Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Almost Famous OG: A Fierce Five Update with Jordyn Wieber

Transcript

Almost Famous OG: A Fierce Five Update with Jordyn Wieber · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the almost famous podcast with IUR Radio. Hey everybody,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: this is Trista and you're listening to the almost famous
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: OG podcast where Bob and I, who unfortunately can't be
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: here today. And if he can, it'll be a surprise
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and a very welcome one. Anyway, I wanted to intro
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: our guest today without Bob in the hopes that he
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: can come, that he can join us. But I'm so
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: excited to welcome Jordan Weaver to the podcast. She is
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: one of my fellow recruits on season three of Special
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Forces World's Toughest Test, and she of course is one
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of the Fierce Five from the twenty twelve Summer Olympic
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Games in London. She is a champion, really truly by
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: all meanings of the word, like she was an individual
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: champion in gymnastics prior to winning the gold medal in
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: London with her Fears five, and she retired from competitive
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: gymnastics in twenty fifteen transitioned to coaching where she coaches
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the University of Arkansas. And I know that is such
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: a sense of pride for her in talking to her
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and asking her about what she's doing now. I just
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: remember her being so proud that this is what she's doing.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And you can tell that she now has this family
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: with the University of Arkansas girls and probably boys in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: their world of gymnastics, and I just love her. She
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: is amazing. She's so down to earth, so sweet, so kind,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and we definitely bonded. We were connected linked up on
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the beach during surf torture, and I don't even know
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: if that's what's what it technically is called, but to me,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: it's surf torture. It with the buds training on the beach,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: we were linked together and I just, along with all
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of my other recruits, just love Jordan so much. So
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to welcome her to the podcast today. Okay, everybody,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited Jordan's here with me today and I'm
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: just so excited to chat about our time together on
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Special Forces and then time, you know, outside of the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: show and normal life. So welcome to the podcast, Jordan.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: For having me. It's so good to see you again.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: You too.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I love that we get to see each other live. Okay,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: so first things first, you you shocked all of us
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: at the table at the reunion by telling us that
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: you were pregnant how is it going.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Good?
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: It's so funny because I was pretty like early on still,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: but I'm like, for some reason, I just feel inclined
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: to tell all these people that I'm pregnant right now,
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: because you know, it was one of those things like
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: we only had a few days together, but I felt
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: like we all just like weirdly bonded by doing hard things.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: To other yep.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: So I just felt like telling everyone, and I'm glad
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: I did. It was really fun and I'm feeling good.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: I'm nineteen weeks now, so everything has been smooth sailing
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: so far.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Amazing. I mean, I couldn't could not start with that
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: because I'm just so happy, so happy for you. Okay,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: so Special Forces, how were you asked? And what was
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: your first thought when they asked you?
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so they reached out to my agent, and my
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: agent presented the opportunity to me, and at first I
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: was like.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, holy crap. I don't know.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: I kind of went back and forth a few times,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: but I had watched the first couple of seasons because
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: season one, Nasty Lucan was on it, who was also
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: an Olympic gymnast, and I know her and I remember
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: watching it because she was on it and just thinking
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: to myself, Okay, if there's ever like a reality show
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: that I would do, Like, I just love the meaning
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: behind this one and kind of like the whole vibe
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: of bit vibe of it. So so I just contemplated
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: it for a couple of weeks and ended up saying yes,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: And like, the filming was short enough, like for my
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: own job at home, and it just was perfect timing,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: and I thought, like, you know what, we got to
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: keep challenging ourselves in life and putting ourselves, you know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: in different places out of our comfort zone.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: So that's really why I said yes, And it was
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: it was definitely an interesting experience.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sure.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you feel the same way.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Interesting. Yes. I just actually got to chat with Rudy
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and Billy, and I have to say, I wish you
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: know how they do the psychologists. The psychologists. They have
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: a show psychologist for everyone listening, and they check in
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: with you like you do a whole kind of like
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: an exam with them prior to the show, and then
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: after the show we get the chance to talk to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the psychologist and then she follows up with you, I
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: think a couple times after that, and it's very nice
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: to talk to the psychologist obviously she's a professional or
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: he you know, either or but talking to Billy and Rudy,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I really felt like it was it was like it
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: gave me a little bit of closure. And I wish
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: for all everybody, the recruits on the show that everyone
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: could get that and actually like see them smiling and like,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: you know, like laughing together. We were laughing and you know,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: just putting that human touch on it. It was very interesting,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: an interesting show, and I love that you had watched
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: it prior and we're actually like, you know, saying that
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: this is the one reality show that probably you would
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: sign up for. And then of course things happened on
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the show, being that it's in water. Did you ever
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: have anxiety or issues with water prior to doing the show.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: No, not really, I think, but you know, after reflecting
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: on it, it's like I just have never really done
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: anything in the water, Like I've never been challenged to
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: do anything other than like swimming in the pool with
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: my friends.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: And you know, like I was a kid when I.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Was little that jumped it, plugging my nose, Like I
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: just I was never really like super strong in the water,
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: but I never really had issues, like I could swim,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: and I think, you know, that first night, what we
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: did in the beehive like really did something to my
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: brain and kind of like ignited this this fear element.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: And it wasn't really like I don't I'm not actually
