Very Special Episodes: How to Make the Olympics (Without Supernatural Athletic Ability)
Noble Blood
iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
4.7 • 13.9K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elizabeth Swaney fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming an Olympian, defying all odds. But it wasn’t supernatural athletic ability that got her there. And by the time she made it to the 2018 Winter Olympics, a lot of people were rooting against her. Here's the incredible story of a woman who made it to the Games by understanding those odds better than anyone else.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:09.3 | Think back to when you were a kid. |
| 0:12.9 | What was your dream job? |
| 0:14.7 | Was it to become an astronaut? |
| 0:16.9 | Three, two, one, zero. |
| 0:24.6 | What's by a fleet for me a contest? A cowboy, ballerina? |
| 0:26.6 | Maybe you thought you could teach defense against the dark arts at Hogwarts. |
| 0:30.6 | For some, the biggest dream was becoming an Olympic athlete, standing on a podium in a far-flung locale, hearing your country's |
| 0:41.9 | national anthem as you accept your gold medal. You've practiced waving to your family and friends |
| 0:48.7 | who supported you on your way to glory. |
| 0:56.1 | But childish dreams aren't meant to come true. |
| 1:00.0 | Becoming an Olympic athlete is almost mathematically impossible. |
| 1:04.6 | You have to win the genetic lottery. |
| 1:07.8 | You have to dedicate your life to a sport, a sport where you're competing against the best your country has to offer. And that's just to get to the Olympics, where you then take on the world. |
| 1:21.6 | When I was seven, I decided I wanted to make it to the Olympics, so it was my job to make it to the Olympics starting |
| 1:28.5 | at age seven. Those odds did not discourage Elizabeth Swaney from Oakland, California. In fact, |
| 1:37.1 | it was her mastery of those odds that led her on her path to the Olympics. And it was first for Olympic figure skating. |
| 1:46.2 | That was the goal, but that obviously didn't happen. |
| 1:49.4 | So it became then rowing and I got involved in baseball later on in ice hockey. |
| 1:56.1 | So those were kind of the sports I was thinking of focusing on competitively before I transitioned to skeleton and then freestyle skiing, which was ultimately my Olympic sport. |
| 2:08.6 | Elizabeth did end up becoming an Olympic athlete. |
... |
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