Billie Jean King (2:09)

Yeah, that was very nice of you, Julie. I must have taken some T I M E.

Julie Foudy (2:15)

I put you the entire episode in my. I tucked you in. And so the whole episode, you were like this.

Abby Wambach (2:21)

That is hilarious.

Billie Jean King (2:24)

I love it.

Abby Wambach (2:25)

Yeah.

Julie Foudy (2:25)

You were, like, sticking out. And I would just talk to you when you guys were gone. Oh, okay.

Billie Jean King (2:30)

I'm thinking about you back home.

Julie Foudy (2:32)

Yeah, sure, King. Or you were doing things you were not thinking about.

Billie Jean King (2:36)

Oh, of course I did.

Julie Foudy (2:37)

Are you mates back home? Okay, tell me all about it. Let's hear. I cannot wait to hear. How was Milan? How was. Did you. Did you guys just do Milan? Did either of you go to Cortina?

Billie Jean King (2:48)

No.

Julie Foudy (2:48)

No? Okay, so tell me About Milan. Too far. It was far.

Billie Jean King (2:51)

I love Italy. I love the atmosphere, I love the people. And most importantly, I love the food. Oh, you cannot believe the food. No processing. Yeah, Everything is amazing. Presentation.

Julie Foudy (3:06)

Oh, my God, I'm so jealous.

Billie Jean King (3:09)

I know what you found abs, but I just love the people.

Abby Wambach (3:11)

Yeah, it was great. And you know what? I thought this is my first Olympics that I've ever been to, not as an athlete. And I found it really interesting because when you aren't a friend or a family of an actual athlete, though I had friends there, I wasn't there on their behalf. I was there doing work and doing podcast stuff, so.

Julie Foudy (3:35)

Work air quotes.

Abby Wambach (3:36)

Yeah. Yeah. I found really. I found it really interesting the. Just the different feeling in my body about it. Right. Like I went to the women's hockey match and Billy, I know you went to a lot of those games too. First of all, I just have to say, the women's hockey team, congratulations on your gold medal. But like, more than anything, like, congratulations on like being incredible athletes. I was so freaking impressed with how fast they were. Anyways, the city is gorgeous. Like, get out of here. With Milano, we weren't there long enough to kind of establish ourselves in the time zone. So the tiredness factor was really difficult. And we had a really horrific flight home experience where we had flights delayed and then we missed the connection for the non stop. So then we had to fly through Dulles to get to LA and it was like a 34 hour travel really day. Yeah, it was, it was, it was not good, you guys. It was just not good. And I think my wife is traumatized forever and she's like, this is why I don't leave the house. This is why I don't leave the house.

Julie Foudy (4:51)

Confirmation. I should never leave the house again.

Billie Jean King (4:54)

Ilana and I had the opposite experience.

Abby Wambach (4:57)

Oh, good for you.

Billie Jean King (4:58)

Non stop, easy peasy to New York City. But today we all have to be in the home. We're not allowed to go out. Basically as snow.

Abby Wambach (5:06)

Yeah, you're in a snowstorm. What in the world?

Billie Jean King (5:10)

And my makeup artist couldn't even make

Julie Foudy (5:12)

it king or you wouldn't even know. You look fabulous. You look fabulous.

Billie Jean King (5:17)

Look, look, you guys. This is like, can you see this or not?

Abby Wambach (5:20)

Josh had to brave his way to your apartment this morning. And he sent us a picture. He had. He had ski goggles on. I thought that was really smart.

Julie Foudy (5:33)

Yeah, him and his ski. Did you did. We should. Oh, there's the ski goggle.

Billie Jean King (5:36)

There's Josh man at the bottom there.

Julie Foudy (5:40)

Anyway, Josh he made it over here.

Billie Jean King (5:43)

If he didn't, we wouldn't. I wouldn't be on that, because he knows what he's doing. I have no idea. With all the setup, the technicalities.

Julie Foudy (5:49)

Don't sell yourself short.

Abby Wambach (5:51)

Yeah. Thank God everybody helps.

Billie Jean King (5:53)

Helps, too. It's a real team effort.

Julie Foudy (5:55)

Kinger, tell me about the hockey games and the final.

Billie Jean King (5:58)

Okay, first of all, I went over there basically for the whole week for the PWHL, the pro league, because we had 39 players in the finals with Canada and the U.S. yeah. And I think we had 65. I don't know. We had tons. And the one thing, you know, I mean, Abby already just. Just mentioned it, is that they are so much better than three years ago. I cannot believe how much better they are. Like you said, they're so fast, they're so quick. They're everything now. And that Frankel's a great. Oh, my God. She's a great.

Julie Foudy (6:31)

Oh, my gosh.

Billie Jean King (6:32)

Anyway, the men and the women in. In the end, had exactly the same game over time. Three on three.

Julie Foudy (6:41)

Yeah.

Abby Wambach (6:42)

Boom.

Billie Jean King (6:43)

We get it.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (6:43)

Yeah.

Julie Foudy (6:44)

Three on three was fun.

Billie Jean King (6:45)

I like the three on three. I think it's really good. So. And then the men did the exactly the same thing.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (6:51)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (6:51)

There was something extra about the USA this time to me, because I do watch every year. I mean, I watch the Olympics. I get all into it.

Abby Wambach (6:58)

And our girl, Hillary Knight, the flag bearer of the closing ceremonies.

Julie Foudy (7:02)

Yeah.

Abby Wambach (7:03)

She scores in the. In the championship gold medal game and then gets awarded the flag bearer honor.

Julie Foudy (7:10)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (7:10)

That was great.

Abby Wambach (7:11)

So pumped for her. And also, P.S. previously, the day before she decides to get down on one knee and ask her longtime partner to be her wife and then decides to win a gold medal. Like, could you imagine getting engaged and winning a gold medal the next day?

Billie Jean King (7:27)

Like, yeah, I saw night on the. Actually, I got to see her after the game.

Julie Foudy (7:33)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (7:33)

I said to her, you must be so happy. And she was just beaming and saying, yeah, I can't get any better than this.

