šŸ‡«šŸ‡· Matty & the Missile in Paris: Leave them wanting more

Published Aug 7, 2024, 8:00 PM

The Olympics arenā€™t quite over, but sadly the Matty + The Missile podcast series is! 

For their final episode, the boys take listeners all over Paris, revisit their best moments of the Olympics so far, and make some predictions for the athletes whoā€™ve debuted this year. 

Watch the full episode at Fox Sports Australia.

Episodes of Matty & the Missile in Paris will drop daily in The Matty Johns Podcast feed.

Catch the best moments on our Instagram and TikTok channels @mattyjohnspodcast

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Search for En Route to Paris, wherever you get your podcasts, or LISTEN HERE

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NRL episodes drop every Tuesday, and family episodes featuring Matty, Trish, Cooper and Jack every Friday.

We just jumped straight into it. You should go to the music over the vacation that's Quidney. Where do you get your height from? I think it's an allegiand background? Where do you get your black of months? This is what it all began, the cauldron. Yeah, big Teddy Rhiner with this on night one. We've seen a bit of Teddy.

Was in the judo blow every time you turn it on and you what you want to watch the basketball?

The Boomers. It's always like so someone said, it's not actually a flame. Yeah, so you notice not much heat coming up this thing.

This is the Eco Friendly Games, carbon footprint, etcetera. That's moater missed being lit up by a yellow light. So it looks like the famous looks pretty real. But at night they fill this thing the helium.

I love the Planet's mus the next floit. But anyway, now listen to people.

If you're listening on already are and you want this to make perfect sense, go to Fox Sports.

Fox Sports.

Let's go somewhere else, So to live built around the twelfth century, turn into a museum seventeen ninety three.

And there it is like the last pyramid. It's very specific. Nine that was done. How do you learn all those facts? How do I learn that? At least told me. I'll give you some facts as well.

You might remember early two thousand Tom Hanks was involved in a great heightst here the Unfortunately a security guard died that night.

Maybe the Da Vinci Code was a movie, not a documentary.

Highlights of the trip.

Look, Maddie, I've loved the sport, the golden girls in the pool. But what I've been really surprised by and impressed by is how passionate the French fans are and how patriotic they are every event you go to when there's a French athlete involved, singing the anthem, singing the crowd. We saw the French swimmers the other day up on stage shirtless in front of thousands of people. I've really enjoyed that aspect of a home games for these French athletes.

They celebrate their athletes. I reckon we used to in the nineteen eighties. I remember World Series cricket. Yeah, what have you liked about the games?

Firstly, one of these I really I was blown away by is the frenchman Leon Machon. Yeah that right, Yeah, he's just he's phenomenal. Do you reckon he's a chance of Bertie Phelps's record one day.

He's on track. He's on track.

I mean he won four individual goals here no relays for Big Leon, so he didn't get to pump up his medals with those. But at his rate of improvement, I don't see why you couldn't go five or six.

Come Los Angeles. It's been a great Olympics. As far as I reckon events, action performances. There's been a lot of criticism about the village and whatnot the future of the Olympics. Missile, what do you reckon make?

I think the concept of an Olympic village is no longer feasible for these countries. You imagine the cost to build the accommodation, the food hall, the lighting, electure, all of that stuff.

It's too much.

I think if I was Brisbane and I'm looking at hosting this home Games, I'd be looking at pushing events to other cities and hosting those athletes in those cities.

For example, why couldn't we do the.

Athletics at the MCG and have the athletes from America or from Athletics down in Melbourne. Yeah, the other one Mattie. So they say this village is no good, right.

This is a crook village. I've been to worse. I've been to worse.

So I was in Deli at the commath Games twenty ten and had a problem with spider monkeys. For those who don't know what a spider monkey is, it's a little monkey about the size of your hand.

They're running through the rooms stealing food. A definitive which hands.

The spider monkeys and they're.

Running through the room stealing food, getting the food all. So, how do we fix the problem with the spider monkeys. What they did was the military came through the village on leeds, these big baboons with the bare eyes, about the size of a labrador. They're walking these big balloons, big things running through the village and all the spider monkeys are dispersing into the jungle around us. That's how they fixed the problem of little monkeys. Are the bigger monkeys? So I mean, were there some distractions in this village?

