Lindsey Jacobellis

you have a great time? I did. It's definitely not my world, so I definitely just had to be super outgoing, and I like the challenge. I mean, I don't know who like is of that world, because the whole thing is just us as humanity, Like we're all pretending. I sure wish we've seen each other to say hello, because it really is. It's like that is just what that party is. Running into interesting people and having an excuse to have a conversation. That's how I look at it.

I go up to people I would never go up to, and I'm always in workout clothes and snowboard clothes. It's nice to get dressed up. Hello, I'm Mini driver. Welcome to the Questions Season two. I've always loved Cruce's questionnaire. It was originally a nineteenth century parlor game where players would ask each other thirty five questions aimed at revealing the other player's true nature. It's just the scientific method, really.

In asking different people the same set of questions, you can make observations about which truths appeared to be universal. I love this discipline, and it made me wonder, what if these questions were just the jumping off point, what greater depths would be revealed if I asked these questions as conversation starters with thought leaders and trailblazers across all these different disciplines. So I adapted Prue's questionnaire and I wrote my own seven questions that I personally think a

pertinent to a person's story. They are when and where were you happiest? What is the quality you like least about yourself? What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you? What question would you most like answered, What person, place, or experience has shaped you the most? What would be your last meal? And can you tell me something in

your life that's grown out of a personal disaster? And I've gathered a group of really remarkable people, ones that I am honored and humbled to have had the chance to engage with. You may not hear their answers to all seven of these questions. We've whittled it down to which questions felt closest to their experience, or the most surprising, or created the most fertile ground to connect. My guest today on many questions is the extraordinary Olympian Lindsay Jacobellis.

Lindsay is the most decorated female snowboard cross athlete of all time. She's dominated the sport for almost two decades as a five time World champion and ten times X Games champion. In two thousands six, she debuted at the Winter Olympics and she won the silver, but it would take sixteen years until she would finally and triumphantly win the gold medal for snowboard cross this year's Winter Olympics. So what relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you?

This took me a bit, but I was thinking Goldie Han and Kurt Russell. I feel like they've been together for so long, and they've been working within the industry. They've worked together, and when I'm looking for someone that I want to spend the rest of my life with I want to be able to grow with that person, not just as an individual with that person, and I feel that they've done that. I'm also huge fans of that. Yeah,

I know that's pretty awesome. Do you think that is then the kind of corner stone of your idea of love is being able to evolve with someone? Absolutely? I really want to always be improving myself, and you can easily look at me as an athlete. I'm always trying to get better faster. On course, I want that to translate over to me in my being learning about me and being the best version of myself and having somebody else find great qualities in myself as well as just

learning where we can go together as a couple. Do you think it's longevity as well? I mean, I don't know if your parents are still married or if that was like reflected in your life, Like the idea of being together when you're young and like making that journey all the way through to hopefully old age. Is that something that you again, like that is important to you, that the idea that it could span a whole bunch

of different realities. I think that isn't very important. And I do look at my parents as you know, starting point in that, because you grow so much in your twenties and your thirties and your forties, and so I would imagine it would be very challenging to be growing

with people as they change. But my parents have now been together for I want to say, forty five years, so I've definitely seen their challenges, their setbacks, but their triumphs, and and you know how they still are with each other, and it's really nice to go back home and visit them and connect with the whole family. I like that. That's kind of grandmother into you. It's like that idea.

And then you can see that reflected in Goldie Horn and Kurt Russell because I feel exactly the same way, except my parents weren't together, but I still want to be like Goldie Horn and Kurt Russell, which means they transcend, you know, any kind of division. I think they represent something really cool too. You're right in their movies as well, particularly Overboard right. That is my favorite one, actually mine too. I mean Goldie Horn in Anything but Yeah, she was

amazing that one. My mom and I always quote that one whenever one of us is either in the kitchen or we just see that they're kind of like stuck in a rhythm or not paying attention. We'll just throw out a quote so then we immediately get a smile on each other's face. So she was extraordinarily funny, like her comedic timing from everything. There's a movie that she made called The Duchess in the Dirt Water Fox with George Siegel. That was my father's favorite film, and it's

