← Intrusive Thoughts by Adam Rippon
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Foreign. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Intrusive Thoughts. I am your host, Adam Rippon. And yes, you guessed it, we are in Milan at the Olympics yet again. Right? I know I'm kind of making it sound like I left and came back. I. I haven't. Believe me, I've been here the entire time, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going a single place because I am in Milan. I've said it once, I've said it before, I'll say it again. I am going to be here the entire month. So get ready. These are the Live from Milan Olympic exclusive episodes. And I'm over the moon to be reporting boots on the ground from Italy. So there's a lot that's gone on here at the Olympic Games since the last episode. Now, what did I talk about in the last episode? I have not a dang clue. I have no idea. I don't remember anything. Um, so I'm going to do my best not to kind of repeat myself, but if I do, please, I beg for your forgiveness. And I hope I receive it. I really do. I hope I receive it. But I don't need it because this is the Special Olympic. I mean, it's kind of fun that we're recording at the Olympics. I will tell you. I am. Today is potentially the day I crack. It is. It just. It is. I've gotta be upfront, I've gotta be honest. And it's just been a whirlwind. So I. If I remember correctly, I was telling you a little bit about. And when I say you, I mean the listener, the viewer. It's good to have you here. It's. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm here, and I'm glad I'm here to tell you the story. So in the last episode, uh, I remember I was telling you about arriving here, trying to figure out the subway lay of the land, getting started, filming some segments. Okay, that is where we are. Also, if you're watching the video, and even if you're not, it doesn't matter. I just want you to know that I've been trying to give you, like, a fun visual of, like, oh, wow, you're in Milan. And I just. This is the best that I can do. It's like open curtains in my hotel room. Just things scattered about. It is just things scattered about. And you know what? That's. It's okay. It really is gonna be okay. I hope it's okay. But the most important thing is that I'M okay. And I am okay. But let's go over a little bit of what we've seen and what's happened here at the Olympic Games. So since the last episode, we've had the Opening Ceremony. Now, I have corrected my language when it comes to this, because I was referring to the Opening Ceremony as the Opening Ceremonies. When are the Opening ceremonies? And I've been corrected, and rightfully so. I obviously want to get the correct verbiage language on this. There is one ceremony, right? But actually, in this particular Olympics, there were multiple ceremonies. But now it is sort of that, like, happy New Year's. Happy New Year. Like, it's. We're entering one new year, Right. It's the same sort of idea. We're not Happy New Years. Okay. You're not talking about all the years. You're talking about the year ahead. Same thing goes for this, the Opening Ceremony. Now, what I said about there being multiple ceremonies. Yeah, that's true. There were three ceremonies going on at once. Oh, yeah. And the main ceremony, the main show was happening here in Milan, and I had the chance to go. This was actually the first Opening Ceremony that I've ever been to and got to watch. When I competed at the Games, I walked the Parade of Nations, which is basically like the dream of every athlete that you get to walk in the Opening Ceremony. Singular. Okay. And that is just an iconic and really special moment of the Olympics. It's one of those things where it's, like, you watch it so many times when you're a kid and growing up that that's the dream that you have of, like, walking in. So a little bit of background on that is so much of the Opening ceremony happens in the beginning before the Parade of Nations. And then there's, like, this, like, beautiful, like, ending number. But figure skating is throughout the entire Olympics. Correct. Right. We don't need to fact check that. I. I know that. And when it. Fact checked. Fact check. Oh, God. My brain is literally smooth as I'm recording this. Figure skating is completely throughout the Games, starting with the team event. So I will just tell you from my perspective and my point of view of when I walked. And I think it's very similar to the way a lot of the athletes here dealt with the Opening ceremony. So the whole beginning of the opening Ceremony, you don't really get to see. Right. If you're an athlete walking in the Parade of Nations, you don't get to see what's going on there. There might be a few screens backstage, but there's so much going on backstage that you just don't have the opportunity to see. Like all of the performances and all of the work that goes into the open opening ceremony, you just, you don't get to see that because you are backstage and you're getting ready to walk, right? Like, you need to be ready to walk here with your team. And this is also the time when like you meet a lot of the people who maybe you