Episode 208: Olympics, Like It or Not
Lindsay Gibbs, Shireen Ahmed and Jessica Luther bring Burn It All Down back after a short break. Like it or not (it's both!) the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are coming and this week BIAD covers the the incredible, the heartbreaking and the huh?!. They discuss COVID updates in Japan, US track and field sensations and amazing athletes from around the world breaking barriers.
Then, Lindsay shares a pre-view of her interview with Anne Orchier of NOlympics L.A and the team sets aflame a much needed Burn Pile. Next, there's the torchbearers leading the way, including Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama. Carl is the first active NFL player to come out as gay and Kumi, an NWSL footballer, came out as transgender and uses they/them pronouns. They wrap up the show with what's good in their lives and what sports they are watching this week.
This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network.
Links
IOC says yes to babies at Olympics; Gaucher able to bring daughter: https://www.tsn.ca/kim-gaucher-basketball-canada-tokyo-olympics-1.1662109/
Canadian boxer Bujold wins Olympic appeal: https://www.tsn.ca/cp-newsalert-canadian-boxer-mandy-bujold-wins-olympic-appeal-1.1662166/
The real threat to women’s sports? It’s not trans women: https://onherturf.nbcsports.com/2021/06/21/laurel-hubbard-weightlifting-transgender-women-not-threat-womens-sports
History maker Sajan Prakash: 'I think I'll pass out from the joy' https://www.espn.com/olympics/summer/swimming/story/_/id/31713067/tokyo-olympics-history-maker-sajan-prakash-think-pass-joy
Hungarian fencer Aida Mohamed to compete in her 7th Olympics: https://apnews.com/article/aida-mohamed-europe-2020-tokyo-olympics-olympic-games-sports-0dff7f90f89163bf2eca7b249dac4778
Simone Manuel completes remarkable turnaround, qualifies for 2021 Olympics after health struggles: https://sports.yahoo.com/simone-manuel-olympics-2021-trials-health-issues-003808799
Transcript
Lindsay: Hello, hello, hello everyone, and welcome to Burn It All Down, the feminist sports podcast you need. I am Lindsay Gibbs and I’m so so happy to be back here with my co-hosts. Today, I'm joined by Jessica Luther and Shireen Ahmed. How are you two?
Jessica: Happy to be here.
Shireen: Very happy to be here! I missed you guys.
Lindsay: I know! So, we took the month of June off. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. So I hope you enjoyed the interview episodes and special episodes that we released during the month of June. But we're thrilled to be back to our regularly scheduled programming because, goodness, is there a lot to talk about. Today we're going to be talking all things Olympics. a lot of stories happened this past month – we’re going to do our best to highlight some of our favorites and especially our least favorites. And we've got a burn pile. We've got…What else do we do? Torchbearers, and…What else do we do?! It’s been so long! [Jessica laughs]
Shireen: We do everything.
Lindsay: It has been so long. Okay. Anyways, [laughs] top of our show topic is: what is our favorite non-Olympic sports-related moment from the last month? Because we missed so much. Shireen, I think you might have a very specific one.
Shireen: Okay. For those of you that may not know, the Montreal Canadiens are in the Stanley Cup finals. We are recording Saturday morning, right now the series is 3-0 for Tampa Bay. However, people have come back, and this is the first time in 28 years that the Montreal Canadiens have been in the finals. They won in ’93. I was alive. I remember. But the hype and the excitement of these fans, and this type of excitement has been dormant for a very long time. And so it's just been a thrill, and I've been very obsessed with that, although I've tried to break up with the Montreal Canadiens, and it's just like that relationship that won't go away. But right now it's okay for me. [laughs] And I'm enjoying it tremendously.
Lindsay: This is the high part of the toxic relationship. [laughter] This is when you made up and everything’s good.
Jessica: It's hard to remember the bad in moments like this
Lindsay: I know, yeah. [laughs]
Shireen: And it has been bad, but right now, yeah, I got myself a Carey Price jersey. It's pretty great.
Jessica: Wow. You’re all in.
Shireen: I’m all in.
Lindsay: Speaking of all in, our Jess has gone all in seeing actually live sporting events, which is something I still really haven't experienced. Jess, what have been your favorite moments?
Jessica: I do live in Texas where we were on the live sports bandwagon before anyone else, [laughter] whether or not it was safe. So yeah, I spent a lot of time watching soccer in the last month–
Lindsay: As usual. As usual. Jess, our soccer expert. Yeah. [laughs]
Jessica: Yeah, exactly. My favorite thing, I was going to say, was when I got to go to the US women's national team games, both in Houston and in Austin, I got to go with Amira, so that part was lovely. But in Houston, before the US played Jamaica, Nigeria played Portugal and it was this really fun game and ended up 3-3. So, there were a ton of goals, but the final goal was the equalizer by Nigeria in stoppage time. We were down behind the net for that goal, sitting behind or standing behind some Nigeria fans as well. And so that was just so fun. It was like the first moment back at a live sporting event where I was just screaming. I wasn't even invested, [laughs] I didn't care what was happening, but I found myself screaming. And that was going to be my answer until the other night, Thursday night, Aaron and I went to our second Austin FC home game. They've played three of them. No score in the first one, no score in the second one.
