August 8, 2024 • 18 mins
Matt Renoux is a Reporter at 9NEWS in Denver, Colorado.
He joined 9NEWS in 1999 in the Mountain Newsroom which is located in Silverthorne. Normally he's sharing stories abiut others, this time he shares his own battle with cancer while covering the Olympics in Paris. He's doing it all with a smile.
Plus a pop culture update with Denise's Dirt.
He joined 9NEWS in 1999 in the Mountain Newsroom which is located in Silverthorne. Normally he's sharing stories abiut others, this time he shares his own battle with cancer while covering the Olympics in Paris. He's doing it all with a smile.
Plus a pop culture update with Denise's Dirt.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Do Do Do Do Do Do. Hey, y'all, it's Denise's podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Ooh wee honey. I am excited about my interview today
all the way from Paris. My friend Matt renew from
nine News. He's worked at nine News for over twenty
five years. He's covered several Olympics, but this year is
a little more challenging for him. He's opened up and
talked about his wife. She battled breast cancer and right
(00:27):
as she was ending her last treatment, Matt got diagnosed
with thyroid cancer. So he's fighting that currently right now
as he is in Paris. But he is such an
upbeat guy. He's on social media all the time, inspiring others,
and plus he gives us a little insight about what's
happening in Paris now. iHeartRadio of course, where your official
(00:52):
audio partner exclusive audio partner, so you can download the
iHeartRadio app for free and listen to the Olympics. I
won't miss a minute of it. But Matt Reneu is
going to give us a little behind the scenes, including
what's in each medal. Normally it's just gold, silver, bronze,
but Paris decided to put something special in each medal
(01:13):
that made it a little heavier, so we'll talk about
that coming up. First, quick look at Denise's dirt. This
is really scary. Taylor Swift was forced to scrub three
shows in Vienna, Austria. Why. Counter terrorism intelligence the agents
in the United States detected a plot to disrupt the
era's tour. What are you kidding me? Why are they
(01:36):
going after Taylor Swift? I guess There's three young men.
One of them had purchase explosive chemicals but not all
the components needed to assemble a bomb. There was a
nineteen year old, there was a seventeen year old and
allegedly fifteen year old. The scary part is one of
them had already secured a job inside the arena, so
(01:59):
it would make it easier to go through this plot,
and he was willing to go down with the explosion.
Organizers had no choice but to cancel the shows for
everyone's safety, and all ticket holders are expected to receive
a refund in the coming weeks. No word on whether
or not the shows are going to be rescheduled. Gosh,
that is not the next date for the Heiress tour.
(02:20):
It's scheduled next week at Wimbley Stadium in England. There
is some good news for Taylor Swift. There's a video
going on online on TikTok where she said I'm in
a great mood and as she's saying that, she's rubbing
a ring on her left engagement finger. So there's rumors
(02:41):
is she engaged to Travis Kelcey. I don't know. I'm
so grateful to everyone who was in this video. MTV
viam Awards announced the nominations and naw Taylor Swift leads
the pack with ten nominations. Post Malone follows with nine.
Ariana Grande, eminem and Sabrina Carpenter each have six non dominations.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well listened to the Radio, a lot, I hung out
in a record storees and a slam banged around on
a guitar.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
This is kind of cool. Bob Dylan biopic is announced.
It's called A Complete Unknown and it's set to come
out December twenty fifth, on Christmas Day. Guess who's going
to be playing a young Bob Dylan. I'm excited to
see how he pulls it off. Timothy Chamalet, and I
guess he does his own singing in the movie too.
The movie also stars Ed Norton.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
The adore My shams Oo, Sin.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
City Better get ready. Blake Shelton is hitting Vegas twenty
twenty five. He isn't exactly establishing a residency, but he's
just kind of setting up shop for like six shows
at the Coliseum at Caesar's Palace in Vegas. He's going
to be there February fifth, seventh, and eighth, and then
again on the twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. If you're a
(03:48):
member of Blake's fan club, tickets go on sale tomorrow,
but the rest of us, we'll just have to wait
until August sixteenth. Just go to his website to find
out more. You know, the twenty twenty four iHeartRadio Music
Festival is going to be in Vegas September twentieth and
the twenty first, when Stefani's scheduled to perform. I'm hoping
sometimes they do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Blake
(04:08):
Shelton ow he shows up and rocks the stage with her.
