Discussing The Postponement Of Tokyo 2020
Oh hey everyone! Remember us? Well we're back for the first time in nearly two years to bring back your favourite three Olympic podcast hosts to chat everything about the recent announcement of the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and try and get caught up on everything else that we have missed since we last spoke! Do the boys agree with the decision to postpone the games? Do they feel our favourite Count Dracula impersonator Thomas Bach should stay as President or is his time done? Just when will the games be held? Will it be weird to potentially have a Summer and Winter Olympics within only a few months of each other like it used to be 30 years ago? Which athletes do they think this will help now that they have extra time to try and train? What will it mean for our TV viewing in a few months? And why does this mean that the Hobart 2020 Olympic Bid might all of a sudden be back on the table? There is so much to discuss and catch up on as your favourite Olympic podcast returns with a bang!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think we haven't done this in a while. Matter of fact, we've been about two years since we've spoken to anyone, and at this rate, we probably will all be speaking to everyone for a lot longer for the next two years, because no one knows what on earth is happening right now. It has literally taken a global pandemic to finally get us back on the air, and we thought we would have been back on the air earlier to preview an Olympic Games that are supposedly only four months away, but only kidding, we don't know when they're happening, if they will happen at all, because we have a postponed Olympics. Tokyo is no longer Tokyo 2020, it's Tokyo 2021 asterisk, maybe. So we will have to find out-
COLIN HILDING: Question mark.
BEN WATERWORTH: Question mark. Find out what's happening, and we're here to talk about everything that's happening, everything that's happened since Pyeongchang, and who knows what else, because we don't even know what we're doing. I'm gonna introduce my two co-hosts right now on the line, including the one man who is literally the one man left in Winnipeg. It is Mr. Colin Hilding. Hello, Colin, welcome back to Off The Podium.
COLIN HILDING: Thank you, and I'm turning quarantine.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good to know. And speaking of quarantine, it's a man who is used to it, because he's from Emu Plains. It's Jarrod Loobeek. Hello, Jarrod, welcome back.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thanks. It's good to be back. Could be better circumstances, but, you know, any chance to talk to the Olympics, whether they're happening or not, is a bonus in my book.
BEN WATERWORTH: Let's be honest. It's not a good time for podcasts that we're all connected to. First James Bond got postponed, then Eurovision got cancelled, now the Olympics. I think we might be out of the job, guys. I don't really know what's happening anymore. This is a bit of a crazy times, but I mean, let's start with the obvious. The Olympics are sadly no longer happening this year due to a little thing called coronavirus. I'm not sure if anyone's heard of it, but I think it's happening some places around the world. Colin, I'll start with you. Disappointing, how did this make you feel to kind of hear that they eventually, they caved and they've eventually postponed the games?
COLIN HILDING: Well, first, we really can claim that we cancelled the Olympics here because there was only two countries before the announcement was made that said they're not attending, and that was Canada and Australia. So you're welcome, people. As a fan, I'm disappointed. I know when they were throwing it around talking about it, and then you'd hear the IOC saying, we're still determined the Olympics are gonna happen in August or July, August, whatever. I was thinking, okay, I really want them to happen. That's as a fan, when all the athletes started speaking up, and literally all the athletes speaking up, saying, this is not a good idea. First, I was thinking, well, what if it all just blows over by then? I mean, if everything's fine by July, isn't fine. And then they start making the point, okay, well, we have no opportunities to train now. You can't train in your living room. And then it started to click with me, okay, do we want a second-rate Olympics? Do we want to just be watching the Pan Am Games? If we want that, let's watch the Pan Am Games. We want the Olympics, let's get the best out of it. So I completely understand the decision, but still a part of me is like, oh, I was gonna book vacation to watch the Olympics. What am I gonna do now in July and August?
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, how are you feeling? I mean, gosh, you're a vision for you, and now the Olympics. I mean, I don't even know what you're doing right now with your life.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's just, it's one thing after another. I think if anything, kind of losing your vision beforehand, I'm pretty sure it was the same week, kind of both were cancelled, at least with the Olympics. It was postponed, and it's still technically the 2020 Olympics in 2021. But yeah, just gutted that kind of both of them happened at the same time. With the Olympics, it kind of felt like a more obvious decision that it was always gonna kind of end up that way. I feel like they dragged out the postponement a bit, but it wasn't like with Eurovision, where they're presenting all these like alternate options of like no audience or like home broadcasters or whatnot. So I think, yeah, I think losing Eurovision the same week softened the blow, and the fact we were only waiting a year, and I kind of feel like this is gonna go really quickly. And I think too, it kind of presents some potentially exciting opportunities, depending on what the rules are gonna be with qualification, and if a couple of new athletes can get in there, yeah, so I think just, it was the right decision, and 2021, it's just gonna be great anyway, so I'm looking forward to it.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think it was important for them to, you know, hold off as long as they could. I mean, it was inevitable that it was going to happen, let's be honest, but I think that, you know, a lot of people were jumping the gun and saying like, oh, cancel this now, but I mean, it's a very expensive little project, the Olympics, and obviously the amount of money that Japan are putting into this and everything along those lines. And I realise this isn't all just about money, but I think just the length of time that they took to finally make the announcement, I don't know, like I think that everything has developed so quickly, particularly every week, every day, literally it is just going so quickly how much this is developing. So I mean, on the flip side, had things not gone as rapidly as they had, and things had slowed down, and they all of a sudden cancelled it or postponed it, then all of a sudden go, actually, no, it's getting better, guys. Everything's fine. We'll be back to normal by May. Then they would have been going, uh-oh, that was a bit of a hasty decision. So I mean, yeah, as I agree with you both, the only decision they could have made realistically with it. But I think that they kind of, they took as much time as they could when it came to this. And obviously, now the decision has been made. So we're still waiting on dates, though, aren't they? They haven't officially announced anything in terms of 2021. Because Colin, you made the good point, I think, when we were having a bit of a chat, that essentially we could be in the very unique position that we're going to be having a summer games and a winter games within six months of each other.