We were like, can this team score at all? Like, is this possible? They had the lowest number of goals in the MLS leading into this game. But I didn't want to miss it. I was like, let's be there for the first goal. We've invested enough here. We have jerseys. We know all the players, we know the coach, like, we have done the work. They won 4-1 over the Portland Timbers, and we just got to scream our face off. The whole crowd is so electric. The supporter section is doing the work of keeping it energized in the stadium. The stadium is beautiful and small enough that it feels really intimate. And they just scored four beautiful goals and it was really fun to be there. On a week when sports has let me down over and over and over again, I was like, this is why we keep coming back.
Lindsay: I love it. I don't have one thing that stands out above the rest. I've just been watching so many sports lately. Like, I feel like I'm back into full mega sports fandom, and it's funny because my brain earlier this year couldn't really…I was sick and not feeling well, my brain couldn't really process sports. Like, I remember once turning on an NWSL match during during the Challenge Cup and literally I couldn't watch, like, my brain wasn't attaching to anything. So now that my brain is attaching to things it's attached to everything. So I've been watching so much Wimbledon. WNBA has been fantastic. There've been so many overtime games. It's just been great. NWSL is phenomenal, and I’ve also really been loving the NBA playoffs. I've just been loving sports in general, and I feel like that's just going to be the theme for this summer.
All right. Well, like it or not – which for us is both, I feel like we both like it and we do not like it – the Olympics are happening in Tokyo in a matter of weeks. We're just going to kind of do a little round table here from some of our favorite and least favorite moments from this last month. Jess, can you get us started with our least favorite? What is happening in Japan and with COVID?
Jessica: Yeah, well, it's so much. And so to prep for this little bit here, I actually read back through friend of the show Dr. Jules Boykoff's Twitter feed to try to get some kind of handle on how much stuff is going on. I really recommend everyone right now go find Jules on Twitter and follow him. You will not regret it, especially during this next month as the Olympics are gearing up. So, here's some of what's happening in Japan, and again, this is a slice. So, anti Olympic protests are continuing, people in Japan are still very upset that this is happening. There's a COVID outbreak in Tokyo, and it's possible that the games are going to be played in a city under a state of emergency if it continues to get worse. The torch relay that begins this week will also no longer be on the roads of Tokyo because of the worsening COVID cases there. Four coronavirus cases have been found among Olympic rivals from overseas since the beginning of the year. So, a French national who arrived in February, an Egyptian in April, someone from Sri Lanka in May, and a person from Ghana and June. They all tested positive coming into Japan to do something Olympics related. Officials never told anyone that this was happening, of course.
And now the Delta variant has been found among members of the Ugandan team who did not quarantine after they arrived in Japan, and instead got on a charter bus and drove 300 miles to their pregame camp. The Delta variant is a real problem at this point. People are very concerned about its impact. Japanese health experts, they're warning that there might be a fifth wave of COVID during the Olympics, which makes sense given that a few days ago it was reported that nearly 2000 COVID cases in Scotland have been linked to people watching the Euro football matches – including and especially those who traveled to London to watch them in person. So, that kind of the stuff we fear in the Olympics, we're seeing it in Europe right now.
There's continued worries that the medical system is going to be overwhelmed and collapse. I'm just going to read this Jules tweet to you, okay? “Japanese government officials announced they are working on a plan to allow Tokyo 2020 Olympic athletes who are identified as a close contact to a positive COVID-19 case to participate in the games, even during their 14 day quarantine period.” I mean, I get it. They've got to do something, but also…What!? Like, that doesn't make any sense scientifically or medically. And then to top it all off, this is my last thing. Sports editors from over 10 major US media outlets have sent a letter of protest to organizers of the Tokyo Olympics because they say they're anti COVID-19 rules and restrictions run counter to press freedoms.
For example, all journalists who are coming in to cover the games must turn on their location information services on their smartphones at the airport, and the data may be used by the organizers to track everywhere that they're going. That's scary when you think about what it is that they're in, in a population that is protesting these Olympics and this government, the idea that the government will be tracing where these journalists are headed would make people weary to meet with them and have conversations. Even as I understand the health protocols that are in place here, there's just…It’s too much. And yet the Olympics are happening soon.
Lindsay: It’s like a combination of too much and not nearly enough. It’s too much in the wrong spots. [laughs]
Jessica: Yes! Perfectly said, Linz.
Lindsay: Which is just so very, very IOC. Shireen, what are your least favorite things happening?
Shireen: Well, with regards to the Olympics?
Lindsay: Please keep it specific. [laughter]
Shireen: On this topic, I think that two of the things that certainly got my attention that we had spoken about on the show before is Kim Gaucher, who is a Canadian basketball player. She had to essentially say she couldn't go because she wasn't allowed to take her nursing baby, and this is just along the same lines of the IOC being completely out of touch with non-cishet white able-bodied men. They have no fucking idea about anything. And this thread is about both things that I'm going to talk about, do involve mothers in sport and how little place or space they get by the IOC. And in particular, you know, Kim's teammates, whether it was Kia Nurse or Natalie Achonwa, both spoke out very openly in support of her. The Canadian Olympic team was supporting her as well, but the IOC was just like, no, we're very firm in our rules.
