Speaker 1: He's night side with Dan Ray. I'm WBS. He cast
Speaker 1: in his new radio.
Speaker 2: Now ready to go, Simon Bios.
Speaker 3: Your Chinko double bike, biggest step back at the end,
Speaker 3: But she just needed to put it on her feet
Speaker 3: because that bolt has such a high difficulty value she
Speaker 3: can afford a big step.
Speaker 1: Doctor Curry dancing up until all to the double Team.
Speaker 2: Oh it's a golden.
Speaker 4: Dog, all right, night night Curry.
Speaker 2: Uncutches of the floor.
Speaker 1: They're not catching Kayla Brutchell or not catching Kayla Brutcher.
Speaker 2: Pretty amazing when you look back and after.
Speaker 5: Nine to one here Carola Dresser is gonna have eight
Speaker 5: Olympic medals and all.
Speaker 4: Of them are gonna be gold.
Speaker 2: The Americans get.
Speaker 6: A Die comes down to a twenty five year old
Speaker 6: from Worcester, mass star at Penn State, now at the
Speaker 6: highest level.
Speaker 2: This is what he does. One thing pommel horse.
Speaker 5: I get chills. I get chills. I could listen to
Speaker 5: that over and over again. Joining us right now on
Speaker 5: WBC's night Side is John Powers at the Boston Globe. Now,
Speaker 5: John who still looks very youthful. He's one of my
Speaker 5: favorite writers. And I'm not saying he's been doing this
Speaker 5: a long time, but he had the exclusive with Zeus
Speaker 5: at Olympus.
Speaker 2: So but John, I and you don't you're not the.
Speaker 5: You're not like my buddy shot U see, and Ryan,
Speaker 5: you know, you're not like on every screen. So I
Speaker 5: do want to talk about you a little bit because
Speaker 5: I find what you do fascinating. And we are going
Speaker 5: to talk about the Olympics. But your first Olympic game
Speaker 5: that was in nineteen seventy six in Montreal. If what's
Speaker 5: on the Weber's true, why do you why do you
Speaker 5: still do it?
Speaker 4: Well, what's interesting is that every four it's actually now
Speaker 4: back then it was every four years winter and summer
Speaker 4: with the same year, right, imagine that. But the thing
Speaker 4: is that it's always new, it's always fresh. You're going
Speaker 4: a place that you haven't been before. New faces or
Speaker 4: in this case old face. I mean to see Simone
Speaker 4: Biles back and to be as good, if not better
Speaker 4: than ever. So that's the thing is that you know,
Speaker 4: you have the Super Bowl every year. You don't have
Speaker 4: this every year. And I think every time I say,
Speaker 4: oh man, I'll never do this again. This is exhausting.
Speaker 4: Well it was the next Oh there's one going to
Speaker 4: be Paris. But that's what's going to be Brisbane. Okay,
Speaker 4: come on, I get that. I totally get that.
Speaker 2: Right now.
Speaker 5: When you did start though, you covered the Bruins, right,
Speaker 5: were you on the Bruins beat?
Speaker 4: Well, you know what, I was hired to do the Bruins,
Speaker 4: and I never did them as a full time beat.
Speaker 4: I did cover them, actually, believe it or not, I
Speaker 4: covered the Celtic before before that, because Bob Ryan took
Speaker 4: kind of a break.
Speaker 2: That when he went to TV Hollywood went to TV. Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 4: The next thing knew, I was shaking hands Chris red Hardback.
Speaker 4: I remember going to see him. He said, did you
Speaker 4: go to Boston College? Which is where Bob Bryan went?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, No, I went to Harvard, he said, that's where.
Speaker 5: Of course, of course he did. Well, there's a bust
Speaker 5: of Bob at BC. I mean, we all know that.
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 5: So, But the thing of it is is do you
Speaker 5: enjoy You must enjoy the I was going to say
Speaker 5: the amateurism, but that's really out the window. Does it
Speaker 5: still feel the same though to you?
Speaker 4: It does? I mean, obviously it is clearly different. I mean,
Speaker 4: to have one third of the basketball team from the Celtics,
Speaker 4: right right, that's new, right, But there's still enough of
Speaker 4: the amateurism. I mean, most of these sports we're talking,
Speaker 4: you know, several dozen, they don't make much money. I mean,
Speaker 4: certainly the breakers don't make much money. The fencers don't
Speaker 4: make much money. So there is that. Also, you've got
Speaker 4: every every game a couple of hundred people that haven't
Speaker 4: been there before, so it is such a novelty to them,
Speaker 4: and I think that's what makes it interesting. I remember
Speaker 4: when they first had pros in the games, you know,
Speaker 4: in the various sports, tennis, basketball, The thing was, is
Speaker 4: this going to be the biggest thing in their lives
Speaker 4: to be in the Olympic Games? Because for other people
Speaker 4: it is. For example, if you are on the US
Speaker 4: men's basketball team, you don't have to try out. They
Speaker 4: just call it you if you want to be young, yeah,
Speaker 4: absolutely lie to. You don't have to go through through
Speaker 4: trials or any of that stuff. But that is new
Speaker 4: about them.
Speaker 5: Well, whenever the movie Miracle is on, I watched the
Speaker 5: whole thing. I mean I've seen I've seen it a
Speaker 5: million times. It will never happen again, we understand why.
Speaker 5: But that was the joy of it. What I will
Speaker 5: say as an observer this year with the bat basketball team,
Speaker 5: Lebron seemed like a kid again. It still meant something
Speaker 5: to Steph. It still means something for these professionals, it is.
Speaker 4: And I think that's one thing that people were surprised
Speaker 4: about was once they got there, representing your country, which
Speaker 4: many athletes never get a chance to do, it changed things.