COLIN HILDING: Which, I mean, that's something that I know has happened within my lifetime, but I don't really remember it. Whatever Olympics I did watch pre-1994, I may see one event here or there, or if my parents are watching something, but I wasn't closely following it. So I mean, from me as an Olympic fan growing up, it's always been the two years apart, but we're really not that far removed from, what are we, 25 years from when they split them every two years apart. This used to be the norm. You would have the summer and the winter games just six months apart. I guess they kind of said at the very latest, it will be next July or August. So depending on climate and stuff like that, there's a possibility maybe we end up getting the summer Olympics in March or April. It's really nice outside. But the postponement will be the very latest, but it's gonna be a very busy six months for us too. That's the other thing to consider.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, no one thinks of us, do they? They really don't think of us.
COLIN HILDING: People don't realise this takes a lot of work to sit there and talk every single night for one hour. I mean, forget about what the athletes go through. Think about how tired we are at the end of 16 days.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's just literally no one thinks about how, you know, podcast hosts have to deal with this situation. It's always about...
COLIN HILDING: Will someone please think of the podcasters?
BEN WATERWORTH: You know, boo hoo, these people are getting sick and all the elderly might die. Well, I mean, come on, what about us? All right? Like, you know, we're tired too, people.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, yeah, Jarrod, get in there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod's lost Eurovision, think about Jarrod.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, Jarrod doesn't care.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's so angry, he can't even speak. I'm just looking at 1992\. Alba Ville was 8th of February to 23rd of February, so closed on the 23rd of February. And the opening ceremony of Barcelona was on the 25th of July. So that's only what, five months. So yeah, I mean, like, gosh, we were all alive. I think, Jarrod, were you alive in 1992, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Uh, just.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, just, all right, there you go, thank you.
COLIN HILDING: He remembers it, though.
BEN WATERWORTH: He does, of course he remembers it better than you do.
COLIN HILDING: Immediately.
BEN WATERWORTH: Um, but yeah, like obviously, you know, again, as you said, Colin, that was the norm, but I guess for most people now, it's a very strange fact. But also the fact too that, I mean, they're basically just over the river from each other in a way, in some aspects, Beijing and Japan. I mean, Tokyo, I mean, I realise a little bit more than a river, it's not really a river, I understand it. But I know the geography, but it's very close, whereas, I mean, I guess technically then, Alba Ville in France, Barcelona in Spain, just down the road, so interesting. But yeah, you made the point, obviously, both of you think about the athletes training and everything, because the varying countries on lockdowns and everything, like a lot of the African countries, for example, hadn't really affected Africa as much as it had, say, impacted Europe. So we're all of a sudden, a lot of these European countries aren't able to send their athletes. And then, all of a sudden, we're getting like Burkina Faso people winning the 100-metre butterfly in the swimming pool. And Eddie the Eel is finally winning something from Equatorial Guinea 20 years later after Sydney. So it would have been very interesting, but it really was that trigger point, wasn't it, that Canada announced that, hey, guys, no, we're not doing it. Then Australia did it. And then all of a sudden, everyone has, I mean, spending a few days as a refugee in the United States lately and watching some of the coverage there, I actually, where I was staying, had the Olympic channel. And basically all the news coming through on that was saying that all these US athletes are basically saying like, no, we're not going. Like America didn't make an official announcement. But Jarrod, I haven't been in Australia. So I mean, was this a huge talking point amongst athletes? Was the Australian Olympic Committee just finally forced into just saying like, no, we're not going?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think it was just, as we've talked about, kind of the buildup of seeing that, okay, this is not like dying down. If anything, it's escalating. And I think projecting forward to realise that, hey, like, that's not gonna be soon enough and an end point to this. So yeah, I think just probably the lack of information and just people kind of sitting on their hands and waiting just got a bit fed up and seemed to kind of make the decision and the right decision, which was echoed a couple of days later.
