Jackie first started with dance and gymnastics, but quickly found out those weren’t her sports. She had a cousin who fenced, so she gave it a try… 21 years later, she’s at her second Olympics. A first generation American, Jersey girl, and World # 10 in Women’s Foil (fencing), Jackie is committed to being a role model for the younger athletes on the team and all girls in sport.

She shares how her first Olympics (Tokyo) were disappointing because she lost her match 15-14; she couldn’t lean on the fact that she didn’t perform. She shares, I “fenced so well” and “I felt so free and then came short,” so Jackie’s journey to Paris has been about grounding herself re-finding her love of the sport.

She credits working with a sports psychologist with helping her regroup and mentally prepare for Paris. When we asked Jackie her favorite part of fencing, she gushes, “How creative it is…it’s always changing. You may have a strategy going in, but you have to pivot in real time.”

As Jackie looks to the future, she knows she wants to give back to the community, and is still determining the best way to do so. She wants to tell others to “To be ok being vulnerable. It’s ok to fail because it makes you a stronger athlete and person.”

In this episode, we speak with 4X Pan American Games‘ gold medallist and soon to be 2X Canadian Olympic Jacqueline Simoneau. At home, she’s Jacqueline and in the pool, she goes by Jackie. We hear how her journey to the Olympic pool has been “synchronized” with hard work, a touch of glamour and the loving support of family and friends. We explore how the sport of artistic swimming evolved from the days of vaudeville as well as how gender plays a role in unexpected ways.

Jessica Long is one of the most successful athletes in Paralympic Games‘ history, holding 23 medals with 13 of them being gold. As she heads into her fifth Paralympics, Jessica shares that while her gold medals are “super cool”, for her, it’s “really about the journey.”

Kamila started taekwondo when she was 9 years old and was the only girl on the team; years later, she’s still the only woman, this time on Kazakhstan’s Parataekwondo Paralympic team. In this episode, we speak with Kamila and her coach, Sultan, with the help of her friend and colleague, Meyept, Manager, National Paralympic Committee of Kazakhstan who translated our conversation live from Russian. In this conversation we discuss what it’s meant for Kamila to be the only woman throughout her journey as well as how she’s navigated her disability.

Katarina Roxon grew up on the island of Newfoundland, so at an early age, her parents, Leonard and Lisa thought that it was important she learn to swim. 20 years later, Roxon brought home her first medal, a gold in the 100-m breaststroke in Canadian record time during the 2016 Paralympics.

3x Paralympic Gold Medalist, Kendall Gretsch is one of the only athletes who competed in Tokyo this past summer who is also competing in Beijing. Less than 6 months ago Kendall won gold in Paratriathlon, and she’s now one of the Para Nordic favorites in Beijing. In this episode we talk about how Kendall got into para sports, what the postponement meant for her, and her goals for the future.