Dying To Ask

Hiding From The Sun While Searching For Gold With Keana Hunter

Keana Hunter spends most of her day upside down, trying to avoid getting kicked in the head while hiding from the sun. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

The 20-year-old first-time Olympian will represent Team USA at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Team USA hasn't qualified in the Olympic artistic team event since 2008. It last medaled in the sport formerly known as synchronized swimming with a bronze at the 2004 Athens Games.

Head coach Andrea Fuentes is getting a lot of credit for turning the team around. Fuentes is the most decorated artistic swimmer ever for Spain and won four Olympic medals.

Keana and her teammates relocated to Los Angeles for a year, putting their lives on hold to train for 10 hours a day, six days a week. Eight of those hours are in the water.

Artistic swimming is considered one of the toughest sports in the Olympics because of its blend of physical strength, flexibility, and performance.

"You're upside down in the water looking at your pattern and making sure you're in the right spot. But you're also traveling. So everything has to come together to make it like this beautiful routine. But there are so many pieces that like take hours and hours to fix," Keana said.

Coach Fuentes recently announced her Olympic roster of eight athletes. A squad of 12 swimmers qualified the U.S. for one of 10 Olympic spots but only eight athletes can compete in Paris.

Only one swimmer in the final eight has Olympic experience. The rest are first-time Olympians like Keana.

On this Dying to Ask:

• An update on Bill May, the 45-year-old artistic swimmer who'd hoped to become the first man to represent Team USA in the Olympics
• Keana breaks down what it's actually like underwater for an artistic swimmer
• Find out how swimmers protect themselves from the sun when they're in a pool for 8 hours a day
• How do you maintain passion for a goal despite that much training and sacrifice

Finding Balance With Diver Katrina Young

Katrina Young has unfinished business and she wants to get it done in Paris.

The two-time Olympic diver will compete in the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials in Knoxville, Tennessee, from June 17-23. She'll compete in both solo and synchronized events.

Katrina grew up in the Pacific Northwest, graduated from the University of Florida with a music degree in 2015 and competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Games. She didn't medal in either.

Her third Olympic push has focused heavily on mindset.

"You do have to go through this series of moments where the pressure feels very heavy. And I don't think that I've ever gotten into the zone at the Olympics where I've gotten through the pressure," says Katrina.

Going for a third Olympic team meant doing things differently.

The 32-year-old is a newlywed. She and her husband relocated to the West Coast.

Katrina moved to Los Angeles last year to train at the USC pool and pursue her other passion as a singer-songwriter. The change in scenery and shakeup in training are paying off.

Katrina says, "Shaking up where I live and my day-to-day routine has really opened my eyes to different sides of myself."

And, it's provided the elusive balance so many Olympians and the rest of us crave.

On this Dying to Ask:

• Athletes thrive on routine. How did Katrina decide to flip her life upside down in her push for Paris?
• Advice on defining what balance means to you
• The unexpected value in pursuing two passions at the same time

Leading With Gratitude Is A Golden Strategy For Maggie Steffens

They say good things come in threes. Maggie Steffens hopes they come in fours.

Steffens is the team captain for the U.S. Olympic Women's Water Polo Team.

The team has won three straight Olympic gold medals. Winning a fourth would make history as no team, men's or women's, has won four straight gold medals.

We caught up with Steffens and her team at a sold-out exhibition game at Long Beach City College. The crowd was packed with female teenage club players.

"I was once that little girl on a pool deck looking up and seeing role models and saying, that's something I want to do," Steffens said.

Steffens' team is a team is a mix of veterans and first-time Olympians. She leads with an Olympic mindset grounded in gratitude with an eye on mentorship for the next generation of players.

Steffens says, "Going into this Olympics gratitude is one of my biggest things. How cool is it I get this opportunity and how can I make this torch a little brighter for the future of our sport?"

Coach Adam Krikorian says his team tries not to focus exclusively on winning gold again.

"The reality is this team has never won a gold medal. And we have people that have never been Olympians before. So this is their first experience," Krikorian says.

Bottom line: leadership and experience will matter greatly this summer in Paris.

On this Dying to Ask:

• Why leading with gratitude works
• How a spirit of gratitude fosters mentorship
• Advice on how to get different generations to work together toward a goal

45-Year-Old Bill May Makes History In Artistic Swimming

35 years is a long time to wait for a dream. But Bill May says it's worth it.