one of my all time favorite films. I strongly suggest that you give it a watch. Okay, can't wait. I'm constantly recommending it to people. It's really funny. It might just because my dad loved it that I love it, but it's not. It's because she's really funny. Where and when were you happiest? I would say it comes in this cycle. After a season of constantly being on the road. You're tired, you've been drained from competition and travel, you've

been winning gold medals at the Olympics. It's the best to just finally come home and be in my hometown, but then go down to the beach, have my dog and just soak up the sun and reset. And I could do that for like a few weeks, and then it energizes me to get back into my training programs and gets me fired up again. Yeah, I think it's true. It's like after you've really pushed yourself home just is ten times sweet. Oh yeah, And how long do you

get to do that full? Um? Well, it varies. And the last two years have definitely been very different with our travel schedule because our team was staying in tighter little travel bubbles, so we weren't really interacting with our entire team just in case somebody got sick. It would only shut down our little immediate bubble instead of taking down maybe the whole team and letting everyone not be

able to compete. And it was just a little stressful to be traveling back and forth so often because it did increase your risk of exposure. So we would stay in Europe for longer cycles of time, even in between events, because then we could really hone ourselves in. So the last couple of years, I went six months without actually

being back home in my place in California. If I had time, I'd go to my parents house on the East Coast, just because I hadn't seen them in such a long time, and I'd have a good way to isolate in their basement to make sure I wasn't bringing any germs back to them, and then I could integrate myself into the family right before I had to leave again. Do you think that because of what you do, because you compete at such a high level and there's clearly

more stress than I think a regular human being could consider. Also, it's quite dangerous what you're doing. Do you think that the pressure ization that happiness is so much tied into all of that stuff being released, and that it's being released from the sort of high octane nature of what you do. I think you have a lot of that really dialed in what you said, because there is so much intensity, there is so much time and pressure and

work that goes into it. Having that time to really relax and decompress, even if it's for a couple of days, really just helps mentally set everything back. I'm sure you can agree. Any time that you're on set and you're doing a string of hours or weeks to get something finalized to get home, you're just like, Okay, all right, I have to and you see the list of everything you have to do next week, and you're like, Okay, I'll look at that tomorrow. I just need to shut down.

And it's the same thing. It's your body and your mind are running on such a high level it's not sustainable for long periods of time. So you have to give yourself that. And that could translate over really to anything and anyone that's really focusing on something at a high intensity. It has to be released after some time.

It makes me think about that being two different types of happiness, like that, the happiness that is to do with release and relaxation and recalibration, and happiness that is to do with excitement, adrenaline challenge. I mean, they obviously like augment the other, but I feel like I have two different types of happiness that exists in my life. And it was funny when you sent the questions. They seem like pretty simple questions, but you're like, when and

where are you the happiest. I'm like, well, currently, right now, I'm finally home, and I'm feeling so happy that I'm home. I'm spring cleaning, ripping everything out of my closet I don't need. And then when I'm on the mountain, it could be a blue bird day or I'm getting powder runs, or I'm training, or I'm winning an event. There's so many different categories. But currently right now that I'm finally home, is a very very happy end zone that I'm in.

Is it absolutely incredible being on that podium getting a gold medal? Is it as extraordinary as I imagine it is? Do you feel like a queen? You know, it's so weird because I always imagined what i'd feel like, and I imagined, oh, this is how I will act, and this is how I'll stand. And then I got up there and I rose. I was like, I'm blinking all the words. Um, you know, I know my national anthem, and I just literally just was in a state of shock.

