hey everybody um i am beyond humbled to be hosting an interview with uh olympic athletes and paralympic athletes um past and present and so i wanted to give jim josh and mckenzie a chance to tell a little bit of their olympic or paralympic experiences and medals that they've gotten in a little bit of history to start off this interview so jim we'll start with you great well um i played in 1980 olympic games at lake classic my sport was ice hockey we were gold medalist um back then you had to be an amateur all the time so i was only fortunate to play in one olympic games but it was a wonderful opportunity to represent our country all right josh next uh my name is josh turek wheelchair basketball is my sport four-time paralympian uh a bronze medalist from london gold medalist from rio and now two-time gold medalist from tokyo yeah i know that's insane um yeah okay yeah i had the honor of uh interviewing josh mckenzie before they left when they were still at the training center in colorado you know and we were i mean yeah who could have imagined that this would be the result so super excited okay mckenzie last but not least thanks karen uh hi everyone i'm mckenzie cohen i am a paralympic swimmer i've been to three games i went to london 2012 rio in 2016 and just got back from tokyo i have i'm now a six time paralympic medalist so i was able to pick these up while i was there in addition to my four from rio so very very excited wow insane yeah um i got to watch um you know the videos and um you cried during the national anthem and just i mean it was yeah it was beautiful um okay so we'll start with a question for josh and mckenzie um so because he will go with you first um it's a two-part question so how are you feeling after the paralympics which i can kind of see like the permanent smile that's blaster on your face which is contagious and then um i am quite sure that this lip experience was um more challenging than most and if you wouldn't mind kind of explaining that to to us kind of what you experience because i think it's hard for us to imagine absolutely well first off i think my face probably showed that i don't think it's ever gonna go away i'm on cloud nine i have been uh ever since i got back i think i smiled the entire 12-hour flight back even when i was asleep uh and i feel like even halfway through the flight i like reached down in my bag and i just felt that my medals were there i was like oh my gosh like it actually happened i didn't just dream that so the entire experience was really incredible and obviously it was a different games than any other before but japan i have so much gratitude for them they put on an incredible games as normal as it possibly could have been the volunteers they were all so friendly i remember this very distinctively every time we would get on a bus at the transportation mall to go to the pool and come back there would be people greeting us and cheering us on as we left like they tried to make it such a special experience and something that we remember for a lifetime even in the midst of circumstances that we've never been faced with before so the facilities the village everything was absolutely beautiful and you know really the only difference was not having spectators there was certainly a different experience um but just having all the volunteers there to cheer us on like i felt like there were people there actually so i feel like it was an incredible experience and they really gave us the best of the best that's that's nice to hear that it's very nice to hear josh what is yours like well i'm feeling i just got off the plane about midnight last night so i'm feeling completely jet-lagged but i mean incredibly happy and and satisfied you know to to end up with one of these it just symbolizes all the hard work and dedication uh that goes into it and for me i guess it's a little bittersweet at the moment too because uh this was the end for me this this was my last basketball game my last time uh wearing a usa uniform so it's it's uh although i'm incredibly happy it's also you know the athlete dies to death so you know i'm i'm processing all of that but i i finished the right way with uh usa across the chest and uh gold medal around my neck had the stars and stripes around me uh it was uh it was the perfect finish so like i said incredibly filled with really joy and gratitude right now is how i feel yeah and do you think that um it was uh the the challenges impacted you um in the team during during the during you know this is as mckenzie mentioned this was a very different paralympic experience i will give a lot of credit to as you mentioned to the japanese people were incredibly kind and amazing uh but you know normally we're used to playing in front of 18 20 000 people and jam packed really loud uh with our family and our friends there you know the basketball gym was like a church i mean you could when i'm on the free throw line you know there's a couple games where i'm on the free throw line down you know up by one got to make the free throws you could hear a pin drop in there uh a very very different experience as well we ended up with some difficulty with some close contact and so we ended up going into full quarantine you know we weren't able to go out to tokyo interact with people and you know we were locked down to our rooms it was it was very very different i think that it affected us i i don't see how it can't because ultimately we're just human beings and athletes are kind of