Olympic Training During a Pandemic

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s a dream year in the making. High jumper Priscilla Frederick-Loomis will do anything to support her training for the 2020 Olympics—even clean strangers’ houses. But as the postponed Tokyo Games approach, she’s still suffering mysterious health problems months after contracting COVID-19. In collaboration with ESPN, we follow Frederick-Loomis’s progress and ask: What will it take to safely pull off the Olympics? For more information on this episode, visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard Want more? Follow Priscilla Frederick Loomis and her journey to the 2021 Olympics on Instagram @priscilla_frederick. And hear more from Pablo Torre at ESPN Daily, ESPN’s flagship podcast. Leroy Sims recently appeared to talk about leading the vaccine rollout for the NBA. For more of ESPN’s reporting on the Olympics, meet the USA Rugby player who works as a pediatric nurse. And learn how Japanese athletes are getting the vaccine before the general public. The Olympics has had a turbulent history. Read our story about it and explore if a curse could explain why the Olympics gets disrupted so often. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi jump is a part of me.
0:08.4	This is Priscilla Frederick-Lumus.
0:10.8	She's a track and field athlete, a high jumper, and she's training for the 2021 Olympic
0:15.9	Games.
0:16.9	I look at the timer 59 seconds remain.
0:20.5	I fix my hair and roll back my shoulders.
0:23.4	I look at the bar, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot.
0:29.4	But Priscilla's describing, this is all part of her training.
0:33.2	She's visualizing the perfect high jump.
0:36.4	It's a weird balance because you can't think because when you think you lose everything.
0:43.7	And then you've got to be patient because you're running into the sky.
0:47.2	It all kind of goes quiet.
0:49.3	And it's just you and your brain talking, saying, execute, execute, execute.
0:54.7	Get a little bit faster.
0:56.0	Run into the sky.
0:59.6	Does that kind of explain it?
1:00.8	Does that help?
1:01.8	I feel like I just saw you jump in slow-mo.
1:05.7	I started when I was a kid.
1:08.9	And it's taken me on this journey to adulthood.
1:11.4	I started when I was 13.
1:13.2	I'm 32.
	...

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