BEN WATERWORTH: And Colin, I wasn't in Canada at the time that Canada announced that they weren't doing this. Was this a similar thing? I mean, Canada was the first. I mean, Canada kind of pulled the trigger with this.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, I think everybody in Canada saw it coming because it was all over the news here and all over social media, not just the athletes, but like the government of Canada. Anybody in Canada was saying, we need to pull out. There was even somebody on the, I don't even know what it's called, the Canadian Olympic Committee, whatever it is, that was saying, I pretty much guarantee that they will postpone this. But then a couple of days passed, and then, oh, they're going to postpone it, I already have heard. And then a couple of days passed, and then suddenly Canada says, no, we're pulling out. It really is interesting, like the one who pulled this trigger, because that's what we're kind of seeing with everything, you know? Like you mentioned James Bond. James Bond's the first movie to delay itself, and then within days, all these other movies are delaying themselves, you know? And then I can't even remember what movie it was that said we're gonna go digital early, and then every movie's doing that. It's like everybody has the same idea, and they're just waiting to see who's gonna have the balls to go first. In a way, I think I was expecting it to drag out longer, where we'd see more countries. So I think even the IOC knew they were going to do this. They were just hopeful, or maybe they didn't want to be the bad guys, because even after Canada made their announcement, suddenly it was, okay, we're gonna wait four weeks. We set a deadline of four weeks we're gonna decide, and then Australia, and they're like, all right, four weeks is done, 48 hours it is. So the decision was probably, just like it's been all over the news here, the decision probably was made at that point, but you just wanted somebody else to be the bad guy. In this case, I think everybody's accepted enough that Canada and Australia aren't looking at, like they're the bad guys or anything. It's just like, oh, what a smart move.
BEN WATERWORTH: The other thing that a lot of people have been saying with this whole situation going back to the length of time it took for the IOC to finally pull the pin and basically say, let's delay this. A lot of people have been critical of them. A lot of people are calling for our man Thomas Bach to step aside. He's saying he's not. He's gonna, ah. He's gonna stay, no doubt, in office just because he's apparently got to start his speech now for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, and he might be finished by the time they roll around. I mean, do we think he should stand aside? Do you think he needs to take something on board with this? Or do you think that's unjustified? I'll start with you, Colin.
COLIN HILDING: No, I mean, see, there's so many people, this is even a side for the Olympics here. There's so many people with the coronavirus who are just looking to blame whoever's in power, whether it be government, big business, whatever. And every single time I see that, including when people pick on Trump, by the way, which I'm not a fan of Trump, but a lot of the criticisms are warranted, but you also have to understand, nobody has ever been faced with this situation before. So everybody's gonna make mistakes. I heard somebody, a high ranking person in just a random company that made a quote saying, we're all human and we had no way to prepare for this. So we're gonna make mistakes, but we're gonna try to correct those mistakes. So as far as I'm concerned, I think everybody deserves at least a bit of a free pass, because while you can prepare for a nuclear war, you can prepare for a tornado, nobody really thought what do we actually do in the case of a pandemic, because there is no way to control it. I do think it's funny that Thomas Bach is taking heat for this though, because I think we made him a star. So let's, if he does have to step down, let's jump on the bandwagon here, and let's not jump on the bandwagon, what's the opposite of that? Let's jump off the bandwagon.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jump off the bandwagon, yep, yep.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, let's start a campaign to get the good count here kept on in power.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, do you have any viewpoint on it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Nah, Thomas Bach is all right in my book, I think, cancelling what, four months out? That's enough notice.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's like the evening beforehand, like the people are dressed up, ready to go in their Mario suits or something like that, whatever the opening ceremony was going to be, and then all of a sudden it was like, oh, by the way, guys, cancelling it, sorry. I mean, I experienced that. I was lined up at the gates of the Australian Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago, and we didn't know what was going on, so they said, oh, Grand Prix's off. I'm like, oh, thanks. Thanks for that. What I find...
COLIN HILDING: I just wanted to mention, you said, okay, well, yeah, obviously it's not just about money. That does play a huge part, because no matter where you're living in the world right now, if you're hit by this, it has such a huge impact on businesses. Governments are having to bail business out. It's going to take the economy, just in countries where they're closing down retail stores, it's going to take them a year, two years, maybe longer, to recover from this. Something like the Olympics, that's basically throwing everything you have at it, even for a country as prosperous as Tokyo. We talked about back in Rio, the unfair criticism that they were getting for the conditions and stuff like that, and people were not even considering the fact that not every Olympics has to be in the most wealthy nations, but even in a country like Japan, this is going to have a huge impact on their economy to even postpone it. I mean, what do you do? This is why you can't blame them for saying, oh, well, we were looking at all options. Like, should we delay it for a month? Well, can you get those venues in a month? Can you delay it for a year? Well, what else is going on in the year? You know, there's no way to know that.
