Mumbling anthems and frozen genitals
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China wins gold #9 with a figure skating pairs win — four years after heartbreak (2:18). Eileen Gu has been living a privileged existence inside the bubble (3:10), but faced some criticism for mumbling through the Chinese national anthem (4:32). China almost got to the end of these Olympics without a political own goal — but not quite. (5:19) It got so cold up in Chongli that one athlete suffered from frozen genitals. (7:53) Chinese sprinter like Su Bingtian and his relay teammates are set to get an Olympic medal — nine months after Tokyo ended. (10:09) And China names its flagbearers for the closing ceremony (as predicted by Mark!) (11:24).
Team China ice hockey goalie Kim Newell joins us from her hometown of Vancouver, where she’s coming down from the high of Beijing (12:40). She talks about the competitiveness of China’s group at the Olympics (13:52), explains what went right, what went wrong, and why it was so intense. (15:19) Next, she shares her highest high — coming back from a broken ankle in November and getting a win (17:07), and details the lowest low — when the team couldn’t find a way to get through Sweden (19:22).
Princeton grad Newell learned Chinese specifically to have a conversation with her grandfather and connect with her heritage (21:10), and she talks about her eye-opening month-long trip to China as a student (24:39), and how she realized her aim of connecting with her grandfather before he passed away (25:55). Next, she gives her take on the “translator incident” when she was banned from answering questions in English, but used it as a moment to get increased attention for women’s hockey in China (27:22). Newell says she’s hoping to get back to China as soon as possible to further interest in the game (32:19), and discusses what’s going to happen with Kunlun Red Star next season (34:19). Finally, she gives her thoughts on whether China’s strategy of bringing in naturalized and heritage players has been successful (35:41), and reveals whether she sees coaching in her future (40:27).
