PyeongChang 2018 Day 6 Review
Another day, another medal for Australia (and a few for Canada too) as Ben & Jarrod return to give their take on another entertaining day of the Olympics! Just why does it matter that Jarryd and Chumpy don't get along? Why does Lydia need to stop apologising and realise how awesome and amazing she is? Why is it sad that Jacqui Cooper isn't being appreciated more as a commentator? Why is the luge relay perhaps the greatest sport that has ever existed? And can we finally break the 3 medal hoodoo and end up with our 4th medal? It's all here and more on our special CHUMPY & LYDIA day!
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 today to recap an epic day. Six of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. A silver day for Australia. Sadly, it's not Chumpy Day, but it's Jarrod Day. It's the other Jarrod who's gonna be here for me in just a second. But we're talking about Jarrod Hughes, silver medallist for Australia, but we're still gonna declare it Chumpy Day because it's still a bit to talk about with him. But an exciting day of action to go on day six. We'll also talk a little bit about day seven, which is happening as we speak right now, as we record. And sadly, no Canadian representation again today. They both for some reason decided not to join us, even though they won a gold, a silver and bronze on day six. So we'll just be here to talk about silver medals and everything else in between with the one, the only, Mr. Jarrod Loobeek, the other Jarrod. Hello, Jarrod, welcome back to Off The Podium.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thanks, it's good to be back. I've started spelling my name with a Y after the results of yesterday. And yeah, another great day in Pyeongchang.
BEN WATERWORTH: Look at this, this is just so incredible, the fact that we've already equaled our tally from Sochi four years ago with the two silvers and a bronze. No pressure on our aerialist tonight, no pressure on Bill Brockhoff in the Snowboard Cross to get that extra medal, to create a record for Australia. Never have we won more than three medals in a Winter Olympics before. So I'm feeling it though, Jarrod, I think this can be done. I'm not saying it's gonna be a gold, but as Australians, we should be satisfied if we can get that extra medal and walk away with four medals from a Winter Olympics.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I definitely think it's a possibility. Plenty of events to come, and some events that we're fairly good at and have a good track record at too.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, before we get into the results and talk about everything, I just need to do this right now, because I know I'm gonna forget to do this, unless I do this right at the beginning. I want to send a special shout out to Tom Herron, who actually tweeted me on Twitter, funnily enough, and I just want to read this out. He said, love podcast. I'm a daily listener. I follow Americans and Aussies, thanks to my significant other. Hashtag Off The Podium, hashtag Pyeongchang2018. So hello, Tom, g'day, I'm glad we've got a listener. I'm not sure if you're getting many of these tweets at all at you as well, Jarrod, but look at this. We've got other people listening to the show for once. I'm excited.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I mean, it's a massive shock, but these things happen, you know.
BEN WATERWORTH: Not only are we getting our fan messages published on the AOC website, we're getting listeners like, holy crap, you know, this is, we're making it. This is like us winning silver and bronze medals. But the big news obviously for Australia on day six. Well, there's probably two big news stories. The first main one, though, of course, silver medal in the men's snowboard cross, our third medal of these games. And sadly, as I said, not to Chumpy, but Chumpy did make it through to the final. So he was still very impressed with his result and all props to Chumpy, because he handled it very, very well. But for Jarrod, he used to get the silver medal. I think there was really no beating the Frenchman Pierre Voltaire, which was interesting because in the semifinal, of course, Pierre crashed, Jarrod and Chumpy were the ones that just kind of strolled on through to the final, and Pierre got himself up to make himself over the line. So who were the other ones in that semifinal? If only they had gotten up before him. But obviously great for Australia, great for Jarrod Hughes, and really someone who I failed out of all the Snowball Cross Riders. It was all Chumpy, Chumpy, Chumpy, and not a whole lot on Jarrod, but good day for Jarrod, of course.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it probably helped a bit by not having that media pressure and attention, probably helped him to focus on the event a bit more, I'd say.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's such a fun sport to watch, though. I mean, it is such entertainment, and really, you never know what's gonna happen in it. I did like the idea of some of the Australians to ride at the back. I mean, that helped Chumpy in the semi. He was kind of right at the back, and then everybody crashed out. And obviously, our two other Aussies, Adam Lambert, he went out sadly in the quarters he was taken out in that, and our other Aussie, who of course went on to what be last in the small final. We'll talk about that in a second. Cameron Bolton, who basically had a disformed arm, I wanna say, going into that one. He was just so brave going into that. But I mean, this is just great. This is an event, I think, that we've kind of always, you know, looked likely that we should get a medal in. So to finally do this was obviously a big thing. Chumpy, though, did you see the interviews with him afterwards? I mean, he's a very humble man. He was still very positive and happy that he at least made an Olympic final. So I respect that about Chumpy, that, you know, he's not gonna walk away from this sulking that he obviously didn't get the result he wanted in the final.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly. I would love to see him keep going, but who knows?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. I mean, he was very humble on our show when we had him on last year. Off The Podium curse continues. But also for the third place there, Spain, Regino Hernandez, a great result for him. But it was just so interesting, kind of all these people who were just broken bones. Did you see the small final? Cameron Bolton's arm was like, it was bright red and hanging out. I swear there was a bone sticking out every single corner, and he still managed to get fourth in the small final.