Yes?

Was it?

Idea of no? Have we seen worst villages? Absolutely?

Here we have question there.

Like komal Games, I'll got all respect in the world for the athletes, but the concept.

Now the Commonwealth Games.

I remember not only two missile Brisbane got the Comonwealth Games and it was.

It was huge. Yeah, where are the common Games?

That we may see with Melbourne pulling out of this next game, we may see the end of the Commonwealth Games as we know it.

Maybe again that they.

Split up the sports into a Commonwealth Game, swimming in in one country at Konwalth Games, athletics and another and it becomes another major meat for those sports. But again as a concept with a village with all new facilities, we're just seeing as these games go with the increased cost of labor and goods and all of that, but the budgets just blow out so much. It's such a strain on the host nation that like Melbourne, they don't want to they don't want to do it.

Can we me? We do? I need? This is a girl I watched it to meet. Okay, assister Lisa the saying when they did the triathlon here a number of a number of.

The athletes caught, Yeah, caught e Coli developed Carla poisoning and.

The coested Nicola. Yeah, one point five billion dollars they spend in the same man he trying to clean it up. The ten k open water Swim is on tomorrow, and as you can see, they reckon. The triathletes said they couldn't see their hand in front of their face as they swam. So in terms of directions for where you're headed, in terms of seeing other athletes, in terms of having any grasp of how far you've swim or where you're going, few challenges for these poor open water swimmers. I'll tell you what, you'd be hard up finding an amount of money to get me in that thing missing.

They're going down and they're turning back around, might swimming against the flow. It's as you can see, this current which is constant, it's flowing.

Down river is quite strong and you're seeing right now. If you have a look, mate, you look at it. The debris, leaves, rubbish one point five billion.

I'd love to know where that went.

There.

She spent twenty b and different and and this is like feeling we're not making this up.

There's a story about an overseas athlete that has been microdocing on E coli to prepare himself for swimming in this event. It's pretty extreme, isn't it. That's a new meaning to the phrase each shit and die. You won't be that, you know, miss while they say these days a people that have short the kids have short attention spans, and you wonder, you know, as time goes by, whether that's just part of the human conditions. She's let me be like Notre Dame here and some of these stunning, stunning buildings around the world, like you talk about patients, some.

Of two one hundred and fifty years to build.

See the one in Barcelona is still going. It's a greater familiar. I think it's not predicted for another up one hundred years. What about So I watched this movie there's actually a blake that lived up here and Ring the Belly had.

A terrible affliction me sort of mate once again. Movie not documentary. I don't know if it was based off somewhere one of the best days I had.

I just stumbled upon you because you just find yourself just doing loops of the same your area, doun the media center, going to swimming out, the hotel went for a walkout, and I was heading the media center and stuff that just typed in ruge.

And head to that that that precinct mart pretty good.

It wrong anyway, Bar area. Anyway, I headed that area. Now I didn't know, but at the time the cycling was on. Now that area is just so beautiful. It's it's it's like what you what you thought Paris was when you were a kid. With the cycling, it was just it was insane. I've got it on my phone. I don't we can whack it on the whack it on the podcast because there's all these rules about Olympics or there was no cycling at the time, but the crowd was singing.

Once again.

It was the evidence of that French French spirit and the pride in their country.

I think that would be the lasting memory of me for this Olympics would be that French patriotism, the fans everywhere we've gone and we've seen people in the blue, white and red. We've heard the national anthem. That's another big one for me. National anthems and this Olympics. So he sat that swimming and heard the full range of anthems. I think France takes number one spot. I think so it's very y good New Zealand national anthems. Cracker, I love the New Zealand national anthem. What about as look at it to be controversial.

Little testing.

Yesterday I went to the Speedo sponsor of it and interviewed some of our golden girls. Yeah, truly funny, like the vastly different personalities. Like Arianne Timmus was, you could see she was a bit of a scully way hit, a bit of sparking spark about her and not that the other girls did.

But like Molly was more reserved. You can see those a bit there.

But shit, they had Emma who was really really really she was really reserved, held a lot back.

So yeah, it was really It's.

