Amuse Bouche #5 - The Olympics have Arrived!

Hi everybody, this is Amose Bouche and I'm Bridget. Here, you're going to get a little bit of Bridget before our weekly release of Dinner Plus Drinks on Sunday. Since I left you last week, or right as I was released last week, I should say. Something thrilling has happened. The Olympics have started. I'm a really big fan of the Olympics and have been for years, so this week we're going to dive into some Olympic happenings. Some big, some small that you may never have heard of, but all incredibly amazing. So let's go. Okay, before we get into all of the Olympics fun, I have to do a birthday shout-out to my mom. When this is released, her birthday will be the day after, but we don't record that day or release that day. So happy, happy birthday to my mom. Alright, on to the Olympics. I have always been super interested. In fact, I wrote a thesis paper in college on Super Bowl advertising and the costs of it and the return, uh kind of the whole process. And that was a million years ago. So a lot has changed. And what I learn every two years, because the Olympics, you know, winter summer, winter, summer, um, is that I actually think the, especially as of late, Olympics commercials are far more interesting. I would say they're exceptionally inspirational and much less goofy. Like at the Super Bowl, I feel like there's a whole bunch of Doritos commercials or, you know, kind of silly laugh out loud. Commercials were at the Olympics, there's some amazing Paralympic stories and athletes who are what would be considered retirement age, breaking world records, and man, the commercials make me want to buy all the things. So they're doing their job. Um, just wanted to put that out there. Um, I'm the type of person that watches the NFL draft, for example, for all the background stories on the players and their families, and like, yeah, I want to know what team they go to, but I like all of the stories, um, which is very similar to the Olympics. I love hearing all of the stories and the little factoids and the fun tidbits about everything. And so if you are less obsessed than me, I'm gonna share a few, quite a few things that maybe you missed along the way, or maybe you don't care about as much. Um, you know, you don't have time to watch the Olympics a million hours a day. Um, so I'm just gonna share a couple fun things that I thought were very interesting as I've watched a week full of every day of Olympics. So everyone at the Olympics is obviously elite athletes and wonderful and amazing, but certain sports and certain athletes are clearly covered more than others in the media. So these are some things that haven't necessarily gotten all the coverage. I don't need to tell you guys about Simone Biles uh stepping back. I don't need to tell you who won gold uh from the US or you know, things like that, because I'm sure you've heard that, or if you um, I don't know, live under a rock, you still somehow maybe saw it on social media because it's all I see in my newsfeed. Um, but I still want to mention some of these things. Also, I apologize for a couple things ahead of time. One, my facts here are probably out of order of when the events actually happened, um, because I legit sit with my computer next to me while I'm working and um watching the Olympics and just like type down notes feverishly. So I don't know if these are in the correct order because I've I've mixed them up a little bit to keep it interesting. And also I'm gonna do my best with the names of these athletes, but I'm not really strong on accents and I'm trying. So here we go. Here are some really fun things I thought maybe didn't get the coverage they deserved and deserved a little shout out. This one I'm starting with, I hope you've seen. It has been in the news, but I just could not get over the reaction from the Philippines weightlifter that won the first gold medal for her country. Um, I'm sure I'm saying it wrong, but Hidelin Diaz. So by the way, she looks, you know, five foot nothing, and she lifted 224 kilos, which is just under 500 pounds. So good on you. Um, it's the first medal for her country, and I cannot imagine that feeling after everything we're hearing and reading about the uh mental toll that the Olympics take on everybody. Um, the amount of pressure that are on these, especially on these countries that maybe have one athlete going to the Olympics or these countries that have never won um a medal at all. So awesome. Just had to start out with that story that yes, I'm sure you've seen, but it was really cool. So I find it fascinating to watch the running events. Um I never thought that would be interesting, but my husband and I both had the men's and women's um trathlons on for almost the entirety. I missed the swim on both of them because I don't know, I was putting my kids to bed or something. But um watching both of those trathlons was so cool because I've talked before about the running community and how amazing and uplifting I think it is. And maybe it's a Midwestern thing, I'm not sure. But during the men's trathlon, Kevin McDowell, he is from Geneva, Illinois. So that's just over an hour from where I'm recording. I have a cousin that lives right nearby there. Oh, and by the way, he's a cancer survivor. So this guy who's just like, you know, Kevin from down the road is in Tokyo, and he ended up coming in six, which is outstanding, obviously. But I thought was really cool is seeing the little bits of sportsmanship. So it was a really hot day when the men were running. There was a lot of coverage about how they were keeping their bodies cool and specifically their um, you know, ice packs they were sticking in their uniforms and how how the lighter color uniforms were better, etc. You know? Well, one of the um I believe it was actually the person who ended up winning gold, he couldn't make his way to the water station. He was on the wrong side of the street. So uh Kevin McDowell gave him half of his water bottle. And