[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: Citysong]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It. I'm Kousha Navidar in for Alison Stewart. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you're here. On today's show, we'll talk about the best and worst film scores with Nick Marcus, the host of The Film Scorer Podcast. We'll also preview the third season of the HBO series, Industry, with two of its stars. As part of our weekly Food for Thought series, today, were talking about corn. That's the plan, so let's get this started with the Olympic sport that has captured your attention in Paris.

[music]

Kousha Navidar: Maybe two weeks ago, you never watched a speed-climbing event, never thought about what skills make someone great at the pommel horse, or you thought that the steeplechase was a sport that actually involved horses. Now, as the Summer Olympics begin to wind down in Paris, many of us have become experts in sports we really just started watching a few weeks ago. Sure, everyone loves to tune in for swimming, track, soccer, and women's gymnastics, but what makes the Olympics so special is the unlikely stars that emerge from some of the less popular events.

There's nothing like tuning into the broadcast, watching a sport you've never seen before. Suddenly, it's a few hours later, and you're yelling at the screen from your sofa at home. You're suddenly an instant expert in fencing or artistic swimming or racewalking. I have tried racewalking. It is hard. Listeners, we want to hear from you. What sport has captured your heart this Olympics?

What's something that you've never watched before that you're suddenly super passionate about or maybe you've always been a fan of a sport and want to encourage more people to watch it? What Olympic sport has become your unlikely favorite? Give us a call. Send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Joining me now is someone who has been following all of the events from skeet shooting to skateboarding. Olivia Craighead, a news writer for The Cut, covering pop culture and celebrity. Olivia, thanks for joining us.

Olivia Craighead: Thank you so much for having me.

Kousha Navidar: Great to have you here. Have you always been a fan of the Olympics and were you excited about these games?

Olivia Craighead: Yes, I've been a fan of the Olympics for as long as I've been conscious of them. I was definitely super pumped about this year because in Tokyo, it was the COVID Olympics. Everything still felt kind of weird. There were no fans in the crowd. It just felt kind of off. I feel like this year has been a real return to form and a very celebratory Olympics. I don't know if you feel like this, but it feels like people are really, really excited about the Olympics this time around.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, it does feel, for me at least, like there is a certain thirst that's been quenched that people maybe didn't get last time, but there does seem to be this energy behind it. Did you get that sense right from the opening ceremonies?

Olivia Craighead: Yes, the opening ceremony was so cool. I kind of loved that they did it on the Seine. I loved all of the wild Frenchness that they had as part of it. The Marie Antoinette heads, the throuply thing that was going on in the opening ceremony. I just saw a lot of conversation around it in a way that did kind of surprise me.

Kousha Navidar: There's also a lot of conversation around so many different sports, which we're going to get into one by one later on. Why do you think so many people love watching the more offbeat sports during the Olympics? Is it just the novelty of it or is there something more?

Olivia Craighead: I think that's definitely part of it. I think maybe if fencing or whatever was on NBC all the time, we wouldn't get as excited about it. I think that there's something about being able to turn on the TV and watch these elite athletes at the absolute top of their game be really good at something you didn't know someone could be really good at like dressage or canoe slalom. It's just thrilling to watch.

Kousha Navidar: Do you think you'll follow any of these sports after the Olympics ends? Is there a sport where you've identified, "Oh, I'd like to continue following this"?

Olivia Craighead: I would love to say yes, but I also think that part of the joy is like, every four years, popping in and becoming really into surfing, for example. I don't know that I will be following canoe slalom for the next four years, but I will be tuning in when they are in LA.

Kousha Navidar: That's a good point. There is certainly, back to a previous question, that novelty of it, the joy of it being something that pops up. In this case, the Summer Olympics, once every four years, I think definitely applies. We're getting some texts here. I want to read a couple of them out. It says, "SailGP," which is the sailing competition, "has been so interesting to watch and learn about. Love the Olympics." That's from Britney in New Jersey. Thanks, Britney. "Marathon bickering takes it," is another one that we're getting. Another one here says, "I'm an Olympic nerd, a walking Olympic encyclopedia. Of course, I watch gymnastics, diving in track. The new sport I have enjoyed watching is surfing." We're already getting some texts coming in here.