Interesting, and that's something that you know that sponsors and corporate people sit down and look at you see Arion and a lot of ads, billboards doing things on TV because she has that personality. And that's one thing I always talked to you is about sometimes I have this real combative relationship with the media. They don't want to do interviews, they don't want to be but it's part and parcel of being an athlete. If you want to be an athlete, if you want to be the face of the Los Angeles Games in four years time you go to talk, you're going to show some personality.

You've got to get out and about so.

People get invested in you and your story and then want to be part of your Olympic journeys.

Like the Lives of the Life.

Character is coming back into Australia's disappeared for a long time because otherways critical of media managers. They should facilitate between the athlete or the teams and the media, but.

They start to become obstructurists.

Don't do this, don't do that, don't say that, say this, you leave like you get guys in the someone get in a bit of trouble that you're branded Smith right.

Branded sometimes serves things to get in a little bit of trouble.

But I'll take that because not even set the time where you say it gives you a chuckle, you know, and it's endearing.

It isn't.

Yeah, if I was a manager right now, another young athlete is coming through as say swimmer. They say half a dozen journalists in swimming that cover the sport regularly. I'd say I'm going to book a dinner, nice spot at the restaurant in Sydney. I'm going to invite all six journoys and my athlete introduce them away from the pool, away from the spotlight. So this is so and so this is our background, this is a bit of a story, and then they're invested in your story personally, and then they're working with you to the rest of your career rather than against.

Good like that.

Right, there's two a gold, Silver and Bryans on the journals over here, because honestly they have they aracters. I know the League journators really well, but I've seen another like a little bit more of them here. Personality will make it's been awesome. My my bronze there you go. There, My bronze goes to Crash Cratic. Yeah, like Crash is just that I've never seen a blake with just such raw enthusias. So one day I walked in there one day in the med is and it's the only time I've seen him defeated. He was like sitting like that and you are all right, Crash, he said, Maddie.

I've hit the wall. I'm exhausted, but it's exhilarating. My Silver goes to Rudy.

Had a great day of Roland Garras were breedy, terrific, terrific, fella. I've never seen a bloke eat like you must have a tapeworm size with fist in his guts.

Gold medal, gold medal. It is mister larger than Germany.

Peter Madell such a newfound respect for these journeys, and Pee Bedell his enthusiasm and hunger to get a story, which he eventually did.

Yeah, you got it, the ninety two million story.

Credible. Yeah, we've got a bloke you taking a photo. He's just disappeared because they ten bucks ten ere.

You know the op year here. So how have you found friends? We just you do it right here in turn at Singapore. Now, I really like it. I like the You hear all the.

Stories about French people being rude, difficult. I've found it completely the opposite. Found I found the people really really good. Yeah, I've made I've loved Olympe.

This is more like it. Yeah, I want to ask him, Maggie, firstly, what do you have you found? Yeah, saying Matte.

Obviously you hear a lot of commentary from other people saying the French are rude and all that sort of jazz. But I feel like they've embraced this Olympic Games like more so than I ever imagined, and the hospitality has.

Been Nurso it's really good.

One of one of the highlights that I've had, James, is sitting in the stands and you not just doing your predictions right because.

Anyone can predict it, even though you've got them all right.

Is just the technicalities. You're insights, so like little just a little subtle things. So who was your coach?

Yeah?

So when I was eighteen, I came down to Sydney. I was trying to decide where to go with swimming with life, and I met a bloke, Grant Best at mccuarie University in Sydney, and he sat down with me and my parents and he said, if you come down and swim with me, I'll have you at the Olympic Games in two years time in London.

Wow, what did you think? Then?

I was an emmoed blame straight away and thought that's what I'm doing. Mom and dad were kind of shocked by because no one had ever said anything like that to me before. People in put mcquarie away said, you know, you never made the Olympics. It's just a dream. It's it's a pipe dream, it will never happened. Suddenly there's this coach sitting in front of me saying I'll have you at the Olympic Games in two years time. And that was the sort of belief that I needed from somebody else. I had self belief, but nobody else had ever told me that I could be that good. And so I made the decision, I'm going to move down. I'm going to swim with brand best and he, because I was so young, he became like a father.

Figure to me at that point in my life.

Taught me about the sport, but also, you know, taught me a lot of lessons about becoming a man and making that transition from you know, being seventeen eighteen to teen in my twenties.