Bill was 10 years old when he started artistic swimming. He fell in love with the sport and dreamed of going to the Olympics.

"Every time someone would tell me no, I'd say watch me. You're going to see me at the Olympic Games. You're going to tell me no and I'm going to say yes. They're going to say that person followed his dreams and there he is at the Olympic Games," says Bill.

The problem? Artistic swimming (formerly synchronized swimming) didn't allow men in Olympic competition.

Bill quit competitive swimming after watching his teammates win the 2004 Olympic bronze in Athens and put his aquatic talents to work in other ways.

He joined the cast of Cirque Du Soleil's "O" and spent 18 years touring with the production. But he never gave up advocating for men to be allowed to compete in his sport at the Olympics.

In 2022, the International Olympic Committee announced a rule change that allows up to two men per team in the artistic team competition starting this summer in Paris.

Bill says, "I think now that men are allowed, it's only going to open the doors for men to be in the sport and just from our families and people around the world to say, okay, this sport is inclusive."

This year, Bill was one of 12 Team USA swimmers to qualify for the Olympic team competition for the first time in 18 years. But only 8 swimmers can compete in Paris.

Head Coach Andrea Fuentes calls upcoming team cuts "heartbreaking." In this episode, you'll hear from Bill May and then Coach Fuentes on how committed she is to bringing a mixed team to the 2024 Summer Games.

On this Dying to Ask:

• How Bill stays in peak mental and physical shape to compete at 45 with teammates half his age
• Why gender equity matters in artistic swimming
• How Bill is using his platform to inspire the next generation
• What was it like being in Cirque Du Soleil for almost 20 years
• How to stay true to a dream for decades
• The tough choice Coach Andrea Fuentes has to make by June 8

Beach Volleyball Duo Theo Brunner, Trevor Crabb on How To Get Along With Anyone

A trip to Paris would be the ultimate revenge after getting dumped for Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb.

Both are veteran beach volleyball players and both got dumped last year by their prior partners.

The timing couldn't have been worse.

Crabb says it often takes three to four years of playing with a partner to create the kind of chemistry it takes to qualify for the Olympics.

"We're one of the older teams on tour. I'm 34 he's 38 . We've been through the partner changes and stuff before," says Crabb.

That experience let them get to work while getting to know each other.

"As an elder statesman in the sport, I've seen good teams win tournaments who hate each other's guts and don't talk and teams that love each other that can't get it done. All that matters is scoring points," says Brunner.

The Paris Olympics will feature 24 teams, of each gender, playing under the Eifel Tower.

Team USA has already qualified two women's teams. Countries can qualify a maximum of two pairings per gender and so far no U.S. men's teams have met the qualification. The main qualification period ends on June 10.

On this Dying to Ask:

• Why Trevor wasn't an obvious partner choice for Theo
• How far down the list of potential partners Trevor was for Theo
• The advantage of being an older, experienced player in a new partners
• Advice on how to get along with anyone

Zen And The Art Of Rowing With Michelle Sechser

The girls in the boat are heading to Paris and Folsom's Michelle Sechser has Lake Natoma to thank.

Sechser is a two-time Olympic rower in lightweight double sculls. She fell in love with the sport at age 14 after following her older sister to Capital Crew.

That rowing club is based at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma and has produced multiple Olympic champions.

"When I started at Capital Crew, never in a million years that I think I will be a two-time Olympian," Sechser said. 

She started seriously pursuing the National Rowing Team after grad school and came in 5th at the Tokyo Olympics.

Lightweight sculls feature athletes much smaller than those found on the eight-person boats. That leads to races being won (or lost) in the blink of an eye.

At 37, Sechser is older than a lot of rowers. She'd already planned on Paris being her last Olympics. Then the International Olympic Committee announced her event would be dropped from the Olympic lineup after 2024.

Sechser predicts an epic final saying, "I know every girl on that starting line will be having the exact same thought, which is I've got nothing to lose, cause this is it. It's all or nothing."

On this Dying to Ask:

• The Zen of rowing
• How rowing with a partner is like being in a marriage
• How to build physical and mental endurance and push through boredom 

Shooter Sagen Maddalena Takes Aim At Gold

Sagen Maddalena has a literal shot at gold this summer at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

Maddalena is a two-time Olympic shooter and will compete in two air rifle events at the summer games.