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, that was impressive. And the interesting thing about this event is how there's really like, the commentators said there was rules, but there really isn't. We weren't seeing nobody got disqualified or advanced through the final. It's no like speed skating when they go back and look over the footage a hundred times. It's pretty much if you crash out or somebody stuffs up your run too bad, try again in four years time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which I kind of like. I mean, I get why they do it in speed skating. I guess kind of in speed skating, it's a little bit closer and I guess more technical in that way. But I mean, this is one where it wouldn't be that hard to accidentally just drop an elbow in somebody's head. But I mean, it's just, it's so nerve wracking, kind of even when somebody's leading, I mean, it was that famous one in Turin, wasn't it, where the guy who was leading this event basically did a massive trick on the line and famously, I think, crashed out right at the end and I think he only ended up getting the silver medal. But yeah, it's just a fascinating sport. But like you messaged us in our little group last night about this and I tweeted it out too. A small final, what is the point of a small final? Like surely you lose the semi, like just somehow relegate you into some sort of order. I mean, this is purely for the fact that you can say, oh, as an Austrian, Alessandro Hummerley or whatever his name is, I got seventh in the Olympics, but I won the small final.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's stupid. And wouldn't you rather anyway just not have it and then say, oh yeah, I finished equal seventh if you lose your semi final?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah, I agree. It's just, it's ridiculous. I mean, people, when it comes like the World Cup Soccer, argue what's the point of the third place match? I mean, I for one think there's purpose to a third place match in the World Cup because it's a bronze medal. It's like the Olympics. It's like if you lose a semi in some sort of team sport in the Olympics, you will fight off for the bronze medal. But it's not like the winner of the small final gets the bronze. You know, it's not like this is, you know, two by two. It's not like the slalom where they have it like that. So yeah, I'm intrigued why this is a thing because it's obviously not just this. They do it in speed skating, I believe, as well. I know kind of in some other sports, they'll have like playoffs for like fifth and sixth and seventh and eighth. I mean, okay, fair enough, but at the end of the day, if I'm an athlete, I don't give a fuck. I've lost the semis. I'm done. I'm like, okay, well, better than us for four years. But yeah, but we've obviously got the women in action. Basically as we speak, we're kind of going over that a little bit more when we get to that. I think the other big news though on an Australian angle for day six is obviously the women's aerials. Sadly, we'll obviously talk about our Aussies who did make it through to the final, but I think the fact that poor old Lydia did not make it through to the final is the bigger news story here and such a tragedy for Lydia. So sad to see that result for her.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it was a real let down, but more so in the sense of she was so apologetic to the fans and stuff. And in every interview, she'd start with sorry to Australia. I was like, don't you dare say sorry. The fact that she's won a gold and a bronze medal and she's apologising for not making the final here. I was like, you have nothing to apologise. I can understand that she's upset and disappointed in herself, but I was like, do not apologise to Australia because you've done more than enough for this country and you're supporting achievements.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I completely agree. And I mean, whenever people talk about the great Australian Olympians, I feel like our winter Olympians often don't get mentioned in that conversation as much as our swimmers and our athletics people and cyclists and things like that. But she's up there to me as one of our all time greatest Olympians, not just for her results, but just her wheel. She just absolutely brutalized her knee in Salt Lake City and just the resolve that she's had to come back here. I mean, her World Cup form was so strong coming into these Olympics. And for somebody who'd basically been retired from the sport for two years to come back in it, had a couple of kids come back into this sport. It's just, yeah, I'm with you. She has no right to apologise. Lydia, if you're listening, we love you so much. Like, we are not expecting an apology for you, from you at all. But this is, again, Winter Olympians. They just come out of this. They have a smile on their face. They're still very humble about things, even if they kind of crash out. And just massive props to Lydia and Chumpy just for the way they handled both their very disappointing results. I mean, again, sorry to bring up the Campbells. They did not handle it like that, did they, in Rio? So this is, again, the difference between the pressure put on certain athletes and then when you come to the Winter Games. Just props. It's Lydia Chumpy Day. Can we just declare that every day now for the rest of the Olympics?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly. And I think the fact, too, that in the aerials, you get two jumps to qualify. I'm just thinking of the amount of Summer Olympics sports where you get kind of three tries and you're out, or some of them you'll get six throws or something. Rather, I'm like, this is a sport that's really kind of on the edge getting those landings and you only get the two attempts to qualify.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, we saw it with Scotty James, obviously, in the half pipe, too, didn't we? So it's kind of, there is a lot of that in winter sports. So, yeah, I mean, it's just so fascinating to watch these ones. But I mean, obviously, the other four Australians in this in total, sadly, Samantha Wells, she also struggled with the landing. She couldn't make it through, but the good news, of course, and probably realistically, our main metal hope in this event was always going to be Daniel Scott, number two in the world leading into this. She basically did it on the first go. She got a 93.76, and she was straight into the final on the first jump. On the second jump, though, Laura Peele also made it through, so we'll have two Aussies jumping for this. And it's always just one that I've always loved. Aerials is just such a fun sport to watch. As I mentioned yesterday, this is a sport that Australia has had so much success in. We have medalled in this event every single Olympics this millennium. You have to go all the way back 20 years, the last time that Australia has not won a medal in aerials. And of course, we did it with both men's and women's in Sochi. So obviously, David Morris had come in the men's. But yeah, how are you feeling about this one? Because always a tough field. The Chinese obviously are always very strong in this. The Belarusian's obviously very good. And Graziella Super in that as well. The Super Mum has six Olympics. No Canadians. Canadians generally have a good history in this sport too. But I think they only had the one, if I'm not mistaken in it. So, it's a late night for us to watch this, but it's always worth watching at the aerials.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, definitely. And it is really one of those events that could go any which way. So, yeah, I mean, just fingers crossed and just hoping for the best.
