the shit from title. Good job for Michaela. Well done. You finished a race. You got you paid to do what you meant to do in the women's seven and a half kilometre biathlon. I know you're glued to this one, Jarrod. Matte of Cebu, Roseland of Norway, took the gold over Elvira Oberg of Sweden and Doritha Vera of Italy took the bronze in that one. Were you surprised at that result at all, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, not really. But I did actually watch that. Oh, really? Yeah, I did. Okay. Biathlon is amazing. I love the little penalty lap. Not as good as modern pentathlon, where they stagger the start. I can make some more exciting finish, but this, I mean, it's a great sport. I love to like the whole, like the one shot lying down and then the second shot standing. Great sport. Need to see more of it. Need to get some Aussies in there.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's, we haven't had an Aussie in it, 2014, I think was the last time we had a biathlete. But it isn't actually, again, similar when I say we, so many of these sports are just actually brilliant. And it's such a shame that they get no representation in Australia ultimately, because we're, you know, never going to really do well. As we discovered recently, we did get an eighth place in biathlon back in Lillehammer. So you know, bit of attention there. But any sport with a penalty lap is fantastic. You know, like a same bolt bad. Yeah, you do a penalty lap in 100 metres. It's still a win, let's be honest. In the cross, I was watching a lot of the cross-country skiing today. I was hooked to this. They were showing this quite heavily on 7 this afternoon. It was gold for Ivo Niskanen of Finland. He beat Alexander Abolshinov of ROK and Johannes Hosef Klebo of Norway in the bronze medal position. And I got to say, entertaining that the OBC commentators I had, maybe I finally once can commentate on some commentators today because they're not Channel 7 employees. So I might be able to comment on some of the things that were going down on that. And in the speed skating, Nils van der Poel took the 5,000, 10,000 double for Sweden. And not only did he do it, he did it in a world record, an Olympic record, if you don't mind. Dominant performance there by Mr. van der Poel. Silver to Patrick Reust of Netherlands and bronze to David Giotto of Italy in the 10,000 metres of speed skating. So the other medals to be decided tonight, which will probably be decided once we have finished recording here, the women's 1000 metres in the short track and the men's skeleton, which of course is happening quite late when it comes to that as well. I am going to try and pull up some different results here. I'm going to throw to you, Jarrod, what did you watch today just while I pull up some things here for us to go over some results?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I caught a fair bit of everything. I finally mentioned on to the seven app rather than just the TV coverage, because I did not want to watch the snowboard final 20 times. So I caught a little bit of the alpine skiing. I watched the biathlon in its entirety. Caught the skeleton, like we mentioned, didn't see the cross-country skiing, watched a little bit of the curling. I managed to see some ice hockey for the first time. I was hoping the Czech Republic were going to get that win over the United States. I tried to avoid it.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm glad that you got some ice hockey, though, Jarrod, are you getting sold on the sport more now at all?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think I was already a fan. It's just that it wasn't on the regular coverage and I just hadn't bothered with that. But now I'm definitely going to be jumping on. It's great.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good. Yeah. Good. I'm glad. I'm glad you're getting there. So I watched. I mean, I believe snowboarding was on the halfpipe. I think I might have caught a bit of that. Not too sure. Cross country. I was watching the skeleton. Obviously, I watched the Super G today as well. Sorry, a bit of the ice hockey as well. Mainly watching that last night. But yeah, sort of a mixed bag of all that sort of stuff. Still haven't watched any of the curling, the team jet though. I really need to get on to that. I do like the teams curling. So need to be able to watch some of that. Some Aussie and Canadian results out of sight of what we have already talked about. So in the Super G, Canada's Marie-Michelle Gagnon finished 14th place Ronnie Remy, 24th for Canada. And Australia's and Off The Podium's Greta Smalls, 31st. She could have best ever result in that specific event. And did you see Alice Robinson from New Zealand face plant pretty heavily at all? Got to pay attention to our Kiwi friends there that Zoe's gold medal feels like a long time ago now, doesn't it? When you got your face planted Kiwis out there there on the course, you try Alice, well done. In the biathlon for Canada, Emma Lundar was 32nd in that one. Megan Banks was 77th, Sarah Boydry was 80th and Emily Dixon was 81st. And happy to announce that Ala Glencoe of Moldova was 86. I'm sure she was very happy with her. Believe that's a Moldovan record, national record. So a big, big result there for Moldovan biathlon. In the cross country, we'll see some Canadians and Australians to pay attention to. Antoine Sear, 37th for Canada. In that, he'd be happy with that. As would Sebi De Campo, 72nd for Australia. Phil Bellingham, 75th, just ahead of Lars Youngvik, 76th. So traditional rivals in themselves there. And only, oh no, I missed another Canadian there. Sorry, Remy Drolette was 33rd. I missed a few Canadians here. Well, I jelled all over them. Olivier Lavelle was 29th. I'm sorry, Canada. I was expecting you to finish lower. That's why I apparently went straight over it there. There you go. In the skeleton, as I said before, Morello Ravett, Rahevna Raneva, excuse me, of Canada was 9th. Jane Chanel was 17th. To one thing, a bit of a surprise there, the Brits not doing well. This is an event I believe they've never not medalled in, the Brits, and last couple of golds as well. There is 21st for Laura Diaz, Brogan Crowley, 22nd, and they're well off the pace. So I wonder how the Brits are gonna be feeling if an Australian steals a medal from one of their events that they're almost a lock to win a medal in at the Olympics. So I'll take it. This is not obviously an Australian-Canadian perspective, but the Men's Large Hill Ski Jumping Qualifying is happening a little bit later, but they do a trial round for qualifying, if that makes sense. But I will say that in that, Off The Podium's Casey Larson, 11th after that one. So getting closer and closer. Could he move up the ranks there and break this 100-year drought of US ski jumping? We've already done it for the Canadians. But Matthew Sukup, of course, a bronze medallist now for Canada, and ninth after that one. And Mackenzie Boy-Klaus, bronze medallist, 23rd as well in that trial round. So I believe that's starting right about now for that. And in the 10,000 metres in the speed skating, Graham Fish, sixth for Canada. And Ted Yarnblomen, I think this is about his fifth or sixth Olympics for Ted. He was eighth there as well. And New Zealand's Peter Michael, 12th and last. So I just don't know. Oh, Brew, I'm gonna go speed skating. Like I just, I just don't know. This is coming from an Australian who has a skeleton athlete potentially. I shouldn't judge countries like that when it comes to doing that there. So there you go. Fails, Jarrod, any commentary fails or coverage fails today?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Nothing too major. We had Lydia's first slip up where she called Scotty James a dual silver medallist.