I've been on the podium multiple times. I heard nationally at the multiple times, and I felt like I just zoned out, and I was just I'll stare at the flag, I'll smile, but I think I was a statue for most of the time. And then I have goose bumps, and then you know, it was like that like Will Ferrell, I'm like, I don't know what to do with my hands. It just I feel so awkward. And then I see everyone down at the bottom waving and then I'm like, snap out of it. I'm like, oh hi, yeah, I

can wave to you, I can interact with you. It was such an interesting mix of emotions. Part of you can't believe that it's happening. Part of you has this excitement that you've been working for this for this many years. I just like some moments I started to like tear up, and then it shut down. It's like you get your composure back. So it's like my body didn't know how to process the emotions and it was trying to do

it all at once, and then nothing happened. It is kind of an extraordinary thing, like the realization of a dream, like to be awake and present for that something that you've worked for your entire life. Like, it's a stunning, rarified experience, which is why I'm fascinated to us. And I mean, I'm glad. I'm glad that there is really actually only a human reaction, which is what do I do with my hands? Yeah? I was just you think you're like, oh my gosh, is my collar not folded? Right?

Am I going to get in trouble? Is the where's the flag? Where am I? Looking? Like? There's so many things because it's orchestrated and you're walked out and they have so much coordination and everything. You're like, am I gonna walk the wrong way? I just follow this girl. I keep a good distance because it is TV. It's very orchestrated, and they wanted to look a certain way. So it's uniform every time when every metal is being done,

because usually every day there's several metal ceremonies happening. And you know, they started like I know, seven to nine or something, and you're cute up and you're waiting in the green room and they put you on a bench and they're like, okay, you're next in line, so you'll sit on this bench and then you're gonna be going. It's so TV. It's like, don't let your everything that you've been working for your entire life get in the way of our schedule. Oh, it's a lot of hurry

up and wait. Absolutely, they're like, get here at six. You don't go on till eight thirty. You're like, wait, what, Oh my god, it's so funny, this amazing moment in your life. And it's like, no, it's got to be on schedule, and no, it's nothing to do with the country that you're in. It's actually just to do with the way that television works, which is it thinks that

it is the emperor of everything. Yes, absolutely, even the ceremonies afterwards in the interviews, you know, we went to a little green room and we were doing all of our post heap and race interviews on zoom, so we just went from one to the next to the next, and they're like, you have to be here for a couple of hours, but oh no, this interview only starts like in another fifteen minutes, so you have some time.

You're like, oh, okay. So it's a whole new world when you add the Olympic name, because that brings on a whole new level of media, right, which we never ever see only in every four year cycle. Wow, why you got four years to recover taking one year at

a time. So what question which you most like onset? Well, we ever not have to rely on fossil fuels for energy being a snowboarder, and for the last plus years, I have seen our seasons become shorter, and certain years we still have really really great snow but then we just have several seasons back to back that we're not

seeing the snow line. Saucepay is a place we always go in Switzerland for early season training in October, and I remember a lot of the times the glacier being able to come so much further down at same time of year, And every year it has gone up and up and up, and if you're looking at it from a year to year basis, you might not notice it. But since I started going there when I was seventeen, it is a drastic difference. So trying to see what I can do personally to reduce my carbon footprint being

in the world we're in right now. But I remember, I remember when I was in high school and on the National Geographic cover they had the car are that was hydrogen fueled, and that was very very long time ago, and we still haven't really seen that come out yet where it's hydrogen and the biproduct is water. And I know that the science is there, and I just want to see that science become more readily available to the masses.

I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, clearly the electric car was available a lot sooner, yes, but still the price point is still very high on some of those vehicles. The price point but also like the lobbyists, like in the United States, Like, how do you ever

get around special interest groups? It's like they don't live in the same world we live in, As if their children and grandchildren and children are somehow going to be immune to the money that they think they have to make now the power that they have to maintain, particularly in oil and gas, as if their children are not going to suffer as a result. It's really strange, this disconnect. The thing is, we know it's not irreversible. It's just

enough people decide ding and enough people going well. I mean, it's tricky turning infrastructure around, but what's trickier like creating a new infrastructure and changing the way that you live your life or they're not being life at all. It's a hard balance and it's it's definitely been an uphill battle for sure. And you just try to think within your day to day life, you know, how can you reduce your energy consumption and your waste and you try to do the best you can. Yeah, I think that's