But then when public outcry comes out…And I do want to say this: fans out there, I know you're conflicted. Many of us are. But the support that you offer makes a difference when you speak up and use your agency and whatever platform it is. It does make a difference because it wasn't because the IOC decided that in the rights of fairness and justice of sport, they did it because of press. The IOC functions very heavily on reputation, which is terrible, but they do it anyway. And so the result was she appealed and they ruled in her favor. So although this has a happy ending, I hated that it happened in the first place and the amount of stress on her as she's mothering and as she's training is terrible. I'm excited for Canadian women's basketball at the Olympics, and I'm happy that she's going to be there.
The other one that I was going to say in the same vein, when we've talked about this on the show before as well is Canadian boxer, Mandy Bujold. She also had to appeal her case because what happened was in a period of time, just pre COVID, she took time off to, you know, have a baby. So she actually ended up missing some qualifying times for matches. So what the Olympics said was that the ones that she could submit wouldn't qualify, even though there was, I don't know, a global pandemic in the interim? It makes no sense, which is very much on brand for the IOC. Anyway, long story short, Mandy ended up appealing as well, again with public support, with the support of the Canadian Olympic committee as well.
And I have to say that I'm not a fan of organizations like federations that are in cahoots with the IOC, but in this case it feels like this particular Canadian committee was in support of the athletes and I'm heartened by that. It's not an easy system to navigate through when it's wretched in many places, but I'm so glad that these two women are able to compete in the Olympics. So although this is a bad, it ends up good, just because I'm trying to make this half glass full, people. Because it was a heavy episode.
Lindsay: It's so infuriating that weeks out from the Olympics, right? These mothers don't know if they're going to be able to bring their nursing babies. Like, it just seems like there are so many things that the Olympics have not thought of right? And they've had so much time, you know, they've had this extra year to prepare, and sometimes I'm just like, what were you doing?
Shireen: It goes back to what I feel strongly about, many policies that are unjust, whether it was xenophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, it's that they don't affect folks in the board room making the decisions. And that's the bottom line for me. They just simply don't fucking care.
Lindsay: All right. So. I've got a few least favorite things. I'm sorry. I could not pick just one. But first of all, we want to give a shout out to Laurel Hubbard, who became the first ever transgender athlete pick to compete at the Olympics. And she's a New Zealand weightlifter, 43 years old, just a remarkable story. So that is good, but the media's response, the fan response has been atrocious, and I'm just so concerned for Laurel and all that is on her shoulders. I don't mean that as a bad weightlifting pun. I just see media outlet after media outlet just giving voice and space to those who feel like it's unfair. It's just been so much transphobia and it's devastating. These rules have been in place and the Olympics for over a decade and this is the first one. So, [laughs] I don't think that this is like a state of emergency situation. Laurel earned her spot. We're so happy for her. And I hope that people will read a piece by our Jess, who wrote for Vox about how the whole concept of fairness in sports is bullshit and doesn't really exist. Is that an okay summary, Jess?
Jessica: Yes. Perfect.
Lindsay: [laughs] Okay. It's a long piece. So, you know, there's some more nuance to it than that, but that reaction has really upset me. But at the same time…Phew. There’s so many other stories going on about the intersection of gender and the Olympics. The US Olympic trials: transgender runner CeCé Telfer was ruled unable to compete in the women's 400 meter hurdles. Now, they've said that she has not met the conditions that the World Athletics established and, you know, those regulations are there but we don't know more about that. But we just want to send our support to CeCé and to all trans athletes. And of course this fear, this transphobia and the racism and the homophobia that is at the intersection of the transphobia, it goes on to impact Black women who were assigned female at birth. But Shireen, what is going on in track?
Shireen: Okay. So, this is a big mess. And I think we've talked about this on the show for a very long time. We've had Dr. Katrina Karkazis on the show who's talked about how these world athletic federations, the IAAF, and with the IOC approving that, create these policies that disproportionately affect racialized woman from the global south. So now what we've got is Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, both from Namibia, have been withdrawn from a 400 meter race at the Olympics, for which they qualified, specifically because they're not eligible for “female classification” because of their testosterone levels. And they refuse to lower those T levels by taking birth control, which was pills, which was the only solution that World Athletics said that they would come up with.
And the problem that I have with this, amongst everything, is that this absolutely is targeted, and the same rule that affected Caster Semenya…What’s really bizarre and what I've found out in prepping for this as well is that this rule only applies to certain events. It only is targeted to apply to 400 to 800, which was meant to exclude Caster Semenya specifically, and we know the history of excluding Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand. And just for those that don't know, Dutee Chand actually did qualify for India and will be attending the Olympics. So that's good, because the events that she will participate in aren't being targeted. And I do say targeted because that's exactly what's happening. So now, even though Mboma ran a time that predictions said would have given Namibia the first gold medal in track, ever, she can't run. And like, there's no other way to say it.
If you think the rules are unfair, this is unfair, ban everything. You're literally banning based on what events these athletes will compete in. At the same time that I want to say I'm shocked, I'm absolutely unshocked. This is completely unsurprising at how egregious it is. And people have a right to be angry because this is absolutely racist fuckery here. It's misogynoir to the highest level. And you know, when we talk about this, it is absolutely based in transphobia and that is really important to underline. And we've talked about it a lot on the show.
