Chad Hedrick Interview
It's time to return to the sport of Speed Skating and speak to a legend of the sport in five-time American Olympic medallist Chad Hedrick about his incredible skating career! We find out how Chad was literally born with skates on his feet and how this enabled him to dominate the sport in both inline and speed skating. We also learn how a trip to the 1988 Calgary Olympics didn't turn out how it perhaps should've and how close he felt he came to making a different Olympics had things played out differently. Added to this we learn which Olympic medal he won that means the most to him and just how he feels knowing he was the last person to beat the legendary Sven Kramer at an Olympics in the 5000m. It's an amazing chat that you won't want to miss!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes! It’s Off The Podium, An Olympics Podcast coming to you once again for another athlete interview. We're getting so close to the Beijing Olympics. Can you smell them? They are so close. I can feel the coldness. I can feel the snow. I can feel the ice. I can feel everything about it, and it's all excitement. And we have nothing but Winter Olympic Athlete interviews from now until the Olympic Games, until we do our preview episode and a special episode that we will have for you, of course, just before that. We've just celebrated our 200th episode, and we are celebrating our next athlete interview today, and we're going back straight into speed skating. We had Daniel Gregg on a couple of episodes ago. We're straight back into speed skating with a guest who he actually mentioned in his interview, Daniel Gregg. He mentioned a certain American by the name of Chad Hedrick, and that is the athlete we have on the show today, an absolute legend of the sport, both speed skating and inline skating. If you want to talk about the greatest inline speed skater in the history of all inline speed skating, you mention the name Chad Hedrick. This man won over 50 world championships, over 90 national championships. This guy has goat written all over him. He is a man that Daniel mentioned about switching from inline to speed skating. And then Chad went on to great success in speed skating circles to a five-time Olympic medallist, won gold in Turin in the 5,000 metres, as well as winning two silver medals and two bronze medals across two Olympics in both Turin and Vancouver. An absolute storied career. And Chad talks a great deal about his successes and everything that led him into switching from inline speed skating in to ice speed skating. We learn a little bit about the sport of inline speed skating, about how it nearly actually came into Atlanta. Daniel talked about how during the 2010s there was a big push to include inline speed skating at the Summer Olympics, and it very nearly happened in Atlanta. And a very interesting story about a visit to the Olympics as a child and basically seeing every single sport, except the one sport he probably should have gone to see. So this is a very interesting chat, a very fascinating chat, and a great interview here with the one, the only Mr. Chad Hedrick, American five-time Olympic medal-winning speed skater. You're about to hear it right now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Only a couple of episodes ago, we mentioned that we had never had anyone on this show from the sport of speed skating. So much do we love the sport that we thought we'd just keep talking about it, because we're getting closer and closer to Beijing, and we want to continue to talk all things Winter Olympic. And we have a massive guest on the show today. He's a five-time Olympic medallist, two-time Olympian. Outside of the sport of speed skating, he's dominated the sport of inline speed skating, winning over 50 world championships, over 90 national championships. And the one fact that I also love that I found out in the lead up to this interview, the first ever Texan to win a Winter Olympic gold medal. It's a pleasure to welcome Off The Podium, Mr. Chad Hedrick. Chad, first of all, pleasure to have you on the show today, mate. Thank you very much for joining us.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, thank you, thank you. I'm honoured to be here and chat with you this morning.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's exciting to go through all those achievements, but to actually realise it, to have that distinction that you will forever be the first ever Texan to win a Winter Olympic gold medal. I mean, that's got to rate up pretty highly with all those achievements there. From the great state of Texas, the first ever Winter Olympian to win a gold medal.
CHAD HEDRICK: Well, honestly, until you said it, I didn't really think of it. I thought how awkward it was from a guy from Houston, Texas to be able to win an Olympic, a Winter Olympic medal. But I never thought of it as the first Texan. So that's kind of cool.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I think if my research is correct, you are one of only two. Justin Olsen won a gold in Vancouver as part of Bobsleigh. So I believe there are now only two of you. So it's a very distinct club. And I think as an Australian. Yeah, very. I mean, as an Australian, and we're sort of on the rarity of winning Winter Olympic gold medals. So we kind of feel that from the Texan perspective there, that it's kind of a nice little club to sort of be in. But I'm so fascinated about your career, because you basically were born with skates on your feet, Chad. I mean, you essentially were born in to the sport in some sort of weird way. Was this always destiny that you were kind of bound to always end up pursuing skating, be it ice or on non-ice essentially?