BEN WATERWORTH: Absolutely. And yeah, that's, I think, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock tonight. They have three jumps in the final with that one. And the two Australians, there's three Chinese in this final. There's also two Belorussians, three Olympic athletes from Russia and two Americans. So basically spread out there between about four or five nationalities. We're going to, I want to address kind of some of this, quote, controversy around what happened in the broadcast in Australia. But I'll do that after the results because that can go in our Channel 7 discussion per day. I'll help update the Canadians while they're listening to this. Obviously, we know Mallory or Colin here. But the interesting thing about this day was that it's probably the least amount of attention I've been able to pay during the day for the event. And I actually, instead of watching it on the app like I have most days, did kind of make the most out of watching this on the actual main Channel last night, which is a massive mistake because I didn't even realise that Canada had won the gold in the men's 10,000 metres in the speed skating. We talked about this yesterday. The world record holder, Ted-Jan Blomen, he won the gold for Canada. Fantastic result, broke the Dutch streak. The Netherlands did get a silver in that one with Jorette Bergsma and the Italian skater, Nicola Tomolero. Bronze there. Also a silver medal day for Canada. Luge, the team relay. Oh my goodness, can we just talk about this? What a sport that is. Silver for Canada. Alex Goffer, second medal of the games. Samuel Edney, Tristan Walker and Justin Snife. Basically, they had not won a medal in Luge prior to these games. Now they've come away with two. The gold went to that in Germany. I think they've swept the Luge now, haven't they, the Germans? Bronze went to Austria. We'll talk about that team relay Luge soon. And figure skating as well. Canada got a bronze in that one. Megan Dumhal and Eric Radford. Gold in that also went to the Germans. And silver went to the Chinese pair. I'll go over some other Canadian results when we get through some of these other lists. But the other medal events yesterday came down. The men's downhill, always a fascinating sport to watch. The blue ribbon event of the Olympic Games. And obviously was delayed a few days until yesterday. But amazing to always watch. And Norway won the gold there with Axel Lund Svindahl. He beat his fellow countrymen, Kjetel Jansrud and the Swiss skier Beat Fjøys. Took the bronze. I hope he did beat some Fjøys on the way to winning that one. Canadians in that one, Manuel Osborn Paradis was 14th. Benjamin Thompson was 28th. Dustin Cook was 32nd. And Broderick Thompson was 35th. We had no Australian skiers in that one. But if you're wondering, I'm sure you are, Jarrod, the great Bolivian skier. Simon Bretfuss Kamelander was not last, 47th. Patrick McMullen from Ireland was second last. There's always a few sort of non-traditional winter athletes going that one. Michaela Schrifrin took out the women's giant slalom. Radiganur Moiknel for Norway took the silver. And Fridrisje Bregnone, I want to say that's how you pronounce her name, from Italy, took the bronze. From a Canadian perspective, Candice Crawford was 25th. And Valerie Griner did not finish. And did we not have an Aussie in that one? Alice Robinson from New Zealand was 35th. Greta Smallnot in that one, was she? No, she mustn't have done that one. I think she's in the slalom, not the giant slalom. So there's that one. We had two biathlon events happening yesterday. The men's individual, Johanna Stignis-Bow of Norway, the gold, Jakov Thack from Slovenia. I'm not laughing at his name, I swear, took the silver. And Dominic Lantinga, Austria, the bronze and the women's. Hannah Oberg from Sweden took the gold there. Anastasia Kuzmina, Slovakia, the silver. And Laura Dauma from Germany took the bronze. And if I am not mistaken, was that our Swedes' second gold of the day? No, they've done really well though in the biathlon and the cross-country skiing suite in there. So there's that one. From an Australian perspective in the women's biathlon event, if you just bear with me as I quickly scroll through this, I believe we had a record finish, did we not, in that one? Or was that in the cross-country? I'm thinking of the wrong sport, Ben. Good job. There were Canadians in that one. Sarah Baudry was 29th. Rosanna Crawford was 26th. Emma Lunder was 54th. And Julia Ransom, she'd be disappointed with her 74th place, spoke to her during the week, and she was definitely aiming for top 60. So yeah, she's got a bit of work to do between now and Beijing, of course, and the men's side of things. Brendan Green, 22nd. Christian Goh was 26th. And that was it until we get to Nathan Smith, who was 81st. In the biathlon, cross-country is where I wanted to go there, Jarrod, of course. The women's 10-kilometre freestyle. And it was gold to Reginald Hager of Norway. Charlotte Karla of Sweden was silver. And it was a tie for the bronze. Oh my goodness, cross-country tie. What a result. Marit Bjørgen from Norway tied with Krista Parmakoski from Finland. Did you see the tie there, Jarrod? What an event that was.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I didn't, but that's exciting. Because in a lot of the other sports, they're like, oh, we go down to thousandths of a second to break the tie, but I always like to see a tie in the Olympic Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, so do I. I love how they've always got a spare medal ready to go. You know, like, just in case. I wonder what happens to all these spare medals at the end of the games. Like, not as many ties as I was thinking. So, do you think that a couple of people in the Pyeongchang organising community is like, hey, I'm just going to walk off with one of these spare bronzes, do you reckon?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I reckon. Otherwise, they send them off to Beijing, and they melt them down and reuse them.
BEN WATERWORTH: True. Well, they do actually... I know when I was in... one of the times I was in Canada, when I was in Vancouver, I mean, I saw at least two displays where they had the medals in a case. And then I think when Colin and I went to the Mint in Winnipeg, they had also... because, like, they were made with Canadian coins. So, yeah, so they do obviously keep some for, like, museum purposes and things like that. Yeah, this is what I was looking at from the cross-country perspective. It was, I believe, the highest ever finished from an Australian in the cross-country event at the Olympic Games to Barbara Jezusek. She was 33rd. Great result from her. Finished just behind the Canadian, Emily Nishikawa. Other Canadians and Australians, we had Dara Beatty was 37th. Jessica Yeaton was 41st for Australia. Cedrin Brown for Canada was 43rd. Then we had Anne-Marie Camaux from Canada was 62nd. Amy Watson from Australia was 68th. Casey Wright from Australia was 81st. And sad news for our Chilean listeners, Claudia Salcedo ended up in last, and obviously she didn't want that to happen, but it did. And for our Togo listeners, good news for Matilde Ami V. Petagene, 83rd. So yeah, she'd be happy with that, Jarrod, wouldn't she?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, definitely.