Lindsay: Oh my god. It's so bullshit. But Caster has said, like, she refuses to take this medicine to suppress her testosterone levels, her naturally occurring testosterone levels, because when she did it before, when she was forced to do it before, it made her so sick. And she doesn't want to go through that again. Caster was unable to qualify for these Olympics and, you know, we're going to miss out on seeing some of the best athletes in the world. And that's a loss for all of us. That's a loss for all of us. Anyways, I also want to highlight just a few of the snubs or people missing out on the Olympics. Top of mind for me is just Nneka Ogwumike not making it onto Team USA. It's bullshit, you know, and honestly it's one of those things where when I first heard it I was not outraged, and then the more I thought about it, like, the more outraged I've become over the past couple of weeks. Nneka Ogwumike should be an Olympian. She's the only WNBA MVP not to be an Olympian, and it's bullshit. But of course there's another big disqualification and ban that's come up this week. Jess, what has been going on with Sha’carri Richardson?
Jessica: Yeah. So, Sha’carri Richardson, one of the great images from the US track and field trials was orange-haired, super speeder Richardson blasting to the finish of the 100 meters with a 10.87 second win. She looked like a woman on fire, literally, with her hair flying behind her. She ran into the stands to hug her grandmother. She gave her girlfriend credit for the hair color. It was just like a lovely scene all around. She's super charismatic. It's really fun to listen to her. Unfortunately, she tested positive for marijuana, which is a banned substance, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. It is banned specifically during a competition time, so meaning 11:59 PM on the day before a competition through the competition, you cannot ingest this. It's a minor thing though. So she's suspended for a month beginning back on June 28th. That means though that she will miss the 100 meters when it's run in Tokyo, she will not be able to compete. It's possible she'll be able to compete in the 4 by 100 relay because it's later – her ban will be over at that point. Richardson said during an interview with The Today Show on Friday that she used marijuana as a way to cope with the news that her biological mom had died, something she learned in an interview from a reporter.
Sha'carri Richardson: I was just thinking it would be a normal interview, and then on the interview to hear that information come from a complete stranger, it was definitely triggering, it was nerve-shocking because it's like, who are you to tell me that? No offense against him at all. He's just doing his job. But definitely that sent me in a state of mind in a state of emotional panic, in anything, knowing that I still, even though I'm here, I still have to go out and put on a performance for my dream, go out there and still compete. That’s what it is, so yes, definitely triggered, and from there just blinding by emotion, blinded by sadness, blinded by just hurting, honestly.
Jessica: This is just incredibly heartbreaking stuff. I have so many feelings about the arbitrary nature of how doping works and how it is enforced. This to me, the weed thing, it feels like it's a PED because of a moral argument rather than a scientific one. And I don't know, my heart’s just broken about it.
Lindsay: I think it's beyond infuriating. There are rules, yes. But there are also people with the ability to overturn these rules and to make exceptions to these rules. And if there was ever a time for officials to step forward…Pot is not a performance enhancing drug! [laughs] We all know that. It helps with mental health, and the circumstances that Sha'carri was facing were just unfathomable. We stand with Sha’carri, we want Sha'carri to be able to run. There were…I don’t know, it's an awkward pivot here. But there were some happy moments at a track and field…
Jessica: Yeah. There's actually too much. So I just want to start off by saying I'm definitely not going to cover all the great things that happened. I just find all of this so exciting. But here's some of my highlights. Okay. So, Gabby Thomas, she won the 200 meter final. She ran that race in 21.61 seconds – it’s the second fastest time ever for the women's 200 meter dash in the world. Also though, she has this great backstory that's tied to Austin. Thomas graduated from Harvard with a degree in neurobiology and a secondary degree in global health and health policy and is now attending Texas as a grad student. She’s studying public health and specifically racial disparities in the healthcare system. That's to say, I want all good things for Gabby Thomas, including a world record in the 200 meter in Tokyo, and maybe Amira and I can track her down in Austin in the fall and get her on Burn It All Down.
The women's 400 meter hurdles was amazing. We saw Sydney McLaughlin set a world record at 51.9 seconds, beating the now previous world record holder Dalilah Muhammad. Coming in third is flamethrower Anna Cockrell, who raced at USC and is now an Olympian. And here's what she said after the race about how much this meant to her.
Anna Cockrell: I just trained really hard for this. I worked really hard for this. In 2019 I was super depressed. I didn't want to be here anymore. So to be standing here today as an Olympian is more than I can take. And I just want to shout out my family, everybody in Lafayette. I know y'all having a watch party, and I know somebody turned on the TV for mama, so thank you. Everybody in Charlotte and all my coaches who just never gave up on me, even when I had given up on myself. I think I'm out of words.
Jessica: Quanera Hayes and Allyson Felix, they finished first and second in the women's 400 meter final. This will be Felix’s FIFTH Olympics, which that alone is unbelievable. But one of the cutest videos that came out of the trials was after this race, both Hayes and Felix gave birth to their first child within weeks of each other, back in the fall of 2018. So go find the videos and pictures of Hayes’s son Demetrius and Felix’s daughter Camryn celebrating and hugging after their moms both qualified for the Olympics. It's just…Your heart expands, looking at it.
