With her quick-witted charm, Elizabeth Beisel has been exploring the daily life of athletes as they train, perform and chill between competitions in this unprecedented environment. 

In her In The Village podcast, Beisel talks to the athletes who are pushing the medal count on the snow and ice - as well as having an archive of previous interviews from the Tokyo Olympics where she chatted it up with summer sports standouts like Katie Ledecky. 

FINA caught up with Beisel to see what has been going on with the girl from the Ocean State that served as Captain of the U.S. Olympic Team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. 

You went from a 12-year career on the U.S. National Team to commentating and podcasting for NBC and ESPN. How’d you make this move?

I was fortunate enough to earn a journalism degree from the University of Florida which exposed me to all types of journalism. To no surprise, during school and internships, I realized I was most passionate about sports and human-interest stories, which are the basic pillars of storytelling in the athletic world. I had a lot of connections at NBC and ESPN (through swimming) and verbally expressed to as many people as I could that I was extremely interested in sports journalism, especially once I was done competing.

After retiring from swimming and getting experience by working every meet I could, I received a call from NBC offering a chance to audition for the team they were sending to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. I landed the job and since then, I’ve worked closely with them and am now hosting a podcast during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Did you always have an intense interest to work in media? Were you one that was lending Rowdy Gaines your play-by-play and colour commentary when watching the Olympics as a youngster growing up in Rhode Island?

I definitely always had an intense interest to work in media. Growing up, my family watched the Today Show on NBC every morning and I always said that hosting it would be my dream job. As I grew older, I realized I enjoyed softer news and more feel-good stories as opposed to harder, gloomier news.

I was never great at play-by-play or colour, so the fact that I can learn from the likes of Rowdy Gaines, Dan Hicks, Mike Tirico, Michele Tafoya, Tommy Roy, and Drew Esocoff, hopefully, means one day I will be halfway decent at it. For now, I enjoy soaking up every moment spent working alongside them and learning everything I possibly can.

While at the University of Florida, it looks like you also took your academics seriously, graduating with a 3.9 GPA. What was it about being competing in college that allowed you to combine elite sport and academics so well?

I think swimming teaches people incredibly important life skills like time management and hard work; two things I have mastered thanks to athletics. By no means am I the best swimmer in the pool nor am I the best student in the classroom, but I will work harder than most in order to be the best I can possibly be.

I was lucky enough to have extremely grounded parents and coaches – they always reiterated that being a student and learning was always more important than swimming fast.

With your experience of three Olympics for Team USA, you’re no stranger to the Games or the Athletes Village. Still, there’s a difference between the scene at the Summer and Winter Olympics. What’s been the most eye-opening difference you’ve witnessed from your winter sports counterparts?

I think the biggest difference between the Summer and Winter Games, especially regarding the village, is that everything at the winter games is spread out vastly across the host country. For example, in Beijing there are three massive Olympic Villages, meaning some athletes won’t ever interact with their fellow teammates from other sports.

At the Summer Games, there is one Olympic Village that I would estimate 95 percent of the athletes stay and dine at, giving us summer athletes the opportunity to meet nearly every athlete across the board, regardless of sport.

From chatting to snowboarder Louie Vito about his ongoing Italian lessons to the 22 pairs of alpine skis Ryan Cochran-Siegle brought to Beijing, you’ve dug out some uncut gems from the athletes you’ve interviewed. What is the one nugget in your conversations that’s etched in your memory?

I think some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had all revolve around how the winter athletes ship their gear to the Olympics. As a swimmer, it’s extremely simple to get to the Olympics with everything I need. Swimsuits, caps, goggles, and that’s it. Bobsledders for example ship their sleds in containers to the Olympics which can take up to two months, and then send them home on a cargo ship that can take up to three months before it arrives back in their hands.

It’s the little things that people rarely think about that I love to uncover and expose to the audience.

Bonus question: With the Beijing Games still going on, what’s the one athlete interview you still really want to get?

I would absolutely love to interview Shaun White. He is the reason my brother and I got into snowboarding and has been such a legendary staple of the last five Olympic Games.