BEN WATERWORTH: Absolutely. Go on for that one. The figure skating, the pairs, as we said, Germany, China, Canada. The luge, we already gone over that. Snowboarding, we went over that. And speed skating, we went over those results there. And I won't go into specifics when it comes to that. Just a quick go on the medal tally, then, while we're remembering here. Germany are just absolutely trouncing it on top right now. 9 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze, 15 in total. All the pregame predictions that I did see had Germany well on top. So this is a good result for the Germans. Norway always seem to be winning, but they're just not at the top of the table. They've got the most medals, and I am still on the argument that you should organise the medal tally by total medals won. And Norway would be on top right now. Six gold, seven silver, four bronze. The Dutch, five gold, five silver, two bronze. USA, five gold, one silver, two bronze. Canada and fifth, four gold, five silver, four bronze. But if you did it by a total, they would actually be in third. And rounding out that, that's the top five. Australia currently in 12th position, two silver, one bronze. We are ahead of China. Can we just say that right now? That Australia are ahead of China on an Olympic medal tally. Fantastic. And also technically Russia too. But do we really count them outside of that? And just some other quick ones in terms of the curling and the ice hockey. Big blow over in the women's curling. I don't know if you saw any of this, Jarrod, but Korea knocked off the Canadians. It was a big shock. I was watching this match, 8-6. So out of nowhere, Canada that. And actually Canada lost two to Sweden as well. So not a good day for Canada. And that's actually a bit of a blowout there for almost the undefeatable Canadians in the women. So currently, they've got a bit of work to do. In the men though, the good news is that the Canadians are the opposite end of the spectrum there. They're currently undefeated. They knocked off Italy 5-3. They beat Great Britain 6-4. And of course, the party pants team of Norway, 7-4. Did you see their pants this time around? Not quite as bright as they usually are, but they're still quite memorable.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I haven't yet, but I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, that's good. And in the ice hockey, the good news is that Canada didn't fall into the same trap of the Americans in the men's tournament. They beat Switzerland 5 goals to one. I will apologise there. And in the women's, in what is probably a dress rehearsal for the gold medal game, Canada vs USA, Canada walked away with a 2-1 victory. So good news for Canada. In probably the only sport that they actually care about. What did you watch during the action yesterday, Jarrod, on Day 6?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Well, the main focus was definitely the aerials and the snowboard cross. The great thing about the snowboard cross was even Channel 7 really couldn't stuff it up because it was just qualifying straight through, like, event after event, round after round. So that was nice because there was no way that they could kind of cut away to replays of other stuff and stupid segments because there wasn't any time to do that. So I thank you to the snowboard cross for correcting Channel 7's coverage. I also watched the Team Luge, which I think is just a fantastic event, and we need to get an Australian team in there at some point because, I mean, that sport just needs to take off. Yeah, and that was about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's just like, yeah, I pretty much watched exactly the same things as you. I watched a lot of The Downhill as well, because I always enjoy that. And I was hanging out for the ice hockey, but sadly, Channel 7 just put it on way too late, and I just didn't have my app available. But this Team Luge, just like, we joked about this with the baton and all that sort of stuff, but the fact that they literally send down the female person first, they've got to whack that Olympic thing, and as soon as they do that, the second person goes, they whack it, and then our doubles friends are back. Like, this sport is incredible. Like, this is like... When they say relay, I'm just thinking, well, how do they do that in luge? But like, this is just absolutely mental, this sport.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's insane, and I just love the fact that they do have to kind of hit that button with the Olympic rings on it. It seems so... I'm just, like, outdated even. Like, you'd think that they could just, as soon as they cross the line, like, it would just send a message back up to the top, but the fact that they have to hit this thing as their baton change and that they could miss it and then, I mean, have to kind of run back to get to it, which I would love to see.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I didn't see all of it enough to see if, like, any of the lower ranked teams did that, like, because they're going so goddamn fast. They'd have, like, jump on them, like, shoot, shoot, shoot, and I'd run all the way back. It's just such an amazing... Well, do they do this in skeleton? I mean, I guess you don't have double skeleton. But, I mean, god, this is just incredible. Like, I think this should be... I agree with you, an Australian team, like, just everything about this sport screams, like, fuck this AFLX crap that they've just started going on here and shortened versions of tennis. What is that, Super Sixes Tennis, whatever the hell it's called? Like, get Team Luge on TV. This would get the kids involved.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, definitely. And I want, like, more relays. We've had this relay with all the events. Now I want a relay team of just, like, the three individual women, three individual men, a Pez Luge relay. I think there needs to be more medal-winning spots for the relay.