connected with online, like different athletes that you get to meet them for the first time. Whether they're on Team usa, your team, or on from another country. Everybody is just like sequestered by backstage. There's just like, it's very exciting, it's a lot of fun and it's just, it's amazing. It really is amazing. So for me, and like, again, I think for a lot of the figure skaters, they had to do this, especially if they were competing in the team event, that you have the option to literally like walk the parade of nations and then you make your whole lap and then instead, instead of sitting down, you basically just like walk out and there's like a bus to take you right back to the village. And that is actually, it's like the, a crazy part of like, oh, you just kind of go in and, and go out. But it, it actually works out really well because the only other option would be to not go. Cuz you can't be there the whole time. Like, you have to get back, you have to rest, you have to focus on your competition. It's like the main reason that you're there anyway, right? So when I walked in the opening ceremony, I did the parade of nations. I sat down until all of the nations had like walked and were there. And then as soon as like the show kind of got started, I was out of there. Sorry. My ass was on a bus, straight onto a bus, right into bed, right? I had to wash my face, I had to get ready. I was competing maybe not the next day, but the day after or like very soon after the opening ceremony. And so there really wasn't the option to like stick around. So I didn't really get to watch anything. And in that opening ceremony when I competed, Una Kim, famous figure skater, we love her, we adore her. She lit the Olympic flames. I didn't get to see like any of that, which I would have loved to this time I was a ticketed participant, viewer, audience member getting to watch the opening ceremony. And I got to see every single moment of it. So this was the first time I ever got to do that and it just, it, it just really gets you right into the Olympic spirit. Gets you right into the Olympic spirit. And there's a few moments that I think, you know, kind of struck a chord with everyone worldwide. The first moment is Mariah Carey performing. Now this was something that I was really excited to see. One, I was a little bit like, no complaints, by the way. Like, I have no complaints that Mariah Carey was performing, but it was sort of like, huh, why? And I also, to that I say, also say, why not? Right? That's Mariah fucking Carey. She could do whatever the fuck she wants. We are just grateful. In, in my mind, I'm like, I don't know if she has any, you know, Mariah Carey. Like, I don't know if you know, that's so chow chow. Do you know? I, I don't know what the connection was. And there's been some videos going around of her teleprompter and it's, everything is phonetically spelled and it looks insane and it's amazing. And when I've really thought about it, it's like, you know what? No, it, that makes sense that she was here. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's like Mariah Carey, it makes sense because she's a diva. And being a diva is in and of its essence, it's Italian, right? It's your vibe, which is the slogan of this Olympics. And when Mariah Carey came out, it was my vibe. I was pointed in the direction before she came out, so where our seats were, I could see where she was entering and exiting. And there were about 15, 20, 30 people in reality, five stay with me that were helping her to the stage to perform. Very diva like behavior. But I'm going to say this, that there was no other option. Like she needed all of those people there because the heels, the dress, it's completely dark. She, you know, she can't see a damn thing. You know, Mariah, she can't see anything. So she needed all of these people. But really, when I, if I had to explain, like, what was it like, it did feel like they took out the dolly, they put her on it, they wheeled her to the center stage, she read her script, she did a few high notes, a lot of falsetto, put her right back on the dolly. And by the time we got to the parade of nations and I, I would even assume when we got to Belgium, when I, if you asked me to bet on it and say, where's Mariah? I'd go, there is a 100% chance that she is, at this point, horizontal makeup off on a plane. She's going to be in LaGuardia at this point. In two hours. She was in, she was out. And that's. That's diva behavior. That is Italian. It's your vibe. That's the vibe.
