Name: What It's Really Like to Compete in the Olympics
Uploaded: 2021-01-08T21:30:25.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'What It's Really Like to Compete in the Olympics' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-01-08. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'What It's Really Like to Compete in the Olympics' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-01-08. Transcript available.

The Joe Rogan Experience.
So that's going to be this summer.
Are they going to do it with crowds?
That's a good question.
I don't know yet.
So the Japanese prime minister made an announcement,
public statement saying, hey, listen,
we're going to host the Olympics this summer no matter what.
One of the interesting things about it is although it's happening in 21,
they're still calling it Tokyo 2020.
I think they were saving face for all the marketing material
that they already made that cost them billions of dollars, right,
to change the zero to a one.
And is that really worth $5 billion or whatever it may have cost them?
That's interesting.
But it's going to be interesting how they figure it out
because the Olympic Village is like a town.
There's 10,000 coaches and athletes from every country on the face of the
planet
all put into a one-mile radius on this Olympic campus.
And there's just so much interaction, engagement.
I'm talking the cafeteria at the Olympic Games is five football fields long.
They've got a McDonald's, like a full-size McDonald's in the cafeteria in the
Olympic Village.
They've got foods from all different parts of the country.
You've got an Italian station, a Japanese station, American station, you know,
and a Pan-African station.
They have – it's insane.
You have literally thousands of people swirling in at all times.
It's 24 hours.
You can go get a Big Mac and an apple pie at all times.
Bro, like if you're coming from America, you can go down the street.
There's a McDonald's within, you know, a mile of anybody while you're here
stateside.
But if you're coming from one of these smaller countries, you're coming from
Guinea-Bissau,
or you're coming from, I don't know, Qatar, like you're like, damn, McDonald's
sounds pretty good.
I don't get this at the crib.
Let me go ahead, grab me a little quick couple of McChickens, couple of double
cheeseburgers,
put them in the room.
But it's always available.
But you would think that someone competing in the Olympics would want to fuel
their body
with the best possible food available.
Some of them know they can't win.
Like, you know, like everyone going to the Olympics isn't expecting to win a
medal.
Like 90 – I say 90 percent, large, very large percentage of the competitors
at the Olympic Games,
it's a long shot for them to get on the podium.
They're going with the expectation like, hey, listen, I'm representing my home
country with pride.
I am going to a country that I've never been before.
Hopefully I can be on TV.
My family will be watching me back home.
The opening ceremonies is the best experience for them because they get to be
in a full-packed arena
around all the athletes that they've seen on TV.
But they know that realistically they're not going to win.
So when that McDonald's is open 24 hours, they're like, let's go, bro.
We're going here.
Do they have to pay for it?
Free.
Oh, that's good.
Everything's free.
That's good.
So it's an interesting perspective being in the Olympic Village.
It's a cool spot.
It's got to be a wild experience to be there.
It must feel surreal.
It's wild.
So they're really strict with the way that they administer athletes and people
to get in.
You have to have a guest list if you want to bring anyone in.
They have to be approved seven days in advance.
So let's say my wife.
I'm like, hey, I want my wife to come into the Olympic Village, check out our
living space, check out the free McDonald's.
Then I have to put her on the list seven days in advance.
And it has to be approved by the USOPC and then also, you know, the IOC.
Wow.
And so it's a very, bro, they're not playing, dog.
I'm telling you.
I'm telling you, Joe.
It's like, they get it.
After he was done.
After he was done.
Oh, after he was done.
Well, that makes sense.
Well, he's taking that home with him.
He's putting that all in his suitcase.
He's going to go start him a little McDonald's of his own when he gets back to
the crib.
But it's, so when you get in the village, you have to, it's almost like going
through TSA at an airport.
You got to show them your badge.
They scan it.
You got to get all your bags checked and make sure that you're good to go.
You don't have any, you know, thing lethal in your bags.
You get inside and it's literally like an apartment complex, huge apartment
complex.
Look at the line.
Look at that.
McDonald's is the most popular restaurant.
That's crazy.
Listen.
That's a crazy line.
They're not getting salads and chicken selects.
No.
You know, they're getting cheeseburgers and McChickens and, listen, hey,
whatever you need
to do to be the fastest man in the world, do your thing.
Well, I guess also, like, when you're done, you probably just want to treat
yourself.
Yeah, for sure.
You've probably been eating very strict for a long period of time.
Yeah, crazy.
That was my, when I won the gold in 2012, my first meal afterwards was McDonald's.
Very first meal.
What'd you have?
What'd you have?
I had a double cheeseburger with a high C orange to drink and a large fry.
So, crazy story.
I'll tell you this story.
So, I win the Olympic gold.
