PyeongChang 2018 Day 16 & Closing Ceremony Review + PyeongChang Wrap
Well all good things must come to an end and sadly PyeongChang 2018 is over. But does that mean we're going to stop and not bring you our review and recap of the final day and closing ceremony? Of course now! How crap was the closing ceremony? What is the deal with kids? What is the deal with kids who can project their voice so far? Where the hell was Psy? Are we looking forward to Beijing? Is Thomas Bach still speaking? Why is Ben now besties with Edwina Bartholomew? And where do these games rank in the minds of your beloved trio of hosts? It's time to listen, extinguish the flame and get the tissues out as we close out the games of the 23rd winter Olympiad in style!
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 come to you for the final time for Pyeongchang 2018. The Games are officially over. Thomas Bach is still speaking. The Games, there's no more medals. There's nothing else to talk about, except a closing ceremony, full medal events, and other stuff. My name is Ben. I'm excited to be here, a lot more excited than anything that happened in the last two hours of my life. And joining me to speak about things that are exciting, except for the last two hours of all of our lives, is Mr. Jarrod Loobeek. Jarrod, welcome back to Off The Podium.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, thanks. Yeah, a bit of a letdown to end the Games, I would say.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, just a bit. And also getting up very early to watch the last two hours of his life fade away in front of him. It's Colin Hilding. Hello, Colin, welcome back.
COLIN HILDING: Hello, and I don't know what you guys are talking about. Those snow globes were amazing. That just made the whole Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, hmm. We'll talk about the closing ceremony soon. I think we can first of all quickly recap the final day of competition. Four medals were decided. I guess the good news for Canada, there's not really to say they didn't do anything on the final day. The bad news.
COLIN HILDING: We didn't steal any cars, that's right.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's good. The bad news is that Norway and Germany have equaled your record. Sadly for them, they didn't break it. But overall, we had a fantastic game of hockey, a fantastic game of curling, a fantastic game of bobsled, and a fantastic game of cross-country skiing. Jarrod, your summary of the final day of competition. I don't really know what to ask about this. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed the hockey. That was about it, really. I mean, I saw a bit of the other stuff, but yeah.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'm similar to you. I watched the hockey game and thought that was terribly exciting. Like it was a really good final, but then most of the other stuff just kind of caught bits and pieces. I did enjoy the dual silver in the bob. But yeah, nice way to finish it. I do like that they give out those the cross-country medals at the closing ceremony.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm a fan of that. They do that obviously what with the marathon, don't they, in the summer games. So yeah, I like that little touch that they do there. Colin, I mean, a hockey perspective, that was one of the best games of hockey I think I've ever seen in my life. That was thoroughly entertaining.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, I made it through the second period last night before I fell asleep. And it was looking good at that point. And I just sort of skimmed through to see what happened before the opening ceremony started. And it looked like it just got probably in the last 10 minutes, like one of the best gold medal games in a long time. I put, from what I saw, I put it up there with like the Vancouver one, but I just can't wait to go back over and watch it again. And also to hear that great Russian national anthem for the first time of the games, that must have been great.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, absolutely. My favourite bit of the whole thing was the commentator that we have, and I wish I had written down his quote. But Jarrod, I don't know if you can remember it. Like the way that guy was going off like, what's your favourite colour?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Like it was just, it is now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Like it was fantastic. But yeah, I mean, it was just such a great game. And Germany, like I think it was about five minutes, four minutes to again, they get the lead and they just look like they've finally got it. This is like happening. Germany is going to complete the fairy tale and Russia get it with what? About 58 seconds remaining to tie it up. And I mean, that happened in Vancouver, didn't it, Colin? That was the US tied in the final minute. And then obviously Crosby got the goal. But I mean, it had kind of a lot of similarities to that. But, you know, as we kind of, I think, alluded to yesterday, Russia still yet to officially win an ice hockey gold medal under the name of Russia, their first gold medal since the days of the unified team 26 years ago. A lot of 26 year droughts broken in this game. These Olympics, I should say. So, you know, good for them. And what a day to be somebody from the Olympic athletes of Russia. It's gotta say, Colin, the most proudest moment in the history of the Olympic athletes of Russia as a small nation.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, and I just do love that they sang their own anthem. I can understand some of the decisions to ban Russia, I guess you could say, but like these guys, as long as none of them come out testing positive in the next 24 hours, which let's be honest, I mean, it's a 50-50 shot at this point, but if all is good, like they deserve to have their anthem, even if it is just them singing their anthem, like they deserve to have their anthem at least once during the Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I agree. And I mean, the Russian national anthem is a pretty decent national anthem. I mean, let's be honest, pretty much all the national anthems in the world are better than Australia's national anthem. And, you know, we haven't heard it since 2010 in the Winter Games. I mean, Jarrod, just on a random tangent, are you a fan of the Australian national anthem? I'm not.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, it's not very inspirational, is it? I think, I just always think of like the American national anthem and just how like you can get people to actually sing that well. And like the Australian national anthem, even if people sing it well, it's just kind of like, yeah, okay, that's that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I don't know if you saw Fergie sing the American national anthem the other day. So I mean, there are a few exceptions to that rule. But yes, I mean, it's just, there's no passion. There's no enthusiasm with the Australian national anthem. It's boring. I mean, it's just, there's no pride to it. And I mean, I'm not one of these people who thinks it should be Waltzing Matilda either. I think we should just come up with a new one. It's like, fuck you, we're Australia. You know, not just like, hi everyone, we're Australia, our land is good, but I see. I mean, it's kind of boring.
COLIN HILDING: Can you just make it elegantly wasted by NXS?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes.