Erriyon Knighton was third in the 200 men's final, which will make Knighton, who's 17 years old, the youngest US male track and field Olympian since miler Jim Ryun in 1964. I gotta mention Athing Mu, who is now only 19, and she just ran the hell out of the 800 meters. She clocked the second fastest women's 800 meter in US history. Raven Saunders, a shot putter, made her second Olympics. And you probably saw images of her because she showed up to throw the shot put while wearing amazing masks, including the Joker's smile, and like that teeth clenching growl that the incredible Hulk does. So she just looks amazing throwing the shot put.
And the final thing I want to mention: friend of the show, Gwen Berry, she came in third in the hammer. She's going to the Olympics. During the ceremony honoring their accomplishments, the US anthem was played. Berry, who's been a vocal opponent of US nationalism, instead of putting her hand on her heart and turning towards the flag, she stood with her hands at her side and eventually placed her “ATHLETE ACTIVIST” t-shirt over her head. She received the wrath of the flag pen brigade, who was so angry at her, but we here at Burn It All Down, of course we support Gwen and we are thrilled for her and good for her for standing up for herself.
Lindsay: Whew. Absolutely. Gosh, those trials were fun to watch. Shireen, can you give us a little outside of the US flavor? Because I think unfortunately the nationalism of the Olympics is taking over a bit here. It is hard to resist a little bit. So Shireen, what what's going on outside these borders?
Shireen: So, just some fun stories that I want to mention, and actually I want to thank flamethrower Andras Fehervari for pointing this out to us. There is a Hungarian fencer named Aida Mohamed, and she made her first appearance in Atlanta in 1996. So, her dad is Syrian and her mother's Hungarian and she is 43 years old, which…I also want to say this, that I am very excited when I see Olympians in their forties. Just, you know, holding it down for the old folks out here. So, really excited about that. Also looking forward to seeing her. Aida Mohamed is actually going as an alternate on the Hungarian team. She's received silver and bronze medals in the world championships, but she's never actually received an Olympic medal. So I'm really hoping that this happens for her.
I found another very lovely story, and I love lovely stories, about an Indian swimmer from Kerala, India, named Sajan Prakash and what it's like for him. And, you know, arguably I know that we center a lot around the United States and in Canada, but the journeys for other athletes globally are extremely different and their paths and the way that they get here. We're going to put these two links to these athletes in the show notes, but Sajan’s story…And his wife is interviewed, his coach is interviewed, and what it takes is very different and how he works full-time and manages training, that we know. And one of the things that it reminds me of, in times where we talk about how horrible things can be, the love of sport and how it's incredibly connecting and how we can relate to that. You know, sport in itself is beautiful. So there's my happiness right there.
Lindsay: Yay! I’ve loved so many of these qualifying stories: seeing Ariel Atkins, a player I've gotten to cover up close, getting named to the USA Olympic team was one of my favorite moments. I mean, gymnastics is just so good. It's just so good. Also, how do they do it? So, watching the gymnastics trial, seeing Simone Manuel, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee all qualify…And McKayla Skinner, another great story. It's been wonderful. But by far I think the moment that will stick with me forever – and I didn't even watch this live, this was a shock I got on Twitter – was seeing Simone Manuel win the 50 meter freestyle during the Olympic swimming trials. So, a little backstory here: Simone Manuel of course became the first Black American to win an individual gold medal in swimming at the Olympics in 2016, when she won the 100 meter freestyle. And she's been a mainstay on the international stage since then.
I mean, that was not a fluke. She’s one of the best swimmers in the world at sprint freestyle. But coming into this Olympic she had hit a big roadblock during training, which was overtraining syndrome. So at the beginning of the trials, Simone failed to advance to the final of her signature event, the 100 meter freestyle. She gave that press conference where she opened up from the bottom of her heart about everything she had been going through.
Simone Manuel: It was an uphill climb. Once I got back in the water, you know, some days were good, some days weren't great. And to…I mean, I could go on and on, but to sit here and even do what I did and to be at this meet is something that I can't take lightly.
Lindsay: Well, just days later, Simone came from, you know, really…I think most people, including myself, had put her out of the Olympic picture at that point, but she won the 50 meter freestyle Olympic trials by 0.01 seconds [laughs] – 0.01 seconds! Making her honestly one of the most clutch swimmers America has ever seen. So Simone Manuel is going to the Olympics, will get a chance for another gold. And when I saw that she had won 50 meter free, I almost dropped my phone. Like, I could not believe it. Just what a moment.
So on Thursday, you all will get to hear my interview with Anne Orchier of the Nolympics LA movement where, you know, we talk about all the realities of what's going on on the ground in Japan and in other Olympic cities. Here is a clip.
Anne Orchier: Thomas Bach who's the head of the IOC said something about like, oh, “sacrifices have to be made,” which basically a lot of people took to imply like, you know, some people are just going to have to die so that we can hold these Olympics. Like, we can't cancel these. So, you know, certain people are just going to have to get sick and die and that's how it goes. And that's pretty much always what their attitude is. Like, when it comes to things around accelerated and increased displacement, police violence, environmental destruction – the attitude is just sort of, well, this is what it takes to put these games on so there are going to have to be sacrifices.
Lindsay: Okay. After five weeks, [laughs] we’ve got a burn pile for you. Of course a lot of the Olympic stuff we just talked about could be burn pile contenders as well. But you know, we tried to narrow it down. I do want to give a content warning here at the top of this burn pile. So, if you want to just go ahead and be safe you can skip ahead 10 minutes if you don't want to hear talk about sexual assault and domestic violence in this burn pile. Shireen, do you want to get us started?