I'll never let go. I had no idea Kate Winslet
had an eating disorder. She opened up as she said
she was facing a lot of bullying after she rose
to fame from her work in Titanic and a lot
of criticism from tabloids. It caused her to develop an
eating disorder. In an interview, she said, look at all
(04:30):
those years in my twenties, I was all sorts of
different sizes and shapes. But she's also happy that women
are now so much more accepting of themselves and refuse
to be judged.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
And I think there's a lack of oxygen getting to
my heart because I'm feeling very suffocated.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Eugene and Dan Levy are in talks to host the
twenty twenty four Emmys, but that most the worst that
put nothing. And finally, when you hear Adell performer, if
you ever get to see her perform live, don't expect
her to sing one of her earliest hits, the song
Chasing Pavements. She gave a final fair Well when she's
singing in Germany and explained, I don't like singing it anymore.
(05:04):
It makes me sound like I'm like a nineteen year old.
Allegedly that's what she said. Anyway, there you go. That's
a quick look at Denis's dirt. Now let's get to
the interview. All the way from Paris the Olympics, Matt renew. Hi, Matt,
how are you good?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I'm doing excellent. First off, we've been watching you on
nine News for twenty plus years telling everyone else's story,
and I want to give you and your wife a
big virtual hug right now. I know Kelly just finished
fighting breast cancer, and at the end of her treatment,
you were diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I mean, life really
(05:40):
threw you guys at curveball. How are you?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah? You know, I mean, I guess, you know, all
things said, We're good. You know, Kelly's was just wrapped up,
so she's out of the woods, and she just finished
her last treatment, her last bone infusion, and then like
a week later, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and
(06:03):
so we kind of just looped from one to the next.
But I'm doing well, you know, I'm out. I mean,
I guess I wouldn't have been able to come out
here if I wasn't. They're long days. It's you know,
three weeks in Paris and usually eighteen to I think
my longest was twenty two hour day, and so long days,
a lot of walking and it's physical and if I
(06:24):
can do that, I guess I'm doing all right well.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I'm glad to hear that and know you have a
lot of people praying for you, and honestly, it's so
good to see you covering the Olympics again. But it's
a lot of work, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
It really is, But you know it is a dream assignment.
And you know, I was thinking about this the other day.
Is it's my ninth Olympics that I've covered. Seven that
I've gone to. You know, Tokyo and Beijing we covered
from Colorado, so sort of the same approach, just all
over Colorado and not in a foreign country, but we
still covered the games. And so it's been a few
(06:56):
of these and you know, with all of them, at
some point you think, gosh, this is just a lot
of work and it's really hard, and when's it going
to end? But I've got a different outlook with this one.
It's the same amount of work and it is hard,
but it's not like you're counting down the days. You know,
you want to just enjoy every minute because it's a
blessing to be here and it's I'm lucky to be here,
(07:19):
and so for the first time at an Olympics, I'm
not really counting down the days I'm just trying to
enjoy each one and until the assignment's done.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Matt, You're so good at your job. I love watching
you interview some of the Olympians and covering the Olympics.
Do you get in awe, like, are you a little
bit I don't know, starstruck when you interview these athletes
that have dedicated their whole life to represent the United States?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh? Absolutely, you know. I think that's what draws people
to the Olympics, is that these athletes are at the
top of their game, or they wouldn't be on this stage.
And so one, you're you're getting the chance to see
some amazing athletes, right, not just American athletes but from
around the world, and so that's pretty cool. But but two,
(08:09):
it's just a really exciting thing, especially when when you're
watching Team USA and then when you're at an event
that's got Colorado athletes. And the example of this would
be the US women's soccer match that they played against
Japan their quarterfinal match. And a photographer at our station,
(08:31):
Johnny Kirk, who does a lot of sports and broncos
and has done some Olympic stuff with me, but sitting
with me and we were in this media area and
I'm watching Team USA and I'm watching these you know,
these three Colorado players, you know, Sophia Smith and Mallory
Swanson and Lindsay Ran, And whenever one of them would
do something great or it looks like they're getting ready
to score, I would start cheering, and Johnny would say,
(08:54):
you're not supposed to supposed to clap and share in
the media section, and I said, well, I can't help it.