exactly it. You've got to hope that the corporations that are really the ones that are pumping the fossil fuels, we can do what we can do. We can eat less meat, we can take care of our footprint, maybe travel less. It's really hard, though, God, it must be extraordinary literally to have seen a glacier recede like that. You have watched that over the last twenty years. To see that happen, it must be shocking. And you see so many pictures earlier on, even way earlier on, of

that town and where the glacier comes down to. So that's just one location that I've noticed it. So I would love of my children to be able to skiing, snowboard and to be able to have fun on the slopes, and not only have it for a couple of months of the year, but have those true winters. I hope that's still possible for me too. In your life, can you tell me about something that has grown out of

a personal disaster. Well, my obvious one is from two thousand and six when I fell and I came up short and had to wait sixteen years to finally get my gold. But then I'd also say I believe it was in My family shared a house in Stratton with two other families, and it was our little weekend get away that my dad's two buddies from high school and now their kids, and we would all go up there and kind of just cram into this house Stratton as well.

It's on a mountain, ya Stratton Mountain, Vermont. Yes, it was right at the bottom of the access road, and it was just this great time that all of the could come together and be with everyone's friends and then all of their kids. But that house burnt down. It

was a chimney fire. Nobody was at the house at the time, which was really really good, but it was a house that was built in the sixties and the structure of the house was actually built into the chimney, which is obviously not to code nowadays, but it was actually what created the problem because it technically wasn't a chimney fire, but since there was exposed beams that kind of came up into the chimney area that it was still hot enough from having a fire there the night before,

kind of just caught and we lost all of our you know, very first memories of skiing in snowboarding that we couldn't replace. Um. Stratton Mountain did have a great backlog of all the photos that we've ever purchased from them, and they gave them all to us. Because it's such a small community. They all felt horrible that that happened. So Stratton gave us all the photos we've ever taken that had on file. The local shops helped re outfit my brother and myself, and at that time we were

waiting for the insurance money to come in. So my dad's like, you, look, we can't afford to buy our skis and our snowboards. You have to pick one, and I chose snowboarding, and in that moment, that next weekend, we're picking up all of our equipment that Mountain Riders gave us, and I won this little Friday night border cross race that was at the base of Stratton that they build every Friday, and it got me noticed by a coach in Kaglin at Stratton Mountain School and he

was like, wow, you're really good. You should come race with us. This weekend we're doing like a g S race at the neighboring mountain Bromley, and I had won that race as well for my age group, and he's like, you're pretty good at this. You should consider going to Stratton Mountain School, which is an academy for skiers snowboarders and Nordic skiers to help them balance their academics and athletics while letting them pursue and see how far they

could take their athletics. So it was a weird string of events that lined me up to being found by a coach to go to Stratton School and two thousand three, when I graduated high school, that's when border cross was put into the Olympics. So it's just crazy because it's always timing, and it's just with everything in life, how things come together, and it's just not a blueprint that you could just follow and that where you're going to end up, that's what you're going to have as a result.

This was just such a crazy circumstance that was so hard on all three families that were involved. It was just very sad to lose so much and something great came out of it. You couldn't see it right then and there, but if you trace it back to that moment, what if I'd pick skiing. It's kind of crazy to look at it that way. Wow, that is an amazing story. I think it's absolutely brilliant and that is really the philosophy that I would stand by most which is purely observation,

which is that ship not working out. Is stuff working out, It's just not on our timeline often and it's not how we thought it was going to look right, But what an amazing story and how great something so profound grew and you still had to fight for it. It's not like it was given, but the nascent point, it's amazing.

What would be your last meal? I'd have to say, I love Mexican food, and I went a very very very long time living in Europe and not being able to have the traditional nection food or a California derivative of Mexican style food. Just there's this great place not too far from me, Santra's Tacos, and I've almost eaten there every meal since I've been home, because I'm just backlogging all the times I've missed it. It's it's so so delicious. Well, if you're ever in London, I can

tell you I've found the place. It's called Tak Area, and having becoming obsessed and obviously eating a lot of Mexican food because I'm a California native now living here for twenty six years, that place proper stone ground, handmade tortias like amazing, amazing food when you're in London. Not there's not a lot of snow in London though, but you never know. You might be on your way through from somewhere. Yes, that, or I need to just make some side trips that don't involve snow that I'm not

dragging two pounds of snow. War's equipments and just stuff, just a quick, little, tiny little wheel bag. Like how fast I can put through the airport with just my little carry on. So I'm just here for tacos. The amount just here for the dakas. Is it really specific like you're diet when you're training and racing. Is it really stringent so that you don't get to eat things that you necessarily love or do you get to eat pretty much whatever you want because you're burning so much.

