Off The Podium - An Olympics Podcast

As the Paris Paralympics continue, we are continuing on with our mini-series interviewing Paralympic legends. And today it's a big one, as we speak with legendary Australian swimmer Melissa Carlton about her extraordinary career that netted her nine Paralympic medals across two Paralympics. We find out about her start in the sport and her move from South Africa to Australia, and just how she went on to become one of the biggest name athletes in the state of Tasmania across the 1990s. We also learn about her journey to the Paralympics and just how she found the differences between swimming in Atlanta and at home in Sydney. Added to this we find out just what she has done with her medals, how she feels about being an iconic Tasmanian and how she was able to turn her successful swimming career into a successful career outside of the pool. It's another amazing interview with an amazing athlete that you can't afford to miss!

The Paralympics are here! And to celebrate the occasion we are continuing our mini-series in speaking to some Paralympic legends as we sit down with five-time Australian Paralympian in the sport of swimming, Matt Levy, to learn about his epic rise in the sport and his amazing achievements at the Paralympic Games. We find out how attending the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 was so inspirational for Matt and why that made him take up swimming on a more competitive level than he had ever before. We also learn about how he was able to adapt so quickly and find his way to the Paralympics only a few years later in Athens, and how through all of his Paralympic appearances he was able to use past performances as fuel towards achieving greater success. Added to this we learn more about his part in the epic 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay win in Tokyo, how he has used his story to help out others on a grand stage since his retirement and whether or not he feels a bit weird not being at the Paris Paralympics given it's the first time he hasn't competed at the Paralympic Games in 24 years. It's an amazing interview from one of the greatest Australian Paralympians of all time, so don't miss it and get to listening!

With the Olympics over for another four years, it's now time to switch focus to the Paralympics in Paris which are set to begin in less than a week. And in the lead up to the 2024 Paralympics we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to chat to some legends of the event and learn more about their unique and incredible individual journeys through sport. Today we begin this mini-series in perhaps the biggest way possible from a Canadian perspective, as we speak with the most decorated Canadian Paralympian of all time, Michael Edgson, to learn about his amazing career in swimming and just how he was able to achieve such success on the world stage. We find out just why swimming was his chosen sport and what it was like to rise through the ranks in Canada in the late 70s and early 80s towards his Paralympic debut in 1984. We also find out how he came to choose his specific strokes and which stroke he just never had a liking for. Added to this we hear the most extraordinary stories behind his most famous races, and why one of them actually came from defeat rather than victory, some epic tales of hanging out with some legendary Canadian athletes and just why he decided to hang up the goggles after the Barcelona Paralympics, despite still being so young. It's an absolutely incredible interview that you simply can't miss!

After an incredible last few weeks of amazing Olympic action, we bring our Paris 2024 coverage to a close with one last special episode! Join Ben as he brings you some exclusive snippets on the ground in Paris during the Olympics, featuring a variety of thoughts and insights as he documents his journey throughout the 16 days of competition. We also hear from some very special guests, including Jill and Alison from the 'Keep The Flame Alive' podcast, our special contributor Patrick Riley and two very special guests that you won't want to miss! It's one hell of an episode with one hell of an insight into the greatest show on earth!

Wow. That's all we can say. The Paris 2024 Olympics are done, and we definitely need to take a breather after all the epic times and moments we have seen over the last few weeks. And to take that breather, what better way than to bring you another episode to close out the Games in style! We go over all our favourite moments, find out more vibes and gossip from the ground direct in Paris and find out just how terrible our pre-Games predictions were. We also of course come for the ATHLETE OF THE GAMES, names in a new form this time, as we give out the most prestigious possible award any athlete can get. It's one hell of an episode to bring to a close one hell of an Olympics that were Paris 2024!

All good things must come to an end, and after the Paris 2024 Olympics set the bar so high with the opening ceremony, we're here to discuss whether the closing ceremony was able to vault over that bar or not! We're privileged to have another ground floor call-in guest to give us instant reactions of the ceremony as the stadium emptied, talking about everything from floating pianos to athletes rushing the stage to most importantly how Tom Cruise looked and smelled up close. We also have the final day of competition to cover including the spectacular finish of the women's marathon and Sifan Hassan pulling off a near impossible feat. And if that could be beat it may have been the down to the wire final seconds of the women's basketball final. And as we bid farewell to our dear friend Thomas Bach, we also find out just who will win our final ever Bachie for athlete of the day, and whether or not we can resist the temptation to give it to another athletics athlete. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to download our closing ceremony episode and listen now before it self destructs!