Julie Foudy (7:39)

I don't know about y', all, but Abby was on a plane while this was happening, and we're. We're like, live texting, and she's like, wait, what? Who scored? Who scored?

Billie Jean King (7:48)

And I was like, niner scored.

Julie Foudy (7:50)

Niner scored. But I know it would be awful because she couldn't see it. She was only getting our texts. And I. I have. I realized as I was watching, having been to so many Olympics, covering the. The USA women's hockey team, where they've actually lost Canada, I was Having, like, a PTSD moment, I was like, not again. No, this is not happening again. Because we had beat him five nil in the. In the. The group stage earlier.

Abby Wambach (8:24)

Yeah, yeah.

Julie Foudy (8:25)

And earlier. And I'm like, this cannot happen. And thank goodness for Hillary Knight and then for Megan Keller and over there.

Billie Jean King (8:34)

Hillary came through big, and we were just near the goalie line. We could just see the puck over the line. And God, it was. Yeah, the place erupted. I think there were more Canadians there than Americans, so. It was Canadians. It's a religion, baby. This ice hockey, they take no prisoners.

Julie Foudy (8:53)

Oh, they were. They were upset.

Billie Jean King (8:54)

Now that I spent time around the hockey players and hockey officials and all that, I cannot tell you.

Abby Wambach (9:00)

Whoa.

Billie Jean King (9:01)

This is it. They talk about the kids learning. They talk about how expensive it is and how hard it is as a family, and it's really rough, but it's going to get better and better for all of them, believe me. At least for the girls and women. Now they can dream the dream. No, they can dream the dream.

Abby Wambach (9:17)

Yes.

Billie Jean King (9:18)

Thank goodness they didn't have the dream. And that was just so exciting.

Abby Wambach (9:22)

I saw yesterday that there was, like, 100,000 more. You eight kids signed up for hockey. Oh, because of these Olympics.

Billie Jean King (9:33)

Yes.

Julie Foudy (9:34)

A few days.

Billie Jean King (9:35)

I mean, everybody's watching.

Abby Wambach (9:37)

So awesome. Yeah.

Billie Jean King (9:38)

And they feed off of each other, you know?

Abby Wambach (9:40)

You see it.

Billie Jean King (9:40)

I just sit back and watch and I go, oh, now they got more than ever.

Julie Foudy (9:44)

Well, we are going to be talking a lot of Olympics. But also, coming up later in the show, fourth attempt. Yes, party people. My fourth attempt to beat Abigail in a minute. To win it. Kinger.

Billie Jean King (9:58)

Yeah, but you don't think I have it in. I think the last one I was. I got to watch was you guys tied. I think I know.

Julie Foudy (10:04)

Well, this is our fourth attempt. I changed things up. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna give it away. I changed things up a little bit in an attempt.

Billie Jean King (10:11)

Change things up? What do you mean you change things up?

Julie Foudy (10:13)

I'll tell you in a little bit, coming up later. But first, we're gonna talk more Olympic stories, because y', all.

Abby Wambach (10:22)

Norway.

Julie Foudy (10:22)

Can we just talk Norway, what they do and what they. They did at. They do it at all Winter Games, right? They just crush. 18 golds, 12 silvers, 11 bronze. That was a record 41 total medals, record upon record for Norway. Every Olympics, I feel like they're breaking their own records. And a slow clap for Johannes Claubo. This is the cross country skier that went six, four, six and gold. The Norwegian six gold medals. And Kinger, he didn't even look like he was sweating it.

Billie Jean King (10:59)

He would be like these Norwegians, they. I don't. I think they're born for long distance.

Julie Foudy (11:05)

I'm convinced we're going to talk about that. On Thursday's episode with Dr. Colleen Hacker on what is the secret sauce of Norway? And like Clabbo, that, that guy. Oh my gosh, they called it the Clabbo climb. When they'd finally hit the hill and he would just crush. He would take off like he hadn't been doing 48km before that, which he had. So the final medal count for the US was. Drumroll, please. 12 gold. Also a record. 12 silver. 9 bronze. 33 medals for Team USA. That's a new U. S. Record. The previous American record was 10 Gold medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Which makes sense because we of course hosted that. So that was a huge showing.

Abby Wambach (12:02)

Yeah, Jules, that's amazing. But do you want to know what really blew my mind?

Julie Foudy (12:06)

What?

Abby Wambach (12:06)

Okay, so, so of the 33 medals, do you know how many were won by women?

Julie Foudy (12:12)

How many?

Abby Wambach (12:13)

22.

Julie Foudy (12:15)

Yes.

Abby Wambach (12:16)

Two thirds of Team USA's medals came. Oh my God, I came from women at these Games. Okay, now even more amazing, and it's so appropriate that Kinger is here with us for this. Eight of those medals were earned by athletes supported by the Women's Sports Foundation Travel and Training Fund.

Julie Foudy (12:38)

Yeah, baby.

Abby Wambach (12:39)

And for those.

Billie Jean King (12:41)

Yeah, fantastic.

Abby Wambach (12:42)

For those that don't know, that's a foundation that Billie Jean King founded. And the Travel and Training Fund was created to support women before they have sponsorships as, as, like. That period is of course so difficult.

Julie Foudy (12:57)

And this year, no funding and no sports foundation comes in and says, we got you, we'll help you.

Abby Wambach (13:03)

Yes. And this year that supported, they supported eight, 18 athletes including Alana Myers Taylor and Kaylee Humphries. One gold, two bronze medals. Between these U.S. bobsledders, Alyssa Lou, two golden figure skating, Jalen Cough moguls, two medals. Who else? Kayla Coon, mixed aerials, one medal. And another one who competed in Italy. And Jules and Billy, like since you know this Billy. But since 1984, the fund was. Has awarded nearly 3, $3 million and has helped fueled more than 150 Olympic and Paralympic medals. So heck yeah, Billie Jean King, huge, big part of the success of the Olympics is because of the Women's Sports foundation and the work you've done. And I know that these athletes have a lot to thank and absolutely one of th. Those people is you. So congratulations.

