← Intrusive Thoughts by Adam Rippon
Intrusive Thoughts by Adam Rippon
Mic’d Up in Milan With Martha, Snoop, and a Lot of Unexpected Moments
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Foreign. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Intrusive Thoughts. I'm your host, Adam Rippon, live from the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. It is so good to be here. I, before recording today's episode, went back to see what I even talked about in the last episode. Because the Olympics have been and are always a complete and total whirlwind. I don't remember anything that's happened. I remember everything that's happened, but it all feels like maybe it happened a year ago, a month ago, yesterday, an hour ago. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, it just. Everything. Like, it's. Yeah. Oof. Oof. I just want to say, before we get started, I've been having an amazing time. Okay. There's one thing that I've been really trying to do ever since I've been here, and it's something I've been pretty bad at for the last, I would say, few years. And it's like taking pictures. I don't know what it is, but. But there was something that came over me spiritually, where I was like, I don't feel like I should have my image on a photograph. I just don't. I'm not up for it. And not when other people would take pictures. It would just be like, I'm not taking my camera out. Sorry. It's just. That's not gonna happen. And now in this trip specifically, I'm like, you better take a thousand effing pictures. And I'm actually really glad that I am, because this is the first time in a really, really long time, because I'll sometimes go through, like, my camera album, and I'll be like, don't have any pictures of that, huh? No pictures of that. So I've changed my ways. Because another thing, it was Valentine's Day a few days ago, and I did an incredible thing. And what I did was, as soon as I got here, I'm moving the camera down a little bit. As soon as I got here, like, this is the very beginning of February. I ordered flowers for my husband because I was like, I'm gonna forget. Like, I'm not gonna remember. I know that. And I'm a genius. Because they came to our house on Valentine's Day. Obviously, I was whittling away. Tap, tap, tap, click, click, click on canva to make, like, a custom card, right? I killed it. I nailed it. I really, really did. I can't even believe Valentine's Day was, like, a few days ago. This is the longest trip in the history of all Trips, when they rewrite the textbooks, they will talk about my specific trip to the Milan Cortina Olympics. And they will. They'll go into it in great detail. It will take chapters. And that's an honor to know. You know, it's an honor to know that I'll be in the history books. But it is in the moment. It is a lot. It's a lot to take on. Now you might be thinking a lot to take on. Can you go into a little bit more detail of, like, what your job is? And if I talked about it in the last episode, please forgive me, but like I said, I don't remember. I just kind of glazed through, like, the description of the last episode, just to kind of refresh my memory of, like, what was talked about, what wasn't, so that I knew, like, what stories that I should share and tell and show intel. So where to begin? Let me tell you a little bit what I. A little bit about what I've been doing. I have mentioned, I'm sure. Surely I have. Surely I have not forgotten this detail that I've been working for Sports Desk, which now the Olympics are almost over, right? They'll be. I'll be on a plane home in a few days. Now, I can tell you what that job is, because I didn't really know. So maybe I did mention this, if I did. Like I. Like I said, forgive me. Please forgive me. I'm begging for forgiveness. I am basically like a roaming reporter, and I've done, like, personality pieces and I've done interviews and loved it, loved it. It's been great. Okay? What that means is, basically, they will put me into a car and we will drive to a location. They put a microphone on me, they set the cameras up, and they push me out of the car and they go, dance, monkey, dance. And this is the sick and twisted thing. I am a really good dancing monkey. I'm really good at it. And so this is the perfect job for. For someone like me. Me specifically. And so I've been having just an incredible time. I've been having an incredible time. What can I say? Am I exhausted yet? Out of my mind. Out of my complete and utter mind, I'm exhausted. So I want to go over a bit of what my schedule has been. Because in the last episode, I cannot believe in the last episode, we were talking about the opening ceremony. That feels like 35 years ago, minimally. But regardless, here we are. There's a lot to catch up on. So now that I've been here for a few Weeks. Let me tell you a little bit about what my schedule has looked like. So I mentioned that I was hoping to get over to some of the skating events and I'd be able to watch them because I have been lucky that most of the time that when I'm going to film a segment, we will film those either in the morning or in the, like, mid afternoon. So I do have an opportunity to kind of come back, work in the office, do anything that I might need to do, which would include going over other segments that we're going to do, prepare for different interviews, do some tracking, which is like the. The. The voiceover stuff that you do. I've also become better at doing the voiceover stuff because it is. I'll tell you that doing a podcast on your own, some might even say solo, it has trained a muscle within me to be able to continue to talk at nauseam for hours on end about complete nothing. And it is a muscle. It is absolutely a muscle. I remember when I first began this podcast, I would say maybe a little bit over a year ago, right? That's crazy. I would have to really think about what I wanted to hit, because it felt like I would talk about something and then it'd be like two minutes and I'd be like, hmm, what's next? I don't even need to do that. I have a few words written in front of me just so that I