COLIN HILDING: It seems appropriate.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, absolutely. Well, never tear us apart, we'll go with that. You know, it's a classic. The other results on the final day, the bobsled, the Germans got their 14th gold. They couldn't do it in the ice hockey, but they got it there. And as you alluded to before there, Jarrod, a silver tie, Germany tied with South Korea, the esteemed bobsled nation of South Korea. I was sad that the Swiss couldn't pull it through. I heard they were one of the favourites, and I'm thinking, oh, shades of cool runnings. The Swiss, what, Swiss, Norman, Swiss. So sadly didn't quite happen. The curling, the Swedes, they took the gold. That was pretty much in the bag when we were recording this earlier today, or yesterday, wherever you were listening to us from, South Korea couldn't do the miracle there, but two silvers for them on the final day. They're the most successful ever Winter Olympics for South Korea and Japan. Excuse me, as I'll burp halfway through. Japan get the bronze. And in the Women's 30 Kilometre Classical, Marit Björgen, she took the gold. Silver to Finland's Krista Parmakoski and bronze to Stina Nilsson of Sweden. So it was a Scandinavian sweep for the final event. And this was the second gold for Björgen of the Games. And I think, what about a fifth medal? I believe it's the second time she's won five medals in an Olympics. I mean, she's now only got a lazy 15 Olympic medals I'm seeing here. So, you know, Michael Phelps is a bit of a household name. Marit Björgen, you know, should be a bit more of a household name. 15 medals, that's pretty average, isn't it, Colin? I mean, God, why isn't she more famous?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, I think 15 medals is about what Canada won, maybe like in Nagano. So that would have been like our old time best 20 years ago.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Jarrod, I mean, come on, she could be running Swiss ads in Norway, couldn't she? I mean, I think generally the Swiss ads in Norway, they actually win, so I don't know.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, you think so, criminally underrated.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's interesting actually to think that because I mean, I only actually really heard that, I think tonight briefly where they're like, oh, you know, she's now won two consecutive Olympics where she's won five medals or more. And I've actually just pulled up the table here of most Olympic medals ever by an individual. She's only third on the all time tally. So can we just point that out? Michael Phelps was 28, Larissa Latina, she has the second most, and now Marit, third, the most ever by a Winter Olympian individually. She's actually got more than Björd Dahlund, the great Norwegian biathlete. So, I mean, that's actually a pretty big deal. I think that is something that really should be talked about more. So great job there by Marit, and I'm with you there, Jarrod, as you said. Great to see them get those presentations in the closing ceremony. I remember when we had the men's do it as well. And can I just say, boy, oh boy, didn't those Olympic athletes from Russia look thrilled with their silver and bronze medals? Like, they were going off. I've never seen athletes more excited to get Olympic medals. Oh, that was the most excitable thing about the closing ceremony, I think. I mean, I think we can just kind of gel over all this. I think the most part of this is gonna be at the closing ceremony. What did we watch, Athlete of the Day? Any commentary fails? Lump it all together. Jarrod, do you have anything separate here?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I didn't really notice anything and I'll probably just have to give Athlete of the Day to my writ because, I mean, why not?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I mean, I think we're looking at those records enough. That sells itself. Colin, do you have anything to add in that little segment?
COLIN HILDING: Oh, I know I had a commentary fail, but I've completely forgotten it because the closing ceremony's been over for half an hour and it's not yet eight in the morning here. So it's just not fair to be recording this. I'm sure it'll come to me by the time we end this episode.
BEN WATERWORTH: Or by the time we get to like, you know, Beijing 2022. It's like, hey guys, remember four years ago when I said I had something? The only one that I kind of think I had, and I don't, I didn't hear the guy speak, but I randomly looked up at one point to see who was hosting the afternoon coverage today on Channel 7. There was some weird looking bald guy. Who was that guy, Jarrod? I don't know who that was. Channel 7 really are gone.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It wasn't that end of the hill guy, like Richo or Kenno, one of the two?
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, was it without a beanie on? Oh, was it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, okay.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's an ugly fucker, isn't he? Jesus. It's like, keep the beanie on, mate. It could be, I really don't know, but I'm just like, Jesus, what's Hamish doing? What's Edwina doing? Basil's gone home. I noticed that he was hosting Weekend Sunrise this morning, so Basil's buggered off from Pyeongchang. So there you go. Anyway, closing ceremony. Where to start? I'm gonna start off by saying, that's probably the most boring, crappest closing ceremony I've ever watched in my entire life. And that even, it's even more boring than Rio. At least Rio had the Tokyo presentation. And yeah, I just, that was crap. It really was crap. I'm hanging out for Psy. Psy didn't even show up. Psy knew it was boring. He didn't show up. There was legitimately a turtle. There was like an itch of sketch. There was kids. There was some K-pop. The K-pop was the most entertaining part of it. And Martin Durex or Derek's, whatever his name is, the DJ. I loved that bit at the end. That was great. But even the Beijing presentation, that was a snooze fest. Like, Jesus.
COLIN HILDING: Ah, I liked the Beijing part. Well, I guess I'll say, I liked the Beijing part better than I liked the Korean part of it. But that does remind me, not that it was the one I was looking for, but there was a great moment during the Beijing presentation where our commentators all of a sudden decided to start going, the TVs are now moving on their own. Like this was the most advanced thing anybody had ever seen in Olympic presentation.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's exciting commentary. I've got a few commentary faux pas to go through tonight. Jarrod, any redeeming qualities in the closing ceremony for you?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, no, not really. I can't agree with Colin. I think that the Beijing section was actually the best and that's not really saying much, although I am imagining having nightmares about those lead light pandas, particularly when they're in little animated bits. They looked even scarier than they did kind of live there.
BEN WATERWORTH: One thing that I do remember though, I think about the Beijing presentation back in Athens was that I was expecting like this grand parade of dragons and everything. I do actually remember the Beijing one in Athens being quite underwhelming. But I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, they, you know, arguably some of the greatest opening and closing ceremonies we've ever seen in Beijing. So, you know, I'm sure we're gonna get a lot better moving forward four years from now. But I was sad that the Chinese president didn't come like dressed up as, I don't know, Mulan or something like that. So, you know, Japan, I'm saying right now, out of the three Asian countries that are hosting the Olympics within four years of each other, Tokyo is winning, so. Yeah. Definitely, definitely. But I mean, anything else, I mean, really, there's just, like, this is the thing, I know we talk about this in the opening ceremonies and that sometimes, it's just, I mean, it's such a reliance on the LED screens. And I mean, they look great a lot of the times, but where are the physical props? Like, I know Vancouver kind of had a mixture of both. I mean, I even seem to remember Russia having more giant props than Sochi. And I wasn't a fan of the Sochi closing ceremony, but from what I remember of it, like, it was a thousand times better than Pyeongchang. Like, besides a giant snow globe and some glowing balls, I mean, what did we have? The Boorang and Soorang were there. So, I mean, why can't, what's wrong with the physical props, Colin? Like, did Vancouver just scare everybody off with the beavers and the, didn't they have like giant Mounties and shit?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, but it wasn't that that scared them off. It was the giant Olympic rings not all rising in Sochi. I think that's what ruined it for everybody.
BEN WATERWORTH: The bloody Russians are ruining everything. I just missed the days. Like, again, I know technology advances, it's great, but you can mix and match them. It's just, I don't know. Like, it's just so, like, the reliance, and even the LED stuff on the ground wasn't that spectacular. I mean, we had the Etch A Sketch, we had kind of that dance guy who was, like, on the thing, and, you know, and the amazing thing for me about the technology in this closing ceremony was a young Korean kid singing the Olympic anthem without a microphone, and that was bloody amazing. He could project his voice better than anyone else. Like, and it sounded very auto-tuned as well. I don't know, Jarrod, as an expert on all things live singing, I mean, how do you think the Koreans do that?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I don't know, they are just miles ahead, aren't they? Look out for anthem singing as a national sport in the next Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Colin, I mean, you're a fan of the kids. I noticed your tweet. It's always about the kids. I mean, what a miracle. The kids who grew up in the opening ceremony, they're young again.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah. I just don't understand in a country that large why the only people they could get to perform at their opening ceremonies were children or as we saw with, imagine the first time around, men who are in their 112s. Come on, give us some variety. There was just so many kids. There was more kids than there was K-pop.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, we had the kid playing the guitar, of course, the classic music style of Korea rock and roll to what was it like the Four Seasons or something like that. It was like another traditional Korean anthem.