Olivia Craighead: Yes. [chuckles]

Kousha Navidar: You're into surfing as well, Olivia? Go ahead.

Olivia Craighead: I just think one this year, they're on this incredibly huge wave in Tahiti. You're watching these people compete on a very incredible wave. I also find the actual event very meditative because they are just hanging out in the ocean for 30 minutes. Every now and then, they catch a huge wave. It's kind of a good sport to have on in the background.

Kousha Navidar: That idea of meditative vibes, I think, is important too because there are certain qualities of different sports that really can't apply to a lot of other sports. I think with surfing and meditation, it's not the only one, but I think that is a really important element to bring out. I'm sure it adds texture to people watching, maybe sports where there's a lot of frenetic energy.

Listeners, you're hearing some texts coming in. We would love to get your calls as well. We're here with Olivia Craighead, who's a news writer for The Cut. We're talking about some of the less popular but still very much awesome Olympic events from the last few weeks. We'd love to know, what is that sport for you? What's a sport that maybe isn't as popular, but you've really grown to love watching this Olympic Games, or maybe you've always been a fan of the sport and you want to encourage more people to watch it?

Give us a call. Send us a text. The number is 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Olivia, I think social media is a big topic here that we need to touch on as well because it seems like social has made some sports really pop. Do you agree with that? How do you think social has really shaped how we've interacted with this Olympics specifically?

Olivia Craighead: Yes, I think in years when we weren't as attached to our phones, it was a thing where you would turn on NBC at the end of the day and just watch what was fed to you. Now, we're glued to our phones all the time. As soon as something wild happens in pole vaulting or steeplechase, I can know immediately. It feels more like I'm surrounded by Olympics all the time. It makes it feel like it's more pervasive in my conversations, in my daily media diet, all of that.

Kousha Navidar: We just got a text here that speaks that a little bit. It says, "This feels like the first 'on-demand' Olympics."

Olivia Craighead: Totally.

Kousha Navidar: "It's been interesting how that's changed my watching habits." What do you think about how NBC Peacock has covered this Olympics?

Olivia Craighead: I will not cape for a big organization like NBCUniversal, but I will say that they've done a very good job with the Olympics. I'm kind of obsessed with the Peacock coverage. I think the screen on Peacock where you can see four different events all at once is mesmerizing. I think they've made it so that you can really watch anything at any moment in a way that I don't think we've ever really had before.

Kousha Navidar: What is it about the way they've been doing it? One thing that comes to mind for me is their social game. I really like following the Olympic social handle, the NBC Olympics specifically. It seems like, either through their app or whatever, they're able to meet folks where they are watching. Is that fair?

Olivia Craighead: Totally. There's stuff all over TikTok. There's stuff all over Instagram. I think it helps that they're aided by the fact that everyone in the audience has a phone and is also recording. The athletes are also recording and sharing everything. It just feels like the Olympics is all over every single feed.

Kousha Navidar: There's a text that's come in. Maybe we can help this person out. It says, "I desperately want to watch it but don't have TV. I'm lingering in lobbies with televisions like a weirdo so I can catch some events." Whoever is texting this, weirdo, I'm sure you're not the only one who's doing this. They continue to write, "I have internet connection. Is there somewhere online to watch it?" Olivia, before we dive into some of the sports, just because I think this is a question a lot of people have. If you have a smart TV and you have an NBC Peacock subscription, you can definitely watch through there. Are there any other ways that you know of that folks can watch?

Olivia Craighead: I would definitely recommend getting a Peacock account, maybe just for the next couple of days so that you can watch everything. The NBC Olympics YouTube channel is also really good about getting all of the highlights from every single major event up there very quickly. They come with the commentary, with the medal ceremony, so that's a great destination to catch all of the big highlights.

Kousha Navidar: Let's get into some of the sports. We got some callers ready. Let's go to Kat in Brooklyn. Hey, Kat. Welcome to the show.

Kat: Thank you very much. Love the show. Thank you for having me.