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: scared of the water. It was like a physiological response
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: that I was having, like in my body, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: on every water challenge after that. So it was it
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: was interesting, and you know, people are like, well, would
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: you go back and do the sinking boat now?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: I'm like, probably not. I don't think so. I don't know.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: It's just I don't really even know where the fear
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: came from. It just it just kind.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Of was there during the filming and it definitely like
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: surprised me a lot, but it was like part mental,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: part physiological and hard to explain for sure.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I feel like also the beehive is just
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: really freaking stressful and they didn't show a lot of it,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: so I feel like you don't truly get a sense
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: of what happened during that task unless you were there.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Of course, that's with everything in life, right, but you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: we're setting the stage for people who are listening. It's
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: this big like outdoor or above ground pool essentially, like
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I think it's ten feet deep, and they just tell
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: you to jump in. Q is in the middle on
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: this pool noodle like yelling at everyone and splashing you
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: in the face. And you have giant guys like Cam
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Newton and Goldent Tate who are not happy with the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: water and they are going under and they're like everyone's
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: kicking and flailing and trying to tread water, but we're
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: all being told to get closer and closer and closer
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: towards the center, toward Q. Meanwhile people are going under.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: You're kicking people. I think Christy's boot fell off like
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: it was kaos and they're splashing you in the face
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to make it seem like, you know, you're out in
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: open water. So it was really stressful. Was there a
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: moment that you reflect back on and think that's kind
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: of when it started, Like did Cam grab onto you
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: or Nathan? Obviously not Nathan because he's an Olympic swimmer,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: but you know, was there a moment where you were
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: like you remember exactly when you were like, holy crap,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: this is intense and I my physiologically cannot handle it.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I mean I remember like treading water at first, thinking okay,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: like just stay.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Calm, like you know, a lot of people did even
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: realize we had our boots on, which was probably the
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: hardest part.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: About that, Like your boots fell, and then people are
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: kind of grabbing onto you when they start panicking, and
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: then you did the same because like your survival instinct
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: just kicks in. And so initially when I felt like, okay,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: I'm starting to go under, I swam to the side,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: and then of course they're yelling at.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: You to go back in the middle, and so I
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: was kind.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Of I was trying really hard to go back out
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: in the middle, and at one point I did, and
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: like I remember starting to like not feel my arms,
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: like my arm's went um and then then I went under.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I feel like in the show I heard someone say
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: like she's going under, and like, I'm pretty sure that
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: was me, and so I went I fully went under,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: couldn't get up, and I finally got my head out
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: and I just reached my arm out and I think
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Cam grabbed it and pulled because he was on the side.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: He pulled me over the side, and so that was
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: probably like the scariest moment was like I am fully
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: going to drown right now, and I somehow got my
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: head up and reached my arm out like someone better
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: grab my arm or I'm gonna drown.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I just got chills. I just got chills because I
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: can't imagine, like I've had a panic attack before, but
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: that was on solid ground, sitting on a couch, you know,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: like just being stressed out, So I can't even imagine
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: having that panic attack. Because we ended up like next
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to each other on the side of the pool. Once
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I came to the side and you could not breathe,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: like you were in the midst of panicking, which you know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: just compounds cause you're not breathing, and then the DS
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: is yelling at you and you see other people are
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: going through this and you're like, I almost drowned. So
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: it's like probably just building up in your head. How
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Like when I was I was trying to like help
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: you and Kyla, I think, were on either side of me,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: and she was having a really hard time too, and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I'm like, just try to breathe, to try to breathe
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: in those moments. Are you the kind of person that
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: is like, thank you for trying to help me through
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: or you're like, shut up, Trista, I don't need to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: be dad with you right now.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Well I can tell you, like after the fact that
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: I'm so grateful for that because we were just all
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: trying to survive that together.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: But like in the moment, I don't even know if
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I knew what was going on around me.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Like I just like the only thing I could think
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: about was like, just try to calm your breathing down
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: and then try to get back in there, because you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: like the DS like they're, yes they are, it's it's television,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: and you know, they're they're putting on this show in
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: a lot of ways, but like they're scary and you know,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: and they're saying get back out there, Like I wanted
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: to do that for because they were asking me.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: To, and so I don't know if I knew what
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: was going on around around me.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: A lot, I was just like, Okay, just get your breath,
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: control your breath so you can go back out.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: But it was it just got hard and harder each time.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I felt like I was going in and out of
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: the pool. So it was it was crazy.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: It was crazy. Yeah, yeah, no, I feel like Hindsight's
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty, right, Yeah, I'm well, I guess I was
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: super grateful for like Cam and Golden for like holding
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: my you know, packs and carrying them, for carrying it
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: for me. Even the moment when we were at the bridge,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And I didn't remember this, but I think it was
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: when we first got there, we had just finished running
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and you were like rubbing my back like it's okay,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: You're You're gonna be okay. I can't remember exactly what
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: you said, and I was like, oh, like we really
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: truly were. I feel like our cast was was really
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: truly there for each other. Do you do you feel
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: that I do?