Speaker 4: And I think that was the thing. Is Yeah, I
Speaker 4: mean looking, I mean, the the the exuberance and the
Speaker 4: Americans men's basketball team, and you know they were expected
Speaker 4: to win. That was a close game, folks, My goodness.
Speaker 4: I mean, if it weren't for Curry kneeling it, you know,
Speaker 4: by a couple of minutes, and they could have least
Speaker 4: that game.
Speaker 2: Well, what is great about basketball?
Speaker 5: I feel, well, my my my friends like like Bob,
Speaker 5: they don't like the three and some elements of the
Speaker 5: European game. Basketball is a true international game right now.
Speaker 5: The international players have saved the NBA in my opinion.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I just know, I mean, so when you
Speaker 5: go into international competition, you're gonna it's it's different. It's
Speaker 5: not ninety ninety, you know, nineteen ninety two, which you
Speaker 5: know you were there. It's not nineteen ninety two where
Speaker 5: I mean so many great stories like I'm sure you
Speaker 5: could tell we're with you guys were playing against you know,
Speaker 5: Larry or Michael, and at halftime, can you sign my shoe?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 5: You know that's not happening anymore. I don't think. Maybe
Speaker 5: it isn't some instances, but but not like that. The
Speaker 5: great story I have, which is a little inside baseball,
Speaker 5: was Ron Borger said to me because he was rooming
Speaker 5: with Ryan I think in ninety two, and Ron said,
Speaker 5: I don't see what the big deal is about the
Speaker 5: pros playing here, you know, with Larry and everybody being
Speaker 5: over and he said, Ryan went on for two weeks.
Speaker 5: He said, I never should have asked that question. I go, yes,
Speaker 5: I understand. I do a podcast with Bob, I get it.
Speaker 5: But that's that is the great thing about about the Olympics.
Speaker 5: And I think with the hockey team too. I think
Speaker 5: once you put on the stars and stripes, so you
Speaker 5: put on the maple leaf for Canada or what have you,
Speaker 5: it changes things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it certainly did. If you look at
Speaker 4: the NHL players, they love being in the Olympics. They do,
Speaker 4: and it is exhausting. It is the middle of the year.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 4: They are tired when they go there, They are tired
Speaker 4: when they come back. They may be injured. But when
Speaker 4: the NHL decided that they didn't want to go here
Speaker 4: or there, they don't want to go to Beijing, the
Speaker 4: players are disappointed. So the NHL will be back in
Speaker 4: Milan in twenty twenty six. They love that.
Speaker 2: All right, we got a whole lot more to talk about.
Speaker 5: I want to unpack, Get into Paris, get into Los Angeles,
Speaker 5: get into also some of the great names that we've seen.
Speaker 5: The Simone Biles story too. We're gonna we're gonna talk
Speaker 5: about that next. That's all coming up with John Powers
Speaker 5: of the Boston Globe covering the Olympics right here on
Speaker 5: wbz's Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 6: Well, now it is Simone Blacks.
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine the marriage. She may be feelings,
Speaker 2: she says. Every time she does this fault, she's terrified.
Speaker 6: Don't blink.
Speaker 2: There, you got your own. Even she knows, she's like
Speaker 2: mm hmmm, you know that was one of the best
Speaker 2: Your Jenko double pipes.
Speaker 6: Mind blowing.
Speaker 5: Still, I can fall in love with some old Biles,
Speaker 5: which just amazing. John Powers our guests here. The Boston
Speaker 5: Globe has been covering the Olympic Games since nineteen seventy six,
Speaker 5: and he is the expert. He's the premier journalist when
Speaker 5: it comes to your the Olympic Games. I want to
Speaker 5: talk about Simone here. You can correctly if I'm wrong.
Speaker 5: Has anybody ever done what she's done in that she
Speaker 5: was a favorite? We all know she had an injury,
Speaker 5: she left the Olympics, she couldn't compete, there was a
Speaker 5: physical situation, and then she came back and just a force.
Speaker 5: Because John usually like you're kind of one and done
Speaker 5: right pretty much.
Speaker 4: I mean, what's interesting People may remember in Beijing in
Speaker 4: two thousand and eight, where Nasio Luken and Sean Johnson
Speaker 4: were won two at the Olympic Games. Didn't make the
Speaker 4: team for twenty twelve. Ali Raisman was on the twenty
Speaker 4: twelve team. She takes a year off. He told me
Speaker 4: it took her three years to get back to where
Speaker 4: she was before. Here you go, Simone Biles at twenty seven.
Speaker 4: I mean she was calling Ali granny when Ali was
Speaker 4: twenty two right to come back in a sport that,
Speaker 4: by definition is made more difficult. The tricks are more difficult,
Speaker 4: they they're more dangerous. To literally come out after two
Speaker 4: years off, after Tokyo and be better than ever. It's astounding.
Speaker 2: What exactly was the issue? Was it? Vertigo?
Speaker 4: I see what it was. It's called in gymnastics terms,
Speaker 4: the twisties where you lose yourself in the air, because
Speaker 4: if you even add an extra half twist it makes
Speaker 4: it more difficult. You see this a lot with figure skaters,
Speaker 4: with girls who suddenly have a growth spurs and everything
Speaker 4: looks different when they jump, and I think that's what
Speaker 4: happened to her. And the thing is in gymnastics, if
Speaker 4: you mess up, you can break your neck.
Speaker 5: Oh there's no joke. It's no joke. I mean absolutely,
Speaker 5: it's no joke.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah. I remember talking Debella Coroli, who was the
Speaker 4: coach of Nadi Kamanyach at Mary Leu Redden. He said,
Speaker 4: you know, is not golf.
Speaker 2: And that's a quote not golf.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, John Powers, our guess from the Boston.
Speaker 2: Do you think.
Speaker 5: Because of technology, because of athletes, the way they take
Speaker 5: care of themselves, the way they train the knowledge of
Speaker 5: the body. Will we see Olympic athletes last longer if
Speaker 5: you will, so you won't be done at sixteen, seventeen
Speaker 5: or eighteen.
