2024 Olympics Edition Honors Our Olympian Guests, EP 253

Imagine sharing the excitement of the 2024 Olympic Games with a loved one in their final days. That's what I'm doing with my 94-year-old father, and it's a journey filled with tears, laughter, and endless inspiration. That's why we've been on a break for a few weeks. Join me, Kelly Palace, as I celebrate these unforgettable moments and explore the insights from some of the most exceptional athletes and coaches we've had the privilege of hosting on Champion's Mojo. From Rowdy Gaines' boundless enthusiasm to Emma Wyatt's profound hard reset, and Paige Madden's unique breathing technique, our featured Olympians provide invaluable lessons that motivate us to push beyond our limits.

I'll mention the fascinating story of Bob Bowman, the legendary five-time US Olympic coach who is now championing the French team and his prodigy, Leon Marchand. Bob’s strategic decision to support Leon while staying true to his US roots is a testament to the complexity and beauty of competitive sports. Plus, we'll highlight how master swimmers can elevate their own game by observing the elite techniques showcased at the Olympics—everything from starts to dolphin kicks. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to the athletes who inspire us and a celebration of the life lessons they impart through their dedication and passion.

Transcript

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Hello friends, welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast.

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I'm your host, kelly Pallas, and I am flying solo today because Maria is traveling and I am so excited.

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It's time for the 2024 Olympic Games and is there anything more fun to watch than Olympic swimming?

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Olympic swimming, probably even for master swimmers, kids, adults.

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I know if you've noticed that we have taken a few or several weeks break from the podcast.

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I'm actually helping my 94-year-old dad who is in hospice, and he is doing well enough that he and I are going to get to watch the Olympics together, and that is one of the things that we've done for many, many Olympic games and I hope you're going to get to watch them with someone special.

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They're so inspiring.

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There's so much that we can learn from the Olympic games.

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We have been fortunate on Champions Mojo to have, oh 50 Olympians and Olympic coaches throughout our 200 plus, 250 plus episodes.

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We actually have 13 Olympians that are on the 2024 team that we've interviewed, and so today's episode, I'm just going to tell you what I think we can get out of the Olympic Games by watching as master swimmers, and maybe what I'm getting out personally.

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I will say that of course, we're going to be cheering for Team USA.

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It's going to be a great rivalry with Australia and just watching all the great swimmers from around the world, we've had, like I said, we've had 13 people, and I want to start off by saying I'm counting Rowdy Gaines as a 2024 Olympian.

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Rowdy is doing his eighth Olympic Games as the swimming commentator, and everyone knows Rowdy just brings so much energy and enthusiasm to the Games games and it's incredible to get to watch him become uh, you know, commentate his eighth game.

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So I want to kind of just hats off to rowdy.

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Rowdy is a great master swimmer.

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He's a been an ambassador to swimming, he continues to swim his whole life and he was inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2019, I believe and so it's going to be fun to watch Rowdy in his eighth Olympic Games.

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Will there be a night for Rowdy?

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We don't know.

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So I'm going to really appreciate that Rowdy Games is adding so much to the sport of Olympic swimming and I can't wait to watch him.

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So, rowdy, we learned I'm going to go over the 12 Olympians really fast that we've had on the show and what we kind of took away from each one just super fast.

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I'm not even going to like give their background accolades, but they are on the 24 team and the first one is Rowdy Gaines.

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What we got from Rowdy is that enthusiasm can get you so far in life that Rowdy has used his enthusiasm and passion for the sport to achieve such incredible success and to touch so many people with that.

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Another Olympian that is on the 2024 squad that we love is Emma Wyatt.

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Emma was on the show and we learned from Emma that sometimes you just have to do a hard reset.

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A hard reset is something like changing teams, changing coaches.

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Emma went from one university to another university, which is a hard switch, and it really paid off for her because she came out of kind of a down year and did that.

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Paige Madden we learned that, hey, paige breathes out of every wall, which is not typical, and that sometimes you have to do things that are best for you and not necessarily what's best for everyone else.

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So we're really excited to watch Paige Now.

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Mackenzie Cohen, who was on the show, is part of the Paralympic team and Mackenzie was one of our most vibrant, inspirational interviews that we've ever had.

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I hope you'll get to watch Mackenzie in her second Olympic Games and Mackenzie just has this indomitable spirit to keep going, even though she does have brittle bone disease.

