PyeongChang 2018 Day 11 Review
As we pass another day at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics it's time to celebrate Canada being amazing and Australia being beyond our peak as day 11 gets reviewed by your resident winter experts Ben & Jarrod. Just why was the short-track relay so confusing? How good are Virtue & Moir and how much are they doing it? How will Australia react if New Zealand end up sweeping the ski half-pipe? Why are Canadian speed skaters such good artists? And how do we know that Lydia Lassila could be competing at the 2024 Olympics? Click away to listen away and get your daily Olympic fix!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: Hello everybody, and welcome back to Off The Podium, An Olympics Podcast, as we continue once again with our daily coverage of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games. We're onto Day 11. We are getting rapidly close to the end, sadly. But more to talk about today. We've won medals, we've had fun, we've had excitement, we've had action, we've had controversy. We've had multiple gold for Canada, and sadly, we're not represented by Canada today. But we are represented by Australia, myself, Ben. And of course, Australia's number one winter Olympic expert, at least from Emu Plains, of course. That is Mr. Jarrod Loobeek. Jarrod, welcome back to the show.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thanks, it's a pleasure to be back. Great day for Canada. We're still waiting on the Aussies to get back into that top 20.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think we've peaked, haven't we? I think with Andy kind of sadly having a bit of a bad run tonight. Unless we have our Chloe Esposito Dave Morris moment later on, I really don't think we're going to get that magical fourth medal, are we?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'm hoping for the ski cross. I'm just hoping that it will be a bit similar to the snowboard cross, and a couple of crashes going in our favour to get through.
BEN WATERWORTH: Perhaps our Off The Podium jinx will get broken with Sammy Kennedy Sim, perhaps. I still think Jody Bodenhurst is going to do well in the Paralympics. I don't know if that will count, but we're not really covering those. But yes, sadly for Australia, not a whole lot to talk about in terms of the results. We'll get straight into this. Obviously we're recording this while there are still a couple of things going on as we speak, but we'll let you know what those are when we get to it. The only two Aussies in competition today, both in the short track and both suffering pretty rubbish results, Deanna Lockett, unfortunately for her, was disqualified from her heat and not the way she wanted to go out of her campaign. And speaking of which, we're never going to get to see the belly rub. He kind of did a chest patch instead of a belly rub, but Andy Jung, he was in the very first heat of the 500 metres and he crashed out of the very first heat of the 500 metres. He actually did get up and finish the race, but he was about 20 laps behind or something ridiculous like that and it's only a 10-lap race or a 5-lap race. Thoroughly disappointing for both of them, considering that Channel 7 didn't know what to do with themselves. They're the only Australians competing today. They had to wait all the way to the end. So yeah, sad night for Australia.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I don't know what your thoughts on this, but I think that Andy was a little bit robbed. To start off with, he had five people in his heat and there's only four people in all the others, which I mean straight away, and still only two people going through. What's to do with that? Then some guy cuts him off in front, so then he kind of holds up, and then in the process he gets pushed from behind, and then obviously goes to fall over. This is in the second lap of a 10-lap race or whatever. So early on the race when he's in a decent position, then the guy who pushes him gets disqualified, fair enough, but then he's not advanced to the final. In every single heat, bar one following this, if somebody was penalised, somebody else was advanced to the final. So, I mean, it's not up there with the David Morris, but I'm a bit disappointed with how this turned out.
BEN WATERWORTH: Look, I honestly stopped watching it after he went out. I will be completely honest with you, so I didn't see the other ones. I agree with you the fact that I think he was a bit robbed because the American guy who got disqualified from his heat, clearly he was out. There was no doubt about what he was up to. And the two that made it through to me didn't really do anything wrong. So yeah, I agree there, but I didn't realise kind of the other ones went out. So yeah, sad for Andy. I didn't actually see any of his interviews. You know, he's got a great style about his interviews, Andy. I did see Diane's interviews. And like, if you saw her, if you just like, I guess, turned on the TV and saw her being interviewed and she wasn't in her athlete's uniform, there's no way in hell I would guess she's an Olympian. She's like this diminutive little sort of teenage looking girl who looks like she should be in a room playing video games or something like that. I love her. I think she's fantastic. It gives hope to everybody out there that you don't have to be a certain type to be an Olympic athlete. I was sad for her too, because I only saw a bit of a replay of hers, but she caught the flak and she got penalised. How did you think that turned out?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I thought with hers, it could have gone either way. The commentators were straight away, it won't be her who's penalised, she might be advanced. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, I think she's going to get penalised for this, because it was a bit of both ways, push and shove. But I think, yeah, I agree with you completely. I think she doesn't kind of stand out as your typical athlete, but she does so well in this sport, particularly being smaller and in a sport where there is lots of pushing and shoving, to be able to hold your ground, being that stature, I think that's really impressive.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I think it's the second Olympics too, isn't it? So I mean, I'd like to see it come back. I mean, she's got to be only what, like early 20s? I mean, she's young. She's, you know, if she's older than, you know, early 20s, then she definitely, you know, would get asked for ID a lot. I mean, she is definitely looks extremely young for whatever age. She's 22, I'm looking here. So I mean, clearly, at least another couple of games in her, I reckon. But yeah, I do love Australian commentators. You know, I think it is a very Australian thing that we can never really admit when we're wrong, can we? Like in any sort of sport, like I'm sure if, you know, it ever gets found out that Ian Thorpe was on, you know, steroids and heaven forbid he's not, or whatever that heart palpitation drug the curling guys on, we would be for sure, we're like, oh no, Ian's not guilty. This is bullshit. This is against us. Like, OK, I'm going to be hypocritical about the David Morris stuff. That was bullshit, though. So we're a very strange country where we can never really accept when our athletes are in the wrong.