Chandra Crawford

0:27Well, Chandra Crawford, welcome to the show. Thank you. How are you going to upscale your singing of the anthem when you went in another medal? Oh. What do you got planned for this time? I'm actually on that podium. It'll be no problem to conjure up all kinds of emotions. But certainly, it's been a really rough quidrenial. And not only about the event, in 2010, is not the event I wanted in 2006. So I'm adjusting my expectations. And I'm just going to go in there and do my best, which is what I did last time. So hopefully it works out. Well, we were talking to Devin earlier about classic versus the skate. And have you been training for classic now for the past four years, knowing that it'll be this time around? I have been working extremely hard on my classical technique. And it's so different from skating that I've had all my success in. But at the same time, I just have that work ethic that maybe I

1:17won't hit it at the right timeline. But I know that over time, I can get the hang of it. Tell people about skate versus clap-o, for those who don't know. So classical skiing is the traditional style in the tracks. You have long skis. And you have sticky wax right under your foot. That's how you grip and move forward. And then in skate skiing, which was only invented in the 80s, you have your legs out in a skate motion. It's a lot more powerful. The skis are shorter. The boots are bigger. And the poles are longer. So you have completely different equipment. And certainly we see people specializing a little bit in the techniques. Because I did biaphalon for most of my formative years. I've been with biaphalon for five years. So in biaphalon, you only do skate skiing. Oh, really? Your skate skiing and your shooting.

2:02So you don't do classical. So I feel like my relative age in classical might be a little younger because of all that time I spent skating. So I'm just catching up. Yeah. Why'd you stop by aflon? Had enough shooting guns? I had to stop aflon because I couldn't hit any of the targets. And it was so great. It's a really hard sport. But my younger sister does biaphalon. Right, I heard it. She's five years younger. And she just made the Olympics. Nice. So we're a little dynasty starting here. Yeah. So 2010 sisters were super thrilled. And she's really better with the targets than I am. So it's a good deal. Well, that's a good thing. Yeah, really focused. I know athletes kind of get special accommodations to get into other sports kind of thing. Are you looking forward to? I know you're looking forward to compete. But is there anything else you're looking forward to go see? I definitely want to catch my sister. And similarly, the biaphalon and cross country stadiums

2:47are only a few hundred meters apart. And the race day is alternate, which my parents were really, relieved about. So they can catch me and then her. And I'll definitely be able to catch one of her races. And that's what I'm excited about. I'm also really excited to go to the opening ceremonies. Because I've never been in Nordic athletes. We usually just say, no, we can't do it. It's too much standing, too much everything germs. But germs are fun. But in this instance, my race is not till the fifth day. So I'm able to go to the opening ceremonies that I'm really looking forward to it. That's fantastic. When you're skating, or skiing rather, skate skiing, or classics, or whatever it happens to be, are you listening to music? You have anything pushing through? Are you just kind of listening to nature and just trying to think, focus all the way? Some of them are long races. Yeah, long races. I don't listen to music in races.

3:33There's a lot going on already. But we'll listen to, say if I could do long training on my own, I'll listen to the radio or a podcast. Just so I feel like I have some company. I train a lot better with people. But when I'm going hard, it's usually just the pounding of my heart and my breathing that keep me completely focused on doing each stride. And that's all the motivation I need. Fair enough. You won't go in the sprint. Are you just doing sprint this time? Are you doing the longer races, too? I'm looking at definitely doing the sprint. It's a classic sprint on the 17th. I'd like to be in the sprint relay. But our team is really strong right now. So it might be in that. I'll definitely be in the women's traditional four by five kilometer relay. And then who knows? I might be able to hang on for a spot on the 30k

4:20in the last day. You got a busy week? Two weeks. Two weeks, yeah. That's true. Is now that you've won a medal, I wonder if the quest for the first has become addictive or is that quest for the first really everything you've dreamed of? Or do you just want more and more? Yeah, that's a great question. No performance is an addictive experience performing. And that high of success is really a wonderful feeling. Certainly I feel though that even every day, every struggle is rewarding, like the journey. This is what happened when I won the Olympics. I stood in the podium and I can't believe it. It is the journey. It's not the destination. This is a good day. Every day that I just busted along with my friends and hung over my pulls, gasping for air

5:06and gave a high five is also really satisfying. So I'm really enjoying pursuit as it comes. One last thing, tell us about Fast and Female and what that all is and everything about that. Fast and Female is an organization I started before I'd even won my gold because I just have so much enthusiasm for sport. Kind of spills over and I have to share it with everyone. And then I really feel that young women have a lot to gain from being physically active. I would have an organization for boys and girls, but I really feel that we can do something to counteract all that negative propaganda and body image issues that young women suffer. And I think being physically active is a big part of the solution. So Fast and Female, we have events all across the country. We have two goals, spread the love, just participation. And the second goal is dominate the world.

5:52It's a small goal. It's just so modest. We have grassroots, we have elite level and we have the connection between the two. The role models will inspire the young girls. Like I was inspired by my role models and rise up and then fire up the next crowd. Who were your role models? I was really inspired by Becky Scott and Sarah Renner. And they're both here. They're both here. And they're eight, nine years older than me. So I was able to really look up to them at a time when they started just taking names on the World Cup. And they always had this beaming smiles and personalities. Canada on their back, winning races. It really seemed like a great deal. Yeah, I was speaking of Canada on your back. I'm seeing this jacket they just gave you for the team. And it's not red. A little surprised.

6:37I'm sure there'll be enough red stuff happening. Everything else. Everything else is red. I like it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.