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, so I'm gonna wrap it up in a nutshell really quick, so I don't bore everybody. But here's what happened. My parents, they started a family business. And here in America, we have something called roller rinks. It's where people come to roller skate, they listen to music, they have birthday parties. It's the cool place to be when you're in middle school and just getting into the beginning of high school. So as my parents were operating the family business, of course, I was just an infant. And at 17 months old, my mum and dad decided to throw skates on my feet for the first time. And essentially I learned how to walk on a pair of skates. They tighten the wheels on the conventional roller skates up. And that's really how I learned how to walk. And as soon as my dad started seeing that I was gaining balance and able to handle everything, and then what did they do? They came behind me and took that wrench and just loosened the wheels up a little bit at a time. So that progression, within a year's time, I was up and going, man.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic. Wow, geez. I always joke when we have our Canadian guests on that they're born with skates on their feet. But I think even people in Texas are clearly born with skates on their feet as well. Do you remember then at what point you've got this ability to skate, but then all of a sudden you want to skate fast? Like, was that something that as we all do as kids, we kind of want to go fast, we kind of want to do crazy things. Was this something that you just enjoy, the speed aspect of having these skates on your feet?
CHAD HEDRICK: Well, as a child, there's memories you can never forget, things that are just in your brain forever. And the things that were important to me, we would have what they call, it's simply called the races. And when you get all the kids at the roller rink and they're there, there's several hundred kids out there and everybody goes into age divisions, and you get to win like a Coke or a cup of popcorn or whatever when you win. Well, obviously I already got that stuff free anyway. My dad owned the place, but it was really, really important for me to win every race. And I would usually race kids that were four, five, six years older than me growing up. And in my town, people knew that I had a special gift really, really early. And I just continued to practise and really just invest in myself. And I had a true passion for it. I can look back and I can honestly say, all the hard work that I put into it didn't really feel like work. It felt like it was just something I was supposed to do because that was my gift. And I needed to present that to the world, if you will.
BEN WATERWORTH: Obviously starting on sort of roller skates and then eventually switching to inline and the success that you had throughout that sport. Just in terms of the Olympics itself, did you sort of harbour any ambitions to be an Olympian at any point before you ultimately switched to speed skating? I mean, were you playing other sports that could have seen you maybe go to the Olympics in a different sport outside of speed skating?
CHAD HEDRICK: So I played four or five different sports. Highly competitive is just my way. It's black or white. Either I'm in or I'm out. And so I played a lot of different sports. But at the end of the day, when I was 15, I had to decide what I was really gonna do. And the funny thing you asked about the Olympics was when I was 11 years old, I went to Calgary and they had the Olympics in 1988. We were invited out there by one of my friends and his father. And we went out there for about a week. And it's kind of humorous that the only sport that I didn't watch in the 1988 Olympics live was speed skating. You just never know where life's gonna take you. And just like you, saying, man, you're the first Texan to win a Winter Olympic medal. Well, I bought into that. This was something I was never gonna do. And as relative as it was for me, growing up in a roller rink, you would have thought that it would have been important for me to go check out ice speed skating, right?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
CHAD HEDRICK: But it never even crossed my mind.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, that's crazy to think that, because I would assume that seeing an event like that at such a young age would have the ability to inspire you and maybe kind of spark something within you. But maybe it was just a case because you're seeing the bobsled, you're seeing the hockey, you're seeing the skiing, you're not seeing that one sport that you're kind of technically doing.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, so the progression kind of worked like this. I was on commercial roller skates from when I could walk all the way till about I think probably around 14 years old. We had a club here at our roller rink, and we would travel to different states. And like you were listing off all the national championships. But from a real young age, I was travelling across the country on conventional roller skates. But then we figured out real fast that inline skates were much faster. And then, you know, the roller blade craze came, and everybody had them, everybody was skating in the street, everybody was playing street hockey. It was a big thing here in America. I don't know if it was there in Australia the same.