She grew up in Groveland, California. She was homeschooled in the small mountain town and was introduced to her sport through a 4-H gun safety class.

She got hooked and went on to become an eight-time All-American collegiate shooter at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

That led to a career as a sharpshooter in the U.S. Army and these days, Sgt. Sagen Maddalena is a member of the elite World Class Athlete Program, which allows members to train and compete in sports on an international level while representing their country.

You might think shooting is a sport of perfectionists. Maddalena says perfectionism actually works against her as an athlete.

"I think that's one of the things that makes me so good at it is is that I've put in a lot of hours of work and discipline. I've been stubborn to make sure I follow that discipline and that work ethic to be as I can be without being perfect. Having that mentality that would be overwhelming," Maddalena says.

On this 'Dying to Ask':

• Few people guess Maddalena's sport correctly. The sport they think she does.
• How to achieve mental clarity and avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism.
• How Maddalena is inspiring kids in small towns to dream big.

'All in Stride' With Olympic Author Johanna Garton

The American dream and the Olympic dream collide in Johanna Garton's new book, "All in Stride."

All in Stride: A Journey in Running, Courage and the Search for the American Dream is about Olympian Shadrack Kipchirchir and his wife, Sgt. Elvin Kibet, two American professional runners.

Both competed in February's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Shadrack competed for Team USA in the 10,000m at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.

Johanna Garton is a longtime Colorado-based endurance sports writer who met the married couple in Denver.

All in Stride tells the story of how the runners independently made their way from Kenyan villages to American colleges, the military and professional running.

Their American dream turns into an Olympic dream as each pushes to represent their new country. Their adjustment to American culture isn't easy and includes brushes with bigotry and intolerance.

"I heard about this program that was part of the U.S. Army based in Colorado Springs. It was soldiers in the U.S. Army who also were training to become world class athletes. I went down and spent time at one of their workouts, and I happened to meet Shadrack, who's kind of the main character in this book," says Johanna.

Johanna Garton started her career as an immigration lawyer. But her love of distance running won out career-wise. She transitioned to sports writing and writes mainly about endurance sports. Johanna ran for Syracuse University as a walk-on. She's run more than 20 marathons including five Boston Marathons . And, she even made it to Everest Base Camp in 2022.

On this Dying to Ask:

What it's like when the American dream and the Olympic dream collide

The role the US Army plays in helping athletes get to the Olympics

The special role Team USA's immigrant athletes play in the Olympic experience

 

Kali Wilding Finds Olympic Inspiration At Home

Kali Wilding and Shelley Oates-Wilding are on the ultimate Olympic mother-daughter road trip that hopefully ends in Paris.

Kali is one of Team USA's top sprint kayakers. Shelley is a two-time Olympian for Team Australia and the current U.S. National Coach in canoe-kayak.

Kali grew up in Hawaii surrounded by water and her mother's Olympic legacy. But Shelley says she was careful to not push her sport on her kids. Kali started out as a gymnast but couldn't resist the water.

She recently won the K-2 sprint kayak event at the U.S. Olympic Canoe Kayak Team Trials at the CSUS Aquatic Center at Lake Natoma, California. The next and final step in becoming an Olympian is competing in the Continental Olympic qualifier in Sarasota, Florida, in April.

An Olympian being coached by a parent who is also an Olympian is rare. And, Kali and Shelley hope to make that dream happen this summer at the Paris Games.

"We get to travel so much together. It's crazy fun having a mother as a coach, best friend, travel buddy. It's a dream come true," says Kali Wilding.

Shelley Oates-Wilding says, "Representing your country at the Olympics is one of those things. You're being the best you can be in your chosen profession. It's the journey going toward what your Olympics is."

On this Dying to Ask:

• The growing sport of sprint kayaking
• What it's like growing up with an Olympian for a parent
• What Shelley did to not force her sport on her kids
• What it takes to pursue an Olympic dream while going to a school like USC

FIVE WITH FITZ: Riley Loos

Get to know Olympic hopeful gymnast Riley Loos as he tumbles with Fitz through a round of FIVE WITH FITZ.

Five rapid fire questions with a bonus question.