COLIN HILDING: And of all things, we go through the whole closing ceremonies and who's their headlining act? A DJ from the Netherlands. As if the Netherlands hasn't stolen enough speed skating medals, now they have to steal the closing ceremonies from South Korea. I'm sure there's a perfectly good 9-year-old boy who is supposed to be DJing right there.
BEN WATERWORTH: I will admit I'm a fan of Martin Garret's. But yeah, he's Dutch. I mean, come on. They did that with Athens when they had Tiësto doing the Parade of Nations, which, I mean, I have that soundtrack. It's a great soundtrack. But I mean, you know, Tiësto is Dutch as well. So like, why the hell are they just having Dutch DJs take over the Olympics? Is this a hint? Like, give the Olympics to the Dutch? I don't know. But like, can we seriously just rant and rave about no Psy? Like, this is bullshit. Like, as soon as Gangnam Style was a thing, it's like, oh, duh, he's going to be at the Olympics in, you know, 2018. Like, go and ask any random person on the street, give me, you know, five things about Korea. I guarantee you, Psy is on everybody's list. Like, what is this? This is like if Avril Lavigne hadn't performed in Vancouver. It's just, it's bullshit. Nickelback performed in Vancouver. Nickelback! And people hate them, but they still got up there and performed. I mean, this, Colin, like, this is a bit mean, and I hope you agree with me on this, but like, if North Korea bombed South Korea this week, I don't blame them. I think everyone should. I mean, bullshit. Where's Psy?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, it's kind of just a given. You have one recognizable, I was going to say athlete, but music artist worldwide. You think you would put them on there. I mean, London has a million that they could have put on there. And yet they got Mr. Bean. Okay, so that's fine.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and James Bond.
COLIN HILDING: And James Bond. Yeah, I mean, they got the Queen of England. Okay, you don't have an excuse to not get Psy. If London could get the freaking Queen of England and James Bond parachuting together, there is no excuse to not land a big star.
BEN WATERWORTH: And like, think back to Sydney, Jarrod. Who did we get? You know, Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, Olivia Newton John, Nikki Webster, the who's who of Australian pop royalty. Come on.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, this was just terrible. And the fact that I don't know if you saw this shot, but they had the Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, yes.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Like, just get a Psy impersonator, shoot it from far away, nobody will know.
BEN WATERWORTH: And the thing too is I don't know if you saw much of the lead up coverage on Channel 7. They're like, oh, we're looking forward to the closing ceremony. And they started showing like, will Psy be performing? And they're showing like the Gangnam Style film clip. So it's like Channel 7 are just being such cock teases and like leading everyone into believing this is happening. And I was actually reading a bunch of tweets and there was like a whispered rumour about, you know, there being a surprise guest. And everyone's like, oh, it's Psy, it's Psy, it's definitely Psy. And like, I mean, who knows? Maybe he did perform. I mean, Channel 7 seemed to cut away pretty quickly right at the end. So I don't know, Colin, you just maybe you did see Psy and you're just being a bit of a dick to us right now. And you're like, what are you talking about? Psy performed right at the end.
COLIN HILDING: Maybe he was the the drone presentation and lights that wasn't actually Soorang. That was Psy.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, I also love the fact that, you know, when they have like dignitaries there who, you know, represent their, you know, countries. I remember back in Beijing, didn't they have like about 80 of the world's leaders at that opening ceremony? It was like a record collection outside of like a United Nations meeting or something. But for this one, the closing ceremony, who was a representation of the US? None other than Ivanka Trump. Like, I mean, can I just say, she looks actually pretty darn good. But like at the end of the day, is the president's daughter like an actual representation of the country? Like, I mean, I don't know if that's a thing. Like when Tony Abbott was Prime Minister Jarrod, do you think he could have sent his daughters along? I mean, like, is that a representation? Like, is one of them a bodybuilder now or something?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I don't know. Yeah, it seems a bit weird. And I'm sure we'll get further and further away. Like, you know, when presidents start sending their second cousin three times removed, that it's getting pretty desperate to get somebody there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Here's Jim, who once saw the president in the street, representing the United States.
COLIN HILDING: Because of the Chinese-U.S. relations, I'm sure we're going to get like Mittens the cat showing up. I think Beijing in 2020\.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, that's, it was just crazy. I mean, did Justin Trudeau send his daughter along or something like that, Colin? Does he have a daughter?
COLIN HILDING: No, the only thing I saw of Justin Trudeau was Justin Trudeau watching the women's hockey game on his phone with the captain of the women's hockey team from the previous Olympics. So he was too busy on the CBC app to bother going to the closing ceremonies.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, well, good for him. I mean, some other rated things that kind of just tie in and just chime in with whatever else you notice that I'm not bringing up here. Got to mention some Channel 7 lovely things. And Jarrod, did you notice at any point when the Swiss came in that Haimie Shuglachlan might have mentioned anyone at all?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, certainly somebody who's retweeted every single medal that the Swiss team has won and also just happens to be somebody who was on Channel 7 summer of tennis and it just happened to win the Australian Open.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, and can I just point out, I actually legitimately have breaking news right now, and I'm not even making this up. Okay, Edwina Bartholomew. It seemed to be Edwina Bartholomew wearing weird hats and everything along those lines. She made a few faux pas during the closing ceremony, including at one stage saying the words, oh, and it wouldn't be a closing ceremony without a selfie. And I'm like, oh yes, you know, all closing ceremonies pre-2010 never happened. They just weren't a thing. When they had the Beijing presentation for 2022, she uttered the sentence, and China of course will be the first country to ever host the Winter and Summer Olympics. I'm like, okay, yeah, I think I know what you mean. I know you're thinking Beijing, but you said what you said. So I tweeted out, I said, China, the very first country to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics at Edwina underscore B is perhaps the most uneducated host ever for the closing ceremony, with a gif of Robert Downey Jr. doing a facepalm. Now, I'm not making this up. She has replied to me. Edwina Bartholomew has said two replies to me. The first one, she said, the first city, my friend, to which she then said afterwards, and if I said country, my apologies. It was all off the cuff and a stupid mistake. This has happened within the last five minutes.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Isn't that just the motto for Channel 7's coverage? It was all off the cuff and a stupid mistake.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know what to do with that. Do I say what Jarrod said and continue to be a dick or do I appreciate the fact that she actually replied to me?
COLIN HILDING: There's more attention than you got from anybody from the Australian Olympic Committee.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's very true. That's very true. And I'm apparently her friend now. So look at that. I'm in. She's scouting me already for Beijing 2022. So it's like it's working, everybody. Hello, Edwina, my friend. I'm in Texas. See what she's doing tomorrow. I mean, outside of that, I don't know. It's just I don't know what to say. Thomas Bach still speaking. You know, he was boring. And what was with that really cheesy, crappy thing where they all held love hearts and the Tongue and Doom was like naked and Lindsey Vonn? Like, what was that?
