From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Bob Carlson, and this is Unfictional.

Unfictional is KCRW's program of stories and original documentaries.

It's a part of KCRW's independent producer project,

a laboratory for independent radio producers, writers, and performers.

And because the Olympics are still in full swing,

I've got a couple of stories that are not about the Olympics exactly,

but more like the shadow the Olympics cast over us.

We've all grown up watching it on TV every few years,

and it's so easy to get pulled into the drama

of watching people have this true peak moment in their lives, especially when the person

you're watching isn't one of those robo-athletes with bodies that have been

perfectly tuned for a 200-meter butterfly. Instead I really like the archers that have a little bit of a gut

or a Judoka who's suddenly realizing that millions of people are interested in what they're doing for a change.

And then after the Olympics are gone,

it always makes me wonder about what happens to these people

after they've had their moment.

It's this one brief intense experience and then it's gone and then what?

You spend years and years and years of your life and you make a lot of sacrifices to focus

on the achievement of a goal and then all of a sudden it's over and there is no

detraining program or decompression program to sort of introduce you to the real world again.

Matt Holtzman from KCRW recently went to this party that was to honor past

Olympians.

...