Chapter 1: Who is Anna Willcox and what is her role at the Winter Olympics?
Right, joining us now on the Agenda podcast, former Olympic free skier, Anna Wilcox, now covering the Winter Olympics from Italy for Sky and Crowd Goes Wild. We've sent, I mean, she was sent our biggest Winter Olympic team of all time out there. And Anna, you must be absolutely fizzing with just a few days to go.
Yeah, I'm next level fizzing. Like so stoked to be here finally. It's like obviously full circle. And yeah, full circle moment coming back and getting to broadcast at my first Winter Olympic Games since competing. So it's pretty special.
Are there many familiar faces for you, Anna, looking around? Is there a few people that you competed with back in what, 2014 in Sochi that are also a part of the broadcast team or even still competing?
So there's a few still competing. There's a few old dogs still competing. And then there is a whole lot of faces. Like a lot of the people that I used to compete against have now turned to coaching. So there's a lot of guys in coaching roles and stuff like that. So it's like really cool to just have like a big reunion here, to be honest.
Before we get into the New Zealand team and our obviously medal contenders, which is a decent list, what's the atmosphere like over Winter Olympics? Because from the kind of snow sports vibe, I feel like there's more of a party vibe in snow sports than there is in the traditional Olympics. And you can see it when they compete. They're all mates. They're not too disappointed when their mate wins.
They celebrate with them. They cop a lot of shit from traditionalists about that because they say, you don't care. But I imagine the off-piste action at the Winter Olympics is pretty epic. Are you looking forward to dipping your toes back into that as a non-athlete?
Yes, mate. The apres ski vibes are all on in Europe, like 100%. I scouted out an apres ski bar, which is going to, and there was like, it was a basement bar and there's a slide that goes down to it. You actually jump on a slide to get there, which is pretty unreal. But yeah, there is totally that more laid back attitude.
I think when you're doing a sport that is truly so dangerous, I think, you know, there's a whole different vibe that comes with it. And I think people, the athletes, you know, they're just, they want to, they want to push themselves. They also are there for their mates when they crash and they win and all that kind of stuff. And there's that really strong camaraderie.
But I think it comes from doing a sport that's really dangerous. You kind of just have to, you have to be a little bit laid back and you have to have a few screws loose, you know?
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Chapter 2: What is the atmosphere like at the Winter Olympics?
If you want to compare it to say like a Quentin Tarantino movie, the slope style is like the character development, the conversations, the intensity of it. And then the big ear is like the scene at the end where everyone dies. You know what I mean?
It's just like...
Let's go.
That's far more eloquent way of putting it.
That's far better than me. So obviously Zoe's coming in here. She is a defending champion, Olympic champion. She is.
Yeah, yeah, defending slope style champion, and she got a silver medal in the big air. So, yeah, so she's double Olympic medalist there.
Before we move on, have we had eyes on her father? Have we seen him yet? Is he getting stuck into what?
So, Sean's in it here, and he's here with 14 people. He's at Zoe's contingent. There's like 14 of them just for Zoe. So, mate, they're going to be wild. I can't wait to yellow card them a whole bunch.
Oh, my God. It's great. He was the highlight of the last Winter Olympics for me. Crossing to Monica. And like every proud father, he had overindulged and did not care. Did not give a shit. His daughter just won gold. Who else you got on that list anyway? So, yeah. So, obviously, Zoe, she's the big rock star, really, for the New Zealand team. She's the one to beat in that.
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Chapter 3: How do snow sports differ from traditional Olympic events?
Yes.
Yeah, he's been on fire. And he competed... He just got a gold medal at the X Games just a couple of weeks ago. And, like, to be fair, like, watching him, he's, like, a whole cut above the rest of the field. So, you know, I think, like, he's probably, I'd say, like... I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of high-middle hosts, but I'd say he's going to bank one for sure.
And, like, then his brother is, like, a wild card. So he's a twin brother called Cam, who is Snowboard Halfpipe. And he... Mate, when he lands, like he's going to thread in that top spot on the podium. So I think, you know, we could see, I'm really excited for the Snowboard Big Air because he's a total, he's a bit of a wild card and he's a dark horse and he could totally do some damage.
Nice. Is there any other, what are the other kind of, because the other kind of two headline names that have been bandied around, mainly in the media.
Yes.
Who else's podium threats?
So 100% Luca Harrington. So he is the current Big Air World Champion. He just won X Games Slope Style Gold two weeks ago. And he also got silver in the Big Air two weeks ago at Big Air. So he is also a dual medal threat, like easy. So Luca Harrington is definitely a name that you want to lock in and put your bets in, to be honest.
Nice. Because this game is quite front loaded with all the cool shit. Because all the big air and slope styles happening in the first two or three days. Is that right?
Yes, we got Big Air. We were just at training earlier for the Big Air. So the Big Air Snowboard Men's Qualies goes down like the night before the opening ceremony, actually, so that thing actually kicks off straight away. And then it rolls into, we've got Ski Slopestyle, and then we've got Snowboard Halfpipe.
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Chapter 4: Who are the top medal contenders for New Zealand in the Winter Olympics?
It's just going to go down. But, you know, so we have like Livino is where all the park and pipe athletes are. There's also moguls and aerials here. But overall, like that whole vibe and that whole atmosphere is 100% like pretty lax compared to say Alpine, which is like, you know, the ski racing and stuff like that. That's a little bit more serious.
Those athletes are pretty like, you know, whereas park and pipe, they're all mates and definitely want to have a catch up for a beer after the event.
Well, they're known as Park and Pipe. The Park and Pipe is not okay. I love the Park and Pipe. I want to be in the Park and Pipe village.
As do I. That sounds like something I got up to in 2017 up the Port Hills.
Oh, man, I'm so jealous that you are over there.
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Chapter 5: What are the differences between Slopestyle and Big Air events?
And you're covering for everything for Sky Sport. It's all live on Sky Sport. You'll be covering also for Crowd Goes Wild, I imagine. They'll be dialing you in. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
Before we let you go, what have you got on your head there, Anna? Is that a traditional?
So thank you for commenting on this because I put it on just for you guys. Thank you. So I picked this up today in one of the shops and I have a bit of a hat addiction and there are so many hats here. So I'm just like in heaven. So you're going to see me in a different hat like every day. But I chose this one for you guys tonight. Pretty special.
Thank you. Is it Beaver?
Excuse me?
Is it?
No. This is a temer vision.
All right, it's a polyester blender. For me, if I blur my eyes a little bit, it's almost like a really bad wig that you've got. It kind of blends into your hair as well.
I see that. Oh, I'm actually seeing that now. You've now ruined it for me.
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