don't forget to talk about things. This is a muscle. It's worked out. It's worked to the bone. Okay, so what I'm getting at is that that's a muscle that I've trained. And you'd think, well, you must be great at voiceovers. You need to train another muscle. And that muscle is your voiceover muscle. And the thing is, with the voiceovers, you need to kind of take this broadcast tone with them, because if you don't, it does sound like you are falling asleep at the wheel. The car is going to crash. And I've learned to do these voiceovers in a way where I will hear myself on the mic and go, oh, that is crisp. That is nice. I thought I liked listening to myself with this microphone, which is. If you watch the video, you might know this, but if you don't, I'm going to explain it to you. I have a microphone in front of me. Hello. Testing, one, two, three. Okay, it's on, right? I have a microphone in front of me, and I have headphones plugged into that microphone, and I have the headphones in my ears. Okay. They are in both ears. Because I like to hear my voice on the microphone. Sorry, sue me. I like the sound of my own voice. I know sometimes people are like, oh, you must like the sound of your own voice. I genuinely do. Question mark. Because sometimes I'll. You know, the thing is, is I think that there are people who say, oh, I hate the sound of my own voice. And I will tell you why. It's because they're not used to hearing their own voice. And so when they hear it, it's an unfamiliar voice. Now, me, I'm very used to hearing my own voice. I would say it's the number one voice I hear in my head, and I like it. Okay. It's a voice that I can bring with me anywhere. It's my own, right? Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful in some sort of sick and twisted and sociopathic way that I love the sound of my own voice? I just. I love myself. Oh, God, it feels good to be me and to be you. That is something you need to just train yourself to. To like your own voice. So basically what I'm saying is with these voiceovers, you need to enter the voiceover booth with so much energy. Like, you just had like a Red Bull, a coffee. The heart has to be beating fast when you're in there because like I said, if you don't give these enough energy, it just sounds like you're asleep. And so I don't even have, like an example in front of me. I actually do. Hold on, I'm gonna pull it up and I. I'll give you kind of like a behind the scenes sound at what a voiceover might look like. I'm pulling up something. Oh, God, the font on this is like eight. Okay, I'm gonna have to blow her up. Okay. I have to go over to the office after this. Also, like, I don't know how I thought that I'd have, like, oh, I'll just record this podcast and then whatever. There's no time. I'll make time, right? Because I love my voice and I love intrusive thoughts and I love everybody that listens to this. You're my heroes. You are my heroes. So I actually, as soon as we're done, need to go over to the office to track this. And this is the first line. Okay, so if this was just a podcast, which it is, right? This is just. This currently is just a podcast. But what I'm about to tell you is not a podcast language. It's gonna scare you. It might Scare you. So the first line that I need to go track, and I'm gonna tell you about this piece because this was, like, an amazing. This was, like, one of the highlights of my trip because it's. It's amazing. Okay? So the first line is, she was the queen of the ice. Right? So for just reading that, I would just read it as, like, she was the queen of the ice. But that doesn't work when you're a journalist, like I am, Right? It doesn't work when you're a laureate poet. Like, I'm meant to be. It doesn't work. It needs energy, right? So when I go over to the booth, I'm going to have to say it like this. And I'm actually, like, scared that the neighbors. I'm in my hotel room right now. I'm scared that they're going to call the front desk and go, samuel L. Jackson is in the room next to me. Tell him to quiet down. Okay? So you need to go into it with, like, energy. So I have to, like. Okay, so I'm going to sit up. And it was. She was the queen of the ice. So I'm going to have to say it like this. Now get ready. She was the queen of the ice. I'm embarrassed. Okay, let's just do the next one because, like, that was a little bit short, right? Oh, God, the bot on this is going down. Okay, Right. She was the queen of the ice. You heard. You heard how that went. Now, this is. Let me see if I can move it over. I'm having. I'm struggling technically, here. Okay, come on. Come on, honey. I'm, like, fiddling with a Word document. Okay, hold on. This is not what I wanted. Here we go. I found it. Okay, our next line, right? Becoming the first American woman to grab figure skating gold at the Cortina 1956 Games. The last time skating was held outdoors. Okay, I want you to know I. I didn't have trouble reading that. I know that we changed it because there's a typo in there. So let me just read the first American woman to grab figure skating gold. Okay. Energy. Hi. I'm sitting up again. I, like, slouched in the chair. Cause I went back into podcast pose. Okay. Podcast over Voiceover on Here we go. Becoming the first American woman to grab figure skating gold. Right? Hey, now, maybe you're like, that sounds foolish. Well, in the context of these pieces, it doesn't. And that's also what I'm being told to do. So if I'm anything, it's a teacher's pet. And so I will do what I am told to do. So, basically, I've kind of alluded to what this piece might be about, and you might be thinking, okay, it's about a figure skater and the Olympics in Cortina. So let's back up just a little bit. Actually, let's back up a lot. 70 years, okay? 70 years ago, the Winter Olympics were, were held in Cortina. And here we are, 70 years later, 2026. And Cortina is a host city with Milan. The Milan Cortina olympics. Now, in 1956, a woman named Tenley Albright won the first gold medal for America in figure skating. She's the first Olympic gold medalist in figure skating for the United States. I'm