BEN WATERWORTH: 100%, yeah.
CHAD HEDRICK: So we changed to inline skates, and it wasn't four wheels, it was five wheels, and the technology got better, and you got where you could skate 30, 35 miles an hour, which I guess is around 60, 62 kilometres, I guess. So things changed really, really quickly. And then after travelling from 16 years old to 26 to 42, different countries with just a backpack and a pair of skates, you know, with numerous sponsors, and I was a professional and the fastest man in the world for 10 straight years, I would tell people what I did, and nobody even understood what inline speed skating was. And it was kind of, if I'm honest with you, it was kind of, it was a bummer. It was tough to swallow, that you invest your whole life into something, and then there's absolutely no notoriety at all in being the world champion at what you do, and people are like, what? So I had a wild hair, and I decided that I was gonna switch sports, and I was gonna move from Houston. I packed everything up here in Houston and moved to Salt Lake City, where the venue was for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and I started over. And that was the path. That was the path, and that's when it really began, and where I had the opportunity to spotlight my skills on the world level as far as getting notoriety and people actually understanding my talent.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which it's interesting, the one speed skater that we've had on the show, Daniel Gregg, he talked about watching you, your transition from inline to speed skating, because he was also on a similar path. He was an inline skater and switched to speed skating and kind of took you as a bit of an inspiration. And I mean, it must be an interesting moment that time when you make that decision and go on to ice, being so used to dominating one sport to all of a sudden, basically being on the bottom. It's kind of like when you go from elementary school, primary school into high school, you're going from the top straight to the bottom again, right? So I mean, how did you find those initial moments competing when you're finding your feet, literally, and then working your way up to the ladder, which eventually led to an Olympic gold medal?
CHAD HEDRICK: Well, being the best in the world at something and then going and starting over again. There was a lot of expectations from other people. They knew that I was coming over. The worlds are connected, but not connected, if you know what I mean. And so I went there, and there was a really challenging time for me because I went out there, and the first day I really remember going out there and just thinking this wasn't the right move for me and really being challenged for the first two, three, four months. And I had to look myself in the mirror and say, you know what, this is make or break time. And if I'm gonna do this, I need to go as hard as I can and I need to learn as much as I can. And fortunately for me, I chose to fight. And four months later, we had qualifications for the US national team. And I was actually able to qualify for the national team just after four months on the ice, which was crazy. And just a year and a half after that, I was world champion. And then just over two years, I went to Torino, Italy, and won the first gold medal for Team USA for our country. And this was all happening just so quickly, almost to the fact that I really couldn't digest it. It was, people didn't expect somebody coming from Texas to do the things that I did. And it was, I took the sport overnight and really changed a lot of things about it, my style. You know, the speed skating world was more of a time trial type, you race the clock type of sport. And I came from a racing background. And so all the middle distance to long distance races became races. They didn't, they weren't time trials anymore. They were, hey, I'm going to skate fast. And then the last three laps, four laps, I'm going to look at my partner on the other lane and I'm going to, it's going to be a test of will. And so I think the thing that I'm proudest about is really impacting the sport in a way that it really was a test of your strength, your mental strength at the end of the race to be able to say, you know what, we're not racing the clock. We're racing each other, and I'm about to bury you, and I want to see what you have. It was a completely, complete mind shift versus the traditional speed skating from years and years ago where they were out there skating pretty and had this smooth technique. This was a different mentality where you just look at them and you're like, okay, it's time to go. What do you have?
BEN WATERWORTH: It's crazy to think that progression, that as you were saying, that with only a few years, you literally switch a sport and then you're an Olympic champion. I mean, that's just insane, Chad, to think that. I mean, what is that moment like when you were standing on the dais here in the Star Spangled Banner with that medal around your neck? I mean, was it just a case of, all right, well, this is what I wanted. On to the next one. I can keep going for the rest of these Olympics.