I was the one guy in this whole area just
cheering because, you know, just try to stop a freight trade,
you can't. And I was just going to enjoy it.
I just couldn't. It was too exciting and what a
matchic turned out to be too Oh my.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Gosh, you're authentic. How could you not cheer? That's that's
exactly how I feel. Did you get a chance to
interview any of the athletes from Colorado?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, we've been. We've been following a lot
of them. It's difficult with these Olympics because Paris has
had this plan to have the Olympics all over so
it's very spread out, not just all over Paris, but
a lot of these events are in other regions of France,
and so we haven't been able to get to maybe
as much as we would like to. But now that
(09:45):
we're getting into a lot of the semi finals and
final rounds here in the last week, we're starting to
see more. And so, you know, yes, we followed the
soccer players. We watched some of our Colorado athletes competing
with the women's volleyball team. We saw a little bit
of the rugby match. And the only Colorado athlete we
had with that was Sammy Fullivan and she's not from Colorado,
(10:08):
but she plays for the Gray Wolves and she's an
army captain, so she'd been stationed out there for a
while after graduating from West Point. And so when we
can get to these events, we do, even if it's
just for a short amount of time. And then and
then if we can't get to it, we talked to
them when they finish, and certainly if they medal, then
we are able to track them down and talk to them.
And so we were there when Valerie Alman won her
(10:32):
second consecutive gold medal in the discus, the first American
to ever do that, only the fourth woman in history
to win two gold medals in the discus. And so
we were there, talked to her in the mix zone. It
was really exciting. And so yeah, it is really thrilling
one to root on your you know, US athletes, but
Colorado has so many athletes. It's really fun to route
(10:57):
homes from Colorado gold. You know, like I'm from there,
I know her, right.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Have you held a gold medal? Are they really heavy?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yes? They are? And these these metals, the gold and silver,
the bronze, they are all kind of weigh the same, I guess,
but these metals that they've created in Paris are a
little more unique and maybe even a little heavier than
past metals because there's a piece of the Eiffel Tower
in each of the metals, and so you turn them
over and there's this this piece of iron from the
(11:28):
Eiffel Tower in and so there's a lot of weight
to it. And whether it's an Olympic medal traditionally or
a Paralympic medal, they have a heavy feel to them.
And I think they do that because it just sort
of gives it this this high quality field, this sense
of achievement, feel like this is worth something, and and
and you pick it up and it just kind of
feels valuable, obviously more than you could really put a
(11:52):
price on for the athletes, but it just feels like
it's got something to it. And these are particularly heavy.
They feel really cool.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Creative idea to take like a piece or a shaving
of the Eiffel Tower and include that. That's that's really creative.
What is the atmosphere like in Paris right now?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
It is electric? You know, you think about the last
three games. Even if we hadn't had the pandemic, the
last three Olympics were all held in Asia, and so
you know, you had South Korea, you had Tokyo, and
you had Beijing, and even without the pandemic, I think
there would have been like a feel for it to
be a little bit closer to the continental United States
(12:33):
and certainly the East coast, and so that alone would
have propelled Paris a little bit. But then with the pandemic,
where fans couldn't go and family and friends couldn't go,
and everyone had watch parties back home, but there was
no real electricity for the athletes in the stands, returning
to Europe, returning friends and family and fans, and then
(12:57):
having it in one of the romantic cities of the
world in Paris with these iconic locations as backdrops has
just supercharged I think the feeling of these Olympics. People
are excited, the viewerships up way over I think what
they expected and over Tokyo, and then the tourists that
have come out that we've spoke to from the from
the States are just enthralled and just amazed and having
(13:21):
a great time out here. I think were any Olympics.
There are issues and there are problems, but I think
this will probably go down as one of the better
ones when people look back on it, just for the
beauty and some of the amazing things that have happened
in sports.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And it's fun to hear the athletes reaction, how excited
they get, watch their big smiles like Simone Biles. Have
you had a chance to talk to her?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yet, even the different stratosphere for journalists, there was no
really meeting Simon in a mix zone like we traditionally do.
