Let the Games Begin! Kristi’s Pre-Olympics Q&A | Episode 67

00:00:05 Kristi Wagner

What are you looking forward to?

00:00:08 Kristi Wagner

Eating while in Paris is the next question. Well, there are many dining halls. The main dining hall is like massive, but you know, before we're rowing racing, I'll just eat what I normally eat. And honestly, I feel like the food will be a little bit less adventurous than in Japan. Like there was, like ramen and sushi and that kind of stuff.

00:00:28 Kristi Wagner

Obviously, in the morning oatmeal toast, duh.

00:00:31 Kristi Wagner

Post racing, I'll eat a lot of baguettes, but I would eat a baguette anywhere.

00:00:40 Kristi Wagner

Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream. They want to turn into a reality.

00:00:51 Kristi Wagner

Hi and welcome to the other three years podcast. My name is Christy Wagner and this is a very special pre Olympics.

00:01:03 Kristi Wagner

Episode.

00:01:04 Kristi Wagner

I'm recording this a little bit early because I am about to go to Paris for the Olympics, and while I do really enjoy doing the podcast, I don't really want to be worrying about other things while I'm there. So the team and I thought it would be fun to answer a few questions.

00:01:25 Kristi Wagner

And just chat a little bit about.

00:01:27 Kristi Wagner

About the Olympics and I literally raced the day after this episode comes out so.

00:01:34 Kristi Wagner

To start things off, if you want to watch the racing, I believe it's on like NBC, Peacock. Also like world rowing, US rowing, all of those places are good places to head for results, live streams, times all of that stuff. I actually already know the schedule.

00:01:55 Kristi Wagner

Of my races again, I'm racing.

00:01:58 Kristi Wagner

And the women's double, if you actually, if you follow world rowing on Instagram, they have done a really good job kind of previewing all of the events and laying out like what all the different schedules and stuff are. So that's been like super helpful for the women's double.

00:02:18 Kristi Wagner

The heats are on Saturday at noon Paris time. The repechage would be on Sunday the 28th. The semis would be on Tuesday, July 30th and then the finals. The B final and the A final are on Thursday, August.

00:02:32 Kristi Wagner

1st.

00:02:33 Kristi Wagner

So racing Saturday to Thursday, but the racing is Saturday to Saturday I believe, and all of the boats are on like different programs, so there should be tons of great racing. the US is in almost every event, so lots of really awesome rowing to watch. So head over to.

00:02:53 Kristi Wagner

Like world rowing, US rowing will be doing write ups of everything. Row 2K also has been doing previews of every event who you need to watch, what you need to know, all of that stuff, and then also in the US like all the stuff is streamed on NBC and.

00:03:09 Kristi Wagner

For my own race and how I'm feeling, definitely good, excited, nervous. Obviously it's a big deal. We're still in Italy until Monday the 22nd, I think, and then we'll fly to Paris and go through team processing and then yeah, start our final prep.

00:03:30 Kristi Wagner

You know, now is such an interesting time. Like really, we've done everything that we need to do and it's just about, you know, keeping on a really level head and and just keeping the vibes really good. I personally am just working on, you know, keeping my anxieties at Bay and not letting little weird things get the best of me.

00:03:50 Kristi Wagner

I think that's true for everybody. So just sort of trying to enjoy it also because it is supposed to be fun and it is supposed to be cool and and it is, it is fun and cool. I'm so excited for, you know, all of my family and friends that are coming over.

00:04:02 Kristi Wagner

Or I'm really excited. Like, just for them to get to go to the Olympics. I think it'll be so awesome and fun. I'm not gonna get to see any of them, you know, until racing is done, but really, just excited that they're going to be there and that they're going to get to experience all of the stuff. Like, of course throwing, but also going to other sports and just.

00:04:20 Kristi Wagner

Being in Paris and getting to experience all of that. So I'm going to live vicariously through them for the first, you know, week or so and then hopefully get to see everyone. One racing is over.

00:04:33 Kristi Wagner

And before I kind of jump into these questions that the team and I and everyone came up with, I really just wanted to like use this opportunity to thank everyone. I really am amazed that so many people listen to the podcast. It's so nice and even people that don't so many people have supported me beyond.

00:04:53 Kristi Wagner

This quadrennial but also especially in this quadrennial, I feel like I've had.

00:04:58 Kristi Wagner

A tremendous amount of support.