creatures of habit and and anything that interferes in that process is going to affect you uh whether negatively or positively but i think the beauty of our team is we were such a veteran group and such a strong group that uh even though we had difficulties and we had real difficulties throughout if we lost the game we had to the game against germany in the game against um turkey the quarterfinal game those were neck and neck games in the gold medal game we were down by five with five minutes to go any of those games could have gone uh a different direction for us but we we were just that veteran group that we never got rattled and we just thrived under the pressure and we found a way to come through everybody had a moment whether that was an entire game or whether that was a micro moment and it was just a really beautiful thing to be a part of yeah that's um exactly what it looked like um that everybody kind of had a moment and the team was like well old machine but yeah it was it was never guaranteed so it was exciting to watch um so jim um how did you feel getting to watch some of these paralympic games and um i'm sure that brings back memories for you both both good and bad obviously probably more good than bad but i'd like to hear about that great it's inspiring it's energizing and it's really humbling to see these great olympians uh paralympians do their thing um you know what it brings back to me is all of us athletes having dreams and having the opportunity to compete against the best athletes in the world and when i think back i think of the spirit of the competition you know never giving up always trying to be the the best athlete because you're an individual sport or the best team so to me it's all good memories and because in order to become an olympian and to make that team is an incredible amount of hard work and determination a lot of sacrifices but all these sacrifices are not just made by us they're made by our coaches our parents our family members and communities so for me it was really great to see these athletes compete and get the recognition that they deserve and for all the pioneers who put in all that hard work it was great to see the sport really flourished thank you um so let's see um josh explained how different it was um even leading up to the olympics when they were training they weren't able to train together as a team um and they had to work out differently than they did you know you you got to experience normal i guess when the world was normal kind of in 1980 but how do you think that would have impacted your team in the day if you could apply like today's situation to to your experience well i think josh is great he's he had a veteran team and so for us we were we are a team developing we were brand new so i think it would have a great deal of impact on us uh but you know like athletes and circumstance you have to be agile you have to be willing to adjust but um obviously the style of play the type of uh camaraderie we would need to have in the locker room that would have been all different um but the the part that would have been the same is all the other athletes would have been quite the same situation so josh's point about being an experienced team i'm sure had a great deal of a positive influence thank you so josh um this kind of is where this intersects very in a very interesting way because you mentioned in a previous interview that you were um inspired by um a quote from jim and i'd like you to kind of expand on that and um explain to us why it was that quote that kind of resonated with you and then you know what what that means to you now yeah we had uh just recently come back from doing a training camp in lake placid where obviously is where the miracle on ice took place and and there they have up on the wall of the training center is uh this quote of uh never let your memories be bigger than your dreams and that just really resonated with me you know as an athlete of just always strive for more to be greater and uh and yeah honestly i loved being there in lake placid we had visited the ice rink uh where where they were and i had mentioned to jim as well that uh his his entire goalkeeping set is there at the uh olympic and paralympic museum and and honestly it was inspiring truthfully i even actually before we left to go to tokyo i rewatched that movie miracle uh because it just it just gives me goosebumps uh and it just really reinforces to me uh what it means to represent the usa and and teamwork and hard work and sacrifice and all the above and ultimately to do all of that with a group of individuals to come together to become a team and brothers really uh and ultimately to win the goal it meant a lot to me and it does i love that quote isn't that crazy i mean it's not an interesting that we're all here together sort of you know and the way that this all um played out that's i probably no accident but really cool um mckenzie so um you like i you were you were full of joy on our pre-interview like i could feel you and josh and just do like excitement and energy leading up to it like i the whole during i had goosebumps during the entire interview because i could feel it through the camera um did that continue for you as you traveled and competed throughout the experience and has it has it sunk in yet you know yeah you know crazy because i can remember getting on the plane um we flew out to japan and we had a week-long training camp at the yokota air force base before we went over