The Podium

No Chill: How "Tropical" Athletes Pursue the Winter Olympics

No snow, no problem: more than 25 nations competing in the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang are considered tropical countries. In Episode 1, Tim Struby set out to examine why a generation of "tropical" athletes decided to focus on the Winter Olympics, delve into the influence of the movie "Cool Runnnings," and learn about some of the challenges that "tropical" Olympians face along their journey to PyeongChang.

The Podium: Get Ready for the Games

Get ready for the 2018 Winter Olympics with NBC Sports and Vox Media. All this month, The Podium will introduce you to athletes to watch in the lead up to PyeongChang in February.

Vox Media Preview of The Podium: Recode Media with Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir

Vox Media Preview of The Podium: The Ezra Klein Show on what life is like in North Korea

The most important story in the world right now is how real the chance of war with North Korea is — and how cataclysmic such a war would be. Part of the reason the risk of war is so real is that our understanding of North Korea is so sparse. "The Hermit Kingdom" is a world unto itself; a land of deprivation, of lunacy, of tyranny, of delusion. We have no diplomatic relations, no trade, no cross-cultural exchanges. We don't understand Kim Jong Un, we don't understand his people, and they don't un...

Vox Media Preview of The Podium: Worldly on the geopolitics of the Winter Olympics

In a special Olympics-themed episode of Worldly, Yochi, Jenn, and Zack look at how global politics will shape next year’s Winter Games in South Korea in a way that hasn’t been seen since the height of the Cold War. The International Olympic Committee has already banned Russia because of a massive doping scandal, and the nuclear standoff with North Korea could make some countries jittery about sending athletes to the games. Add it all together, and you have the potential for an Olympics like no o...

Vox Media Preview of The Podium: I Think You're Interesting featuring Chang Rae Lee

Chang Rae Lee’s books include “Native Speaker,” “Aloft,” and “The Surrendered,” for which he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. His most recent book is “On Such A Full Sea,” a cool, sci-fi dystopia. It was published in 2014. His novels tackle some of the most important themes in American life today, including immigration, life after war, and even the divided Korean Peninsula. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, but moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of three. His home count...

Introducing The Podium

Introducing The Podium, an insider look into the 17 intense days of competition at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. In the run-up to opening ceremonies, hear in-depth interviews with your favorite Winter Olympians, explorations of host country South Korea’s culture, history, and more from industry experts. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform for automatic download.