00:05:00 Kristi Wagner

And I just feel really lucky to got to chase my dreams and get to give everything to, you know, a goal. And I think it's really cool to feel like you have no stone unturned and like you've made the most of the opportunity presented and that's like truly how I feel about my rowing career, but also just especially this quadrennial like.

00:05:21 Kristi Wagner

I've done.

00:05:23 Kristi Wagner

Everything that I think I could have done and I couldn't have done that alone. And so it's, you know, my family, of course, my friends.

00:05:31 Kristi Wagner

But also you know all the support of all of the rowing organizations that I've like been a part of, you know, namely Saratoga and Ryan. But I've been sort of a guest star at star, just a guest, not a star, at a lot of other high performance clubs, a lot of other teams, a lot of boat houses, a lot of people have.

00:05:51 Kristi Wagner

You know, made it possible for me to train and giving me coaching and equipment and friends to go hard against and I just. I feel really, really grateful for all of that. Not to mention, you know, all of the monetary support that people have given all of the, you know, PT massage.

00:06:08 Kristi Wagner

But Liz, our registered dietitian like there's just been so many people like I am forgetting 8 million people and I know that like everyone on the team feels that way. Like there's just so many people that wouldn't be possible without literally tons and tons of people. So yeah, it just it just feels really, really awesome. And this time it's so much more exciting because so many of those people are going to be there. So we get to kind of share the experience with them.

00:06:30 Kristi Wagner

Which is really cool.

00:06:38 Kristi Wagner

So now I'm just gonna jump into these questions. The first question is what have you done or experienced in the last three years outside of rowing that you think has helped you get to this Olympics? What has had an impact on you that might make this experience different?

00:06:55 Kristi Wagner

I'd say one of the biggest differences for the last three years for me was that I've had a really consistent job working as a regular director for Saratoga Rowing and I think having just like.

00:07:06 Kristi Wagner

That stability and also being a co-worker with a lot of people and a part of an organization, but also really in charge of my own schedule and having a lot of autonomy over my own time and what I'm doing. It's made, first of all, just like financially, my life, a lot less stressful because I've had a dependable source of income.

00:07:26 Kristi Wagner

That I can just count on and be able to like set up my life in a way where I'm not money stressed constantly, which I'd say when I was more like a club level athlete before I'd made the national team. That was like a really big stress in my life. It's also just been really fulfilling to be able to do things outside of the sport.

00:07:45 Kristi Wagner

And I think it's just like made things big picture for me. Of course, at times it's been stressful and I've been like, I don't want to do this, but I'd say like overall it's been so fun and I feel like it's been a really cool way to sort of get to give back a little bit as well because we create these events for people that love rowing like it's not for elite.

00:08:05 Kristi Wagner

Growing and and I think I really like that, it's not like we only care about the top people. We only care about the best people. It's really we care about the sport and we care about the experience and I love the people that are just doing it recreationally. I love the kids. That's their first race ever, like the adult rowers that come just because they.

00:08:22 Kristi Wagner

Love it? Like that's really cool to me. And I think just what makes it, I don't know, full circle seems cheesy, but yeah, obviously the other big change has been, you know, the new system that US rowing is under. And I'm much more part of the system. The small boats are much more part of the system. And that's also been really nice.

00:08:43 Kristi Wagner

Because I have, you know, I feel like the national team as.

00:08:47 Kristi Wagner

This whole team that I am a part of, technically I guess I was a part of that before, but it didn't really feel like it and now it definitely does. And like I want. It's not that I didn't want my national team teammates to do well before, but it was almost like I didn't care because I didn't really know them. And I I hadn't really watched the process. So like that maybe sounds weird to say. Of course, I.

00:09:07 Kristi Wagner

I wasn't rooting for their failure. It's just like I was. I didn't have anything invested because I didn't know them, but now I have that invested and I've gotten to train alongside them, and that's just so cool. And I feel like it's really cool that now we can just exist as this big team and not just individual boats. I think that's really fun.

00:09:24 Kristi Wagner

The next question is has being on Team USA made you more of a patriot however you define it, what does it mean to you to represent your country and by extension, all of us? Does it feel like an honor, privilege, burden or not really a thing?

00:09:38 Kristi Wagner

This is a really interesting question. I'm not sure it's made me more of a patriot. However I define it, although of course my mind goes to the New England Patriots because I'm from Boston.

00:09:50 Kristi Wagner

I think it just is something I don't take lightly. I think that's because I have, you know, a lot of families in the military. So to me, like, those are the people that represent our country and I am just doing a silly little sport. But obviously I do have USA written on every article of clothing and you know, it's cool to stand there and.