She really, and I think rightfully so, limited her media
exposure going into these games. We saw what happened before Tokyo,
and this happens with a lot of athletes. It's a
(14:02):
balance you want to try to tap into some of
the publicity of the Olympics as an athlete, but you
don't want to overdo it and then get this burden
of pressure put on you and all these interviews that
take you away from what you should be doing, which
is training. And so there's a balance there, and I
think maybe Simone got so caught up in Tokyo and
(14:24):
everything around her in the Olympics and the media and
the pressure and the stress, and we saw what it
did to her, and then going into these it was
very difficult. Really, everything was cut off from interviewing her
or seeing her except for like NBC and then a
few other international platforms on the top level. She really
restricted that. I think she wanted to focus on the
(14:44):
competition and what was healthy for her, and then we
saw the outcome of that. Just a great job and
what a comeback story. It would have been great to
interview her, but we didn't get a chance to.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
You made a really good point because it's not just
physical health and well being for the but it's also
mental and emotionally, and they have to make sure there's
nothing that's going to take away their focus from winning
the gold and what their objective is to do.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
There it is so difficult, and tm USA over the
past few years is really as an organization been trying
to spend more attention on that from mental health points
of view and what they can do to keep athletes
mentally strong as they are physically. And this ranges from
people they can talk to to getting the right kind
(15:30):
of sleep. They have sleep doctors that work with them
and help them deal with the time zone changes and
recover quicker, and map at the right times and eat
at the right times and make sure that they're healthy.
And so this is a big topic for Team USA
and something they've really been pursuing because the Olympics are
very stressful. You can say as an athlete that no,
(15:50):
it's just another ovent, but it's not. When you get here,
it's totally different. And so keeping them healthy is important
physically and mentally.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
And giving to Michael Phelps too, he was one of
the first that came out and said, look, I deal
with depression, I deal with anxiety. And then Simon was
she was very honest in the past Olympics and I
heard one of her interviews she said she was prep
she had therapy the morning before she competed. So mental
health I mean, it's wonderful that they're putting it out
there and supporting others.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
It is, and it's not just the summer sports. I
mean our own Colorado girl, Mikayla Shippren, has been very
outspoken about mental health. She struggled in Beijing, just like
Simone did, and so she's been out forward about that
and how difficult it can be and the importance of
being mentally strong and healthy. And so, yeah, a lot
(16:42):
more athletes coming out and talking about this, and it's
important because in our society, I think in the United States,
a lot of a lot of people feel it you
got to be tough and you can't talk about this stuff.
You got to just bury it and move on. And
maybe that's the way some people deal with it, but
that's not the way everyone has to deal with it.
And so I think the lesson is is just to
do what you need to do to be healthy and
(17:04):
then get it done and just make sure you take
the right steps before I let you go.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
One more question. I am a huge track sprinter hurdler fanatic.
That was my sport. I was streaming the Olympics on
the iHeartRadio app because we're the NBC's audio partner. When
Gabby Thomas was running the two hundred and one, I
was like, go go. I was so excited. Are you
able to get out and watch any of the track
(17:29):
and field?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Oh? Yeah, I mean two athletes that I left off
the list earlier. We watched the least Cranny out of
from the Denver area racing the five thousand. It was great.
