Runners Cathy Freeman and Marion Jones, two of the stars from the Sydney 2000 Olympics, could not have had more different outcomes to their experiences at these Games.

In this look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Alison has the amazing story of Cathy Freeman, who brought Olympic glory to Australia and the Aboriginal people.

Meanwhile, Jill unravels the complicated story of Marion Jones, who was the first women to ever win five medals in a single Games in athletics.

Until she gave them back--before the International Olympic Committee decided to strip them from her for doping. And went to prison for lying under oath.

For a full source list and transcript, please visit our website.

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!

***

Keep the Flame Alive: Games History Moment with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown is released monthly. In 2025, these episodes explore the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics. Look for our regular episodes every week, with daily editions during the Olympics and Paralympics.

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VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348

It's one year to go until the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics! Tickets went on sale today, which means it's time to figure out travel plans--and because Milan-Cortina is really spread out across northern Italy, travel between venue clusters is going to be much more complicated.

Not to worry though. Our Olympics travel expert Ken Hanscom is back to talk about traveling to Milan-Cortina for the Games. He shares:

• What to think about when buying tickets
• Why Milan will be a great host city for the Games
• Where to stay if you can't find a hotel in Cortina
• What the roads are like between the different venue clusters

Follow Ken on X, and learn more about TicketManager on Insta, X and its website.

Besides travel, there's a lot of news from Milan-Cortina, which we dive into. The slidingnovela continues on, with both AP and Reuters articles citing sources that say progress on the new track is going well, but we're not sure what that actually means.

If you're going to Milan-Cortina for the Olympics, please let us know!

This episode also features news from Paris 2024, LA 2028, French Alps 2030, and a visit to TKFLASTAN to check in on our past guests. Many of them of competing right now in hopes of qualifying for Milan-Cortina!

For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com.

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!

***

Keep the Flame Alive: The Olympics and Paralympics Fan Podcast with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown. New episodes released every week and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics. Also look for our monthly Games History Moment episodes in your feed.

Support the show: http://flamealivepod.com/support

Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod

Become a patron and get bonus content: http://www.patreon.com/flamealivepod

Hang out with us online:

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Newsletter: Sign up at https://flamealivepod.substack.com/subscribe

VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348

Brazilian cross-country skier Bruna Moura joins us to talk about her continuing gritty journey to become an Olympian. A former mountain biker, Bruna took up roller skiing to help her recover from surgery. She found a love for the sport and transferred to snow to achieve her goal of representing her country at an Olympics.

She was supposed to realize her dream in 2022 when she qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics at the last minute. However, as she was riding to the airport to fly to China for the Games, she was in a horrific car crash, in which she sustained several serious injuries.

That setback hasn’t deterred Bruna from achieving her goal, and she is back on the cross-country skiing circuit trying to earn enough points to qualify for Milan-Cortina 2026.

We talk with Bruna about how she found her sport and how athletes from underrepresented nations cobble together training, equipment and travel on the cross-country ski circuit. We also discuss her almost-journey to Beijing and how her accident fueled her drive to keep going toward her goal.

Follow Bruna Moura on Facebook and Instagram!

Our friend Nick Zaccardi wrote a great article about her journey – check it out here!

Also on today’s episode:

The International Olympic Committee has pressed pause on its plans to hold an Olympic Esports Games in 2025. Sports Business broke the story (paywalled), and we talk about what that could mean for the future of the event.

Perhaps the new IOC President will have thoughts on the direction that event should take. This week, the seven candidates meet in Lausanne to present their candidacy to IOC membership.

Plus, we have news from TKFLASTAN, including results for a number of our winter athletes and some great honors for our para archer Matt Stutzman.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com.

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!