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And the opening ceremony continued. And there were just these beautiful moments of the Olympic rings. Just these rings hanging in the air, coming together. I mean, it was just. It was magical. It was theater. It was beautiful. It's your vibe. It really was. It really was. The. The highlight for me was Andre Pacelli singing Nessendorma. Now, as a figure skater, this is a piece of music that I've heard ring throughout the halls of many a skating venue, many a skating competition, and it just felt so fitting that it happened here at this Olympic Games. That was unbelievable. Was I crying in my seat? Of course I was. I am, if anything, only human. If you weren't crying, Call a doctor. Like, something's off, something's wrong. And before we continue, I can just. I want you to know I'm feeling the energy that I'm giving, and it's not a hundred percent, but that's because we're going to get to the schedule of this all the. The Olympics is like a crazy beast to work, and it takes you a minute to get into it, and then you're in a bit of a groove, and then all of a sudden, it's like, wham, it's over, right? Like, it's all complete whiplash. But we love it. We absolutely love it. I love a little whiplash. We could all use a little. So I just want you to know that, like, if the energy is, like, a little, like, huh, Melancholy. That's why, okay, I. I'm here with you. I'm giving 100%, but I don't have 100% in the tank, which is fine. Which is absolutely finito. That's fin. I don't. You know, whatever. I don't know the Italian words. You'd think I'd figure some of them out by now. No, sorry. I have not. I have not done it. Um, but in the opening ceremony, Andre Bocelli performs Nessendorma. And Even at this point, I was sort of, like, exhausted because the figure skating team event had started. So I was trying to catch up on that, but I missed that event because I was working on some, like, other pieces. One of them was I got to skate with NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander, who I love. He's like a brother. He's like a brother to me now. And we got to go skate at this rink called Ice Lab in a city called Bergamo, where I had actually been before I. When I was younger. I've told this story to, like, anyone who will, like, listen or is within earshot. But when I was younger, I had an Italian skating coach. He was one of my coaches, and I was like, a junior skater, and I had a lot of events that were sort of back to back in Europe, and it just made more sense instead of me traveling back and forth back to the States to stay in Europe. And so I ended up staying with him and his family and trained here in Milan for maybe, like, three or four months. And I. It's like, one of my most fond memories of training and being an athlete, of being here, and I just, I loved it. So who was that Italian coach? His name was Valter Rizzo, and I got to live with his family. He has a daughter, and he had a really young son who had just started skating. His name was Mateo Rizzo. So if you've been watching the figure skating competition, for me, one of the most iconic Olympic performances that we've seen so far, but this one I'll remember for a lifetime was from the Italian team, Matteo Rizzo. He basically was able to secure the bronze medal for Team Italy, and it's a bronze medal that feels like gold. It was one of the most unbelievable performances I've ever seen. He did exactly what his team did, needed him to do. He skated better than he's ever skated in his entire life. It was just. It was pure magic. It was so magical, and it just made it even more special and crazy that I remember Mateo when he was, like, a little boy and he was just starting to skate, and here he was having this, like, incredible moment. Yeah, I, I, that one made me quite emotional. It was just beautiful. It was amazing. And that's what the Olympics is, like, all about. It's all, it's. That's just what it's all about. And everyone from Team Italy was just unbelievable. They were so unbelievable. Team USA came away with the gold medal, and it was a team effort to get that gold medal. They did great. Team Japan oh, my God. Wow. They were out of their minds. All of them. Just, like, champion level skating. It just feels so good. I remember the last Olympics in. In Beijing that it just felt so strange with nobody being there. Like, we knew it was the Olympics. Like, we could feel it. But to be here and to have, you know, just everything about, like, being post pandemic makes this Olympics just feel so much like, bigger and more grand. And so it's just. It's really been, like, so incredible. It's been really, really magical. We've had the rhythm dance so far. Rhythm dances later. Or, excuse me, the. The free dance is later tonight. Men's short program was yesterday. Ilya Malinin quad. God, he skated to a first place finish. Congrats to Ilia. But the event overall was, like, amazing. My favorite skate of the night, my namesake from France, Adam Siohimfa. He's just unbelievable. I just love it. It just. He's so. He's just so good. He is really just amazing. Now, usually this podcast is, like, not so skating focused, but we're at the Olympics, okay? It's like, what do you want me to talk about? I went to McDonald's. I could talk about that. But, like, do you really want to hear about how I downed two double cheeseburgers before I took the subway? Maybe you do, but I don't. I don't really think that we should spend that much time on it. You know, we could. I could sit here and wax poetically forever about McDonald's. And I know, like, that might be the sort of like, oh, you stupid, uncultured American, going to McDonald's. But here's the thing in. If you are in Europe, McDonald's is a completely different experience. It's