Speaker 4: I think that's true. Also, one thing that's happening. You
Speaker 4: look at this team. This women's team was the oldest
Speaker 4: US women's team since nineteen fifty two.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: And that is when basically these were grown women doing
Speaker 4: that sport and they weren't doing what the women now
Speaker 4: are doing. It was basically almost a balatic type sport.
Speaker 4: But also what you're seeing now is these are more
Speaker 4: mature women. Their bodies are more mature. Now. You know,
Speaker 4: you're not fifteen sixteen getting injuries because your bones haven't
Speaker 4: you know, quite fused yet.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: Also you're seeing a number of these women have been
Speaker 4: or going to college, so it is an older group
Speaker 4: much more and you can stay. Also, there's money in
Speaker 4: the sport now, you know, even if you're in college.
Speaker 4: You can get name, image, likeness money, right, you get
Speaker 4: sponsorship money, you know. So I think what used to
Speaker 4: be you know, for example, in an a merrily read situation,
Speaker 4: that was one I'm done because you couldn't stay in
Speaker 4: the sport right right, defensive right.
Speaker 5: And I had my daughter was doing gymnastics. I was
Speaker 5: going to the tournaments. Uh you know with the medals
Speaker 5: everybody gets a metal leaving like eighth place, you know,
Speaker 5: And we were doing the thing.
Speaker 2: And now.
Speaker 5: When I say this, I don't want people to take
Speaker 5: this the wrong way. Gymnastics is good business. I was
Speaker 5: going to say it's a big business, but I mean
Speaker 5: it's good business in other words, especially on the female
Speaker 5: side of things, because as a gymnastics dat I've seen it.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of young women who are interested in gymnastics,
Speaker 5: so there are marketing opportunities. I'm not going to say
Speaker 5: it's to the degree of a Michael Jordan in the NBA,
Speaker 5: but for some of the women, like some own bis.
Speaker 2: Yes, she can't make millions of.
Speaker 5: Dolls because she can be used as spokesperson because guys
Speaker 5: like me will spend the money.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and good for her.
Speaker 4: Thing about simone, she changed the sport in two ways.
Speaker 4: She made it a power in speed sport, partly because
Speaker 4: of who she was, you know she was she was strong.
Speaker 4: But also she opened that sport up. This used to
Speaker 4: be a sport for white females. There was an occasional
Speaker 4: black woman, you know, like like Dominique Dawes. But you
Speaker 4: look at this this year's five women of that team,
Speaker 4: only one was wife, right right, yep. So so it's
Speaker 4: also opened up because one thing the reason why people
Speaker 4: got into gymnastics. For example, nearly Retten saw Nadia as
Speaker 4: she said, that's who I want to be. Other people
Speaker 4: saw Mary Alu, That's who I want to be. Women,
Speaker 4: especially black women. Look at sim own boss says that's me.
Speaker 4: Needs someone you can identify with. And I think that
Speaker 4: is what Simone has done. This sport is never going
Speaker 4: back to where it is. It is a lily white
Speaker 4: sports not going to happen.
Speaker 2: And it's you know, we applaud that.
Speaker 5: I think also the Olympics seemed to be friendlier and happier.
Speaker 5: You know, for example, you know when she I believe
Speaker 5: she got the silver or the bronze and she bowed,
Speaker 5: you know, there was yeah, there was there was a
Speaker 5: camaraderie here. Well, look, I mean the world is small
Speaker 5: now you know, the Iron curtain's gone. There are no
Speaker 5: more bad guys if you will, and I did am
Speaker 5: I wrong in getting that?
Speaker 4: I think what was interesting about this when you looked
Speaker 4: at the all around and Rebecca Andrade, who was the
Speaker 4: woman from Brazil, right, she sees Simone nail that final
Speaker 4: pass and she was clapping for her, even though she
Speaker 4: knew it meant that she wasn't going to win a
Speaker 4: go medal, because there was an appreciation for what Simone
Speaker 4: had done. And I think, you know, conversely, when Rebecca wins,
Speaker 4: you know, on the event she got a bow. You know,
Speaker 4: you are basically saluting, and that's what the Olympics are
Speaker 4: supposed to be. Everything was a story back in the
Speaker 4: nightineteen thirty six when Berlin Jesse Owens is in the
Speaker 4: long trip. He's clearly going to win this thing, and
Speaker 4: he files on the first two and looks long, who
Speaker 4: is the German favorite? And this is in front of
Speaker 4: Hitler tesman and he said, you know what, you know,
Speaker 4: don't file, take off about two feet in front of
Speaker 4: where you normally step and you'll be fine, which he did.
Speaker 4: So basically, who does that? Who encourages the competitive to
Speaker 4: do something different so he might beat you? But that
Speaker 4: and I think that was lost for a long time
Speaker 4: in the Olympics. There was so much of the US
Speaker 4: Russia thing, which by the way as we know. Didn't
Speaker 4: happen this time, right, you know. I mean we've had
Speaker 4: with the Russians before, but that was because they chose
Speaker 4: not to be there. It didn't happen this time. They
Speaker 4: were banned because of.
Speaker 5: The war, right right, Simone Biles, is she the greatest
Speaker 5: gymnast ever?
Speaker 4: There's no doubt. I mean not just in terms of
Speaker 4: how many moves have been named after her, that's one thing,
Speaker 4: but to be able to do it at age twenty seven,
Speaker 4: I mean that is ten years older than people used
Speaker 4: to be, and to be able to do it without
Speaker 4: serious injury, to be able to do it with joy,
Speaker 4: I mean, she was just delighted to be out there
Speaker 4: and the inspiration she gave to her teammates because no
Speaker 4: matter what happened, if you had a problem, if you
Speaker 4: fell off, the being smoan was here to you know,
Speaker 4: to give you a hug because you know, basically I've
Speaker 4: done that before I fell it. You know, I've done
Speaker 4: this before. I've missed that before. So she was a
Speaker 4: great teammate.