Billie Jean King (13:59)

Thank you. That was really important to us because it's amazing. They're gonna have to quit over the smallest thing, like ice skates. I guess I can't keep. I don't have enough money just for ice skates or things like that. It's amazing. And we don't know until much later that this has happened because we don't give it to them just because they're gonna win gold medals or gonna be number one or whatever. We do this because when they write us, I mean, it's like, heartbreaking sometimes to read these, which I've read a few, and it's like, oh, so I'm so glad because it's practical and it really does make a difference, and that's good.

Julie Foudy (14:35)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (14:36)

But I just thank everybody that works at the foundation. You know, we're old now. We're 51 years old, and this is our 51st year. So you can imagine all the people, trustees, people at work, employees, the president. I mean, all the people. And then the people all over the world that help us. So, boy, does it take. It takes more than a village. So I'm really happy that helped him.

Julie Foudy (14:58)

Yeah. That is huge. All right, so I think we should give our favorite goosebump moments. I don't know about you guys. I. I did a lot of. Of crying watching these games. I'm not a crier, and I don't know what it is about the Olympics. It just gets me so emotional. I really was, like, on the verge. In the closing ceremonies on Sunday night, I was crying again. I was like, what is wrong with me? I figured out it just. I want to feel good about this country again. And these athletes make me feel good about this country and what they do. I mean, there's so many heartwarming stories. So what were we talked about? Ice hockey and women's ice hockey, of course. What were some of the moments that stood out to both of you?

Billie Jean King (15:44)

We did go to see speed skating because we always make an effort to go to one other sport than while we're there.

Julie Foudy (15:50)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (15:51)

And we went that night. And of course, I'm trying to figure out how it works exactly. The relays in this, and. And I love how they push each other, you know, when they go to change lanes and then they push. But I was watching that. How intricate it is really to get it right, because otherwise, when you push, you don't get enough or you're too close. It's too negative. Just right.

Julie Foudy (16:12)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (16:13)

And then how they put their little hands down on the ice to Keep the balance. And then I looked at their fingertips. Did you see that? And their gloves. No, I don't know what they have, but they have something different on the tips of each glove.

Julie Foudy (16:24)

And.

Billie Jean King (16:25)

And so I don't know if it's steel or whatever, because they really are always leaning and they have their hand on the ice, and I'm like, God, there's so much to it. Like, everything. And I don't know, I just loved it. And everybody busted their gut. Like, I love. You know, I just don't like it when someone dogs it a little. Then I go nuts. Everybody. Just not enough effort at the Olympics. I got to meet Madison and Evan, Chalk and Bates.

Julie Foudy (16:50)

Did you tell them

Billie Jean King (16:53)

I think they're gold? I was just so furious. I am so. It's so biased as judges. I hate it. It's not objective. I always thank God every day I was in a sport that was objective. Either win or you lose. Done.

Julie Foudy (17:05)

Yes.

Billie Jean King (17:06)

Same with you guys. With soccer. It's done. And when I see this, judging from human beings that are so biased. So anyway, I just was fuming and telling everyone. Then we go to the. I think the women's hockey that night, and I got to meet them. Someone said, no, you gotta come and meet them. They want to meet you. And I went, what? Oh, my God. So I got to meet Madison and Evan, and they're so adorable. And so now we've exchanged information. And then I saw all these great people. You know, Tom Brady was there. I met so many people. I was exhausted. I still am. You can hear my voice. My voice goes.

Julie Foudy (17:42)

How about speaking of figure skating? Elise, Alyssa Lou. Oh, my gosh.

Billie Jean King (17:47)

Does she have fun or what?

Julie Foudy (17:49)

That story? Oh, come on, Abs. You're a figure skating queen. You love figure skating. You must have been so excited.

Billie Jean King (17:56)

I love it, too. Do you like. I like the dance part, though.

Abby Wambach (17:59)

I love figure skating. Because if you've ever grown up in a cold place and could ski on a pond, you've tried to do the. The turns and the leg up and the whole thing, and it is very difficult. I'm a very good athlete, and figure skating is, I think, probably one of the most difficult sports to be doing.

Billie Jean King (18:21)

So just in case everybody might have not realized this or forgotten that Abs was, you know, raised in Rochester. Anyway. Were you born there, too? I think you were.

Abby Wambach (18:30)

I was born and raised in Rochester.

Billie Jean King (18:32)

Yeah.

Abby Wambach (18:32)

So we had cold winters and frozen pool in the backyard that I got to skate on. But, yeah. Alyssa Lu, like, all of these stories. I mean, I think the thing and the reason why it gets us so choked up, Jules, because I agree there are so many moments where I started to just cry. And it's because there is an understood realization of how much these people sacrifice and, and to watch these people stand on the podium and have dreamed about this moment for their life. There's just so much that I can relate to around the sacrifice that goes into it. And so to me, one of the best parts about being in the position that I'm in now is that the way that I relate to these athletes now is from an outsider's perspective. So my favorite story of the Olympics this year was the Wynn brothers, Hayley Wynn's brothers that showed up to support, support their sister, their like little sister who they watched and helped guide and, and to show up with like only love energy and only support energy. And, and it's like so important because all of us athletes know that we need that kind of support in order to be able to do the thing we do on, on, on our stages. So yeah, that was my favorite goose up, goosebump moment for sure for, for

Julie Foudy (19:55)

Chloe Kim coming in as a two time Olympic gold medalist. She was going for her third straight Olympic gold in half pipe. And here's someone who had hurt herself a month before the Olympics. She hurt her shoulder. She wasn't sure if she could even compete in the games. And she pulls off this amazing first run. There's three runs. And as she gets to her final run, the South Korean snowboarder Gaon Choi goes off on her third run and actually goes into the gold medal position. So Chloe Kim in her final run is trying to, obviously she's in a silver medal position, win gold. And she would be the first snowboarder to do that, man or woman, win three consecutive Olympic gold medals. So a lot of pressure on her. She ends up falling in that third run. And the thing that was amazing to me is she had a chance, she wins silver, but she had a chance to set this record. And instead of sulking about it, what does Chloe Kim do? She is so excited for Gown Choi. She goes over and hugs her. And we find out later that this is her mentee that she's been helping. And she said she, you know, and Gawen Choi had Chloe Kim as her role model growing up. And she had watched her and this is her idol growing up. And Chloe Kim actually went to her after Gown Choi had fallen in her first run and said, you got this, you're gonna be fine. Who does that? Would you ever go up to Norway. Abby, in the middle of a game and be like, you're gonna be fine. I would have never done that. Kinger, like, that sportsmanship blew my mind and how genuinely happy she was for her. Would you?