BEN WATERWORTH: I agree with you completely. Just relays central. This is all that we need to have. Doing the bobsled, like the two-and-four man, like, they would have whacked something and, you know, quickly changed sleds or something like that. Just, you know, mix it all up. Like, do, like, the ice sport relay. So, like, send down illusions, whack the sign, then a skeleton race goes down, whacks the sign, then a bobsled goes down, boom, why can't they do that?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly. The more, the better.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, just all the time, I feel. Absolutely. Who's your athlete of the day, then? I mean, again, obviously, our obvious ones is always an Australian, Jarrod Hughes, but who else are you looking at for an athlete of the day?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I appreciated the Ghanan athlete in the skeleton, Akwazi Fringpong. Just that his outfit was on point, the lion on the helmet, and then his dance is at the end of the run. I mean, this is a guy who's finished last by quite a significant margin, but he's just loving being there, and the fact that there's an African athlete in the skeleton, I think that's just amazing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and I saw him. I like that. I agree with you there. I also appreciated the Korean skeleton racer. I think it was Yoon Sing Bin, who I believe just at the time of recording has actually won the gold medal. But I believe that's the one if I'm thinking of actually had an Iron Man helmet, which is pretty cool. I'm going to go with somebody a little bit different in the fact that people associate the fact that I don't really like this country that much, but I kind of don't dislike this country as much as I now dislike France. I'm going with the Spaniard snowboarder who took the bronze in the snowboard across Regino Hernandez. Now, not only did he have like a cool Stormtrooper looking helmet, which I thought was pretty awesome, but this is Spain's first Winter Olympic medal in 26 years. They have not won a medal since Alba Ville back in 1992. So it's been a long time coming for Spain, and, you know, we talked about New Zealand being that long since they've won a medal. But I think it's... I like it when a country breaks a drought. I like it when a country wins their first medal. So you've got to go way back to Bianca Fernandez Ochoa, who took the bronze in the alpine skiing in the woman's slalom. And interestingly enough for Spain, the only other Winter Olympic medal they'd ever won was from the same family 20 years previously. Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, who I believe was Bianca's father, took the gold in the men's slalom. So the very first non-Ochoa family member from Spain in the history of the Winter Olympics to win a medal and only their third ever Winter Olympic medal. So there you go, Regino Hernandez. And what a helmet. Did you like his Stormtrooper style helmet?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I thought that was very impressive. Obviously, a security risk, not knowing who was under there. But yeah, I thought that was great. I hope that they did check to see it was a man racing and not a robot. But yeah, that was great to see them win another medal after such a long time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now, before we get to our channel service, because I believe there's a bit to talk about Channel 7, another news story that's emerged in the last 24 hours here in Australia is apparently our new silver medallist, Jarrod Hughes, and fellow snowboarder, the legendary Alex Chumpy Pullen. They don't like each other, Jarrod. Apparently, the Winter Olympic Institute boss, Jeff Lipschut, has apparently had to come out and say that yeah, they basically don't get along. And I think a lot of it comes down to some issues that related back to Sochi with some team selection and who got funding and everything along these lines. And they're pointing out that post-race, Chumpy and Jarrod didn't shake hands and they've got a real frosty relationship. Now, this is interesting. I love Colin Messy to our group. He was like, oh, I'm sure you guys know about this. Can we just be honest? No, we didn't, because again, we basically get news of winter sports in Australia every four years. So the great rivalry between Jarrod Hughes and Chumpy Pullen has not been mentioned until after this race. I feel that Channel 7 and other broadcasters could have sold this up a little bit more, I think, particularly when they went one and two in the semifinals. So this is kind of an interesting story. I'm intrigued that this has not come to light before.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, a big missed opportunity. And the fact that by the looks of it, it's not even just Chumpy and Jarrod, it's the whole Australian men's snowboard cross team and Jarrod. Yeah, an interesting one. I can understand if he got a little bit miffed about Chumpy's overexposure at Sochi, maybe a little bit jealous of that. But yeah, he doesn't care. He's won a silver medal. He doesn't care if they come over and congratulate him or not.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I mean, that's a very good point, like stuff. And he walks away with the bling at the end of the day, doesn't he? But I mean, it's just so fascinating that kind of, you know, this is what for Aussies. And I remember when we had Chumpy on the show, he mentioned that this is kind of a sport where people are pretty close, even though that they're tightly racing against each other like that and taking each other out. And, you know, they said that on the commentary last night, like these are guys who are generally pretty close with each other. But not Jarrod and Chumpy and Jarrod and everyone in Australia. So, you know, I mean, again, I haven't really seen much of Channel 7 today. They've been showing this nonstop. I mean, they're very focused on Lydia last night, I feel, more so than the Silver Medal.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I haven't heard any mention of it. Yeah, but definitely it's interesting. And the fact that Jarrod is apparently training with the New Zealand team as well. I mean, we're hoping that we don't lose him to them. So I think the Australian Olympic Committee doing everything they can to make sure that he stays competing for the Australians.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, lucky that he was with us. I mean, imagine if he had gone to New Zealand and this was a silver for New Zealand. Then we would have been definitely shooting ourselves in the foot. Now, just with the Channel 7 coverage, I want to talk a little bit about the snowboarding cross, because actually it was, you know, for the most part, the commentary team was pretty good with that. There was other stuff around it that was terrible. The news that has come to light, though, during the aerials coverage last night, is that people are claiming that Jacqui Cooper, the expert comment next to our dear old Basil, was casually racist during last night's performance. Now, I was watching this live, and I could immediately tell the context that Jacqui was referring to. But the comment that people are claiming is racist, and I'm going to read this. This is what Jacqui Cooper said. Very Chinese, they all look the same, very hard to tell who is who. Now, okay, out of context, I can see what people are saying. But, like, watching this, she's 100% referring to the style of the Chinese aerialist. It was a comment that she made with every single nationality, so she talked about the Bella Russians. She, for a long time, was talking about how they've got a unique style. I believe she mentioned the same thing, too, about the Russians as well. So straight away, the fact that people have taken this out of context and are claiming this to be racist is absolutely ridiculous. This is the one time I actually am defending Channel 7, because they've come out straight away and they've put out a release that says, during tonight's commentary of the women's aerials, commentator Jacqui Cooper, a former Olympian and world champion, noted that an aerial maneuver was, in a technical and style sense, very Chinese, meaning that the whole of the Chinese aerial team are trained in the same way, and the maneuver, reference, was a classic, technically perfect trademark of that team's style. At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive. And it's actually fun reading the comments on their Facebook post, because for the most part, people are saying it's a shame that they have to come out and explain this as not being racist, and the fact that people are making this a race issue is ridiculous. Again, everyone take this on note, the one time I'm defending Channel 7, because I watched it live, definitely was not racist, and I think people need to build a bridge and get the fuck over it.