She didn't maybe finish as great as she would have
liked to, but I felt she ran really strong, and
we talked to her afterwards and it was just exciting
for her to be there and coming up. Gosh, I
(17:51):
think it might be Friday here in Paris. Anna Hall
will be running and competing in her sports, and so
there's a lot of stars as well from Colorado. You know,
it's great because Colorado is a huge track and field state,
but it's also a climbing state, it's a soccer state,
and so there's a lot to look forward to. And
(18:12):
there's still a lot of events still coming up in
the next gosh, what have we got? Four more days
of the Olympics for so well?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Thank you so much for taking time for me. I'm
going to continue watching you on nine News. I wish
you and pray all health and happiness for you and
your family. Working with you in the past. Honestly, you're
just salt of the earth kind of guy. I appreciate
you taking time. We'll continue watching and supporting you on
nine News and calling all the way from Paris.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Thank you. I just you know, it's just fun. It's
still it's a charmed life, even with the things that
are happening here lately. So I appreciate you saying that
to meis It was great talking with you and catch
it up a little
Do Do Do Do Do Do. Hey, y'all, it's Denise's podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Ooh wee honey. I am excited about my interview today
all the way from Paris. My friend Matt renew from
nine News. He's worked at nine News for over twenty
five years. He's covered several Olympics, but this year is
a little more challenging for him. He's opened up and
talked about his wife. She battled breast cancer and right
(00:27):
as she was ending her last treatment, Matt got diagnosed
with thyroid cancer. So he's fighting that currently right now
as he is in Paris. But he is such an
upbeat guy. He's on social media all the time, inspiring others,
and plus he gives us a little insight about what's
happening in Paris now. iHeartRadio of course, where your official
(00:52):
audio partner exclusive audio partner, so you can download the
iHeartRadio app for free and listen to the Olympics. I
won't miss a minute of it. But Matt Reneu is
going to give us a little behind the scenes, including
what's in each medal. Normally it's just gold, silver, bronze,
but Paris decided to put something special in each medal
(01:13):
that made it a little heavier, so we'll talk about
that coming up. First, quick look at Denise's dirt. This
is really scary. Taylor Swift was forced to scrub three
shows in Vienna, Austria. Why. Counter terrorism intelligence the agents
in the United States detected a plot to disrupt the
era's tour. What are you kidding me? Why are they
(01:36):
going after Taylor Swift? I guess There's three young men.
One of them had purchase explosive chemicals but not all
the components needed to assemble a bomb. There was a
nineteen year old, there was a seventeen year old and
allegedly fifteen year old. The scary part is one of
them had already secured a job inside the arena, so
(01:59):
it would make it easier to go through this plot,
and he was willing to go down with the explosion.
Organizers had no choice but to cancel the shows for
everyone's safety, and all ticket holders are expected to receive
a refund in the coming weeks. No word on whether
or not the shows are going to be rescheduled. Gosh,
that is not the next date for the Heiress tour.
(02:20):
It's scheduled next week at Wimbley Stadium in England. There
is some good news for Taylor Swift. There's a video
going on online on TikTok where she said I'm in
a great mood and as she's saying that, she's rubbing
a ring on her left engagement finger. So there's rumors
(02:41):
is she engaged to Travis Kelcey. I don't know. I'm
so grateful to everyone who was in this video. MTV
viam Awards announced the nominations and naw Taylor Swift leads
the pack with ten nominations. Post Malone follows with nine.
Ariana Grande, eminem and Sabrina Carpenter each have six non dominations.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well listened to the Radio, a lot, I hung out
in a record storees and a slam banged around on
a guitar.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
This is kind of cool. Bob Dylan biopic is announced.
It's called A Complete Unknown and it's set to come
out December twenty fifth, on Christmas Day. Guess who's going
to be playing a young Bob Dylan. I'm excited to
see how he pulls it off. Timothy Chamalet, and I
guess he does his own singing in the movie too.
The movie also stars Ed Norton.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
The adore My shams Oo, Sin.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
City Better get ready. Blake Shelton is hitting Vegas twenty
twenty five. He isn't exactly establishing a residency, but he's
just kind of setting up shop for like six shows
at the Coliseum at Caesar's Palace in Vegas. He's going
to be there February fifth, seventh, and eighth, and then
again on the twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. If you're a
(03:48):
member of Blake's fan club, tickets go on sale tomorrow,
but the rest of us, we'll just have to wait
until August sixteenth. Just go to his website to find
out more. You know, the twenty twenty four iHeartRadio Music
Festival is going to be in Vegas September twentieth and
the twenty first, when Stefani's scheduled to perform. I'm hoping
sometimes they do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Blake
(04:08):
Shelton ow he shows up and rocks the stage with her.