something that cannot be missed. You can't not go to a McDonald's in a foreign country. The menu's different. Okay? There is something here that I need to try that I've heard like, oh, it's unbelievable. Pistachio McFlurry. What? What? The only time we get a green McFlurry is for St. Patrick's Day, okay? And. And that's mint pistachio that you know that the pistachio McFlurry here in Italy is green because of the nuts, not because they're going with, like, the green dye. And you know I would never complain about green dye, right? But it does make you think, like, green from the nuts, like, that's so pure. It's so, like, as the McDonald's franchise envisioned, right? Farm to table nut farm to table McFlurries. You know, you just, you don't get that everywhere. You get it in Europe. Same thing goes for a McDonald's in Finland, right? I've obviously more oftenly have frequented a McDonald's in Finland because when I'm there, JP, and I love to throw the down at a Finnish McDonald's and they have something there called a McFeast. I don't know, whatever. And they have a lot of like Mexican sounding options, which does feel a little British Bake off when they were like doing gakamole or quesadillas. Like, it does feel a little bit like that. But whatever, whatever. Appropriated culture sometimes happens, right? What are you going to do? I mean, you're gonna call it out, right? But what, what are you gonna do? For real? There's another thing in Europe that I want to talk about that has really just befuddled the Americans everywhere. And while we are here, there's different places that we can get catering, especially that I work for NBC, so that we have catering at a lot of the venues for the talent and, and all of that. So there's, there's places for like us to, to, to eat and it's just like, which is amazing. It's, it's great. So, and there like, we'll sometimes grab like some waters, like some water bottles or like whatever. Okay. You gotta stay hydrated at the Olympics. That's also. There's a few things. I'm gonna get back to the water bottles in a second. But there's a few things that, like, this trip is a beast. Right? I mentioned that before. Like, it is not, please believe me. It is not easy to work in Olympic Games. There's something going on all the time. And then when all the events are over, that's really when like the work actually starts. Because when the events are over, you need to do recaps, you need to check the other sports of the day. Like, there are so many things to be updated on that. It is just, it's a complete, an utter whirlwind. You just need to stay on top of everything. Luckily, the Winter Games is much smaller. There's, there's, it's easier to keep up on them. And I would even go as far as saying that the Winter Games, because I am a figure skater myself, if you even remember. I just know it so much better. So I don't need to do a lot of research into it because that's, I've, you know, I've been living that life. I really have. And if you're interested in like some event recaps, I know I'm doing like some light touching here or there. But this is more for the GA general audience because we. I do have crossover. I am 100 sure of it. It is confirmed of some of the listeners of this podcast. You know, you come here for the laughs. And some of you have come here from the run through the figure skating podcast that I host with my friends, not Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, which I say because there is a figure skating Olympic champion from the 2002 Olympics also named Sarah Hughes, this woman, not being that woman, and my friend Ashley Wagner, who is also an Olympic medalist. And we've been doing event recaps at the end of every event. So basically my friends Sarah and Ashley, they're over in Stamford, Connecticut. Basically, exactly what I was doing when I was working the Paris Olympics. So NBC splits up the team. We send people over to the host city to do sometimes what I'm doing, which I'm here working the Sports Desk, which is basically. I am a roaming reporter. That's right. I'm a journalist. I'm part of the free press. Okay. And an important job that basically means I'm doing a lot of like, different personality pieces. One of them, like I mentioned, I went skating with Peter Alexander. I gave him a little skating 101 lesson. I've been to Starbucks Roastery, which sounds like, why'd you go to a Starbucks? You believe me, this is a little different, okay? We went there. I was treated like a king, okay? It was incredible. It was beautiful. Another piece we did, obviously, it's Italy. Hey, Adam, hit the streets. Let's do a fashion hit piece. And you know, a lot of times, basically my job is to go and act like an insane person on the streets of Milan, which I am. I know you believe it, am good at. I'm very good at it. So I'm. I'm not. I'm not even covering a lot of the skating. I'll cover more of it as the games go on. And obviously, like, I want to be there and see it, but so the way that like the days work is I will film a segment for Sports Desk. I might have like a little bit of time after that to come back to the hotel and just do a little bit of work because