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I just I think, you know, having felt
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: this being on other teams before, like when it doesn't
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: really matter how long you're you've known somebody or you're
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: with somebody, like when you do hard things together, it
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: just bonds you in a different way. I think that
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: was really true about our group. And I really do
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: feel like the mix of personalities was so great. Everybody
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: was so just awesome, and I feel like you just
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: never know with people coming from different Wars worlds and
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: having different reasons for going on TV, so we just
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: got so lucky with a good cast, and I think
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: really everybody was in it together.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. Okay, So I left prior to the submersion task,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: which was when you ended up leaving. Actually, I want
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: to go back to the beach. So we're at the beach.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: We were linked up and again I was connected with you,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: and Kyla was on were on either side of me,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and yeah, it was it was like we were drowning
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: ourselves essentially. And I can't even imagine. You know, you
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: went up and you and you spoke to Q and
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I think he no, maybe it wasn't Q.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Maybe I think it was Foxy.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: It was Foxy. Never mind, it was Foxy. Okay, So funny,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: funny story. I'm sitting on the couch with my husband
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: watching and Foxy says, Okay, calm down. And Ryan is
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: my husband's a firefighter and you know, an EMT, and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: he was like, they tell you that if someone's panicking
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: or you know, having a really hard time, the thing
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: that you don't say to them is calm down.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: It might be different in the military. Okay.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: It was just so funny. He was like, I don't
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: know that that's going to get her to calm down.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: But you know, maybe it's just because it's him and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you know we're going to listen to the DS. I
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: just thought that was that was kind of funny when
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: he pointed that out. And and I give it up
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: to you because you got past that, You got past
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: your panic and you were again legit having a panic
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: attack to where you were like like you could not breathe,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: so and when you're not able to breathe as an asthmatic,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: it takes over everything. You cannot think of anything else,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: you know. So I have to give it up to
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you on the beach for getting past that because it
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: was really difficult even without having this like physiological reaction
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: to the water, right, yeah, okay, and then the next
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: day you have the submersion activity. Take me through what
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you were feeling when you got there and you knew
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: that that's what was going on up until you ended
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: up leaving.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, having watched the first two seasons before,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: like they did the submersion thing in both seasons, so
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: I kind of knew it was coming. And like even
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: before going on the show was like Okay, I I
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: don't even know how to open my eyes under the water,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Like I need to learn how to do that. I
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: was like sticking my head in the bathtub at home,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: like opening my eyes, like just trying to do something
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: to prepare.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: It's like I'm an athlete, and I want to train
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: as much as possible, but I had such a short
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: window from when I agreed to do the show told me.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I laughed it like I just did what I could.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: Anyway, we that morning, like we pulled up to the
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: like the whatever, the marina, I don't know what you'd
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: call it, but where we were going, and I saw
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: the crane and I was like, this is the subversion one,
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: and like, you know, I think mentally I was prepared
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: to do something like that, but then having the two
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: days before that I had had just you know, struggling
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: with the water. I think I was like, I don't know,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: this might be beyond my limit.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: And I really I watched everybody else do it.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Before me, and I remember think going back and forth
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: like literally five hundred times, like I'm gonna do it,
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: I'm just gonna do it, not gonna do it.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I don't like I can.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: I went back and forth, like fully deciding either way,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: and it really came down to. I felt like my
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: options were either leave and quit and have to deal
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: with you know what that felt like for me, or
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: try it and probably panic again. And I was really
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: scared of the panic. I don't know how else to
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: explain it. Like I think for anyone who's had a
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: panic attack before, like it's you almost fear the panic
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: more than like the actual thing that you have to do.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: And so that's kind of where I was, And I
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: just kind of thought to myself, like, maybe you know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: I I don't think there's I don't think the water
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: stuff is gonna get any easier after that. I didn't know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: because I just I don't like quitting. And I've always
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: considered myself a really resilient person, especially mentally, but I
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: just didn't feel like it didn't feel right for me
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: to do it and to go under that into that
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: boat and not be able to open my eyes and sinking,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: and I don't know, I just didn't feel right. So
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: it was it was really tough, but ended up just
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: deciding to leave.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Nathan, of course, is trying to give you a pep
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: talk before you're going. Did he almost convince you? Were
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: you close to him convincing you did that help at all?