You were saying before that things got to change about swimming, and you spoke about the technicalities like the start, the dive, the.

Turns, all that sort of stuff. Like So let's say.

Let's say it's like, you know, you do a day and it's five hours of swimming. What percentage is on technicality and what is on physicality?

Yeah, so historically in Australia you're looking at ninety five to seven percent physicality.

Where a country steeped in tradition in distance swimming. You think about all that great and was over the years.

They often come from that sort of fifteen four hundred through to fifteen hundred meter mark your hackets, Si Perkins, you thought, Sir Murray Roses, if you go back around John Conrad's if you go back with it again. Now you seeing the emergence of sprinting in Australia. At this Olympic Games, we got our first ever medal in fifty three style. People might be surprised to hear that, but Kem McAvoy not only was our first gold medals, he's our first medalist at Olympic Games in fifty three style. And that just shows the focus starting to slowly change to the sprinting, which means we need to be more technical, women need to spend more time on those skills. Right.

What about you?

Who is your big influence as a coach and taught you the game?

I mean, look, rugbyl league's a fair way removed from the Olympic sports, but the principals are all the same and the principles I think you're professional sport. If you want to make it is you've got to get a great base for football or swimming, education or what you're in.

Andrew and I very lucky.

We had an old guy who was a goat farmer, but he sort of bumped at different clubs and sat as as system coach. A really great coaches and so we would sit sometimes for hours upon end and he would show us great players little things, subtleties.

That made them great.

He was the guy you know when you see the block formations now sweet. He came up with that Newcastle the first team to do it ninety two and at the time people going, oh, this is like Newcastle made the Samis that year, but it was really criticized, going oh, this is crap.

Everyone plays that late all this time later.

But that football education he gave us, Like Maggie, it nearly drove me insane. Like as I was a young guy, I was like, I just want to get there and play. And in a lot of ways he'd pull you back to make you better in the long run. And eventually once it kicks in, you have that insight like you did, where you sit there and you're going, Maddie, this is what is about to happen.

It's intrigued me.

When I spoke to you, and I spoke to Don Fraser, and I just say to you when did Arian win that? And both you would say, right, you know at this point is both you had the same insight they turned at this certain section of the race.

You know, one of the things found a little bit hard in retirement.

So you've been able to pass on that knowledge and that information. You know, you've mentored Cooper Krong, Billy Slater, some of the great halves and playmakers in our game. Swimming has this disconnect with its with its athletes when you retire. There's no real outlet for that, and that's something I've found frustrating at times. You spend a whole career building up all this knowledge about the sport that you really want to pass on to that next generation. But as you will have seen, most of those coaches on the swim team now weren't ex swimmers, and there's no real avenue or mentorship or ways for younger athletes to get that knowledge from some of us in years gone by.

Is that funny, Like it's so prestigious the Olympics, you know, in swimming and athletics, but then there's a void. I get you, and I suppose a lot of the time and you see the professional floor were sent at swimming why. A lot of swimmers have that difficult, the transitioning next pub a lot of the problematic. Yeah, there's one more place you wanted to show me. I think it's somewhere you've been sneaking off to a bit during the week.

So now listen, we're going to get something clear. Straight away. We're talking about the moon rouge, right, And I didn't know. I just thought that was like the can Can dancers. And I said to my.

Wife, Trish, I said the Trish, I think myself, Miss Island and Rose.

We're going to go and I'm going to get rouge. She goes, you know, the best bare breast there.

I didn't know that You're not going, so I'm not going.

We're looking at the outside there. We won't go into Yeah, you're right, bag you. I miss our trip has reached this conclusion. Mate. I've had a Ball's been a lot of fun. I've got it. I fly back to Australia to join the NRL season again. I miss it.

I miss This is the Olympic spirits. It's like everyone's happy in a great mood. Everyone gets so long, there's a little love.

It makes me sick. I'm gonna get back to the hype. Oh I love it man.

I'm gonna do a good another way here. Then I'm off to Croatia. So really I'll see you them. What three weeks time? Chance a good night?

N't want to do you like? How to sup? That could be weird. I let's just let's let's do it. I've got the place for you. You've got our Irish pop. I'll share your guinness. Put hands on your chest and your legs and your ass at. Get back.

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