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Guaranteed Human. Guess what, Will? What's that, Mango? So, you know what my favorite part of the Winter Olympics is? All right, I think I want to guess on this one. I'm going to guess the bobsled? I mean, that's super fun, but my favorite armchair sport at the Olympics is trying to spot the carpet baggers. The carpetbaggers? Yeah, I mean, you know you see it in the Olympics, but especially in the winter Olympics, like at Sochi, there was this couple from Long Island in their late 40s who thought would be fun to compete in the Olympics for Dominica, which is this tiny island nation the Caribbean, and you'd obviously have to be super fit to be in your late 40s and make the U.S. ski team.

Right.

But in Dominica, you kind of just have to have a pair of skis in a passport. So, I mean, how prevalent is this carpet baggering? How do they get away with this? I mean, it is discouraged, but sometimes it's like elite athletes who couldn't make cut in their country where they live, but then, you know, they want to compete for their country of origin. And sometimes it's athletic mercenaries. Like Bahrain is notorious for buying Kenyans to long distance run for their nation. And then there are these wealthy crazies who could just buy their way in. Like Germany has this prince named Hubertus, who was born in Mexico, but is competed for Mexico in Slalom six times, I believe. Wow. At Sochi, he was 55 years old when he was doing this. Hubertus, just up to no good. Yeah, and you might remember him from wearing this outrageous spandex mariachi outfit. I'm going to look him up.

I don't remember this.

You said if he wasn't going to win, at least he could aim for best dressed.

Getting excited to spot these Olympic outcasts made me wonder about all the other things of the Winter Olympics.

Like, when did the Winter Olympics start?

And why does Norway dominate the games?

And why does curling get to be a sport?

So let's stay again. Hey there, podcast listeners.

Welcome to part-time genius.

I'm Will Pearson, and as always, I'm joined by my good friend Mengesh Ha Ticketer.

And on the other side of the soundproof glass, showing off his brand new

Winter Olympics stuffed animal pal. I don't know how he got a hold of that. That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. Look over there, Mango at Sue Haurang, you know, the white tiger mascot for the upcoming games. Yeah, I'd recognize them anywhere. So I love that the Winter Olympics get their own mascots, it's actually one of my favorite things about the Olympics.

Well, you know, the winter games might, anywhere. So I love that the Winter Olympics get their own mascots. It's actually one of my

favorite things about the Olympics. Well, you know, the Winter Games might play second fiddle

in terms of scale and viewership, but I feel like the mascots, those things can go toe to

toe with their summer cousins. In fact, one thing I learned while preparing for today's show is

that we actually have the Winter Games to thank for this whole idea of these Olympic mascots.

You know, they didn't start out as this cute and cuddly animal like Suhorang might be.

Just look at it over there in Tristan's lap.

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