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it is. It's one of those things where it's just never our fault.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is just the way of the world, let's be honest. But for Canada, there was quite the opposite, and these golds came in a bit of a flurry, actually. They kind of basically came straight after the other. The Freestyle Skiing Women's Halfpipe, our beloved event that we love, Cassie Sharp took that one, as really was expected, listening to kind of how she was coming into this in regards to her ranking and just everything along those lines. She's got a 94.4 on her first run, a 95.8 on her second run, to take the gold, and basically she knew she'd won the gold by her third run because the Frenchwoman Marie Martinot, she had crashed on her last run, so gold was hers. And then straight away, within the space of 15 minutes, it was another gold. No surprise here to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir from Canada. They came out dominated and got the gold. I wouldn't say dominated, actually, because the French pair got silver. Papadakis and Cezeron, they actually set a world record score in the free dance section. So mixed with the world record on the short dance, it was, again, didn't know you could get world records in figure skating. But that makes them the most decorated figure skaters in history or Canadian figure skaters. I'm not sure if you were paying attention, but they've now won two golds at these games, and that adds to their silver from Sochi and their gold from Vancouver. And if I'm not mistaken, they were part of the team that got silver in Sochi too. So I think that makes them having five medals in total in figure skating. And I also did hear that they became Canada. This is the very first time they've medalled in more than one event in figure skating at the one game. So yeah, they did also get a silver in the team in Sochi. So I've got a bit to say about this sport, though, in terms of just how this works out. But I mean, you know, I think this is to be expected, wasn't it, that they take this gold?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, and if they aren't the record holders for the most golds at most medals in figure skating, then they're definitely the record holders for the most featured on Australian TV figure skaters.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes. What was crazy is that, you know, in between the speed skating tonight, every opportunity Channel 7 will got, let's take a look at the fifth place in the ice dancing tonight. Oh, quick, we're back to the speed skating. Oh, let's take a look at the fourth place. Like, we get it, we saw it, it was on live today. So, you know, why are we not seeing live sport? It's ridiculous. My question just quickly while we're on this, before we get to some other results, this is a weird sport because you, I think, brought this up yesterday about the fact that it's a little bit boring. We've already seen these routines because these are essentially the same routines that they are skating in the team event. Now, my question is in this sport, is if they automatically go into this just repeating what they've already done, they already know what each other's gonna score. So why didn't the French team just be like, well, we know what Moir and Virtue are gonna do. Let's change up, put a couple of twizzles and spaghetti arms here that weren't in the first run and try and beat them because to me this seems like it's almost just automatically this is what these teams are gonna get if they land and do the spaghetti arms correctly. I mean, it seems like a weird sport where there's no real moving, you know, around to change things to try and win instead of lose.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly. I think, um, obviously it kind of makes sense in the other sports to like repeat your routine because you're hoping that somebody falls on a jump or something and obviously stuff can still go wrong in ice dancing, but it's a lot less likely to happen. So yeah, I agree. I think you kind of come into it after that team event knowing how the medals are gonna go unless something drastic happens, which doesn't really seem to happen in a sport. You might get out of time a bit and that's really the worst thing that can happen to you.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I mean, it's not like, as you mentioned, your half-pipes or the air or the things like that where crashes are almost expected. This is legitimately something that you really... It's rare, particularly if you're such a good pairing or anything like that. So it is a strange sport. Maybe we've got some figure skating fans out there that can maybe explain it a little bit better to us, but that's just what it seems like on paper. And to correct my point that I was trying to make before, I've just looked this up. Yes, Virtue and... Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, with this gold medal, officially become the most decorated medallists in the history of figure skating. Not just Canadians, figure skating. This is their fifth medal in total. They have eclipsed the great Swedish figure skater of Gilles Grafström, who between 1920 and 1932 took out three gold and one silver. He definitely was a legend. Did you ever think we would live the day, see the day, Jarrod, where Grafström would be out-medalled ever in the history of the Olympics?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, at least not in my time. Not in my time on this earth.