Shireen: I do. And I just want to say really quickly, this was a hard choice. There's so much fuckery to choose from. I'm going to start just by saying everyone's just constantly attacking Black women, and this is absolutely an example of that. There is a company called Soul Cap that had paired up with Alice Dearing, a Black swimmer from the UK, and to help her with her equipment and create something called Soul Cap, which is swimming caps designed for naturally Black hair. And it's created by a Black-owned brand. Well, FINA, the governing body of swimming based in Lausanne, Switzerland, decided that Soul Caps were not acceptable and could not be used at the Olympics because – you're going to love this – it does not “fit the natural form of the head.” Who's head? What head? I'm sorry, this is just unacceptable.
And we've just literally finished talking about how great Simone Manuel is and how swimming is a historically white sport. Now, in response to this, the swimming federation in England said they would not abide by that rule and within the UK the swimmers could use that. And that was a great step from that federation. But again, we see garbage, we see misogynoir. We see absolute staggeringly high levels of racism. And I hate it. It's just one thing. The way that these men are afraid of the power of Black women is just a disgusting. I want to take all of that, all of it, and I want to torch it. Burn.
All: Burn.
Lindsay: Jess.
Jessica: All right, here we go. On June 29th, the Portland Trailblazers introduced their new head coach, former NBA player Chauncey Billups, at a press conference. Word had leaked earlier though about the hire, and going into Tuesday there was a lot of discussion around the team putting Billups up in that position, given that in 2000 Billups had settled a civil lawsuit regarding a 1997 report of sexual assault. The details of the report, which are violent and upsetting, were chronicled in Jeff Benedict’s 2001 book Out of Bounds. As screenshots of the book circulated around social media and media outlets wrote about the settlement, people got upset that the team went from teasing Becky Hammon as the first female head coach to word of Billups’ hiring leaking.
I'll also just note that Billups’ coaching experience is limited, to say the least. He was Tyronn Lue's assistant at the LA Clippers for one season. He started coaching in November before getting this head coach job. That brings me to the press conference itself. It was Billups and the Trailblazers' general manager, Neil Olshey, in front of the press. According to Sean Highkin, Olshey said in his opening statement, “With all sincerity, and you have my word, we took the allegations very seriously, and we took them with the gravity that they deserved. We commissioned our own independent investigation into the incident in 1997. Our investigation corroborated what Chauncey told us, that nothing nonconsensual occurred. We stand by Chauncey.”
Later when Highkin pushed Olshey to give more specifics about the investigation – you know, basics, like who did it? Who did they talk to? How long did it actually take? Olshey responded…This is like, how is this a real quote? It’s…Okay. “That's proprietary, Sean. You're just going to have to take our word that we hired an experienced firm that led us to the results we already discussed.” I don't even know what you say to that, except that no one and especially reporters should ever take the word of people in power! Also, “proprietary”…As Shireen tweeted, WTF! None of that makes sense. Billups, for his part, said of the 1997 case, “There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about how every decision that we make can have a profound impact on somebody else. I learned at a young age that every decision has consequences and that's led to some really healthy but tough conversations.” Later, this happened…
Jason Quick: Hi. Jason Quick, The Athletic. You said the 1997 incident shaped you in unbelievable ways. Can you maybe elaborate on that and how it helped shape you?
PR person: Jason, we appreciate your question. We've addressed this. It's been asked and answered, so I'm happy to move on to the next question here.
Jessica: What you can't see is that as quick as asking his question, Olshey takes a drink of water and looks over at the PR person clearly giving her the “cut this off” at the knees cue. Billups looks like he's actually going to answer before she steps in. And finally, about Hammon: Olshey said some condescending shit. “We obviously admire Becky. She did a great job making it as far as the owner in the process isn't easy. She made it all the way to the ownership level, which is an endorsement.” That's like a verbal pat on the head, like a “good job, little girl.” What a fucking mess this entire press conference was. It was a long week and I'm feeling just extremely cynical at this point.
I want to say that a big part of me thinks that Portland should have just hired Billups, ignored everything about the 1997 case and did a presser without a Q&A. Just do what you're going to fucking do and just save us from the hurt of watching you fuck around while you do it. It's hard to believe that Hammond was ever a candidate and was instead used to make them look good, what, for even considering her? Which is just so wrong to Hammond to begin with. It's hard to believe that there was any investigation into Billups. It's hard to believe that any of this ultimately mattered. All we're left with is just the same old, same old shit. So I'll do all that I can do and I'm just going to burn this burn this. Burn.
All: Burn.
Lindsay: All right. So, there's a lot of candidates, but I have to go with Trevor Bauer, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher. I want to give a shout out to Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang of The Athletic (tw for the hyperlink) for their reporting on this. I'm going to read the lead to their piece, and once again, another reminder for a trigger warning. “A domestic violence restraining order filed against Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer and executed on June 28th includes multiple graphic images from the woman who filed the request. The woman, in the 67 page ex parte document, said that Bauer assaulted her on two different occasions. Together, the woman said those two incidents included Bauer punching her in the face, vagina, and buttocks; sticking his finger down her throat; and strangling her to the point where she lost consciousness multiple times. Bauer has been placed on a one week, seven day administrative leave by the MLB, as this is all investigated. But what’s going on behind the scenes is incredibly, incredibly disturbing.
