Life-Changing Pressure with Jessie Diggins

Welcome to good Game with Sarah Spain where not to be a silly goose, but can someone check the beam?

Also hand me like eleven.

Dy boxes of tissue because I am not ready to say goodbye to watching Simone Biles to gymnastics. On today's show, We're going to get some great perspective on Olympic pressure from someone who knows it well but isn't currently enduring it three time Winter Olympic medalists and blissfully out of season Jesse Diggins. We'll also conduct some balanced team inspections, mowd the soccer pitches and practice our hammer throw technique, and we'll reveal the name.

That you voted on. If we can't wait for you to hear it, it's all coming up right after this welcome back.

First things first, our bad Dominica and all seventy two thousand of you who live there.

Hey, Sarah, I know you get upset when things hit your ears and you go, oh, that's not quite right. So this is not a dish, but just information. The island nation of Dominika is actually pronounced slightly differently than everybody.

Else does it. And that's knowledge I have because I went there one hundred years ago when I was scuba diving a long time ago. Anyways, Dominique is beautiful. It's tiny, but anyways, I just know you've always like to get to the actual information that's real and truthful. So anyways, love the work, love the pod, love everything you're doing, and.

Have a great day.

Oh my name is Susan. Take care.

Thanks Susan for real, y'all. I actually love being corrected because I want to get things right. So always send the email, Always send the voicemail. Keep us honest over here.

A good game. And you know what, while.

We're correcting mistakes here, I need to once again suggest that Paris should have abandoned their plan to compete in the send after the first sign that they might not get the river in proper condition in time. Because that rant I gave last week wasn't for nothing. Things have

All right, here's what you need to know today.

In three x three basketball, the US started out Monday with a loss in the semi finals, dropping a nail bier to Spain in overtime. But then in the tightly contested bronze medal game, team USA beat Canada behind a huge rebound and free throws from former Tennessee lady Volsierra Burdick in the final seconds. What a turnaround for this quartet.

Okay, we did terribly. We thought about it the whole time, and in the end.

It was Brazil's Rebecca Andrage who claimed the gold, with Simone and teammate Jordan Childs finishing with silver.

And bronze, and it was kind of a wild scene at the arena.

It originally looked like Childs had finished off the podium, but her coaches submitted a petition on her behalf and after a little bit of delay, her total was boosted up by point one to reflect the proper difficulty component of one element of her routine, and that was enough

Perfect.

Also perfect watching Simone and Jordan bowing to Brazil's Rebecca Andrage the moment she stepped onto the metal podium.

Someone on the internet said it simply.

Girlhood, a really beautiful display of sportsmanship and mutual respect. And I aspired to one day grow up and be mature enough to feel that way about anything I've ever lost.

Hasn't happened yet. War Gymnastics, because.

We hear a good game, want to remind you that we love silver medals and we love me too. But here's a wild stat So by finishing second behind Andrage on floor on Monday, Simone Biles lost a floora final for the first time in her international career, a streak that started at the twenty thirteen World Championships. So let's take a moment to let that sink in, because it's

Everybody breathe in and out.

We have to tell ourselves, whatever she does next, we know that she'll continue to shine. So congrats on the silver, Congrats on bronze, Congrats on just showing up because we know even that part was tough.

For a while. We love you, Simone. We're gonna go cry for a while.

Meanwhile, on the beach under the Eiffel Tower, the gold medal favorite Sarah Hughes and Kelly Cheng of Team USA won their round of sixteen match on Sunday. They're onto the quarterfinals, where they'll play Switzerland today at four pm Eastern. In track and field, on Monday, American Valerie Allman defended her gold medal in discus, becoming just the fourth American woman to win the same individual track and field event twice. She joins the likes of Wyomi Tias, Gail Devers, and

London, Rio and Tokyo.

Something to watch and in case anyone's wondering, they do not throw an actual hammer. It's a metal ball attached to a steel wire. And if you didn't know that, I suggest you watch. In the two hundred meters, three Americans qualified for the final Tokyo bronze medalist Gabby Thomas, Britney Brown and Mackenzie Long faced new one hundred meter gold medalist Julian Alfred of Saint Lucia. It's a pretty wide open race as the three reigning world medalists aren't competing.

What a champ.