BEN WATERWORTH: I noticed that, yes.
JARROD LOOBEEK: But I meant close, not bad. Then we had the great moment in the snowboard half pipe when one of the commentators needed some magnesium for the cramps after an impressive run. That commentary of that whole event, I don't know. I don't know what's going on with the half pipe.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know what you're talking about, Jarrod. I think it's brilliant. Nothing bad at all to say at all. Just absolutely perfect. Yeah, I did laugh at Lydia's little dual silver medal. The one that I feel I can comment, because again, this is OBS commentary, not a Channel 7 commentary. So our cross-country skiers, skiing commentary, quite entertaining. They were very enthralled by the music that was being played at the venue. The DJs were having a bit of fun, playing like ABBA every single time Sweden came out. They were playing some Eurovision tracks, I believe, because they kept commenting on it. I believe that's a Eurovision track from Iceland or something like that. Then the Finnish skiers would come on and be like, well, I can't really comment on Finnish music, but I'm sure that's a big hit in Helsinki. But one of my favourite lines is one of the commentators. I was talking about one of the skiers and it's like, oh, yes, he's 34 years old. Somewhat of a veteran in cross-country skiing. Thinking, probably somewhat of a veteran in most sports. But particularly cross-country skiing, apparently. It's a young man's game is cross-country skiing. But still quite entertaining. So I do like these OBS commentators. Like, we've obviously had lucky that a couple of former Off The Podium guests, Sammy Jo Small, Mike Harris are doing some commentary. And there's been some Australians, like there was an Australian woman commentating the cross-country the other day, which is interesting. And I think there was an Australian doing ski jumping, which I mean, like of all the sports, ski jumping is like the least likely we should have a bloody Australian. No Australians ever been to the Olympics in ski jumping. Jarrod, you and I could get a gig by Milan this point. Let's keep trying.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's true. Canada can win a bronze in the team event. Look out.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, bloody hell.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Opportunities are out there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Breaking news in the ski jumping, the qualifying round is done for the large hill. Well, at least when I say done, some people have qualified obviously. And I can tell you that Off The Podium's Casey Larson, he's through to the finals. Currently sitting in sixth, if you don't mind. Mind you, the Poles, the Austrians and the Norwegians and the Japanese haven't jumped yet. But still, he's through to the next round, so yippee. Good on you, Casey. Good job there. Actually, he's just dropped down to seventh. So he's gonna go down the order, but he's through to the finals. That's the main thing. And Canadian bronze medallist, Matthew Sukup, he's also through to the finals here. He's got a Q next to his name. So good job there. I should mention too in the results before, in the curling, Canada lost today in the women's Japan 8-5. So National Enquiry about to go on there. And in the ice hockey, the women play in their quarterfinal a little bit later this evening where they will win against Sweden. So is that the famous jinx? That's not really a jinx. It's Canada and women's ice hockey. You know, that's a sure thing is Jarrod liking chicken. Is that a fair assessment?
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's true, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Very fair assessment. What else do we have here today? A daily celebration. Now, Colin's not with us. He's dead, obviously, but he did send it in because I did post it online today. Now for Canada, it is Cindy Klassen Day. Now, do you heard of Cindy before, Jarrod? Or is this one of these athletes that you just look at and go, who the fuck is that?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No idea.
BEN WATERWORTH: No idea. I actually had heard of Cindy before because I think it came down to the fact that she was Canada's most decorated Olympian until Penny knocked her off that mantle in Tokyo. So she's a speed skater, long track speed skater, won a bronze medal in 3000 metres in Salt Lake City. And then in Turin, she went on to win five individuals, which was the most amount of medals won by any Canadian athlete at a single Olympics and tied for the most ever speed skating medals ever in a single Olympics. So six medals in total. Cindy won across two Olympics. And as I said, held the record for most decorated Canadian Olympian until Penny overtook that little feat in Tokyo, of course. And I believe Andre Grasse tied that with six as well. So, excuse me, a very worthy recipient there is Cindy. Congratulations, Cindy. But one that you are very familiar with from the Australian perspective, it's Relay Team Day, celebrating our inaugural Winter Olympic medal winning team, our very first ever Winter Olympic medallist back in Lillehammer, the men's 5,000 metre short track relay team, featuring of course the great Stephen Bradbury, Kieran Hansen, Off The Podium guests, of course, Andrew Mertha and Richard Nizelski, who now is coach of Brendan Corey, of course, who is pretty much competing right now as we speak, I think, if we're watching it on TV. So, Jarrod, I know you're a little bit younger than me. Do you remember, how old were you in 1994, first of all? Were you even born? Am I calculating your age wrong here?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I was born, I was two, so I don't think I was watching at the time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Don't quite remember it then. I actually legitimately remember it. I was seven and I remember, I think I was at my grandma's house with my dad when it was on and I remember watching it and just going like, wow, that's cool. And then my dad's like, wow, we just, that's our first ever medal we've won. So I think because I think Channel Nine had the Winter Olympics in like 94. Cause I remember like, God, what's his name? I can't remember the, Ken Sutcliffe and God, the guy is Steve Liebman. He used to host the Today Show. I remember just random Channel Nine personalities hosting that. So, but a big moment. And like they were talking about in the summer chill tonight about how a lot of people forget with Stephen Bradbury that he was part of history and that he was part of that iconic moment winning that bronze medal, which I mean, it's taken for granted now. Ah, silver medal today for Scotty James. We've won three now. So, you know, moving on, but like, you know, this was nearly 30 years ago that a simple bronze medal broke a big drought for Australia. So it was a big deal. So celebrating that little iconic moment back in Littleahamn in 1994. And in fact, now that we can say ever since 1994, we've got at least one medal in every single Winter Olympics since. So a nice little streak that we've had going now for nearly 30 years. Daily Dale time though. Actually, as I speak, this is Mr. Brendan Corey's on TV right now. Are you seeing this in the 500 metres? Which this is not his favourite event apparently. He's only in two. So he didn't do too well in the 1000, but he's up against a Canadian here. So maybe we'll be attracted. I'm not a fan of the Aussie short track suit. I don't know about you, but I don't like this kind of dark blue mix of the green and gold. I think you just go, you go full blue or you go full green and gold. What do you think?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I feel like I want a suit that stands out and you know straight away it's Australian. Although that's a bit difficult when the Swiss are copying us. But yeah, it's just, it's an odd combo of colours.
