Keep the Flame Alive

Today’s guest is author and historian Dr. Cat Ariail. Cat is a lecturer of history at Middle Tennessee State University and author of the new book Passing the Baton: Black Women Track Stars and American Identity. We discuss how great female Olympic track athletes Alice Coachman, Mae Faggs, Wyomia Tius, Wilma Rudolph, Willye White, Earlene Brown changed the way society perceived Black women in the sporting world.

Learn more about Cat at her website: https://catariail.com

Our TKFLASTAN Update includes news from:

• Kim Rhode
• Andrew Maraniss
• Ken Hanscom
• Brianna Decker
• Erin Jackson
• Chloe Kim
• Clare Egan

Throughout 2021 we're revisiting great stories from Atlanta 1996! For our Atlanta 1996 moment this week, we relive the incredible story of the Australian Eventing Team during the Equestrian competition.

We also have Games Updates from Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, and Milan-Cortina 2026.

Photo courtesy of Cat Ariail.

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Keep the Flame Alive: The Podcast for Fans of the Olympics and Paralympics with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown

Support the show:

Tell a friend: http://flamealivepod.com

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Newsletter: Sign up at http://flamealivepod.com

VM: (208) FLAME-IT

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!

Is the 400m hurdles the event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, or what?!? We got to see another great day of competition, both with monumental victories and heartbreaking losses.

Today's coverage includes:

• Artistic Swimming - TKF Jacqueline Simoneau showed how the Olympics isn't necessarily about winning medals; it's about doing your best.
• Athletics - Whoa. Just whoa.
• Baseball - We still don't understand this tournament.
• Basketball
• Beach Volleyball
• Boxing
• Cycling - Track
• Diving
• Equestrian - The course that spooked the horses.
• Golf
• Handball
• Hockey
• Marathon Swimming - Where feeding is....interesting.
• Sailing
• Skateboarding
• Table Tennis
• Volleyball
• Water Polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Plus, our popular segments:

• Where's Marnie McBean?
• What Officiating/Volunteer Roles Would We Want?
• TKFLASTAN Watch
• Fantasy League/Brackets Update
• What's Up with Mike and Maya?

We need your help! For the upcoming Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2022, we'll have an on-the-ground presence. This will allow us to bring you an Olympics audio experience like no other. But getting to Beijing will be difficult, so we've got a Kickstarter campaign running to help get us there. Please check it out and support our efforts to bring you a better show. Thank you for your support!

Join in the fun - viewing guide, fantasy league, brackets and more at http://flamealivepod.com/tokyo

Text us/Leave us a VM! 208-FLAME-IT (208) 352-6348.

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!

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Keep the Flame Alive: The Podcast for Fans of the Olympics and Paralympics with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown

Support the show:

Tell a friend: http://flamealivepod.com

Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/flamealivepod

Hang out with us online:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamealivepod

Insta: http://www.instagram.com/flamealivepod

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/flamealivepod

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/312069749587022

Newsletter: Sign up at http://flamealivepod.com

VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348

This week we're talking about how Olympians, Paralympians and elite athletes develop their personal brand. Athlete branding expert Vickie Saunders, president of The Brand Builders, a company that specializes in educating and training individuals and organizations about branding, takes us through how elite athletes figure out how to create a brand that's authentic to them.

Follow Vickie on Insta, Facebook and LinkedIn!

Our TKFLASTANI Dawn Harper Nelson has a new YouTube channel called The Real Nelsons with weekly videos featuring her family and their lives (Dawn and her husband Alonzo are great, but let's face it, you're really tuning in to see the adorable Harper).

Get well wishes to TKFLASTANI Lauren Gibbs!

TKFLASTANI Shiva Keshavan was interviewed in the Times of India and has a few words about the state of winter sports in that country.

We also have news from Tokyo 2020 (cost cuts are coming), Beijing 2022 and the International Paralympic Committee. Plus, if you'd like to volunteer for a US Olympic & Paralympic Committee Board or National Governing Body Board, register your interest here -- you could help shape the future of sport!

Plus, another IOC member goes rogue. Who is it this week?

Thank you to our Patreon patrons and Paypal donors for keeping our flame alive! We're making progress on our Patreon goal to make this podcast more accessible, but we need your help to achieve it!

Thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!

Photo courtesy of Vickie Saunders.

Hope you had a great Olympic Day! Alison did some sport climbing; Jill did elements of a triathlon, and we both participated on Team Olympic Fever for Team USA's Virtual Race (we're currently sitting in 3rd place--wooo!).