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, no. It's a momentous day for Olympic history, definitely. So yeah, great day for Canada. I have to say though, I feel as though Canada was slightly robbed of another medal in the short track relay. I don't know if we want to talk about this now. I mean, this maybe can come down to what we've watched, but this was not that far away since we've recorded. And this was strange. We've often questioned the reasoning behind the B Final, and maybe we've discovered why these exist, because essentially, the 3000 metres short track speed skating relay, we had the B Final, to which the Dutch came out and smashed a world record, if you don't mind, and then just beat the Hungarians, who also went under the world record. So, crazy to think that they've gone out and broken a world record in a B Final. And of course, this is the Dutch, and when you think of the Dutch, you don't really think of them in short track. They had at least one or two medallists in the long track already on their team, didn't they? So, I mean, they'd already obviously kind of just quickly switched over sports, you know, for the sake of that. So, they won that, but then in the A-final with Korea, China, Italy and Canada, it was a very tight race. Kind of went all over the place. Italy basically pulled the brad bread and said, okay, we'll lead for a little bit, then we'll just go to the back. Canada were ding-donging with China and North Korea, who were the two favourites of this event, and essentially Canada were really putting it up to them. They were leading with about five laps to go. They got, fell back slightly, and then I think they caught a roar into the stick, when after a change, a South Korean skater tripped right in front of the Canadian, forcing the Canadian to fall over, causing the Italians to fall over as well. Meanwhile, at the front, South Korea and China battled right to the end. South Korea went across the line, gold for them. Somehow, somehow Italy got up to get the bronze, looked as though China were getting the silver, and some reason, China were penalised. I didn't see why China were penalised at all. And Canada, who were tripped over, because a Korean fell over in front of them, for some reason got a penalty, which therefore, through all of this, means, hello Netherlands, you're gonna win a bronze medal because you won the B final. I'm confused, I don't get where the penalties came from. What the hell happened?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you. Like, normally, when somebody is penalised or disqualified, they kind of, the commentators kind of make a point of showing where it is and focusing on the footage and saying, oh, it could be from this, could be from that. This, there was like no mention of where it could possibly happen. The replays, the ones that they kept showing over and over, in my head, I'm like, well, like, the Koreans are going to, like, get penalised here, and they've already celebrated, and they've done a lap, and like, this crowd is going to be so angry, and they're going to be so loud, and they're booing, and really disappointed. I'm like, the Koreans are going to be gone. And then they're calling it out, and they're like, two penalties from the front. I'm like, well, that is, the Koreans are out. Who's the other one? And then, yeah, for the fact to it to be the Chinese and Canada, I was like, where did that come from? And then, yeah, finally explaining the point of a B final. So I suppose I can kind of accept it in this, but I'm still a little bit suspicious of it in the Snowboard Cross, because in that, you have five people going down the hill, so you'd need to, like, three people to wipe out and not be able to finish the course for somebody from the B final to get something.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's so crazy to think that four people could have, like, been disqualified. Four teams, all four teams, somehow could have been disqualified, and then Netherlands wouldn't have won the gold. It's a thing that is just so crazy about this whole thing. It's like, yeah, like, you're absolutely right with the replays. Like, there was nowhere in that. And, you know, clearly, you and I are automatically short-track experts after watching this, you know, once every four years. But, like, I didn't see anywhere that either Canada or China could... And I was exactly the same as you. I thought it was the Koreans. I thought the Koreans wouldn't get disqualified. I thought we'd have shades of 2002, you know, and there's just gonna be, like, this controversy with Korea getting stripped, you know, sort of right at the end. But I just couldn't see it. I mean, props to the Italians for pulling a Bradbury, and we didn't even get to see the commentator said they did the change while crashed into the wall. I want to see that! Like, you know, so I'm guessing maybe Canada got penalised because they didn't do a change properly when they fell over. Maybe? That's the only thing I can think of. But again, they didn't show it. And China, I don't know where they got a penalty for, but it was interesting. I mean, congratulations to Korea. They get another gold in their home Olympics, of course, and the Dutch, you know, they can only ever win it on anything that involves ice. So congratulations to them, and Italy as well, I guess, for pulling a Bradbury. So, you know, I do love the relay zone, the short track. I mean, obviously for Australians, you know, I think we've long forgotten where our first ever Winter Olympic medal came from. But 1994, where were you, Jarrod? I mean, that was our first one. So I've always got a bit of a soft spot for the short track relays.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, watching the TV as a two-year-old, I was cheering the Aussies on.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, no, I bet you were. I mean, so we've basically really covered all the medals there in terms of what's actually happened. So just to go over those, so the Ice Dancer, Figure Skater, Virtue, Moir, the Silver went to France with Pavadakis and Cezaron, and America, the Bronze with Shibutani and Shibutani taking the Bronze there. The Freestyle skiing, as we said, sharp for Canada. So France, twice to Canada, they went Silver behind them. Marie, Matanod and America too. So basically, three countries, the same finishing positions there. Britta Sigourney took the Bronze there for the women in the Women's Half Pipe Freestyle Skiing. And as we just said, South Korea, Gold, Italy, Silver and the Netherlands, Bronze in the Short Track Speed Skating 3000m Relay. So we've got the Biathlon Mixed Relay is on currently as we speak. I'm not sure if that perhaps has finished or not. Jarrod, I don't know if you're watching it or anything like that. From what I can see, it hasn't. Perhaps this will finish by the time we get to the end of this episode. I'm just quickly clicking through here to see if it has. I'll have to come back to it. My screen here is being strange. Okay, no, it's still going. No, it's finished. Do I know what I'm talking about here? According to my results, it has finished. And if the results I've got here are correct, France have taken the gold, Norway have gotten silver, Italy have gotten bronze. So I got it wrong the other night in Skeleton, but I'm going to say that's what I've got here right now. Canada got 15th.
JARROD LOOBEEK: That sounds about right because I did see a French person holding a flag skiing, but like I figured Channel 7, it's probably a replay from three days ago.