CHAD HEDRICK: You know, it was, it definitely happened fast. And, you know, I just thought about all the times that I invested in myself and never gave up. And all the friends that had, I mean, quite honestly, when you're an athlete at this level, with this type of commitment, there's a lot of sacrifices that are made. And I remember the things that I did growing up that led me to a life in junior high, in high school that was much different than your normal kid, you know? I didn't know any better, and I'm proud that I was able to withhold and really just continue that schedule, that mentality, that focus on being the best, because there's a lot of things that are deterrents for you to reach that. And I have friends come up to me today that I went to high school with, and they tell me this straight to my face. They say, Chad, we had no idea what you were doing when we were in high school, but we wish we would have been with you now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, geez, that's crazy.
CHAD HEDRICK: That's just a huge compliment that you're able to, the commitment level's there, and there was no finish line. There was really like, I was going from this to this to this and this progress, and there was no real like, this is the finish line. I was just doing it because I loved it, and I was committed and I was passionate, and guess what? It took me somewhere. But really, I had no idea where I was going. All I knew is I liked it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is what you want to do. You want to do something that you like, obviously, at the end of the day. But I mean, also going back to your point where you said that you were winning multiple, multiple world championships in one sport and many people weren't knowing what you were doing. But then all of a sudden, you win one race and you become a household name. You come back from Italy with three medals around your neck as well. I mean, it kind of... How does that feel knowing that you've just... You've dominated one sport for a decade. I mean, if you were doing that in speed skating, you'd probably be up there with the Michael Phelpses of the world as one of the most famous names in the US, but you've changed to one sport, you've won three medals, which you probably just do on a Saturday at a usual inline meet. Now all of a sudden, everybody knows your name.
CHAD HEDRICK: Well, what a lot of people don't know, we almost made the Olympics in 1996 for the Atlanta Olympics with inline skating. And when that happened, it was kind of the peak of inline speed skating that era right there. And when it didn't happen, it really took the air out of my tyres, and it was very disappointing. I always think, what if that would have happened? And how different would my life have been? How would I have been able to impact those around me? Would I ever have ice speed skated? And the answer is probably not, because people would have realised, you know, the talent that I had, and I would have been able to represent my country the way that I wanted to in front of the world and in front of the billions of people. And that 1996 moment kind of changed everything. And so that from 1996 to stepping on the podium in 2006, that was a strange time where I never thought I was going to be able to be an Olympian, and then all of a sudden, overnight, I had that opportunity. So I was determined to make it happen.
BEN WATERWORTH: Before I touch on Vancouver, the man that you beat in Turin, a certain Sven Kramer, may have gone on to win a few more gold medals over the years, maybe the last three, potentially a fourth very, very soon. I mean, how do you look back now thinking that you beat maybe who will become the greatest speed skater of all time to win your gold medal? Does that kind of add a little bit of weight on it, seeing the success that Sven has gone on to have since you beat him back in Turin?
CHAD HEDRICK: I mean, it seems like he's been winning for 20 years now since I quit. I mean, if we're honest, I got to experience something very interesting in sports, and nobody is too good to reach a point where it's the end of the road. And I went and I raced for many, many years, and I always stepped to the line, and I knew that I was going to win, or I knew I was highly likely to win. When I was 32 years old, Sven Kramer introduced me to the opposite side. For the first time in my life, I knew there was a guy that was six or eight years younger than me that may have been a little stronger than me, that recovered a little better than me, that may have been a little more confident than me. And that introduced me to the decision that I had to make to move in a different direction after 2010. And everybody in the world, it doesn't matter if you're Michael Jordan, everybody in the world at one point or another faces that. And it's a sombre time, honestly, but it is one that everybody faces and we're all human. And since then, I've watched Sven just dominate the sport. He's the greatest of all time. And for me to think that I was the last person to really beat him in his core event was certainly an honour. And him and I have become great friends since. And it's pretty special just to know and look back and see where he is now and how we battled early on.
BEN WATERWORTH: We also beat him again come Vancouver in the team pursuit, the famous semifinal win, of course. You went on to win the silver in that event. I mean, how do you rate that medal up against, say, your gold from Turin, beating a highly fancy Dutch team in an Olympics when we all know how good the Dutch are generally when it comes to the speed skating? I mean, was that almost as good as winning the gold in Turin to be able to achieve that?