First of all, there's the fact that it's been six weeks since the woman came forward to the police with this, and four legal experts told USA Today that the pace of the investigation has likely been impacted by Bauer’s high profile. A former Newark prosecutor said that he would be arrested already if he weren't Trevor Bauer, because, you know, if the woman has black eyes and a lot of proof to go with this as well as, you know, exams. So that's one disturbing thing that is a part of this. But more is the people online, the people in the media, who are choosing not to engage with this information, who are choosing not to talk about it and who want to brush it aside and hope somebody else will, you know, take the reins. Bauer had a known history of publicly attacking women on social media. He’s been very misogynistic, very harassing to the point that the Mets refused to sign him during the offseason because of his past. So I'm not saying that anyone who, you know, that social media abuse is automatically akin to this type of violence that is in this report. But I am saying that there are warning signs, and yet the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him to a three year, $102 million contract in the offseason anyways.
I just want to send our support to the survivor for coming forward. We know especially when athletes and fandom are involved and athletes with as much resources as Trevor Bauer have, how devastatingly difficult it is. We want to encourage the legal system and the MLB itself to be better and to act swiftly and to take this fucking seriously. Bauer has said that this was all kind of consensual, role-play type stuff gone wrong. And you don't consent to being strangled unconscious, you know? This is really hard to talk about. I want to move on. But I just want to send love to all survivors who've been triggered by this and other horrible news this week. I want to thank the reporters who are taking this seriously and send our support to the woman and also just…I can't be mad about this. I'm just so sad. Like…Burn.
All: Burn.
Lindsay: So after that, we do want to lift up torchbearers of the week/month. Look, all the people who qualify for the Olympics are torchbearers. Literally, we didn't go into individual with this, it’s too much. [Jessica laughs] So, we're going to be talking about some non-Olympic stuff in our torchbearers. Jess, who are our plaintiffs of the week?
Jessica: Ed O’Bannon, Shawne Alston, Justine Hartman, and all the athletes who waged legal battles against the NCAA’s archaic amateurism rules over the last decade. Starting July 1, all NCAA athletes were finally able to profit off of their name, image, and likeness. Huzzah!
Shireen: [laughs] Yay! [clapping]
Lindsay: Woo! [laughs] We will be talking about this on Burn It All Down, I promise we'll be going into it, but man, what a good thing. I want to shout out our health czars of the week. The WNBA has had zero positive COVID test since the beginning of the season. And they have announced that 99% of the league’s players are fully vaccinated and all 12 teams have met the threshold to be considered fully vaccinated.
Jessica: It’s incredible.
Lindsay: It’s incredible! It shouldn't be this impressive, but it's incredible. And you know, the WNBA players association, they led a campaign, they started working behind the scenes in December to research vaccines, to research vaccine hesitancy and to educate its players. This didn't happen by accident. This was because of organizing, once again. Shireen, who's our CEO of the week?
Shireen: Yay to Maggie Murphy, who has been announced as chief executive of Lewes football club, a community owned non-profit football club, and the world's first to distribute revenue equally between its men and women's teams. Maggie joined the club in 2019 as its general manager, and she was a guest on BIAD in episode 135. I had the pleasure of talking to her. This is awesome.
Lindsay: Yay. All right, our torchbearers of the week. Can I get a drum roll please?
[drumroll]
Woo hoo! All right. We want to give a shout out to Carl Nassib, who became the first active NFL player to come out as gay, and he has a guaranteed contract, which is a huge thing. [laughs] So hopefully, you know, he'll be sticking around. And Washington Spirit and member of the Japanese national team, Kumi Yokoyama, came out as transgender. Look, you know we don't often quote politicians positively, but I did think it was nice during pride month that president Biden tweeted, "To Carl and Kumi – two prominent, inspiring athletes who came out this week: I’m so proud of your courage. Because of you, countless kids around the world are seeing themselves in a new light today.” And I definitely definitely agree. While I think Carl has not received nearly as much support from a lot of prominent NFL players as I would like – it’s been kind of crickets – the team, the Raiders, did release a statement in support. The NFL did too.
And on the NWSL side, the Spirit expressed their support saying, “Thank you for showing the world it's okay to embrace who you are.” And also adding the pronouns, saying that Yokoyama uses they/them pronouns. I want to give a special shout out to Kumi because in Japan where they are from it is a devastatingly difficult situation for all members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender people, even further behind than things are in the United States. And so just, you know, the impact that Kumi and Carl will make is just remarkable. All right, what's good? What's good? Shireen.
Shireen: Oh, I'm so excited. So, a lot of things good. Said Habs are in the playoffs. I'm watching the Euros. Every single team that I wanted to win is no longer in there. It's too soon for me to talk about Kylian Mbappé. So I'm not going to. This year I started getting meal kits with my kids because I was working a lot with school, and then with everything. And I am actually really excited about this meal kit thing. It's still happening for me. I would like to say that I have a master's thesis defense date, August 26th. If you don't hear me a week before that show it's because I will be stressing about that. But like, I can't believe it's going to be over. I feel like I'm going to cry. But I'm excited cry, happy cry.