COLIN HILDING: Why Lindsey Vonn?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, Peter out there with his Denko rub to stay warm again. And then the hearts, which just look like finger puppets. And I was like, what even is that? Are you playing like they're like two up pedals or something?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. And like Lindsey Vonn, like, why?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, you can pick two athletes from anywhere in the world that competed in the winter games. You must get shirtless Tongan men and you must get Lindsey Vonn. Like those are the only two options they had. The best thing was the CBC coverage. When we had three commentators on one who's a regular CBC commentator and the two who are athletes. And I don't know which one it was. It was either Alexander Dapety, who was a diver, or Kurt Browning, who was a skater, who all of a sudden just like dead silence for probably the entire thing where Lindsey Vonn and Shirtless Tongue Man are out there. And all of a sudden he just goes, I can smell the coconut oil from here.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, my goodness. I really hope like some topless woman walks in in Beijing 2022. I just, you know, just do it for the quality sake. That's all. I'm not trying to be dirty.
COLIN HILDING: Lindsey Vonn had to come wearing a shirt.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, like, come on.
COLIN HILDING: Come on.
BEN WATERWORTH: Like, get out of it.
COLIN HILDING: You're from a winter nation.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, come on. And I love the fact that was it Thomas Bach or was it the Korean dude when Hamish McLaughlin was reading the dot points, and they're like, they made a joke about it. Oh, but I know it's been cold in the last few weeks, but blah, blah, blah. And it's like, it's the Winter Olympics. Like, of course it's going to be cold. Like, what are you complaining about? Oh, I'm a winter athlete. I didn't expect it to be this cold. I was expecting to go to the beach in between my skiing and snowboarding. Um, what the hell is with that? Colin, am I missing anything here? I feel like I've covered everything to do with the goddamn closing ceremony here.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, I did think, if we're going back to the opening ceremonies, you know, our love of the drones, the drone soaring in the sky was great. But again, it's just one of the big problems they had. I mean, for one, why are they still showing those light up display screens on the seats that makes it look like half the stadium is empty? You know, we have the drone thing again, and we talked about in the opening ceremonies that half the stuff there, the audience couldn't see it. And that drone thing was probably the coolest thing we saw, but it was so far outside of the stadium, and it was on the side where there was nobody sitting. So legitimately, probably nobody in the stadium actually saw what was going on. It's just another example, like, are these ceremonies just for TV audiences now? Why do you even bother to have it in a stadium? Why do you have it in front of a live audience?
BEN WATERWORTH: And the only time I swear you heard them is when the K-pop bands were performing. That's the only time they actually showed any emotion.
COLIN HILDING: And at the same time, is that kind of just the story? And I don't want to be too critical. I mean, we talked about during Rio that the media had just found anything to complain about the Olympics, and I'm kind of glad that we went through an Olympics here where, for the most part, the media was not being critical of the host nation. But I swear, I didn't see a single sold-out venue. The men's hockey is usually, like that's the big headlining event. And they sold maybe three quarters of an arena that looked like the arena maybe only seated six, seven thousand people. This really wasn't like a well attended games from what I've seen. And then the ones that even had big crowds, it could just be a Korean, you know, you have some countries that are just, they're very polite, they're not very loud or obnoxious, like Canadians or Australians or whatever. But like, there was no enthusiasm in the crowds that I saw.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, no, I agree. And there really didn't seem to be a whole lot of media about like, where are the people at these games? The only time I really saw one completely going crazy was the short track. When was it the relay that they won, which they shouldn't have won. But yeah, they just, that was very, very loud. But yeah, like so many of them were poorly attended. I mean, yeah, the semi-final of the, is it the one you were mentioning? But like there was just so many empty seats. It's like an Olympic semi-final for, you know, the men's ice hockey, which is one of the, you know, the most popular events at any Olympic Games. And you know, it's just, it's just dead. So yeah, just quickly, Jarrod, before I get you to see if I have any other thoughts. I had a third reply from Edwina Bartholomew. Jesus Christ, she's stalking me. Calm down, Edwina. She said, that is certainly what I meant to say. If I buggered it up, my apologies. Two and a half hours of off-the-cuff commentary and a stupid mistake. Now, I've replied. I said, this is just typical Ben Waterworth being a suck up. I secretly knew what you meant. It happens. I complain and troll because you're living my dream. I'll help you out in four years' time. X. Yes, Ben doing his usual. You know, but like that, look, I say, I wasn't a fan of her at all during these games. But, you know, that's nice. All right. That's nice that she lives up to her mistakes. If you see, he's a thing. Did you know that Roger Federer also once made a mistake? And he also replied to people. Jarrod, anything else that I might have missed with any of what's going on at this rubbish closing ceremony?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I suppose my big question was like, Soorang was there and I was like, Yep, I know Soorang. And then what was this other like non-snow tiger thing mascot? That came from, I was like, what did they bought this like suit from the $2 shop? Like, this is like cheap ripoff Soorang when you can't afford a Soorang outfit. Like, I just was like, who is this? And I need an explanation of what is this a mascot of?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. I don't know. What did Boorang just stay home?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Boorang turned into a tiger?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Boorang's been on a diet or something?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Like Boorang's been on Atkins or something. I mean, I tweeted out saying that the two Russian athletes who were on drugs snuck in somehow. But yeah, I mean, apparently the Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un personally got kicked out of the opening ceremony. So they got let in. A random tiger got let in. You know, Ivanka Trump got let in. I mean, I don't know what was going on. Maybe that was Donald Trump in the tiger suit or something like that. You know, like, I'm just checking on my daughter. I don't know. I can't do it. Donald Trump.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Got to get bums on seats to fill the stadium, I think.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, exactly. God, this is this. I feel like we need to just run for time here. I mean, let's quickly hop the top of our heads. I want to get to a few other things here. Let's look at closing ceremonies this decade. From 2010 onwards, we'll lump the summer games in there, too. So we've got Vancouver, London, Sochi, Rio and Pyeongchang 5. Rank the closing ceremonies off the cusp. Go, Colin.
COLIN HILDING: Vancouver, London, Sochi, Rio, Pyeongchang. No joke, it's very clearly going down the toilet.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm just going to say right now I agree with that. That would be my rankings, Jarrett.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, mine is the same, but I would flip around Sochi and Rio.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, OK then. Wow, there you go. Clearly, Tokyo is going to be either completely rubbish or it's going to start the new trend for the new decade. I'm really looking forward to Buenos Aires, 2018 Youth Olympics closing ceremony. You know, I didn't mention Singapore or Nanjing in there, or Lillehammer or Innsbruck, so I apologise for our Youth Olympic fans out there. Now, just backtracking a little bit, the medal tally, I should say, and I'll get to our predictions. So, final medal tally, Norway topped it with 14 gold, 14 silver, 11 bronze, 39. That's a record, I believe, for total medals, is it not? Also equals the record with Canada, 14 gold in a single Olympics, as did Germany, 14 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze, 31. Canada sadly gets pipped at the end for being second overall. They've dropped to third overall with a thorn of gold. 11 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze. USA, 9 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze, 23 in total. The Dutch, 8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze. South Korea ended with 5 gold, 8 silver, 4 bronze. The French, 5 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze. Great Britain, 1 gold, 0 silver, 4 bronze. I'm just going on some random countries here. Australia, obviously. 23rd, 2 silver and a bronze. New Zealand, 2 bronze. And of course, Liechtenstein, 1 bronze. So, we have our predictions from the pre-games. This is the first time we've done this. Do you guys remember your predictions? I have them written in front of me here. I know Colin, you were pretty excited about one of your predictions.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I don't know if I nailed the actual medals themselves, but I'm pretty sure I predicted 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze for Australia. And I think for Canada, I picked like 9 gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze. So I think I was like too off for overall medals, just didn't get the actual medals, like the colours themselves, right?