CHAD HEDRICK: Let me tell you, the team pursuit, beating the Dutch was probably my biggest accomplishment in sports. Everybody says, oh, well, it's a silver medal. Yeah. Well, you know what? I had two partners that were in their first event as Olympians. It was my time to really become a leader and really encourage these guys and get them in a position to perform their best. We almost won the gold medal. But at the end of the day, I learned a lot about life through that event right there. And really going past speed skating and starting a life in business afterwards, I always look back at that moment and understanding how I can encourage, how I can challenge, how I can hold those around me accountable for their actions. And that moment before that race with those two kids, those two rookies was definitely a moment that really moulded me as a leader way beyond sports. So I'm so thankful for that. But people think I'm crazy that a silver medal was my biggest accomplishment.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, again, you're beating the Dutch. I mean, it's no different to, you know, if you mention Michael Jordan, if you're beating the 1998 Chicago Bulls in the conference finals on the way to losing the NBA finals, I'm sure you'll take that in some weird way, won't you? Because you beat the goat at what he's doing at his peak, right?
CHAD HEDRICK: Well, let me say at the time, I'm reflecting now, but at the time, second place kind of sucked, if we're honest.
BEN WATERWORTH: But now, it's one of those sort of moments you can sort of look back on and sort of realise that achievement. I sort of read a few interviews with you where you talked about sort of after Turin, how you kind of had a different mindset coming home with, you know, not ultimately three gold medals, but I mean, obviously now 15 years later, you can sort of reflect on that differently. And do you find that that kind of helps you, as you were saying then, in what you pursued after your Olympic career? You're obviously now into real estate and everything along those lines too. And those sort of challenges that you overcome and can reflect on now are helping you in your professional life now.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, let me tell you, when you're the best in the world at something, and ultimately you have to stop at one point, which everybody does, there's a transition period. And kind of, I explained this to somebody this weekend, kind of like your only child got taken from you, got kidnapped. It's what you focused on and what you've invested everything in your whole life, and all of a sudden it's gone. And there's a lot of identity that's behind that. You figure out who you are as a man, what's important to you, what your life is based on, and it's a deep, deep moment. And there's a lot of failure that follows that because you're starting something new again. I go back to that first day coming from inline skates on to ice skates. It's a test. It's a test whether you're going to succeed or you're going to throw your hands up and go back where you're comfortable. And every day since then, I retired in 2010. It's been 11 years. There's been a lot of failure. I've had a startup business that failed. I've had a lot of just challenging, challenging times as a leader, not only for my own life, but my family, leading my family, my wife, my three children, thinking that I'm the provider for our family. I'm the hunter. And the word success has really haunted me for a long time because I was used to having massive success. And when you go and you start a complete new life, you're not the best. The next month after you stop skating and you enter the world of sales or you enter the world as whatever it may be, whatever that next step is, it takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day. And so for me, I went back to that 17-month-old, lock your wheels up as tight as they could, restrict me so I can learn how to do this. And it's been a process. And 11 years later, I'm so thankful. There's been a lot of scars, a lot of pain, a lot of tears. But ultimately, man, I've learned so much about myself. My business is now thriving. I have a business that is built on leadership, accountability, dedication. I have people around me in my business that are excited with the way that I'm leading and the way that I'm helping them. And the silver medal race, I mean, I go back to it all. It's full circle, man.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great, great. And the business from gold to sold, I love the name of it. It just works perfectly, Chad. I mean, tell us quickly a little bit about it and people who are maybe listening, where they can find out if they're listening to us in Houston or wherever they are to maybe get in contact if they're interested in what you're providing.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, so Houston is a melting pot. Man, we have, I think we're the third or fourth largest city in America now. We're very cultural. And, you know, a lot of people are coming here. We've got a great economy. My team, Gold To Sold Group, we started about three years ago. I've been building it. I built my own personal business, and now I'm bringing people in to make a difference in people's lives around me, people that I see promise in and that I'm challenging them to be able to serve their clients and build a real business. And we work under Compass Real Estate, which is the luxury brokerage here in the US. And we have been serving clients for, you know, like I said, three years now. We've worked with over 150 families, and it's been absolutely incredible to be able to... I love it because everybody needs a place to live. And it's as corny and cheesy as it sounds, a lot of things in life with your job don't really affect people. They don't really affect... There's no fulfilment behind it. And ultimately, when you find somebody a great place to live or you affect the family, kids wanting to go to certain schools or a kid wanting a swimming pool, it's silly, I know. But at the end of the day, when you sign those papers with them, man, it's a great feeling to know you serve people and you strengthen relationships. And this is just my experience. I was in the oil and gas business before selling software, and I would do it. And at the end of the day, it was just a transaction. So for me, with Gold To Soul Group, I've been able to really have some impact on the world. I've been able to be fulfilled through my business. And man, that's what I've been seeking.