BEN WATERWORTH: And that's a very important thing, too, to, yeah, I think absolutely, because, you know, while it's easy for people to criticise people who are talking about things like money in these situations when human lives are at stake, I think it's also very important to think that, well, human lives are still at stake when it comes to money and it comes to the economy and it comes to this, because, you know, Japan, I was reading a very good article the other day, I think, on Reuters, and it was basically going into the nitty gritty of the economy and how much Japan was relying on this. And, you know, the Olympics, this isn't the Australian Grand Prix, this isn't Eurovision, two very, you know, big events that, you know, cost a lot of money, bring in a lot of money. This is the biggest sporting event in the world, one of the biggest gatherings, one of the biggest events in the world in general. And the amount of, you know, infrastructure and everything that is needed to put into this, you can't make that decision overnight and lightly. And on the side of that thing, too, you talk about, like, scheduling and everything like that, you know, athletes, training and everything like that, too. You've also then got to understand that by moving this to 2021, the entire international sporting calendar has to change because you've got, what, 32 sports now at the Olympic Games, which all have individual sporting calendars that are all going to have to shift. Like, the World Athletics Championships next year are saying, well, we're happy to move, but then you've got all these World Cup events for all these different sports in the Olympics that have to, you know, alter it, and it's going to have a trickle effect. And again, at the end of the day, we understand that, you know, human lives are at stake here and it's all about making sure that we don't wipe out the entire human population with this. But you've also got to understand that this isn't a simple decision that a lot of people on social media and some commentators just seem to think it is. Like, oh, just cancel it. It's fine. Go ahead next year. It's all good. You build them. Like, whatever, you know? I mean, I can't imagine if this had happened in Rio four years ago, how that would have dealt Brazil, because we already know how much they're struggling after holding what was generally considered as successful Olympics at the time.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, and I'm sure all of us know somebody who has been laid off. I mean, guarantee everybody even listening, all three of you know somebody who's been laid off. And because of the way the situation is, you know, these people who are getting laid off just from working at a restaurant or whatever, their question is, okay, great, so this thing ends, do I have a job to go back to? Does the company actually survive? What happens then? Do they have to do this, this, and this? So the same thing could be said here. What happens if you delay this for a year? Look at the NHL and the NBA. You know, they basically run at the same time in a lot of the same venues, and it's not just as simple as what a lot of people are suggesting, saying, well, if this thing blows over in a month, just pick up the season where you can, or just start the playoffs. Well, you have two separate organisations that both are running their seasons and playoffs at the same time in the same venues. That takes an incredible amount of coordination. And like you said, Ben, what are you going to do when you have dozens of different sports, and you now have to coordinate this, and then you're competing with whatever else was already booked for these venues a year down the road, which is typically how long things book out. I mean, it's going to be a logistics nightmare.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and this is the thing, too, like, in relation to, like, NHL, NBA, obviously in Australia, we've got the AFL, NRL. I mean, all sports basically around the world are off. But it's all well and good. Like, if this keeps going for a couple of months, the NHL, NBA can easily just go, OK, the season's a write-off. You know, no champion this year, we'll come back next year. And it just, it's a cycle. Any sporting, you know, yearly competition is a cycle, isn't it? You just keep going and it happens. Again, the Olympics is not that simple. It's every four years in one city, and once that city has hosted it, that's it. It's not like, you know, we just go back to Rio in case Tokyo doesn't happen. I mean, I know they talked about that, you know, worst case, Rio is not ready. We can just hold it in Melbourne tomorrow. Like, logistically, that's never going to happen. You know, it's all well and good to say that on paper, but it's not that simple. But yeah, and the ironic thing is, is that the last time we had a situation where Olympics had to be, well, in this case, they were obviously cancelled due to the war. The first time that happened back in during World War II, I mean, obviously it happened during World War I, Berlin got cancelled in 1916. But 1940, Japan, twice it happened to them in one year. Sapporo, the winter games. Can't catch a break. And then Tokyo, and they had some sharing there with Helsinki going on as well, and Garmisch had some of the winter events too. So yeah, Jarrod, poor old Japan, eh? They just are they a curse on the Olympics? Do we need to look at this?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Not as big of a curse as Swiss multivitamins, so I think on the scale, they're kind of sitting fairly OK at the moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: Coronavirus is the Swiss multivitamins of diseases, isn't it? Better on Swiss or whatever it is. It's crazy to kind of think that I'm somebody for like trends and things like that in history and all that sort of stuff. So I think Jarrod, you might have mentioned it. Are they still looking at calling this Tokyo 2020 next year? I mean, should this not be called Tokyo 2021 next year?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I mean, you would think so, but as far as I see on everything, it's still like the branding is the same. So I don't know.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think it'd be weird.
COLIN HILDING: Somebody get a Sharpie, scratch it off.
BEN WATERWORTH: I feel like I should point out the obvious here too. We've talked about it on the show before, but let's bring it up. Hobart's still ready to go, people. Hobart 2020. Just saying. I'll be honest. Yeah, flimflon. I'll be honest right now. This is all my fault. I started COVID-19 so that we could get the Olympics back. I was that angry that we missed out on the 2020 Olympics. Here we go. We're ready to go. I think we also talked a little bit about how athletes now, all of a sudden, who maybe were injured right now and can't make it or things like that, have an opportunity. And the ISC haven't clarified what this will mean for qualification and things like that. Because obviously, I think 60% of the athletes have qualified or something like that. There was a number I read the other day. So will this still count next year? Because does that need to change things there? One such example I saw, which is kind of is a positive, our girl Chloe Esposito, she's pregnant at the moment. So she was going to not be at Tokyo this year, and she said she would be back in 2024 in Paris. She no doubt would have had a baby before next year, so that puts her in a good spot, so she might be able to enter there. But I'll start with you, Jarrod. Do you think there needs to be some clarification, or what do you think is the fair clarification here? Should they still keep this strictly on rules for this year, or should they open it up a little bit, depending on how things change in the coming months, to allow for extra people to try and qualify and sort of wipe the slate clean?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think it should be flexible. I think definitely kind of athletes who have earned their sport already, there should be some form of safeguard for them. But I think you want to have kind of the best games you can possibly have. And to me, that entails having the best possible athletes and the leaders in their field. So yeah, in certain cases, I think, particularly with the Chloe Esposito example, to have gold medallists come back and defend their title, I think should be a priority where possible. So I think if people are injured or there's other circumstances and they're at the top of their particular sport, then I think they should definitely be given a chance to qualify, and I don't know how they work that out in terms of qualifying sports and whatnot, but I think, yeah, it's kind of uncharted territory, and there needs to be flexibility to make sure that the best athletes are there.