to the village and there was this moment on the plane right before we took off where i think it kind of all just hit me at once i was like i get to go compete at my third paralympic games like if i had tried to sit down and tell 16 year old mackenzie this like back in the day back in 2012 that i would be on my way to my third games i don't i don't know if i would have believed you so i just felt so proud and so honored that i get to go and represent my country again and then this time around was really special for me because i was team captain so i got to serve my team and team usa in a completely different way this time and i don't think i've ever been you know obviously going up on the podium and winning a gold medal it's a really incredible feeling but to be able to offer something like that and be honored by being a captain is something i'll never forget and it's something i do not take lightly i remember i was voting captain and i went back to my room and i was alone i shut the door this was at the air force chase and i cried for like a good ten minutes i just felt so proud and so happy and i never knew that i would get that opportunity so that to me was really incredible and i took that energy into games so we spent our week at the air force base training and i kind of you know was getting used to the captain role and taking things over there and i remember as we were pulling into the village like it is time it is time to go shop the world it is time to go show them that after five years of training this time around that we are ready to do this and that's exactly what team usa went out and did and i've never been so proud and i've never i feel like i've never taken in a game to experience that much in my life so i finally feel like after my third games i got the full experience and i i've let it sunk in so i've been back for like two days it's still kind of sinking in my smile will probably get bigger and bigger as we go on if you believe that but it feels amazing well you're a leader i mean that you're you're a natural born leader that doesn't surprise me one bit one bit okay so this is for jim um there was a drastic increase in national coverage for the paralympics do you think the increase in attention from mainstream media and the use of the paralympic athletes in corporate advertising like how how does that how does that feel for you what do you think about it well you know there's been so much hard work from all the past paralysians that were the pioneers of the sport and you know forever it's never been that they weren't the greatest athletes at their sport they didn't put in the same amount of work they did all that it was an awareness thing and so i'm thrilled that being part of new motion and trying to create your awareness not only during the olympic games or the paralympic games but all the time and so with this awareness and all this hard work they finally got the recognition that they deserve yeah 100 percent agree that's it um it was i think it was josh that said in the in our pre-interview i had no idea that um that the reimbursement was not the same for um for a paralympic athlete as an olympic athlete until until this year correct that's correct yeah well coming from a wheelchair user that has absolutely no talent whatsoever attempted wheelchair tennis at some point in you know the past i had three kids it's not a really good excuse because i i wasn't good at sports when i could walk so it's really but that there's all that natural talent and all of the sacrifice the extensive sacrifice that any athlete gives up the things they give up in their life to become that level uh to end up a parent olympic athlete and as many times as you guys have been there and all the medals that you've gotten um i i i'm thrilled that we're you're finally getting the recognition that you deserve and so i'm happy for you so not only that the things that mckenzie and josh have done is they've inspired young many women or older men and women to and young boys and girls to dream that dream that they had and realize that that dream can become a reality and so not only is that awareness that they can compete but now they can help coach they can educate they can continue to prove the equipment that you know the emotions does an incredible job at making sure that what you need fits you and it's properly used and so this is all great things that are ahead yeah that's a great point um okay so um this is for each of you and i guess i'll start with mckenzie um what are the long-term lessons that you've learned from your paralympic or olympic experiences that you use in your everyday life what principles do you apply when you're when you're making decisions just on in everyday decisions you can see we'll start with you you know i think one of the biggest things that i've always stroked to live my life without limits like i decided that at a really young age but even just seeing other people competing with their own disabilities has really reinforced that in me and i think about that all the time the things i'm lucky enough to witness you know we have classifications where you might have an athlete who is literally racing with just one limb and i remember the first time i saw that when i was younger and it just reinforced it for me limits don't exist unless you allow them to and so i'm surrounded by all these incredible athletes from around the world and i feel like that influences me all the time and then also on the other side of it i