BEN WATERWORTH: But please tell me that when you do sell a house, that you whip out the gold medal and sort of bring it to a celebrate. I feel like there needs to be something happening there, Chad. It's in the name itself, right? You've got to bring it out.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, so we have a big logo that looks like a medal, and it's getting to the point where people are actually requesting for us to bring that with us because that's important for them, for that photo and celebrating, which is super cool, you know? It's like you're building a brand. The other day, I went to the Apple Store. This is just a crazy, crazy example, but I went to the Apple Store at the mall. The Apple Store doesn't even have a logo in front of it. People just know what it is. It's the craziest thing. So building a brand and something that people are excited about and are recognising is something that's super cool. And relating our business with excellence and dedication and sacrifice and luxury, that's kind of where we are. I've got people on my team that are committed to doing that, and we have some great people that are working along with me to make it happen.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic. People want to check it out. Plug it. Go for it, Chad. Where can they find out more information?
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, well, you can call me at 866-383-GOLD or go to goldtosold.com. I serve clients from all around the world. We have referral partners all around the world. So believe it or not, I've had even some Dutch clients coming in to the oil and gas business here in Houston, and I've been able to serve them.
BEN WATERWORTH: They're not hanging on to the present from 2010 or anything. They're over it.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, they're okay. Actually, the Dutch are probably the best sports fans I've ever seen in my life. There's no hard feelings, and if I walked into Amsterdam right now, they'd probably want to give me high fives. It's been a pretty cool thing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great, great. Chad, it has been an absolute pleasure to be able to hear about your amazing career and everything that you've been up to since. And we've got a friend now joining us on there. Is this a new puppy? It looks very young.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, about three months old here. We just had a dog pass away here about four months ago. So we got this little girl. This is Honey.
BEN WATERWORTH: She's gorgeous. Wow, there you go. Well, just a bonus to this great chat. Chad, seriously, a lot of fun, mate. Really appreciate your time. And yeah, is this part where I say go Astros right now? Obviously quite appropriate.
CHAD HEDRICK: Yeah, don't worry about the American football team. That's horrible, but it's Astro fever right now. And everybody's really, really excited about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fingers crossed. Go Astros.
CHAD HEDRICK: I'm impressed with your knowledge.
BEN WATERWORTH: I will say that as a White Sox fan, I may still be a bit sad over you knocking us out. But they always say that once you get knocked out right, you should go for the team that knocks you out, I feel. So maybe that's why I can hang on to that and not necessarily go along with being bitter. So I'll go, go Astros basically. You knocked us out. So I'll keep going for you guys.
CHAD HEDRICK: Unless they're the Red Sox or the Yankees, then you don't.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Screw those guys. We don't care about them. Chad, seriously, mate, it's been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for joining us on Off The Podium today.
CHAD HEDRICK: All right. Have a great day. Thank you.