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, Jarrod, do you remember yours?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think I was pretty far off with Australia, because I said we would no silver, so I actually take credit for two of those silvers. You're welcome, Australia. And then Canada, I think I was pretty kind of on the ball, because I just said like 10 for each. So it was in the ballpark for kind of all of them.
BEN WATERWORTH: Look, I think at the end of the day, we should all give ourselves a pat on the back, because we're all fairly close. Yeah, for Australia, Colin, you're right. You got a gold, silver and a bronze. I mean, you didn't get right with the gold, but you got right on the total medals. So you got three. Jarrod, yeah, you were way off on everything, a gold, zero silver and four bronze. I got the bronze prediction correct with you, Colin. I got one bronze. I said a silver, but I also said we'd win three golds. So there was that. And on the Canadian front, yeah, very similar as well. I can say I got the gold count correct. I said 11 gold. I also got the silver count correct. I said eight silver, but I said they'd win 14 bronze and they only won 10. So damn you bronzes for letting me down. So I had a total of 33\. Colin, you had nine gold, nine silver, 13 bronze, 31 in total. But Jarrod, you get the closest on the total count. You had 30. You had 10, 10, 10. So you got the bronze medal count correct. So we all got at least one colour of something correct along the way. So that's fun. I like that. I think if we do a Commonwealth Games one, we should predict how will St. Tome and Prince pal or whatever they're called go or Tahiti or something like that. Anything really to before we look ahead, speaking of Commonwealth Games, I want to talk about that in a second, but before we move off to that and look ahead to Beijing or Tokyo and everything else and sort of work out what we're going to be doing in the meantime, any closing thoughts on Pyeongchang overall as a games? I mean, we can rank Olympics if you want to, if you want to throw this in for the decade as well. I don't know. But Jarrod, you're obviously, I think, newer to the winter games more so than the summer ones. But overall, how does this compare to your overall viewing habits of Sochi and Vancouver?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Well, I mean, the coverage was definitely worse. But overall, event-wise, I thought it was good. I think there's a little bit of fat with these new events that needs trimming, particularly kind of some of these ski kind of snowboard crossovers that I'm not a fan of. So, yeah, I think by the time we roll around to Beijing, there's a couple of these sports that we need to kind of get rid of or tweak a bit.
BEN WATERWORTH: What would you get rid of and tweak? Like, what are you main? What's on the chopping block? What's on Jarrod's hit list?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think there's an issue with the figure skating, the fact that you do the same routines in the team and individuals. I think that should be illegal. And then I think, yeah, just some of those skiing events. I think the ski halfpipe, even though it brought us the star of Elizabeth Swaney, is just a little bit boring. I think the ski slope style is also a little bit boring. I think big air, you got to kind of tweak those rules, so it's just your best run, so the crowd doesn't sit there and know that it's over halfway through. I'm sure there's some others, but kind of they're the main ones that spring to mind.
BEN WATERWORTH: Interesting, interesting. Colin, what about you? You've obviously been watching the Winter Games a little bit longer. I mean, how does this stack up with all your winter knowledge and winter expertise of watching the Winter Games?
COLIN HILDING: I don't think I'll ever know how good or unimpressed these Olympics really were just because I spent half of it pretty much dead. Even though I was able to watch the events, it wasn't the best memory of just being on the verge of death, sick for the first week. But I mean, you look at the Canadian results, it's definitely something to be proud of, and I think we had some good stories. Overall, I think I enjoyed at least Vancouver and Sochi more than this. Well, to be honest, I've been going back. I'd probably say from Noggino, the first one I really started watching on, this might be my least favourite Olympics despite it being so good for Canada. I don't know why that is, if it's just part of what Jarrod said that you have so much TV coverage, and just doubling up on every sport that's snowboarding and skiing. If we have ski cross, do we need snowboard cross? If we have ski big air, do we need snowboard big air? Those are the types of events that would be easy to trim, I think, in the future. But I also remember the days when the winter Olympics were over and done with in like, what, 13 days or something. So we'd get a couple of extra days out of it now, that's good. The only other thing I really want to comment on is the flag bears. I don't know if there was a lot of attention for your flag bear. Like you said, you announced it so early. We chose Kim Buten, which is kind of annoying. I mean, it's not annoying that we chose her because I think she won three medals and won more medals than anybody else in these games. There are definitely some gold medallists that I would have put up there. But it's the fact that every person who is commenting on her being chosen is because she was the victim of online bullying. And yeah, there was some death threats against her. But you'd be hard pressed to find any athlete or celebrity anywhere in the world who doesn't get death threats for some reason. And they're talking about she had to close down her social media accounts. I think that was just part of investigation. And she's getting credit for things she didn't do. And it's annoying that people are talking about, it's such a Canadian thing that we stand up against bullies because we made her a flag bear. Some of these comments here, there's simply no better team Canada Olympian at Pyeongchang. The entire nation will be with you every step of the way. Like, oh, we're so proud, we're supporting you during your death threat phase. Kim Bhutan, our flag bearer, is a role model for everyone who has experienced online bullying. She remained focused and positive and won two more medals despite threats online. Like again, there's probably no athlete in the world who's not getting some stupid threats or anything. And she remained focused and positive because she shut down her social media accounts. How is she not distracted by this? I don't know. I'm kind of annoyed with Canada just awarding these things. Because we did this, I think it was in London as well, where we made our flag bearer, the captain of the women's soccer team, and it was only because there were some bad calls in the game. So she actually decided she wanted to be openly critical of the referees. And it was like, yeah, we're standing up to injustice. It's so Canadian, despite everybody thinking, you know, we're nice and polite. Anytime a Canadian is not nice and polite, they just reward them for it and make them flag bearers. I want flag bearers that are like the greatest Olympians, not ones that can make a social statement about online bullying. I'm done with this.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm disappointed I wasn't made the Australian flag bearer, because the amount of bullying I've gotten from Edwina Bartholomew fans over the last few weeks has really made my life hell. So, you know, if I was in Canada, I clearly would have been made the flag bearer. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting to think about these games overall, because I honestly think I paid, I mean, not just because we were podcasting, but I probably paid a lot more attention to these games and watched a lot more of it than Sochi. I mean, I really don't know why. I mean, I seem to have very limited memories of Sochi. I don't know. Maybe I was on the Russian drugs or something. I don't know. But yeah, but I mean, I enjoyed them. But I guess I don't come out of these games as sad that they're over as I have in a lot of other Olympics. I don't know what that means. I mean, on a grand scheme of winter, I just really fondly remember Salt Lake. I don't know if that was just because that was my Olympics, my winter games that I really, really followed. I mean, I did that with Nagano, but I think Salt Lake was the one for me that really just... that was just glued to the television, just did not miss a minute of it. Torino is kind of almost like Sochi to me, in that I don't remember large portions of it. And then Vancouver, I just was glued to it as well. I think a lot of that just because it was in Canada. So it's kind of interesting. I seem to have a good one, miss it, good one, miss it, with the attention-wise, and with all the events, I think I agree with what both of you say. I mean, the thing with the Winter Olympics that I feel like it's just, it is a lot of repetitiveness. I love all the sports, don't get me wrong. We talked about this at the beginning, but I would like to introduce new sports. I mean, at least, you know, the Winter Olympics don't seem to introduce new events, whereas at least at Summer Games, we get new sports. I mean, admittedly, some of them are stupid, like climbing walls, but like at least they're doing something. I mean, when was the last time we had new sports introduced in the Olympics? Nagano with snowboarding and curling? Have we had like a brand new sport completely introduced since then? No. So I want to see that. Beijing, introduce something new. I mean, I don't know what else there is out there. Where's ski ballet? I mean, that was a demonstration of sporting Calgary and Albuville bring back ski ballet.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Where's the dog sledding?