Last thing: my soccer league is starting up again and it's been 16 months since I touched a ball. And just before COVID shut everything down, I did buy a brand new pair of boots. The first I treated myself, hadn't bought fresh boots in about four years. So I'm very excited. I'll be able to lace them up. Last thing: while we were off, I wrote a piece about fandom in The Walrus – and The Walrus, for those of you don't know, it is a literary magazine in Canada and it's pretty much…I guess it's our New Yorker. I mean, I don't like to do that comparison, but for those that don't know what it is, it was a big deal for me. And I was really happy with the way it turned out.
Jessica: It’s a great piece.
Shireen: Thank you. And I also want to thank, without me starting to cry here, I want to thank this group at Burn It All Down for the constant support and learning that I've done and the way that I feel comfortable talking about things. So, I love y’all, like tons, tons, tons.
Lindsay: All right. I want to say, I have been loving…There’ve been a lot of podcasts lately. I'll just lead the way by saying Shireen's mom being on our podcast [laughs] is, like, the highlight.
Jessica: It was wonderful, if you haven't listened.
Lindsay: It's just, you know, you meet somebody’s parent and you're like, oh, everything makes sense.
Jessica: Yes! Yes.
Lindsay: Like, this is you! This is it, you know? Shireen's mother is exactly what you think Shireen's mother is, like, it's so perfect. It's so wonderful. I also want to give a shout to the GymCastic podcast, which has really been educating me on all things gymnastics and making me really mad about selection procedures and all of this stuff. Love what they are doing over there. And just in general I would say I've got a big, exciting month coming up in July with lots of travel [Shireen cheers] – at least two travels. We're doing at least two travels.
Jessica: That’s a lot of travels after no travels!
Lindsay: That’s a lot of travels for me after no travels. And really getting in the nitty-gritty of a huge project that I've been working on, that I'll be talking more about this podcast. And anyway, it's just a lot of exciting things. And so that's what's good, but I need to remember to leave my condo some, because I got to say in June I did a lot of sitting on my couch and watching sports, and I know that I will continue to that the rest of the summer, but I gotta pick my points to go out. [laughter] I gotta leave sometime! It gets brutal, man. Jess?
Jessica: Well, I feel like Shireen today because my list is very long, but it's been a long time, so that's my defense of this. Obviously watching soccer in person has been wonderful. I've gone back to the gym, which…I don't know how to…It’s like my mental health has improved dramatically by going back, like, credit to my trainer, Amalia. She knows that I love her. I've been going to this gym for almost eight years and working with her. And she got me through the quarantine by doing FaceTime workouts, but it's nothing like going to the gym and actually lifting big weights. That has just been wonderful for me. I want to give a shoutout to friend of the show, Katie Barnes. They wrote a beautiful piece about Layshia Clarendon for ESPN. Everything about it is wonderful, and there's an accompanying video. So I would just go seek those out. Congratulations to Katie for such a beautiful project.
Lindsay: Sorry, Power Plays shoutout! Power Plays shoutout. Because I did thing with Katie about the behind the scenes of that–
Jessica: And that’s great too.
Lindsay: –and that’s fascinating to read, just like how it all came about and how they made these editorial decisions. So, not to…Sorry, I don't mean to sneak in self promotion, but I just think it goes along with it. Yeah.
Jessica: No, no, thank you. I really enjoyed that interview, because it's been a month of, you know, I haven't said what I've loved in pop culture. I want everyone to go watch Hacks on HBO. Jean Smart is just a national treasure, and Hacks is just…It’s a perfect season of television. And then I also totally fell in love with a show called For All Mankind on Apple TV+. It reminded me so much of Halt and Catch Fire, which if you haven't seen Halt and Catch Fire, go watch it. But that's one of the highest compliments I can give to a TV drama is to compare it to Halt and Catch Fire. And I just love all things space, so it just slotted right in there for me. So those are two things I deeply enjoyed this last month.
Lindsay: All right. So, what we're watching: we've got Wimbledon, duh! Stanley Cup finals, if they're still going on this week. Follow Shireen's timeline if you want to know the updates on that, it'll probably be faster than Google. The NBA finals should be upcoming. They're probably set by now. We got one more conference final series to go. I'm so excited for the Phoenix Suns! It's ridiculous how excited I am. And the Euros of course are happening, are finishing up as well. And the WNBA will be on Olympic hiatus for most of July. But the NWSL will continue, so watch the NWSL as well.
This episode was produced by our fantastic producer, Tressa Versteeg, and Shelby Weldon is our web/social media guru. We could not do anything we do without Tressa and Shelby. Thank you all so, so much for supporting and listening to Burn It All Down. If you want to do us a favor, you can go to Apple Podcasts and leave us a rating and review. We love your ratings and reviews – when they're good! They make us very happy and they cancel out the trolls who don't love us. And, yeah, that's just a great way to help other people find our podcast. Especially we want other people to find us right now because we've been having so many of the conversations that the rest of the world is just coming around to now for the Olympics, and so we think it's important for people to find our show right now.
Also, of course, we want to thank all of our patrons for supporting us – patreon.com/burnitalldown. We've also got our merch store. If you want to go to our website, there will be links there. So, our website, burnitalldownpod.com. We're on Twitter. We're on Facebook. You can find us. We love you all. Thank you so, so much. We've missed you and we're glad to be back in action.