Show of hands who enjoyed day 15's never ending string of medals awarded today? We definitely might have! Strangely though we're still discussing yesterday's show with a continued plea to leave the poor athletes alone. Unless you're there to cheer for New Zealand killing it today, in which case join us as we give them their due, even if it might go against our show's mission statement. We watch along as US goes for the one gold medal in basketball that might have broken the country if things went in the wrong direction, and witness Sweden making history in beach volleyball. And if you thought Tokyo and Paris had the hardest marathon in history do we have news for you. You won't believe the facts we discover today from the 1904 St Louis marathon, which has to be heard to believe. Once again we ask for a show of hands on who plans to download and listen to us today. Records will fall if your hand is raised!

Please forgive the tears of joy coming from Colin and the shot voice after the Men's 100m relay today, but we do have more important things to discuss on Off the Podium, mainly the sport of BREAKING! Just what did we witness today? Do we understand it? Do we like it? Do we want more? And even aside from our feelings on the sport we have a huge behind the scenes rally today for one particular B-Girl to potentially win our Athlete of the Day. There is still plenty of non Breaking discussion as we go over the huge Men's Soccer final that will go down as one of the best games ever. We're keeping the anticipation going through the show for a special report on Taekwondo, and while the Men's 100m Relay brought a tear to Colin's eye (even though he's typically void of emotions), we try to figure out if the American team has managed to complete that first exchange yet at the time this episode airs. If you can successfully receive the baton of an episode we're passing you today then give it a good listen!

It felt like a day full of upsets in Paris, but we are anything but upset to be here to cover all the events from Day 13 of the Paris 2024 Olympics! With Covid hitting the track and field, we saw historic wins in the 200 metres, 400 metres and javelin, but it was the team sports that really captured us today as we saw a huge last minute come from behind victory in the basketball. While there were medals for both Australia and Canada, it's the hope of future medals in water polo and beach volleyball that seem to be exciting us the most, so naturally we are offering some bribes to a certain friend of the show to sway the results in our favour. We also feature our very first surprise listener call in to build up anticipation for the coming of breaking and modern pentathlon. So get masked up and keep a safe distance as you listen to our latest episode on everything that went down in Paris today!

We are back for all your Day 12 cover of the Olympics here on Off The Podium! It was a historic day for Australia at the games, but sadly we have no Australians here to talk about it, although we definitely share our love from across the pond. But that's nothing compared to our love for Lithuania today as we cover a feel good story of the games in the Discus between father and son. We also continue to talk up maybe the most exciting sport on the field so far with the Women's Pole Vault which had us on the edge of our seat and constantly changing our allegiance. While skateboarding continues to impress us more than in Tokyo, we question whether it is Olympic ready as a sport yet. Raphael joins us for the first time during these games to tell us all about his experience being in Paris last week. And with all the discussion on sports we also deal with a tragedy involving a snow globe. What does a snow globe have to do with the Olympics? You'll be surprised when we find the connection. So tune in to our episode as we vault through everything day 12 had to offer!

Day 11 saw many of our Off The Podium nations continue to falter in the team sports, so Colin and Jarrod are here to create new national teams to cheer for as we go over all the events of today's Olympic schedule! We surprisingly talk up Skateboarding as we marvel at everything an athlete can accomplish at the age of 11-14, and not a day beyond. Also providing plenty of giggles today was the near hilarious end to the Men's 1500m finals that saw a sneaky finish nobody saw coming. We also suspect some alliances may be at work as we choose our Bachie winner for Athlete of the Day, and a counter alliance may or may not be in play against it. To get to the bottom of all the behind the scenes scheming, make sure to download our latest recap and make sure to pick a side!

Just when we thought it might be a rest day here on Off The Podium, we're hit with all the action and excitement of Day Ten, and Colin is joined once again by Alex to go over every historic moment from the day! We talk up everyone's favourite new sport the Kayak Cross with our first ever gold medalists in Noemie Fox and Finn Butcher. There was also no disappointment in the return of the Triathlon Mixed Relay which has proven to be the most exciting mixed event of the Olympics. Of course nothing could top the final field event of the day where a once in a lifetime pole vaulter kept over 70,000 fans eating out of the palm of his hand long after his medal was secure. While no awards would be chosen today by Charlie the Cat, he does make a brief appearance which leads us down a regretful rabbit hole on pet behaviour. So if you've been dying to find the ins and outs of badminton, find out if Eddie Redmayne is competing in the Olympics, or learn who scored free underwear for life, we have the episode for you!

We are back on Day Nine to declare the one and only Novak Djokovic the new King of the Court, and any listener of our show will be surprised to hear a fair amount of love coming from of all people, Jarrod! With swimming wrapping up we bid farewell to two queens of the pool, with Colin having some harsh words for the decision makers in the relays. There's plenty of love to go around today as we also bow at the feet of Noah Lyles for backing up all his talk in perhaps the closest 100m finish we've ever seen, Ethan Katzberg showing off the greatest look anyone has seen in the modern Summer Olympics, and of course the one and only Nicola Olyslagers, and we're turning the tables and writing a nice note to her today in a special fan message. So open up that diary to the Day Nine entry and get ready to write about all your highlights from our daily coverage in today's episode!