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly. I mean, it was obvious to know what she was talking about if you had watched leading up to that point. I can understand if you had just tuned in at that moment or something, and obviously somebody just kind of caught grab of that and posted it, and then obviously other people seeing it out of context has really kind of blown it out of proportion, especially with something that was, as far as I can see, intended to be a compliment to the fact that the Chinese skiers were landing their jumps and they're very kind of technically sound. And with Jacqui too, her commentary was so good, I thought, for the entire night. I think that her commentary is great to listen to, and it's really funny because she has this really kind of sweet tone and persona that she talks in, but like subtly she kind of rips people to shreds. Like she'll say, oh great jump by someone. So she's like, that won't be good enough for the final though.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah. And there was one, I think one of the Australian girls, where just the way she like subtly did it, she was like, oh, so disappointed that she landed there. Oh, you know, I've trained her. You know, I told her to do this and I'm disappointed in her, but oh, she tried her best. She just has a way of doing it. But yeah, I just cannot believe that this legitimately is a thing that we have to have them apologise for. So yeah, welcome to 2017. But 2018, I don't even know what year we are. But outside of the compliments, I will slightly compliment them too on the Snowboard Cross, like as you said, like the way they kind of had to do it. And I really also enjoyed the female commentator that was in the commentary box as well. Because one thing I have to say about sports and commentators, and when they get a female involved, particularly in men's sports, there's layers of female commentators. There's ones who legitimately are there because they're good and that they can actually call the sport and they know what they're talking about, and it's natural and you don't even notice that there's a female. If you're just hearing a commentator, that to me was yesterday. That was so good. And then you have your ones where they're purely doing it because, oh shit, we better put a female in the box because people will call us sexist. And they have no idea what they're talking about and they drag the commentary down. And I watched two sports yesterday with female commentators and both were fantastic. It was a snowball cross and then I think it was the American coverage that we were getting the commentators for the downhill. Apologies if they're not American if it was another country, but the female that was in the commentary box was fantastic. So I really enjoyed that side of the coverage yesterday from Channel 7, but everything else outside of it, cutting down to our Kenno and Brenno and whatever the hell they are, and every three seconds talking to them. We kept cutting to Chumpy's town. You know, I wanted them to cut to Jarrod Hughes' town. Like, where were they? And maybe my highlight of the entire broadcast was not only the esteemed future Walkley award-winning journalist Rachel Finch asking questions to people in the crowd that she may as well be liking. What's your name? Do you like cheese? Do you like my dress? I like she is so useless. I also like them cutting to Chumpy Pullen's girlfriend, who A, why isn't she in Pyeongchang cheering him on? B, does she know what she's talking about? And C, does she know what she's talking about? She was as blank and as bland as a piece of paper.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'm a bit over the interviews with the family unless they actually win the event. Or at least kind of scope them out a bit to see if they're able to. And if it's awkward, can they like finish it up? Some of the times, like they'll start talking to them and it gets really awkward early, and they just keep pressing and going. I'm like, this is the point where they've said what they have to say. They're obviously not comfortable being on camera or being interviewed. Just like leave them alone and let them watch the event.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it really is like ridiculous. And just, Rachel Finch, just go home. Just don't, like, we get it, you won Miss Australia. Congratulations. But just because you look good doesn't translate to asking questions. I don't look good, but I like to feel that I know how to ask a question every now and then in an interview. Jarrod, you can too. Like Colin, everyone involved in our show, I feel, has the ability to ask questions and get an answer out of someone. It's not just, oh, go them. But the other thing too was this, what's the name, Edwina Bartholomew or whatever the frickin name is, changing a hat every single commercial break, and she came back at one point with like a Russian gulag hat or whatever the hell it was, looking like an absolute, I don't know, what was she wearing?
JARROD LOOBEEK: The mind really boggles. Yeah, I don't know if that was a sanction to look for her to be wearing on air.
BEN WATERWORTH: The one thing though that I actually kind of enjoyed though, kind of contradicting myself slightly, was during the aerial, they actually had an actual journalist in the crowd. They had Chris Reason, who's over there doing the Channel 7 news reports for the Nightly News bulletins, and he was interviewing Lydia Lasseler's husband and son. I don't know if you saw that interview, but I had to crack up laughing when he asked a question to her son and was like, Oh, and do you think that your mum can do it tomorrow? And he's like, I don't know, we'll have to see, won't we? Just like he handled it so well. The thing that I appreciated about Chris Reason, and you can tell he's an actual journalist, like just the way he's asking the questions, he doesn't milk it home. And even like he doesn't kind of like talk down to the little kid, like he just kind of just directs the question, like, you know, not too serious, but also not too babyish. So get Chris Reason to do more of this stuff. He's an actual journalist.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly. That was one of the best interviews of like family and people in the crowd. So yeah, if they're going to do that and keep doing it, then they need to make sure they have somebody who can handle that situation.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just I want people to get the coverage, the footage of Chris Reason asking questions and Rachel Finch asking questions and night and day, the difference. OK, you could argue that if Chris Reason was walking down the runway in an evening gown in Miss Australia, that he's going to be terrible at it compared to Rachel Finch. There's a difference there. And I'm sure walking down a piece of wood in a dress and smiling takes a lot of skill. But so does asking questions. And Rachel Finch needs to get trained in that. Rant over. Anything else on Channel 7 that I've missed? Again, I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention. I will go off at them for the fact that watching their coverage at 11 o'clock at night, you can tell they've been playing replays the death of Scotty James and everyone else, and Jarrod Hughes and all this sort of stuff, because they get to 11 o'clock after the aerials, and like, fuck, well, let's show all the other events we didn't show during the day. So here's the men's downhill. Here's the team's luge. Here's more of the figure skating. Oh, we're going to get to the ice hockey, we swear. 1.30 in the morning. They still haven't gotten to the men's ice hockey. And I know, I can watch the app, but I didn't have it available to me. Anything else that I've missed here, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I don't think so, yeah. I agree with you. I hate the kind of end of the day rush. And just what bugs me more than anything is they kind of act like it is their showing live sport. There's no mention of, let's go to the downhill that was held earlier today and see how that finished up. It's now we'll cross to the downhill where there's medals up for grabs. I'm like, stop trying to pretend that this is live sport. This happened four hours ago, you didn't show it. At least have the guts and own up. So the fact that you're not showing any sport and you've missed it and it's already happened, make it clear that this has already been on and we're doing such a bad job that we didn't show any of it at the time.