BEN WATERWORTH: Either that or the French would like running from something and surrendering, like I'm French, I'm French, I'm running away. Canada actually got 12th. I'll correct myself there, not 15th. So I did get a bit of positions better there. And that means that the only other one left is the Nordic combined, my favourite, which is just about to start. I'm just looking here. So we look forward to seeing how that will play out, because we do love a bit of Nordic combined. Currently, the leader of that is Japan's Akito Watabe after the race, oh no, that's the cross country, sorry. So they're about to start the cross country portion of that. So we'll see how that plays out there. We'll probably have to give that result tomorrow. And we have other, just also in the ice dancing, so Canada had two other pairs. They were 8th and 9th for those playing at home. And in the freestyle, the half part, they also had another Canadian in the final, Rosalind Grunawood. She was 10th position. And in the short track, the heats, lots of people made it through. I don't have that result wrong. I'll pull that up in a second. What else? What did you watch today, Jarrod? I think we've covered really everything already, but anything that I didn't cover there that you also watched today?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I caught a little bit of the curling, which I think is on at the moment, just to catch what pants the Norwegians were wearing today. So they're doing a floral print in the pant today.
BEN WATERWORTH: Beautiful.
JARROD LOOBEEK: And currently, that's how they're winning at the moment. It's not their best look. I think the Hawaiian was a better kind of, if you're going to go for the floral print, go for the Hawaiian look. It's no polka dots. But I mean, it's something different. That's the main thing. As long as it's no outfit repeating there, I'm okay with it.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's good.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Other than that, I watched the men's ice hockey, I believe it was Norway and Slovenia.
BEN WATERWORTH: Slovakia.
JARROD LOOBEEK: One of the two. Yep. And then I saw the ski half by. I didn't catch the women's, but I caught the men's qualifying, I assume it was. And I'm a little bit concerned because I think it was three New Zealanders are into the final. There was four in the event and three got through to the final. So I'm a little bit concerned because they were kind of up in the field too.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ouch.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I don't know. If they win one gold, they're ahead of us on the medal tally. So, preferably no medal at all. But if you're going to get something, can you just make it a silver or bronze, please?
BEN WATERWORTH: Please, New Zealand, please. I will correct myself, actually. Jarrod, you were correct. Sorry, Norway did beat Slovenia. Sorry, I thought you said the US, not Norway, I wasn't listening to you. The US were playing Slovakia, so you were correct. Yeah, I caught the half pipe, the women's. I didn't see any of the men's, so that's new to me, what you just said there. A bit of the ice dancing, I had no choice. Channel 7 decided to show it to death. Obviously, it's short track. And yeah, I saw a bit of the women's bobsleigh as well. Nigeria just had a run, just before I came on air. And just on that, I did skip over some of those other non-medal sports. I'll just add to what I was saying, that the women's two, the two woman bobsleigh is happening. The second run is about to happen. But after the first run, USA leading Germany leading USA. And Canada in fourth, ninth and thirteenth. Jamaica are in eighteenth and Nigeria are dead last. So yeah, Jamaica for once are beating people. That sounded a bit mean, Ben. In the men's tournament of the curling today, did that help the Norwegians out? No, they got thrashed ten-three. So clearly their parents are not too happy for them today. Good to see the men in the Canadian side finally got back on the winning list, eight to four over Japan. South Korea eight-seven over the Swiss. And Sweden locked their position into the semi-finals. They won seven-three over Italy. And there are a couple of other matches, as you said, still to come, still to finish. USA against Switzerland, Norway against Italy, Japan against Denmark. The current standings in that, of course, the top four advance through to the semi-finals. Sweden are 100% in. They have only lost the one match, but they are locked in. So the other three positions currently are going to be fought out. Canada in second, Britain third, Switzerland in fourth. They look likely to be the teams there. Japan have got a bit to catch up on, and so Norway. So looks like, Jarrod, sadly, the Norwegians might not be wearing any semi-final pants. So you might have to wait a few more years. And the women's curling today. If this wants to be nice to me, there we go. Canada, after getting back on the winners list, are starting to fall away again. They lost 7-5 to China, sadly. South Korea continue their strong performance, 9-6 over the US, Great Britain 8-6 over Japan. So that means that in the top four of that, Canada are looking likely they might miss out on the medal rounds here in the curling. They've got to hope for a miracle to happen. South Korea are all but a shorter spot. They're on top. Japan second, Sweden third, Britain fourth. So the Canadians, they've got to find something here because they're currently a bit of a percentage out. They've got to win and hope that the Brits and the Americans struggle in their last few days. Now, yeah, you mentioned the half-pipe here, the three New Zealanders. So let's just go over the 12-man final, featuring four Americans, two Canadians, two French men, an Austrian and three New Zealanders. There's only one New Zealander did not make it through. Oh, Miguel Porteus will be shitting himself. He missed out. But I guess that's his brother, is it? Nico Porteus? He's through.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think that was two of them, three of them.