I'll need to come back and script. I'll need to come back and maybe pitch some more pieces, put some things together, Just do some correspondence between me and the producers just to like, touch base, get ready for the next day. We're seeing like what venues are open, what pieces are coming up, just all of that stuff. And then I'll head over to the figure skating venue and while I'm there, I'll still do a lot of like correspondence with my, my team and. But I'm trying to watch the events. I come back, I wait for Sarah and Ashley to get off the air. Watch Gold Zone if you're home, okay, you can watch Ashley Wagner on there. My friend Mariah Carey, okay, you can watch that show. Sarah is producing it. And so we wait for them to get off air and for them to get back to their hotel in Connecticut and then we start recording an event recap around 1am my time, actually 1am on the dot. That's the time that we're like, okay, we'll start. So we're done recording, you know, all is said and done. Maybe it's like two something in the morning, you know, and after the recording, if I was a little tired before, I'm wired the hell out of my mind after. So I probably go to bed around like three o' clock in the morning and then depending on what I need to do. Thank God. The last few days I haven't had to record a piece early. The first day I was here, I had to be hair and makeup ready, camera ready, 6am that was a tough day. But I survived, right? My key to survival here and now we're going to come back to the water bottles. My key to survival here is that you're not going to get a lot of sleep. Emotions are going to be high. You know, your adrenaline is pumping. Sometimes you need to go and get a drink with your friends, right? You, you meet up, it just, it's part of whatever. But my two keys, and they both involve liquid to surviving a long work trip where you're not going to be sleeping a lot is drink as little as possible. Alcohol. Avoid it, okay? Avoid it. Try to avoid it. Now, did I film a segment today where they gave me an aperol spritz and a Negroni? Yes, they did. But that was a work thing. That was a work thing, okay? I had to do it. Had to, had to. But aside from that, you avoid it and you just pound down the water right now I want you to know that my mouth feels dry as bone. You talk a lot when you're out here. If you're me, you talk non stop like you never stop talking. I love it. It's part of the grind. It's part of the grind. Mariah Carey. It's your vibe. And so you just pound down the waters. Now, there was something I was mentioning about the water bottles. That this is something that has befuddled the American audience here, the American working audience, and it's that the water bottles in Europe. Europe is like a few steps ahead of us when it comes to a few things. And one of them is that the caps of any sort of bottled drink are not supposed to come off the bottle. Okay, if you're watching this, I'm going to pull out a water bottle to just kind of give you an idea. It looks like this and the cap is attached. You just, like, fold it back, Right? I'll take a sip. Oh. Oh, God. I feel like a million times better. Who? Wait. That felt good. And so they're attached. And I really see it is sort of like the files are in the computer. Zoolander, if you know, you know, it is sort of like that. And the thing is, to my fellow Americans, you just fold that back, right? You just fold the cap back and you. You keep it there. And it's so that the. You don't lose the cap. I don't know. I. I never was one to be losing the cap. I think this has something to do with recycling in quotes, so whatever. But it's a. It's a European thing. It's your vibe. The only reason I know is because this is. You know, they do this in Finland. And so I did sort of like a monkey, like. Like, couldn't figure out why the cap was, like, stuck on. I thought I had broken it, when in reality it was just legislation I was unaware of. Now I know, and I'm passing on the information to my co workers, to my colleagues. That cap stays on. You don't need to. You don't need to do anything with that. You don't need to kind of fiddle with it. Yeah, you don't need to fiddle with it. Now, today. I filmed a piece this morning, and I have a little break. I'm actually using the entire break to record this episode today. So this episode might not be this. That long. Who knows? The last one was, like, for the record books. So I'm. I want to touch on a few things before we get too off the beaten path. All right. One of those things is there are American athletes here who are speaking out against the Trump administration. Ice things going on at home. And I just have a lot of respect and admiration for those athletes because it does feel really kind of scary to be doing that. And it just takes a lot of effort and energy and it's just, I think sometimes there are people who are sitting at home and, and you know, I'll touch on the. Like, you know, if you, if you're not proud of America, then you go look at whatever. We'll touch on that for a second in a minute. But there's so much energy and effort it takes to compete that it is also so much energy to build up