Finally, we want to shine a light on Afghanistan's Kimia You Sophie. She finished last in her one hundred meter preliminary heat last week, but she used her moment on the world's biggest stage to send a message. As the lone woman representing Afghanistan and track and field in Paris, she wrote three words on the back of her bib

Ahead of these Paris Games, she.

Said her goal was to quote represent the stolen dreams and aspirations of all Afghan women, and after her race, she told reporters quote, I think I feel a responsibility for Afghan girls because they can't talk. She added quote, I'm not a politics person. I just do what I think is true. I can talk with media. I can be the voice of Afghan girls unquote. She went on to say that she can express what Afghan girls want basic rights, education and sports.

When I was in.

Australia last summer for the Women's World Cup, I hosted a panel with the captain of the Afghanistan soccer team. She and her teammates were also airlifted immediately out of Afghanistan right when the Taliban took control, because everyone knew that they were one of the most sought after groups

Under the rule of the Taliban.

I'm so impressed by Yusophie making this statement on the highest stage, and hope we continue to have conversations about the girls and women in Afghanistan and the athletes who are escaping to other countries and continuing to compete. So impressive. All right, I bet you're wondering why I didn't mention soccer. Well here it is, little.

Primer, primer primer.

US women's soccer team is taken out Germany today at twelve pm Eastern and followed by Brazil Spain at three pm Eastern. That's right down to just four and if you remember, the US got quite familiar with Germany in pool play, handing them a four to one loss. But unfortunately they can't take any of those goals with them because it's a clean slate for the semi final and a spot in the gold medal match is on the line.

Extra effort will make them more fatigued.

Hard to say, because new Team USA coach Emma Hayes has been very stingy with the subs in this tournament. We'll see how those American legs are holding up, or if she decides that she wants to switch up or starters for the semi final game. Unlike their kind of slow, sticky last game against Japan, when the US faced Germany and pool play, they moved freely, they passed with ease, They got to really play their style. We'll see if Germany switches up their approach for the rematch after.

Watching that Japan game.

One player to watch either way is Bayern Munich's Leah Schula. She's one of Germany's primary goal threats. She scored three goals so far in this tournament. Germany and the US are two of just three countries to win both the Women's World Cup and Olympic gold and coming into this Olympics, the Germans were ranked fourth in the FIFA rankings, a spot ahead of the US.

The bronze medal game will be Friday, while the gold medal match is Saturday.

Oh fun fact too, there are over one thousand kinds of sausages in Germany and the longest word in the German language is seventy nine letters long.

It sounds like.

This, Don domp schif'spat electricy tit and halp the troops bowl the celshaft.

Thank you SoundCloud user and Haines. All right, we gotta go flip our schnitzel and stir our sauer krawd. It's almost game time when we come back. Joining us now a three time Olympic medalist, including winning the first ever gold medal for the US and cross country skiing, She's coming off the best ever seasoned by an American in the sport, highlighted by her overall World Cup title win.

She's the author of Brave enough.

She's met with lawmakers on Capital Hill to advocate for climate policy, and she's an ambassador for the Emily Program, an organization that provides specialized treatment for eating disorders. Fun fact, she wears glitter every time she races. It's Jesse Diggins.

What's up. Jesse, Hey, Sarah, Thank you for having me, Thank you for coming on. This was such a good idea.

This was actually producer Alex's idea, our Olympic Expert, because we thought it would be really good to have an Olympic athlete on who can talk about the Olympic experience well at a safe distance from it.

Right.

So interviewing the athletes when they're about to leave or when they're about to compete means they're in this very specific and particular mindset, and we wanted some perspective that's not clouded by training or nerves or expectations or all of the stuff that comes with trying to just get through one of the biggest moments of your life. So you're in your off season technically, so we're getting you

I think this will be dependent on your sport, but for most of us, you wait for four years for the world to watch what you're doing. But you haven't stopped. You haven't been frozen in time from one Olympics to the next. So you're still training, you're still competing all winter long, and once every four years your country just goes ballistic and everybody's watching and all the pressure of the world is heaped on you. And so like we raised I raised thirty something times every single season on

I think it changes, well, it's not just performing in that moment to change your life, but that's also when all the interview requests come in, all the sponsors, so like you're managing the busiest time of your life at the time when anyone else would say, I'm going to put those aside for a couple of months and come back to them once the work is done, but no,

I think in some ways it's no different, right, It's just another race. You do your same warm up, you do your same process of ski selection and wax testing and all of that. It's all the same thing, and then you find comfort in that routine, right, Like I'm doing this thing that I always do. I've done this since high school. Like I put my skis on one at a time, like I've always done it this way.