BEN WATERWORTH: What's your thought, Colin? Were there any sort of notable Canadian athletes who maybe were going to be missing out this year who all of a sudden look like, hey, I'm going to be fine for 2021?
COLIN HILDING: I don't know of any specifically. First, I'll just say, if anybody here is crying upstairs, don't mind it. Chloe Esposito's baby was just delivered.
BEN WATERWORTH: Congratulations, Chloe.
COLIN HILDING: I don't know if this is completely off topic, but the Wi-Fi really sucks now because everybody's at home. So I'm like, I'm plugged in, hardwired in downstairs. You're going to hear some screaming. No, I don't know of any specific ones, but it is an interesting point because I know, for example, Andre Degrasse, who was at the point of the last Olympics in Rio, second in the world, and he's had tons of injuries since then. I think he was in good shape now, but I mean, he's coming off of injuries. Was he going to be able to qualify? Was he going to be able to be in the best shape possible? Now he's got an extra year to work on it. And also remember, this is for a lot of these athletes, it's going to be an extra year of just straight recovery and training. There's no competitions going on this summer. As far as the qualification goes, I do agree with Jarrod. I think you have to make it flexible. And a lot of things are just going to happen naturally too. Yeah, there's athletes who are injured now who may have a chance if you allow them to qualify again in a year, but you're also going to have other athletes who already have qualified now that a year from now, they may tear their hamstring and they suddenly can't compete. So they're going to have to have some type of flexibility when it comes to this or make exceptions. I don't think you should do just a complete do-over and say, well, whoever qualified now, you have to do it again next year, because that wouldn't be fair either. But then even at the same time, if these people qualified now, are we going to be getting a lesser athlete? Because a year from now, they're not in the shape they need to be. So maybe you do need to just do qualifications all over again in another 12 months.
BEN WATERWORTH: We are really going to have maybe one of the most unique Olympics with this for sure, because there's just so many questions around this, because I've been reading a lot about certain football teams and competitions in Australia, who they're on lockdown, they can't train. So their season beginning in May, I'm sure this is the same with NHL players, NBA players, how are they meant to be training without except a makeshift gym? There's only so many treadmills and stairs and all that you can do, doesn't mean you're bouncing a ball or shooting a park or kicking a footy, things like that. And certain sports, like an equestrian rider, training their dressage horse, what if their beloved horse dies of coronavirus?
COLIN HILDING: Bat horse dead.
BEN WATERWORTH: Bat horse, exactly. Think about bat horse, people.
COLIN HILDING: You know another thing that hadn't occurred to me until probably just a couple of hours ago when I was thinking about what we're going to talk about in here, like what are we going to talk about? The Olympics are cancelled, let's talk about it being cancelled. A lot of these athletes, you'll have the big ones like in track and field or swimming, where they're never going to have sponsors dry up. But even just through a lot of the interviews we've done with athletes in big sports, like the moguls ones I did, especially here in Canada, I thought with the Canadian moguls athletes that I interviewed, it would have been because this has network TV coverage, and it is considered of amateur sports to be fairly well known. Most of them are like, yeah, we don't get a lot of sponsorship. And I remember interviewing Evan Dunphy, who was the race walker, who had a pretty dramatic story last year, and he's already been posting, oh, I lost this sponsor, but I think I have a new one. If there's nothing going on for a year, are the sponsors going to drop all these people? Are they going to have to fund training themselves? Are they going to be working at Tim Hortons so that they can get some time on the track? It's crazy to think that, oh, what are we supposed to talk about? Cancelled Olympics, and there are so many different variables that just nobody has a clue what to do with at this time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, you might pop down to your local McDonald's, and Chloe Esposito might be there. She might be behind the counter.
COLIN HILDING: She's looking to till.
BEN WATERWORTH: She could be.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Got to make a living, get that sponsorship money. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, who knows?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Pay for a couple of flights.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. I mean, you know Ryan Lochte's already gotten a job somewhere, probably. Like, hey, man.
COLIN HILDING: Paul Dancing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Here's my resume. I'm pretty good. From Ryan Lochte's resume, that'd be a good read. It'd be a quick read, probably.
COLIN HILDING: Also wouldn't be spelled.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. And it's also another thing, too. Again, the trickle effect. Think about these multi-billion dollar television deals. I mean, television networks block out content around Olympics in Olympic years. So, I mean, now all of a sudden, they're scrambling to having to find weeks' worth of content. I mean, Channel 7 might have to find some good content for once, Jarrod. I know they announced their commentary team just before all this got dropped. But I mean, maybe all of a sudden, we're going to see like Bruce McEvaney, you know, on Married at First Sight or something like this to try and entertain some people.
