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The Olympics
To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio
You've seen the Olympics on TV, but do you want to
know what's really happening in Utah? In this hour of To the
Best of Our Knowledge, a special program recorded in front of
a live audience at the Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City. From
the culture of snowboarding to past Olympic scandals. Plus some
Utah humor. It's free-style To the Best of Our Knowledge.
Steve
Paulson & Jim Fleming at Soldiers Hollow - more
pictures
SEGMENT 1:
TTBOOK goes to the Olympics! At the invitation
of KCPW, on February 17th, Jim Fleming, Steve Paulson and Doug
Gordon presented a special edition of the program before a live
audience in the Orangerie of Red Butte Garden at the University
of Utah in Salt Lake City. Guests included sports commentators,
athletes, NPR reporter Howard Berkes, and a sports psychologist.
Live music was performed by guitarist Steve Flygare, and
John Flanders on clarinet and saxophone.
In this segment, NPR correspondent Howard
Berkes, who is based in Salt Lake City, tells Jim Fleming
what it's like to ride a luge and a bobsled. And he plays some
sound he recorded on the ice during his luge runs! Also, Steve
Paulson talks with Bill Kerig - stock broker, professional
skier, commentator for ESPN's X-Games, and author of "The Snowboarder's
Total Guide to Life" and "Utah Underground." Kerig talks about
the culture of snowboarders and how it's changed. They're still
rebels but they smile more.
SEGMENT 2:
American cross country ski champion Nina Kemppel
tells Jim Fleming that winning an Olympic medal matters to every
athlete who competes. She also talks about what happened when
she over-trained and how she fought her way back to fitness. And
she contrasts the attitudes of American athletes with those of
the Norwegians with whom she lived and trained. Also, Doug
Gordon profiles "Kyle Thornhill" - a figure skater who decided
he really just wanted to wear the cool clothes, so he started
his own boy band.
SEGMENT 3:
Sports psychologist Steven Ungerleider is
the author of the harrowing "Faust's Gold: Inside the East German
Doping Machine." He tells Steve Paulson that massive abuse of
steroids and hormones was routine - even mandatory - among the
athletes of the GDR, which also conspired to hide the doping results.
Today, many of the athletes suffer drug-induced diseases and reproductive
difficulties, including birth defects in their children. Also,
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Laura Sessions Stepp
covers adolescents for the Washington Post. She's the mother of
a teenage boy and the author of "Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our
Children Through Early Adolescence." She tells Jim Fleming that
sports are good for kids and that all kids need something to be
passionate about. Athletic success can be especially helpful for
girls, who deserve better than hand-me-down uniforms and inconvenient
practice times.
Cassette copies are available
at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 02-02-24-A.
................................................................
Books:
- Bill Kerig, The Snowboarder's Total Guide
to Life and Utah Underground (MSP)
- Laura Sessions Stepp, Our Last Best Shot:
Guiding Our Children Through Early Adolescence, (Riverhead
Books)
- Steven Ungerleider, Faust's Gold: Inside
the East German Doping Machine (St. Martin's Press)
Music:
- Live music was performed by guitarist Steve
Flygare, and John Flanders on clarinet and saxophone.
Distribution dates:
................................................................
Questions and comments can
be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org
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