BEN WATERWORTH: And a massive, massive thanks there to Chad for his time. Such a great chat. And I will say that if you wanna watch that interview, it is available on YouTube. This is our very first video interview that will be available on YouTube. Now, as a weird sort of tangent slash teaser in the way we kind of produce and record these episodes, there may be an episode that we air after the Beijing Olympics in which we will say, hey, it's our first video interview. Well, we decided rather than just airing them straight after the Beijing Olympics. We thought we would do every interview that we do after our 200th episode in video format as well, where we can. So we're excited to say that you can watch this interview with myself and Chad on our YouTube channel. Simply search for Off The Podium on YouTube, and you'll be able to find that. We will tag it on our social media as well. So we hope to bring you these interviews. Long time coming in video form as well. Right now, it will just be our video interviews. We're not really planning on probably doing our daily coverage during Beijing for video things. You don't want to stare at mine, Jarrod and Colin's face for an hour or so. You want to stare at these guests that we've got on the show, these great guests. And Chad, of course, is one of those. So search Off The Podium on YouTube. You'll be able to find that on there. Quick note to say that obviously, too, that we record these, as I'm sure you are well aware, some of these interviews several months in advance. So therefore, the little reference to the Astros there just recorded around about the time of the World Series just starting. So let's pop that continuity bubble there just to get you fully on board as to, why, Ben, are you cheering for the Astros in January? That doesn't make sense, but now it probably does. We've got so many more great athletes coming. We're in an episode every single day now between now and the start of the Beijing Olympics, which then means that we're gonna basically have an episode every single day between now and essentially the next month. So if you love our voices, if you love Off The Podium, you're gonna be busy for the next month because you're gonna be hearing athlete interviews, all winter Olympians in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics, as well as daily coverage during the Beijing Olympics. So, so excited to be able to bring you coverage of all of these sports that we're covering. We are going to tick off very shortly, possibly even in our next episode, the final winter Olympic sport that we've never had an athlete on the show. I teased it back in the Daniel Gregg interview. I said, speed skating is the second last sport that we haven't gotten an athlete on from. And I didn't even mention what the other sport was. That sport is ski jumping. And we have lined up not only one, but several ski jumpers coming to you. So we might end up having more ski jumpers on the show than we've ever had skeleton races before the Beijing Olympics starts. So we're very busy here at the Off The Podium offices right now in the lead up to the Olympics. And we are sincerely hoping you're enjoying our coverage in the lead up to that. So stay tuned for that. We've got some great interviews to come between now and the opening ceremony. And of course we'll have our full preview episode that will air at this stage, the day before the opening ceremony. And we also will have a special episode that will air the day before that preview episode in which we will play clips of every single one of the guests we've had on the show who are competing, I was about to say playing at the Olympics, but competing at the Olympics, that makes more sense. So this is the first time we've done this. So essentially we will grab a snippet from every athlete that we've had on between Pyeongchang and Beijing, who has talked about going to the Beijing Olympics. And we will play a slight little snippet there. So maybe this will, I guess, reverse the curse in some ways in the fact that, you know, this bit of a curse that exists on this show about none of our guests being able to win a gold medal after coming on the show. We've had silver and bronzes, mainly Colin. I only had my one bronze, but we're hopeful that that can change, obviously, with some of the guests we've had on the show. So that'll be another exciting episode to watch, but stay tuned. We've got so many great guests coming between now and that opening ceremony, and so much to keep you entertained. It is a fun time to be an Olympic fan right now, and an even funner time to be an Off The Podium fan right now. If you love this episode and you wanna learn more, head to social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Of course, search for Off The Podium, and make sure you follow all those accounts, because we will obviously be very busy during the Olympics. We're doing what we did during Tokyo, posting medal wins for both Canadian and Australian athletes across the Olympics and daily medal tallies as well. And if you don't wanna miss an episode with daily episodes, now you don't wanna miss these. They're gonna come to your devices every single day. You're gonna wanna listen to them and keep yourself busy on the way to work, school, wherever you're listening to us from. Subscribe to Off The Podium, wherever you get your podcasts from. We're on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon Podcasts, we're everywhere basically. So make sure you never miss a beat by subscribing to the show and leaving some feedback. We'd love to hear what you think of the show. We really would, sincerely Ben. That's just saying. And of course YouTube, as I said, subscribe. And bonus points, I will add, watching the video of this chat with Chad, you'll get to see his puppy that he brought on right at the end of the interview there. So if you wanna see his cute little puppy, you'll be able to do so by searching for that on YouTube. Big thanks to Chad once again for his time. And big thanks to you for listening. It's been a great chat. My name is Ben. This is Off The Podium. As always, I will say, of course, a special shout out to Jason Momoa.
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