Billie Jean King (21:37)

Yeah, I think so. It's about the humanness. It's about the human being. It's not about just country. It's about, we're all in this together. I feel your pain. You know what I mean? Now you gotta. It's about them. I don't know. I. Yeah, I get it. And I think it was really great. And that's what it's being. You know, being in the Olympics. That's what it's all about, you guys. You know, we're all in this together. You know, we're going to kill each other if we can't. You know, as far as the competition. But once it's done, it's done. And you have to really. Although, if I lose, you got to leave me alone for a while. But I don't know. They were amazing.

Julie Foudy (22:10)

That was. The amazing thing is, like, she immediately, in that moment, was so genuinely excited for Gaunt Choi, for the gold medalist from South Korea. And that I was like, ah, again.

Abby Wambach (22:24)

Well, it's cool. It makes me know that Chloe doesn't organize her life around gold medal success or not.

Billie Jean King (22:33)

And it's not just about her. Yeah. I mean, she's not that. She's not. She's not selfish. She's being generous, like, and connective, which I think much more. Yeah, important. And also it's much healthier, mentally, emotionally and physically. It's just better for your life. Talk about. I'm gonna say off the court, off the ice, or whatever.

Abby Wambach (22:55)

Yeah, off the slope. Off the slope.

Billie Jean King (22:58)

Whatever they say. What do they say? After cold, do they say slope? Yeah, I think it's really important.

Abby Wambach (23:05)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (23:06)

Like, it's. It's about life. It's not just about your competition.

Julie Foudy (23:10)

The other thing, too, about these Games is there was just so many good storylines. I mean, it didn't have to be on the podium. It could be off of it as well.

Billie Jean King (23:16)

Well, maybe we better do a few more.

Julie Foudy (23:18)

Yeah, I know. I was just gonna say, I have to tell you, Kinger, my, perhaps my favorite off podium story. I don't know. I don't know.

Billie Jean King (23:29)

I can hardly wait for this. Get ready, Abby. You know what? This looks. Look at Julie. You know, this is a. Oh, this is going to be a zinger. Here we go.

Julie Foudy (23:37)

I'm so surprised this didn't have more staying power. And you'll Understand that in a second, because this was penis gate. And I cannot believe that more people were not talking about this.

Billie Jean King (23:50)

Well, it makes total sense. They ran out of condoms in the village.

Julie Foudy (23:55)

Oh, my God. That's another one we got to talk about. That's not this one. You may or may not know about the ski jumping suit controversy. And so that a little with the Norwegians of all people, because there have been studies that have found that adding just 1cm to the overall circumference of ski jumper suits could lengthen jumps by 3 to 4 meters. Okay? So just lengthening your suit by 1 centimeter could actually increase your jump, your ski jump by 3 to 4 meters. So in January, several officials and athletes from Norway's ski jumping team were temporarily banned from. From competition because they were found to have altered their suits with extra crotch stitching. Okay. Crotch stitching. And that was at last year's Nordic World Ski Championship. Big scandal as Norway is known as. As we know, the snow angels of the Winter Games. And it really fell out of character. Well, now we are learning in penis gate. Thank you, USA Today. That a plastic surgeon renowned for penis enlarging procedures. I feel like I should whisper this. Including injection of high hyaluronic acid, says that he provided the services last month. I don't know why I'm whispering. To a ski jumper. Although he did not reveal who. Reports from a German media outlet outlet prompted speculation that ski jumpers are getting genital enlarging injections to increase the surface area of their suits, which we now know. Kinger. If you increase it a centimeter, it gives you three to four more meters of distance. Okay?

Billie Jean King (25:48)

Meters, man. You know, that's. That's huge, man. That's far.

Julie Foudy (25:52)

International Ski and Snowboarding Federation, of course, is calling it a wild rumor. The World Anti Doping Agency said it would investigate, and so far, no formal charges have been filed, but we continued. We will be all over penisgate if any news drops. Come on. What about you two? Favorite off podium or. It doesn't have to be off podium. Favorite off podium moment.

Abby Wambach (26:19)

Honestly, you're in real time celebration of Elena Myers Taylor. I like Jules. My wife and I just, like, we marveled at that. Like, we. We looked at. We watched that video like, five times back to back. And she was like, look at her arms.

Julie Foudy (26:39)

She's.

Abby Wambach (26:40)

She's just so full of joy. Look at this person. Like, you get to work with this person every week. Like, this is so fun. That.

Julie Foudy (26:48)

Kinger, I don't know if you saw it because you were in Milan as well. But the moment that Ilana Meyers Taylor finally in her fifth Olympics with all the medals she has won, the one that had been elusive for her was gold, as we know. We interviewed her before the games, and Asia and I had been tracking it because she was competing while we were recording. And so Asia gets in my ear at the very end of the recording, and she had been sitting in second place in the monobob and was taking her final run, and Asia gets in my ear, and she's like, don't get off yet. I have news to report. I was like, what? She's like, alana Myers Taylor won gold. And I. She's in my ear telling me this. And we were still recording, and I lost my mind. Because that woman, with all that she has done for the sport and what she's put into it with her two kids, Nico and Noah, both with disabilities, both deaf, one with down syndrome, 3 and 5 years old. She travels with them. She's an amazing mom. She's such a loyal friend. She's just a great human. And I could not have been more thrilled for her. And I. I did. I lost my mind on that one. So that. Ah, that was so cool. And you know her well, Kinger, so I know you were thrilled for her as well.

