Transcribed by Niamh (@rivrdance), Taeri (@twizzlesetc) and Kat (@kattwts)
Tilda: Welcome to In The Loop — Tales of the Blade, where we dive into the fascinating and often humorous history of figure skating. Let’s introduce this week’s hosts.
Karly: I'm Karly, I'm the learner on this week's episode. I don't know what we're talking about. You can find me on Twitter @cyberswansp.
Tilda: And I'm Tilda. I am, for once, the storyteller, and you can find me on Twitter @tequilda. So, are you excited, Karly?
Karly: Yes. Hold on, so this week we are talking about - am I pronouncing the name right? Ulrich Salchow? [Tilda laughs.] I'm going to guess that's a no.
Tilda: So in Sweden we say Ulrich Salchow [Karly: Ulrich Salchow? Nice.] Imagine it's a V at the end instead of a W.
Karly: Oh okay. That makes sense. Do you want to know what I know about him?
Tilda: I do. That was what I was going to ask. How did you know this?
Karly: I know that he invented the Salchow, which obviously we are all pronouncing wrong. And, he was Swedish? Maybe? Was he Swedish?
Tilda: [Laughs] Yes. Well done.
Karly: He's European.
Tilda: That's why I wanted to share his story, because I'm Swedish, and I'm being patriotic right now. [Karly laughs.] This guy is like one of the greatest athletes in Sweden and obviously his name is not one that people in the figure skating world is going to forget any time soon.
Karly: Is he well-known in Sweden?
Tilda: Not really, because it was quite a long time ago.
Karly: That makes sense.
Tilda: So it's like, you might have heard his name. I think it's the same for a lot of figure skating fans. They know he existed, he invented a jump, and he was probably pretty good. I am probably going to pronounce his name in the English way because I don't want to switch between Swedish pronunciation for convenience. So, let me start the narrative.
Karly: Tell me about his life.
Tilda: I shall. First, I want to start by saying that figure skating has quite an old tradition in Sweden. You know, some people claim that skating originated in Scandinavia, so this is like an ancient tradition, that we're starting way back, and I'm not going to go into all of the story, but just know that.
Karly: In the old times.
Tilda: The old times. The first skating club in Sweden was created in 1866.
Karly: Wow, that's old.
Tilda: Yes, it's a long time ago. And then we have the Stockholm Public Skating Club in 1883. So, the interesting thing about that is the skating club actually took part in creating the ISU. [Karly: Really?] Yes, it was actually one of only two skating clubs that are direct ISU members, still.
Karly: I have you to blame.
Tilda: Which is interesting, because normally in the ISU, you have the [federations] that are members, and then the skating clubs are associated with the feds. But, the Stockholm Public Skating Club is a direct member.
Karly: That's really interesting.
Tilda: So, in this Salchow comes in. He was born in 1877, and his full name was Karl Emil Julius Ulrich Salchow.
Karly: That's a long name.
Tilda: Yes. You've got the Julius Caesar vibe too.
Karly: I was going to say. I heard Julius and I was like Julius Caesar, my man.
Tilda: And, he was actually born in Copenhagen to Danish parents.
Karly: Fake Swede! [Air horns]
Tilda: Fake Swede! His brother was an author who wrote spy novels.
Karly: Oh my God, that's so cool.
Tilda: You can still get the spy novels at the library, so I've been thinking of checking them out.
Karly: Do it, do it. I love spy novels.
Tilda: I know right. Wilhelm Salchow was his name. He was actually deported from Denmark due to unemployment. [Karly: Oh no.] Meanwhile, I guess, Ulrich was just chilling in Stockholm.
Karly: He's just like yeah, I'm starting my figure skating career. My brother just got deported.
Tilda: Ulrich also married a Danish woman who was a doctor, actually, called Anne-Elizabeth.
Karly: Woah, marrying up.
Tilda: I know right.
Karly: Isn't that goal.
Tilda: Icon. I'm just going to get the sad stuff out of the way, and say that he died in 1949, when he was 72 years old.
Karly: Okay, so he lived decently long.
Tilda: Yeah, yeah, sure, and boy did he have time to do a lot during his life. Let me get into it.