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he was just being so encouraging, and
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: you know, coming from an Olympic swimmer, like obviously he
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: knows a thing or.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Two with water, and so yeah, listen to what he
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: was saying.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: And he just mostly was telling me, like, you know,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: you don't want to look back and regret that you
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: didn't try, and you're you're not a quitter, and you know,
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: just kind of giving me some tips.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: But and I really was encouraged by it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Like I said, I went back and forth like a
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: million times, Like for a while, I was decided, I'm
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: going to do it.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try and and it was just hard.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: Even Kayla was trying to just encourage me, and because
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: she had already done it at that point, she had
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: already gone in and tried and and so it was
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: I just appreciate the two of them so much, especially
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Nathan just.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Trying to encourage me.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: But but yeah, I don't know, it just it was
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: a battle I was kind of dealing with within myself
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: for sure.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a hard one. I don't know how I
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: would have reacted. Part of me, you know, when I
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: left that morning, when we woke up to the gunshots
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and the barrel or whatever where you want to call it.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: And after the night I had the night before with
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: the hypothermia and the mirror room interview and getting to
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: talk to them and them telling me it's just it's
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: going to keep getting harder. It's going to keep getting harder,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: and they validated that, they saw that I was one
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: hundred percent. And then just thinking about how I felt
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: like a burden with like people helping, you know, carry
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: whether it was carrying my pack or whatever. I just
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I hate feeling like a burden. And so I had
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: this piece come over me and was like, you know what,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: you've gained so much out of this experience in just
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: the short time that you were here. It's okay. But
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: coming home I feel like maybe it's a little bit
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: of fomo and thinking I really truly wanted to make
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: it to the end. You know, you sign up for
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the show hoping that you're going to make it to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the end, but I do. I do have to say
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I have a little bit of regret that I didn't
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: stay and just push through and get the opportunity to
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: do this submersion or at least try and who knows
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the fighting. I mean, you know, you go back and
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: forth and you're like, well, I could have broken my face,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I could have drown, you know, all of these things.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: But are you do you have any regret? Like at
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: night when you're thinking about it. A lot of times
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I'll just be laying in bed being like, oh, I
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: wish I would have stayed, or just replaying it in
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: my mind. How is your how is your mind with
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: how you left? And are you feeling any regret?
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: I mostly feel like confident in my decision for the
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: most part. I mean there's a small part of me
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: that I watch like certain things that are doing now,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: like after I left, Like definitely not the fighting. I
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: don't know if I could have done that, but like
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: certain things I see them doing, I'm like, Okay, I
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: feel like I could have really done well at that,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: or you know, I wish I had stayed and pushed
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: myself a little bit harder.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: And I do have thoughts like that.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: I'm sure I'll continue to feel that way, like watching
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the rest of the episodes, But at the end of
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: the day, I think, like, looking back, I try not
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: to regret it too much because like it was an
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: experience that I was having at that time, and it's
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: what felt right at that time. I learned something from it,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: and you know, I still don't feel passionate I need
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: to do anything in the water like I just don't.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Feel that way.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: And I keep thinking like if it was anything but water, like,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: I would have stayed and continued to literally I would
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: do anything, like tell me to jump off that bridge,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: I'll do it, you know, tell me to do whatever,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: anything physical, I'll do it. And now I'm like, if
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: it didn't have the water stuff, I would I would
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: have stayed, you know, like I would have done anything
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: pretty much.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: So I do have a little bit, but like not
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: with the water stuff, I.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Would say yes, yeah, yeah, totally hear that. Would you
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: do it again? If they asked the show just in general,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: h I don't know, if it didn't involve water, yes, yes.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I need it. Yes, I totally would.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: And I've told my husband too, because my husband was
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: an Olympic gymnast as well on in men's gymnastics. He
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: would do so well on the show if it wasn't
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: for like the running. His ankles are really bad, but
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: like everything else, like he has.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Like that mind for it. So I see him do
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: it than me do it again.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Same same. I am totally the same. When they asked
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: me to do it, I was like, aren't you sure
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: you want my husband? He's really good at this stuff,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Like he would thrive, he would love this. So I
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: keep telling them, please have Ryan on the show next season,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Please have Ryan. So I think they should do because
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Christy has said the same thing. I know so many
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: people have said the same thing. They should have a
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: show with all of the you know, partners of the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: people who have been on it, right, or like a
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: couple's version. Although I don't know, I don't know if
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I could have. I feel like if my husband was there,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I probably would have just like, you know, curled into
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: a little ball with him being there and just you know,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: left earlier, you know for sure. Yeah, okay, So pivot
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to gymnastics and now you are the coach of the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: University of Arkansas right gymnastics team. How has that been
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: in comparing your Olympic career to being a coach, Yeah.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: It's very different, Like being a competitor yourself for versus
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: you know, leading a group of people to do what
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: you did.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: It's it's completely different.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: And I joke all the time that like the things
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: that worked for me as an athlete might work for
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: one out of the twenty people on my team, you know,
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: And so I've really like that's been my coaching journey,