Billie Jean King (28:11)

Well, she's. She's been the president of the Women's Sports Foundation. She's amazing. And I've known her for a long time, but I got to see it, though, on tv, not in person.

Abby Wambach (28:19)

Yeah.

Billie Jean King (28:20)

And I. She. You're. You're right about the joy, the happiness, the, like, relief, I guess. I don't know what. But she was so happy. She was jumping up and down, and I thought her kids were there. Her husband, your kids, her husband, Nick. Everybody's there. Yeah. I was so happy for her, and I still am. I can't wait to see her and have a chat. So, yeah, she's just an awesome human being and a real leader. Actually, she's a leader as well. Yeah.

Julie Foudy (28:49)

That was pure joy.

Billie Jean King (28:50)

I'm looking for the leadership like you guys.

Julie Foudy (28:52)

Yeah, pure joy for many people watching her be successful. We have been cheering her on for a very long time. Okay, King are coming up. Will I finally beat Abby in a minute to win it.

Billie Jean King (29:04)

Oh, boy.

Julie Foudy (29:05)

Fourth time's the charm. God.

Billie Jean King (29:07)

I know, I know. No, I was at the Olympic. Start thinking about this peloton thing with you guys, and I'm like, you're thinking about. We're gonna do. Welcome to the party. It's gonna be okay, no, but I picture you guys running. And of course, the last time was hilarious. The one I watched was even Steven, if I remember correctly.

Julie Foudy (29:31)

Well, yes, it was even Steven. We tied. I have never beaten her. I've lost on all three. But we're also gonna revisit what happens when the Olympics end. When the crowds are gone, the world moves on, your medals are maybe lost. No, not lost. Temporarily. Temporarily, Ms.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (29:51)

Plaintiff.

Julie Foudy (29:51)

Misplaced. I know mine are.

Billie Jean King (29:53)

Wait, Julie, do you misplace your white gold ones?

Julie Foudy (29:56)

Yes, all of them are misplaced. At the moment. Just at the moment is temporary. Abby and I get into the very real post Olympic blues discussion and our Run it back episode.

Abby Wambach (30:11)

Okay, Jules, so, you know, elite athletes succeed because of the teams behind them.

Julie Foudy (30:18)

You.

Abby Wambach (30:19)

You and I are firm believers of this. You've got your coaches, your trainers, analysts, your support staff. Now, QuickBooks mirrors this by providing a team composed of Intuit AI and trusted experts so business owners never have to build alone. Jules, I don't know if you know this, but I personally feel like I never scored a goal without the help of a teammate. A lot of people, in fact, have said, well, what about penalty kicks, Abby? And my answer to them is, do you know how many hours the goalkeepers stayed after practice while I trained my penalty kick after penalty kick? Thousands and thousands of kicks. The way that I got so good at them was when the goalkeepers would be in there, I'd even tell them, I'm going to go over here, so I'm going to give you an advantage. And I need. This needs to be so particularly, like, accurate and strong and powerful in order to score. Never one goal did I score without the help of a teammate. And to me, I think that looking forward to the Winter Olympics, that is the thing that I look for the most. I'm looking for the teammates and the athletes who are cheering for each other. Yes, they're competing. Yes, they all want to win gold. But I do think that. I do think that the. The vibe of the entirety of the Winter Olympics for me, in the way that I look at them is I just want to see people celebrating sport and working as hard as they possibly can in order to bring home gold home for their country. Okay, Jules, I got to talk to you about Built. Let's talk about it. Okay? So you guys might be familiar with them, and they let you put your rent payments towards points that can be used towards flights, hotels, lift rides, and so much more. And right now, Built members can earn points on mortgage payments for the first time. So if You're a renter or an owner, you can unlock exclusive benefits from more than 45,000 restaurants, fitness studios, pharmacies and other neighborhood partners. Jules, I'm like a big fan of rewards that fit into your real life and this is exactly that. Right? And if it were me, I'd absolutely put those points towards some fitness classes or my favorite restaurants that I go to. Trying new workouts is essentially my favorite hobby. Um, I like Soul Cycle Berries. Have you ever done Pure Bar? I don't have like the courage to go in there, but I, I might one day try it. Core power, the hardest thing in the whole wide world. I'd be sampling all of it and honestly knowing I'm earning rewards would be the extra push to maybe actually show up. Paying rent or owning a place are better with built earn rewards and get something back wherever you live. Join the loyalty program from renters@joinbilt.com welcome to the party. That's J-O-I N B I L T.com welcome to the party. Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Okay, so Jules, one of the things you will hear us athletes talk a lot about is comfort. Everything that we wear is centered around the fit for like our bodies. Things that aren't restrictive, things that almost I guess feel like you're not wearing anything. And that's why I want to tell you drum roll please. And this might surprise a few folks out there, but tell you about the Skims fits everybody collection. Stay with me folks. Skims of course is known for their underwear and bras but I recently picked up their long sleeve T shirts from the it's been great for layering undershirts, jerseys, jackets, sweaters, jewels. It's so comfortable and it's one of their their best sellers for a reason. It actually comes you have one love it so good. Comes in a few different colors and it might be one of those items that I end up stocking up both black, brown, beige, white. Like I love it so much. Shop Skims Fits everybody collection@skims.com after you place your order be sure to let them know we sent you select podcast in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.

Julie Foudy (34:52)

Okay, all of these incredible feats at the Olympics but let's be honest sometimes and I I know for you abs it's probably the same My biggest feat is just getting over the post Olympic blues. They hit you hard. I felt this as a player. I felt it as and still feel it as an Olympic broadcaster and clearly as a fan, because I'm so sad that they are over as the final week and just wrapped up. And no doubt most of the Olympians are going through this right now as well. So Kinger, Abigail and I got into this the other day on our peloton tread play pluses, so we are.

Billie Jean King (35:35)

That must have been interesting.

