No matter how much you know or care about gymnastics, you couldn’t have escaped the story of Simone Biles during the Tokyo Olympics.

Every four years, we watch these young women flipping and flying high in the air in their sparkly leotards, and we seem to forget about the expectations they have riding on their shoulders, and how incredibly dangerous what they do is. The sheer physicality of their sport is amazing, but it’s also a lot. And this is something that Australia’s Olivia Vivian knows all about. 

She started in the sport when she was just eight years old. She represented Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and later became a household name on the hit show Ninja Warrior. On this episode of No Filter Olivia sits down with Mia to talk about what life as an elite gymnast is actually like…

THE END BITS:

With thanks to Olivia Vivian https://www.instagram.com/oliviavivian/?hl=en 

The documentary Olivia was talking about is called Athlete A on Netflix

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CREDITS:

Host: Mia Freedman. You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here.

Executive Producer: Elissa Ratliff

Assistant Producer: Lucy Neville 

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

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