JARROD LOOBEEK: They'll probably run classic Olympic moments that aren't classic, but they think that they're worthy of it, or reruns of the moles scheduled in different hours each day.
BEN WATERWORTH: So in other words, they're just going to show swimming highlights, and they're just going to show Sally Pearson's run about 100 times as well.
COLIN HILDING: You know, on that note, there are so many gaps in schedules even right now, just because of things like sports getting delayed. But you're at the point where almost every TV show, just regular scripted TV shows we're filming, didn't get to finish their finales, and some of those are being pushed. Jarrod's an amazing race fan like I am. He knows that there's been an amazing race season that's been sitting in a can for over a year, and for some reason they're still not airing it. But yet, if you see on CBC here in Canada, Ben, I don't know if you have looked at the guide, but because of all the Saturday and Sunday afternoon sports that we normally watch, which typically are amateur sports, network TV coverage of amateur sports, they have nothing to air right now. What they're doing is they're airing two hours of a classic Olympic event. Like last week, it was either Sochi or Pyeongchang, the figure skating finals, and I think this week they've got bobsledding from Pyeongchang, that they're airing in place of that. I noticed that NBC is going to start to do that this weekend as well. It's a good opportunity that we're plugging the holes in the schedule with classic Olympic moments, but what is going to happen here for now? Because everything is delayed. It's the same thing with the movies. James Bond pushed itself. Wonder Woman's pushed itself. A lot of these other movies are like, well, there already are movies scheduled for release in October, November. There's only so many spots you can take, which is why you're seeing a lot of these digital releases. What's going to happen? Our TV deal is just going to completely disappear because they don't have the space in 12 months.
BEN WATERWORTH: See, this is where we all need to band together and film a movie and just get it released because we could be the number one summer blockbuster because one person could go and see it. Eight dollars at the box office. There you go. Summer blockbuster.
COLIN HILDING: There's three of us, but only one of us is going to go see it.
BEN WATERWORTH: You know it's going to be me. You two wouldn't go and watch it. Reminds me of working with Ben. I'm not going to see that crap.
COLIN HILDING: Ben Waterworth Vanity Project.
BEN WATERWORTH: I guess unless there's anything else of this really that we're dying to talk about. I mean, we should really apologise that we didn't bring an episode to you last year. We were, we did plan, we did talk about it, and it just fell through the cracks. You know, obviously we thought about, well, not really thought about, we wanted to do some interviews with some winter athletes kind of after Pyeongchang and all that sort of stuff. And I don't really think we've actually brought an episode to you since the Commonwealth Games coverage, to be honest. It has actually been nearly two years. But obviously, we're not going to go through every single bit of Olympic news in that space of time. But I mean, some of the big things, I think, really, that we can maybe just quickly have some comment on Jarrod on Australian perspective, full steam ahead for an Australian bid for the Olympics. 2032 Southeast Queensland is all go. And apparently one of the front runners, I don't think there's been a whole lot of other big names put their name in the hat just yet. I think Indonesia's one and a few others. But what's your take on Australia? Going to be 32 years after Sydney if we get it, trying to get another Olympic Games.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think that's a fair enough space of time between, well, not in between bids, but in between successful bids, hopefully. But yeah, no, I think that's a good decision. Flows on well from the Commonwealth Games. I think there's a proven track record there of holding big sporting events and props, I suppose, to Queensland if they're able to get that over the line.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think during the Commonwealth Games, a lot of the mood, there was a lot of questions and people were talking a lot about this leading to an Olympic bid. And I know the AOC, for a very long time, have always said that Brisbane would be the next city to bid. And they bid, I believe, for the 92 Games from memory and didn't get it, obviously. It went to Barcelona. So they have bid before. But yeah, I think it's a right amount of time for us to bid again. I think Sydney, obviously, was a very successful games. It was, what, 44 years between Melbourne and Sydney. So this is a little bit less time. But, you know, I think it would be a great opportunity. It would be the first time we've had an Olympics in the Southern Hemisphere since Rio. I mean, Asia's had a lot of Olympics recently. We're obviously returning to Europe for Paris and then for Los Angeles for 2028. So, yeah, I think it would be pretty exciting. We should also probably mention, too, an important fact. I'll mention about the Canadian Olympic bid that didn't sadly happen for Calgary, Colin. But, I mean, that kind of ties us in to the fact that the 2026 Olympics were also awarded since we've last been on air. They will be in Italy, in Milan, Milano Cortina, to be precise. So kind of a dual city bid here, as this is the way they're saying a lot of the Olympics are going to be going there. Colin, sadly, Calgary had to pull out. They basically had a referendum that said, nope, we don't want this anymore. A bit sad that that didn't go to Canada.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, again, as an Olympic fan, I was devastated because I could drive there if I wanted. You know, I could leave in the morning and be there for an evening sport, but it was not received well. Even just when there was a big push for it, there wasn't really a lot of support, maybe in Calgary, but outside of that, people didn't seem to be for it. Again, it was the economics. This is going to cost too much money, it's too much of a risk, which now as we see what's happening with Tokyo, maybe it's understandable. But I felt like it would have been a complete lock, and then the tide just shifted, and as you said, the public just became completely against it. I was glad that Los Angeles did win the bid, because that means you and I could go down there and attend the Olympics together. Jarrod, you could be in Brisbane. Over the course of just a few years, all three of us could actually be at the Olympics. The stars are lining up for us finally. Finally, the world is rewarding us for our hard work.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's very much that case. Finally, we might actually be able to qualify. We'll all be old by then. Well, Jarrow will still be young. I was actually surprised. I thought that Sweden were going to get it. I thought Stockholm were going to get it, but it didn't. I mean, Italy only had the Winter Olympics 20 years prior to this in Turin, so a bit of a surprise.