Julie Foudy (35:36)

So we are going to run it back right now. I feel like every time an Olympic ends, I have this void. I need somewhere to put my energy, my all my Olympic energy. So I figured why not put it into working as in working out. Which is why I love so much this peloton cross training tread plus.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (36:00)

We love our peloton cross training tread plus powered by peloton iq. And the reasons, Jules, first of all, yeah. Peloton IQ provides real time strength coaching, which we both need because pro athletes are the worst. You need coaches.

Julie Foudy (36:18)

Yeah.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (36:19)

To hold us accountable. Get lower. We need the peloton IQ to track our progress because nobody's worse accounting reps than this guy. The worst. I'm like, how many are we? How many is it? Then this tracks your progress in that way. The peloton IQ also creates a personalized workout road map.

Julie Foudy (36:38)

Yeah.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (36:40)

Weekly recommended classes. Yeah. By instructors who match your mood, the vibe, personality.

Julie Foudy (36:46)

Yeah.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (36:46)

It's the best. Also.

Julie Foudy (36:48)

Yeah.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (36:48)

The variety that comes with the swivel screen. This swivel screen will also track your reps on the ground. It's the best.

Julie Foudy (36:59)

Let's run it back. Because I wanted to bring up a topic today and I'm curious where you fall on this. Abby didn't know this was going to be my topic. But because the Olympics are over, this post Olympic blues.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (37:14)

Oh, oh, yes.

Julie Foudy (37:16)

Right. It's real. It's real. That shit is real. And it doesn't need to be like, for people listening if they're like, well, I never went to the Olympics. I don't know what you're talking about. I mean, this is about, like, if you have a huge project you're working on or you're planning for a wedding or. And then when the wedding comes and it's gone and that, you know, the post blues of you've been doing this thing for so long and so, so absolutely absorbed by the thing where it consumes a lot of your time and energy in the best of ways, which is probably hard and fun and also sometimes grueling. But then when it's done, you're like,

Dr. Colleen Hacker (37:57)

what am I going to do? Yeah. It happened to me after every single world Championship after every single season, like, after every single, like, big event. And I think one of the things that makes pro athletes so similar to like the rest of the world that people don't realize is like, it's. It's this thing. It's this moment where we can monomaniacally get laser focused on this one thing being what we are on earth, planet earth to do, right? And then when that thing is over, whether you won or lost, and I would argue that it's worse if you win because then you have to do the even higher task of like going on the media circuit and, and trying to, to for women athletes, trying to make as much money as you possibly can in those post tournament days. Because that's when a lot of sponsors really want you to come to their event. A lot of companies want to, like, bring you on as an endorsed athlete. There's all of this, like, pressure that when you go back home and you look at yourself in the mirror for the first time when it's all over and it's all said and done, you're like, what am I now? Who am I now? Without this vision, without this focus. And it takes a couple of weeks to kind of decompress. It's tough.

Julie Foudy (39:21)

Oh, weeks after we lost the 2000 Olympics, honestly, I went into this deep depression and I don't do depressions very often, right. Like, I could not get out of it. It took me, I want to argue years. I think I'm still traumatized sometimes by it. I have these cold sweats at night and I'll be screaming at the ref. It was a handball. And I'm like, God. But I just remember, and I'm going through it again with the Olympics being over right now, that feeling when you come home and even if when you won the gold medal and you got all these things, as you said, it's like you come back and you're like, well, what's next? What helped you with that?

Dr. Colleen Hacker (40:11)

Well, I went, what'd you do in 2004? We won. And I came home and I went on a solo road trip. It was supposed to be two weeks long. I only lasted one.

Julie Foudy (40:26)

That's a way too much alone time.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (40:28)

I couldn't be alone for two weeks. It was, I was. Honestly, it's one of the things that I'm like, maybe I should try to do that again and fulfill it. I just felt like it was too much loneliness and I needed people. But I really felt like it was important to be by myself for a little while, to understand the gravity of what I just did so that I could lay new foundation for what I knew was kind of going to be ahead for me for the rest of my career. I'm really glad that I did that. But the post Olympic blues, the post World cup blues are. Are difficult to really manage. And I think that, like, one of the things as a parent that I now feel is like, when I have these big events that I'm looking forward to and I'm planning and prepping for, I always in the back of my mind think, oh, well, I have a family. And if you don't have a family, it's like your dogs, your friends, like something that can keep you grounded. But Emma's leaving for college in July, so I don't know what's going to happen when she goes, you're going to

Julie Foudy (41:35)

go through it all over, and then you're going to be like, Glennon. It's just you and me.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (41:41)

Yeah. How did you get through it, Joel?

Julie Foudy (41:45)

I convinced myself, and I do this now with my kids and I don't know, maybe a therapist would tell me this is a terrible idea, but that the pain after meant that what you were doing was great.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (42:02)

It mattered.

Julie Foudy (42:03)

It mattered. And so would I not want the pain after. And so you're not going for big goals or you're not going for big projects, or you're not dreaming huge, or would I take the post Olympic, post wedding, post project blues because I knew what I was doing was something that really mattered to me?

Dr. Colleen Hacker (42:26)

That is our run it Back segment sponsored by Peloton. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with a brand new Peloton cross training Tread plus, powered by Peloton iq.

Julie Foudy (42:38)

Yes, the games may be over, but we're just getting started. We've got another minute to win it because, I don't know, we're gonna switch it up a little bit, don't you think? Sure. Same time. But we're gonna add a little elevation and I think, you know, four times a charm, four times a roar, four times encore, four times a war. And lookit as I get ready, you

Dr. Colleen Hacker (43:09)

got your USA gear on.

Julie Foudy (43:11)

Look what I also found in my closet. Can you see this? Look at these outfits. This is real 2004 outfit. I'm ready to go. Let's see the party people.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (43:24)

I don't even remember that.