going to tell you just quickly a little bit about her. So Tenley immediately, when she was done competing, she then went to Harvard Medical School. Okay? In her class, 135 people. She was only one of five women in the whole class. And this is like the 1950s. Okay? So when she gets accepted, she even told me that there were people who said it's good that you got accepted, but, like, you took that spot away from a really deserving man, which is absolutely insane. And when she's saying that, she's like, that was just the time. Like, that was what people thought in the time. And she's also very funny. I also want to remind you, she's 90 years old, okay? She's 90 years old, took an international flight, and I interviewed her the next day for like an hour and a half. I couldn't stop talking to her. She's incredible. There's something else I need to say about her, but we're going to keep talking about her story. So basically, she becomes a surgeon, and she becomes, as we know her today, Dr. Tenley Albright. She not only is, like an incredible skater, but she's gone on to be a. A very well respected surgeon. I don't know what I was going to say. I was just going to say she's very well respected in the medical community as well. Okay, I'll say. Let's, let's say that she also has just like, just like an amazing story of, you know, we got to talk about so many different things because Milan, not Milan, Cortina, the Olympics in 56, they were the last time the figure skating events were ever held outside. And, you know, I've really never had to think about it, but I'm like, outside pretty. Like, I've never thought about it, but in doing my research, this was, like, a huge disadvantage to the American skaters. I hope this is of any interest to anybody listening. I actually don't care, because you're gotta. We have to learn our history or we're bound to repeat it. We're gonna end up with the figure skating events outside again. So you have to learn about this. So in the early ages of figure skating, the early 1900s, all the way through the 1950s, the American skaters were called hothouse skaters. And I think they kind of meant that as, like, sort of like a slur, right? But they said that because all of the American skaters were skating indoors in indoor facilities, and the European skaters, there were indoor facilities available, but they were all training and skating outside. And why is this important? Because, again, maybe you're like me and you're going outside is pretty. Like, that's my initial reaction to being outside. But this is what you're not thinking, okay, the competition is going on. It's raining. The competition's going on. It's snowing, okay? It's the. It's the middle of the afternoon. The sun is beating down, okay? It's dusk. It's beating down in one corner, and it's completely pitch dark in the other. These are all things that you needed to take into account. And also, back in this day, and actually all the way through into the 1990s, there was something called compulsory figures that were eventually taken out of competition. But these compulsory figures were tracings that the skaters needed to do on the ice. This is sort of where, like, the figure eight comes from, right? And they needed to trace these turns over this, like, figure eight lobe. And sometimes it was three lobes. And they needed to trace these perfectly. And they needed to do, like, a few rounds of these tracings and show that they had exact precision and that they were, like I said, traced perfectly to the point where the judges would get down on their hands and knees, brush some of the snow away, and look to see how close the tracings were to one another. If any of the edges were flat, if the turns weren't done properly. Yeah, it was some serious business, okay? So think of that. You need to be able to, like, look down at the ice as you're doing these tracings. Now imagine it's snowing, okay? If it's snowing or raining, if it's snowing, sometimes the snow would go down over the tracings. While you're competing, you can't even see the tracings. You just have to hope that you're skating over the same Lobe, Right. Or let's just imagine the sun is beating down in the corner of one of the lobes that you need to trace. Then you need to take into account that when you go over that lobe, the, the ice will be softer because the sun has been hitting it. And then when you exit the lobe, the ice is going to be harder. There's all of these little things. And also the outdoor elements lead to the ice conditions not being great, which Tenley was telling me about. So she got to the Cortina Games about two weeks early to acclimate to the outdoor conditions. And when she was there, she like skated into a rut that was in the ice. Because I'm telling, like. Cause we're on a. I don't know. I'm think I'm being wrong. A lake. I don't know. We're on some sort of man made body of water. Okay, Just take that as it is. And she gets into a rut and she like stabs herself with. Not a knife. No, with her blade into her ankle. And the paramedic on site is like, I'm gonna take your. I'm gonna cut the boot off. And she's like, you're absolutely not gonna cut the boot off. Absolutely. Get away with. From me with that machete. Right? She didn't say any of this. I'm like now kind of adding some flair to it because she does have, like a 1950s charm to her. So she wouldn't be saying the words get that away from me or machete. Okay, so just I'm. I'm just like modernizing the story a little bit. But even if they didn't cut her out of the boot, they still absolutely needed to stitch it back together. So she had to meet some like, Italian shoemaker to sew her boot back together because she did cut through it. Just. It's, it's. And then she's like, I couldn't feel my leg, but it was fine. And it's like, okay, Dr. Cool. She. She's just like, really amazing. And it was. I mean, I have. We have met a few times in passing, but it's always been at these, like, different skating events where she's being pulled in a million different directions because she's an icon. And so this was the first time I've ever