We loved seeing everyone's celebrations -- if you haven't gotten your participation certificate, send us your proof of participation. We'll get a certificate to you!

It's that time of year when the International Olympic Committee members get together for their semiannual IOC Session, and this one was a big one!

First up, the big decision: Who will host the 2026 Winter Olympics? Spoiler alert (in case you haven't heard the celebrations all the way where you are): It's Milan-Cortina.

Jill watched the bid presentations, and boy, did Stockholm-Åre have a sound plan guided by the IOC's New Norm/Sustainability push. However, as Alison pointed out, Milan-Cortina had more support the whole way through, and they had the government guarantees. What do you think matters more to the voting members?

Also at the session, The IOC celebrated its 125th anniversary by inaugurating its brand new headquarters, the Olympic House. Speaking of sustainability, the IOC could not stop talking about how sustainable the building is--and we have to say, it is pretty cool. Check it out here. And check out the fancy guards here.

The additional sports for Paris 2024 are one step closer to being added to the program. They are:

• Skateboarding
• Surfing
• Sport Climbing
• Breaking

While we'll get to experience the first three at Tokyo 2020, Breaking will be a first--and sure, everyone's talking about that dance sport now, but what really grabbed our attention was where the surfing competition could possibly take place.

We've learned many other things during this IOC Session, including:

• The bidding process for hosting the Games will change again
• The IOC has its own broadcasting awards
• AIBA, while not running the boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020, will be putting together the pool of officials. Anyone see a problem there?
• WADA is going through the RUSADA samples they finally got a hold of. It's not going to be pretty.

Tokyo 2020 tickets are on many people's minds right now. Jill and Contributor Ben snagged a few of the ones they requested. If you didn't get everything you want to see, there will be more opportunities. One way to stay on top of them is to subscribe to this bot, which will email you whenever a flash sale occurs.

Also, the U.S. Olympic Committee has officially changed its name to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. This is a big, visible step to becoming a more inclusive organization--hooray!

• Episode 2: Who Wants to Host?
• Episode 41: Wait, What Goes into an Olympic Bid?
• Episode 89: Ken Hanscom on Traveling to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

DISCLAIMER: OLYMPIC® is a trademark of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”). Any use of OLYMPIC® in the Olympic Fever podcast is strictly for informational and commentary purposes. The Olympic Fever podcast is not an official podcast of the USOPC. The Olympic Fever podcast is not a sponsor of the USOPC, nor is Olympic Fever associated with or endorsed by USOPC in any way. The content of Olympic Fever podcast does not reflect the opinions, standards, views, or policies of the USOPC, and the USOPC in no way warrants that content featured in Olympic Fever is accurate.

Every year we like to sprinkle in a few episodes about the history of the Olympics, and next year we’re going to focus those episodes on just one Games. We asked you on social media which Games we should cover, and to announce the winner and talk about these Games are Ruth Fitzpatrick and Chris O’Reilly from the brilliant podcast Olympipod.

Find Olympipod on Insta and Twitter -- and be sure to listen to their LA 1932 Olympipod, featuring us!

Another big announcement: We’re going to be removing our PyeongChang daily wrap-ups and bonus episodes from our feeds and putting them on our Patreon site, where they’ll be available to our Bronze level patrons and above -- become a patron today to maintain your access!

Our TKFLASTAN Update includes news from:

• Slider AJ Edelman
• Biathlete Clare Egan
• USA Weightlifting's Phil Andrews
• Josh Williamson
• Brad Wilson
• Tony Azevedo
• Andrew Maraniss
• Jacqueline Simoneau

We also have Games Updates from:

• Tokyo 2020
• Milan-Cortina 2026

And there's a Rule 50 update, thanks to Team USA's recommendations on protests. International Olympic Committee's Athletes Commission Chair Kirsty Coventry has something to say about them too.

We have a new way to support us! Keep independent bookstores alive, and support the show financially by shopping through our affiliate link at Bookshop.org. Proceeds we earn go toward making the show a better experience for you!

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Keep the Flame Alive: The Podcast for Fans of the Olympics and Paralympics with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown

Support the show:

Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/flamealivepod

Paypal: https://tinyurl.com/yxkoxmcq

Hang out with us online:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamealivepod

Insta: http://www.instagram.com/flamealivepod

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/flamealivepod

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/312069749587022

Newsletter: Sign up at http://flamealivepod.com

VM: (208) FLAME-IT

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!