The Olympics are perfect for fair-weather fans. Hear me out: you lock in for three weeks, care about the minute details of death-defying cold (or hot) sports, obsess over the personal lives of the athletes aaand soon enough, you’re back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Take it from a former fair-weather fan. I’m not a huge sports gal (except for my Philly teams, Go Birds) so I have to know the behind-the-scenes lore and the athletes’ personal stakes for me to truly care. This year’s Winter Games gave us no shortage of stories, and readers: I’m pleased to report I’m now hooked on the Olympics.
I dare you not to cry watching Elana Meyers Taylor, the 41-year-old American bobsledder and most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history. Leading up to this year’s games, Meyers Taylor made arrangements to travel with her two kids with special needs while she trained and competed. She scooped up her babies at the finish line after winning gold. Sob.
This story and SO many more are featured in theUp First Winter Games, a YouTube podcast series from NPR’s team on the ground in Milan. Host A. Martinez, the production team and intrepid reporters have been incredible shepherds of all things Olympics.
The human-centered stories of the Olympics defy the transient nature of the games. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been following U.S. skier Lyndsey Vonn the last four years. You’re cheering for her wins, crying for her injuries and hoping for her recovery.
What a privilege that we can pop the bubble of everyday life every few years to cheer on these world-class athletes. See ya in sunny L.A. for the Summer Games 2028! ☀️
Happy luging, Em
P.S. Do you have a hot take about the Winter Olympics? You must tell us at podclub@npr.org.
The week’s best episodes
…to share with your après-ski buddy
⛷️ Defying gravity Short Wave is tackling the physics behind one of the newest events: ski mountaineering (dubbed SkiMo, a delightful nickname). If you want to learn about the science of skiing UP a mountain, Short Wave’s expert guest offers a cat-petting metaphor that paints a purrfect picture.
💸 A million-dollar bet on a 'maybe'
How much does it cost to be an Olympic athlete? About a million dollars... and the cost only grows the better you get. The Indicator host Wailin Wong and OPB’s Lillian Karabaic cover the exponential costs of gear, trainers, travel and more.
♻️ 380 Olympic swimming pools of fake snow
Before the Winter Olympics, the landscape of Cortina was bleak: hundreds of trees were hacked down for the bobsleigh track, the grass was yellow and there was no snow. On Up First Winter Games, international correspondent Ruth Sherlock breaks down the environmental cost of getting fake snow to a rural mountain town.
➕ Explaining snowboarding to Terry Gross
Need I say more? In this episode of Fresh Air+, listen to the founder of Burton Snowboards chat with Terry about his origins with the extreme winter sport. Get access to this episode (and sponsor-free listening) by signing up for NPR+.
One to Watch
NPR partnered with The Curiosity Desk from WGBH to get the low-down on figure-skating judges. We here at Pod Club aren’t judgey, but we give you a 🔟 for reading to the end.
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