gotten to sit down with her and talk to her and ask her questions about like, her era of skating because it's really hard to find any information on it. And I am a skating nerd, so I, like, love to learn as much as possible. One of the other really fun things that we got the chance to talk about is that when she was on the podium, I was asking her, like, what's going through your mind? And this is so, like, when you're living a moment, the craziest things pop into your mind, and you're like, I'll never forget that. So she's standing on the podium, and she said, it's emotional because it's just this beautiful moment, and she's proud of what she's done. But they didn't play the national anthem. They played my country, tis of thee, because they just didn't have the national anthem on record, which is so 1956 Italy for you, you know? And I'm not going to hold it against them because it is a cute story. And so I like that. I like a cute story. So I got to spend The Day with Dr. Tenley Albright yesterday, and it was just really one of the highlights of my trip. The other thing, this is what I have say. This is, like, now, if you're like, I'm not sure about the skating stories, that's fine. We'll get to other ones. But she's 90 years old. Everyone take that and sit with it. She's doing international trips. She's sharp as a tack. Okay? She is quick as a whip. She's in amazing shape. This is. And I. We know this, right? We know what I'm about to say, but this is where I'm like, we really have to do this, because this is proven. We can't stop moving ever. Okay? We have to keep moving. That is because I was like, what's the key? And she's like, I just move all the time. She's like, I work out a little bit, but my big thing is, like, I'm always, like, moving my body and, like, stretching and just keeping myself agile. And that's the key. We cannot stop moving if we're sitting all day. We have to get out. We have to move. We have to be exactly like Dr. Tenley Albright, who stabbed herself with her skate 70 years ago. We have to be exactly like that. And so she's really inspired me to, like, you know, even throughout this busy trip, you know, if I don't have time to go to medical school, if I don't have time to be one of five women graduating from medical school in the 1950s, I should have time to kind of do a few toe touches, because that will just save the body, lubricate the joints. We've got to do it. We can't stop moving. Whatever you do, don't stop moving. She was the queen of the ice. I am addicted to the voiceover kind of sound. And I gotta tell you, on the mic over there. Oh, there's something about it where it's like. It's in Technicolor. Like, it just sounds really good. It sounds really good. So the next thing I want to tell you is that there's been many events and this. So I was telling you a bit about the schedule that I have. So I have been filming in the afternoons, and I've been able to sneak away and see almost all of the skating. I wasn't able to see any of the pairs. I missed the first day of the team event. So I've been actually quite lucky in my journey to see as much of the skating as possible. And so I'm actually very grateful because I really didn't know. I wasn't sure if I'd actually get to see any of it. But it's worked out that I've gotten to see almost all of it. And yesterday was a really big day because I was at the office, I was working on this Tenley piece, and I got a call from one of the producers that I had worked with at the very beginning of the Games. So I have, like, a head producer, and then there are a bunch of other producers who are actually going on site and putting everything together and. And producing each individual, like, story. Does that kind of make sense? Basically, there's a. Like, a boss, and then there's, like, people who work for her. I guess I'm just sort of, like, explaining the framework of any company that's ever existed. Okay, whatever. It's fine. So one of the producers that I had worked with earlier in the Games called me and asked, hey, are you still coming to the Figures Skating arena to watch tonight? Because I had mentioned that I'd like to get over there because I wasn't sure if I'd make it because I really could have worked on this, like, a lot longer. And I said, huh? Why? Do you need something? Do you need me to bring something? Pens, papers, notebooks, anything, I'll do it. Because I'm a team player. And they go, I actually was wondering if you'd be able to help us with something tonight. Because we need somebody to help us with something that's happening tonight. I did just sort of say the same sentence twice. Okay. My brain is melting. It's fine. So I'm like, of course. A secret mission. She said, well, it's not a secret. This is the deal. Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg are coming to the arena, and they need someone to teach them and explain to them what's going on on the ice. They want to know everything, and they need an expert there. And you're the first person I thought of, and I said, all right, we gotta wrap this up, because I have to go help Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. So yesterday, I watched. It was the women's short program. I watched the entire short program with, you guessed it, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. I'm sure there are a lot of questions. I want you to know they were both very well behaved. They were both very good students. Let me start with Snoop. Let me start with Snoop Dogg. All right, Snoop Dogg. Snoop. Snoop. Snoop Dogg. I was very impressed because, listen, I worked the Olympics in Paris from the U.S. from Stanford, Connecticut, NBC headquarters, stateside, okay? I worked them from the U.S. so I watched a lot of the content. And I never engaged with him because I wasn't over there. But I thought what he did there was, like, really fun, right? I really liked his segments, but you never know, like, what somebody's like when they're working or, like, when they're right in front of you. And whatever. He really. And I gotta take my hat off to him, threw himself all the way in. And I