the courage to say something when you're asked about it. And obviously the athletes are being, they're being asked about it and there are many, many athletes who are using their platform. And I just think it's beautiful. It's. That is what being American is all about. Like, it, it is about representing your country in the best way possible way you can. Right? And I think that if you're able to talk about and share things that are important to you, you're representing yourself and your community and, and, and all of the important things in the best way possible. And it just. Listen, I, I think I have said there's obviously, like, a few misconceptions that some people have of like, well, if you are out there, like, give back all the money you' cotton from the. Who paid for you to get there? Not the US Government, okay? Athletics are not sponsored by the US Government athletes, if they're lucky enough, by the way, there's so little money in Olympic sports, if they're lucky, can get some sort of sponsorships from the U.S. olympic Committee, which gets its money from private and corporate donors, okay? So that, that's where the money comes from. And like I said, it is so little, especially for some of these sports. It is so little that, listen, the taxpayers are not paying for this, so get off their freaking back. And I always hate, I hate this that there are people who will say, if you hate your country so much, don't represent it. And I would argue to say that those athletes who are speaking up and are embarrassed by what's going on in the United States, that they actually love their country so much that they see better for it, that they ideally want to see a better version of America. And I have to tell you that so many of the American athletes here are doing so much for the reputation internationally of the United States. It is so it is such a positive thing that these athletes who are speaking up against, like, the really scary and insane and unprecedented things that are going on in our country and with the administration that it just, it like, I would argue that they love their country so much that they feel a duty to speak up and to say something. And I just find it so it just, like. It is not. That is not right. They don't. Like, they might hate what's going on, but you'd have to argue that they love their country so much that. And that's one of the foundational parts of being American is being able to. To exercise free speech, right? Like, it just. It is. It's just insane to me. And then just so many people being like, if you're not proud, then send somebody else there. Listen, if you really want to do all of that, do exactly what you did with the super bowl and make your own, okay? These are the best athletes it. From our country. These are the best athletes in the world. Do the same thing you did with the super bowl, right? Make your own. Your own bad one, right? Nobody just go outside. This is what I want you to do. If you are condemning the athletes, speaking out of, like, the Olympics shouldn't be political. Ideally, Right, Ideally. But for a lot of them, existing is a political act in and of itself, right? Being an out athlete is a political act. These athletes are members of our communities. They're our neighbors, they're our friends. So what? I hate, hate, hate the talk of, like, you're there to compete. Shut up and get out there. Fuck you. Please. No, like, inherently existing is an act of politics. And so it's just intertwined throughout the fabric of our lives. And so it is just unavoidable. And so I just have so much respect for the athletes who have spoken up, because I know literally, firsthand, it's not easy because it comes with not only a lot of hate from random, faceless people on the Internet, but it sometimes comes directly from the President of the United States, which is disgusting, by the way, and wrong and awful and bizarre. Weird fucking behavior. Bizarre. Not good. No. So I just want to say that I really respect the athletes who have said something. And there's a lot of them. Like, there's a lot of quotes from a lot of athletes. And it gives me a lot of hope. It really does. And I gotta tell you that, you know, there are even ice protests out here while we've been here. It's what's going on at home is being watched by the rest of the world. And the American athletes here are doing a lot for the reputation of the United States. And you might think, like, why are so many of these athletes saying something or whatever? So much of sports is international, and when you have the opportunity, and it's like an amazing opportunity to travel the world, to Work with different people, to train with different people from around the world. Listen, like, in. In my sport, some of the best coaches in the world are in the United States, but some of them are in Europe, some of them are in Asia. And it's not uncommon that you'd go to train with another coach. And so you spend a lot of time with people from all around the world, and you just gain a different perspective of the world. And I think that a lot of these American athletes have felt like they need to apologize or excuse themselves