Julie Foudy (43:26)

I feel like. I feel like an Olympic speed skater right now. I feel like Aaron Jackson in her tidies.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (43:31)

It feels amazing that you even could still fit into that stuff. There's no way I Would fit. I was, like, 15 pounds lighter. Oh, and also, Jules, I got this. You know what I think you need? I think you. I think you need to kiss Billy. Oh, yeah, I think. I think you need to kiss Billy for good luck charm on the cheek. That's right.

Julie Foudy (43:56)

Oh, Kinger. See, my good luck kiss might be the thing that actually sends me over the top.

Billie Jean King (44:03)

Okay.

Julie Foudy (44:04)

She's like, nope.

Billie Jean King (44:06)

Danger. Danger zone.

Julie Foudy (44:10)

Okay, Kinger. For big events, big moments. I know you never got to play in the Olympics because they didn't have them when you were in your peak form.

Billie Jean King (44:18)

Yeah, but I got to coach. That was a real.

Julie Foudy (44:20)

Yeah, yeah, true.

Billie Jean King (44:22)

I mean, you give your.

Julie Foudy (44:23)

Did you have a. Did you have post big moment blues

Billie Jean King (44:28)

sometimes. Yeah, I did. And you know what it is? It's about the relationships, too, that we make at the events. I think it goes very deep and very wide in a way, because it's just not about yourself in a way. It's like, God, I miss everyone. I miss the routine. I miss the ups and downs, like when you win, but then when you lose, you're there for each other. Gosh, it's deep. It's very human. And it's what it's all about, really, in the end. It's about relationships with yourself. A relationship with yourself, relationships with others. The living through this time and knowing how special it is to even be there. I mean, how many people get to just be there and participate? Not very many. And that is really an amazing feeling, and I hope everyone appreciates it, because very few people have that experience in a lifetime. And we have it more than once, and it's like, it's a gift.

Julie Foudy (45:28)

All right, party people. Coming up. A minute to win it.

Abby Wambach (45:34)

Who's going to win?

Billie Jean King (45:36)

I love this. This is great.

Julie Foudy (45:43)

Okay, party people. Today we have got to. Abigail. Shout out the people who kept us literally on the field. Oh. Throughout our careers. So literally, the people who taped us up, rebuilt us, rehabbed us, got us back out there, and we were always able to perform at our best, thanks to the medical professionals who always had our backs.

Abby Wambach (46:07)

Yep.

Julie Foudy (46:08)

And our knees. And your ankles. And the list goes on and on. And that's absolutely the case with legendary skier Lindsey Vonn. And as we've been following and talking about her epic return to the 2026 Winter Games, she's already, as we know, one of the goats. But now she's coming back after devastating injuries. And I'm thrilled to watch her because we know she's going to crush at the Olympics. And Milan and Lindsay's amazing medical team and the entire USA medical team will be wearing awesome uniforms from figs. This company makes kick ass scrubs normally. And then their Olympic uniforms are are next level. They are the official outfitters of Team USA's medical team. And the great news is you can wear the Team USA collection too. It's cool, it's functional, ups your scrub game for sure. Check out the limited edition Team USA collection and get 15 off your first order at wherefigs.com with code FIGS RX F I G S R X. That's wherefigs.com code FIGS RX.

Abby Wambach (47:22)

I'm actually gonna go get those right now. That sounds so exciting.

Julie Foudy (47:31)

Okay, Kinger, I've got another big moment that has been giving.

Billie Jean King (47:36)

How you feeling, Jules?

Julie Foudy (47:37)

Some blues. Lately, as you know, I have been trying unsuccessfully now three times to beat Abigail in a minute to win it. I've lost twice. I tied once. You saw that third one. So essentially, you've never beaten me. Yeah, exactly. I knew you were gonna say, well, how about essentially, if you guys did

Billie Jean King (47:57)

long, we're not gonna do this and you're not gonna do it. But if it were long distance, would you have a better chance or worse chance?

Julie Foudy (48:02)

Yeah, I probably would.

Abby Wambach (48:03)

Yes. Oh, she would win.

Julie Foudy (48:04)

Kinger, do you want to give any predictions? Do you still believe, Kinger?

Billie Jean King (48:08)

Believe what?

Julie Foudy (48:09)

In me. In me. Kinger.

Billie Jean King (48:12)

Do you believe. Julie, I've always believed in you. The first time. Time I met you. Are you kidding?

Abby Wambach (48:17)

Who's going to win, Billy? That's what the question is.

Julie Foudy (48:19)

I was so desperate.

Billie Jean King (48:21)

I'm not going there.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (48:22)

I was so.

Billie Jean King (48:24)

Yeah, you're right. I'm getting to know Abby better and better, so it's going to be a little. You should just.

Julie Foudy (48:28)

You should just root for me. I was so desperate, Kinger, I decided to.

Billie Jean King (48:33)

I know you're desperate. That's why I root for you.

Julie Foudy (48:35)

I decided to even try and squeeze inspiration out of some vintage swag. All right, party people, here it is our minute to win it on the Peloton Cross training Tread Plus Powered by Peloton iq. What the hell are you wearing? Look at team 2004. Check me out. My friend Allie gave me some advice, okay? She said, okay. I'm tired of you losing to Abby. This is my running partner, Ellie, my workout partner. And she said, I got three words for you. I said, what's that? She said, shut your trap. I was like, I tried that. And she's like, no, you didn't. You kept talking. I can't do That I just can't. I can't. I'm going to try and shut my trap a little bit more, but it's not going to happen. We are doing one minute.

Abby Wambach (49:41)

One minute.

Julie Foudy (49:41)

Okay, 5% incline, which I hope really messes with your ankle, and I have a chance. Are you ready? Look at my tighty whities. Look at my cute little shorts. This is all Adidas gear. I got 2004, two, one, start. I'm too slow. I'm too slow getting off the tracks. This is my problem. Come on, baby.

Abby Wambach (50:05)

See how often Julie touches and grabs the.

Julie Foudy (50:09)

Come on, baby.

Abby Wambach (50:10)

Handle to keep.