Words can hardly describe everything that went down on during Day Eight, but to summarise it best we ask the question on everyone's mind: where is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price? The shocking disappearance shook up everyone involved in the Olympics, with the exception of one phenomenal unbreakable athlete from the tiny nation of Saint Lucia. To add to the drama we also witnessed more shake-ups in the Decathlon which ended in a dramatic finish. Through more record breaking wins in the pool from Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh and Kaylee McKeown we did find some time to relate to the youth listeners by appreciating all the "rizz" we're seeing from our favourite athletes so far. We also celebrate as a very special member of TEAM OTP took home a medal today, and it may be the one nobody was expecting. Let's just say you have to go out of your way to listen to today's show and get ready to throw something hard along with the rest of us!

We're a week into the Paris Olympics, although we think Paris might've exploded given the excitement that is existing around a certain Leon Marchand and his continued success! We are here to talk about it, why we love Leon so much and why the world is just going Leon crazy. We also talk about more Australia gold, more Canada bronze and more Team OTP medals after a day away from the medal tally. We also try to find out just why so many people are dropping out of the decathlon, why on earth archery requires heart rate monitors, why we need to bother with the 50m swimming events and learn more about Italian gymnasts and cheese wheels. Confused? You won't be if you listen! So get to it!

We're rolling along into day six of the Paris Olympics with Colin and Brendan which saw the one and only Simone Biles return to the top of her sport, Australia post a near World Record time in the Women's 4x200 Relay, and Canada's Summer McIntosh join a very exclusive club of Summer Olympians! We also debate whether Colin's to thank (or blame) for America nearly doubling it's golds in one day. There were plenty of fun internet stories to cover today including a potential Turkish hitman that turned into a sensation overnight, as well as a "too good to be real" story on Australian archery. We also give you an educated lesson in the many pronunciations of the name Masse. Give our latest episode a listen by rowing, swimming, or pole vaulting into your downloads!

On a day where Australia officially replace the term GOAT with FOX, and America's greatest swimmer continued her legendary career with another gold, and Canada broke a 12 year drought with men medalling in the pool, everyone on Off The Podium can finally be happy as we go through a packed day five of the Paris Olympics! We're also happy to report the water of the Seine is safe and everyone made it out of the Triathlon healthy, although it did lead to some crashes and a last minute come behind victory. With a live call of a long awaited world record being broken, the shock of seeing Guatemala become the latest Olympic powerhouse, and the conflict of us ranking our favourite Olympic nations, there's plenty of fun and drama on today's recap, so get downloading to hear what has us so hyped up today on Off The Podium!

It was a full day war between Canada and Australia and Colin and Trent are here to bring you both perspectives of the four event battle on Day Four of the Paris Olympics! We talk about the triumphant or heartbreaking (depending on who you ask) semi-final of the Rugby 7s, as well as the intense and emotional bronze and gold matchups. We go over the men's Basketball and women's 3x3 matchups, and finally get around to the victory for Australia in the pool. With the women's All Around Team Finals in Gymnastics going as expected, we discuss Simone Biles status as the greatest athlete her sport has ever seen and another TEAM OTP medal. Several new names also get added to our new list of 'Greatest Athlete Names of the Games' and of course our Bachie award with a few contenders that would make one co-host of this show very happy. If you're still reeling from the biggest battle in Off The Podium history, then pick your side and listen in as we settle the score once and for all in today's episode!

Summer has hit the Paris Olympics as well as Off The Podium, so we're getting dressed for the season as we talk all about the epic Day 3 of the Games! Colin, Jarrod and Patrick kick it off by discussing one of the most thrilling events we've witnessed yet with the Men's Cross Country Cycling, which we pitch being turned into the next big Hollywood sports film. We also had tons of excitement today for Team OTP boxer Teremoana Jr Teremoana, the man so nice they named him twice. But with all the huge victories today for Australia, Canada and America we can't help but feel a little bit left in the dust by Great Britain. We also find time to play the easiest game ever of Olympics trivia, and come up with alternate names for Australian Handball teams. After an action packed day there's no better way to unwind than listening to us get excited all over again, so cue up another episode you don't want to miss!

Another huge day of the Paris Olympics, and Colin is joined by Alex and Patrick to go over Day 2 from start to finish! Patrick tells us about seeing the Gymnastics in person, as well as playing a game of 'Spot the Celebrity'. We cover the historic win of Jess Fox for Australia and try to figure out why some of our countries are opposed to airing this event. We also go over the insane Women's Soccer match between Australia and Zambia, historic first medals for both Canada and India, and even bring you live commentary of the Men's 100m Breaststroke that was won by 'some guy' that reminds us of Tokyo's famous 'some guy' win. We wrap it up with the Day 2 winner of the BACHIE which was decided in the most unique way imaginable. This is the episode almost as unpredictable as Day 2 of Paris has been, so make sure to download and listen to join in on our fun!