these guys weren't drinking a full bottle of water, obviously, they were dumping it on themselves to keep cool. So it was a little thing, but you saw the USA triathlete hand his water bottle to athlete next to him because he couldn't reach his water station on the side of the run. So did that like, you know, affect the finish? Who knows? But it still was a really cool little tiny bit of sportsmanship that I wanted to make sure you guys knew. And by the way, the guy who won, um, Blumenfelt Blumenflecht was his name, I never would have thought. He didn't look like what you would assume to be like an easy breezy runner. Um, the women, the woman's trathlete that won, she just like looks like she was cruising right through, no problem. But this um, the gentleman that won the men's traffic was he looked like he was struggling, but man, he he crushed it. So there is that. Uh next, another story you have heard but deserves a shout out because this is to me part of what the Olympics are all about. Um, gymnastics. So Oksana, hmm, Chusafatina, I'm not it, I'm not gonna try. So sorry about that. She is the gymnast um representing Uzbekistan. She's 46 years old, which you know if you listen to the Olympics, you're like old if you're 25, which is freaking nuts. Uh so this woman is 46 years old. She is competing in her eighth Olympic Games. So she got a standing ovation. All kinds of the younger athletes were trying to take selfies with her. Um, she didn't go very far. But what I loved about this story is that wasn't the point. Like that was that was not the point for her. She, I'm sure she knew she wasn't going to be leaving on the top of the metal stand, but she competed to compete. She's an icon. I grew up watching the gymnastics teams, um, and that was like my very favorite thing to do. And I hadn't heard this story. I don't remember this person, and so Uzbekistan needed a little shout out. Next up, this story I actually just learned about. I didn't even get to see it with my own eyes. We're going to the swimming pool. There was a Tunisian swimmer. Did you guys hear about this? He was not considered in contention at all. He was swimming in lane eight. He went from last place to first in the 400-meter freestyle. He barely qualified for the race. So lane eight, 18 years old, won the gold medal. This is what it's all about. I like get jump out of my seat excited at the swimming events. So that was a really awesome one to see as well. Next up, we're going back to the triathlon. I hope you guys got to see the women's triathlon. Flora Duffy won from Bermuda, and again, this was, you know, the end of the race. It's really cool to see the athletes all loving up on each other. So this was no exception. She was she was grateful. She expressed gratitude to the other athletes. But this was the first gold medal for her country as well. And if you are local, she reminds me so much of a local badass that wins triathlons all around here, our friend Emily. So she reminded me of her big time. But she did the entire triathlon in one hour and 55 minutes, which by the way is like probably faster than I run a half marathon. So that's cool. I'm never going to the Olympics, but first gold medal for Bermuda in the triathlon. So good on Flora Duffy. Next, this was adorable, fun little story. We're going to fencing, which is fascinating. I enjoy watching. I don't know the rules that well. So it's, you know, it's fun to watch, but I don't quite like get as excited because I'm not really sure when someone's winning or not. But there was an Argentinian offencer, uh Perez Maurice. It are she has four names. Maria Belén Perez Maurice. So she lost in her saber bout against Hungary, but her coach of 17 years was with her and they were in an interview. And oh, by the way, he proposes. So her coach of 17 years was also her boyfriend. He proposed on live TV. Adorable. She's a 36-year-old fencer. Uh, she was kind of talking through her loss in an interview uh with an Argentinian television station when her coach uh got down on one knee with a piece of paper and it was written in um, excuse me, it was written in Spanish, and he read it, you know, saying, Will you marry me, please? is what the note said. So she accepted, of course, which is great because it was all recorded live. So, same note, we're gonna stick with fencing here because again, I'm guessing a ton of you don't follow it, but it is a fascinating sport. Gotta give a big shout out to an American fencer who is a badass. Uh, Lee Kiefer, Kiefer, Kiefer, became the first to win a gold medal in women's foil fencing. So amazing. You want a gold medal? But by the way, also in medical school. So she's waking up at 5 a.m., you know, training, doing her work, and then um going to work in the pandemic last year, remember? And she was going to medical school. So she was working in the thick of it and also training for the Olympics and just won a gold medal. So, you know, if you're worried if you're doing enough today, just think about Lee. Amazing. All right, moving over to skateboarding. You've probably heard that it's a first-year sport in the Olympics, and I have nothing to say about skateboarding. I again, super fun to watch. I would legit crack my head open and it terrifies me. But um, there was a little girl that everyone used to call the skate fairy uh six years ago, is if she was referred to as the skate fairy, and this one I had to talk about because it makes me think of Lucy big time, my daughter Lucy. So this girl was a badass skateboarder, but she was doing it wearing a fairy dress. So, like she had fairy wings, and it was either green or purple, I can't remember. Um, you know, fluffy little dress with skate wings, and then just like crushing skateboarding, I don't know what they're called, rails, right? Look how hip I am, you guys. Anyway, um, Risa Leal of Brazil. So she ended up winning the silver medal, and six years ago she was what was everyone was calling the skate fairy. And I hope, you know, Lucy is not