My sport isn't necessarily as strict as others. Maybe a Nordic skier or Nordic jumper, they have to be super picky and be waiting their stuff because they want to be as light as possible. My sport actually does help to have extra weight and going into Beijing, you know, in the last month or so, I definitely was trying to just consume as many calories as possible. Oh my god, have fun? Is that for now? What I'm trying to

lean out? But it was so cold in Beijing, so you want to make sure you have enough energy that in storage that you can be burning to help keep you warm, but also that you're not depleting your muscles of the needed nutrients. So then your body starts feeding off of your muscles and breaking your muscles down to keep all systems running. Well. Kind of thing would you eat you wake up in the morning freezing cold? Would you eat sort of lunch for breakfast? What did that

look like? Well, in Beijing specifically, i would go to the USA house that was right there, and I'd have some noodles just to get some great hard base, and then I'd go over to the dining hall with my little Chilulu packets keep with you, and I'd get a bunch of Frida eggs or scrambled eggs, just so then I'm getting back protein and coffee and some either a bagel or a croissant. I'm very much liking that your

breakfast involves going to two separate restaurants. That sounds like my kind of breakfast breakfast one check, little travel breakfast to check, and then we'd have snacks up on the hill, just because it just helps keep your sugars elevated enough and you don't get into this lethargic state. And it also just helps keep you know, you're just awareness of if you're having that just like little hit a sugar, whether it's just like a sneaker's bar or a gel pack.

It's just something to help you hyper focus because you don't want to be shutting down when you're trying to execute and go down a course. You only need to be focusing for a couple of minutes, but you want all of those minutes really really focused. And then afterwards, you know, after you workout, it's probably the most important to within thirty minutes to an hour getting some protein in your system, whether it is a protein shake or sitting down and having a meal. But then also then

sleep is probably the most important, which sleeps the other food. Yeah, just it helps everything reboot, recharge. But I'm definitely not as strict as certain other sports. Other sports take for instance, bob sled, especially the women's bob sled. They have to weigh the sled then they have to weigh the two individuals and all of those together can't go over certain weight. So together those girls are trying to balance up, which

I go insane. Yeah, me too. To come to be like up three pounds down down ten pounds like that seems like a nightmare to me. So I'm very happy that my sport hasn't had that involved. Yeah, yours has two restaurants for breakfast. I mean, I definitely I love you, Bob Sled love you, But yeah, teen snowboarding. In your life, what person, place, or experience has most altered it? I would say my brother is a big influence in how I became an athlete. My brother Ben is five years

older than me. We grew up in Connecticut in a little town, Roxbury. We're basically in the middle of nowhere, so if we're wanting to be playing outside, our mom and dad couldn't exactly always drive us to a friend's house or vice versa. So we had to learn how to interact and tolerate each other as brother and sister, and especially having a five year younger sister. I'm sure my brother had to put up with a lot, he

had to have the patience. But you know, he was always pushing me to be fearless and to be aggressive and fast. I remember he was the one that taught me to ride my bike without the training wheels when my dad was at work and you know, my mom's inside cooking preparing food, and you know, he just let me off on the driveway and he's like, if you start going too fast, you can veer off onto the grass and tip over and you'll be fine. But I

do remember that moment of him tak him off. I'm not even sure my parents knew that we were taking off the training wheels or if we were even allowed to do that, but he pushed me to do that. And he was assistant code for you know, my t ball and little league games, so he's always hitting ground balls and fly balls to help practice. And then that

also translated into my snowboarding career. He was the first person in our family to try snowboarding, and naturally, when I saw how much fun my brother was having, I was like, well, I have to do this. My brother

is doing this, I have to do this. And you know, he taught me how to turn and link my turns, and I was constantly always trying to chase him and catch him going down the hill because he was always the fastest on skis on snowboards, so he definitely instilled that you can always go faster if you ride with the guys, they're gonna make you the best and you push your own levels. Oh my god, he was the catalyst for all of that. That's amazing. God, that's amazing.

