The Podium

What is lost can’t be replaced, but it can drive us to new heights. That’s the case for so many things about the 2020 Tokyo Games, dubbed the “Reconstruction Olympics”, from the venues to the athletes competing in them. On Olympic Day 2, we take you to the small exhibit that’s at the heart of the biggest sporting event on earth. Italian rower Luca Rambaldi and American beach volleyball star April Ross share how losses both recent and decades-past can give us the extra bit required to win. Listen to The Podium daily during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games for new insight into the stories you know and the ones you’ll be happy to discover.

The new Olympic sports in Tokyo might be brand new for many fans of the games, but they begin an exciting fresh chapter of an existing book. This gives us a rare opportunity to discover “new veterans”. Hear how Felipe Gustavo risked it all to make his mark on street skateboarding and showed a generation of skaters that a gritty Brazilian competitive fire could become a long-term career. We catch the GOAT of 3x3 Basketball, Dusan Bulut, post-game to ask what’s fueled his rise from street-ball to the Olympics. Listen to The Podium daily during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games for new insight into the stories you know and the ones you’ll be happy to discover.

The day has come. After an unprecedented leadup, the wait is over: The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are opening as the sun rises over the US. TODAY Show fixtures Al Roker and Craig Melvin join us to discuss the magic of live events, their favorite Opening Ceremony memories and their upcoming trip to the Games. Listen to The Podium daily during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games for new insight into the stories you know and the ones you’ll be happy to discover.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games is finally upon us. The world’s eyes will be focused on the first global gathering since the pandemic and its ability to pipe music, spectacle and hope onto billions of TV screens. Although this monolith of an event dazzles in its size, production and technology, the main product are the memories it creates for people, whether watching at home or in starring roles on the stadium floor. We talk to Nikki Webster, Sydney 2000’s “Hero Girl”, about being the protagonist of the biggest show on earth and how the Opening Ceremony fits national identity, sports and pageantry into one stadium. Ahmed Fareed tells the story of a fortuitous alphabetical quirk that gave a small nation’s athletes big time exposure. Join us for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium. Starting July 23rd the Podcast will be coming to you daily from the ground in Tokyo to bring you new stories along with fresh takes on the events of the day. Follow The Podium wherever you listen to podcasts

Olympians train hard. For many, it’s their job to push harder and longer and heavier than us mortals do. When we say “no way” and bump up against our limits, they endure. But the net effects of all those watts and miles and grunts aren’t only measured in washboard abs, records held and medals won: the discomfort of the most unbearable workouts is in a way the reward, giving meaning and value to the endeavor of athletic excellence and creating a bond between those who understand how much ache is required for gold. Hear Carlin Isles, Chloe Dygert and other Team USA athletes recount some of their worst workouts. Weightlifter Kate Nye gives her insight on breaking through to new bests and Canadian Rower Gabrielle Smith joins us from Tokyo with her coach Gavin McKay to talk about reaching the body’s limits and teambuilding through discomfort. Join us for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium. Episode 11 also features Ahmed Fareed’s telling of Kerri Strug’s 1996 display of toughness.

The tradeoff between the raw ability of fresh joints and the savvy of a mature mind used to be linear, with each slice of cake predictably and measurably pushing an athlete from precocious prodigy to washed up veteran. But this summer, Tokyo will host Gen-Z with veteran pedigrees right next to athletes staying physically competitive far past what was previously considered retirement age. One constant appears: why one competes is far more important than when. Ahmed Fareed sits in for Lauren Shehadi to explore how swimmer Brent Hayden mounted a successful comeback a decade after his retirement and we hear from Olympic and Paralympic phenoms on their journeys through precocious high-performance childhoods. Join us for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium.

What would you label a group of athletes responsible for the majority of medals for the most decorated nation in the last 2 Olympics? Winners. A group who has fought for over a century to go from 2% of Olympic Athletes to 49%? Trailblazers. And what if this same group was routinely cast as less capable, exciting, profitable and valuable athletes? We’re talking about the American women and women in the Olympics. For being incredible athletes and so much more, there is one label that fits better than most: Champions. Hear our conversation with Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger on how sports and the games are changing from their unique perspective as female Olympians, spouses of female athletes, activists and mothers. Mary Carillo tells the story of how Wilma Rudolph’s resolve took her from childhood leg braces to Olympic track stardom and civil rights activism. Join host Lauren Shehadi for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium.

The Olympics conjure the image of single-mindedness, of an athlete's individual effort to improve, culminating in a medal whose ribbon only fits one. However, the Olympic pursuit is anything but. The reality is that those lofty goals are reached from atop a mountain of support and accomplishment from family, both blood and chosen. From the front stoop to the podium step, gold at the Games is a decidedly family affair. Hear how canoe slalom contender Jess Fox and her nine “paddling” family members stay afloat in all their trophies. Listen to how marrying a fellow high jumper has allowed Ty Butts and Roderick Townsend to raise the bar. Get insight into Olympic support systems and pressures from experts Tim Layden and Mike Gervais. Ahmed Fareed tells the story, and incredible history, of the Montano Fencing Dynasty. Join host Lauren Shehadi for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium.

An Olympic athlete’s career defining performance may last just seconds, but before and after it lie hours of logistics, warmups, and waiting in “ready rooms.” While they might sound tedious, those moments are often full of team-building, mind games and obstacles that come to define the athlete experience and actually contribute, in no small part, to the golden outcomes. Feel the energy of the aquatics ready-room with 2-time gold medalist Lilly King and hear about other defining moments unseen, from Kerri Walsh Jennings’ porta potty mishaps to Chase Kalisz’s video game rivalries and Brooke Raboutou’s explanation of isolation rooms for climbing events. Ahmed Fareed tells the story of how Josy Barthel’s unexpected win threw a wrench into a very customary post-win moment. Join host Lauren Shehadi for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium.

Second place, silver medal, best of the rest. The Sports world seems obsessed with differentiating performances that are, to the hundredth of second, incredibly similar. We explore the unique mindset of aiming for gold, why second is proven to be the least satisfying podium finish and how expecting the best of athletes is different from expecting 1st place. Hear Ryan Murphy’s take on golden expectations, both external and self-imposed. Understand the psychology at play with Dr. Mike Gervais of the Finding Mastery Podcast and relive how Mackayla Maroney’s disappointment with Silver became the most viral photo of 2012. Join host Lauren Shehadi for Season 2 of NBC Sports’ The Podium.