Speaker 5: Having kids that have gone through the pandemic and dealing
Speaker 5: with all the social abnormally normalcies that I've seen, you know,
Speaker 5: mental health, for me, is big because I've seen it,
Speaker 5: I mean, and I've seen it in sports, and to me,
Speaker 5: that was what I found gratifying. You mentioned the smile,
Speaker 5: the happiness, because let's face it, with gymnastics, because there's
Speaker 5: some very ugly people who have now been sent away
Speaker 5: for a long time and justifiably so we needed something good.
Speaker 5: We needed to feel safe with the people running gymnastics,
Speaker 5: is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think part of the thing
Speaker 4: is any sport where you have young women competing at
Speaker 4: at an elevated level, figure skating, swimming, gymnastics, you have predators. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and so I think it's been up to the federation
Speaker 4: to make sure these people are weeded out. It's hard
Speaker 4: to do, you know, and Simone had been through that
Speaker 4: has had many women on you know, I'm not just
Speaker 4: on earlier teams too. But I think what was what
Speaker 4: was great about Simone was that she showed people, you know,
Speaker 4: I think so much pressure on women, especially when you
Speaker 4: are the face of the US team. I mean, that
Speaker 4: was the biggest issue for her in Tokyo was remember
Speaker 4: there was a documentary called Simone Versus Simone before those games, right,
Speaker 4: and the subtext was, well, only got to lose, right,
Speaker 4: give us the moon versus the moon. So in a way,
Speaker 4: she was competing with the simone from Rio de Janeiro
Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen. It's almost got to lose that thing.
Speaker 4: And I think what she said was I was doing
Speaker 4: it for everybody except myself.
Speaker 2: Right right.
Speaker 4: You said, even before the Paris game, you says success
Speaker 4: is how I define it. And you will have a
Speaker 4: lot of athletes who will, in fact tell you that
Speaker 4: Michael Phelps said that.
Speaker 2: Well, I was going to say Phelps.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I when Phelps came out and said, look,
Speaker 5: I'm toast. I mean, I'm mentally exhausted. I've suffered depression.
Speaker 5: The poor guy. I mean, I'm not Look, folks, I'm
Speaker 5: not condoning the use of drugs.
Speaker 2: But we know marijuana is legal now.
Speaker 5: But you know, the guys twenty two or twenty three
Speaker 5: years old, whatever it is, I mean, you know the details,
Speaker 5: and somebody takes a picture of them, you know, getting high,
Speaker 5: and it's like that stuff takes.
Speaker 2: A toll on you.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: Even Ali Raisman, when I was working a Comcast Toys
Speaker 5: champaignon did this great thing with Ali. They did the
Speaker 5: old documentary and you saw what she gave up to
Speaker 5: do this. I mean she gave up her childhood.
Speaker 4: She do. And plus everybody now, especially with social media,
Speaker 4: everybody has an opinion on you, and usually as a negative.
Speaker 4: For example, it was a great book like Gracie Golds
Speaker 4: who was the US SIGUS getting champion whip. It was
Speaker 4: an Olympian and she was eviscerated on social media. And
Speaker 4: you know, you tell them don't read it or read it,
Speaker 4: but everyone does. So the whole world has an opinion
Speaker 4: on you. And that's what happened to Simone at the Tokyo.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean you're a quitter and blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: Yeah you know your you know, and you go way back.
Speaker 4: You know. Naddy never had to deal with that, right.
Speaker 4: So I think the athletes need a lot more awareness
Speaker 4: that there's an enormous amount of pressure plus money. There's
Speaker 4: all sorts of people want you to do it. Stay
Speaker 4: in it, even if you're hurt, because other people are
Speaker 4: invested in you doing well.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 5: When I saw that the Celtics are worth five billion dollars,
Speaker 5: I stopped paying attention to money because it's completely off
Speaker 5: the map for me.
Speaker 2: I just like it. It's insane.
Speaker 5: I have to talk about one of my Simone was phenomenal.
Speaker 5: Simone's one of my favorite favorite athletes. And I'm one
Speaker 5: of those guys that all the Olympics are coming up,
Speaker 5: but I go, yeah, you know, it's the Olympics, and
Speaker 5: then you know, I tune in once and then I'm
Speaker 5: a sucker. It's like I'm watching a Hallmark movie for
Speaker 5: the next three weeks.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm totally into it.
Speaker 5: Katie Ledecci, Oh my god, we're going to talk about her.
Speaker 2: Coming up next with John Powers. I'm busy.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z, Boston's.
Speaker 2: News radio carry Tangray for Dance to Night.
Speaker 5: John Powers of the Boston Globe, talking about the Olympics
Speaker 5: just in general and looking back at what we saw
Speaker 5: in Paris, which was terrific. Not since the eighty six
Speaker 5: Bears beat the Patriots. I have I ever seen such
Speaker 5: dominance With Katie Ladecci, and it was at.
Speaker 2: The fifteen hundred. She blew everybody away.
Speaker 5: Okay, I've never seen I mean, I was watching this
Speaker 5: and literally that's I was thinking, Okay, let's look back.
Speaker 2: Let's think of some games.
Speaker 5: Okay, you know the Bears, the Patriots eighty six, maybe
Speaker 5: some boxing matches, but I have John, Oh my god,
Speaker 5: I mean that has to be the most dominant win
Speaker 5: in the history of the Olympics.
