Hey, Naino Rau here, producer of NPR's Book of the Day. It's August, and we're taking a little time off. While we do, we're sharing some of our favorite episodes from this past year. Today's episode was first released in January when we were all gearing up for the Winter Olympics. We're back with new episodes next week.

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day.

I'm Andrew Limbaung.

The Winter Olympics are coming up in Beijing.

And as a not jock, it's easy for me to fall into the trap of seeing these athletes perform at the peak of their game,

you know, at the height of their powers,

and assume it's all roses and sunshine and adoring fans when they get home.

Because it's mostly not like that, right?

Take Lindsay Vaughn, former ski champ and Olympic medalist.

She's written a book called Rise, where she talks about not just what it took to get to the top,

but the hits she took coming down too.

And she says this interesting thing to NPR's A. Martinez in this interview,

that she's thankful for being wired in whatever way that lets her feed off of negativity because she's seen careers get crushed from not being supported in the right way.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of

real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Former ski champion, Lindsay Vaughn, had her first go at the Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I dreamed about it since I was a kid and my entire family was there watching and it was a

home Olympics. It's it's pretty rare to have a home Olympics in your career, let alone have it be

your first Olympics at 17. She writes about growing up on the slopes in Minnesota and training in

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