COLIN HILDING: I think of all the Winter Olympics, Turin just had its feel to it. I think it was the crowd's energy, especially getting behind the... I don't think any other country has had that type of enthusiasm for their own athletes, but just everything about the 2006 Olympics just felt different to me. It felt really exciting. It felt very positive, and maybe that was because it was the last time that we weren't so bombarded by social media and the media just looking to tear it down, where it was the last chance to have fun with the Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, do you have any thoughts on Italy having the Winter Olympics, or your memories of Turin?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Not strong memories. I mean, I was all for kind of Stockholm as well, but I think that's just because I went there last year, so I was scoping out, hoping that it would be worth it, but, you know, I mean, it's Europe anyway, so I think geographically spreading it around, that's still okay in my book.
BEN WATERWORTH: Canada, though, Colin, I mean, Vancouver, I think they're asking the question, I believe, for 2030, but I think the issue around a lot of what's happening for Canada around multi-sport events, I believe that Hamilton are really pushing for the Commonwealth Games in 2030, because it will be the 100th anniversary of the first Commonwealth Games, and I believe Calgary, too, are seriously trying to get that bid. And basically, from what I'm reading, they're saying that the Canadian government are not going to support a Commonwealth Games bid and an Olympics bid, so I would probably say more likely Commonwealth Games, just because it's been a long time since Canada. The city I'm in right now is the last city to host the Commonwealth Games in Canada.
COLIN HILDING: Was it 1994, 1995?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, 1994. So, I mean, do you have any thought? Would you be happy with the Commonwealth Games, or would you rather an Olympics?
COLIN HILDING: Oh, I mean, I'd rather the Olympics, but knowing that it's still feasible for me to attend the Olympics, as I said, in Los Angeles or wherever else they go, pretty much anything that you'd have in Canada would be great. The Commonwealth Games would be great to go to as well. I still regret that I never got to attend any of the events when the Pan Am Games were here. Even the Canada Games, I mean, that was incredibly exciting for me, and that's just Canada. So any type of multi-sport event, I'm down for it.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, the good news for Canada, though, you've got at least 10 games of the 2026 World Cup. So I mean, I don't know how much of a soccer fan you are, but I'm excited for that at least. So that's technically the biggest sporting event in the world.
COLIN HILDING: Well, behind Dressage, let's be honest.
BEN WATERWORTH: Behind Dressage and Ryan Lochte's ego, so there you go.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Synchronised swimming.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, synchronised swimming World Cup, yes. That, of course, will still go ahead during COVID-19, because they're just under water. So they don't cough or anything like that. I don't know if we've really got anything else to add. Is there anything glaring here that I'm missing, guys, that I feel we need to discuss here? Because I mean, this is just kind of a... It was almost just an episode. I think we all came together at the beginning of the week and said, like, Olympics being cancelled, we should really do one. I mean, again, we've been saying this for about six months. We should do an episode, guys. But anything else we want to add at all?
COLIN HILDING: No, I think I promised people. I was going to say, we do promise people that we are not turning into an Olympics cancellation podcast. You will hear from us when good things happen as well.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Jarrod? I think the loss of our champion hurdler is worth a mention because Channel 7 will struggle with what repeats to play. But yeah, Sally Pearson officially retired August of last year now.
BEN WATERWORTH: That is a very good point, Jarrod.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No chance to defend her gold medal from what?
BEN WATERWORTH: It's eight years ago now. I think the writing was on the wall a long time for Sally because sadly we saw all that happen around the Commonwealth Games and everything. But yeah, it's weird because you obviously understand that all athletes are going to eventually retire one day, and it's sad. But when they're a particular favourite of yours, Sally's always been a favourite of mine. I mean, we've talked at length about just coming onto our stage in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, one of the best interviews you will ever see. And just, yeah, she just raced into our hearts, Sally, to sound like Bruce McEvaney. But all the best for an Olympic champion. What, a three-time world champion? Was she not? Jarrod, did she win three world championships? Yeah, I believe so. So and a silver medallist, of course, too. So she had a very similar career, I feel, to like Kathy Freeman, I think, in terms of just how she had a very similar success. But yeah, a great Australian athlete, and sad to see her retire. Any big Canadians that have retired recently, Colin, that you feel need a special shout out at all?