Speaker 4: Or Yeah, and especially what is interesting if you look
Speaker 4: at the TV you see her passing people going the
Speaker 4: other way. Yeah, I know's going She's going home and
Speaker 4: you're known the other way. And again, don't think this
Speaker 4: is her fourth Olympics. She's twenty seven. And the dominance
Speaker 4: if you look at not just here, but you look
Speaker 4: at the top, like twenty times in the eight hundred
Speaker 4: freestyle or fifteen hundred freet she owns them all. I mean,
Speaker 4: no one pizza, right, And but you know a lot
Speaker 4: of that is imagine how many hours she spends in
Speaker 4: the pool, for eleative minutes on the starting blocks. It's painful.
Speaker 4: If you ever talk to people who have done distance swimming,
Speaker 4: they go and what they call in the practice pool
Speaker 4: the d lane, the distance lane, and those people are
Speaker 4: considered crazy, right, who puts themselves with all this pain?
Speaker 4: And she enjoys that. She likes you know, that grind.
Speaker 4: And she was talking about twenty twenty eight. Before twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four, you'll probably see her in la at at
Speaker 4: age thirty one.
Speaker 5: I know, I couldn't believe it, and she, you know her,
Speaker 5: I'm sure she seems to be the happiest kid in
Speaker 5: the world.
Speaker 4: She is. I think a lot of it comes from
Speaker 4: she comes from a family that is very education oriented.
Speaker 4: It was very important to her to get her college degree,
Speaker 4: to do all that. I mean, I think she did
Speaker 4: two years of Stanford, then she went pro, but she
Speaker 4: still finished Stanford. Wow. And I think she has her
Speaker 4: head on straight. That whole family does. It is in perspective.
Speaker 4: She doesn't do this to get rich, and I think
Speaker 4: she will think, you know, do I want to go
Speaker 4: another four years? But I wouldn't rule her out. She's
Speaker 4: going for a fifth Olympic Games.
Speaker 5: Well, I also don't think, based on my observation of
Speaker 5: her and what you're telling me now, she's not going
Speaker 5: to bow out if she feels she won't win a gold.
Speaker 5: You know, some people will say, well, I'm not going
Speaker 5: to win a gold or and I don't know if
Speaker 5: that's the case. But at thirty one, you know, maybe
Speaker 5: well maybe you know, it's not my time anymore. I
Speaker 5: think she would still go regardless or.
Speaker 4: She would and I think clearly in her events there
Speaker 4: aren't a whole ton of people that can do that well.
Speaker 4: So certainly should make the US team, and the fifteen
Speaker 4: hundred for sure, probably the eight hundred what she has
Speaker 4: has to do. Once they added the fifteen hundred to
Speaker 4: the Olympic program, she had to cut back on some
Speaker 4: of the other events, right, So she doesn't do the
Speaker 4: two hundred free, for example, she does four hundred free.
Speaker 4: She's not the top person, but she is a medalist.
Speaker 4: So I think she's been realistic as to how much
Speaker 4: work you know, that she's able to do, and also
Speaker 4: what her goals are. And the said swimmers have different
Speaker 4: goals that we may think they tend to be time
Speaker 4: based becaus it's only metal based. So I think as
Speaker 4: long as she's able to meet her standards whatever they are,
Speaker 4: and she will, she'll tell you by the way they
Speaker 4: will tell you, well, I really wanted to do this,
Speaker 4: or I really want to do that, she knows, and
Speaker 4: I think if she can't meet her standard, then you'll
Speaker 4: see her just move on.
Speaker 5: What is it about her and her ability physically? Is
Speaker 5: it a gift Obviously she works very hard, don't get
Speaker 5: me wrong. I mean I understand that. And you can
Speaker 5: just see when she's swimming, I mean, oh my god, herr.
Speaker 5: She has the swimmers for Zeke where she's just amazing.
Speaker 5: But is there something as far as her oxygen level,
Speaker 5: her air? I mean, what is it? What is that
Speaker 5: magic thing that she has and nobody else has.
Speaker 4: I think the big thing is And I'm a big
Speaker 4: fan of what to call sporting Darwinism, where sports rule
Speaker 4: out people that aren't suited for that sport and they
Speaker 4: reward people who are. If you look at the top swimmers,
Speaker 4: for example, Michael Phelps had had an oddly shaped body,
Speaker 4: but it was perfect to this the long, long torso,
Speaker 4: big hands, big feet, and Katie is a big woman,
Speaker 4: big strong, long leggie. How tall is also how tall?
Speaker 4: She's pretty close to succeed Yeah, okay, yeah, But what's
Speaker 4: interesting is the other woman who had been mentioned in
Speaker 4: the same breath was Janet Evans, who people remember from
Speaker 4: nineteen ninet eighty eighty and she was incredible for five years.
Speaker 4: She was five five, Yeah, she was little. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: you look at but you look at Katie. But also
Speaker 4: Katie understands the little things. You know, when you're swimming
Speaker 4: fifty and nine meters you have to have efficiency at
Speaker 4: in each stroke, but loses your racism when you're kind
Speaker 4: of slashing around you're not clean and she and she
Speaker 4: knows that he knows how to get the dynamics going
Speaker 4: and to be able to do it when you're getting tired.
Speaker 4: I mean, it is so hard. It's from a mile
Speaker 4: and to do it, you know, with consistent laps now
Speaker 4: and you'd be able to do the pain the pain?
Speaker 2: Did she did she get in the pool with Phelps?
Speaker 5: Because I think when Phelps was sitting with Tarrico, he
Speaker 5: said he got in the pool with her and they
Speaker 5: did it.
Speaker 4: I think just to kind of mess around, but you
Speaker 4: know they did different events. So but yeah, I mean,
Speaker 4: the one thing about Phelps he understands how hard it is.
Speaker 4: So he is one of Katie's biggest stands because she
Speaker 4: knows what it takes. You know, there have to be
Speaker 4: some danger and you just don't want to get out
Speaker 4: of bed and you have to do it. And it's
Speaker 4: easy to say, you know what the game was till
Speaker 4: two years off. I can No, you don't you don't
Speaker 4: skip practice. So Katie always shows up. You know.