BEN WATERWORTH: There's a Nico Porteus. There's a Beau James Wells. So they're all related, Byron Wells, Beau Jane Wells, Nico Porteus and Miguel Porteus. So you got two pairs of brothers there, I'm guessing, or two husbands each? I don't know. Father and son? So Byron Wells was fourth, Beau James Wells was fifth, Nico Porteus was eleventh and Miguel Porteus was seventeenth. Sadly, the Irish skier, Brendan Newby, was twenty-second with the highest qualifier, Aaron Blunk, the American. Yeah, God, three New Zealanders in a final, that's not good. The women's ice hockey today, it was playoff matches. Switzerland won 0-0 over Japan, they will finish fifth. And Sweden, 6-1 over Korea, they will finish seventh. And yeah, I think South Korea will be ruining the combination there with the North Koreans. They really cost them there. I think they could have easily finished seventh had they not had the North Koreans on there. And the men's side of things, as you said, Norway, Slovenia. Slovenia are out, which is, they beat US in their first game, and they're all done and dusted. So 2-1, Norway go through, they'll take on the Olympic athletes of Russia in the quarterfinal, USA 5 over Slovakia 1. So they haven't really been too impressive, the Americans, but they live to fight another day. They will take on Canada's conqueror, the Czech Republic. So that will be a very interesting battle. The other ones that are ongoing right now as we speak, Finland are playing South Korea. The winner of that will take on the Canadians, and Switzerland playing Germany, the winner will take on Sweden. So you'd assume Finland will take out South Korea there quite easily. So Finland-Canada will be a very interesting quarterfinal. And Switzerland, you would assume, would take out Germany. So it should be the Swiss and the Swedes. Poor Mallory, she doesn't know who the hell is playing in that game. And in the women's 1,000 metres, just for the Canadians, so three Canadians are through to the semifinals in St-Gilet, Boutin and Maltaille. And in the men's 500 metres, there are going to be one Canadian in the 1,000 metre gold medal, Samuel Jarrod is through. So Charles Hamlin, no, he's out again. He was out with a penalty, so the Off The Podium curse strikes once again. Poor old Charles Hamlin. Athlete of the day, Jarrod, who have you got in mind?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think I'm just going to give it to Virtue and Moir. I think even though they didn't get the best score in their free dance, to me they just danced to the music kind of better than everybody else. I think it comes down to their routine. They accent at the right moments, and as the music changes, they do cool lifts and stuff. Their spaghetti arms are significantly better than other team's spaghetti arms. They don't annoy me so much. On the basis of that, I'm going to give Athlete of the Day to those two.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I kind of think I'm going to do the same. There's just something about them. The fact that they've gotten their fifth overall medal in one sport is figure skating. I think Ian Thorpe only walked away with five Olympic medals, and we treat him like he's a god. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to figure skaters, but I don't often think of figure skating as a sport where you walk away with multiple medals. I kind of picture it like a gymnastics where you only really go to one Olympics, and then that's it. I guess it's not as age-based as gymnastics, but yeah, it's pretty awesome for them to be able to walk away with five medals in total. Can I just point out, Colin mentioned this a little bit when we talked about them and what Canada's doing. They're so doing it. These two are hot for each other, which just adds an element to them just being exciting on the ice in more ways than one. I mean, they're doing it, aren't they, Jarrod? Come on.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I would say so.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, absolutely. Now, Channel 7, I didn't really pay too much attention to much of their stuff today. I mean, I noticed Hamish McLaughlin, I think I forgot to mention this last night, he made a couple of faux pas about, oh, when he's Tom Williams interviewing the Bobsledders, and it wasn't, it was some other person, and I think I briefly caught, like, they cut a little bit too early on Hamish McLaughlin's mic this evening, and I heard him at one point going, when are we on? And yes, there's Andy Chung! Like, they just cut him a little bit too early. But I mean, you know, as I said before, they just, oh, he's 10 seconds, so let's show another replay of a replay. I don't know if you have any extra things to add to that.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, just similar things. I noticed, yeah, the same with kind of the cutting away tonight was a little bit off, even, I think it was Andy Jung in his interview, like he was talking, and then he was pretty much wrapping up, but then they just kind of cut away to a different event and didn't let him finish, which I thought was a little bit slack.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah. So shame on you, Channel 7. Now, have we done, and my name is Kim Booton, as we talk to her, I don't think we have. She's won, obviously, a medal in the short track, and she's kind of doing all right, so we'll go through this, and if we've already had this one, then please, Jarrod, let me know. So hello, my name is Kim Booton, and I'm Canadian. I want somebody to cross it out and go, and I'm sort of Canadian. I was born in America. I immigrated. My favourite Olympic moment is last plunge of Roxane Fillon. I'm sure Canadians would know what that is. If I could have any superpower, it would be invisible. It doesn't say invisibility. She just want invisible. My favourite sports movie is Million Dollar Baby. She has very neat writing. I just want to point that out. Draw a picture of herself. She's sitting down painting something, and her face seems to be wearing like a fencing helmet or something. I don't know if you're looking at this, but she's got no face. She's like her hair's in her eyes or something.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It looks like she's under witness protection.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's actually quite a good drawing. The most recent TV show I binge watch is Black Mirror. I can't say I've seen it. Draw a picture of one of your teammates. It's like, how would you describe this? So there's a woman slipping on a banana, and she's put in a speech bubble, banana, and then she's fallen on a bum. It always happens to me. What? Is she ripping shit into one of her teammates that they complain all the time?