I'll never let go. I had no idea Kate Winslet
had an eating disorder. She opened up as she said
she was facing a lot of bullying after she rose
to fame from her work in Titanic and a lot
of criticism from tabloids. It caused her to develop an
eating disorder. In an interview, she said, look at all
(04:30):
those years in my twenties, I was all sorts of
different sizes and shapes. But she's also happy that women
are now so much more accepting of themselves and refuse
to be judged.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
And I think there's a lack of oxygen getting to
my heart because I'm feeling very suffocated.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Eugene and Dan Levy are in talks to host the
twenty twenty four Emmys, but that most the worst that
put nothing. And finally, when you hear Adell performer, if
you ever get to see her perform live, don't expect
her to sing one of her earliest hits, the song
Chasing Pavements. She gave a final fair Well when she's
singing in Germany and explained, I don't like singing it anymore.
(05:04):
It makes me sound like I'm like a nineteen year old.
Allegedly that's what she said. Anyway, there you go. That's
a quick look at Denis's dirt. Now let's get to
the interview. All the way from Paris the Olympics, Matt renew. Hi, Matt,
how are you good?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I'm doing excellent. First off, we've been watching you on
nine News for twenty plus years telling everyone else's story,
and I want to give you and your wife a
big virtual hug right now. I know Kelly just finished
fighting breast cancer, and at the end of her treatment,
you were diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I mean, life really
(05:40):
threw you guys at curveball. How are you?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah? You know, I mean, I guess, you know, all
things said, We're good. You know, Kelly's was just wrapped up,
so she's out of the woods, and she just finished
her last treatment, her last bone infusion, and then like
a week later, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and
(06:03):
so we kind of just looped from one to the next.
But I'm doing well, you know, I'm out. I mean,
I guess I wouldn't have been able to come out
here if I wasn't. They're long days. It's you know,
three weeks in Paris and usually eighteen to I think
my longest was twenty two hour day, and so long days,
a lot of walking and it's physical and if I
(06:24):
can do that, I guess I'm doing all right well.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I'm glad to hear that and know you have a
lot of people praying for you, and honestly, it's so
good to see you covering the Olympics again. But it's
a lot of work, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
It really is, But you know it is a dream assignment.
And you know, I was thinking about this the other day.
Is it's my ninth Olympics that I've covered. Seven that
I've gone to. You know, Tokyo and Beijing we covered
from Colorado, so sort of the same approach, just all
over Colorado and not in a foreign country, but we
still covered the games. And so it's been a few
(06:56):
of these and you know, with all of them, at
some point you think, gosh, this is just a lot
of work and it's really hard, and when's it going
to end? But I've got a different outlook with this one.
It's the same amount of work and it is hard,
but it's not like you're counting down the days. You know,
you want to just enjoy every minute because it's a
blessing to be here and it's I'm lucky to be here,
(07:19):
and so for the first time at an Olympics, I'm
not really counting down the days I'm just trying to
enjoy each one and until the assignment's done.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Matt, You're so good at your job. I love watching
you interview some of the Olympians and covering the Olympics.
Do you get in awe, like, are you a little
bit I don't know, starstruck when you interview these athletes
that have dedicated their whole life to represent the United States?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh? Absolutely, you know. I think that's what draws people
to the Olympics, is that these athletes are at the
top of their game, or they wouldn't be on this stage.
And so one, you're you're getting the chance to see
some amazing athletes, right, not just American athletes but from
around the world, and so that's pretty cool. But but two,
(08:09):
it's just a really exciting thing, especially when when you're
watching Team USA and then when you're at an event
that's got Colorado athletes. And the example of this would
be the US women's soccer match that they played against
Japan their quarterfinal match. And a photographer at our station,
(08:31):
Johnny Kirk, who does a lot of sports and broncos
and has done some Olympic stuff with me, but sitting
with me and we were in this media area and
I'm watching Team USA and I'm watching these you know,
these three Colorado players, you know, Sophia Smith and Mallory
Swanson and Lindsay Ran, And whenever one of them would
do something great or it looks like they're getting ready
to score, I would start cheering, and Johnny would say,
(08:54):
you're not supposed to supposed to clap and share in
the media section, and I said, well, I can't help it.