00:10:10 Kristi Wagner

Hear them announce like United States of America. That's really cool thing.

00:10:14 Kristi Wagner

I have a feeling that like if we did win a really big race and they did play the national anthem, that would be like a very big deal for me. I do think that I, like, I'm proud to be an American. Obviously, I'm not gonna get into like the political situation in our country, but it's it's a really weird time to exist in this country, probably in a lot of the world. But I only live in America, so.

00:10:34 Kristi Wagner

You know, I don't know. I think it's something I don't take lightly, but it's also not something like I don't think that suddenly.

00:10:40 Kristi Wagner

I'm more important than other people.

00:10:41 Kristi Wagner

Well.

00:10:42 Kristi Wagner

But of course, like I want to represent the country well and I want to do well because that's important to me. It just kind of feels like maybe a a little bit of a privilege, but not like a massive deal. I'd say something I don't take lightly, but something that I don't stay up at night thinking about.

00:10:59 Kristi Wagner

The next question is, are you going to the opening ceremony? Unfortunately I am not going to the opening ceremonies there the day before rowing starts was day before my first race and I think at the opening ceremonies you have to stand for a really long time. You're there for like ever. You don't get back until the middle of the night so.

00:11:16 Kristi Wagner

So I am just going to hang out in the village and maybe watch some of it on TV. I think it is cool that it's on boats in the sun. That's that's pretty cool.

00:11:26 Kristi Wagner

But unfortunately I will not be there. That's not something that really makes me that upset, though. I don't know. Maybe that's a weird thing. Some people I think are really into going to the opening ceremony. I'm just, I don't know. Not one of them. I care a little bit more about the competition.

00:11:41 Kristi Wagner

The next question is, are you going to get to watch competitions and other sports while you are there? What other sports are you excited about? So yes, we are going to get to watch competitions and other sports after we are done racing the Olympics is 2 weeks long. Growing is all in the first week. So during the second week, we'll get to watch other sports, which is super cool.

00:12:01 Kristi Wagner

I'm pretty excited for whatever you know, I think track and field seems really cool. Like we're gonna go to a soccer game which will be super fun, and then I think some of the more like niche sports will be cool too. Ohh, I also think it'd be really fun to go to events of people that have been on the podcast, so I'm definitely going to try to do that and and see them because you know, there's a little bit of a personal connection there.

00:12:22 Kristi Wagner

But I'd say there's really not a sport that I'm not excited about.

00:12:26 Kristi Wagner

The next question is, have you gotten any swag yet? Swag is a hilarious word. Have I gotten any free stuff, any of the gear we did get? Our US rowing gear. So US rowing is sponsored by 776.

00:12:38 Kristi Wagner

We got our rowing kit before we left, which is really awesome. We've also gotten a bunch of gifts from different companies, which is really nice.

00:12:49 Kristi Wagner

Smart wool gave us some stuff. Oh, we got these Stanley water bottles, which is cool. Oh, we got computers from Samsung and Intel. All people on the Olympic team got those. I got some sunscreen. That was very exciting. I might be forgetting something, but.

00:13:08 Kristi Wagner

Yeah, it's really nice when people gift us stuff. It's it's super cool, but then once we get to.

00:13:12 Kristi Wagner

Paris, we'll go through team processing where we'll get all of the Nike and Ralph Lauren Kit as well as like Oakley sunglasses. There's skim stuff and there's like some hats and that kind of thing. So. And that's when we get fitted for opening, closing ceremonies, outfits, the podium outfits, all of that stuff. So we'll get most of the year once we arrive at the Olympics.

00:13:32 Kristi Wagner

What are you looking forward to eating while in Paris is the next question? Well, there are many dining halls. The main dining hall is like massive. But you know, before rowing racing, I'll just eat what I normally eat.

00:13:48 Kristi Wagner

And honestly, I feel like the food will be a little bit less adventurous than in Japan, like there was like ramen and sushi and that kind of stuff. But obviously in the morning, I'll eat meal toast, duh, post racing. I'll eat a lot of baguettes, but I would eat a baguette anywhere. It's. It's funny. Like, obviously, there's a lot of stuff that's going to happen after racing, but my mind is mostly just on racing. So.

00:14:09 Kristi Wagner

I don't really have great answers to any of these questions, even though I did try to think about them before. I'm deaf for whatever. But if you have good recommendations, let me know. There's like tons of good food in Paris, so I'm sure I'll be eating very well.