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She's broken I believe it's over 80 bones in her body, but she just keeps going.

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And, boy, when you listen to her her interview she is just inspirational.

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Erica Brown, who is now Erica Conley we learned from Erica how important it is to change your thoughts.

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She wrote down every one of her thoughts that was negative in when she was in a bad place and turned them around, and that really seemed to help her make her second Olympic team.

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Siobhan Haughey, who swims for Hong Kong, was an incredible interview for us, and Siobhan's takeaway that we got was that, yes, you're going to have pain in a race, but if you've had pain in other races or you've had pain in practice, then you can go ahead and experience that and not be afraid of it.

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Again, not in any order, todd DeSorbo, who is the head swimming coach of the women's Olympic team, taught us about being an all-day champion.

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That being a champion isn't just at a meet, it isn't just at two hours of practice, it's all day.

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It, it's around the clock, and so Todd is just a great inspiration.

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Penny Oleksiak, who's from Canada and an Olympic gold medalist in the 100 free, she just barely made.

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She's had a lot of injuries.

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She just barely made the Canadian Olympic team on a relay but Penny is going to her second olympics and we learned from penny that you know, mental health is really important and that she has had some phases of anxiety throughout her life that she has gotten through with the help of others.

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So that is a really great uh takeaway that you know you don't have to do things alone.

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Now.

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Lily king we all know lily.

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She's the incredible queen of the breaststroke and olympic champion, world record holder, and what we got away from our interview with lily was that you just gotta have fun.

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Lily seems to have so much fun.

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She loves to race, she loves to be, she loves to be in the spotlight when there's pressure and she steps up to that pressure.

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And so Lily was a huge insight into just really having fun.

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She really seems to have fun.

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Ryan Murphy, who again is another Olympic champion and on another Olympic team I think this is his third, if not his fourth.

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But Ryan, the great backstroker, we loved that.

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Ryan taught us that he tries to stay even, he doesn't get too high and he doesn't get too low, and that was a real great piece of advice from Ryan to not get too high and not get too low.

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Ryan Held, who made the Olympic team in 2016, missed the Olympic team in 2020, and now has made his second Olympic team.

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He has such a great attitude to persevere and he's so authentic with what he's doing and what he wants that we learned from Ryan that just being yourself, that we learned from Ryan, that just being yourself and putting yourself out there gets you to your goal if you're working hard and doing the things that you want.

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Ryan is a real inspiration for having overcome that four-year Olympic cycle when he didn't make the team, and now he's come back to make the team.

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So we love Ryan so much for inspiring us there.

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Now Braden Holloway is one of the assistant coaches for the women's team.

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He has put Catherine Burkoff, the great hunter, backstroker on the Olympic team, and Braden is.

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Maybe Ryan learned this from Braden, but Braden is truly the name of his episode that we interviewed him for was called Authentically Successful, and Braden is another one that will just tell you like it is.

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He's very honest, he's very true to doing what is right for his swimmers and he's a great coach, and we're super excited to see him as an assistant coach with the Olympic team.

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And then the last one is Bob Bowman.

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Bob is a five-time US Olympic coach, but Bob is going to be working with the French team to be coaching Leon Marchand, who swam for Bob when he was at Arizona State.

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So Bob can certainly help other swimmers when he's there, but he did this to not take away from the US team, as he put it that if he was on the US team he wouldn't be able to coach Leon, who's going to be a really exciting swimmer to watch in Paris.

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But now, if he's on the French team, he can help Leon and help the US team.

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So I thought that was a great, great call by Bob, who is going to be one of the Olympians Olympic coaches that we're going to be cheering for.

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So we are really excited to see all these athletes and coaches that have been on Champions Mojo and we're going to be following them, of course, and following the whole meet.

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And the thing that I would say, as a master swimmer and someone that helps master swimmers and coaches other master swimmers, that if you watch these great athletes, you may not be able to do the exact seven dolphin kicks off the wall.

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But you can certainly do two dolphin kicks off the wall or even one dolphin kick off the wall.

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But if you can watch these great starts and turns and technique in the water, it will definitely help you visualize what you need to be doing in the water as a master swimmer.

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So I hope you have a be doing in the water as a master swimmer.

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So I hope you have a wonderful time watching the Olympics this week, next week, whenever you watch it, and it's always such an inspiration.

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So have a great time and thank you for listening to champions mojo.

2024 Olympics Edition Honors Our Olympian Guests, EP 253

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