That's so extraordinary when you think particularly a five year difference. So when he is seven, he was twelve, right when it would be super annoying to have a little seven year old running around after you, right when you're just starting to need to be cool, and then thirdeen in

an eight year old, it's really amazing. That's like, it really feels like there's It's what makes me believe in like some sort of comic agreement that exists that kind of predates our lives, because you really can trace the catalyst of everything that you've gone on to do. Like to say he was the trailblazer. Yes, I can think

of so many moments. We have the snow in the backyard and he's designing the sledding track and we're not just going to go casual sledding, and we're shaping and icing with you know, water and letting it set overnight, so then it's that much faster. Oh my god. He always brought it to the extreme, but that just seemed normal to me. I'm like, yeah, okay, like I'll help haul buckets of water her, we'll sprinkle it on, we'll let it set, we'll hit this tomorrow. And our mom's

just like these were helmets. Oh my god. Was he there in Beijing when you got the gold medal? No, well, family really wasn't able to travel. You were allowed, of course, of course, because of course, but my cousin who's younger, who has a very similar dynamic with her older brother, so we share those like younger sibling vibes and energy

and were very similar. She actually worked for NBC Connecticut and so she was there on a media pass, so she actually was at my EVENTU I didn't know she was actually going to be there because she was down in Beijing and we were up in the village. But she applied to go up there to report, but they didn't tell her until the morning of so I didn't know. And then when I came down and I finished and I looked and she was there. I was like, oh my gosh, so someone in my family did get to

experience that firsthand with me. How lovely that you did have family there. Oh my god, your brother must have spend beside himself. And they have the opportunity for NBC to be putting cameras in our family's home to be watching them or have like a watch party. And my parents, I know, get so stressed watching me. They handle it very differently. My mom will be sitting on the phone with her sister giving her the play by play of

my race, but she can't watch the race. And then my dad will be in a different room actually watching the race. Who's on the phone with my brother who's in Boston, who's watching the race, but they have a slight delay in time. They're like, what's happening, Like I can't tell you, Like, oh my gosh, it was really really cool. And then they have now a young niece and a nephew, my brother's kids. It's just so fun to be able to bring that world and that reality

to them. And she's watching the replay of me race that next day, and there's the moment I turned and looked to the camera and just like wave to everyone. And she looks at my brother. She's like, wait, can she see us? It was the cutest thing ever. Oh my gosh, you're amazing. I mean, thank you. You're like the most decorated female snowboarder cross. I mean, it's ridiculous, it's amazing. It's funny because I'm sitting here. You're charming me.

But I'm wiggling just looking at you. That so exciting. It's such a privilege. It's so amazing. I'm so thrilled about your life. I don't even know you. It's so cool, it's so great. I hope you enjoy every second of it's so bloody deserved. You've worked so hard. Thank you so much. And I do hope we get to go for a serf. I love it. For more from Lindsay, you can read her new children's book, soci a True Story.

The book tells the adorable true story of a straight puppy finding Lindsay at the two thousand and fourteen Olympic Games. The two became inseparable, and Lindsay adopted Sochi and brought him back to the United States. The book is self published and can be purchased on Amazon. Many questions is hosted and written by Me Mini Driver, Supervising producer Aaron Kaufman, Producer Morgan Lavoy, Research assistant Marissa Brown. Original music Sorry

Baby by Mini Driver, Additional music by Aaron Kaufman. Executive produced by Me Minni Driver. Special thanks to Jim Nikolay, Will Pearson, Addison No Day, Lisa Castella and Annique Oppenheim at w kPr, de La Pescador, Kate Driver and Jason Weinberg, and for constantly solicited tech support, Henry Driver,