Kousha Navidar: Of course. What sport are you really into?

Kat: Well, it's not me. Unfortunately, I'm visually disabled, so watching the Olympics is a little bit difficult. My girlfriend came over for a visit last week when the women's rugby team was getting slaughtered by New Zealand. She was very upset that they were totally getting slaughtered in this semifinal match. She wouldn't leave the house until she found out later that they won the bronze against Australia later in the coverage. It was just quite amusing. She had never heard of rugby, no less women's rugby, before she got involved.

Kousha Navidar: Kat, was this a side of your girlfriend that you had not seen before? Was this a new personality trait of her being so into sports?

Kat: Well, she does get involved with things, but I'd never seen her get involved with any kind of sports being a spectator. Yes, that was like a new side of her that I hadn't seen, especially that she was just lamenting how the women's rugby team was 26 to 0 or something like that against New Zealand. It was very interesting.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, that does sound very interesting. Glad you two could share that experience together. Thanks so much for calling. Shout out to the women's rugby team and women's rugby in general. Let's go to Laurie in Wantagh. Hey, Laurie, welcome to the show.

Laurie: Hi. Thanks so much for taking my call. Since I've been a kid, I have loved synchronized swimming, which they've just recently changed to artistic swimming. I've loved watching the finals of the team competition yesterday. USA won silver, so first time in many years. It was super exciting.

Kousha Navidar: Laurie, thanks so much for bringing us to synchronized swimming, artistic swimming. Olivia, I know that you're also interested in artistic swimming, which, as Laurie said, used to be called synchronized swimming. I saw a video the other day of the US team doing the moonwalk upside down in the water. It was so smooth. It was almost criminal.

Olivia Craighead: [laughs]

Kousha Navidar: The team gold event happened yesterday with China winning gold and the US team winning silver. On Saturday, there will be the gold medal event for the duet free routine. Talk to us a little bit about synchronized swimming, artistic swimming. What is most impressive to you? It doesn't have to be one thing. What stands out to you?

Olivia Craighead: Well, what's so impressive to me, it's the kind of the same thing with water polo, which is that you take something that is already incredibly difficult playing polo, doing an incredibly synchronized dance, and then you add the element of treading water the entire time you're doing it. It seems totally impossible to me. Like you said, when the women on the US team were moonwalking, they're treading water upside down and perfectly moving through the water. I am just completely spellbound by the whole thing.

Kousha Navidar: It's interesting because the artistic swimming starts before they get in the pool, right? The drama on the deck is pretty great.

Olivia Craighead: Yes, they're judged basically from the moment that they step out onto the deck.

Kousha Navidar: What else are they judged on?

Olivia Craighead: It's kind of a complicated judging system. There are three different judging bodies. There's a panel of five judges for scoring elements, which are just the moves that they're doing. Those are all weighted by degree of difficulty. Then there are five other judges for "artistic impressions," like choreography, music, transitions. Then there are technical controllers who are in charge of watching for anything that can be deducted. You add up the elements and your artistic impression and then you take out your deductions and you come up with your score.

Kousha Navidar: That is pretty complicated. I'm sure it's probably entertaining to listen to commentators break that down while you watch and then feel like you are an expert because it is beautiful and so difficult to moonwalk, let alone upside down while you're in the water. That's very impressive. Listeners, we're speaking with Olivia Craighead, who's a news writer for The Cut. We want to hear what Olympic sports you feel could get more love or you love loving that maybe aren't as popular, aren't the usual suspects. Give us a call. Send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, more sports and more calls. Stay with us.

[music]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Kousha Navidar. We're talking with Olivia Craighead, a news writer for The Cut. We're talking about some of the less popular but still very awesome Olympic events over the past few weeks. Listeners, we want to know, what's an Olympic sport that you've fallen in love with or that you've really enjoyed watching every Olympics that maybe doesn't get as much love as the usual suspects? Give us a call. Send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692.