BEN WATERWORTH: The Canadian just face planted into the wall. So Brendan's looking to pull a Bradbury here cause he's dead last and he's nowhere near the first two, but he's only got with a Canadian who's, we're not gonna beaten by someone from Kazakhstan in this, are we? Like, I mean, no disrespect to our Kazakhstanian listeners, but I don't know their pedigree is short track. But yeah, Brendan's absolutely shattered in here. He's dead last and he's not going through unless he's gonna be the third lucky loser. But no, not good for Brendan there. That was a blink and you miss that moment. Yeah, exactly. That sums up that. Daily Day, well, we know we're not gonna put up Brendan Corey for that one. Sorry, Brendan. You are today's Nick Timmings medal. I feel so bad. I don't want to keep bagging out Nick. I really don't like this.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Nick's alleged and look at the coverage he's getting.
BEN WATERWORTH: Like it's all done in good fun. The best bit I think about last night is Jarrod's description of Nick.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It was looking fine. And it's like somebody was like remote controlling his sled.
BEN WATERWORTH: It was like a magnet.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think it was tampered with. That's what I'm saying.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, Lord, did this Canadian fall into the wall? Nick Timmings did into the wall. Just smack paint. Oh my God. It's so funny. Daily Dale. Look, I struggle for this today, but I've got four potential ones. But I want you to go first.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I also have options because today, there wasn't that many impressive stories, if I'm being honest. So I had nills in the men's 10,000 metres, just doing the double, I thought we'll even mention I also had a good friend, Yan from the Snowboard Halfpipe, just because he's going to be the most forgotten Olympic medallist from these games. And then I almost had I was so ready to put up the Czech Republic goalkeeper in the women's hockey, because at the time I was watching, it was one all and she'd saved like, it was like 53 out of out of 54 shots. I'm like, what is this? How are they not losing by more? Then the United States scored pretty more. So I don't think she's worth it anymore. So she's off the list. So yeah, just those two are the only two that I ended up with.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, well, I also put Niels down as potential. My only downturn is obviously we've had a speed skater. But again, I feel like we're getting to strict on this criteria. I mean, for God sakes, if you know, I mean, he set a world record, an Olympic record. I mean, God, we should be celebrating that. Like, oh no, we've already had a speed skater. Like, he comes out and beats a world record by 20 minutes. Oh no, we've already had a speed skater. What are we talking about? I also potentially putting up our old Ivo Niskanen, the Finn cross-country winner. It's his second goal, a second medal of these Olympics. He won a bronze in the ski-athlons. It's his third overall gold. He won the 50K classical in Pyeongchang and the team sprint member of that back in Sochi. What is so fascinating about the cross-country again, you watch these athletes cross the line, they collapse. We talked about Triathlon last year in Tokyo where you got him vomiting online. This was a similar thing. You see him celebrating. He's got a big massive half chunk of vomit frozen off his bit. This isn't just a bit of carrot on the... He's fucking frozen. It's like minus 20 degrees out there in Beijing. And he's air-typical Finnish style to celebrating, all that sort of stuff. So like he's definitely one up there for it. Also in the same event, Thomas Maloney, West Guard of Ireland. Now Finnish 14th. But the thing that I loved about watching this, for a good 10 minutes, I want to say it was Ireland was winning the cross country. Now, like I don't know about Ireland's pedigree in the cross country skiing and the history of the Olympics. I know they've never won a winter Olympics. They should have won one in Skeleton back in Salt Lake. They were leading the whole way, and then they choked on the last run. Hopefully, that's not an omen for dear old Jackie tomorrow. But like this was amazing. And like he still got 14th. He beat a Norwegian. He beat Erik Valnes, the great Norwegian Erik Valnes. I mean, you look at anyone who came before him. You got Finland, Russia, Norway, Norway, Russia, Finland, France, Sweden, Russia, Sweden, Norway, France, Russia, Ireland. Like, I mean, he beat Jonas Bauman, the guy who I'm talking about yesterday, who could have won four in a row. I couldn't even get the bloody, the correct event. That's not even the right guy. It was Dario Cologna. I still don't even know who the right guy is still. She's like the freaking long jump Javelin all over again. So, yeah, I'm pumping my own tyres here with Thomas. I think he's a good call. And of course, Ester, I know she didn't medal, but she got fifth. Not bad for a snowboarder. You know, it's still pretty decent. She didn't get like 20th or something like that. But, yeah, the only one you and I both came up with was the Swedish skater, but I don't know if we both want to put him up. So, I don't know. What are you thinking?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I mean, I can be swayed by Thomas' story.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's great, isn't it? Like, I mean, I really want to put up Evo for winning the gold, but I mean, fricking Thomas Maloney Westgard, you know, this could be the Ireland standout from the fricking Winter Olympics, 14th in cross-country skiing. I mean...
JARROD LOOBEEK: Well, if Colin was here, it doesn't always have to be a gold medallist, you know? And also, it doesn't always have to be the same country, and it doesn't always have to be the same sport. I mean, I'm keen to just to give it to Thomas, show the Irish some love.
