When the Olympics Wants You to Take Drugs

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 11.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. So this week, we're sharing an episode of a new podcast we love, called Tested. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have been told they can no longer race as women because of their biology. As they work toward the Olympics, they face hard choices: take drugs to lower their natural testosterone levels, give up their sport entirely, or fight. This episode asks: Would you alter your body for the chance to compete for a gold medal? You’ll meet runner Christine Mboma and hear about the difficult choice she faces. Find more episodes of Tested at https://link.chtbl.com/XReiimtO Tested is from CBC, NPR’s Embedded, and Bucket of Eels. The show is written, reported, and hosted by Rose Eveleth. Editing by Alison MacAdam and Veronica Simmonds. Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman, Andrew Mambo, and Rhaina Cohen. Additional reporting, producing, and editing by Lisa Pollak. Sound design by Mitra Kaboli. Our production manager is Michael Kamel. Anna Ashitey is our digital producer. This series was mixed by Robert Rodriguez. Fact checking by Dania Suleman. Our intersex script consultant is Hans Lindahl. Archival research by Hillary Dann. Legal support from Beverly Davis. Mixed for Science Vs by Bobby Lord. Special thanks to Yeezir for letting us use his song Silent Hero, and Keith Houston, Amir Nakhjavani, and Damon Papadopoulos. French translation by Vanessa Nicolai. Special thanks also to CBC Licensing. Additional audio from World Athletics and Warner Brothers. At CBC, Chris Oke and Cesil Fernandes are Executive Producers, Tanya Springer is the Senior Manager, and Arif Noorani is the Director of CBC Podcasts. At NPR, Katie Simon is Supervising Editor for Embedded. Irene Noguchi is Executive Producer. NPR’s senior vice president for podcasting is Collin Campbell. We got legal support from Micah Ratner. And thanks to NPR’s Managing Editor for Standards and Practices, Tony Cavin. This series was created with support from a New America fellowship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman. Our new season of Science Versus is going to be in your ears in just a few weeks.
0:07.0	But today, we've got something really special for you.
0:10.0	So with the Olympics in full swing, and my gosh who else is obsessed with table tennis right now
0:16.9	Like some of those serves are just out of control if you haven't you got to check it out
0:22.1	But also the athletics is kicking off If you have it, you've got to check it out.
0:22.6	But also, the athletics is kicking off today,
0:26.1	which is why we are bringing you this story in particular.
0:29.2	It's about an incredible sprint up.
0:31.7	And I don't want to tell you too much this story comes from a new
0:34.6	podcast called Tested which is hosted by Rose Eveleth and even if you're not big
0:39.9	on the Olympics not big into sprinting I think you're going to be into this story.
0:44.7	The team at Science Versus, we just loved it and we really wanted to share it with you,
0:49.0	so I hope you love it too.
0:51.2	Let's just jump in. After this quick break you'll hear
0:54.0	tested episode one the choice. Coming right up. Sometimes the best way to begin a complicated story is to start with something very simple.
1:20.0	So a fable.
1:30.9	It begins at the end of the 19th century with a little French man with a very large mustache named Pierre de Cubertin.
1:34.3	The Cubertin was full of ideas and schemes,
1:37.7	many of which didn't pan out, like his passion for a strange new sport, fencing, but on horseback.
1:46.3	But eventually, after much persistence, one of his odd ideas caught hold,
1:51.4	a reimagining of a glorious gathering of ancient Greece.
1:55.7	Every four years the most athletic men would travel from far and wide to celebrate what made them
	...

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