BEN WATERWORTH: The dog sledding, you know?
COLIN HILDING: Where's igloo building?
BEN WATERWORTH: Snowball fights! Like, come on, just like snowball fighting. I think the Winter Olympics just has a identity issue in the fact that they just try to make themselves, they copy a lot of the X Games. Oh, this is big in the X Games. So we better make this into the Olympics. I get it, you're getting the kids involved, you're getting these sort of things, but this is my problem with what they do with it, because I just feel the X Games are their own entity. They're their own world. Let them be themselves. You don't need to make everything in the X Games an Olympic sport. So, yeah, I mean, I just bring in more sports and not necessarily more events. So that would be my hope for future games. I have another reply from Edwina and I are besties. We're just chatting along here. Before I get to that, though, I love this headline from the New York Times. As medals pile up, Norway worries. Are we winning too much? Can I just read this article? Pyongchang, South Korea. Surpassing its own lofty expectations, Norway has delivered the greatest performance in the history of the Winter Games, winning a total of 39 medals, 14 of them gold. A nation of only 5 million people has crushed all corners, including sports like Germany and the United States in the events Norwegians care about the most. Elsewhere, these historic results would yield that kind of street parties where strangers high-five one another and their hands hurt. In Norway, celebrations have been far more subdued. The more ruckus it has gotten so far is a lot of joyful shouting at the television. Said Frederik Auckland, a TV sports commentator in Norway, we always want to win, but modesty is a big part of the culture here, and Norwegians don't go out much. Basically, to summarize, Norway shat all over everyone, but they were like, oh sorry, they're the Canadians of Scandinavia. They're apologising for winning. I feel like I ripped shit into Norway, these games, but it's kind of like the Edwina Bartholomew effect. Something happens and I kind of appreciate them more. Colin, you're getting your thunder stolen away from a nice country.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, that's not fair. Come on. If they all of a sudden decide that they want to stand up to online bullying, then we're going to lose our whole national identity.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, Jarrod, you know this would never happen in Australia. We're complaining that we only won three medals in the Winter Olympics, an Olympics that we have no right to win medals in. You know, this is like Norway complaining that they only win three medals in the Summer Olympics. Like, can you imagine Australia topping the, you know, this would be the greatest thing in Australian sport. I'm like, ah, fucking sorry, mate. We didn't mean to fucking win too much. Shit, like, Jesus, sorry about that.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, no parade of the athletes when they come home. We're just going to pretend it didn't happen. We didn't get the most medals. We're just really humble people, and next time we'll try and lose on purpose.
BEN WATERWORTH: You can just see them like coming home, like all these Norwegians, you know. Here's Marit Bjørgen, you know, the third most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympic Games. Gets off the plane, and everybody just shames her like, you win too much. You bring shame to Norway. She like just goes back to her little cubicle at her office. And like, you know, I don't know, Sven walks up to her, oh, hello, Maritz, what have you been doing? You've been on holiday, have you? It's like, oh, yes, just went to Hawaii. Didn't do much. She's embarrassed to admit that she just went off and won five medals. What's that around your neck, Maritz? Is that a new necklace? It's very shiny. Oh, just something I picked up in the airport. Nothing big. Would you like one? I have a few. Here I was liking the Swedes and the Finns in Scandinavia. Maybe I don't pay you enough attention. Oh, my goodness. Edwina, I think Colin, you've noticed what she might have said. Another reply here from Edwina Bartholomew. It is super annoying to make a simple mistake like that. I'm sure you weren't the only one shaking your head. Flick me another tweet in four years' time. Cheers, Edwina. I replied.
COLIN HILDING: She's really beaten up over this, isn't she?
BEN WATERWORTH: She's brought shame. She's had commentators.
COLIN HILDING: Not the bros.
BEN WATERWORTH: I replied to her and I said, You're welcome to come on our podcast and talk it all over with us. It would be fun to talk about hot hats too. That was meant to be your hats, but I put hot hats. Bring Basil Zemplas and make it a party. And Colin has replied with the boorang drones thing in the sky. Oh, I apologise for everything I said about Edwina Bartholomew in the last two weeks. We're besties now.
COLIN HILDING: What a gem.
BEN WATERWORTH: What a little trooper. Edwina, like, get on you. You wear your silly hats all the time. Come over to my house. We're besties now. She called me my friend. All right. So obviously, you know, it's a bit of a different thing here now as we sort of look ahead. I mean, obviously, at the end of Rio, we're like, yeah, we're going to be back for Pyeongchang and athlete interviews. I mean, we might look to sort of get some of these people on the show, you know, give them a few months off, see what happens. I'm sure we can, you know, make them not win some medals again in four years time. That would be great. But besides that, I guess we look to the Commonwealth Games now. I mean, it's not the Olympics, but no, Colin, there's something else.
COLIN HILDING: Well, I was just going to say before we do that, did each of you have like a favourite moment from these Olympics before we close out Pyeongchang?
