During the Rio 2016 Olympics, I developed a case of Olympic Fever and missed the office environment where I had plenty of people to talk with about the Games.
I also loved listening to podcasts and eagerly listened to those that aired around the Olympics, but once the cauldron went out, they went dormant until the next Olympics.
I figured that if I didn’t see what I wanted, I had to create it myself.
Fast-forward a year. My former co-worker (and fellow Games lover) Alison Brown was traveling through my town, and I sprung an idea on her. “What do you think about starting an Olympics podcast?”
She answered yes immediately–it seemed like a no-brainer. We started Keep the Flame Alive as an Olympics podcast in 2017 and added Paralympic coverage in 2018.
We had no idea what we were getting into. Especially when each of us found ourselves stuck in the mountains in the middle of China and didn’t know how we’d get back to Beijing.
Keep the Flame Alive is not just a podcast about the Olympics and Paralympics, it’s a community of people who love the Games and the excellence they encourage in all of us. It’s people coming together from all over the world to celebrate a massive sporting spectacle. It’s the excitement of seeing athletes push themselves to be the best athletes they can be.
During the Games, we drop daily episodes that recap all of the day’s news and results. We’ve been accredited for three Olympics and Paralympics: Beijing 2022, Paris 2024 and Milan-Cortina 2026.
When the cauldron is out, we produce weekly interview-based episodes. We often get asked, “What do you talk about when the Games aren’t on?”
What don’t we talk about?!
We specialize in “how sports work,” and get into the nitty gritty of how athletes achieve greatness. We aren’t afraid to ask the questions you really want asked:
Why do artistic swimmers put gelatin in their hair (and do they have a favorite flavor)?
Do short track speed skaters wear socks?
What does it feel like when a pole vault pole snaps?
How was the chocolate muffin at Paris 2024?
We also like to talk with people behind the scenes, who commit to achieving excellence in making sure the Olympics and Paralympics are the greatest sporting events in the world. We’ve talked about sport surfaces, medical staffing, marketing, announcing, photography and more.
We also like to look back at Olympic and Paralympic history and explore this topic through books, movies and stories. Our “history moment” episodes explore one historical Games each year. We revisit some great–and some unremembered–stories and explore how they have affected future endeavors in sports and the Games.
Keep the Flame Alive is a two-time nominee for Best Olympics and Paralympics Podcast for the Sports Podcast Awards, and a nominee for a 2024 Women in Podcasting Award. We’ve been featured in a number of media outlets
New episodes drop every Thursday–you can listen to our show for free through our website or your favorite place to listen to podcasts.
Follow us on X, Insta, Facebook and YouTube. If you want to be part of a great community of multi-sport event lovers, join our Facebook Group.
Jill Jaracz 