BEN WATERWORTH: Let's put it in perspective. He finished two minutes and six seconds behind gold medallist. You think, OK, that's a long way away. Stevie De Campo, Australia's best finisher, was six minutes. So he beat Australia by four fucking minutes. I think I could fly from Melbourne to Dublin in that time. So yeah, to be sure, to be sure, Thomas Maloney. I'm doing German accents today. I'm doing Irish accents today. I'm so glad we're not putting up like a Chinese athlete of the day. I would be fired promptly. But is he our first Irish accent? Our first Irish athlete? I don't think we had any Irish athletes during Tokyo, did we? There we go. Congratulations, Thomas. What a performance. I mean, just the fact here that you can literally show this so that you're a Daily Dale, but your name forever is a head of a Norwegian. Erik Val. Let's look up Erik here. Let's find out. Erik is an Olympic, sorry, a World Championship gold medal winner. He's won two World Championship gold medals. And he got beaten by an Irishman in the Olympics. I mean, come on. That's up there with Canadian women winning ski jumping, Canadian mixed team. So I'm looking here. Put this in perspective for Thomas Maloney, West Guard competed in Pyeongchang in the 15 kilometres freestyle in Pyeongchang. He was 59th. He went from 59th to 14th. There's something for it. The World Championships last year, he was 35th. No, 41st actually. He was 35th in 2019. And coming into this event, he's ranked 120th in the world. This guy's on fire. Come on. Put it, thoroughly deserved. Come on, you Tom. He could be the athlete of the games right now. As a researcher, I should have really seen how far Ireland has ever gone before that. Now, we do have a Canadian on the show in some capacity today. I spoke with Ben Steiner. Now, he's an associate producer with CBC, long-term follower and listener of our shows on Twitter. Got in contact with us, said, hey, I'd like to come on the show to have a chat. We're never going to say no to somebody who wants to come on the show. And we're no Canadian on today. We thought we'd get some Canadian perspective. So here's a little chat I had with Ben talking about his role, what he's doing with CBC, and some of his thoughts on some events that have happened throughout these Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: We haven't had a guest on in a couple of days during these Olympics, obviously due to a variety of different circumstances. But we're bringing on a special guest to the show today to talk a little bit around Canadian achievements, particularly around the skiing and the sliding aspects here in Beijing 2022, particularly also because we don't really have Colin on the show today. So we needed to get that Canadian voice still. He's an associate producer working right now with CBC and working some very interesting hours. As he's not actually in Beijing, he's in Toronto. So I'm intrigued to hear how he's coping with that. It's a pleasure to welcome to Off The Podium, Ben Steiner. Ben, first of all, welcome to the show. You've got a great name. So I definitely won't forget your name today. That's a good thing.
BEN STEINER: Well, thank you very much. I've always been around so many Ben, so it almost feels like a bit of a vanilla name, but it is what it is. And I'm happy to be on the show today. Of course, working these strange hours, recording around 4.47 in the morning, my time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which you sort of put that into context though, sort of talking to me a bit off air and through Twitter, you are basically living on Beijing time right now. That's you've adjusted your body clock. So do you technically, it's only like 5.40 in the afternoon, right? That's how you're looking at it.
BEN STEINER: That's exactly how I'm looking at it. And I sleep from say 11 to five. And when you say that and you think PM to AM, it's completely normal. It's not much sleep, but it's completely normal. But no, when you say AM to 5 PM and you're sleeping throughout the day, it's certainly weird. Feels like the world sort of passing me by around here in Toronto, but I'm vicariously living through Beijing and the Olympic games. So that's my existence right now. I have to be up overnight. I have to have this energy to be up overnight and get the work done and tell these stories of the Canadian athletes. So I do what I have to do when I sleep during the day. Fortunately, these are the last games in a very distant time zone for a while.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, I mean, from an Australian perspective, we've loved the last three Olympics in Pyeongchang, Tokyo and Beijing, because they're only just like an hour or so behind us. So it's great. So for you guys, obviously, it's sort of a bit difficult. Come Paris, Milan, then Los Angeles, you guys are back on the same page and we're going to be complaining about it on this side of the world. So, I guess, swings and roundabouts, right? Depends where you are on the planet.
BEN STEINER: Yeah, it definitely depends where you are on the planet. I think it will be nice to get an Olympic Games in a different country. We've had a lot of these Asian Olympic Games in the last little while. And of course, with Beijing, there wasn't really another option. I don't think Almaty was all that much of an option, even though the vote was quite close. Nobody really wanted these 2022 Olympics. And with the way the world is in 2022, that's probably a good thing that people didn't want these ones because you weren't able to really celebrate these games. They're sort of, you had to deal with these games very much like Tokyo 2020 and 2021. But in the next Olympic cycle, when we go to Paris, when it goes to Cortina, you can be for sure those will be massive parties. Hopefully the pandemic is a lot less vicious around that point. I certainly hope so. That's several years down the road. And those two countries, exceptional for those two events. In Paris, looks like they're gonna do a brilliant job, especially with that opening ceremony that's not gonna be in the stadium. I can't wait to see the Canadian boat come down the river there in Paris. And then of course, Cortina, Milan, it can't get much better than that for the Winter Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's so interesting to hear those words. Can't wait to see the Canadian boat come. Like you never thought you'd say that at an Olympics.
BEN STEINER: Exactly.
BEN WATERWORTH: But it's gonna be interesting. Just Ben, before we talk about some of the Canadian athletes and things that we're here to talk about, just give us a bit of a brief background in terms of what you're actually doing right now for CBC and how you got to be doing what you're doing.
BEN STEINER: Yeah, so right now I'm basically writing for CBC. Every night writing recaps on various events of Canadian athletes performing over in Beijing. Canadian medals. I've been able to write a few recaps on those as well as tell some very interesting stories, especially from our Canadian moguls team. The Canadian moguls team has been exceptional. Nicole Kingsbury didn't win this time, but earned a silver medal and one of your previous guests, Devon Haru, wrote an exceptional piece on Nicole Kingsbury where he joined in to the Kingsbury family for a whole day and just profiled that family and the success culture sort of around that. But one of my favourite ones that I've done so far is probably on Marion Thineau, an aerial skier for Canada who actually won mixed aerials bronze in the team event earlier this morning yesterday, however you want to call it, day six of Beijing 2020. And she only started aerials four years ago. She was found in Canada called RBC Training Ground, which basically brings athletes from other athletic events and tests their physical attributes and how fit they are. And if they could potentially excel in other sports. And that's basically how the Canadian Bob Sledeen is built. They take track athletes, they take football players, they put them through these testing and they put them on the Canadian Bob. She gets recruited by Freestyle Canada, an athlete so many of them willing to get too much focus outside of the four years where they do get the highlight of the Olympic Games. So most of them are quite gracious to have their stories told.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which it's always fascinating to be able to have them have their story told because I think a lot of people think Olympians, they're big celebrities, you know, they lead such a perfect life and all this kind of stuff. Whereas for the most part, no, unless you're a Macau Kingsbury, you know, unless you're a Shaun White, something like that, you kind of just go back to a regular everyday life and having to fight for funding and fight for things and all that sort of stuff along the line. So to get their stories told is obviously a big deal and being able to do that. And is this something you sort of grew up, you always wanted to be sort of a journalist, being able to work on the Olympics. It's kind of like a dream come true right now to be able to work for the nation's host broadcaster during an Olympic Games.