think that's why his coverage really resonates with people, because he genuinely is a really big fan of what he's watching. And even if he's not, he takes a genuine interest in it to the point where I was sitting with Martha and with Snoop, and I'm explaining to them, he's asking, hey, what's that? What's that move? What's that move? We're about 30 minutes in, and he's calling out the moves correctly. He goes, oh, that's my favorite one. That's this. Oh, I like that one. That's this. That took me by surprise. Martha, on the other hand, we weren't remembering trick names. She's in her 80s, all right? We're not asking her to remember them. We're just asking her to commentate on what she's seeing. And she did. And we had a gale time up there, me and Martha. We were hitting it off. Snoop was in the zone, and he was loving it, and he knew all the names. And he also, by the end of the event, was, like, guessing people's scores. Which, if you've been watching the Olympics and you've never watched the skating before, it can feel like, what do These numbers mean sometimes I even feel that way. But he was guessing them correctly. I'm telling you, I'm impressed with the guy. Martha wasn't guessing. No, but she's. She's not there to score anyone. She's there to watch. She was there to learn. And I do want you to know what happened after. It's important that I share it with you. And Martha goes over to her team and she starts pointing at me. And she goes, that man is excellent. Okay, I'm just saying, that man is excellent. She points to me. Absolutely does not remember my name. That's fine by me. As long as she thinks I'm excellent, that's okay. She then goes on to start talking about, like, I think I'm going to freeze the lake at my house. And it just would be so beautiful. It's stone lined. And of course, then I have to chime in and go, well, I was worried it wasn't stonelined. And everyone laughs except for Martha. And she turns to me and she goes, of course it's stone lined. Of course. Of course it is. I'm excellent. And her lake is stone lined. I did. And I'm just going to say I had a great time. I hope that they had a great time. They were super great. And just to like, let you know, I think the reason why it works is because they're not afraid to be silly and they're not afraid to be funny, and they dive all the way in. And so now I'm even more of a fan of, like, the coverage that they do again, I was really impressed with Snoop. They were both saying, like, you know, I want to go to another one of these. That's, like, not the Olympics. I want to see, like, a different competition. I'm like, you know, you need to go to the U.S. championship. I'm like, now, like, hustling them to do, like, local events, right? I'm like, you need to do the Santa Claus Open, all right? In Vienna, Austria. You gotta go there. So I'm hustling them. So if you see them at events, just prepare yourself. I will be there. The lessons will continue. And if I'm not there, I'm at this stone lined lake at Martha's house. I was gonna say Martha's Vineyard, but that's like a place that's not Martha's house. You get it? You understand? You see where I'm coming from? Tomato, tomato. So moving on. These were not the only interviews I've done, right? I've done a bunch. And the next one I want to talk about is one that is another really big one for me, for us, for everyone. Okay. This was. I was asked to sit down and do a piece with Sesame Street. Ah, I know. It's cool. I. There's something about. So I just want to take you a little bit behind the scenes of, like, what? That. I'm just so into taking you behind the scenes, it's crazy. But I'm going to continue to do it because it's. I'll say it, and I agree with me. Interesting. So when you see the puppets, it is like seeing celebrities. I am not really one to get starstruck. There is something about seeing the limp, flaccid body of Grover over a folded chair that makes you feel I'm in the presence of something that means a lot. And that's true. Right. When you see the limp body of a Muppet, you go, that is something that's important to me, to us. And it's just fascinating, even when they do something that's, like, really short, to see the way that the puppeteers deal and handle with the puppets, to make everything work. So basically, what they do is, like, they're underneath the puppets, and they're, like, raising their arms up to, like, do everything that they need to do. And they're watching a screen down below. So they're watching what the puppets are doing, like, down, but they're. Everything they're doing is up. It was just seeing how the donuts are made, as they say. And so, for the most part, I think that they were having a lot, if not everybody, who came in that day to the office, because we were filming at the office, they were having almost everybody do a little segment with Elmo. Elmo is probably the most curious, the most joyful, the most overcome with emotion, Right? He's the perfect sort of Muppet to take on the Olympic Games. He embodies the passion, the energy, and just everything it's all about. And so I felt like a lot of people were going to be speaking to Elmo, and I actually made the bold m. Plea. And it was a plea. I begged. I really begged to speak to Oscar the Grouch. And they were like, are you sure? I said, I've never been more sure. I want to speak. And I'm begging you, please let me speak to Oscar the Grouch. Please. I'm on my hands and knees, and my arms are above my head, and it's already inside Oscar, right? And they're like, get your hands out. First of all, I would never Touch them, because you can't. They don't even allow water bottles in the room where they are. Okay. High security it is. Stakes are high. These are America's Muppets. Clear throat, clear mind. So they accept my plea of having the chance to sit down with Oscar the Grouch, who is very famously not pleased with anything. And so they're like, I don't. Let's figure out how to, like, spin this. And so they're like, well, just kind of riff a little bit. What they didn't expect is I would agree with Oscar when he would go, I hate it