Thank you, it was red, it looked delicious, think about it.

But if I say, go ahead, think about an apple, but still ask me your interview questions, you can do both. But if you're so focused on trying to block this out, no, I'm not thinking about it. I'm not seeing it. It's not there. That's so much energy going towards blocking out that noise that you don't want. And so I think we've shifted the model to yes, there's a lot of lights. Yes, there's a lot of pressure. Of course, there's a million

I love that. I love that.

It's just like it's just like meditation.

They'll always say, if you get a thought, don't try to push it out, just let it float.

By like a cloud. You see it, but it's not for now, and you let it float away.

I love that's such a good perspective for literally anything, not just competing in the Olympics, like I love that. What is it like watching the Olympics versus competing in them? Because I lose my mind, I cry, I tense up my hands. I realize that my body hasn't moved from like a position for like thirty minutes because I'm nervous. And that's just watching like you're actually able to empathize so much better with what they're going through.

So how does it feel watching? Oh?

Man?

I mean I was in tears watching both gymnastics schemes, the women's and the men's, and seeing especially seeing how hype the men were for each other, just this genuine life jumping up and down and the amount of pressure on. I almost called him Clark Kent because of the class under pressure.

Yeah, our last guy to Stephen Kornaky look alike. He's getting a lot of comparisons Clark Kent, Stephen Kornaky, It's getting a.

Lot of them. Yeah, I mean, I love it. But like thinking about that, it was funny because I was talking to my husband and I was recapping the whole thing because he couldn't watch while he was at work, and I was telling him, like man like Steven had to sit there and wait and no, like I've been brought here to do one thing. I'm the last guy to go, and my team is counting on me. My whole country's watching, the whole world is watching, and I

Yeah, well you mentioned control though, and I think that's part of it too, is like, as the athlete, we've been in those positions and all you're thinking about is I'm in control of what I'm doing now, and what can I control? It's do I do all the things I've prepared correctly? Do I put my best effort forward? And then as an athlete, you know, sometimes that means you win it, sometimes.

It means you don't.

When you're watching zero control, zero control over anything, you can't do anything but watch and hope, and that feels so much more tenuous than when you have the power to do it. Even though people who aren't athletes would be like, that's crazy. The pressure's on you, but you're not thinking about it. You're like, here's what I do, and I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. I also love what you said about the emotions that the male gymnast had for each other.

There's a great episode of Welcome to Wrexam.

I don't know if you watch it, but they get into detail about how sports are one of the few places where men are allowed to feel all of the emotions. We let them cry, we let them hug each other, we let them support each other, we let them butt slap each other without being weird about it. We let them like support and be angry and be sad and

On that note, I have a question for you. Do you think we allow women to experience the full range of emotions in sport?

Well, I think it depends on who's watching, right I was thinking about that with Mikayla.

Maroney and how she went like viral for being.

Disappointed in her medal and making a squirmy, you know, kind of smirky face, and how when men are disappointed, we're like, he's so competitive, he'll settle for nothing but the best, and when women do it, we're like, she should be grateful that she got a medal, She should smile, You should smile more so. I mean, I think there's a range of dumb shits and cool people who will let any kind of person male, female, non binary be the full expression of themselves, and then there.

Are people who are going to be assholes either way.

But I do think at least we're really trying to acknowledge how we do that to women in ways that have changed society, and we're not quite there, I think in talking about allowing men to feel those things in ways that you know aren't restrictive.

Yeah, because that it just it made me think a lot, like we don't allow men to cry normally, and in sport it is okay.

Even fans don't allow.

Women to be aggressive competitive, and in sport it's sometimes okay, yeah, but not always. And I think it's just fascinating. I think we have a long way to go in both ye, in both sides of the equation, like greed to allow people to express their full like range of emotions, and sports should be a safe place to do that. And I think we can still work on that.

And so I think absolutely on both sides.

On both sides, and that's something that the Olympics can help with.

Agreed, because we're all watching it together.

In your experience at the Olympics, how much do the athletes talk to each other either comparing their experience in terms of like demands of the sport or timing of their events, Like, oh, man, you get to go first week and then spend the rest of the time partying, Or oh, my events last and I have lots of time to like get settled and prepare and get on the time schedule. Or you got to walk in the opening ceremony, Oh I didn't because my event was at the same time.