Speaker 5: Well, I remember when Ali, you know, we were talking
Speaker 5: about Ali Raceman when when we did the documentary she
Speaker 5: missed a graduation.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it doesn't go to.
Speaker 5: The prom all of the in the gym at six
Speaker 5: am before school alone, going through it over and over
Speaker 5: and over again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and even Phelps, what you know.
Speaker 5: And I met Phelps at the garden and it's interesting
Speaker 5: you mentioned his long tourso because he was checking out
Speaker 5: the Celtics game and I was walking in the locker
Speaker 5: room area and the game was over, we had done
Speaker 5: the post game and he was walking out and he
Speaker 5: had a painters hat on and he's about six to
Speaker 5: one correct, yep. And I always had this impression that
Speaker 5: Michael Phelps was like six ' five because of the torso. Right,
Speaker 5: So I'm in the hallway and he's got jeans on.
Speaker 5: He's really kind of chilling, and he like stands.
Speaker 2: Next to me.
Speaker 5: He's like hey, and I'm like hey, and I went
Speaker 5: and then he just kept going and I said, you know,
Speaker 5: great job.
Speaker 2: And then I said, I went, oh my god, that
Speaker 2: was Michael Phelps. He does it.
Speaker 5: He's so in the pool, he's like a giant. You know,
Speaker 5: he's just larger than life, and when you meet him,
Speaker 5: it wasn't the same thing in person. I mean, obviously
Speaker 5: he's the greatest swimmer of all time period, correct, yep,
Speaker 5: how do you compare her to him? Like, how can
Speaker 5: you make a proper analogy?
Speaker 4: It's a little different. I mean, one thing that sets
Speaker 4: Michael apart was he could do it in different strokes.
Speaker 4: He was a great medley swimmer also, so you have
Speaker 4: to master all four strokes. Katie is a freestyler. So
Speaker 4: I think, for example, one thing that the people this
Speaker 4: year Leon Marchand who was the great French French swimmer
Speaker 4: who went to the Arizona State. He gets the two
Speaker 4: hundred butterfly and the two hundred breasts and the same
Speaker 4: night those a brutal event. I mean, I can't think
Speaker 4: of anything more draining than the two hundred butterfly. It
Speaker 4: is an absolute shoulder killer. And they come back and
Speaker 4: beat the best in the world specialists in another stroke
Speaker 4: on the same night. I mean, Michael Phelps had his
Speaker 4: hat off to that. He said, that's impressive. That's impressive, right, yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Mean what did you think of Paris? Now, let's talk
Speaker 5: about the background. What did you think of Paris?
Speaker 4: I was wonderful. I think one thing, because I used
Speaker 4: to get there pretty frequently. I hadn't been there twenty
Speaker 4: years and you get back in and you say, this
Speaker 4: place is the same. It hasn't changed. The same restaurants
Speaker 4: are there, you know. But what was great about this
Speaker 4: was the city was the star of these games.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 4: You looked up and you looked at all the fantastic
Speaker 4: buildings from the sixth seventeen eighteenth century, and they used it.
Speaker 4: You know, the Grand La, the Anvil lead Versailles, one
Speaker 4: of the great things. I don't know if you watch
Speaker 4: the marathon, but they went through all of those famous areas.
Speaker 4: They started at the Hotel TV, which is the old
Speaker 4: city hall, through the Plasa Loock on Cord, through all
Speaker 4: that out to Versailles, back to the Eiffel Tower. So
Speaker 4: if you've ever been to Paris or even seen it,
Speaker 4: these places were all familiar to you. But now they
Speaker 4: were using in the sporting context.
Speaker 2: It's just so romantic.
Speaker 5: You know, the Summer Games in Paris, or you have
Speaker 5: the Winter Games in Zurich, Switzerland, or in the Alps.
Speaker 5: I mean, that's just to me, it lends to the
Speaker 5: magic of it when it was in the Soviet Union,
Speaker 5: that whole debacle that took away from it.
Speaker 2: I think in.
Speaker 5: Various spots in Asia it can be very beautiful, but
Speaker 5: there's something about Europe and the Olympics abs What I
Speaker 5: mean is it just because of the history.
Speaker 4: A lot of it is the history, but also Paris
Speaker 4: is walkable. I wrote a story before the Games about
Speaker 4: how they're going to use all these iconic places and
Speaker 4: I could walk from one to the other. I was
Speaker 4: there when they were building the beach volleyball bleachers in
Speaker 4: front of the Eiffel Tower, and I walked across the
Speaker 4: Seine and I saw, you know, the Grand Pelais, and
Speaker 4: I went back across and the lead. And the thing is,
Speaker 4: most Americans, if you've traveled to Europe, you're probably been
Speaker 4: to Paris at least once, right, So it was familiar.
Speaker 4: And I'm sure though when when when When when NBC
Speaker 4: was showing all these places, said yep, I've been there,
Speaker 4: I've seen that, I've been there. So I think that's
Speaker 4: what was romana, especially coming after Tokyo, which is a big,
Speaker 4: sprawling city, and of course don't forget that was during COVID.
Speaker 4: I was masked the whole time I was, I was
Speaker 4: putting quarantine. For the first two days I was there.
Speaker 4: It was hot, there were no fans there, and suddenly
Speaker 4: to go from there to Paris, where you could go
Speaker 4: all of the city, walk, to take the metro, all
Speaker 4: the restaurants are open. I mean, it's the first Olympics.
Speaker 4: I gained weight at.
Speaker 2: The old red wine and the old French bread.
Speaker 5: Do you do you think the Paris Games made the
Speaker 5: Games more appealing to other cities again, because it seemed
Speaker 5: to me for a while there was some negative publicity
Speaker 5: like did you really want the Olympics in your country?
