It's a wild ride to the end. What can top horse vaulting? Miserable facilities for swimming and diving! Stranded Japanese athletes! Outspoken fascists! A brief detour into true crime territory with a murderer using an unexpected weapon! Plus, a love story and a Nobel peace prize winner because sometimes, yes, we do get to have nice things.

It's a brave new post-war world. Who's allowed to come back? Who isn't? How do the Belgians afford it? And more importantly, what sport is so ridiculous that it makes Bridget laugh so hard she loses a contact?

Bridget's foreshadowing comes to fruition with the first casualty of the modern Olympic games. Also the ghost of Paris haunts the 100 meter dash, Jim Thorpe displays the best of American athleticism (and courtesy), and Frank finally learns of an Olympic feat he can beat!

And we're back with part 1 of Stockholm! Thrill when you hear about ancient Viking games! Chill when you hear about Finland's opening ceremony protest! Wonder when we'll get back on topic when Bridget starts rambling about literary terms!

The conclusion of our series about the 1908 London Olympics. Learn why the marathon is the distance that it is, which running events allow body checking (it's none of them), and more about the early Olympics' greatest villain: James Sullivan. Cover image: Octave Lapize, French cyclist.

This week we learn about how the 1908 Olympics ended up in London when they were supposed to be in Rome, how long it takes to build a state-of-the-art sports facility, the joys of toddler soccer, and the Olympic debut of both Russia and Figure Skating. Coincidence?

A slightly delayed but extra large episode about the one and only Intercalated Games. Learn about how many of the Olympic traditions started, from national teams to the Olympic village to ridiculous antics during the medal ceremony when the IOC rejects your protest to be recognized as your own team! (Here's looking at you, Ireland)

In our last episode about St. Louis we cover the track and field events. Features include a bizarrely truncated schedule despite the fact that they had months to compete in, George Poage breaking a racial barrier for American athletes, and the single worst event in Olympic history: the 1904 marathon.

The slog through St. Louis continues, this time with thrilling tales of cyclist Crash McCrea, whatever roque was, and the dangers of inadequate aquatic facilities. Bridget's promises of finishing St. Louis are premature, and this briefly becomes a podcast about the classic 1988 teen comedy about suicide and school shootings: Heathers.

Part one of our series on the disastrous 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. Here we talk about how the Olympics were stolen from Chicago, the most disgraceful event presented by something called "The Department of Exploitation" to ever be associated with the Olympics, and a couple of German-American guys from Buffalo who were real good at basketball