Like how much is that sort of like comparing, I.

Mean, to some degree, there's I mean for me anyway, I can't talk for anyone else, but our sport is very interesting because we compete the very first day and the very last day and many days in between. Right, So we have six different events, everything from a sprint to a marathon, and the marathon's last and the scathons first, and so for us a lot of it it's like maybe you don't get to go in opening ceremonies if you race and compete the next day, and that's for

Someday.

I'll go as a spectator and I will experience it to my heart's content, and I'll go to every event and cheer for everyone. And I can have that experience later, but right now, I have to lock it in, and I have to lock it in for three weeks straight, and so I think a lot of it. Instead of comparing, it's more like, this is just what I.

Have to do. Yeah, just the reality of it.

I do love, though, Like your dream is to go to the Olympics as a spectator, it's a lot easier to do than what you're doing, which most of us will dream of and never get to do. You know, I want to ask you about the post Olympic letdown because for people, even when they win, even gold medalists, will say that they have this feeling after the Olympics that they can't shake. And for those who are, of course seconds off of the podium or don't achieve the things they want, that's more understandable.

It's still heartbreaking, but understandable.

But can you explain to us the psychology or help us try to understand why even those who achieve their dream and win it all still sometimes have that feeling.

Yeah, well, so even when I was a little kid. You remember, like when you're a little kid and you go to you like, your best friend's birthday party and it's a sleepover, and you get really excited and you've been looking forward to this, and you stay all night and you're totally jazzed and you're like hyped up on sugar, and you come home and the next day just kind of sucks because you're not with all your friends and you're not doing this cool thing, and the thing that

Yeah, well a lot of people say it for their wedding, and I had it with my wedding. You spend a year planning and it's so awesome, but then it's over and you're like instead of like, oh, wedded bliss, you're like, oh, but that's it.

I don't get to do that again. Probably if you're lucky.

And whether or not it was the you know, your wedding, best of your life, amazing, everything goes perfectly. You still have this letdown of like, oh, man, like I just got to have all of my loved ones right here and everyone's celebrating and have the best time, and like now it's over. That's that's challenging. And so imagine you're not just you plan a wedding for a year, maybe two years, but imagine that you have trained four or more years for one thing, one event, one experience, one Olympics.

It's another goal, it's another thing to focus on, because that's part of it too, I think, is like you have something to focus on and work towards, and when that's gone, it's like, well, what's.

My purpose now?

And I've even heard athletes say, like if I spent my whole life, I thought when I won the gold it would change me or get rid of my problems. And what I realized was being a gold medalist doesn't change the other things in my life that I want to fix or work on. I've heard a lot of athletes talk about that, and so, yeah, I get it. I get that letdown is tough. We only have a few more minutes, So let's do a quick speed round. Favorite Olympic memory from competing.

Oh, I mean, I have to say winning the gold medal, I.

Mean decent, it sounds decent. Yeah, yeah, Favorite Olympic memory watching Oh.

Oh man, there's a lot I gotta say. I think just being ready to go on deck for the relay, but watching my teammates, so seeing everyone put their heart and soul into it, and just knowing like I'm a part of this, Like I trained with them. I helped push them and look at them go like I felt the cool other duckling like watching.

I love that.

Okay, you have to.

Start training today to try to compete in the twenty twenty eight Summer Olympics. What sport do you have the best shot at making it in?

Oh my gosh, realistically? Like, is very long distance trail running a thing? Yet in the summer case, No, I don't believe.

So you gotta go marathons, you gotta go. I'm not five thousand meters.

Not the faster runner. I guess I would say swimming.

Okay, all right?

And then last question, we've seen a lot of athletes pin trading. Are there any other traditions that are common for the athletes at the games or like things that we don't see behind the scene that would be like heartwarming about what the athletes do to like memorialize their experience or commemorate I guess not memorialized.

It's not dead.

The pin trading is so real and they're actually like a currency. People don't know this. You miss a bus, you need to ride, give a volunteer a pin, you'll get there. I'm just saying, like pins are like.

A prison, like you want them.

But I think one of the things is how people decorate their rooms, because the rooms are usually pretty bland because they're going to renovate and sell them with condos later or something. Right, So I always get pictures of friends and family and have a bunch of cards and posters that you know, like my high school cross country ski team would sign this giant poster and I would bring it to the games and with all these signatures of all these kids, and it would be right above

Ah.