here. And I'd go, yeah, isn't it awful? And then he'd go, yeah. Did you used to skate? And I said, yeah, I skated a long time ago. And he was like, yeah, you mustn't have been really good at it. And I was like, I wasn't. And I'm having the best time of my life. And they go, actually, actually, cut. Cut yet. This isn't really that positive. And I'm like, talk to Oscar. Okay? I'm. I'm going with the flow, right? And so what we ended up settling on, which I thought was, like, a great idea. It wasn't my idea, but I thought it was a great idea. So then I was like, I have an idea. So the idea was that I've been to the Olympics as an athlete, but now I'm here as a journalist. So I'd love to ask you a few questions and interview you. To which Oscar would go, all right. And so the questions I asked him, I. I asked him, what's the worst part about being here? He's loving the interview. He's literally eating it up. I asked him, are you getting any sleep with the time change? No. Now I got Oscar, like, on my side. This is as positive as it's gonna get. We'll literally most likely never see the light of day. Because they're probably like, why are we doing this with Oscar the Grouch? And it's because they accepted the plea of a 36 year old boy. And sometimes you shouldn't listen to 36 year old boys. You should listen to, like, what the plan was, which was to, like, have me giggle and laugh with Elmo, which I was like, I'm not doing. I need to speak to Oscar the Grouch. And then the last question I asked Oscar was, what are you most excited for? And he said, for the plane ride home and the middle seat. That, ladies and gentlemen, is comedy. That's comedy. It doesn't get better than that. And so I had an amazing time with Oscar the Grouch. Now we are getting towards the end of this episode, and so I have gotten a lot of text messages and. And some voicemails, and you can always text or call the podcast hotline. That number is 310-90-9717. International numbers work, too, because now I'm getting some international texts, and I feel like I'm kind of covering a little bit because we got a lot of them. So I'm sort of covering a bit of what was talked about. And the questions, a lot of them have to do with, like, what are the events? Like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. We did start to get some questions and a lot of them about the Olympic pressure and the expectations that we put on athletes when they come here and they compete at the Olympics. So this is what I want to say about that. Competing at the Olympics isn't easy, plain and simple. It's just. It's not easy. It's really challenging physically, but mostly emotionally. It is such an emotionally packed event. And it's that for so many reasons, for a lot of us, this is the competition that we always dreamed of competing at and being in. And we're here, and it's just so many unbelievable things, and there's so many people here, and there are so many people who are not typical skating fans. They're here to just enjoy, and they're impressed by everything, and it's just amazing. And there's so much media, and there's so much attention and coverage on. On you in a way that you've never had before, and it can just be a lot, and it can feel overwhelming. And we really do put a lot of pressure, and we do put expectations on the athletes. And sometimes it can feel like, is that too much? Should we not be doing that? Because we can see favorites in different events, and this goes across all sports, and we see them not live up to their potential, and we see unprecedented results. We see underdogs winning gold medals. We see so many different things that just don't happen in your normally scheduled programming. Crazy things happen at the Olympics. That has always been true. Upsets happen at the Olympics all the time. It's what makes the Olympics incredibly cool and special. And so we do put a lot of pressure and expectations on. On our athletes because we're excited, right? And so I know that there's some conversation of, like, should we put less? And I have maybe a hot take. And it's, no, we shouldn't put less pressure on the athletes or less expectations. First of all, it's the athlete who puts pressure on themselves, and it's the athlete who puts the expectations of what they feel they can deliver on themselves. Okay. And the pressure will be higher at an Olympic Games, and the expectations will be through the roof. Right. All Olympians are expecting their absolute best. They're expecting perfection of themselves when perfection doesn't exist. And the pressure of the Olympic Games is the beautiful part of it, because we can feel the pressure. We can see it. You can feel it, right? Like you can feel the tension in the air. And getting to see somebody step into that moment and push through is what makes the magic. There's also the magic in the disappointments, too. Right. It's still beautiful to see somebody just out there and competing it. You don't just sign up for this thing. This is like a body of work that takes a lifetime to get here. So just to be here. And it's scary to go out there. Of course it's scary. It's nerve wracking. You feel like you're gonna have diarrhea for a month, which if I'm, I'm sure If you ask Dr. Tenley Albright isn't healthy. You should go to a doctor. Okay. But you're just like, you're running on all cylinders while you're here. But the beauty and the magic of the Olympics is being able to push through that. That's what makes it incredible. That makes it. That is what makes it unlike any other sporting event. It only happens every four years. It comes down to perfect timing, luck, and a million hours of training. And so the pressure is just something that comes along with it. And when you're in the moment, you just feel like, I don't know if I want this, but we do. We do want it. The athletes do want it. And when you see an athlete that goes out there and they don't have a good performance and they just burst into tears, I can guarantee you there's a 99% chance that no matter how that run or routine or game went, they were going to cry at the end of it