A very special bonus episode coming your way today on Off The Podium to celebrate an iconic day in Australian Olympic history. On September 23rd, 1993, Sydney was announced as the host city for the 2000 Olympic Games. Thousands of people flocked to the streets of Sydney to celebrate the announcement at just after 4am after Juan Antonio Samaranch's immortal "the winner is Syd-en-ey" announcement. And to celebrate this iconic moment three decades later, we are joined by the general manager of the ...
Sep 22, 2023•58 min•Ep. 330
30 years ago, Sydney was awarded the right to host the 2000 Olympic Games. In this special two-day celebration on Off The Podium, we are delighted to bring you an interview with a legend of all things Olympic Games, Ric Birch. Rich was the executive producer and main director of ceremonies for both the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics, as well as having played a part in other Olympic ceremonies in Los Angeles 1984, Barcelona 1992, Turin 2006 & Beijing 2008. Ric talks ab...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 329
We're back for another exciting interview as we sit down with American former bobsledder and author Alexandra Allred about her brand new book When Women Stood and find out a little more about the storied history of women's sport and the fight for equality. We find out from Alex her unique story on why she wanted to write this book and how it tied into her incredible bobsleigh career. We also find out some amazing insight into some deep topics discussed in the book and how there are still many is...
Sep 14, 2023•52 min•Ep. 328
You know it's one of our favourtie sports to talk about and one of our favourite sports to interview athletes from so it's moguls time once more as we chat with Aussie PyeongChang Olympian Madii Himbury about her career and amazing sport! We find out from Madii her pathway into the sport and how some motivation from her mother helped push her towards her Olympic dream. We also find out the many hurdles she had to overcome to make the Olympics in 2018 and just how inspirational her making the fin...
Sep 07, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 327
We're back to bringing you an EPIC interview as we sit down with American Olympic air rifle shooter and World Champion Alison Weisz to learn about her amazing career in her amazing sport! We find out from Ali just how bringing home a simple flyer one day to her parents set her on a path to shooting glory and how she was able to progress through the ranks to achieve that. We also learn around the unique equipment aspects to shooting that perhaps aren't talked about too much, as well as getting a ...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 326
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is over and Spain are the champions of the world for the very first time. And after an incredible month of football, we're back to recap it all, go over the final and draw our first ever Women's World Cup coverage to a close! How did our predictions end up and how is Jarrod just so good at predicting things? Are we happy Spain won or more happy that England lost? Are we sad Australia didn't finish third or satisfied with fourth? Why are we stoked to see the return...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 325
It's been a rollercoaster few weeks since we last spoke about the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and that means there is plenty to talk about as we are back to go over the knockout stages of the tournament and give our full preview of the World Cup Final between Spain and England! Have Jarrod and Ben recovered from the Matildas run and going to a game together? How is Colin feeling in the weeks since Canada were eliminated? Were we happy to see the USA get eliminated early? How do we feel about Swe...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 324
A massive episode for you today as we speak with legendary two-time Olympic medal winning Canadian triathlete Simon Whitfield about his amazing career, amazing sport and amazing Olympic experiences! We learn from Simon how he got into the sport and just how Triathlon was tracking in the late 1980s & early 1990s ahead of it being included in the Olympics in 2000. We also learn from Simon about his Australian connections and his incredible story about being in Sydney when the 2000 Olympics wer...
Aug 10, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 323
The group stage of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is over and we now move into the serious stuff of the knockout stages. But before we get to that, the gang is back together to go over all the bits we loved, hated and everything else in between in our group stage review! Is Colin still sad over Canada getting eliminated? Are Ben & Jarrod still celebrating Australia's dismantling of No Official Nickname? What were the biggest surprises of the group stage? How are our predictions going? And h...
Aug 03, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 322
Can you believe this?! PARIS 2024 IS LESS THEN A YEAR AWAY! And you know what that means? It's time to get into our special LOOKING AHEAD TO PARIS 2024 EPISODE to bring you a little bit closer to the games and get you a little bit more excited for the greatest sporting event on the planet, as well as some BONUS INTERVIEWS with some absolutely massive guests! We go over all the new and fun parts to expect from Paris next year and find out just which bits we like, which bits we're unsure of and wh...
