Music

And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Ax Files, with your host, David Axelrod.

The Olympics are upon us, and so I'm bringing you one of my favorite past episodes recorded last year at the height of the pandemic, with one of the most interesting and outspoken Olympic athletes.

American women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe, we talked about many things, including the battle the US team is fighting off the field to win the right to equal pay.

Hello!

Hey Megan, good to be with you, good to see you. I'm seeing you in a whole different way, actually, because your signature blonde hair is not blonde.

I guess that is a reflection of the times in which we find ourselves.

This is a COVID grow out, I'll say. And I'm scared to death to do anything by myself for fear that I might just burn it all off and be left bald.

So I'm rocking with natural, I guess.

You're also like, you would have been preparing right now, you'd be in the final throws of preparing for the Olympics.

That is not happening. First of all, how are you spending your time? And then what does it mean to have the Olympics postponed for you and the other athletes?

How am I spending my time? I've actually found myself quite busy doing a lot of zooms and IG lives and podcasts.

Turns out I like being social and I like kind of staying in the mix. I actually feel more rested because I'm not traveling and flying all over the country doing appearances and playing and all that.

So I found time to still do quite a bit of public stuff, but just trying to keep in shape as well.

There's no way to train at the level you need to be ready. So just trying to kind of stay at a baseline and just sort of be thankful for where I am.

There's a lot of people who are in terrible conditions and just trying to obey the stay at home orders and make the best of it while I can.

In terms of the Olympics, I mean, obviously my girlfriend Sue and I both are in the same position. I mean, it's devastating in this way.

You know, this is an opportunity sometimes people only get once in their lifetime.

They're undoubtedly will be people next year. If the Olympic happens that they wouldn't have been there and they might have been there this year or new people might come.

So it's very uncertain for us, but at the same time, I just can't help but feel it's completely pales in comparison to the current moment and what we're in and how important this moment is.

So in a way, I'm kind of like, well, yeah, of course we're not going to play the Olympics.

And frankly, I think the Olympics are in doubt next year, but just thankful we're safe and happy and healthy.

...