JARROD LOOBEEK: But which one is she?
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, exactly. Exactly.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think she's the one on the ground.
BEN WATERWORTH: She's actually a really good drawer. If you were an animal, which would you be? Draw and explain. So she's drawn a very interesting looking tortoise, turtle. When you say tortoise, it's got feet, not flippers. Oh, she says it's a turtle though. Okay. Because I would like to have some qualities of the turtle. They are inspiring. They are inspiring us. I guess it's going to be inspiring to pursue our path with determination and in serenity. They take time to look around them to find balance and sustainable solution to concerns. Is this woman high? Like, what is she going on about? She can draw well, but she doesn't explain shit. What? Do you understand what she just said?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I don't really... Turtles. To me, they don't inspire like determination and serenity. Maybe in the water, but I'm just thinking of them on land and just looking flailing on the land. Yeah, I don't know. I don't get that much from turtles.
BEN WATERWORTH: And you would think that like in a sport which is required to be fast, she doesn't really want to be that. If I click on French, does it explain it better or something? I'm all in French now. I don't know where I am. Kim Booton. Booton. Poutine. I want poutine. All right. So, fan messages. I haven't checked this today. How are we looking today? Do we make any?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I haven't seen any of ours, but I did see another like PS and the name, but it wasn't the one we read out. So, I don't know, is that a riding technique that kids are using these days?
BEN WATERWORTH: Maybe. Maybe it's up there with like Bay or something like that. All right. So, this one's from Dialan. I think it's going to be Dylan, but this is spelled a Dialan from New South Wales. Hello, Dialan. To Scotty James. Hey, Scott. Just wanted to congratulate you on the medal you got. You should be proud of what you have accomplished, and you are an amazing snowboarder. Thanks, Dialan. From Ros, New South Wales, to Oz Olympic Team. You are all amazing athletes. I am in awe. You choose such extreme sports and excel at them so bloody well. Congratulations to you all. I love the winter games. So much more exciting than the summer ones. You guys have no fear. Congrats and good luck. Cool. All right. So this is a long one. I like the long ones, but I don't read the long ones until I read them out. This one's from Lorraine Lad Hudson to Kalani Crane. Hi Kalani. We just want you to know that you are in our hearts. Oh, that's a bit kinky. And that we are so proud of you. Enjoy every moment of your short program and skate in the present. What? Is she going to come out like a box or something like that? You are beautiful inside and out. Well, she's in the heart, so that must be a surgeon or something. And a credit to your sport and to your family. We're thinking of you and are cheering you all the way from home. Love the Lad Hudson's. Enjoy. Oh, Chloe, New South Wales, to Kalani Crane. Hi, Kalani. You did really well last year in Canada. I watched you on YouTube. Good luck this year in the Winter Olympics in Korea. Glad that she wants to remind it there. Emily, New South Wales. Ekaterin is so popular, isn't she? Alexandra Drostgeier. You're the best. I'm a big fan. Send me a message. Ari DS, New South Wales. Danielle Scott. Dear Danielle Scott, Congratulations on a great Olympics campaign. Yeah, she crashed out in the final. You did great. Aerial skiing looks like a hard sport. I can't imagine doing so many twists in the air. You must get dizzy. Well done on a great run. I bet all your family and friends are very proud. In fact, I bet all of Australia is. Hope to see you in Beijing. There's a Vox Pop idea. Let's just walk around the streets. Excuse me, as an Australian, are you proud of Daniel Scott? And I bet people would be like, who? Winston of New South Wales and John Farrow. Hi, I'm doing a school project and I chose you for it. And I'm really impressed by your amazingness. Smiley face. Ava from New South Wales and Scotty James. Thank you for trying your hardest in the snowboarding games. Is that like the game, you know, Hunger Games or something like that? Let's see. I mean, this one sounds a bit wrong. I think they need to keep their kids away from televisions. They're all stuck to it. Amelia from New South Wales to Brennan Carey. I saw your skates in the Olympics, and they were absolutely incredible. The first skate, the whole school was sitting in the hall, and watching you perform in total silence. We were really happy for you. Your grandmother teaches kindergarten in our school. The second time, the TV was on, and I was practically glued to the screen. I wish you luck!
JARROD LOOBEEK: Brennan of characters to mention the third, fourth and fifth time that he was on TV.
BEN WATERWORTH: Annabelle from New South Wales is very specific here. I don't know if Sammy Kennedy Sim here is going to be scared to catch a plane on these days, or if she's just being specific about her event. Annabelle says, Good luck! I hope you are flying through the air on the 21st of Feb and the 23rd of Feb. I think you are amazing at freestyle skiing, and you are inspiring to all other young athletes. I am in Year 6 and live in Sydney. I really hope you respond to these questions. Do you have a pet? Where do you practise? Why freestyle skiing?