BEN WATERWORTH: And again, as I think we said yesterday, in a day and age of social media and the internet, like you just can't pretend that this is live or anything along those lines. So, you know, it's just ridiculous. Anyway, Channel 7, just goddamn it. Alright, no Canadians again. So, founder, hello, my name is and I'm Canadian. I'm going with an Olympic hockey player to celebrate Canadians winning the women's match against USA yesterday. Sarah Nurse. Are you a big fan of Sarah Nurse? I've got all the posters on your wall still, Jarrod, of her.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Cool, I thought so. Olympic rookie Sarah Nurse has had an outstanding collegiate career with the University of Wisconsin, making it okay. Cool, awesome. Alright, let's get into this. My name is Sarah Nurse and I'm Canadian. My favourite Olympic moment is watching Alex Bilodeau in Vancouver win the first gold on Canadian soil. If I could have a superpower, it would be teleportation, aka apparating. I don't know what that is. My favourite sports movie is The Blind Side slash Love and Basketball. Okay, she's not a Mighty Ducks fan. She plays ice hockey. Oh, this one's funny. My funniest childhood memory is dressing my little brothers up, pretending they were my sisters. Did you do that with your sisters? Did you dress them up to pretend they were brothers?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I didn't think of it at the time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now you've got time to think about it. There you go. My favourite pump up song is Beyonce, Freedom, Flawless, Formation. Most recent TV show I watched was Queen of the South. I love how here on the Canadian website, they've got to put a trailer for Queen of the South. Clearly, they assume no one's watched it. My favourite foods are nuts, peppers, onions and cheese sauce. My favourite chip flavor is bold barbecue Doritos. If I weren't an athlete, I would be a doctor or a pop star. You could be both, I guess. My favourite vacation spot is anywhere with a roller coaster and my dad. People actually usually describe me as sassy. Draw a picture of you and your teammates. So she's drawing a picture of her in front of a goal net with big hair. Oh no, that's a teammate there, alright. And a picture of herself. She's drawing a picture of her standing there with a stick, an ice cream, a basketball, a bag that says shopping on it. And I don't know what that is. It's a card of some sort. I don't even know what that is. Draw a picture of your favourite animal. A lion. Can I just point out that she legitimately has a drawing style where she looks like she's like a five-year-old? So, yeah, okay. They're really not that exciting. Colin finds all the good ones. We find the boring ones. Fan messages. Now, exciting news, Jarrod. We got both, two of our three published yesterday. That was a big win for us.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I mean, what a life. What a time to be alive with two messages getting published.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just so good. So, so good. Let's have a look at some of the ones here. So, Adam Lambert, who sadly obviously didn't make it through to the post of quarterfinals. Mary Miller from New South Wales. Good luck today, Adam. So very proud. Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy. Oi, oi, oi. Published yesterday. But, yeah, ours is still here. Like, they actually have just not updated this since yesterday because I'm seeing here that our two from yesterday are still like right at the top of the page. So we really have not gotten many of new ones here. Here's one to Jacqueline Naracot, who of course is a female luge, or is that a skeleton? Looking here at that weird little image I've got in front of me. Hi, darling. Oh, sorry, this is from Mike and Christine and his grandparents, New South Wales. Hi, darling. I only just realised tonight talking to Rob. Oh, Rob, the Rob. That you're competing for Oz. No wonder the BBC have not mentioned you so far. We'll be routing for you. Never mind. You're an Aussie because we both love to see the work you put in. For obvious reasons, we're in Bath. Not new. Go for it, girl. Love and XXX. Is that like a British way of talking? I did not understand a word of that.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'm very confused.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. So I'm guessing she's British and now she's not. Yeah, these are kind of boring. These are all yesterday. Verne O'Brien, too. Jarrod Hughes. This is, I think, what got him the silver medal from Verne O'Brien. Sending you energy, love and support from Austria. I'll be watching you.
JARROD LOOBEEK: New South Wales, obviously, a very important state in Austria.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just the Austro-New South Wales relations are obviously very high at the moment. So, it's come across quite well. I legitimately am just looking at these ones from yesterday. There's nothing exciting. The only new ones above ours is literally to Amy Watson. Good luck for tonight, Amy. Hope you have a great race. That's about it. So, anyway, I guess when it comes to messages, who is competing on day seven with our cross-country skiers? I guess we could do it to Brendan Carey, couldn't we? I mean, he's already gone through to the next phase in the figure skating, so we could spur him on a little bit. We haven't sent one to Brendan. No, we haven't. Shall we go for Brendan? It's a figure skating day for us, do you think?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Definitely.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right. What are you thinking for Brendan?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think we need to advise him on the spaghetti arms to keep them to a minimum if he wants top marks.
BEN WATERWORTH: Name. I don't know. Tonya Kerrigan. email.kerrigan.com. Let's go for Tasmania. Go Brendan. Remember spaghetti arms are key. Make sure the spaghetti is cooked though. Nobody likes raw spaghetti. Do you think that's good enough?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think that's important advice.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's very important advice. That's true. I mean, name one person that's ever said, oh, Jarrod really wants some spaghetti, but just don't cook it. Crunch down on this yummy, yummy, yummy. That is clearly why Brendan has gone through to the next phase. We'll do a bit of an update on that very, very shortly, at least at the time of recording this. Thank you very much, Brendan. Of course, Brendan appeared on the show. Clearly, he's not going to win a medal based purely on that. What about... We go to our woman's British skeleton racer, Jacqui Naracot. What do you reckon? It's time to get skeleton on this shit. How are you, Jacqui? Where are we? Let's go to skeleton. Jacqui Naracot name. We'll go with... Chumpy... Lassler. I'm coming out some original names here, I know. I think we're from New South Wales. Use skeleton well. Remember to skeleton. Do you think this sounds familiar? Remember to skeleton. Skeleton is important.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Bad skeleton is bad.
BEN WATERWORTH: Bad skeleton is bad. Skeleton is life. Life is skeleton. Remember if you forget something, remember to skeleton.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Skeleton.