Julie Foudy (50:11)

I'm not gonna grab. Why do I have my glasses on? Why? I promise myself. Oh, I don't need my glasses. This is not aerodynamic. I have to lower my speed. Why do I have my glasses on? That's slowing down for sure.

Billie Jean King (50:26)

Come on, you guys, let's go. I mean, I know you've already done

Dr. Colleen Hacker (50:29)

it, but I'm like, I was going too fast.

Julie Foudy (50:31)

Go, go, go.

Billie Jean King (50:33)

Each stride, I think Addie's stride's a little bigger. Come on, George. You're gonna have those little short legs.

Dr. Colleen Hacker (50:39)

You're gonna have to.

Julie Foudy (50:39)

Booming and booming it, booming it, booming it, booming and booming it.

Billie Jean King (50:44)

Let's go.

Julie Foudy (50:45)

Oh, look it. There's Kinger looking on.

Abby Wambach (50:48)

Watch Julie's up arms.

Billie Jean King (50:49)

Look at her arm.

Julie Foudy (50:50)

I know. I grabbed her. I grabbed their arm. She's holding on.

Billie Jean King (50:55)

Dropping one. Come on, both of them.

Julie Foudy (50:57)

Both of them.

Billie Jean King (50:58)

Drive it.

Julie Foudy (51:02)

Oh, my God.

Billie Jean King (51:03)

Oh, God, I'm so glad I'm so old. Do this. So glad I'm so old.

Julie Foudy (51:07)

What'd you get?

Dr. Colleen Hacker (51:08)

Fifteen.

Julie Foudy (51:16)

Fifteener. Oh, my God. Stop it. I didn't even talk. I shut. I shut in my trap. I did shut my trap. And we still. Damn time. I should have talked.

Billie Jean King (51:35)

I should have talked to him. I mean, it's ok, Julie. It's okay. You're choosing the. Got to figure out something else for you. Like, we gotta figure out.

Julie Foudy (51:43)

We gotta mix it up. Yeah, okay.

Billie Jean King (51:45)

You're gonna.

Julie Foudy (51:46)

You know what I thought was gonna be like, the winning thing was that I was gonna be so aerodynamic with my 2004 Olympic gear on my little blue tights that all of a sudden started riding up into my hoo ha. And I was like, maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

Billie Jean King (52:03)

I think it's amazing. You got in them. You won right there. I got win. Keeps saying the same thing. She knows winning. As we get older, it's a lot harder sometimes to get in the old swagger. Woo. There.

Abby Wambach (52:18)

I really don't like tying. I think tying is actually worse than losing cuz it's like I want there to be a decision.

Julie Foudy (52:26)

Yeah, I agree. I know tying. Okay, well, but here's the great news about that of the tie. I don't have to wear the party pooper hat.

Abby Wambach (52:34)

Yeah, that's true. That's good for you.

Julie Foudy (52:36)

That's good for me because I've been wearing a lot of the party pooper hat.

Billie Jean King (52:40)

But these peloton, these new ones look great. Oh, it's great though for people to get, you know, healthier, better.

Julie Foudy (52:49)

It's so nice. So on Thursday we are bringing on Dr. Colleen Flash Hacker who worked with us for many years. She's the best. She is a mental skills mindset expert and she actually was working with quite a few Olympians at the Winter Games that just finished because we're going to talk about Norway and their secret sauce of being so successful. And if you guys don't know this story, it's amazing. And Colleen has been studying this for many years. For decades she's been obsessed success with their model. And we're going to talk about some of the, the real mental health struggles that we saw good and bad of, of the Olympics and you know, the situation a lot of these athletes find themselves in. So I'm very much looking forward to Thursday's episode because I can't wait to talk about the Norwegian model as well and how that could apply to the United States.

Abby Wambach (53:50)

Let's do our party post party.

Billie Jean King (53:53)

Well, I don't know what I'm gonna do today. I just have like five rings. Is that my Flash?

Julie Foudy (53:57)

Your rings, yeah. Ready?

Billie Jean King (53:58)

Look at these rings.

Julie Foudy (53:59)

Party pose on three. One, two, three. Party people. Don't forget to subscribe to the welcome to the party YouTube channel. Click that little bell icon so you can get updates when new episodes go live.

Abby Wambach (54:17)

Yeah, and if you wouldn't mind taking more one minute, we would so appreciate it if you just could rate. Leave a comment and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Julie Foudy (54:28)

Click your stars. Leave a little comment. I was reading the comments yesterday. They're so darn cute. Y' all are amazing. So if you have a moment to do that, it makes a huge difference.

Abby Wambach (54:37)

Also be sure to follow us on Instagram, YouTube or wherever you get your socials at. Welcome to the party show where Julie, Billy and I will bring the party straight to your feed. You can also email us at party people questions gmail.com. shout out to Kate Diaz for our theme music. We love you so much. Bring your paws in, folks.

Julie Foudy (54:56)

We're going to do our USA Cheer party, people. Pause in king or count us in.

Billie Jean King (55:01)

Okay, here we go. One, two, three. Yeah, baby.

Abby Wambach (55:13)

Welcome to the Party is an independent production brought to you by Treat Media. Treat Media makes art for humans who want to stay human. Initial Digital is our production partner, and you can also watch our full conversations on the welcome to the party YouTube channel and follow us at welcome to the Party show on Instagram and TikTok. Thanks for listening. Where's your playlist taking you? Down the highway to the mountains or just into daydream mode while you're stuck in Traffic? With over 4,000 hotels worldwide, Best Western is there to help you make the most of your getaway, wherever that is. Because the only thing better than a great playlist is a great trip. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Book direct and save@bestwestern.com this week, the PGA Tour's best players go primetime with

Julie Foudy (56:06)

TGL presented by SoFi in doubleheader action, Atlanta Drive takes on both Boston Common

Dr. Colleen Hacker (56:11)

Golf and Los Angeles Golf Club, plus

Abby Wambach (56:13)

two primetime matchups on Tuesday. Keep up it's Golf Tune in Monday and Tuesday at 5pm and 9pm Eastern only on ESPN. ESPN2 and the ESPN applied.