JARROD LOOBEEK: From Annabelle.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm sorry, but that sounds creepy. Where do you practise? I'm following you. Oh my god. I don't know if you've got any here.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, they are all too amazing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Xander from New South Wales to Kent Callister. Dear Kent Callister, great job. I was watching you from my home TV. Not a business one or something like that. In Sydney, Australia. Oh, not Sydney, Canada. Oh, damn. You are awesome. Finishing 10th in the Olympics is amazing. I haven't tried snowboarding, but I love skiing and skateboarding, and enjoy watching people snowboard. Your timing was perfect, and it looked like you were flying, Xander. There's no more. Hang on, there's a loading here. I'm just going to see here. Nine hours ago to Emily Arthur. No name. Apparently you can just leave no name and I'll publish it for you. Hi, Emily, you are very good at snowboarding and you're cool. Oh, here we go, here we go. This is from one of our esteemed viewers who obviously watched the Olympics very closely. From Renac in New South Wales to Brendan Carey. See if you can pick up which part he obviously saw him at the Olympics. My fan letter. Dear Brendan Carey, I am a big fan of you. You are my favourite figure skater. I love the way you spin and dance. I know how many medals you have. By the way... I know how many medals you have.
JARROD LOOBEEK: None. Not hard to tell.
BEN WATERWORTH: By the way, do you know that I know Mrs. Carey? She taught my sister last year. I will wish you a very good luck, and I hope you will succeed. Go and do your best. Sincerely, Renac. It sounds so threatening. Do you know that I know Mrs. Carey? I know how many medals you have. None! I'm going to end up with this one. From Kyle Vieira, from New South Wales to David Morris, this is all in capitals. Hey, big fan, come to Lightning Ridge, please. I'm in Year 7, please come. Um, and... Oh, there is another PS. It's actually... Basically, Max from Victoria to Scotty James. I'm your big fan. That's all it says. Molly of Victoria to Emily Arthur. Hi, my name is Molly. I'm your big fan. PS, Molly. Oh, so this one's from Jody. I know I said last one, but I just... One more, Hicks. We might have some breaking news here. Jody from Victoria to Lydia Lassila. Potentially Lydia here looks like she might be continuing in the Olympics, but I think she might be changing to the Summer Olympics if Jody's got something to do here. Hi Lydia, I think you did a fantastic job. Hopefully you're going to the 2024 Winter Olympic Games. Will you be going, Lydia? Is that the 2024 Winter? I didn't realise Paris was actually hosting the Winter Olympics in 2024. Did you know about this?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it looks like we've got another time traveller and 2022 gets cancelled, so you've got to put it on two years later.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm sorry. Byumby from 1 slash 2H New South Wales to Jarrod Hughes. Hi, Jarrod. Caleb from our class is your biggest fan. Clearly, because he wrote in, we like you because you had the best snowboarding moves. Good job at getting a silver medal. We hope you can send us a message back, and we will hopefully read it to the whole class. Oh, we did get published. Hang on. Oscar WA. Antigromous. G'day Anton. Oscar here from The Local. See you back here for high tea on me, comma.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yes! We're in a roll.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, so, so, so good. All right, so, we are up to the H's, Russ Henshaw. Let's give Russ a message. What do we want to say to Russ? Good luck in Tokyo or something like that. Let's not even-
JARROD LOOBEEK: Russ going for the skateboarding, I'm sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: Let's just not put a name and see if it works. I mean, the other ones didn't. Hey, Russ, no fuss, make proud, no puss, go for Tokyo 2020, bro. That's a kind of boring one. Oh, please fill out this field. Another person didn't put a field in, they got it in. We just put space bar. Oh, no. Let's just put email at hotmail.com. Hey, we can do it without putting a name in. I'm just Dash, overseas fan. That's who we are on Russ Head and Shore. All righty. So Russ is down the gurgler. Our next person here is Maddie Himbrey. Hello, Maddie. Freestyle Scare, of course. Where are we? Oh, no. Okay. What are we thinking for Maddie? Any ideas?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I feel like we need to tell her who her biggest fan is in our class.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think so. Yes, absolutely. Who do you think her biggest fan is?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, clearly Mallory. She's so excited about the Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, because she hasn't been on in about six days. I did try and get her. She's like, oh, I haven't really been able to get on because I haven't really been able to watch anything. All right. Hi, Maddie. Mallory in my class is your biggest fan.
JARROD LOOBEEK: She likes your outfit.
BEN WATERWORTH: She likes your outfit. Do you like her outfit? Also, did you know I want to be you? I know where you train. I watch you be you. Let's go gold. Go Australia. Yeah. There's a reason why no one listens to our show, right? Do people know this?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Molly, she wrote PSMolly.
BEN WATERWORTH: She really does. I just want to actually remember to Tom, Tom Herron, our one listener, actually did tweet, and we got this tweet after we had recorded our episode here. So great minds think alike here. Ben Alexander Khrushchev, basically the curler guy, a Russian bronze medallist curler should be your Olympic athlete of the day in your next Off The Podium episode.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Why?
BEN WATERWORTH: Because he's a curler who was just caught doping. Who would have thought drugged up curlers? Look at you, Jarrod. You were on the ball. You were thinking like him. So there you go. All right, final one. So we're up to, oh, Jarrod Hughes. Oh, Jazza. Let's see here. Jarrod, Jarrod, Jarrod. Name, Cable Brandon. He hasn't sent in a message yet.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Name Chumpy. What's the beef?