BEN STEINER: I mean, I do want to just say that even Macaul Kingsbury, he still lives with his parents right now. He could probably afford to move out, but he's no millionaire football player, no millionaire hockey player. And so even Canada's best are still very much effectively amateur athletes, despite prize money from FIS events and some endorsements, but you're not getting too many endorsements when you win a gold medal in Canada compared to when you do that in, say, the US or Dave Riding winning a World Cup slalom in the UK. I'm sure he'll get his name on a few cereal boxes. But in terms of myself, yeah, it's a bit of a dream come true right now to be working for the country's host broadcaster. It's pretty cool to have the country's public broadcaster as the one covering the Olympic Games. I think it's good. The Olympic Games are very accessible in Canada. Every event, streams are free on the CBC website. That's not the case in the United States where people have to subscribe to NBC Peacock to really get their fix of the Olympic Games. And every event live, every event on replay, when you want it, for free in Canada. And it's paid for by the Canadian people. And I think there's a lot of people at the CBC who have that passion to sort of give that back to the Canadian people. And I think that's a value shared by so many of us, and including a guy, Devin Rue. I can't say enough good things about the guy.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, me neither. Great, one of our favourite guests we've had on. What a man, great guy.
BEN STEINER: He leads that passionate feeling about the CBC. He's been at the CBC his whole life, and it's an honour to be able to do this work for the CBC right now, because it's somewhere I'd like to work in the future as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: Perfect, and big shout out to Devin. Obviously, he sadly ended up not being able to make it to Beijing, obviously, around sort of COVID situations and everything. I know when we had him on the show, he was talking about how he was heading over there, but seems to be enjoying it. Is he in Toronto? Do you guys sort of work together or have you been able to bump into him a little bit during Beijing at all?
BEN STEINER: So I'm actually working from home. Canada, especially Ontario, where Toronto is, is still under some fairly strict COVID restrictions, not as strict as some of the restrictions worldwide, but still sort of capacity limits and stuff that we've gotten used to like that. So a lot of the CBC crew is actually working from their own bedrooms. I'm doing exactly that. I spend all day right here at my desk at home. Whereas some of the more senior people at CBC are in the building, and Devin is rightly in the building, giving his best possible coverage.
BEN WATERWORTH: There you go. Shout out to Devin, should he be listening. Just want to talk about a couple of events. Obviously you're a bit of a skiing man, I believe, Ben. So one that we sort of, obviously it happened in the last couple of days, James Jack Crawford. I'd love you to explain the James Jack. I think it's a great story you're telling me off air, winning the bronze in the combined. Now he came very close to meddling in a couple of the other events and he seems like he's having a really good World Cup season. So was this kind of just deserves for what he deserved to get out there and clearly a medal was always on the cusp for him? Or was this like a complete surprise that nobody was really expecting?
BEN STEINER: Oh, he's been skiing on the precipice of greatness all season. He's been on the edge of the podium and the hundreds have just not gone his way to this point. There's fourth, fifth, sixth, sixth on the strife in Kittsville. He's been right there. And when you're finishing top five on World Cup, you can win a race or maybe don't win a race. You can finish on the podium. It just depends on the hundreds that day. There's nothing more you can do at that point. You are in the conversation. You are right there and you are able to win a race. And he was able to do that finally in the Alpine combined, a weird event in the Olympic program. And that event might not be sticking in the Olympic program for too much longer. But always funny to see the big down hillers try and dance through the slalom sticks. But Jaclyn did quite well. He used to train slalom at Whistler Mountain Ski Club and in Georgian Peaks and training in Ontario. You can't really ski a lot of speed because the hills just aren't that big. So a lot of those guys get quite good at tech. And then he moved over to Whistler, got better at speed, but still had those tech basics. And they don't set the hardest slalom course for the Alpine combined. And he was able to dance through the sticks. I know a few people here have been saying, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack dance through the slalom stick. And he got himself on the podium and the bronze medal. So watershed moment for this generation of Canadian ski racing, because getting on the Olympic podium, just the seventh Canadian to ever do that first since 2014 when Jan Hudek did it at 32 years old in the Super G. But Hudek, when he did it, he was 32. And that's the end of his career. He was never the best skier on that group of Canadian cowboys in Nanny Osborne and Eric Gay and Mike Yannick, if you go a bit farther back. Eric Gay came close in Vancouver, two top five finishes. But to get actually on the Olympic podium for Jack Crawford, exceptional, and Brother Thompson earlier this season in Beaver Creek as well, getting that Super G bronze. This generation of Canadian ski racing is here. They just need a name. We had the Grazie Canucks, we had the Canadian Cowboys. No name yet.
BEN WATERWORTH: I couldn't even come up with one. I was going to call him the Aussie just because if he's training in Whistler, I mean, half the people live there are Australian anyway, so you can probably claim him to be half Aussie. So Kangaroos, I don't know. That's not very Canadian, but, you know, Whistler, I'm trying to border on something there.
BEN STEINER: Certainly, certainly, certainly a lot of Aussies in Whistler. I've spent a lot of time there myself, basically grew up skiing Whistler and sort of brush shoulders with some of the guys on the Olympic team right now. So pretty cool to see guys that I wouldn't say that I've grown up with them or their teammates, but guys I brush shoulders with at points. And that's cool to see them on the podium, but just so massive for Canadian ski racing, because it's a sport that to an extent has been dying in Canada. There's a lot of sports that are dying in Canada, just because, first of all, the cost to the accessibility of it. And Canada hasn't won a ton. People don't see the Canadians on the podium. And yes, if you get a podium on a World Cup, the ski racing fans will see that, but they're already ski racing. The general sports aren't watching that. But Jack Crawford on the Olympic podium, people saw that. People want to ski race because Canada has, I think it's 11, 12 medals at these games now at the time we're recording.
BEN WATERWORTH: And that's massive.
BEN STEINER: Yes, it's bronze. Yes, some people might say it's the second loser, but he's on the podium at the Olympic Games and probably inspired a ton of kids doing that.
BEN WATERWORTH: And the name Jack, so he's listed as James, but so why is it, where does the nickname Jack come from?
BEN STEINER: So it's actually an interesting story. His sister was unable to pronounce James when she was little. So started going by Jack. And it stuck. So Jack, James Crawford, same guy. His Instagram is still James Crawford. We call him Jack Crawford here in Canada. Some people call him James Crawford. So it's really a bit all over the place. Fortunately for him on the live timing, it's just Jay Crawford and that works both ways.