Couple of texts that I saw come through here. One says-- Where is it? "Where can we catch all the Snoop content? Move over, Brian Lehrer. We've got a new national treasure." Really liked that one. The other one that I wanted to read was, "The Olympics has been televised on regular broadcasting, NBC in New York Channel 4." If you have a television, you're looking where to watch the sport, you can definitely do it there. We have got a caller, Chris in Castleton, New York. Hey, Chris. Welcome to the show.

Chris: Hey, thank you. One of the sports that I think doesn't really get enough coverage that it deserves is discus. These large men are sprinting diagonally across a small circle while spinning around and hurling the disc. It goes back to the beautiful Greek sculpture. I fell in love with discus as a kid because Al Oerter, a Long Island native, won the discus four Olympics in a row. It's like ballet by a large man hurling a weight, a giant Frisbee that weighs goodness knows what. They throw it out there, the length of a field. You couldn't imagine throwing a Frisbee that far. It's a great sport.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, thank you so much. I'm going to pause you there. It is a great sport. I understand that the US won gold. I want to shout out the women's discus as well. Valarie Allman, winner. We want to say congrats there. Thank you so much, Chris, for that call. Really appreciate you calling out. Discus, another sport, Olivia, that I am really interested in. This year, the Olympics added for the first time, breaking. Those competitions are coming up on August 9th and 10th. What can you tell us about the breaking competition? What will that look like?

Olivia Craighead: It'll look like two very long days of competition. It's basically a five-hour day for the men and for the women. If you picture in your mind, whatever you're picturing as a dance battle, that's what breaking looks like basically. There's lots of spinning on their heads and freezing in seemingly impossible positions. It's incredibly difficult. Breaking definitely started in New York in the '80s around the rise of hip-hop, but we have a lot of competition from other countries. China and Japan have incredibly good breakers on their team.

Kousha Navidar: I also would love to talk about speed climbing. This is an event that you're very excited about, right?

Olivia Craighead: Yes, the women's final was yesterday. Aleksandra Miroslaw from Poland took gold with a 6.1-second climb. You're climbing up a 50-foot wall that's tilted at a 5-degree angle toward you and you're racing another person. I think it's the fastest event in the Olympics. Later today, the men's final is happening. Sam Watson, an 18-year-old American earlier in the competition, broke his own world record and climbed up the wall in 4.75 seconds.

Kousha Navidar: Wow. Can you give us a sense of how much ground that person covered? Vertical ground in just over seconds. You said 4.5 seconds.

Olivia Craighead: It's around 50 feet.

Kousha Navidar: Wow, that is quite an impressive event. I just got this text coming in. Think it's good to read here. "One important note for your audience. You keep discussing smart TVs and setting up Peacock accounts. For those financially challenged or 'digital-only' members of the WNYC audience know that you can buy a digital antenna and watch NBC for free. No accounts, no hassles. I've been watching the entire Paris games this way."

Thank you so much for pointing that out to our listener who sent that text in. Climbing is another text we're getting here. Climbing, not speed, bouldering and lead. What is this Snoop Dogg thing? There is a lot of questions that we're getting here about Snoop Dogg's participation. I believe it has something to do with the women's water polo team as well. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Olivia Craighead: That? So--

Kousha Navidar: Oh, no, that's Flavor Flav.

Olivia Craighead: That's Flavor Flav.

Kousha Navidar: Sorry. That's Flavor Flav. Talk about Snoop Dogg for a second.

Olivia Craighead: Those are two different '90s rappers who are all over the Olympics right now. Snoop is an NBC employee basically. They're paying him to be at seemingly every single event. I was watching a track event last night. He was hanging out with Noah Lyles' mom wearing a Noah Lyles tracksuit with Noah's face on the tracksuit. He's just everywhere. He's a fun presence to have at these events. He's doing a little bit of commentary. I think he has a way of going viral for doing literally anything that NBC clocked and they decided to send him to Paris to do exactly that.

Kousha Navidar: I do want to talk about the women's water polo team. They are doing a lot of great work. Women's water polo. They do have an unlikely sponsor as well, rapper Flavor Flav. The women's water polo team is playing in the semifinal against Australia today at 1:35. Can you tell us a little bit about this sport, water polo?