BEN WATERWORTH: Good thinking, Colin. Yes, that's a good idea. Jarrod, you can go with that one first, if you like.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think from an Australian point of view, I just really enjoyed the men's moguls with Matt Graham because I think even though like he didn't win gold, like it was such an impressive final and the run that like won it was just, I mean, out of this world really. And then I just overall, I think I just can't go past Elizabeth Swaney because I mean, what an inspiration. Who doesn't want to go to the Olympics now in a random sport representing a country that they have zero ties to?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I like that moment too, because you know, again, we're all pretty pathetic athletes on this show. So, you know, I think that's our dream. We can all live up to that. You know, I'm going to say Esther, you know, just what an amazing achievement for her to do that. That's just such an incredible thing to do. Australian perspective, I just enjoyed the way David Morris handled what happened to him. I just cannot get over what a nice guy he is to basically just be like, yeah, I got fucked over, but I got 10th in the Olympics, like, go me. And I enjoyed the mogul, I enjoyed doing that great commentary. Jarrod, I think you were the star of that mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul. That will definitely be on our best of, hands down. But yeah, it was fun. And one thing I also want to quickly mention to Colin before you answer yours, it's also come to light that the Simpsons have also correctly predicted something else. There was an episode they did, I think, in 2014 where they had curling in it, and in it, the USA beat Sweden to win the gold in an event. So once again, the Simpsons predicted it. Look it up. It's like trading on Twitter, I believe. So there you go. Colin, answer your own question. That's a good question.
COLIN HILDING: Well, obviously, my answer is going to be the moguls, no matter what. But I mean, this really was both events were great. Mikael Kingsbury finally getting his gold. The women's moguls all agree with both of you. Like that was probably the most fun that I've had on this show ever. And I think we could just make our next best of show just the entire women's moguls live commentary that we did. Aside from that, I mean, some of the events, even though I talked about them just kind of like blending together, like the slope style and ski cross and snowboard cross and everything, I mean, just the good results that Canada had, that was great, especially for some of these newer events, being able to see that Canada is dominated. Like it was in the woman's ski cross only finding out that we had like, you know, three golds, two silvers and only three Olympics. That's crazy for Canada. Hockey wasn't the best for Canada, but there were some good games in there. And I think also just mixed doubles, curling, that's probably what I'll remember the most of this Olympics outside of the moguls. I think it's a completely different way of presenting curling. It's quicker. So you don't have to dedicate three hours of your life. And it was great for Winnipeg and firefighters and holistic nutritionists everywhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: The one actually commentary foul that I forgot to mention, and seems as he's not my bestie in Edwina, is Hamish McLaughlin's faux pas when Canada is coming to the stadium and he's talking about how great their games was. Hamish McLaughlin is like, of course, I'd be disappointed to leave Pyeongchang without a gold medal in curling or ice hockey. It's like, yeah.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, come on.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, the mixed double didn't happen, apparently, according to Hamish McLaughlin. And just actually one thing I should really mention, Mallory, of course, joined us for three episodes. And, you know, right at the beginning, she kind of zoned away towards the end. But she did want to, she was planning on being on tonight, but she fell asleep. And she wanted to say that the closing ceremony was incredibly boring. So that's why she fell asleep.
COLIN HILDING: Finally on the same page as us.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, exactly. So, yes, we really, from this point, looking towards the Commonwealth Games, I mean, they're only basically about six weeks away. And look, I don't know if we're going to be doing daily coverage. We might do as much as we can. Obviously, we're a show about the Olympics. But, you know, for us, we're three members of the Commonwealth here, and we're excited for the Commonwealth Games. I will be working at the Commonwealth Games, so you'll actually get a bit of an insight from me if I'm allowed to. I might be told, no, you can't speak on behalf of Goldock or anything like that. But, I mean, Colin, give us a bit of a perspective about the Commonwealth Games in Canada, because I had a conversation during the week. I got to meet Mallory's mum briefly through the joys of the Internet. She asked me about what I'm doing on the Gold Coast. I said, I'm working at the Commonwealth Games. And she said, oh, the Commonwealth Games are still a thing, are they? And they live in Victoria, the last Canadian host city of the Commonwealth Games. So the legacy there must be thoroughly huge there in Victoria. What do the Commonwealth Games mean to Canada?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, they meant a lot more back in the 90s when they had them in Victoria, because I think that was the last time most Canadians realised there was Commonwealth Games going on. I think if you follow sports a lot, you know what's going on. It's always hit and miss. This is where we're going to be reversing roles, because I don't know if CBC is going to have any coverage of it all. TSN, our sports networks, they'll probably have it. It's similar to, I guess, all the other non-Olympic multi-sport events, like the Pan Am Games got its best TV coverage when it was in Winnipeg and when it was in Toronto. And when it was in those two cities, it was hit and miss. You may get a couple of hours in the evening, you know, some recaps and everything. But even the Canada Games, that's kind of what it was like. The Canada Games were in Canada. They always are in Canada, obviously. And we get a couple of hours in the evening. So, I mean, back when it was in Victoria, though, it was like what I've been talking about now with CBC's coverage. It was 24-7. So I'm not expecting that. At this point, I don't even think, I know that they'll be covering it on TSN. I don't even know what type of coverage it's going to have or how good the coverage is going to be. I'm hoping for something good, so I don't have to be watching on the 7 app in order to get my Fix The Commonwealth Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: It kind of sounds like how they cover the Paralympics, I guess. And I feel bad that we don't really talk too much about the Paralympics because they're obviously going to be on before the Commonwealth Games. But, you know, we'll sort of pay a bit of attention to that. I mean, Jarrod, for you, what do the Commonwealth Games mean to you? I mean, is this something that growing up you paid attention to? Were you excited about these as the Olympics? Because, you know, I mean, I think Australia generally have held on to it. I mean, no matter where they are in this country, we generally get, you know, 24-hour coverage of this non-stop for, you know, the 11, 12 days that Commonwealth Games are on. So it still is a fairly big thing in Australia.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think there's this weird thing where it's like when the Commonwealth Games aren't on, and if you say somebody's won a gold medal and it comes out and it's in the Commonwealth Games, like, oh, well, they're just the Commonwealth Games. But when they are on, it's like the be-all and end-all of like, yeah, we're beating other countries, blah, blah, like, who cares if it's the Commonwealth Games? Yeah, gold medal, yeah, yeah, yeah. So at the time it's on, it's like this huge thing, but I think after it's over, everyone's kind of like, oh, moving on, but I'm always excited to see it. And I think it kind of guarantees better coverage because unlike at the Winter Olympics where there's not heaps and heaps of Australian athletes, the numbers being so much higher, you do get to see a lot more events live because they make an effort to show Australians winning stuff live. Whereas at the Winter Olympics, they think that we only want to see Australians on replay 200 times when we'd rather watch live sport.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. And I think my way of always saying this for the Commonwealth Games is this is how America must feel during the Olympics because it legitimately is a case where Australia is expected to win like 10 gold medals every day. And it's legitimately, if we don't win that, it's a disappointing day. So it's not a matter of when will we win our first gold or will we win like 10 gold medals. It legitimately is a case of will we beat 100 medals or will we beat our whatever from the last games. And I think for Australia this time around, the biggest thing is redemption from Glasgow because it was the first time I think in about 50 years or something like that, ridiculous, at least in our lifetime, that Australia hadn't topped the medal tally. England beat us. And that is fucking embarrassing because the Commonwealth Games are ours, England. Go away. So I think this has definitely been the big thing for us. It's our home Commonwealth Games. I mean, this is the second time we've hosted the Commonwealth Games in the last 12 years. And I remember it's such a big deal in the lead up to Melbourne. And I feel like it's been a bit more subdued around the Gold Coast because I think we've just had them so recently. But I mean, having been on the Gold Coast recently to see what it was like, and now knowing that I'm actually going to be working at this, I mean, I think it's going to be a fascinating thing to experience this because Colin, you said obviously you got to go to the Cannes Games last year, you remember a bit of the Pan Am Games when you were younger. And I'm sure for you, Jarrod, as we've mentioned before, you would remember the Sydney Olympics. I've never been in the vicinity of a multi-sport event. You know, the closest I've been is, you know, I'm an hour's flight from Melbourne when the Commonwealth Games were on, when I would have been 19 back then. So I didn't get to make it to Sydney in 2000, I didn't get to make it to Melbourne in 2006. I'm very excited to be able to actually be there for these. So I'm working at the boxing. So if we want insight into boxing during the Commonwealth Games, we'll see what we do. But again, we'll probably do a preview episode. I'd like to think, you know, in a few weeks' time. And we'll do what we can. Don't expect probably daily episodes. But, you know, I'd like to see we can cover a fair bit of these for it, particularly the Lawn Bowls, because, you know, let's be honest, you know, it's not a multi-sport event without the Lawn Bowls. That or squash. Although, Jarrod, I think you're actually a big squash fan, because you're an advocate for squash at the Olympics, I believe.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, yeah, it's got to get back there. It was ridiculous that they took it out in the first place.