I love that, Jesse. This was such incredible perspective. We can't wait to watch you compete again. Good Luck on the training, good luck on your next season, and thanks so much for spending some time with us.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Thank you so much to Jesse Diggins for taking the time. We got to take another break. When we return, will reveal your brand new name. Welcome back, friends.

I know we've been stringing you along, never calling you by your name, like that friend of a friend that's always around but she never really caught their names. You just say, oh, hey, my guy, we're sup girl, or beg your significant other to just casually introduce themselves in front of you so you can be reminded.

So you deserve better, we should call you by your name.

We just have to decide on it, and we've been taking our sweet ass time, But we did ask you to vote from some finalists, and I think today's the day.

Here's what we gave you to vote on.

Good Game Nation GGN for short breakers as in glass ceiling breakers and game breakers, the Spanish Armada shout out the goonies, and then I could just yell, hey you guys at the beginning of every show, okay, decides that's a good thing or not. And slices as in the orange slices you get after a good game. There was a good writing vote too, from at the legend of Vinnie t. He said the handshake line, which I kind of think is cute, Like I'd call y'all the shakes for short shakes and slices.

You could tell I like things with a nice little ring to them.

Okay, you guys did not make this easy because there was no runaway winner from the voting. Based on my best attempt to count up all the votes from email and Twitter and Instagram, Good Game Nation, Spanish Armada, and Slices were pretty much all neck and neck Breakers only got a few votes, So I guess it comes down to us because we still got to vote, Mesh, of those three, who you got?

It was tough.

It was tough. Thank you for all submissions, But I gotta go slices, y'all, everything good comes in slices. Why not pizza, pie, oranges?

Fruit?

Like?

All that gotta be slices for me?

Love that Alex going with slices, boss Boss, Okay, I like it.

I guess all that's left then is my vote. I like Spanish Armada. It's very clever, but I wanted the name to be about the show and not me. And also, what's up Armada? Happy Tuesday just doesn't really roll off the tongue. And then Good Game Nation is cute, but if I shorten it to nation, it sounds like almost political or like a little too severe, and Good Game Nation is very long, and y'all know I like slices, So I think you know where this is going, don't you,

These days?

I feel like screenshot material is just going to become the thing that we say, so thanks for that, Aarin. We also asked you for your favorite Olympic memories from growing up, and you guys delivered. We got some extraordinary folks listening to a good game. That's what I learned from listening to these. Here were a couple that we really like. Check out this one from Elizabeth.

Hi.

This is Elizabeth from Chicago, and I'm calling regarding the special Olympics moment. The Atlanta US women's soccer team and then subsequently the ninety nine ers are by far my favorite Olympic moment because it totally inspired me to pursue sports.

I love that, Elizabeth, and I want you to know that my sister Katie played women's professional tackle football for two seasons with the Philadelphia Lady Bells, So shout out to my siss. My parents weren't big fans of her after college and after tearing up her body and every other sport, being like, I think I'm also going to play tackle football, but she loved it. She did not go to the US national women's tackle football team. That

Hi, Sarah, this is Kelsey calling from Alexandria, Virginia. Love the podcast. I remember watching Olympics in two thousand and eight in my little red, white and blue le had heard so well. I just you remember when I went back to school that fall, my second grade teacher was asking a spout, you know our favorite moments in the summer, and I told him was watching Sean Johnson win gold on bean and he was like, is that a boy? Who is that? And I was so shocked to set like,

That's the Sean Johnson to you, teacher. Thank you, Kelsey, Thanks to everyone who called in. We love that you're listening, but we love it even more when you get in the game every day. So here's our good game play of the day. Tomorrow's show is going to be an awesome one featuring the host of the incredible podcast tested Rose Evelyith. Now you don't need to listen to the

Forget to subscribe, Rate and review. It's easy.

Watch pre cut Pineapple rating five out of five stars. Review Pineapple is the best fruit that exists.

Don't at me.

It's true, but also right alongside unmanageable mangos and uncrackable coconuts. It's also one of the toughest to cut, so getting someone else to cut it up for you is completely worth the cost, and even better when it's your husband cutting up your pineapple for free. Can you tell what I had for dessert tonight? Okay, your turn? Subscribe, rate and review. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good Game, Jesse,