Olivia Craighead: Yes, so the women's water polo team, like you said, is being sponsored by Flavor Flav. Maggie Steffens, who is one of the greatest water polo players in the world, made this Instagram post back in May talking about how so many Olympians have to take second and third jobs just to fund their Olympic dreams. Somehow that made it to Flavor Flav and he commented, saying that he was going to sponsor the whole team because he's a girl dad. He's been very supportive. America has an incredible water polo team. This is just kind of icing on their story. Ever since women's water polo has been an Olympic sport, the US has medaled.

Kousha Navidar: Let's go to some callers. Got Amy in Milford, Pennsylvania. Hi, Amy. Welcome to the show.

Amy: Hey, thanks for taking my call.

Kousha Navidar: Sure. What sport are you loving, falling in love with or have already loved?

Amy: I had the misfortune of sitting in a dentist's office for emergency service this week. Accidentally, I'm sitting there with clammy hands and getting really anxious. I look up at the screen and there is this glorious woman in a sport that I didn't know existed called the hammer throw. It's essentially this jump rope. It's got this big, heavy thing in the end. She picks it up like a superhero and is swinging it around the top of her head like a lasso and she lets it go. I don't think I've seen anything fly further in my whole life. It was so impressive and it was so cathartic of just this release of energy. I don't know what it was. It brought me some peace while I was sitting in the dentist's office.

Kousha Navidar: Wow. I'm sure that catharsis was really welcome. Thank you so much, Amy. I hope that all of the things that brought you into that dentist's chair worked out well. Thanks so much for giving us a call. Let's go to Randy in Hastings-on-Hudson. Hey, Randy. Welcome to the show.

Randy: Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call.

Kousha Navidar: Sure.

Randy: I have been glued to the middle-distance races and I've been watching from the 1,500 through the 5,000. Last night was a 3,000-meter steeplechase that was just absolutely thrilling. What's great about them is that it's not just how fast you are, but it's how tactically acute you are. These are guys whose bodies are expending maximum effort, but they have to keep their minds about them the entire time, know where they are, know when to go, when to hold back. They're not the glamour races, but these are the smartest guys running. It's just fascinating to watch not just the athleticism but the tactics and the-

Kousha Navidar: -and the strategy.

Randy: -the strategy work itself out over the course of minutes and minutes of running. I've been glued to it. I've been unable to look away.

Kousha Navidar: Randy, thank you so much.

Randy: Things that I didn't think I would--

Kousha Navidar: Oh, Randy, got to pause you there. Just appreciate the call. There's one more caller I want to get to, but really appreciate you giving that shout-out. It's a great point about the strategy that you can see in some of these middle-distance races. Let's go to Julia in Queens. Hey, Julia. Welcome to the show.

Julia: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Kousha Navidar: Sure.

Julia: The sport that I fell in love with was actually at the games in Tokyo. I was at a bar and the tail end of the triathlon was on. I vaguely understood what a triathlon was, but I did not really understand until I watched Kristian Blummenfelt, who looked like he was struggling so hard. He was maybe third or fourth. At the very, very end, he got this incredible burst of energy. He beat Alex Yee, who got silver that year. He got gold this year, Alex Yee. Good for him. It was just incredible. Then at the finish line, just complete carnage. These people, they were falling over like dominoes. I was astounded. I really grew a lot of respect for the sport after watching that.

Kousha Navidar: Julia, thank you so much. Giving a shout-out to triathlon, swimming, biking, then racing. Takes a lot of athleticism. I'm looking at the clock. We got to wrap up here. Olivia, I'll bring it back to you. Any other sports that you want to call out that you're excited about?

Olivia Craighead: I do just want to give a shout-out to everyone who does canoe slalom. I salute you. I could never do that. I'm impressed with the bravery.

[laughter]

Kousha Navidar: Wonderful. Shout-out to canoe slaloming. I'm speaking with Olivia Craighead, a news writer for The Cut. We're talking about some of the less popular but still awesome Olympic sports. Thanks so much for hanging out with us and I hope you have a great rest of your Olympics-watching experience, Olivia.

Olivia Craighead: Thanks so much for having me.

 

Copyright © 2024 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.