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: is just understanding people and human behaviors and why people
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: think and react and behave the way they do, and
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: then after that, motivating them to reach a common goal
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: and getting a group of people to come together. It's
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: what I'm passionate about now, and I love it like
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: I love the sport of gymnastics, but even more than that,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: I just really love impacting the lives of my student athletes.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Like they're in that age range eighteen to twenty two,
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: and college is one of the most transformative times in
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: anyone's life.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: You just thought about yourself.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: You're away from your parents for the first time, so
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: getting to be a mentor and a leader for them
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: during those years is such a big passion of mine.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: So I love what I get to do every day.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I love that. I love that, And now you'll get
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: to be that for your own baby soon. Okay, So
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: you faced a lot of highs and lows as a gymnast.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: What kept you motivated to keep going and push your
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: body to these limits that I'm sure you had to
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: push your body too, and your mind.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Actually yeah, yeah, I mean for me, like I did
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: gymnastics from age four, made us the Olympics when I
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: was seventeen, So you know, I was pretty young during
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: those years, and I very much in my mind, like
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: felt like an adult during that time because I was
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: doing I was basically working a full time if not
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: more job. Yeah, train in gymnastics to a day practices
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: on top of school, on everything.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: And what kept me motivated.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Was just having this big goal, like I wanted to
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: be an Olympian. I wanted to compete for Team USA,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: and that was always in the back of my mind,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: and I knew I had what it took to get there.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: It was just a matter of taking it one day
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: at a time and taking the right steps to get there.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: So having that goal was what motivated me. Because there
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: were a lot of hard days. There was a lot
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: of injuries, and you know a lot of things that
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: were happening sort of behind the scenes, you know in
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: my life that you know a lot of people just
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: didn't know about.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: At the time.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: And what motivated me was like I had that goal
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: and I wanted it so bad and I was going
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: to make it happen, and it's a lot of work
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: to just you know, quit easily. So that's what kept
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: me going on those hard days and talk to us
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: about the Fierce Five. Obviously, you came out with a
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: gold medal and you all had to come together to
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: get that done right, But there had to be moments
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: like I mean, please, uh, you know, it's hard to
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: get a group of people together without having like competition
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: amongst yourselves and you know, different personalities.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Was there were there difficulties in dealing with the with
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the Fierce Five or did you all just you bonded
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: instantaneously and you just made it work and came together
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and you were instantaneous friends. Yeah, Like what was the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes? Like?
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's interesting because we all lived in
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: different parts of the country and I was from Michigan,
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Alley was from Boston. McHale's from California, So we all
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: lived in different places, we had our different coaches, and
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: then once a month, for years and years and years,
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: we've come together for these training camps, and so we
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: would spend these five days together at these training camps
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: where you know, similar to what I was talking about
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: in Special Forces, like you're you're doing really hard things
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: together and going experiences like that just connects and bond
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: you in a different way than a lot of people
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: ever experience in their life.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: And so then when the Olympics.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Came around, we went to a training camp. After we
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: made the team, we went to a training camp for
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: about ten days and then we went to London. So
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: we weren't used to being with each other every single
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: day in training. We all trained separately and then came
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: together for these competitions.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: And then when we were in.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: London, you know, I mean, we were all just It's
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: interesting in gymnastics because in the team competition, you have
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: to be teammates, and then it could be the very
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: next day where you're competing in say the all around
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: or an event final, where like your teammate is your
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: competitor and fors Like I mean, the US is the
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: most dominant when it comes to gymnastics typically, so your
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: biggest competitors are the other American girls. But we never
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: had any of any drama. We never had any competitiveness
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: to the point where we were caddy with each other
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: like we were sixteen, seeventeen years old. We just we
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: were just girls, you know, and we were we were
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: competitive and tough, but at the end of the day,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: like we were, we were friends and teammates and we
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: just wanted each other to succeed. And I think that's
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: what helped us go out and win that gold medal
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: as a group, because it really it took every single
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: one of us to make that happen.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: I love that. I love it. Are you in touch
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: with them still?
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: So actually, one of my teammates, Kyla, she is my
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: assistant coach here at Arkansas, so she's too honest and
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: we work together every day, which is amazing. And then Alie.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Raised been We see her quite frequently.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I mean now she's she's doing some commentating for NC
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: double A Gymnastics, So like a couple of weeks ago
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: she was commentating one of the meets we were competing in,
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: which is fun because it feels like, you know, our
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: worlds are colliding again. And then you know Mikayla, Like,
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: I don't see her often, but I got to see
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: her last year when Kyla got married, she came to
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: her weddings. We had a little mini reunion and so
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: every now and then we get to see each other.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: We still haven't gotten like all five of us together
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: in the same.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Room, I think, since the Olympics, So we need to
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: make that happen at some point for sure.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: How is it watching the Olympics now, Like, what did
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: you do this year when they are I guess this
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: past summer? It was on this past summer? Yeah? Right,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: am I making that up right?
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: You're right?