Right after you win, they take you back to what they have, like a media house.
So, it's got all of the publications from all over the world.
You've got AP, Sports Illustrated, NBC, you know, just pretty much everything.
And so, you go back and you just bounce from room to room.
It's like, okay, we got Al Michaels here.
We got Bob Costas here.
We got, you know, Joe Rogan here.
And so, you go, you show your medal.
You tell them about your experience, where you're from, who you are, what you're
going
to do with all this money and fame that you've just won.
And then, so, as soon as you're ushered out of there, you competed at eight o'clock
and
you don't get out of there to close to midnight.
So, by the time it's midnight in London, really the only thing open is McDonald's,
right?
So, I'm still in my podium outfit.
Like, literally what I wore on the podium, I'm still in it at midnight.
And so, we go down to, like, Piccadilly in London and the only thing's open is
at McDonald's.
And so, we went to, like, a club for a little bit.
One of my sponsors at the time had, like, bottle service.
They wanted to celebrate me.
So, we leave there.
We go to McDonald's.
I get inside and packed.
Clubs just let out.
Everyone's, like, hungry.
They're hungover.
They just got done for the night full of drinking.
They're all in line.
Line's crazy.
I go into the McDonald's.
I'm like, damn, it's a long day.
I wrestled all day long.
I do not want to stand in line.
I just want to see if I can work my way to the front.
So, I go and ask the guy.
I'm like, bro, listen, I just wrestled all day at the Excel Center.
I just won an Olympic gold.
Like, you think I can get in front of you?
And he's like, you didn't win an Olympic.
What?
Stop.
And I'm like, bro, I won the Olympics.
He's like, no, you didn't.
And so, I had my medal in my pocket.
I had my gold medal in my pocket.
So, I pulled my gold medal out and showed this guy.
He's like, starts going nuts.
Oh, my God.
This guy.
So, he's yelling.
Everyone.
He's pushing people out of the way in this McDonald's.
He's like, this guy just won an Olympic gold medal.
Let him to the front of the line.
Let him to the front of the line.
And so, he's pushing people out of the way.
Gets me, like, literally escorts me to the front of the line to get me my
quarter pounder and my large fry.
Wow.
It was wild.
That's the craziest cheeseburger fry story ever.
Cool.
It was dope.
It was awesome.
That had to be very memorable.
Yeah, it was fun.
Wow.
It was fun.
Winning the gold medal.
I mean, I know you've won the world championship, what, four times?
Four worlds, one Olympics.
But how much difference?
Nothing like it.
Olympics are the best.
It's rare.
It only happens every four years.
It's a single day event.
So, you have to be your best on that single day.
You only get one cycle to prepare for.
So, we think of our careers, like, cyclically, where, like, if you're an MMA
fighter, you're like, okay, I can get an opportunity to fight for the belt as
long as I continue to compete at a high level, like, keep my brand awareness at
a good place.
But in wrestling, the pinnacle is the Olympic Games.
So, no matter how many world championships you win, you want that Olympic gold.
And the crazy thing is the worlds are harder than the Olympics.
So, the Olympics are a little more condensed in terms of the qualification
process.
So, at worlds, it's much easier to qualify.
So, you have 42 guys in your weight class or in your bracket at worlds.
You only have 16 at the Olympics.
So, in the world championships, I won in 2015.
I wrestled six matches.
The Olympics, I won in 2012.
I only had four matches.
And so, and it's a random draw, too.
So, you could wrestle Russia first round, which would suck.
Or you could wrestle Puerto Rico first round, which would suck less.
And so, it's a really interesting experience the way these brackets are drawn.
And I think that the Olympic Games has become so special because of everything
surrounding it.
You get more money, more notoriety, more recognition moving forward.
Like, winning the gold in 2012 catapulted me to where I am right now.
Like, when I'm recognized or announced at an event, it's always affiliated with
that Olympic gold.
Olympic gold medalist, Jordan Burroughs.
Like, they always tell you, whenever you step off the podium, you will forever
be an Olympic gold medalist.
You can't lose that.
You can lose your belt.
Right.
You can never lose your gold.
Right.
It always comes home with me at the end of the day, no matter what I do moving
forward.
So, that's pretty cool.
That is an interesting perspective, right?
Because if you're a fighter, you win the title, and then you lose the title in
your next fight.
You're a former world champion.
Former world champion.
But an Olympic gold medalist from 2012 is an Olympic gold medalist.
They don't put the former before it.
They just say Olympic.
Yeah.
So, that's, it's dope.
Yeah, you made it through, you did it, and that's it.
But then there's another guy who does it four years later.
Yeah.
So, it's interesting.
It's got to be a crazy experience.
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