COLIN HILDING: Summer athletes, no. The big drama isn't necessarily retirement, but for the Winter Olympics, I guess the big bobsledder we had, Kaylee Humphries, who's one of the most recognisable athletes in Canada, she had so many disagreements that she just decided she would jump ship, and now she's an American, so she'll be competing for America in the next Olympics. She's really not being received well here in Canada. I think the more exciting thing is just the emerging athletes, I think particularly in swimming, because Rio was so huge for Canada in swimming, mostly Penny Alexiak, but just the team as a whole, just making a lot of ground up. And even since Rio, we've had two or three other swimmers that are gold meddling in different World Championships events, where Penny Alexiak is almost struggling to keep up. She had a big slump, I think the first World Championships after that, and then it's come out in the last year and said, yeah, you know, I was getting lazy. I wasn't taking things seriously and I'm back now. So I think swimming is going to be our event come Tokyo 2020, 2020, 2021, 2022, 20 something.
BEN WATERWORTH: How's your your trampolina lady? What's the name?
COLIN HILDING: Oh, Rosie McLennan.
BEN WATERWORTH: There we go.
COLIN HILDING: You know, I think she's still in it for one more Olympics. This will probably be her last. She's been one of the main athletes that actually I need to look because she's been very vocal last couple days. Maybe she maybe she stepped into more of an mineral now. That's interesting. But yeah, she's been pretty much the main spokesperson for Team Canada during all this, and I was just watching probably about half an hour before we went on the air here. You know, she had some type of big Skype interview thing with her and several other athletes where she was kind of leading it, saying, yeah, these are the reasons that we actually cancelled it. So she is in the next one. It's guaranteed to be her last. You know, I think she competed in the World Championships recently, but this will be probably her fourth game. So she'll be a huge ambassador one way or the other, even if she steps away from the sport.
BEN WATERWORTH: Quick correction. I mentioned 32 sports, 33 sports, of course, happening in Tokyo and disappointed. We're not going to see like competitive climbing, but I've waited a little bit longer for that. I'm still looking forward to seeing that. Jarrod, actually one quick thing too, which I think is important to mention just in some Olympic news. Since we've been off air, Australia did announce that we would have dual flag bearers, a male and a female, which I believe is the first time that has ever been done in the Olympics before. So, yeah, pretty groundbreaking moment there, Jarrod, that we're going to have, yeah, two flag bearers.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, Chloe and, what's his face, Max? I don't know her brother's name.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think there's a big push for Paddy Mules to be the male one, because I think this is his fourth Olympics, I think, maybe. Sadly, not Deleva Dover, because we know how much they love saying Deleva Dover, but do you have any, I mean, Paddy Mules, Chloe, would you be happy with those two?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think that would be a good combo.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Go, Colin. You sounded like you had something important to say.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah.
COLIN HILDING: Well, I just, in doing a little bit of research here on Rosie McLennan, it looks like she still is competing, so hopefully it's good in another year, but did you know Rosie McLennan's grandfather was selected as a gymnast for the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo, but was unable to compete as the games were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II? It's the McLennan family's fault.
BEN WATERWORTH: Goodness me. What is going on here? I thought we would have blamed...
COLIN HILDING: Rosie, you're dead to us.
BEN WATERWORTH: Don't say things like that, Colin. You know what happens on these podcasts when we say things about people dying. Killed Roger Moore, killed the Olympics, we've killed No Time To Die, we've killed Eurovision. We're about to do bad movie month. I think we're about to kill Britney Spears. Quick, let's do a movie starring Taylor Swift. Let's do Cats. I mean, this has been fun. I really enjoy being able to come back together. We said this at the end of whenever our last episode was. I can't remember. It was two years ago. Lots happened since then. That we were trying to do interviews, but again, as we were just saying off air, a lot of these athletes aren't really doing much. So if you're an Olympian and you're listening and you're bored, shoot, it's a message. We don't really have an email, I don't think, of this show, but find me on Facebook. Find Jarrod. Everyone finds Jarrod. Jarrod's the nice one. But in all seriousness, we'll... No, he hasn't. Jarrod's the nice one. Jarrod's the one everybody tunes in for. I mean, seriously, over on The Oz Network, download now via iTunes. You should see our listeners spike up for Total Drama Island and who's on every one of those episodes. Jarrod! There you go. You mean... I see what you're doing, Jarrod. You are the... the Lothario hunk of all our podcasts, they tune in for.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Just working on the gradual takeover.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know where I'm going with that. I've been in isolation for too long, I'm going crazy. Like us on Facebook, sure. Subscribe on our channels. And we will have content for you, hopefully a lot more often than every two years. So stay tuned, we will try and get some people on the show and chat. Well, I do know I have at least one Olympian lined up for an interview, so maybe I'll contact her and we'll get her on the show. She's a bronze medallist from a water polo team, so we'll find out about that. Colin, thank you for joining us and thanks Canada for starting all this.
COLIN HILDING: You're welcome on behalf of Canada.
BEN WATERWORTH: And Jarrod, I know you're going to be bored in the next coming months, so I mean, if there's something else you want to start up as a podcast project, let me know. I'm sure we can do something.
JARROD LOOBEEK: We'll do, looking to see how all this qualification turns out and hopefully just those athletes can maybe just take the spot of Russia instead.
BEN WATERWORTH: And everyone else. Oh yes, Russia got banned too.
JARROD LOOBEEK: We should have probably mentioned that.
COLIN HILDING: By the time Tokyo happens, the ban will be over.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Exactly. Thanks for tuning in to Off The Podium. We will speak to you next time, good night.
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