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Oh, so what did you do when you watched? Did
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: you have like a big watch party or do you
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: get together with your gymnast at Arkansas? Or how do
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: you watch? I think it'd probably be so fun to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: like cheer on the next the next generation.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I know I mentioned this when my
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: husband was an Olympian as well, in the Reo Olympics.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: And then I have Kyla here, she's one of my
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: best friends, so we all watch it together and.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: It's just it's it's fun now to just be a fan.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Obviously when you're in it, you're in it, and then
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: the one Olympics, right after you compete, you have this
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: really weird feeling when you're watching it, like.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Should I retired? Like should I kept going?
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: Like I really want to be there, and then the
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: further you get out, the more you're like, this is amazing.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: I can't even believe I did this at one point,
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: and you just get to be a fan.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: And that's really like the phase that I'm in now,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: which is so fun.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: So I love watching Olympics and Team USA is always
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: so dominant, especially gymnastics, so it makes it really really
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: fun to watch.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Really exciting and such a sense of pride right that
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: you get to be part of that family. I can
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: only imagine. Yes, what's the most important lesson that you
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: learned during your time on Team USA? And did you
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: utilize that when you went to Special Forces?
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: I mean I feel like everything about who I am
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: now is somehow related to gymnastics because it just was.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: It was my whole life growing up, and I learned
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: so many life lessons, I mean, hard work and discipline
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: and confidence, like I gained all of those things through gymnastics.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing is how to be resilient.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: And I always say, like having the ability to flex
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: my resilience muscle, Like, you know, we have all these
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: muscles in our body, and you know, the more you
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: work out a muscle and break it down, it continues
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: to rebuild and it's stronger than it was before. And
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: I feel like we all have that resilience muscle inside
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: of us, and you know, the more things we go
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: through we have that opportunity to flex, that muscle gets
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: stronger and stronger, and so I feel like my resilience
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: muscle got broken down a lot through gymnastics, and it
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: got really strong through gymnastics. So I feel like resilience is,
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: you know, one of the biggest things I gained from
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: from the sport in general. Definitely felt like I tried
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: to take that into Special Forces.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: It was very different than gymnastics.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: You know, a lot more like condensed physicality some you know,
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: some different elements like water and things like that. But
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: I definitely felt like, you know, each day we had
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: to keep keep going and just it was like endless
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: how many challenges we'd have to do that day and
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: the amount of physical stuff and those backpacks.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: So I definitely feel like I had to bring that
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: into Special Forces.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you have to have some sense of
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: resilience to get in there if you, as as the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: DS call it in interviews they've done afterwards, are there
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: for the right reasons, essentially, you know, if you came
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: to actually be a part of it and try to
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: get as much out of it as you can. I
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm very much a perfectionist, and I assume
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: you are too. Being an Olympic gymnast, you have to
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: try to attain that all those tends. You know, perfect
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: scores constantly. What's your most valuable piece of advice for
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: people who are have that little perfectionist bone in them?
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: And how to overcome, you know, difficulties like special forces
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: or like your panic attacks or even just having didn't
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: you have a broken leg when you were competing at
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the Olympics. Yeah, I mean, I mean, so how do
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: what's your most valuable piece of advice for those people
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: who who want to be perfect, who have that pressure
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: to be perfect and getting through that yeah, or getting
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: through hard times?
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: This It resonates a lot because I have a team
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: of nineteen student athletes that just want to be perfect
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: all the.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Time, and I tell them constantly.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: Like perfection does not exist, Like you might be able
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: to score ten in gymnastics, but you know, as a coach,
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: I can watch a routinea scores a ten, and you
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: can find imperfections in it. It's it's really just about
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: the illusion of perfection, right in gymnastics, and so perfection
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: is a thing as much as we want it, and
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: so I try to I try to get them to
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: focus on a couple things. First thing is like, as
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: an athlete or even as a human being, if you
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: can just focus on getting one percent better at whatever
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: it is that you're doing, be one percent better at
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: it than you were yesterday, and then the next day
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: you focus on good thing one percent better. From there,
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: you're going to experience such massive growth and even in
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: a short period of time, but it's not going to
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: seem so overwhelming, and you don't have to have it
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: all figured out one day, so you know, you can
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: kind of guess what that looks like in the gym.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: But even as a person, if you have a goal,
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: get one percent that goal each day.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: That helps them a lot.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: And then the other thing I really stress, and my
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: huge advice for people in general, is like make sure
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: that you know what your definition of success is. You know,
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: whatever it is that you're striving to do in life,
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: whether it be athletics or you know, some other career,
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: field that you're in, like or parenting, even, like.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: What what does success look like in that area for you?
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: And then make sure that when you finish your day
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: and you let your head down to go to sleep,
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: you evaluate yourself based on your definition of success, not
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: on perfection, not on somebody who's who's the.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: Very best at that thing.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: You know, you're evaluating yourself based on what is going
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: to make me feel successful at the end of the day.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: And you know, for me, like, success is not necessarily
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: whether or not I achieved a goal. It's about did
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: I give it one hundred percent of what I had
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: to give?
