Dying To Ask: Road to Paris dyingtoask

Being bored at the Olympics is a good thing if you're Dr. Marcy Faustin.
Faustin is a co-head team physician for USA women's gymnastics. Paris will be her second Olympics.
The delayed Tokyo Games were her first Olympic experience. She thought protecting her athletes from COVID-19 and injury would be her main challenge.
Instead, she found herself thrust into one of the most seismic moments in sports when superstar Simone Biles had to withdraw from competition to take care of her mental health.
"What Simone was able to do is show that you need to take care of yourself first even if she feels the external pressure of the gymnastics community, the Olympics and the world needing her to be the face of the Games. It allowed other people to say, 'I'm not doing OK right now and I'm having a hard time,'" Faustin said.
"The Simone effect" rippled through the Games and the world, giving other athletes the freedom to admit the mental toll training and competing takes.
Protecting the mind is as important as protecting the body, according to Faustin. Athletes work with sports psychologists. The USOPC provides additional mental health help during the Games.
At USA Gymnastics, Faustin and Dr. Ellen Casey share the responsibility of taking care of the athletes and supporting personnel and their families. It's a holistic approach centered on making individuals feel safe, comforted and supported.
Faustin said, "Everyone who is a part of the team knows we have to do that physical aspect, but we also have to do that mental aspect. Whatever that is for that individual person."
Faustin is a former college athlete. Her primary job is working for UC Davis Sports Medicine in Sacramento taking care of non-Olympic patients and giving sports medicine lectures. Her love of sports and competitive nature make her a perfect medical ally and personal hype woman for Team USA.
On this Dying to Ask:
How do you become an Olympic Team Doctor?
How Simone Biles destigmatized mental health for athletes and everyday people
What will a day in Paris look like for the medical team?
Why female gymnasts are older and stronger than ever in 2024
Dr. Faustin's phone-free hack to relieve athletes' stress during the games
 

Experience matters. And, it may be the U.S. men's water polo team's greatest asset heading into Paris.
Ten of the 13 guys on the roster competed on the Tokyo Olympic team, including three-time Olympian Alex Obert.
"There is a huge difference between your first Olympics and your second Olympics, the kind of nerves just knowing what you're going to go through every single day," Obert said.
Obert grew up in Loomis, California. He played for the University of the Pacific, the U.S. National Team, played overseas, and competed in two Olympics.
He retired after the Tokyo Olympics and took a finance job. Then came the call asking him if he'd come out of retirement for one more go at gold.
His wife and employer said go for it.
And, Obert made the cut, joining his third Olympic water polo team.
Obert says, "Even in retirement, I still had that itch to compete at the highest level. I didn't know if I was going to be able to make the comeback. But obviously I was able to make it enough to come back and help the team, and that's all I want to do is help the team compete and win."
On this Dying to Ask:
How hard it is physically to come out of retirement
How being a dad changed Alex as an athlete
Advice for parents on how to best support your teen athletes
The advantages of having 10 guys with Olympic experience on a roster of 13

Robyn Stevens walks faster than most people run and is on track to make her second Olympic Team.
Stevens is the fastest female race walker in the country.
Growing up in Vacaville, she said a high school track coach suggested she try race walking. Stevens did and instantly fell in love with the sport. 
"It's super technical it's what drew me to it," Stevens said.
Women compete in the 20-kilometer distance in the Olympics. The sport relies on precision and power.
"With race walking, you have to land with one foot on the ground at all times. You have to land with [a] straight leg that stays straight until it passes beneath the hip," Stevens said.
Judges line the course watching for foot infractions and rely purely on what they see. There is no video review.
Athletes walk faster than most of us can run.
"In a 20k race, I'll average anywhere from a 7-minute to 7:15 a mile," Stevens said.
She contemplated retiring after the delayed Tokyo Games where she finished 33rd out of 58 competitors.
Two things kept her in the sport: One, she'd like her mom to see her compete at an Olympics in person. Fans weren't allowed at the Tokyo Olympics because of pandemic restrictions.
The second is that at age 41, she's still the fastest American race walker.
And that's despite having her 2023 training year disrupted severely by long-haul COVID-19 symptoms.
On this Dying to Ask:
Why Robyn wants an Olympic do-over
The impact long haul Covid has on endurance athletes 
 How she's changed her Olympic mindset to balance her personal and professional life
What it's like to train for hours a day on your own
And we break down the mechanics of race walking
 
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From grit to glam. Women's Health is celebrating female athletes with its first-ever Olympics issue.
Liz Plosser is the editor-in-chief of Women's Health magazine.
The July-August issue is a global celebration of women's sports and athletes and spans 10 editions of the magazine worldwide.
"We really wanted to focus on women who would share their stories vulnerably, and let us into who they are as human beings, as advocates in their community, as moms as role models. In addition, they're sharing how they train and compete and perform at the top of their game," Liz said.
Women's Health drew on the colors of the Olympic rings for inspiration and then took the women out of the gym and into iconic settings for their photo shoots.
"We put them in a really epic-like superhero environment because they are superheroes to us," Liz said. "We also wanted to show them an action and reflect."
Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin- Levrone (track and field) is on the cover.
Six other athletes are featured in the issue including boxer Jajaira Gonzalez, breaker Sunny Choi, para-triathlete Hailey Danz, water polo goalie Ashleigh Johnson, pentathlete Jess Savner and rugby star Llona Maher.
All the women shared what they're doing to get their bodies and minds ready for the Paris Games. Several expressed the role mental health takes on an athlete's journey and share what makes them mentally tough.
On this Dying to Ask:
How you get top Olympians runway-ready
What inspired the photo shoot locations and wardrobe
What were the athletes like on set
Olympic mental health hacks
Other places to listen
CLICK HERE to listen on iTunesCLICK HERE to listen on Stitcher

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

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