Jul 27, 2023•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 321
As we take a brief break in between some non-interview episodes to get back into an interview, we're super excited to return to the great sport of Handball today as we chat with a current member of the Australian Handball Team Caleb Gahen about this incredible sport and it's history in Australia. We learn from Caleb just how he got involved in the sport and what his aspirations for it were as a kid as well as currently. He also discusses how big of an impact Sydney 2000 had on the sport and just...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 320
It's time to get excited for another massive global tournament with the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia & New Zealand kicking off next week! And with the excitement building in both countries and around the world, we're back to bring you the first taste of our coverage of the tournament with our massive preview episode for the 2023 Women's World Cup! We find out from Ben and Jarrod how the vibe is in the main World Cup city of Sydney right now and just how many games they'll be atte...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 319
We're always excited to once again bring you a Freestyle Skier on the show but particularly excited when we can bring you a Freestyle Skier from disciplines we have never covered before as we tick slopestyle, big air and halfpipe off our list by chatting with 2022 Aussie Olympian Abi Harrigan about her Olympic experiences and epic career! We find out from Abi just why she was practically born with skis on her feet and why she simply wanted to ski forever as soon as she could. We also find out ab...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 318
An exciting and massive interview coming your way today as we speak to THREE guests all at once as we are joined by the incredible Canadian mogul skiers Chloe, Justine & Maxime Dufour-Lapointe to chat about their amazing Olympic careers and their amazing family legacy in the sport of freestyle skiing! We find out from each of them just how their incredible Olympic journeys started and how important being together played a key role in their success. We also find out which moment from their ca...
Jun 29, 2023•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 317
It's time to bring you a triple threat on the show today as we speak to our first ever athlete from the great sport of triathlon in Aussie Olympian Jaz Hedgeland to learn about her incredible career, incredible sport and Olympic experiences! We hear from Jaz about watching the Olympics as a 9-year-old and why that gave her the desire to not only take up the sport of triathlon, but work towards a dream of competing for Australia at the Olympic Games. We also find out about the unique training nee...
Jun 22, 2023•2 hr 24 min•Ep. 316
A special treat for you on the show today as we sit down with one of the most familiar faces and voices in Australian Olympic broadcasting Basil Zempilas to learn about his extraordinary media career and his memories and experiences the Olympics have brought him! We find out from Basil some of his favourite moments he has called at the Olympics and just what it was like to have followed in the footsteps in fellow broadcast icons Bruce McAvaney, Sandy Roberts & Dennis Cometti. We also go over...
Jun 15, 2023•31 min•Ep. 315
A massive interview coming your way today as we return to one of our favourite sports in ice hockey by chatting with four-time Olympian and triple Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Johnston about her incredible career and iconic Olympic experiences! We learn about Rebecca's journey in the sport that took her to four Olympics and where the passion for the dream came from. We also learn about overcoming the mental hurdles with her sport and how important it is to have the mental focus to be able to p...
Jun 08, 2023•46 min•Ep. 314
An exciting interview to bring you today as for the very first time we chat with an athlete from the sport of skateboarding as we sit down with Aussie Olympian Poppy Olsen to learn more about her incredible journey in her sport and her Olympic experiences in Tokyo! We find out from Poppy how she had a dream from a young age to be an Olympian and what that moment was like when she was able to realise that with skateboarding being added to the Olympics. We also learn about the progression skaters ...
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 313
It's basketball time once again here on Off The Podium as we chat with an absolute legend of the sport in two-time Aussie Olympian Chris Anstey about his incredible career and Olympic experiences in Sydney and Beijing! We find out from Chris just how he 'accidentally' got into basketball and what other Olympic sport he very much could've represented Australia in. We also find out how his experiences at the Sydney Olympics brought him both one of his greatest ever memories and worst ever memories...
May 25, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 312
We're back for the latest episode in our Olympic Opening Ceremony review series and it's a bit of deju vu as we track back to the first ever Opening Ceremony we actually ever covered on this show in our second ever episode back in 2016 by looking once again at the Rio Opening Ceremony. Has it held up 7 years later and improved or are we still slightly disappointed in it? Do we feel the speeches are still going after all these years? Why do we seem to like the Gisele catwalk a little more now? Ha...