Speaker 4: Well, that was the thing, mostly because of the cost.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was really interesting. You look at various
Speaker 4: games where you know four or five cities and then
Speaker 4: suddenly there are only one city wants it. Uh So
Speaker 4: if you look at one reason why they chose Paris
Speaker 4: and they're going to go back to La, they want
Speaker 4: places that have had the games before, right, that don't
Speaker 4: have to build and for example, uh, Paris didn't have
Speaker 4: to build a whole lot and in La has to
Speaker 4: build almost nothing. Basically everything that was there in eighty
Speaker 4: four is till there end have added new things. So
Speaker 4: that's what they want. You know. What was happening is
Speaker 4: residents of the cities are saying, well, not it's going
Speaker 4: to spend ten billion dollars when we can afford schools, right,
Speaker 4: you know, for the for this two weak party. So
Speaker 4: I think that that is where they, you know, they
Speaker 4: want to go. So I think the days when only
Speaker 4: dictatorships could hold these games is over the end. They
Speaker 4: don't want to keep going back to the Beijings and
Speaker 4: you know, and uh, the moscows. They want to be
Speaker 4: able to go back to the places that are welcoming
Speaker 4: and I don't have to go into debt. Well.
Speaker 5: I remember Rio because I thought Rio was terrific on television,
Speaker 5: but then I heard the horror stories after about how
Speaker 5: the stadiums were just abandoned and the homeless, I mean,
Speaker 5: and the next thing, you know, the homeless was staying
Speaker 5: there and they had moved people out to build the stadiums.
Speaker 5: I mean, that's where the whole Olympic Games really too.
Speaker 5: And one of the reasons I think people didn't want
Speaker 5: to hear in Boston.
Speaker 4: Well, and I think that that was that was a
Speaker 4: wise decision. I mean, I I kept thinking, can you
Speaker 4: imagine having the Athlete's village across the street from where
Speaker 4: the where the Boston Globe was at Columbia Point and
Speaker 4: searing them all around the city. Eleven thousand athletes not
Speaker 4: going to happen.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you needed the room. It was a wonderful idea,
Speaker 5: but you needed the room. And then also and then
Speaker 5: you have the T John, And that's a whole other
Speaker 5: kettle fish.
Speaker 4: H what was incredible? I road to thing come for?
Speaker 4: You know? What do we like to do is postcards
Speaker 4: in Paris and I wrote one about what it's like
Speaker 4: to go on the metro in a city that works.
Speaker 4: And they have a digital clock on every platform and
Speaker 4: it says four dex it means four minutes of the
Speaker 4: next train, and sixth of the minute's on one. After that,
Speaker 4: there is a subway stop every five hundred meters. It's
Speaker 4: impeccably clean, it's perfect, it's clean. And then you go
Speaker 4: to the T, and then you go to the T
Speaker 4: and then you go here.
Speaker 5: We go, you know, And now I got to go
Speaker 5: catch a bus, John, I want to look ahead to
Speaker 5: Los Angeles. Can you hang on for one more?
Speaker 4: Break sure.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 5: John Powers is with us, the dean of Olympic coverage
Speaker 5: right here on WBC's Night Side. Gary Taglae for Dan Ray.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray line from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 5: John Powers our guests here, Gary Tagua for Dan Ray
Speaker 5: tonight here on nights Side, talking about the Olympics and
Speaker 5: one lies ahead. Okay, Los Angeles, John, we've seen it before,
Speaker 5: eighty four, I believe correct, big time for jump onoy Samuelson?
Speaker 5: What should we expect? And are you going?
Speaker 4: Well? That? That is my plan?
Speaker 2: Okay? Kid? Good? Now? What should we nine?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Why not?
Speaker 5: You sound great though? I mean you really do you
Speaker 5: sound great? What do you What should we expect? What
Speaker 5: do you think?
Speaker 4: Well? One thing is that basically everything is already built.
Speaker 4: One thing that people may not remember about eighty four.
Speaker 4: The games are in terrible trouble at that point because
Speaker 4: Monsteret Montreal lost a bundle in nineteen seventy six and
Speaker 4: only two cities bid for eighty four. Tehran, Iran the
Speaker 4: bid for it at La Wow, so they went to
Speaker 4: La by deep. La made money on those games because
Speaker 4: everything was built except two things they needed a pool.
Speaker 4: McDonald's built the pool. They needed a velodrome, seven to
Speaker 4: eleven built that. So everything that they needed was there
Speaker 4: that you Peter, Yes, So what happened is they got
Speaker 4: a found nation with the profits in LA that pays
Speaker 4: for youth sports. So what I mean basically LA checks
Speaker 4: all the boxers. You've got tons of hotels, great freeways,
Speaker 4: you know, the weather's going to be fine, all everything's built.
Speaker 4: We already know where we're going to be. We were
Speaker 4: in hotels in eighty four. The media is going to
Speaker 4: be in the USC dorms, and the athletes are going
Speaker 4: to be up up up at UCLA. They showed the
Speaker 4: coliseum everything they did plus new stuff. And I think
Speaker 4: you're going to see a great US team because a
Speaker 4: lot of Americans athetes are going to say, you know what,
Speaker 4: next time it's in La, my home country, I want
Speaker 4: to be there. That's why people you know, you know,
Speaker 4: even Simone was saying, I want to be in La.
Speaker 2: Oh sure there is absolutely.
Speaker 4: And certainly NBC is going to love it. You're kidding
Speaker 4: me because he loves that everything in prime time.
Speaker 5: It makes it easier, there's no doubt. And now with
Speaker 5: the with the world we live in. I mean before
Speaker 5: you wouldn't even think about it. You wouldn't look at
Speaker 5: your phone and see who won, right you just oh,
Speaker 5: I'm you know, I'll see it tonight, even though it
Speaker 5: was pre recorded or a different time zones, whatever. What
Speaker 5: can we look forward to? Is there an athlete, is
Speaker 5: there a competitor? Is there an event that will be
Speaker 5: new to us?