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Did I give it my all and be the best
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: I could possibly be?
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: That is the feeling of success that I get at
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: the end of the day. And as long as I'm
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: refocusing on that constantly, like that really helps me. So
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: for perfectionists, like perfection is not attainable, it's more like,
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: what what does success feel like to you? And a
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: lot of times it's not actually being perfect, it's it's
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: just different than that.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: So that would be my advice.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: That's a amazing advice. I love the one percent Just
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: try to be one percent better. That is oh so good. Jordan.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: So good. Okay, where do you keep your gold medal?
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: Right now?
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: It's in a safe in my house. No, we're exciting, No,
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: we're exciting for sure. I'm not like the type of
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: person I keep it on display. I I don't play
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: how very often. It's it's just in a box in
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: a safe.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: After the Olympics, did you just wear it around even
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: to go to the bathroom or what. I can't imagine
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: that I would actually take it off, like I would
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: just leave it on all the time.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: Well, okay, they're shockingly heavy, like that's the thing that
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: we were like, whoa, these things are like they kind
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: of hurt after when you wear it for a long time.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: But when we were in London after we won the
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: team gold, we all like slept with it under our pillows.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: I thought that was kind of cute. That is so cute.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: I'm going to come and steal it.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure, but yeah, we definitely, like, I mean,
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: at first we were carring it around to appearances and
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: traveling with it and everything, and then after a while
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: you're like, okay, I can just put it in this
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: box and yeah.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: I love that. That is so cute. Okay, So on
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Special Forces. I was really moved by the Mirror Room interviews,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: and I feel like that's part of what I wanted
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: to get to, was the Mirror Room, just so you
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: have that connection with the DS. Your Mirror Room was.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it was hard for you to watch,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: but it is just hearing about people's true truths and
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: who they are at the core, what they struggle with,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: the things that have been in the press, all those
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: kind of things. You shared about how you were part
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of the biggest sexual abuse case in sport in history
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: of sport, which that alone is just just massive. Of course, regardless,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: you know, you went through this really really difficult time.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: I am interested to know if you're okay sharing how
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the response has been from sharing that on Special Forces.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, it's it's a story that I
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: have been passionate about telling, Like even before Special Forces,
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: you know, like going through that experience, I wasn't really
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: I didn't talk about it for a long long time
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: until the case really came to light and accountability was
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: starting to happen, and I sort of had this overwhelming
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: feeling of like responsibility and feeling like I needed to
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: tell my story and speak out because I was becoming
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: more and more aware of just how many people in
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: this world have had similar experiences. You know, maybe not
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: in the exact same way with a doctor at the
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: scale that you know, that the public scale that we
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: experienced it, but you know, whether it be a family
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: member or a close friend or a stranger or on
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: college campuses, like sexual abuse and sexual assault is so
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: much more common than a lot of people realize. And
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: so I felt passionate that I needed to I needed
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: to speak out and tell my story, not just for
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: the future of gymnastics and the gymnasts that are going
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: to come after me, but for every survivor or some
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: or even someone that might be going through it currently
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: and afraid to speak up or hold their abuser accountable.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: Like there's so many people like that in the world
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: that I've I've realized.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: It's just way more common than we think.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: So I felt passionate about telling that story, and you know,
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: it came up in the in the mirror room of
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: the DS as really just part of, you know, one
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: of the reasons why I retired from gymnastics and kind
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: of took them, you know, turn that chapter in my life.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: But it's it's never easy to talk about, but I
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: do feel like, hey, if even if there's one person
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: who is a victim of sexual abuse who watches it
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: and goes, okay, this gives me the permission to feel
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: okay to talk to somebody about it, Like it's worth
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: it for me to do that, especially on TV.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: You know, mm hmmm. Have you felt the love, like
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: whether it's DM or has anyone come up to you
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: and told you face to face that you impacted their
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: lives by sharing that story? Yeah?
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I actually, just the other day, I
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: got a really interesting email. It was from a retired
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: military veteran and he he basically, you know, I don't
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: know the exact remember the exact words to use, but
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: he basically said like I'm so proud of you, like
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: thank you for showing your strength, you know, through Special
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: Forces and like you know, heard it from other people,
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: but to hear from a military veteran like that just
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: made me feel like, okay, like you know, at least
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: I gave it my all, and you know it was
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: people saw that that my strength on that show, so
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: that was really encouraging. And then you know, some people
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: just messages here and there people saying like, thank you
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: for sharing your story and you know, things like that,
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: but you know.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: That's not it's not the reason I do it.