BEN WATERWORTH: Skeleton. I really... Like seriously, if the AOC web admin ever listens to this show, can you just send us a message? We'd love to hear from you and just like have an interview. What constitutes a decent message to get on this? Like if that legitimately makes it, then yeah. Alright, I feel like we need to go. Danielle Scott. No pressure on her. She's ready to get the gold tonight. She's going for it. She's got to keep the tradition alive of this name, Jacqui Cooper. Uh-oh. imnotracist at hotmail.com New South Wales. Remember...
JARROD LOOBEEK: Whoops.
BEN WATERWORTH: Shit. I can't even write properly. Remember to... Oh, no! That just disappeared on me!
JARROD LOOBEEK: Ah!
BEN WATERWORTH: Hang on. Start again. The internet's going... Don't make these jokes about this, Ben. Try that again. Jacqui Cooper. I'm not racist at hotmail.com from New South Wales. Remember to look the same as all the Australian... Australians. That's important because they look the same in style. Style! I'm not racist! Do you think that works? I think they wish they could probably block an IP address here at the moment. I will say to anybody out there, if you want us to send a specific message, let us know. I'm just looking at the list here. We've still got a few to go. Some that would have finished by the time we get around to them. But we'll get there eventually. And hopefully all the athletes are getting spurred on by our messages of support. So, Day 7. The Aussies in action and we might already have a few results for this. Actually, before I get to the Aussies in action, let's just say what is on today in terms of the medal events. So of course, at the time of recording this on Day 7, some of these have already begun. So in the Alpine skiing, the Men's Super G and the Women's Slalom are on. It's the Zarly Stegel Mania and the Women's Slalom, the Zarly Stegel Memorial Race, the 15km Men's Freestyle in the Cross Country. The Women's Aerials of course are happening in the Freestyle skiing. The Men's Skeleton will be decided today. The Women's Snowboard Cross will be decided today and the Women's 5000m in the Speed Skating outside of the medal events. Third day of matches in the Round Robin Stage of both the Men's and the Women's Curling. The Men's Single Short Program has started in figure skating today. Third day of matches in the group stages of the Men's Ice Hockey will be on today. Skeleton, the Women's, the two first two runs of that happen as well as the Men's Qualifying Round of the Men's Large Hill Ski Jumping happens today as well. So, good to see the ski jumping back when it comes to that. Aussies in action, the ones that we have not already mentioned are Cross Country Skiing, of course. Phil Bellingham and Calum Watson, our man, are both in that race. Brendan Carey, as we said, and what a start he's actually had. I'm seeing he was currently in third position, but he's dropped down actually. They haven't updated that in the AOC. Tenth position, actually, right now. About half of the skaters have done in that short program, so he's off to a decent start there, Brendan, so he'd be very happy with that. In the freestyle, obviously, as we mentioned, both Laura Peel and Daniel Scott going for medals tonight in the aerials. Skeleton, John Farrow, well, that's already done and does it. He finished 20th position overall in that. We'll probably repeat that for you tomorrow. 16th position, I should say. Apologies there. The women, Jacqui Naricotte, as we've already gone through, she's in the women's one. Bel Brockhoff, another friend of the show, has been on the show. She's through to the quarterfinals of the Snowboard Cross. So we'll keep an eye out on how things go with that. So that's the Aussies in action. What are you looking forward to? I mean, the obvious one I'm going to say is the aerials here, but is there anything else you're looking forward to seeing as day seven continues?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think mainly the aerials, probably a little bit of the alpine skiing and hopefully getting to check out the curling and the Norwegian pants.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh yes, absolutely. I'm down for the women's slalom. It just always reminds me of Zali. And I'm looking forward to the women's snowboard cross too. I love snowboard cross. In the men's ice hockey today, who do we have playing actually? The US will be looking to bounce back after their loss against Slovenia, so they play Slovakia today, and Russia will play Slovenia in that one, as well as Finland and Norway. Finland beat Germany yesterday 5-2, and Sweden beat Norway 4-0 in the ice hockey. So that's where that stands right now. Hopefully we will have some Canadians joining us across the weekend. We're not too sure. Colin, probably not, but Mallory hopefully will be back to give us a Canadian perspective. But once again, to everybody who's listening to this, we really do appreciate the message that we got. Tom Herron again, hello, thank you so much for tuning in. If you want to ask us anything specific, Tom, get our opinions or you want us to bring more American updates, I'm not too sure. Let us know. We obviously focus mainly on the Canadians and the Australians, but we know that America exists. So, yeah, go, go, Sean White. Oh, that's another thing that Channel 7 did, didn't they? They interviewed Sean White rather than showing live events. So that was pretty exciting, wasn't it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yes, just a little bit of promotion for his event that's coming to Sydney. And I wonder who will end up broadcasting that. Surely Channel 7 is in the mix the way that they've been talking about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, definitely. I look forward to their interview tonight, of course, with the downhill winner Axel Lundsvindal, clearly. Just while they're interviewing other nations. I mean, obviously, Svindal is bringing his great downhill tournament to Sydney this year, I believe. Is he not?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I'm going to. I've already got tickets.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, I'm jealous. They were sold out when I went to get them, so you were lucky. Say hi to Axel for me. He hasn't returned my calls this week, so just, yes, say hello in Norwegian, whatever that is. You've worked with Norwegians before. How do you say hello? What did Freddy Dos Santos say back in the amazing race days?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Probably something like, don't talk to me.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, those Norwegians, notoriously rude. Hello to all the Norwegian listeners listening to us today. But like us on Facebook. Use the hashtag Off The Podium if you're on Twitter, and yeah, we look forward to covering Day 7. Will it be another medal day for Australia? Can we break through for our fourth medal of the games? A new record. And what would be three medals in a row? Three days in a row. Something which I don't know if we've ever achieved before in the Winter Olympics. So, look forward to that, folks. Jarrod, always a pleasure, mate. And congratulations on your silver medal.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you. Yeah, I'm wearing that proudly at the moment, and I'm never going to take it off.
BEN WATERWORTH: And you will never take off your headphones and listen to Off The Podium, because we'll be back again tomorrow. Thanks to your company. We'll speak to you then. Good night.
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