Speaker 4: It's anywhere. You know, what's going to happen. Baseball and
Speaker 4: softball are back, believe it or not. Yep, it's going
Speaker 4: to be a bit crazy because I know, for example,
Speaker 4: they had breaking at these games. They're not going to
Speaker 4: have breaking at those games. They're still arguing about what's
Speaker 4: going to be on the program. Boxing is going to
Speaker 4: be a huge issue. The IOC has basically run that
Speaker 4: at the last two games because it's so corrupt, right,
Speaker 4: and I think that boxing has disappeared.
Speaker 2: Well, remember it's ultimate fighting.
Speaker 4: Now, you know. Well, yeah, you remember in nineteen seventy two, Immunich,
Speaker 4: we all watched Sugar Ray Seals and all those people.
Speaker 4: Seventy six was huge, huge, you know, you always had
Speaker 4: Howard Cosell and suddenly no one cares about it.
Speaker 2: Well, George foreman holding's foreman holding the flag with.
Speaker 4: His much Yes, exactly, yeah, sure.
Speaker 5: Well bought listen boxing. Look, I've covered don King, I
Speaker 5: covered it. You know, it just got it got too
Speaker 5: It just got so bad with the setups and the
Speaker 5: personalities change. You always need a big I could talk
Speaker 5: to you forever about the whole boxing thing. But look,
Speaker 5: mma is it Will that ever be an Olympic sports.
Speaker 4: Well, it's interesting if I told you that breaking is
Speaker 4: going to be right right? What you know? But I
Speaker 4: think one thing that the IOC is always fun as
Speaker 4: a mes fact that it's kind of funny. The last
Speaker 4: thing that the IOC president says of the coding ceremonies
Speaker 4: is we invite the youth of the world to be
Speaker 4: with us in Los Angeles eight. Well, yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: not that there aren't older people, but they'd like to
Speaker 4: skew young Also, TV likes it. They love you know,
Speaker 4: mountain biking, they love breaking, they love stir you know,
Speaker 4: they love the stuff that the young people like.
Speaker 5: Sure, well, you know, and why not? Right, I mean,
Speaker 5: that's the way it should be. You need to adjust
Speaker 5: with the times. Did you hang out with Snoop?
Speaker 4: You know, I kidnap my favorite moment. But I mean
Speaker 4: he got into it. There was a thing he was
Speaker 4: in a dresiage uniform with the helmet that he used
Speaker 4: in the horse for the feeding a character a horse.
Speaker 4: Apparently he's terrified of horses.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's grae Yeah, I mean he was.
Speaker 4: He was huge, he was everywhere. He's yeah, and I
Speaker 4: think what happens is he's ageless. I remember my my
Speaker 4: youngest son, who's now in his mid forties, listening to
Speaker 4: Snoop Dogg in the nineties, right, and he's still around.
Speaker 5: Hey, he's doing cooking shots with Martha Stewart, you know.
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, he's unbelievable. I remember seeing him at
Speaker 5: Patriot Super Bowl parties because he grew up with Willie
Speaker 5: mcguinness's right.
Speaker 4: And you know what, You're gonna see him in LA
Speaker 4: and work in LA. He's going to be a man
Speaker 4: him in Milan for the Winter Games.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, well, he's great. He's great for the product,
Speaker 5: he's great for diversity. It's just it's it's good all
Speaker 5: the way around. And so are you, John. Good health
Speaker 5: to you, man. I'd love seeing you covering these games.
Speaker 5: You are the dean of Olympic Writers. And thanks for
Speaker 5: joining us.
Speaker 4: Thanks guys, how did that for me?
Speaker 5: Okay, we'll do John Powers, one of the greats I
Speaker 5: mean on the Mount Rushmore of the Boston Globe joining us,
Speaker 5: I mean Bob Ryan, John Powers, Dan Shaughnessy, Peter Gammons,
Speaker 5: Will McDonough, Jackie McMullin, Peter May, Franny Rosa, Kevin Paul DuPont.
Speaker 5: Powers is right there with them all, with them all,
Speaker 5: and it was a pleasure to talk to him. I
Speaker 5: got into the Olympics. I didn't think I would, but
Speaker 5: something about Paris and just the whole vibe and everybody
Speaker 5: seemed to be happy. Everybody seemed to be in a
Speaker 5: good mood. Countries were cheering for one another. It wasn't abrasive,
Speaker 5: it was a it was I just have to say
Speaker 5: it was fun to watch. It was great, and it's
Speaker 5: it's okay to cheer for other countries, you know. I mean,
Speaker 5: I think we're beyond that, you know, the whole iyon
Speaker 5: curtain thing and us against them.
Speaker 2: Bah.
Speaker 5: Okay, coming up next, are you a deadhead? Do you
Speaker 5: love the Grateful Dead? I got a movie for you
Speaker 5: to watch that Mickey Hart stars in, and it talks
Speaker 5: about the rhythm of music, and it talks about the
Speaker 5: rhythm of sports. You might want to have a gummy
Speaker 5: or two when you watch it. I listen, my buddy
Speaker 5: Toy Champagne directed it and Mickey Hart one of the
Speaker 5: two drummers for The Grateful Dead. He is something else
Speaker 5: and he makes a lot of sense, and he's on
Speaker 5: the same page with the Joe Montanas of the world
Speaker 5: and Jack Nicholas, Bob Coozy and Bob Coosey. Bob Coosey
Speaker 5: and the Grateful Dead are on the same page when
Speaker 5: it comes to the rhythm of life and the rhythm
Speaker 5: of sports. And that's coming up next on wbz's Excite