Dr. Yoav Dubinsky on University of Oregon's Olympic Studies Hub
Release Date: 05/08/2025
World Games: Chengdu 2025 - Week 2
Keep the Flame Alive
It's the final week of the World Games - Chengdu 2025! We're joined by John Moorhead, 2017 World Games athlete and current USA Fistball secretary, to get some insight as to how the athletes in Chengdu have enjoyed their time at the World Games. Jill and Alison also recap their week 2 watching, with thoughts on: Boules Breakdancing Cheerleading Gymnastics Drone Racing Flag Football Inline Skating Motosurf Billiards Racquetball Plus, we recap an amazingly short Closing Ceremony. It's been fun, Chengdu! We'll see the World Games again in 2029 in Karlsruhe, Germany! In other news, LA 2028 will...
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World Games: Chengdu 2025 - Week 1
Keep the Flame Alive
The 12th edition of the World Games, Chengdu 2025 is underway! We discuss what sports and events we and other listeners have been bingeing on our feeds. We start with the excellent Opening Ceremonies, which took a cue from Paris 2024. Sports we discuss include: Canoe Polo DanceSport Dragon Boat racing Finswimming (we have a lot of thoughts about freediving) Floorball Gymnastics (including thoughts on the new format) Orienteering Parkour Squash Tug of War Wakeboard Plus, our traditional Games question: What volunteer or officiating job would we want to do? And (surprise), we've got some...
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Sydney 2000: Eventing, Para Sailing, and Wheelchair Rugby - Oh, My!
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It's our monthly look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics! This time, Jill looks at the Olympic equestrian eventing competition, including venue construction, difficult quarantine processes, and a vastly different competition format than you see in today's Olympic eventing. Check out the cross-country course and its amazing fences: Then Alison takes to the harbor to discuss the first appearance of para sailing in the Paralympics, with Australian legend Noel Robins. Plus, one other very important sport had its debut at Sydney 2000: Wheelchair rugby. Alison looks back...
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Book Club Claire on "Above & Beyond: Tim Mack, the Pole Vault and the Quest for Olympic Gold"
Keep the Flame Alive
is back for our summer reading selection: by Bill Livingston. Tim Mack won the gold medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics (perhaps a surprise winner), and this book details his very long journey to the top of the podium and the unique training methods he developed that helped him achieve his goal. What did we think of the book? Listen to the show to find out! Our next selection is by Seth Berkman. This tells the story of the combined Korean women's hockey team that competed at PyeongChang 2018. We're looking forward to reading a story that took place during the life of this podcast!...
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2x Paralympian Noelle Lambert Talks Running Blades, Paralympics
Keep the Flame Alive
Today we are talking with 2x Paralympian Noelle Lambert who competes in the 100m and long jump. We get into the details of running blades (and how much they cost), how she improved her 100m between the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympics, and how she's training for LA 2028. Noelle is also the founder of the Born to Run Foundation, which raises money to provide sports prosthetic legs for amputees. Born to Run is having its next bi-annual golf fundraiser on September 22. Go to or its to learn more. Follow Noelle on TikTok and Instagram: @noellelambert Also on this episode: London 2012...
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Keep the Flame Alive Celebrates the Big 400!
Keep the Flame Alive
This week, Keep the Flame Alive is celebrating a big milestone: Our 400th regular episode! This episode is an online party with many citizens of (Team Keep the Flame Alive, which are our guests and listeners of the show), and we're thrilled to be joined by: Past guests Sean Colahan, Harry Blutstein, Rich Perelman, Roy Tomizawa and Listeners Ean, David, Mark, Patrick from Chicagoland, Meredith, Sarah and Tommy Producer Ben and Book Club Claire Like all great party conversation, it runs the gamut and includes Milan-Cortina's ever-expanding budget, potential politics at LA 2028, the IOC...
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Sydney 2000: The Cover-Up and the Comebacks
Keep the Flame Alive
We travel back to 2000 for another look back at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics. This month Alison explores what's considered to be the biggest Paralympic scandal of all time, Spain's cheating in the Basketball ID tournament. Then Jill looks at the Olympic Road Cycling events, which feature inspirational legends, amazing comebacks, and Lance Armstrong. If you want a thoroughly depressing look at doping in cycling during this era, here's a handy infographic: For a complete list of sources used in this episode, visit For a transcript of this episode, please visit ....
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The Surprising Early Legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics
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It's been nearly a year since we said, "Bonjour!" to the , so what's been happening in Paris since the cauldron went out? Let's take a look at the initial legacy of these Games! We look at the money, initial economic impact, audience figures, building legacies, and elements of the Games that are still impacting Paris. If you're interested in training in the sport climbing warm-up gym, check out .. If you want to swim like an Olympian, the newly-built (and very gorgeous) is now open for swimming and so much more. has opened in Bobigny to provide another workout facility that includes...
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Wheelchair Tennis with Charlie Cooper
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We're delving into the sport of wheelchair tennis with American Charlie Cooper, who's currently ranked #2 in the world for junior wheelchair singles. He talks with Alison about the sport and his plans to qualify for LA 2028. Plus, we also talk with Dr. Thomas Rietveld, a researcher at the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University in the UK. Dr. Rietveld's PhD thesis examined wheelchair tennis chairs, so he answers our burning questions about tennis chairs that we had after Paris 2024. Follow Charlie on Insta: Learn more about the Peter Harrison Centre for...
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Olympic Technology with Pascal Wattiaux
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We're talking technology at the Olympics with Pascal Wattiaux, IT Consultant and former Director of Technology at the International Olympic Committee. He got his start with Olympics technology at Albertville 1992, and most recently he consulted with Paris 2024. He's seen massive amounts of change in technology used at the Olympics--and what it takes to deliver it. He tells all about the tech challenges of an Olympics–and there’s so much that you may have not realized. Follow Pascal on ! The big news from is that the ice hockey groups and schedules are out. Who from the NHL...
info_outlineIf you've ever been interested in studying the Olympics and the Olympic Movement, this is the episode for you! We're talking with Dr. Yoav Dubinsky, professor of sports business at the University of Oregon. Dr. Dubinsky is also the operational director of the university's new Olympic Studies Hub.
We talk with Yoav about the Olympic Studies Hub, why it's important to study the Olympics, and--because Yoav is from Israel--the Israeli perspective on the Games.
The University of Oregon Olympic Studies Hub is having an Olympic Studies Week on May 12-18, 2025. It includes events for students, faculty and the general public. Find out more information at the event website:
https://business.uoregon.edu/news/uo-olympic-studies-week-2025
Follow Dr. Dubinsky on LinkedIn!
We also have news from Milano-Cortina 2026, including more curling quotas, hospitality house news, and ticket purchasing woes.
Plus, one country is already squaring away their hospitality house plans for LA 2028.
We also have lots of news from Team Keep the Flame Alive--find out who's competing, who's opening up a business line, and who's having babies!
For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
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Keep the Flame Alive: The Olympics and Paralympics Fan Podcast with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown. New episodes released every week and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics.
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