17 June 2024 - Whetting your Olympic appetite

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G’day… You’ve got me - Kate Watson - again this week. 

Last week we did a recce of some global conflicts that haven’t been hitting the headlines - places like Myanmar and Hong Kong that have significantly changed over the past few years. If you missed that, our Club Picks are always available on our Instagram or you can read the newsletter here. 

Our poll last week asked you whether you felt up-to-date with global politics. Here’s one response: “The more you know the more you realise what you don’t know…”

I couldn’t agree more - the more I dive into an issue, the less informed I feel as I grasp the scale of things I don’t know. That doesn’t mean we should stop trying though and given that 80% of you feel you have a ‘general grasp of it’ or ‘would like to know more’, we’ll do our bit to continue to make it easy for you to get informed on the big global issues. 

This week though, let’s get into the warm and fuzzy stuff. I don’t know about you but all you had to do this past week to find hope and inspiration was turn on the Olympic swimming qualifiers. It was story after story of - as the cliche goes - people overcoming the odds to achieve amazing things. 

Whether you’re sport-inclined or not, as news consumers, there are few bigger events than an Olympics, so as we head towards Paris 2024 - which starts on the 26 July - our Club Picks this week are a few bits and pieces to help you play along:

1. Dean Boxall is the Australian swimming coach of world record-breaking athletes Ariana Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan (amongst others). You might remember him from Tokyo when his unique celebration style sent him viral... He has 10 athletes going to Paris - the most by far. This piece in the Sydney Morning Herald (paywall) from the weekend describes his approach and why he is a bit of an enigma. 

2. If you missed the story of Paralympian Alexa Leary, here is an interview with her and her parents on The Project on Network 10. Spoiler alert: 3 years ago she was never meant to walk or talk again.

3. Nine has done a podcast series called Road To Paris. I especially enjoyed the episode with Giaan Rooney. They are Australia’s Olympic broadcaster this time around, and she will be front and centre of their coverage. 

4. And we can’t forget our most decorated Olympian ever, Emma McKeon. She has qualified for her third games and is now a veteran of our Olympic team. This piece in the Financial Review Magazine (paywall) Your Head Makes Or Breaks You is fashion meets sport and gives you a sense of how she’s approaching her final Games. 

It’s swimming heavy at the moment but no doubt, as we get closer, there will be so many more stories to share. As we do at The Squiz, we’ll guide you through it and bubble up the good stuff. 

Your friend in news
Kate Watson

Wrapping up the news…

Claire and I release the Weekly Wrap on our News Club podcast feed each Saturday. As the name suggests, it’s a look at the week in news and what’s coming up. Big thanks to the Squizer who left this review below…

Listen here or on your fave podcast app (Apple and Spotify).

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