00:14:22 Kristi Wagner

The next question is also about food a little bit more specific. Are you excited to have a chocolate chip cookie croissant? And are you gonna have one pre racing or wait until you're done racing? I am excited to have a chocolate chip cookie croissant. I'm sure everyone has seen them on Instagram. Tick tock, whatever. I feel like it's a viral thing, so I am excited to have one of those. I love croissants. I love chocolate chip cookies. What could be better?

00:14:42 Kristi Wagner

And probably will wait until I'm done racing, especially because I feel like I'm gonna have to go out of the village and, like, explore to have that. And I feel like I'll wait until we're done racing to do that.

00:14:52 Kristi Wagner

The next question is if you could guarantee meeting one celebrity athlete, who would it be? So I did see these questions before and I did get to think about this and I've decided it's Coco golf. I just feel like she's super cool. I love tennis. I would love to meet her. I feel like she's a really nice person. I don't know why I think that, but I feel like she she just must be. I'm sure she doesn't listen to the podcast.

00:15:13 Kristi Wagner

Here she does. Coco so excited to meet you in Paris.

00:15:15

Yeah.

00:15:16 Kristi Wagner

But yeah, no, I mean, I'm excited to meet everybody. It'll be fun this time to actually talk to people we are living in a room with the light women's double and then also two beach volleyball players and two Taekwondo athletes. So that'll be cool. That will meet people from other sports in our room. Yeah. Just excited to meet everyone.

00:15:33 Kristi Wagner

And now there are a few questions about more like racing stuff. First one is, do you have butterflies in your stomach? I'd say no, but I I am nervous, but I don't have butterflies. I probably wouldn't have that until like the day of the race.

00:15:47 Kristi Wagner

And it it's definitely mostly for racing, like I'm not really nervous to go into the village that's exciting and fun, and I think it'll be super cool. But like I'm I'm mostly nervous for the racing. Just cause, you know, it's a big deal and there's high stakes. I'm excited, not really super super nervous yet. We're also still like in training, so kind of the ups and downs of training nervousness.

00:16:10 Kristi Wagner

On Peace Day, you're a little bit more nervous. Say stay day a little less. So we're still just sort of in that routine. I'm sure as we get closer to racing, it sort of builds a little bit.

00:16:19 Kristi Wagner

The next question is do you meditate?

00:16:22 Kristi Wagner

Yeah, I always meditate and haven't. More recently I've been doing it for a while. I use the app headspace.

00:16:29 Kristi Wagner

My best advice during meditation is just do your own thing. What makes sense to you? I like doing using the app and doing guide meditations but also like sometimes like ohh don't lay down. I lay down I don't know is the heads headspace police gonna come and get me? I'm I'm not really.

00:16:44 Kristi Wagner

Sure, there's tons of different stuff you can do, like there's guided meditations, not guided meditations.

00:16:49 Kristi Wagner

I think the important thing about meditating is like this is how I always think about it and I have to credit cap because he was the person that gave me this visualization and it's literally what I think about in terms of meditation all the time. If you've ever been to like a pool resort where they have one of those waterfalls that kind of comes down from like rocks on the side of the pool and you can like.

00:17:09 Kristi Wagner

Swim under it so you're under the waterfall, but then you can also kind of go behind the water. So you're just kind of looking at the water in front of you. So that's kind of what meditation is like.

00:17:19 Kristi Wagner

Sometimes in life we're under the water and the water is like bombarding us, and it's everywhere. And then we just like, take a step back. And so nothing changes about the water. It's still there and it's still flowing. And it's still as hard as it was. But we've just kind of removed ourselves from the situation. So we're just watching it and looking at it and we're not getting bombarded and overwhelmed by it anymore. And that's kind of what I think.

00:17:39 Kristi Wagner

It's like you're not going to stop having the thoughts or the anxieties or whatever. You're just able to like, take a step back and be like, alright, I had that thought and I'm just gonna let it happen and move on. I think it's been helpful for me. I'd recommend it. Headspace is good. I think they're actually also an Olympic sponsor. So props to them.

00:17:59 Kristi Wagner

The next question is about visualization. What have you visualized going into the next few days? We're still a little bit out from racing, so haven't done tons of visualization, but I do visualize the race a little bit. Just you know what I want the race to be like.

00:18:17 Kristi Wagner

For us, when our moves are what our race plan is, that kind of thing, just like walk through in your mind, we just like on the water visualization as well race walkthroughs, which is also really helpful.