May 18, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 311
An absolute treat of an interview coming your way today as we return to the sport of canoeing and speak with a legend of the sport in Hungarian two-time Olympic gold medallist Krisztina Fazekas-Zur about her incredible career and incredible Olympic experiences! We find out from Krisztina about the sport in Hungary and just why it is such a big deal in the country. We also find out about how she nearly quit the sport after missing out on qualifying for Sydney in 2000 and what motivation helped he...
May 11, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 310
It's a sport that we love and a sport that we know little about here on Off The Podium but today that changes as we chat to our first ever handball athlete on the show in Canadian national team member Haven Wong to learn more about her career as well as why handball is such an incredible sport! We find out from Haven how she progressed her way through the sport and just what the handball scene is like in Canada. We also find out about some of the unique rules of the sport and just what it takes ...
May 04, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 309
A massive interview coming your way today as we return to the sport of skeleton to chat with Australia's record breaking silver medallist from the Beijing Olympics Jackie Narracott about her incredible journey into the sport and chatting about that iconic moment at the 2022 games which saw her create history for Australia! We learn from Jackie what brought about the transition from track and field into skeleton and how her love of the Olympics spurred her on through the sport. We also learn more...
Apr 27, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 308
A massive interview coming your way today as we chat with the absolute GOAT of volleyball Karch Kiraly about his incredible career and Olympic experiences that saw him create history as the only athlete to win gold in both indoor and beach volleyball! We find out from Karch about his Olympic aspirations growing up and just how important it was to him to use those aspirations to help Team USA go from no success in men's volleyball to becoming Olympic champions. We also learn about his transition ...
Apr 20, 2023•37 min•Ep. 307
It's time to get the gang back together and start a brand new series on OFF THE PODIUM as we bring you our first ever CLASSIC OPENING CEREMONY REVIEW by going back to the year that was 1994 and look at the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony! Just how will we feel about the Norwegian style of ceremony from nearly 30 years ago? Do we like the daytime ceremony? How do we feel this dates itself or does it hold up incredibly well? Why do we miss classic cauldron lightings like we saw h...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 306
As we get closer and closer to Paris 2024 we get even more excited about the debut of breaking at the Olympics, and today we're back to talk about the sport of breaking with one of Australia's best female breakers and Olympic hopeful Rachael Gunn, aka Raygun, about her incredible sport and prospects for the Olympics next year! We find out from Rachael just how she got into the sport and how it was transitioning from other versions of dance into breaking. We also find out more about her thoughts ...
Apr 06, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 305
We're going back to moguls today as we speak with American Olympian Olivia Giaccio about her incredible career and journey in one of our favourite sports we can never get enough of! We learn from Olivia which other sport she grew up playing that she could've potentially made it to the Olympics in and what it was about skiing that made her focus on it as a career. We also learn some great insight into why tearing her ACL was the best thing that ever happened to her and how important her mental he...
Mar 30, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 304
You know how excited we get when we can bring you an athlete from a sport we have never covered before on the show, and today is one of those days, as we chat with our first ever soccer athlete in the incredible Olympic gold medallist from Canada Gabrielle Carle about her incredible career and amazing Olympic experiences! We find out from Gabrielle how playing soccer at a young age set her on the path to Olympic glory and how she had set herself a path to help achieve that goal. We also learn ab...
Mar 23, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 303
It's always an exciting time when we get to chat about swimming and we're doing exactly that today by chatting with Australian Olympic gold medallist Meg Harris about her incredible career and incredible Olympic experiences! We find out from Meg how growing up in Far North Queensland started her love of swimming and what other sports she could've potentially gone to the Olympics in. We also learn about her experiences at the Youth Commonwealth Games in 2017 and how that helped in her Olympic jou...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 302
It's one of our favourite sports on Off The Podium and it's a pleasure to bring you another athlete from it today as we bring you a great interview with Olympic gold medal winning ice hockey player Jamie Lee Rattray to learn more about her incredible career in the even more incredible sport! We find out from Jamie just how she got involved in the sport and how watching a certain Olympic moment lit a spark in her to help her towards her own Olympic dream. We also find out about her incredible col...
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 301
