Olympic Legends Nicholas Sweedo

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Olympian: Casey FitzRandolph is an Olympic long track speed skater who competed in the '98, '02, and '06 Winter Olympics.  He won the gold medal in the 500 meters at the '02 Salt Lake City Games. You can visit him online at his official website CaseyFitz.com. Book: No Stone Unturned, written by Jessie Garcia, is the story of the FitzRandolph family.  It is available through Amazon. Conversation: Total run time: 29:28   0:01 - Introduction and background on Casey   1:34 - Casey talks about what makes a good speed skater 10:22 - short track vs. long track 17:51 - the gold medal ceremony 22:15 - the advice he'd give young athletes 23:28 - his family's book, No Stone Unturned 28:48 - Epilogue Your browser does not support this audio The embedded player works best in Google Chrome.  You can also download the mp3 by clicking here, and you can listen in iTunes through both the Olympic Legends and Outstanding Authors podcasts.

Book:  Native American Son, The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe Author: Kate Buford Contact: Visit Kate at her website, check out her blog, and follow her on twitter at katebuford.  Her book can be purchased on Amazon. Conversation: Total run time: 52:01 0:01 - Introduction and short background on Jim 2:38 -  Kate joins in and we talk about Jim's early life 10:14 - the Carlisle Indian School 18:00 - Jim is stripped of his 1912 Olympic gold medals 24:27 - pro football and baseball 31:07 - Jim's personality 38:04 - the burial controversy 51:00 - epilogue Your browser does not support this audio The embedded player works best in Google Chrome.  You can also download the mp3 by clicking here, and you can also listen in iTunes by clicking either of the following podcast links (Olympic Legends / Outstanding Authors). Additional Links: An episode of Native America Calling where the Jim Thorpe burial controversy is discussed. 

Biography: Jim Sedin was the youngest member of the silver medal winning U.S. Olympic hockey team in the Oslo 1952 Winter Olympics.  Jim scored the tying goal with just over two minutes left in the final game against the mighty Canadians -- without his effort, the U.S. team would have gotten fourth place and would have been left off the medal stand.  Jim was born and raised in the Twin Cities and stayed in town to play college hockey for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and he later went on to get a PhD in electrical engineering from Caltech. Conversation: Total run time: 21:33 0:01 - Introduction and background on Jim 1:34 - Jim talks about his early life and lead up to the Olympics 7:13 - the 1952 Olympics 10:49 - Jim's post Olympic career 15:52 - Jim's opinion on the hockey of today 20:28 - Epilogue Your browser does not support this audio The embedded player works best in Google Chrome.  You can also download the mp3 by clicking here, and the podcast is available in iTunes. Additional Links: A short bio and picture of Jim from Joe Pelletier's Greatest Hockey Legends site.  A recap of the 1952 Olympic hockey tournament from Wikipedia. 

Dave Sime (L) and Bobby Morrow (R) Biography: Dave Sime was the Silver Medalist in the 100 meters in the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics. Born and raised outside of New York City, he was a star at every sport he tried (he even won a speed skating competition) and was recruited to play football by many schools including Notre Dame and Army (where Vince Lombardi personally recruited him).  He ended up attending Duke on a baseball scholarship, and while at the university he ran track for the first time in his life and immediately started setting world records. He had some bad luck involving the Olympics in that he missed the 1956 Games through injury, lost the 100 meter gold medal by a fraction of a second in 1960, and had the 4x100 relay gold (which he anchored in world record time) taken away due to an illegal handoff earlier in the race. Nevertheless, he had an incredible career including winning the silver medal, setting numerous world records and at one time being considered the fastest man in the world, being named Duke's athlete of the century, and becoming a leading and innovative eye surgeon. And today his grandsons are continuing his athletic legacy as elite college football players. Conversation: Total run time: 28:44 0:01 - Introduction and background on Dave 5:43 - Dave joins in and recaps his career 16:19 - the 1956 and 1960 Olympics 19:07 - the CIA plot to help a Russian athlete defect 22:36 - Dave's family and their athletic achievements 27:32 - Epilogue And listen to hear Dave's thoughts on Vince Lombardi, Jesse Owens, and Armin Hary (the 1960 Olympic 100 meter gold medal winner). Your browser does not support this audio The embedded player works best in Google Chrome.  You can also download the mp3 by clicking here, and the podcast is available in iTunes. Additional Links: The 1960 100 meter final.  Dave is in lane 1 on top and Armin Hary is in lane 6 at the bottom.  Did Armin jump the gun? A recent ESPN profile of Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, Dave's grandson and a leading Heisman contender.  Dave is mentioned at the 2:23 mark of the video. The controversial ending to the Duke/Miami football game that Dave mentions at the 25:32 mark of the podcast.  Dave's grandson Max plays for Duke, and Dave wasn't too happy with the refs in this one. The race in Big Springs, TX, between Dave and Bobby Morrow that Dave mentions at the 26:13 mark of the podcast.

Biography: Welcome to the first episode of the Olympic Legends Podcast!  My guest today is Barry Magee, the Bronze Medalist from the 1960 Marathon in Rome. Barry hails from New Zealand, and he has had a long, distinguished career as a versatile runner of many distances including the mile, 5K, 10K, and the marathon.  He was a protégé of legendary coach Arthur Lydiard (considered by many to be the greatest running coach of all time), and at the age of 81 he is still active in coaching people of all ages in the Lydiard Way.  In addition to his bronze medal, he competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and set a host of other national and international records throughout his career. Conversation: I had a great time talking to Barry for about an hour, but just as we were finishing up, technology reared its ugly head and sadly the record of our conversation was lost.  I remembered much of what we talked about, so I summarized it monologue-style for the first part of the podcast, and when I called him back after our call dropped, he was kind enough to talk to me for a few additional minutes, so at least you can at least hear him speak for a little bit. 0:01 - Introduction 1:59 - My summary of the lost conversation 12:37 - Barry joins in 20:05 - Epilogue 21:02 - End of the show Your browser does not support this audio The embedded player works best in Google Chrome.  You can also download the mp3 by clicking here. Additional Links: A great profile of Barry on the "Becky Runs Away" blog. Barry's Running School's website where he mentors New Zealand runners young and old The New Zealand National Anthem by Hayley Westenra.  For my money, this is the #1 national anthem in the world.  Other favorite anthems on my list include Germany, England, Canada, the U.S., Spain, and Italy, but "God Defend New Zealand" is the most goosebump inducing of them all.