regardless. Right? They. Those are tears of disappointment. True. But that's a release of energy, right? It's a release of stress. That's what that really is. So when you see an athlete just like, like sobbing after disappointment, it's like they need to do that. They need to release that stress. And they would have sobbed regardless because there is just so much going into these performances. These specific Performances are the ones that they've waited a lifetime to do. And of course they want it to go well, but they're not living in that moment, right. Like, they've been living in this. They've been living for this moment for years. And so that's just the culmination of a ton of stress. And maybe it's not healthy, but it is what being an athlete is all about. It's about taking that stress, using it to empower you to do amazing, inspiring, incredible things, which so many athletes have been able to do, even in the way that they deal with the disappointments, is inspiring. And I think one thing that's really changed, that is good and needed to change, is that we seem to be giving more grace to athletes who have disappointing performances. And so in the past, I would say we go, oh, they're a fat loser who should quit. And now it's a bit of a more nuanced conversation, which, yeah, it always should be, because anybody who's here is not a loser. Right? They had to win many things over many years just to get here. Even if they got last place again, you don't just sign up. They had to qualify to get here. They had to still put in hours and hours of work, probably the same amount of work and time as somebody who is going to medal, right, Regardless of the sport. And I think the nuanced conversation of like. Of people talking about, like, it was pressure that I wasn't expecting. It was a pressure that I wasn't used to. That's all normal. It doesn't mean it's too much. That's what this specific competition, this is what the Olympic Games is all about. It's about that pressure. It's about. It's about being able to deliver in the moment, and that's what you want to do as an athlete. That's like, the beauty of it, right? That's when we see, oh, my God. That's when the Olympic athlete looks like they are not human, when they're able to push through something of like, oh, my God, if I was so nervous, I have no idea how they would do that. I'll tell you, that athlete also has no idea how they're going to do it, but they do, and they get it done. And even if they feel like they're not going to do it, and even if they have a disappointing performance, they still go out there and they still fucking try. Because it's scary to just try. It's scary to go out there and throw yourself into something where Your body is like, we should take a nap instead. We should actually pack up our things and go home and take a nap. That's what your body's telling you to do. It's telling you, like, it's in Fight or Flight because the pressure is high. But that's the really cool thing about sports, and that's the whole kind of idea of it, is that we go out there and we put ourselves in these positions so that we can see how far we can push ourselves. Because, yeah, it's amazing to, like, win a medal or win the Olympics, but at the end of the day, give it a few years, you won't even know where that medal is. It'll be in a sock drawer. You've maybe donated it to, like, a museum or brought it to, like, a children's school for them to see it. It's just a trinket. It's amazing, right? It is amazing. But what you'll live with are, like, the moments, right? The. The metals do last, right? But the moments are what, like, stay with you. And the moments are what matters. I feel like I'm sort of, like. I sound like I'm writing slogans for, like, T shirts. Write that down. The moments are what matters. But that is really what truly, like, live with the moments. And. And I feel like. And I got to talk to Dr. Albright about this a little bit yesterday. That, like, the more time I have from my own career, the more grace I have for the mistakes I made as an athlete and the times where I didn't skate well when the pressure was on, and the more pride I feel for when I was able to deliver, when it mattered most. Like, in. In. In delivering critical moments and push myself and better myself. That's what I really remember the most. Truly and honestly. I'm, like, totally serious. I remember those moments more than anything. And really, when it comes to the Olympic Games, and this is, like, a reminder to, like, the Olympic athletes, who I'm almost certain are not 48 minutes into listening to this podcast right now. You should be sleeping okay, by the way. Should be resting. But it's just a reminder that, like, when you come to the Olympic Games, the most important thing is that you are in the moment. You enjoy the moment, and you live in the moment. That's. Maybe I said live in the moment twice. I don't know. It's like I. My brain is, like, melting out of my goddamn head. Oof. Dang. But I do think that I'm gonna. I'm starting to wrap it up, because I do need to get to work. I have a job, you know, get a job. They said, all right, I did, and here I am, and I have to get to work. But first, I got to do this work. I got to put in the podcast work, which I love to do. I love it. I really do love it. La, la, la, la, la. Oh, one thing is that I thought I was going to Verona for the closing ceremony, so I was like, I'm going to take cute pictures. I'm not anymore. So I'm staying in Milan through the end of the Games, which is still great. It is still great. But I was sort of like, I'm going to take a picture with this snow. I'm not going to do that anymore. There's no snow here. So that's just a change, right? It's not a bad change. It's just a change. And just like the Olympic athletes here, I am going to step into the pressure of staying in Milan. I've been thinking about maybe I'd get a haircut. Okay, now this is. These are just intrusive thoughts, truly, and purely going to wrap it up. So of the figure skating, we have one more event. It's the women's free skating event. It's going to be good. It's