I was the one guy in this whole area just
cheering because, you know, just try to stop a freight trade,
you can't. And I was just going to enjoy it.
I just couldn't. It was too exciting and what a
matchic turned out to be too Oh my.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Gosh, you're authentic. How could you not cheer? That's that's
exactly how I feel. Did you get a chance to
interview any of the athletes from Colorado?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, we've been. We've been following a lot
of them. It's difficult with these Olympics because Paris has
had this plan to have the Olympics all over so
it's very spread out, not just all over Paris, but
a lot of these events are in other regions of France,
and so we haven't been able to get to maybe
as much as we would like to. But now that
(09:45):
we're getting into a lot of the semi finals and
final rounds here in the last week, we're starting to
see more. And so, you know, yes, we followed the
soccer players. We watched some of our Colorado athletes competing
with the women's volleyball team. We saw a little bit
of the rugby match. And the only Colorado athlete we
had with that was Sammy Fullivan and she's not from Colorado,
(10:08):
but she plays for the Gray Wolves and she's an
army captain, so she'd been stationed out there for a
while after graduating from West Point. And so when we
can get to these events, we do, even if it's
just for a short amount of time. And then and
then if we can't get to it, we talked to
them when they finish, and certainly if they medal, then
we are able to track them down and talk to them.
And so we were there when Valerie Alman won her
(10:32):
second consecutive gold medal in the discus, the first American
to ever do that, only the fourth woman in history
to win two gold medals in the discus. And so
we were there, talked to her in the mix zone. It
was really exciting. And so yeah, it is really thrilling
one to root on your you know, US athletes, but
Colorado has so many athletes. It's really fun to route
(10:57):
homes from Colorado gold. You know, like I'm from there,
I know her, right.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Have you held a gold medal? Are they really heavy?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yes? They are? And these these metals, the gold and silver,
the bronze, they are all kind of weigh the same, I guess,
but these metals that they've created in Paris are a
little more unique and maybe even a little heavier than
past metals because there's a piece of the Eiffel Tower
in each of the metals, and so you turn them
over and there's this this piece of iron from the
(11:28):
Eiffel Tower in and so there's a lot of weight
to it. And whether it's an Olympic medal traditionally or
a Paralympic medal, they have a heavy feel to them.
And I think they do that because it just sort
of gives it this this high quality field, this sense
of achievement, feel like this is worth something, and and
and you pick it up and it just kind of
feels valuable, obviously more than you could really put a
(11:52):
price on for the athletes, but it just feels like
it's got something to it. And these are particularly heavy.
They feel really cool.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Creative idea to take like a piece or a shaving
of the Eiffel Tower and include that. That's that's really creative.
What is the atmosphere like in Paris right now?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
It is electric? You know, you think about the last
three games. Even if we hadn't had the pandemic, the
last three Olympics were all held in Asia, and so
you know, you had South Korea, you had Tokyo, and
you had Beijing, and even without the pandemic, I think
there would have been like a feel for it to
be a little bit closer to the continental United States
(12:33):
and certainly the East coast, and so that alone would
have propelled Paris a little bit. But then with the pandemic,
where fans couldn't go and family and friends couldn't go,
and everyone had watch parties back home, but there was
no real electricity for the athletes in the stands, returning
to Europe, returning friends and family and fans, and then
(12:57):
having it in one of the romantic cities of the
world in Paris with these iconic locations as backdrops has
just supercharged I think the feeling of these Olympics. People
are excited, the viewerships up way over I think what
they expected and over Tokyo, and then the tourists that
have come out that we've spoke to from the from
the States are just enthralled and just amazed and having
(13:21):
a great time out here. I think were any Olympics.
There are issues and there are problems, but I think
this will probably go down as one of the better
ones when people look back on it, just for the
beauty and some of the amazing things that have happened
in sports.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And it's fun to hear the athletes reaction, how excited
they get, watch their big smiles like Simone Biles. Have
you had a chance to talk to her?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yet, even the different stratosphere for journalists, there was no
really meeting Simon in a mix zone like we traditionally do.