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: It's really just I don't want I don't want people
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: to give me recognition. I really want people to feel
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: like they can be strong through hearing my experience and
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: you know, hopefully speak out about their own someday if
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: that's part of their journey and they need to.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course, I think. I think talking about
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: it just proves to everyone that we are all human
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: and we're all in this together, and you're not alone.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: You know, there's there's power in feeling like you're not alone.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: So so good for you for talking about it. I'm
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: sure that's not easy. Okay, speaking of not easy pregnancy,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: how has it been so far? Have you had any
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: speed bumps like I was? I was sick for gosh
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: four months, so that was no fun. Has it been
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: an easy pregnancy so far?
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: I think it's been pretty easy, So I want want
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: to say easy, but it hasn't been terrible. And I've
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: heard I've heard good the people that I've had, you know,
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: morning sickness and things like that. I've been very lucky
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: not to experience that. So, you know, I think the
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: biggest thing and I.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Think only women can can relate to this.
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: Really, it's like the way your body just changes, Like
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: you know, you know you're pregnant, you know you're growing
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: a child, but you know your body is changing in
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: a lot of ways and that's just hard and interesting.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: But I'm trying to embrace it as much as i can.
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: And you know, we we told our team like a
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: few weeks ago and posted a video on social media.
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: They were just so excited for us. So it's just
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: been really fun and trying to enjoy it and embrace
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: every part of the process.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: For sure.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, I loved that video. That was so cute how
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: he ripped open didn't he rip open his shirt? And
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: most did.
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: We had ark mom and Arkansas dad and we unzipped
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: our jackets and so cute.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: I loved that. That was adorable. Do you know if
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: you're having a girl or a boy or are you
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: going to find out?
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: And we know it's a girl.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, now here's the queste. Not that I guess if
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: you were having a boy, it would be the same question.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Because your husband was an Olympic gymnast. Would you let
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: them go into gymnastics? Will you hope that they go
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: into gymnastics so that you can coach them because they have, hello,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: some pretty good jeans.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't have that feeling of like
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: I hope they do, but I definitely would let them
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: if they wanted to. I kind of I mean, I
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: didn't do any other sports growing up besides gymnastics, so
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: I kind of want I kind of want her to
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: try things and like try, so try swimming. Maybe that
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: would be good, you know, just see what she loves,
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: because like I specialized so early, like.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: I didn't do anything else. If you throw a ball
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: at me, I like freak out. And so.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just know I did really love gymnastics and
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: gained so much from the sport. You know, I don't
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: have any regrets like specializing and doing that as seriously
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: as I did. I just, you know, like my parents
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: did with me, I just want them to love it
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: and be passionate about it and.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: Really enjoy it every day.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: Of course, that's of course what just what we want.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: You know, as parents, you just want your kids to
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: be happy, that's all. I mean, that's what it comes
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: down to so, you know, people have asked me all
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: the time, would you let your kids go on the
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Bachelor or Bachelorette? Obviously it's very different than being an
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Olympic gymnast. But you know, I'm like, well, wouldn't I
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: be a hit if I said no, you can't go
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: on the show where I met your dad? And it's
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: the whole reason that you exist, you know. So yeah,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: when you get down to it, you're like, well, I
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: was a gymnast all of my life, so maybe my
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: child should do it too. You just never know. You
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: just never know, and hopefully you just want them to
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: be healthy and happy, right, that's what we want. Yes,
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: so you're do oh gosh, I can't do the math.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Are you doing this January June?
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just so excited to hear how it happens
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: and watch your delivery story. Because of course we all
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: you know, follow each other, or most of us follow
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: each other on social media now, so I just I
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: love being able to follow this. It's just such a
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: such a light, you know, anybody who's pregnant, it's just
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: such such a light. And I'll never forget you telling
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: us at that table. It was I was like, oh.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: My gosh, what she's telling all of us.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: I feel so so honored.
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: You know, Like I've had people ask me like, well,
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: were you pregnant when you went on Special Forces? And like, no,
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: you don't understand, like they filmed things way far in advance.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: No, I wasn't pregnant, way far in advance.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: That was a long time ago. Were you guys trying
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: to get pregnant when we were, like before you left
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: for Special Forces?
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: No, not until like the fall we started trying, and
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: you know, okay, yeah, we're very lucky that it happened quickly.
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: And you know we're always planning around our gymnastics schedule
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: because we our team competes January through April. It's like, okay,
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: we can't have a baby in any of those months.
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: We have to like time it as well as we can,
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: God forbid. So so we we nailed the timing.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: You nailed the timing perfectionism out of his best Jordan,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on the Almost Famous
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: OG podcast. My co host couldn't be here today because
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: he's busy traveling. But I know, he says, Hi, he's
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: been watching the show. We've been recapping every Thursday morning,
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: so it's been really fun for him to kind of
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: live vicariously through me. So I pass along my hellos
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: from Bob and say thank you from both of us.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the podcast today.
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it, of course.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: All right, thanks everybody for listening. And actually, if you
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: want to follow Jordan on Instagram, tell us your Instagram handle.
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: Jordan Underscore Weaver's my Instagram perfection.