think going into a paralympic games and competing you have pressure on you like never before you have expectations you have pressure you have all kinds of things that you have to deal with and you have to show up with confidence like you can't go out there and doubt yourself before i step on the block i want to make sure that i have confidence and you know positive positive thoughts positive thinking and i'm able to reflect on all the hard work that i put on to get there and i think things like that really translate into the rest of your life these are things that i've learned that i will take with me to law school and then hopefully in a courtroom one day and it's life lessons from my teammates how to persevere through things how to work through challenges i think i can take all those different things from competing and paralympics for exactly competing at the games into my everyday life and live by those things and i think when i look back on what you know one day when i retire and i look back on what i'm most grateful for obviously it'll be the relationships but the things that i've learned that i'll take in to every aspect of my life yeah that's a lesson that you were lucky to learn so young because it took me many many many years to learn that and and i think for a lot of people they're much older with or without a disability before they realize that you really can do anything you put your mind to and that you that it's believing that you can do it um and you know you're halfway there josh do you remember the question you're going to repeat that no it's okay um i i think that the great takeaways from the sport that translates to my everyday life i know it's cliche but it's that the hard work pays off and it's that if you put the time in uh the results will come on the back side uh the discipline and dedication that it takes to be great at something whatever that is for me my craft with wheelchair basketball and shooting i know that if i put that same dead dedication and discipline into any other field my job my relationships those same results would come uh you know it's i i say it all the time to kids but it's it's about falling in love with the process of becoming great and and i think that that translates to sports to business to anything that you know if you if you get up to that 10 000 hours of practice at anything uh you will become great at it yeah and it's hard to remember that when you know when you lose a game or when you're you're exhausted and you know day after day and those you got you had guys had those really close games where you could have gone either way and you persevered and yeah it's in those moments that's where your confidence comes from is it's that repetition it's that practice for me that was you know i knew every single day i had shot that shot a thousand times you know every day shooting a thousand times so i go into a game and that confidence is there because i've done it so many times it's that it's that hard work you know it's that every single day those percentage points of percentage points that add up to to becoming great beautiful thing jim sure well what i've learned through athletics is winnie's heart she's really really difficult and uh there's a difference between preparing to compete and preparing to win and so it starts by having a dream and then getting a plan and getting organizing but it also you realize that you're part of something bigger than yourself and that you need an awful lot of people to help you get to where you want to go and if you acknowledge those sacrifices that not only you make uh but other people see i i never thought when i was preparing for the olympic games that i was making sacrifices i always thought i was given opportunities and so as an athlete and a person who was lucky enough to represent our country is it wasn't me making the sacrifices it was the olympic committee the coaches the parents all i had to do was take advantage of the opportunity so i i really believe in life you have to have a moral conscience and you you have to stick by that but one of my favorite quotes is the impossible becomes possible when you believe and as mckenzie was saying and josh was saying you have to put the work in you have to believe that you have earned the rights and that you'll do what it takes from a sacrifice or determination standpoint to win because winning is really hard and that's why i get so excited seeing them with their medals because it's just a lot of hard work you know that it takes a lot of luck you have to be in the right place at the right times but you know what you look back yeah that's amazing yeah yeah because the girls look so proud i was watching you know when you got your medal your gold medal and you know the girls that won silver and bronze i mean they're also extremely proud i think that was the the girl that won bronze was fourth in the last right so she was yeah yeah that was such an incredible moment i'll never forget that so you know i hit the wall on the forum free i look up i see that i've won and i'm like wow that's really amazing and incredible but i found myself i had two other teammates in that race and literally the first thing that i did once i processed that thought i was like okay where are they where did they finish how did we do and when i saw that my teammate julia gaffney won bronze i think that's when it hit me and i started bawling and i went over and i hugged her but it was that moment where i think i also realized