BEN WATERWORTH: And netball. I mean, Colin, you must know a lot about netball. That's a top 10 sporting candidate, isn't it?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, I think that Andre De Grasse and Penny Oleksiak are going to be in mixed doubles netball in the Commonwealth Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now, I know Andre is going. Is Penny Oleksiak going to the Commonwealth Games?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, and that's why I'm hopeful that we're going to get good TV coverage because not only is De Grasse going, but Penny Oleksiak and Kylie Mass have both been announced as going. So we had such good results in Rio that we didn't expect for a lot of these summer events that I think Canadians are still pretty pumped about our chances for Tokyo. And this is like the perfect opportunity to just capitalize on that. And these new stars that were sort of created in Rio, we get to see them for the first time competing since then.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I think the thing that people need to realise in regards to the Commonwealth Games, too, is I think on the world scale of sporting events, it's like in the top five, I believe, for biggest sporting events in terms of, you know, like athletes and television audiences and all that sort of stuff. Because, I mean, the Winter Games, what they have about like 80 nations or something like that, 89, I want to say, if I can find that in front of me, it is officially 92. OK, I was off by three and the Commonwealth Games has 71. But I mean, you know, like you think of the Summer Olympics, obviously they have like 201 countries, but still a pretty big thing. And, you know, like, yeah, you're not having the absolute powerhouses of America and Russia and China and France and Germany and these sort of countries, but you know, Australia is pretty good. England, they obviously all separate them into, you know, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Canada. They do well. I mean, if we look back to the Glasgow, the medal tally of Australia, obviously second and Canada, you know, you walk away with 82 medals in the Summer Games, Colin. That's bloody good.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, and that's about what Penny Lexiak won in Rio. So we're hopeful for that we could maybe even double that and win pretty much everything come April this year.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I'm looking here, actually, that in plenty of times if you won over 100 medals. I mean, you won 117 in Manchester, you won 129 in your home games, 109 back in Edmonton in your other home games, and 116 in Edinburgh, 113 in Auckland. So it's not unusual.
COLIN HILDING: But have we ever won in netball?
BEN WATERWORTH: No, because it's only ever Australia and New Zealand that will win that. That's like the women's ice hockey, Colin. There's no point of other nations even showing up. You know the gold medal match is going to be between Australia and New Zealand.
COLIN HILDING: Well, one day I hope for a great movie to be made about the Canadian netball team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: I just want to, again, to go over just how good it is for Australia. I'm just looking at our gold medals that we won in Glasgow, all right? So, you know, swimming, air, plenty low, cycling, athletics, you know, things like that, great. Two gold medals in squash, we were very happy of that. Boxing, we win medals in boxing in the Commonwealth Games. I look forward to witnessing Australian gold there. Actually, we really didn't win many gold in many sports if I'm looking at this pretty quickly. But Canada, of course, you know, you get gymnastics, wrestling. I don't know why wrestling is a Commonwealth sport. No one in the Commonwealth wrestles except for Canada. You know, badminton, Canada's great badminton players. You know who I mean? God, look forward to this. It's going off.
COLIN HILDING: And you get, you're going to get to meet one of our great Canadian boxers, Mandy Bujold, who, you know, completely flopped and real, but we have really high hopes for her.
BEN WATERWORTH: So she hasn't gone pro, she will be there?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, she's going to be there. You'll like her too.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, as a media advisor, person, venue, whatever I am, I'll find out soon. I'm very looking forward to my job, Commonwealth Games, if you're listening. I probably will get to meet her multiple times. So if she's in high demand by the Canadian press, I will be sure to be like, hello, Colin likes you. And she's like, oh, hey, Colin. So I guess that's how she sounds. So bring on the Commonwealth Games. We'll do what we can in the meantime and hashtag beat England will be the motto there going forward. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 16 days of U2. Can I just say that? Jarrod, congratulations. You officially were in every episode with me. So good job. We managed to do that the whole way through. And Colin, thank you for also being a part of this. I will admit, I think I've enjoyed this more than Rio. I know we didn't really have Ryan Lochte to go along with, but I love the winter sports. It's great. I've had fun bashing Channel 7 for the last two weeks. It's been great. You know, I made a new best friend from Channel 7. That's great. I'm probably bumping into her in the media centre in a couple of weeks. So I'll be like, hey, Edwina, how you doing? And yeah, I look forward to returning for Olympics in a few years, and obviously see what we do with the Commonwealth Games. Jarrod, sincerely thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun, and I appreciate you being on every single one of these in the last couple of weeks.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No problem. It's been great. And a special shout out to the moderator who approved our messages. Thank you.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, yes! And Colin, to you, thank you so much. I know obviously you've had some early mornings and late nights alongside with us, but we appreciate your viewpoint from the other side of the world.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, if I had not been on here, we would never have known about the great Canadian traditions of pooping in your ski pants and stealing your sibling's tooth and dressing your brothers up as girls.
BEN WATERWORTH: And the favourite Canadian TV show of Games of Thrones.
COLIN HILDING: Yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great show that was. To everybody who's tuned in the last few weeks, thank you so much. We appreciate it, and we look forward to bringing you more episodes in the future and covering more of these multi-sport events moving forward. Thank you for tuning in to Off The Podium, and we will speak to you from the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games.
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