BEN WATERWORTH: It does indeed. It does indeed. You mentioning about podium at an Olympics and getting attention. The one that's gonna do a lot for one sport in particular, of course, is ski jumping. The one of two sports that Canada never meddled going into these Olympics. And sadly, you're not gonna do that Nordic combined if you don't have a Nordic combined athlete. But we were on air, I was talking to you about this off air, about sort of our connection to this bronze. But we talked to Colin a little bit about this, about what this would do for Canada. But from your perspective, working for the CVC, what does this mean for ski jumping in Canada? I mean, is it gonna blow up from this point on? Because this was something that nobody in Canada remotely expected that you would walk away from these games with a medal in ski jumping.
BEN STEINER: Yeah, none of the Canadian athletes expected it either, that they would walk away with a medal in ski jumping. It really came out of a bit of nowhere. I had a friend in Germany message me that Canada was close to getting a podium in ski jump. And I just responded in all caps, what? Like, completely out of nowhere. I've followed McKenzie Boyd Close since he made his debut at Vancouver 2010, but he's always been just an also ran in another, just this one Canadian basically on the World Cup. But here they are potentially pushing for a podium. And I think that's sort of the magic of these team events is you have to have four good athletes, three or four good athletes to be able to compete. And if you don't have that, well, you're not gonna win these medals. And Canada has four very, they're not great. They're not best in the world, but they are perfectly in the middle of the pack. And with a couple of disqualifications, and I know there's a lot of controversy about that, they were able to put themselves on the podium. And in terms of, in terms of story, fantastic story, fantastic big on the podium. I don't feel better for any athlete other than, I couldn't feel better for an athlete than McKenzie Boyd Close. Been on World Cup since he was 18 years old. They debuted at Vancouver 2010, always been that other guy. And now he has an Olympic medal, so that's pretty cool. I'm extremely happy for him to be able to do that. But in terms of what it actually does for the sport in Canada, I wanna be positive. I wanna say Canada is going to completely blow up in ski jumping. The problem is there's not a jump in Canada that's actually operational. The one built for the Calgary 1988 Olympics, famous for Eddie the Eagle, that is too small now. People have gotten jumping too far. The one in Whistler is still technically usable, but it's only maintained so it doesn't cause an avalanche. People don't jump on it. The Canadian team trains in pickup trucks in Alberta and then goes and trains in Slovenia. They are not home for months at a time. A colleague of mine actually coming up with a story with that quite soon. It's not gonna blow up in Canada unless it's accessible and unless there's a jump. And I think the Vancouver 2030 Olympics could do great things, but it's all about getting the jump open. And they will have to get a jump open for potentially hosting in 2030, assuming Vancouver wins that bid, which it seems as though they're the front runner for that. Yes, Sapporo and Salt Lake are in that too. And Almaty will be too. They seem to be in every Olympic bid. But yeah, no, it's not going to blow up in Canada unless there's a jump. And right now, there's not a jump.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is a shame, but I mean, it's obviously a moment right now. I think we just save your and celebrate. And as you're saying with Mackenzie, we're obviously very happy with Abby and Ali, having had them on the show in the lead up. And we should also mention Matthew as well. Happy for everyone. It's exciting. I'm not even Canadian, and I'm very excited for the fact that this happened. Just heading into the second week, Ben, what are some events that you're really looking forward to, either from a personal perspective or maybe just as a Canadian perspective as well? Obviously we know the hockey finals are coming up. That's a big thing we know, but I mean, particularly for yourself, is there something or a couple of events that you're really looking forward to in the second week?
BEN STEINER: Well, the men's hockey is gonna be exciting this time. It was gonna be, I think, fantastic. It would be a fantastic play if the NHL did go and the best players in the world were there, but the NHL is not there. It's still a very talented Canadian team, a very talented American team, but I'm excited to see exactly how close it's gonna get. Yes, it was 5-1 against Germany in Canada's first game.
BEN WATERWORTH: Sweet revenge, sweet revenge, Ben. Come on, revenge for Pyeongchang.
BEN STEINER: Revenge from the semifinals in Pyeongchang. It's just a group stage game. It's not a semifinal, but it'll be an entertaining tournament. And there's a couple NHL prospects on the team and a couple of former NHLers on the team as well that'll really make things interesting, including 2010 Olympic champion Eric Stahl at 37 years old. So he'll be fun to watch. And of course the US got out to a quick start against China, 8-0. I was actually impressed by the Chinese team, however, 4-0 against the US and a lot of college guys on that American team. I was quite happy to see that China wasn't completely blown out of the water. Of course, the story might be different if NHLers did go. 32nd ranked team in the world heading into the Olympic games probably don't-
BEN WATERWORTH: There's only one spot ahead of Australia, Ben. For God sakes, Australia could be at the Olympics based on that, come on.
BEN STEINER: They've got to win a bet for the Winter Olympics. I mean, they might as well. But-
BEN WATERWORTH: Hey, well, technically, Brisbane 2032, again, is a Winter Olympics. It's being held in Australia's winter, so I'm calling it. We could have ice hockey in Brisbane 2032, technically.
BEN STEINER: Well, the interesting thing there, and it's a bit of a tangent, but the NHL actually wants the hockey in the Winter, or in the Summer Olympics, so it can send its players and not disturb its season. So, could it be 2032? It's quite a ways down the way. Olympic program not confirmed for that point yet. But in terms of events that I'm excited for in the second week, I think all the attraction really has to go to the sliding track in Yanching, the Canadian bobsled team will win medals. That's effectively a guarantee. Yes, Kayleigh Humphreys is not wearing the Canadian flag this time, rather competing against Canada with the American, but there's three spots on the podium. Kayleigh Humphreys is only one of them. And I'm pretty confident that Melissa Bothells or Christine De Bruyne can find their way to a podium for Canada, Sarah Villani as well. It should be an entertaining week on the sliding track for the Canadians. And they're right in the hunt in the women's skeleton as well. Men's skeleton, weakness, Blake Enzy, 20 years old, and he won't podium in that. But women's skeleton, Mirella Ravina, known as Mimi, she won the first run and then sort of slid in the... I mean, she slid in the first run. It's a sliding sport, but slid back in the second run.
BEN WATERWORTH: We were grateful for that one, by the way. Thanks for that. Jackie was very happy. So we appreciate that. Thank you.