going to be really, really good. And actually, I just want to talk quickly about the men's free skating event. Quickly. Before we go, this is our last story. So the men's free skating event, like, if you have been living under a rock, you have not heard of someone called the quad God, and that is Ilya Malinin of the United States, who is heavily, heavily favored to win the men's title. He had a rough free skate, and he did not win the title. The title went to Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidarov. Now, this is the first gold medal in figure skating for Kazakhstan. Let's see how many. 12 years ago, there was another skater from Kazakhstan. His name was Dennis, 10. And Dennis was one of my favorite people in skating. He was my good skating friend. And everybody loved Dennis. And Kazakhstan is a place that does not have, like, a skating history. And when he was young, he moved to Russia to get training, and eventually he found himself in the United States training in California. And we competed for years together, and then we trained for a few years together. And Dennis was just one of the nicest people. Everybody loved him. Okay. And. And it's, I think, like, because he trained in Russia, he was really friendly with all the Eastern European skaters, and he was really friendly with all the North American, American skaters. And he really was like the bridge that closed the gap. And he won the bronze medal at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. And it was like a huge moment. It was a huge, huge moment. One, because he is an amazing skater and it's like, so it was such a well deserved thing. And two, this was just like a huge moment for sports in Kazakhstan. So in the years that followed, Dennis would continue to compete, but he also really did a lot for sports in Kazakhstan. One of the things that I remember the most is he really was pushing for an Olympic bid in. In Kazakhstan. And I just remember because this is all at the time where LA was pushing for an Olympic bid in Paris, all at the same time. Like, they were all in the conversation, maybe even like the Tokyo Games as well. Like, this was a while ago. And he was always at the front of like, whatever sort of pitch that they had or some sort of presentation of what the games would look like in Kazakhstan. And he did a lot for sports and we competed at the 2018 Olympics together. And then shortly after, he was murdered in the, like, in the streets if, like, somebody was trying to take the mirrors off his car and they stabbed him and he died. And it was like, it was awful and it left such a void. And it was just, I mean, he was just. He was so young. And I remember, like the last conversation that we ever had together, we were, I don't know, maybe messaging on, I don't know, maybe Instagram or Facebook or something. Maybe we were on WhatsApp. But he asked me if I would come and do his ice show in Kazakhstan because again, he was bringing, like, he was just doing a lot there and he would put together this really big show and they'd sell out this big arena. And this was right after the 2018 Olympics. And I was doing like a ton of media stuff at the time, and I wasn't on the ice at all. And I knew that if I was going to come and do the show, I wanted to feel like I was in good shape and be ready and get prepared. And I remember telling him, I was like, dennis, I don't think, like, I want to be in good shape when I come to do the show. So I'm not going to come this year, but let's do it next year. And I remember, like, having that conversation. He was like, okay, next year. And then I guess a few weeks later, that's when he died. And so I don't have, like, many regrets, but I regret not just going and doing the show and seeing him, like, one more time. But I've been thinking about him for the past few days a lot, because I just keep thinking about. I wonder what Dennis would think of, like, the men's Olympic champion is from Kazakhstan. And I know that he would be really happy. I. I know he'd be really proud. And I'm really happy to be thinking about him and thinking about how he would be proud if he was still here. And I wish he could. I wish he was here to see it, because I know people would be celebrating him like he had just won the Olympics. And I feel like he would feel that way because this is such, like, a triumph of the things that he did in the doors that he opened. And I'm so excited for Mikhail because he's a really sweet boy. He's so sweet. And this, like, path that Dennis kind of opened up, I feel like Mikhail just made it even wider. And so I'm so excited for that. And that's really. That's what the Olympics are about, right? Like, it's these underdog stories that just, like, inspire us forever. And so that's. That's really, like. That's a moment I'll live in every time I think of the Olympic Games. It's something I'll never, ever, ever forget. And it's beautiful. And I think that's why I love the Olympics. So on that note, I'm gonna go to the office, and I'm gonna talk in my voiceover voice, which now you've heard. You see how it's done? You gotta sit up straight, you gotta yell, gotta have energy. And there's some more work I need to get done, but I wanted to take a little break in the middle of my day, record some intrusive thoughts, say hello, and just really connect with my people. And I love my people, and I love the audience. If you'd like to send a text or voicemail, which I have not done while I've been here, there's just a lot going on, and I'm trying to just, like, take the questions that have been asked and just sort of, like, implement them into the episode. Hopefully, I've done a good job. And if you've texted or called, I've answered a question, I have not answered a lot of them. We'll get to it. We'll get to it. Okay, so if you would like to text or call the podcast, you can. The number is 310-909-7117. That number is in my Instagram bio. On the link tree. I'm Adam Rippon, and these have been my intrusive thought. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? 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