awake and watching the Olympics, but I hope there are young girls watching her being like, yes, cool, you can like dresses, but also be an athlete. You know, I this has obviously been covered in media a lot. Um, there's a viral photo of a young girl with like uh a baseball glove in a dress, but with like um, you know, the sports paint on her face. And and so I I obviously feel really passionately about girls understanding that it's okay to like love dresses, but also be a badass athlete. So cool to see this around the world. So she ended up winning the silver, and um Japan, so host country, ended up winning the gold for the first year in the sport, which I think that's really cool. So, by the way, the gold medalist, 13 years old. In case you're feeling old, everybody. Um we what else do we have here? The Irish teams. This is funny because if you're following along on Dinner Plus Drinks, we're doing our own version of the Olympics where my sister and I are competing. I am representing Team Greece, and Shannon is representing Ireland, and we joke because those aren't um, you know, you don't hear a ton about medalists in those countries very often. So I did finally see just um, gosh, I don't remember when it was, but I finally just saw my first athlete from Ireland competing, and it was in a semifinal for 400 hurdles in track, and it was an Irish runner. Uh, he qualified, uh, came in second in the semi, but he was the first Irish team I saw. Uh, his last name was Barr, and he did great. So great job, Ireland. Uh, I'm giggling because we also have our good friends Kevin and Maureen, uh Fleming, so locally from Lake Geneva here. Big fans of Team Ireland, obviously an incredibly Irish family. They've been updating us on all of the medals Ireland has won in sports like rowing. Uh, I haven't had I haven't gotten to see any of those actually on television, but I've read the articles they've sent us. So, Team Ireland, all the way. My maiden name is Gallagher, so you know, Ireland has a special place in my heart. Uh, back to gymnastics again. I do have to mention Suny Lee, who got her individual um all-around gold medal, was amazing. But what I thought was really cool, um, Brazil had never won a medal in the Olympic gymnastics, and the woman who got silver would not have even been able to compete if the Olympics were held on time. She had some major surgeries and she wouldn't have even been able to participate. And then she ended up coming in and winning the silver. She made a couple mistakes on her floor routine, which gave Sunny Lee the chance to skyrocket to the top. Uh, but I thought that was a really cool little fact that yes, I imagine this was incredibly challenging for the athletes to have to train a whole nother year before the Olympics actually happened. Um, that mentally, I think, must be awful. But for some people, this is a great little bit of silver lining, which we all tried to see a whole bunch during the pandemic. And here's it in Olympic form. Um, so this Rebecca Andrade. Uh I'm sorry, Andra, I wrote her name properly phonetically. Andre Andrajay. Rebecca Andrage is probably super grateful that the pandemic happened in that she got to compete in the Olympics. Alright, so I'm wrapping up all of my Olympic factoids here with diving from one of my favorite countries. Well, England is one of my favorite countries, but for Team Great Britain, we're talking Tom Daly here. So he did what I love about the Olympics and he made a human connection with sports. I have talked at length about sports and running in a previous episode on how I think sports have shaped my life a whole lot. And um, so him talking about this human connection with sports was really awesome, and I felt like he was just like singing into my soul. Um, he was saying, like, when you realize there's life outside of diving, your focus changes and you can start having fun. And this is because he got married and he had a kid, he has a child now, and he finally won his gold medal after 13 years of trying. So he really felt like it was because his life was settled outside of diving, and he was so happy, and he felt like, you know, it was my time because now my kid got to see me win this medal after 13 years. And he won in synchronized diving with his teammate Maddie Lee, which is just the cutest. Um furthermore, he then uh has I was reading an article on NPR, and this is a quote from Tom Daly saying, I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone, and that you can achieve anything, and there's a whole lot of your chosen family out there ready to support you. So he was, he's continues to say, I feel incredibly proud to say that I'm a gay man and also an Olympic champion. So this is what it's all about. Taking um, you know, all these commercials I talked about in the beginning show young kids looking up to these athletes thinking, oh, this can be me. And as we talk about representation in the world these days, seeing all different kinds of athletes competing from around the world, different colors, different shapes and sizes and ages, and I think it's amazing. I could go on and on as I say every single week. Um, so to wrap up my fun little sports factoids, I just feel like it's important for everyone to know. One last little tidbit of knowledge: Japan made all of the medals for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics out of discarded smartphones and laptops. So if you're wondering where your discarded uh equipment is going, maybe it went into a medal. Probably not if you're here in America, but it could have. So the Olympics continue on. We're gonna continue having fun with these. Uh I might bring some more Olympic fun into next week's Amoose Boosh, but I will continue to entertain you with other Olympic things uh throughout the final weeks here and tune into Dinner Plus Drinks to see Team Greece versus Team Ireland and whether my sister Shannon or I are going to win the gold medal. Thanks so much for listening, guys. Have a great weekend.