BEN STEINER: And she's back in ninth now, but only about six tenths of a second back and with two runs, four runs of the Olympic Games, there's definitely a lot of time to make up and time to make up time and time to fall back more. So it's a long way from done, but it should be an exciting week on the sliding track.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's going to be an exciting week no matter where you look at it, because we're in an Olympic Games, Ben, and this is not where Pumpware is so excited for. We really appreciate you taking the time, obviously, very busy with keeping up to date with everything there. And we enjoyed this chat. We're going to get you on at some point in the future. We'll have a longer chat. We'll learn more about you. We'll learn more about your passions and everything else in between. But appreciate your time here on Off The Podium and keep up the great work there for CBC.
BEN STEINER: Well, thank you very much. And I love the stuff you guys do as well. So one more week left in these games, and it should be fun.
BEN WATERWORTH: And that was a great chat with Ben. And as you heard me say there, we'll get him on at some point, have a bit of a longer chat with him and learn a bit about there. But good to find out, Jarrod, that Jack and James are the same person for Crawford. So we were right in calling him James and Jack. And yeah, do some people call you James and Jack and Jarrod, or not really?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I've got Jacob before. When I graduated uni, they did call out Jacob, which was just a little bit annoying. The certificate was right, so that's the main thing, main thing. But yeah, graduating as Jacob, not the highest point in my life.
BEN WATERWORTH: How do you get Jacob? Like, where does that come from? Don't know. Have you ever had a nickname?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Comfey should have put their glasses on.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, never. Yeah. I mean, I've had nicknames that are not probably appropriate for me to say in air, and ones that I particularly liked, but it's, yeah, I've never really had a nickname either. And I think Benny's a nickname of Benjamin. So I think it just kind of, it fits in that way, really. So tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, I guess we're all going to be focused on Jackie. But the other one I think we should mention, the Mixed Teams Snowboard Cross. Now, it's interesting because obviously, Australia goes into this as the world champions with Bellbrock Hoff and Jared Hughes. But unfortunately, Jared Hughes did not do too well in the men's Snowboard Cross. So he was left out. So it actually goes to Bellbrock Hoff and Cam Bolton. But breaking news in the Snowboard Cross Mixed, Australia has been given a second team featuring Josie Baff, surprise, surprise, the only other female, and Adam Lambert, I believe. So poor old Jared gets the stink from both. So, and they're both also in the same quarterfinal. So all things go to plan, both go through, but how are you feeling about this? Cause this is, I can't remember if this was one of your predictions, but my prediction for one of the medals was bronze for Jared and Belle. Well, it's not going to be for them, but I'm still standing by. And this is more for Belle. No disrespect to Cam and Adam or Josie, cause obviously we'd love that for Off The Podium, but Belle's an Off The Podium guest as well. And I think just more of a redemption thing. This is, this to me is almost like an Ash Barty-esque thing from Tokyo last year that Ash couldn't do it in the singles. She got it done in the mixed doubles. So this to me is kind of like the Belle Brockhoff, Ash Barty moment. And I'd love to see Belle get a medal.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, this is an interesting one. I think we were all questioning whether Jared would be put in the team, but in my mind, as soon as this came up that maybe we're going to have a second team, I was like, okay, well, they'll just slot him in there for the sake of it. But the fact that he hasn't made either, I just feel like he's always like embroiled in controversy. At Pyeongchang, we had the like whole like chompy jarred rivalry that they never really got to the bottom of. But no favouritism here, no favouritism at all. Like he was like the name going in, I suppose. And I'm, it makes sense. They did it based off the results. I am nervous that we're both in the same quarterfinal. I'm trying to put the three, four, both of our teams out in the first run out of my mind. Shame, we couldn't have been in the quarterfinal with only three teams and we guarantee to spot through. But yeah, fingers crossed, we can get at least one team too. If not, first and second would be great moving forward into the semis.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm calling rigged bullshit to be honest, because I'm looking here at the other quarterfinals in which countries have multiple teams. So Canada have two teams, Italy have two teams, the USA have two teams, France have two teams. Yeah, they're all in separate semis, quarters I should say, but Australia, no, we get lumped in the same one. So like, thanks, IOC, FIS, like whatever you want to do it with it. So we're in quarterfinal two up against the US and Switzerland. So are we up against Jacobellis? Is she in ours? Yes, we are. And Baumgartner as well. Oh God, what an all-star team that is. Jesus, that's kind of disappointing because you want both of us to go through both the Aussies, but you kind of want Jacobellis and Baumgartner to go through as well. So, Jesus. Canada are in quarterfinal three with France, USA and ROC, and they're also in quarterfinal four with Italy, Britain and Austria.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Although, I will say with two Australian teams in the same quarterfinal, there's opportunity for tactics here, right?
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, exactly.
JARROD LOOBEEK: You get one of your Aussie teams sitting up there in the top two with probably the US, then like, I mean, the other team surely is just like running defence on Switzerland, blocking the course.
BEN WATERWORTH: Take them out. Just choke them, choke them down the course.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Little elbow thrown out there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Just, you know, sneaky little elbow across the face. That's the Australian way. Just going that way for that. But obviously tomorrow, yeah. Jackie, now I'm guessing we're gonna be probably, if we're going back to late recordings, we might be on air when this is happening. I don't know how we're feeling about it, but like it's, the thing is that, yeah, this is literally gonna be at like midnight. So like, this isn't like today where the runs were during the day. I'm seeing here that the fourth heat is actually at five to one in the morning, Australian Eastern Standard Time. So the first heat is at 11.20 Australian Eastern Time. So all things go to plan there. I'm going into the last run. You know, she's in a good spot, but are we making predictions for tomorrow, Jarrod? What do you, I mean, any medals at all tomorrow with these two potential events? I'm just going to say, I'm going to stick to my bronze for the mixed team. And I am going to say Jackie will get a, she'll get a, oh no. No, I don't think she's going to medal. I just, I just, I like, I want, I wanted to, of course I do, but I just, I don't know. There's just something, the Germans are coming. Like I just, yeah, I don't know. I feel this is one of those hyped events that we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves with.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I, my gut is saying no medal in either, if I'm being completely honest. But I really hope that would just, like I'm excited by the prospect of the skeleton. I could like the, the Snowboard Cross great. I would love us to medal in it, but the skeleton, like if we can win a medal and the fact that it's on so late as well, if I can be up at like, I don't know, by the time she goes, like, I don't know, 20 past one in the morning or whatever, celebrating a gold in the skeleton, it would just be like such an amazing moment. But yeah, not getting ahead of ourselves. She's got to get through that heat three as first as well before we get down to the final heat. But it should be an interesting one.