these relationships that i've formed will last a lifetime and well medals and being on the podium is an incredible honor but these friendships are everything and i was so happy for her i mean talk about redemption from the day before and to stand up there alongside your teammate something you never forget wow that's amazing all right so i have one final question um and it's for all of you um you've been around the world you've been to lots of different countries and you've met people from all over the world i'm curious to find out how different cultures um treat people with disability um whether that's good or bad like the infrastructure how they um how they hold like we have the americans with disabilities act i know i've been to europe a couple of times i haven't been all over the world but i know um i find things to be a lot more accessible here but i'm curious about each of your experiences and how other cultures handle disability and we'll start with mckenzie i think i'm really proud to be an american and obviously to be protected by the ada and have that in place is a really incredible thing because traveling the world you know you realize it's not the same everywhere else people don't always have those same opportunities people with disabilities and you know to be from the united states and to be to be valued here as a member of society who contributes is something really important to me and how to have infrastructure that is accessible i mean that's something that you can't find in every part of the world so it definitely makes me proud to be an american and you know it's not to say i think there's always challenges that come along and i think there's always room for progress but that's what we keep moving forward towards and i think every single step and especially look at the paralympics of fear and the coverage that we got think about all that exposure and i think that just adds to it here in the u.s you know what people bring to the table who have disabilities they can be contributing members to society and it just makes me proud to be an american be protected by the ada and have these opportunities here i see our disabilities as an asset in so many ways like it i mean you know we we fight a little harder for everything we do and that makes us great employees as far as i'm concerned absolutely and i think the things that we vendor the challenges that we face with our disabilities only make us stronger so i think we're some of the strongest and toughest people out there and obviously the most capable yeah we'll work harder and longer and yeah all that stuff okay josh same question i think that was really well said uh by mckenzie you know i i've been lucky enough to have lived in europe and i've gotten to basically play basketball on all the continents of earth [Music] and i i i think agree with what she says to reiterate that i think that when you go abroad it makes you appreciate being an american and what we do have here things aren't perfect you know uh just like with the paralympic movement we're not where we want to be but we're moving in the right direction um i can tell you that you know i've been into you know third world countries and second world countries where as a member individual that's disabled or in a wheelchair they're completely ostracized from society and you know you're looked at as a complete social pride oh my god you know what is this individual in a wheelchair doing out in public and you know i've been in other areas where every single bathroom is inaccessible every single public place is inaccessible with stairs so it is a beautiful thing in america where we have the ada and we are protected and you know we do have freedom of travel and access to public places and bathrooms and i feel like year after year it gets better and better and i think that's what we should focus on is uh again we're not where we want to be we are not perfect but america is a beautiful place and uh the ada is a beautiful thing and we're moving in the right direction yeah jim your thoughts well having traveled the world you really get to feel and so as mckenzie and josh said you know everybody's a pioneer to make something a little better things are getting better they might not be happening as fast as they want but when you look around you realize that we're really fortunate to be here um this has been like an honor of a lifetime i um i don't really know how to explain it i i'm um i feel like i've been on like just the short part of the journey anyway with josh mckenzie like before they left and all during and i i just i couldn't be more happy happy for you you couldn't be more proud um and yeah that we're all part of the new ocean family is um is really really a special thing so um thanks for spending some time with us i know you're exhausted and there's a lot of people that still want to congratulate you so we'll let you guys get back to celebrating but um thank you so much yeah and i just want to say how much i enjoyed meeting both of you and um you know once an olympian always in olympia you know is the part that's great about it is you you know josh you just gotta enter a different chapter on how you're gonna be great and helping other people and mackenzie you're doing it and so just keep believing what you can do feel the value that you have and you know like karen awesome job tonight and so um i'm really proud of you guys congratulations congratulations thank you so a bite make a much let me see we all do right