or, like, really be like, that's. That's not me. And so I get it. I really fucking get it. And it's just. It's not easy. It's not easy to balance that. In addition to this event that you've worked for and towards your entire career and your life, and it's frustrating to see, you know, elected officials that if you don't. If you're not a patriot of your country. Get a grip, right? Like, get a grip. If you're not a patriot. If you. What? Don't take a knee, please. America was built on revolting against a monarchy like you have. These people have completely lost the plot. Represent a different country. No, they're embodying the essence of what it means to be American. That we challenge our government to be better, that we push for it to reach higher and higher, and that we demand that if we really want all men to be equal, that we demand that. And. And if America's truly the land of the free and home of the brave. These athletes are brave. Okay? It just. I'm just telling you that it takes so much mental and physical energy, it's like, tough on the body to deal with the two of these things at once. Not only the biggest event of your life, but also dealing with people outwardly taunting you. It's just. It really is. It's just unreal. It's un. It's unreal. I mean, I remember at the Olympics, these big old articles of, you know, Megan McCain and Don Jr. Telling me I should go home, whatever. I didn't. So whatever to you. And so I just want to. Any athletes that might be listening and to anybody who is listening to this podcast and you're watching these athletes speak up. Like, there is a moment when you get asked the question where you need to decide in your own mind, like, am I gonna say what I'm really thinking? Or should I just say, you know, it's not right. Move along? Or like, I'm here to train. I'm here to focus on my thing, which you so easily could do. And then it just never becomes like a talking point. But, you know, like, it. It just. It's. It's a. It's scary. It feels scary to do that, which is why it's so important that these athletes do. And I respect. Like I said, I can't say it enough. I just, like, respect so many of them so deeply. Let's do an audience question. So there's a few things that I'll touch on before we wrap up this episode because I. Oh, I actually need to leave quite soon. Not a problem. I'll be fine. So there's two things that I'm going to touch on. One, I've had a lot of people ask me that when the figure skaters get off of the ice and they're obviously drenching in sweat, they're completely overheated. Why are people rushing to put their jackets on? I had a friend who texted me, and she asked, why are the partners, like, trying to cover their partner in their jacket, like, immediately, as if they're, like, indecent? The. The answer is simple, that when the athletes go into the kiss and cry in figure skating, where they get their marks, they are required to put on their teen jackets so that the sponsors can be on television. Right. It doesn't matter if you're overheating in your buckets of sweat. Does not matter. Okay. What matters is that you put on your Nike jacket and it just. That's the name of the game. So if you've been wondering, like, they are obviously not cold, why is the jacket going on? That is why. Right. And in figure skating, it's, like, one of the only sports that has, like, a uniform that's, like, not a Team USA uniform. So that's why you don't see the other sports do it like, you know, they're going down the hill and they're already in the gear. Okay. That's why their partner isn't like, you're in the nude and putting it over there, partner. Okay. And I actually. Listen, there's a few more questions that I got. There's actually a ton. We've gotten a lot of calls and text messages, actually. Keep them coming, coming in, because if you have more Olympic questions or observations, please call or text the podcast hotline. You know the number, but in case you Forgot, it is 310-90-9717. Leave your Olympic intrusive thoughts to me, and we will talk about them on the podcast. Surely, you know, we'll see how this goes. I am cutting it incredibly close. I have enough time to literally change my shirt, take a pee pee and run. And I'm gonna do all of those things actually in that order. And yeah, that number again is 310-90-9717. I think you can call or text that number from anywhere in the world. We've gotten a few international calls. Love it, Love it. International. International Podcast of the Year. Intrusive thoughts again. If you are looking for event recaps, you can go and listen to the run through. We're doing them after at the end of every figure skating segment. So we've done one. Done one for the short programs. Rhythm Dance. We'll do them at the end of the free skate. Full recaps. I'm about to go and record an interview with Rebecca Lowe, who I love. I can't wait to see Rebecca. And that's the episode. That is the episode. I'm Adam Rippon from Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games. And these have been my intrusive thoughts. Bye, everybody. See you next week. Most likely. Steer. Steer here. Imran still here in Milan. Love you. Arrivederchi.