00:18:27 Kristi Wagner

Again, like I think it should be whatever you want it to be. Some people love visualization, they do it all the time. Some people, it's definitely a little bit less so.

00:18:36 Kristi Wagner

The next question is knowing what you know now, would you do it all again? I'm pretty sure that this question is in reference to the past three years since the last Olympics.

00:18:46 Kristi Wagner

And it's funny. Like, yes, I would do it again because I'm really happy that I've done it and I'm happy to be here and I'm super excited about the opportunity that we're about to have. But like every individual thing, I don't know if I would, like, wish that upon myself or anyone else, like a lot of not great things have happened.

00:19:07 Kristi Wagner

And they've been really hard and, like, tested me a lot. But you can't just erase the bad parts of life. That's like, not how it works. And I think I've learned a lot about myself. And like, who, you know, is really important in my life and.

00:19:21 Kristi Wagner

What kind of person? I want to be and what kind of person I am, so I don't think that I would change that. It's just like, feels weird to be like, oh, yeah, would totally love for all of these things that happened to happen again, because that's obviously not true. And it was been really hard. And right now it seems all like rainbows and daisies and.

00:19:41 Kristi Wagner

I think it's that supposed to be, but it hasn't been that way all year and.

00:19:46 Kristi Wagner

I think a few different choices could have resulted in like a very different year for myself. And that's just something that like I live with and that's totally fine because we all make decisions that we live with. If the question is in reference to, am I going to row for another quadrennial? I don't really know and probably not. I'm leaning more towards the side of no.

00:20:07 Kristi Wagner

But it feels really weird as well to say that the Olympics is like my last race ever. So I'm somewhere in the middle of there. But I don't think that's what the question was asking.

00:20:16 Kristi Wagner

The last question is, at this time you don't know your result.

00:20:19 Kristi Wagner

Do you think your result will matter and how fulfilled you feel? I don't think so. I think that I feel very fulfilled that I've done everything I could have done to set myself up for success. And I think like at the end of.

00:20:33 Kristi Wagner

The.

00:20:33 Kristi Wagner

Day the only way I'll be disappointed is if we.

00:20:36 Kristi Wagner

Don't have the effort in the race that like we want to have. I think if we have the race, we want to have and other people are better like that's a reality. You have to accept. I don't think that's going to happen. I think that are better is better. But I think that's where like feeling upset comes from is when knowing that you didn't.

00:20:57 Kristi Wagner

Have your best performance on that day when it really mattered.

00:21:00 Kristi Wagner

I feel really confident that we're going to be able to, like, have the race, we want to have, and I think as long as we do that, I'll feel fulfilled kind of, no matter what the result is. I mean, of course.

00:21:10 Kristi Wagner

Like.

00:21:11 Kristi Wagner

I hate losing. I love winning. I want to do really well. Of course I do. And like so many people have given time and energy and money and into me and into us and into the whole team and.

00:21:22 Kristi Wagner

I want to make all those people proud. I want to make all my family proud and my friends that are coming like, that's extra pressure, you know? But like, they think they'll love me even if we don't do well. Of course I do. I'm not. I'm not stupid.

00:21:38 Kristi Wagner

So yeah, I hope everyone has enjoyed hearing thoughts I have and watch the Olympics, not just rowing. Watch all of it. So fun. I'll be back next week with another episode that I'm going to pre record as well, and then I'll be back after for a wrap up episode.

00:21:56 Kristi Wagner

But to end the show this week, I'm going to share a quote that cat shared in the Orion quotes. And it's from Kobe Bryant. Obviously, it's very sad that Kobe Bryant died. He's a bit of a controversial figure, but this is a good quote. So thanks Kat for doing my homework for me.

00:22:10 Kristi Wagner

Kobe says I wasn't scared of missing, looking bad or being embarrassed. That's because I always kept the end result. Long game in my mind. I always focused on the fact that I had to try something to get it. And once I got it, I'd have another tool in my arsenal. If the price was a lot of work and a few missed shots, I was OK with that. I never fell outside.

00:22:31 Kristi Wagner

Pressure. I knew what I wanted to accomplish and knew how much work it took to achieve those goals. I then put in the work and trusted in it. Besides the expectations I placed on myself were higher than what anyone expected.

00:22:42 Kristi Wagner

From me.

00:22:43 Kristi Wagner

So thanks for listening. See you next time. Bye. I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our ASK. Christy, anything segment head to our website, theotherthreeyears.com. Thank you for listening to this episode.

00:23:04 Kristi Wagner

Of the other three years podcast, part of the Bright sided network.