She really, and I think rightfully so, limited her media
exposure going into these games. We saw what happened before Tokyo,
and this happens with a lot of athletes. It's a
(14:02):
balance you want to try to tap into some of
the publicity of the Olympics as an athlete, but you
don't want to overdo it and then get this burden
of pressure put on you and all these interviews that
take you away from what you should be doing, which
is training. And so there's a balance there, and I
think maybe Simone got so caught up in Tokyo and
(14:24):
everything around her in the Olympics and the media and
the pressure and the stress, and we saw what it
did to her, and then going into these it was
very difficult. Really, everything was cut off from interviewing her
or seeing her except for like NBC and then a
few other international platforms on the top level. She really
restricted that. I think she wanted to focus on the
(14:44):
competition and what was healthy for her, and then we
saw the outcome of that. Just a great job and
what a comeback story. It would have been great to
interview her, but we didn't get a chance to.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
You made a really good point because it's not just
physical health and well being for the but it's also
mental and emotionally, and they have to make sure there's
nothing that's going to take away their focus from winning
the gold and what their objective is to do.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
There it is so difficult, and tm USA over the
past few years is really as an organization been trying
to spend more attention on that from mental health points
of view and what they can do to keep athletes
mentally strong as they are physically. And this ranges from
people they can talk to to getting the right kind
(15:30):
of sleep. They have sleep doctors that work with them
and help them deal with the time zone changes and
recover quicker, and map at the right times and eat
at the right times and make sure that they're healthy.
And so this is a big topic for Team USA
and something they've really been pursuing because the Olympics are
very stressful. You can say as an athlete that no,
(15:50):
it's just another ovent, but it's not. When you get here,
it's totally different. And so keeping them healthy is important
physically and mentally.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
And giving to Michael Phelps too, he was one of
the first that came out and said, look, I deal
with depression, I deal with anxiety. And then Simon was
she was very honest in the past Olympics and I
heard one of her interviews she said she was prep
she had therapy the morning before she competed. So mental
health I mean, it's wonderful that they're putting it out
there and supporting others.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
It is, and it's not just the summer sports. I
mean our own Colorado girl, Mikayla Shippren, has been very
outspoken about mental health. She struggled in Beijing, just like
Simone did, and so she's been out forward about that
and how difficult it can be and the importance of
being mentally strong and healthy. And so, yeah, a lot
(16:42):
more athletes coming out and talking about this, and it's
important because in our society, I think in the United States,
a lot of a lot of people feel it you
got to be tough and you can't talk about this stuff.
You got to just bury it and move on. And
maybe that's the way some people deal with it, but
that's not the way everyone has to deal with it.
And so I think the lesson is is just to
do what you need to do to be healthy and
(17:04):
then get it done and just make sure you take
the right steps before I let you go.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
One more question. I am a huge track sprinter hurdler fanatic.
That was my sport. I was streaming the Olympics on
the iHeartRadio app because we're the NBC's audio partner. When
Gabby Thomas was running the two hundred and one, I
was like, go go. I was so excited. Are you
able to get out and watch any of the track
(17:29):
and field?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Oh? Yeah, I mean two athletes that I left off
the list earlier. We watched the least Cranny out of
from the Denver area racing the five thousand. It was great.
She didn't maybe finish as great as she would have
liked to, but I felt she ran really strong, and
we talked to her afterwards and it was just exciting
for her to be there and coming up. Gosh, I
(17:51):
think it might be Friday here in Paris. Anna Hall
will be running and competing in her sports, and so
there's a lot of stars as well from Colorado. You know,
it's great because Colorado is a huge track and field state,
but it's also a climbing state, it's a soccer state,
and so there's a lot to look forward to. And
(18:12):
there's still a lot of events still coming up in
the next gosh, what have we got? Four more days
of the Olympics for so well?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Thank you so much for taking time for me. I'm
going to continue watching you on nine News. I wish
you and pray all health and happiness for you and
your family. Working with you in the past. Honestly, you're
just salt of the earth kind of guy. I appreciate
you taking time. We'll continue watching and supporting you on
nine News and calling all the way from Paris.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Thank you. I just you know, it's just fun. It's
still it's a charmed life, even with the things that
are happening here lately. So I appreciate you saying that
to meis It was great talking with you and catch
it up a little
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