Karly: Okay, let's go. Let's dig deep.
Tilda: Yes, okay, so I'm actually going to jump ahead to when he's 19 years old, because that's when he had his Worlds debut. This was 1897, and he actually got the silver. [Karly: Oh dude, awesome] And when you think about it, that was actually quite young at the time.
Karly: Definitely, but like silver on your Worlds debut, isn't that the goal?
Tilda: I mean, to be fair, there wasn't a lot of competitors.
Karly: But still.
Tilda: And he came behind the Austrian [Gustav] Hügel, who is going to be one of his big rivals going forward, and they say that he could have had a good shot at winning because he had really good technique on the compulsory figures but they were kind of too small so that was one of his weaknesses, he had small figures.
Karly: It's interesting, because I've never watched anything with figures. I wasn't really aware that they could be too small, I still don't really understand the whole mechanics of the figures.`
Tilda: And at this time, they were a huge part of the competition, they were like the most important part. At this time, we also had the different national styles. So, he skated obviously in the Swedish style, and some people said it was too flashy, it had a knee-bend which some people called ugly. They got a lot of power from swinging the free leg, and swinging their arms so people were like urgh ugly.
Karly: Let me just wave my arms and legs around.
Tilda: And people actually were shocked that they did some of their jumps with an arm raised in the air. [Karly: Oh really?] Hashtag original tanos. [Karly: [Laughs] Why don't we call it the Ulrich.] The Ulrich, yes. The Free Program at this time wasn't very jump-orientated, and then he had a flashy program, with spins and jumps and stuff. And, he invented a new jump, and then some people thought that this was almost a disadvantage because people wanted to focus on what figure skating was really about, which was the figures and the steps.
Karly: At the time, that makes sense, that they were more focused on the figures and they didn't want to focus on jumps, but in now days, if you could invent a new jump, fans would be like good on you, mate. [Tilda: Yeah, exactly.] You invented a new jump, you do that.
Tilda: And later on, you've got the international standard, with the compulsory figures but at this point, it was very much the judges would judge according to what they considered a good style, and so it was quite a disadvantage to compete in a different country because then people would be like oh I don't like your style, so I'm going to mark you down. You had like the English style, which was very stiff, and then the Viennese style which was more like dancing.
Karly: It's really interesting, I didn't know that they had different country styles, but it's really interesting to think about, and I wonder if there are still remnants of that today.
Tilda: That was actually one of the main purposes of the ISU, was to create more solid judging, a proper system, that standardised it, so you got an international style and an international standards for judging. It's actually interesting to note that competition forms in those days won't actually be too unfamiliar to our dear listeners today, because you had the Compulsory Figures, and the Free Program, and the judging was actually an early version of 6.0 system.
Karly: Oh yeah?
Tilda: Yeah, because every since the start of the ISU, they have had a basic 6.0 system in place. People were scored in the Free Program from 1 to 6.
Karly: I kind of wonder how that came about? What's really funny is in our early days, I did the 6.0 episode, or the episode where we talked about it, but I don't actually know what prefaced it, how it started. So, it's interesting to learn that it's been around for pretty much the entire time.
Tilda: You've got two seperate scores from 1 to 6, one was what they did, and one was how well executed it was. They didn't actually get points for artistry in those days, and I think one of main differences was that everything, all of the competition was held in one day. [Karly: Oh yeah?] So you've got the Compulsory Figures in the morning, and then the Free Program in the afternoon.
Karly: That's stressful. I can't imagine that. I'm just like, give them time to rest.
Tilda: The first time they had the competition on different days was at the Olympics in 1920, and then that was only because they have many people competing, so they had to split it for organisational reasons.
Karly: Interesting.
Tilda: Can you imagine we were doing Worlds with 40 people, and they had it all on the same day?
Karly: Oh God. It's just like here's a 24 hour figure skating day. You get no rest, sucks for you.
Tilda: I'm thinking more about the audience. They have to sit there. At least the skaters only have to skate 2 programs.
Karly: That's true. [Hosts laugh.] I feel like with the competitions, you are already like an ice rink hermit, it would be even worse if it was all happening in one day.