BEN WATERWORTH: Breaking news in the short track, just quickly from a Canadian perspective, obviously we know Brendan Corey sadly will not progress, but Steven Dubois is through in his heat and Jordan Pierre Gilles is also through in his heat. So two Canadians will go through in that one. Yeah, look, it's, the thing that's exciting from this point on from an Australian perspective is that we just need the one more medal, which is we want one more medal to break this three. We want to get to four. And we've got plenty of opportunities, obviously still to come. We've got two golden opportunities tomorrow. We've still got the freaking aerials to come, which is the one that we are all kind of hoping will bring a medal or two, potentially three, who knows? Brie obviously in the monobob. We've still got a few to come next week, which are potentials that we can sort of look at. I've got a weird feeling, a really good feeling about Sammy Kennedy Sim. I don't know why, but just something about her, I feel is on point with this. So there's some opportunities to come for Australia, but God, I mean, open the floodgates. Win two tomorrow, two on Monday. God, we can end up with fucking seven. But now that I've said that, we're only gonna end up with three, clearly. You know, that's gonna be the case. From an Australian, sorry, from an Off The Podium perspective as well, tomorrow outside, obviously, Bell and Josie, of course. Scott Gow back in the biathlon, the 10 kilometre sprint after getting fifth the other day. So fingers crossed for Scott. And of course, Casey Larson will continue tomorrow in the ski jumping. And tomorrow, of course, will be the last day of skeleton. It only just started, but it will be going on that way tomorrow.
JARROD LOOBEEK: And you're not having a team relay in that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Where's the double skeleton? I'm telling you now. Like, I mean, I want doggy style going down the hill there.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I reckon they should have to hit the button with their feet, too, when they go under it for the next person.
BEN WATERWORTH: Headbutt it, like, boof. What it's like in the open water swimming, right? When you got to jump up and hit it, like, you know, why not? So, medals actually decided tomorrow. So, yeah, the men's sprint and biathlon cross-country skiing, the women's four-by-five kilometre relay, skeleton women's, obviously, the ski jumping large, as we said, mixed snowball cross, as we said, and in the speed skating, the 500 metres in the men's. So, only six medals. It was medal events, I should say, decided tomorrow, but getting close. Valentine's Day, Monday, massive day. That is the Monobob Day and that is the Ariel's Day. That's the one that is going to be a loved up day for Australia. Ben will be going down that course in the bobsled. So, keep an eye out for that. Did not do a medal tally last night. I apologise for our medal tally fans out there. And obviously, still with two events to be decided that this is a medal tally as of at this very moment. Norway are back on top of the medal tally. Celebrate in Oslo. Six gold, three silver, five bronze, 14 in total. Germany, come on Germany, pick up your game and now that you lose, events are done. Six gold, three silver, zero bronze. Gotta win some more bronzes there, Germany, come on. Nine in total. Sweden, five gold, two silver, two bronze, nine for them. Austria, four gold, six silver, four bronze, 14 for them. The US, four gold, five silver, one bronze, 10 for them. Canada, 14th place, one gold, four silver, seven bronze, 12 in total. Australia, 16th place, one gold, one silver, one bronze, three in total. Can I just say, we win a bronze tomorrow, we equal Finland. That's a big one in the winters. If we're doing order by total, which again, I'm on board for that, Canada actually equals third, and Australia are still 16th. So nothing changes there when it comes to that. And just an update, New Zealand still with one gold, zero silver, zero bronze, just in case people are wondering there. I mean, dumb question, but I'm guessing the one you're looking forward to most tomorrow is the skeleton and see how Jackie goes, Jarrod.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, 100%.
BEN WATERWORTH: Lock in the skeleton.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Lock in. If she's gonna get a medal, can she do well in the third run? So I bother staying up. If she's not gonna medal, I'd appreciate if she could just not do so, crash hot in that third run so that I can go to sleep.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's all about Jarrod. Jackie, if you're listening.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Don't make me shout for no reason.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just think about Jarrod, all right? Okay, you think about beloved Jacob here. Jacob, Jacob needs his sleep, okay? He's got a busy weekend ahead. Big thanks everybody for tuning in. Big thanks to Ben for joining us. Hello Colin, if you're listening, I'm sure you've enjoyed this message. Hope you've enjoyed your day out of confinement, essentially. Remember to like us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Vote for us in the Sports Podcast Awards, sportpodcastawards.com. Register, vote. How many times today, Jarrod? You're a busy man again? Five times, oh, doesn't even hesitate. He knows, he knows he's voted that many times. So get on board the vote train there on the Sports Podcast Awards. And we were back tomorrow after a medal-winning day. Scotty James, you little champion, you little beauty, future Canadian royalty. I did love following Chloe Stroll's page today when she had to mute her Instagram story because apparently she was crying. So, and it happened to happen on the day that Aston Martin launched their new car. So, brother-in-law Lance, obviously busy day for him. Daddy, Papa Stroll, his son-in-law winning Olympic silver. And did you know that Sam Mack, Channel 7 Sam Mack is dating Scotty James' sister? I did love that awkward moment when they cut him today. He's like, oh, just let you know she's my girlfriend. I don't just put my hand on all my guests. I'm thinking, wait, really? You're dating Scot James' sister? Like, this is a very interesting six degrees of separation. Keeping in, yeah, I don't know how I feel about that, but good on you, Sammy Mack.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's not gonna last.
BEN WATERWORTH: Are you a Sammy Mack fan or?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Not particularly.
BEN WATERWORTH: Gold Logie nominee? I interviewed him years ago at a Australian Grand Prix. I had no idea who he was. They were like, Ben, you're interviewing people at the Celebrity at Cool. So I interviewed Katrina Roundtree, great. You're gonna love to interview Katrina Roundtree, legend. And all of a sudden they're like, okay, Ben, you're gonna interview Sam Mack. I'm like, who? I think back then he was just like a Melbourne radio person. I don't think he was on Sunrise at the point. So I don't know who he was, who he's now. But I mean, he was a nice guy. It was a fun interview, but I still do that moment. I'm like, who the fuck is this guy? Celebrity race? And we've dated Scott James' sister. Jacob, thanks for joining us today. It's been a pleasure.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No problem. Always a great time.
BEN WATERWORTH: We'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in to Off The Podium. Special shout out to Jason Momoa. And remember, go left.
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