BEN WATERWORTH: Chumpy. Victoria. What's the beef? Oh, Jarrod just won the Off The Podium Olympics. Perfect. What's the beef? Oh, it shouldn't be funny, but it is. It shouldn't be funny, but it is. Again, pyongtang2018.olympics.com.au. I feel like some of these messages... Imagine if we just have this massive listener base. We just don't know about it. And this is basically... All these troll ones are just following us. I did realise this actually before we look ahead to tomorrow. I didn't update anybody on the metal tally. I feel a little bit bad about that. And I can tell you... I can tell you, everybody listening at home, because I know you're desperate for me to tell you if I just want to stretch this out, just a little bit more. Norway and Germany still on top, but Norway on top based purely because they have an extra few silver medals. Am I implying there that Germany has just won another gold medal somewhere?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think the Nordic combined just finished. They got first, second and third.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, that would make sense because you are 100% correct. There we go. Johannes Rudzek, the gold, ahead of Fabian Reisel and Eric Frenzel. What a German trio that is. Fantastic, Germany sweep. So yeah, they are right up there. They've got to win another gold and they'll go to the top. With the great news for Canada, they've leaped up into third place. Eight gold, five silver, six bronze, 19 in total. Now, I was trying to explain this to Mallory today and this is obviously also dependent on Norway and Germany not winning any more gold. But basically, if the Canadians can sweep the ice hockey, get the two gold there and somehow, I don't think they're going to get the gold in the women's curling, so I don't think they're going to make the, but if they could get the double double, they could go to the top of the medal tally. But also look out for New Zealand. They might sweep the men's half pipe. Imagine if New Zealand fucking swept the half pipe. Like, I would quit.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, these new skiing sports that nobody does, I don't know.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, like just keep to the classics, you know? I mean, New Zealand's only medal is in the classic of slalom, you know? So, God. Netherlands, still in fourth, sixth gold, five silver, three bronze. France, picking up two silvers today. And a gold, of course, in the bath on. So that's a pretty good day. The French, five gold, four silver, four bronze. Unfortunately, they had a good day. I was actually in the Andy Jung heat when he crashed out. The good news is with that one, he did actually take out the French skater as he went down. So, you know, that was good news there. South Korea now on four gold, two silver, two bronze. And Australia, zero gold, two silver, one bronze. We're still there. So, tomorrow, day 12 being that day, we have a grand total of seven medal events tomorrow. So we're back up to a few more to talk about. The medal events that are happening, we have the women's downhill tomorrow. Lindsey Vonn, can she get beaten by another fucking snowboarder or will she actually do well for once? The two-woman bobsleigh will be decided tomorrow. The cross-country skiing, we have both the men's and the women's team sprint. The blue ribbon events of the Winter Olympics, let's be honest. Freestyle skiing, men's ski cross is on tomorrow. The medal has been decided in that one. And in the speed skating, we'll have the men's team pursuit and the women's team pursuit. New Zealand, of course, let's remember that they are in the men's team pursuit semifinals. So we don't have the half pipe tomorrow. When is the half pipe final? Is that, that's on Thursday. So New Zealand could have a couple of good days here. Oh God, what's happening? Australians in action tomorrow. Greta Small is back. She's in the, I like Greta. I really enjoyed her interview the other day. She broke down in tears and seems like a nice person. So I'm hoping Greta does well tomorrow. Cross-country skiing. We are back with our Jessica Yeaton and Barbara Jezezek, and Callum Otton and Phil Bellingham are back in those as well. The figure skating, I will just say tomorrow. The ladies, I haven't gone over the non-medal events. I'll do that in a second, but Kalani Crane will be on the ice. Let's see if the Off The Podium curse can continue there. And Anton Grimas waiting for his high T. But the ski cross-seeding will be on tomorrow, of course. So the non-medal events, I seem to be bouncing back all over the place here. We have the curling happening tomorrow. Men's and women's still going, of course. As I said, the ladies' singles program starts in the short. The ice hockey, we have the bronze medal game tomorrow between Finland and the Olympic athletes of Russia. Two quarterfinals in the men's, the Czech Republic and the USA Olympic athletes from Russia and Norway. Predictions for those ones, Jarrod? Finland or Russia for the bronze in the women's?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I'm gonna go with Finland because there was one moment where they shoved a USA skater, pulled her by the helmet and shoved her to the ground, which I thought was great.
BEN WATERWORTH: Very finish. And what about the men's, the quarters? Czech Republic and the US and Olympic athletes from Russia and Norway.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Let's just go with the Czech Republic and the Norwegians.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm gonna say USA got a peak. I think everyone's expecting the Czechs to win that, but I don't know. I'm gonna sneak up set for the US. And I'm gonna do the opposite of you. I'm gonna say the Russians will take that one out. So that's just a bold prediction. Qualification, men's big air is happening tomorrow. And as we said, the speed skating, both the men's and women's team pursuit day 12. Wow, we're really up to here already. It's gone by quickly, but we're excited for it. As always, like us on Facebook, use the hashtag Off The Podium if you are following us on Twitter. And we appreciate those who do, of course. And we look forward to having your company with us tomorrow. Jarrod, always a pleasure, mate, to have you on the show. Thank you for your company.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you. Looking forward to Jesse and Barbara putting aside that famous feud tomorrow to team up in the cross country.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I really hope that it works well for them. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll speak to you next time on Off The Podium, goodnight.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Good night.
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