Tilda: Oh God.
Karly: Okay, back to Salchow.
Tilda: So he got silver in 1897, and 1899, and 1900, so he was a triple silver medalist, and then he won his first world title in 1901. [Karly: Yay, Salchow!] And then after that point, he would never again be defeated at Worlds. After that point, it was it.
Karly: [Gasps] That's cool. He's just like, I'm kicking butt, taking names. He was testing out the waters with those silvers, but once he got a taste of gold, he never went back.
Tilda: [Laughs] He also won 9 European titles.
Karly: Javier Fernández, who?
Tilda: I know right? Take that Javi. He was only defeated once at Euros, and that was in 1901, so the year he won his first Words. That was in Vienna, and he got the bronze behind Hügel and Fuchs. And in the first TOTB episode, we mentioned Ulrich because he offered his gold medal to Madge Syers.
Karly: Oh yeah!
Tilda: So that was his second Worlds title, and she got the silver.
Karly: I remember researching that. Madge Syers, awesome lady. Go listen to our other Tales of the Blade episode about her.
Tilda: It seems that was just the way he was because he also offered one of his past medals to Dick Button. [Karly: My dude!] in 1947, and Dick Button at that point came second but Salchow felt that he should have won and a lot of people agreed because people were super salty about judging here. [Salchow] was like, you should have won here -- have this medal!
Karly: Ulrich seems like a pretty respectful dude. You know, giving away his gold medal to who he thinks rightfully should have won. That takes some stripe of character.
Tilda: Right but it's also very savage if you're not competing.
Karly: That is also savage. He's like, I beat you but I'll give it to you.
Tilda: Yeah, at this competition with Dick Button, he wasn't even competing. It was like this other dude who won. Gerschwiler won and then Ulrich was like, no.
Karly: [laughs] “You did not win. Uh-uh, not on my watch.”
Tilda: It was like really savage.
Karly: How to be savage and respectful at the same time, a guide to Ulrich Salchow.
Tilda: I think you pretty much nailed his character right there. I'm very impressed. Dick Button also talked about this and said that he picked a trophy and, since he had it given to him, he gave it to Misha Petkevich, and then Misha gave it to Paul Wylie so they made it a thing to give it foreward to people who they felt deserved it.
Karly: It's just a game of hot potato with the gold.
Tilda: I think he started a really sweet tradition. He pretty much dominated. He got the Worlds title in 1903 in St. Petersburg, 1904 in Berlin and 1905 in Stockholm. Then he chose to not enter Worlds in 1906 in Munich because he felt the judges wouldn't be fair to him because Fuchs who was German was competing, and the two of them allegedly didn't get on very well. Fuchs actually skipped the 1908 Olympics in London for the same reason because he felt like the judges were loving Salchow too much.
Karly: Ooh!
Tilda: We have to give some credit to Fuchs here because he was actually the first Worlds champion ever in figure skating. Props to him for that right?
Karly: He's pretty cool too.
Tilda: But then Salchow took back his title in 1907 in Vienna anyways. [Karly: Nice!] There was a funny anecdote about this competition -- he actually wrote this himself so I'm taking it from his own notes. So when this competition was starting, they were of course skating outdoors and the temperature in the morning was -26 degrees Celsius.
Karly: That's really cold.
Tilda: He wrote about one of his competitors, Per Thorén, also Swedish, that his feet froze while he was waiting for his figures.
Karly: Oh no! That's so sad. You gotta invest in some socks. Some thermal socks will do you well.
Tilda: And then do you know what happened?
Karly: What happened?
Tilda: The organizers allowed some audience members to come down on the ice, which is normally forbidden. And then the audience members learned to stand in a long row against the windy side when it was time for one of their home skaters.
Karly: Were they like defending against the wind?
Tilda: Yes, they got a good wind break. [hosts laugh] But then for the foreign skaters, they would just disperse.
Karly: They were just like screw you, I only care for my home skaters.
Tilda: Salchow writes that however much I maneuvered, those people ran over to the side when it was my turn. They showed visible amusement at these pranks against us.
Karly: I'm just imagining nowadays people standing on the ice when someone skates. I'm just like, they would die.
Tilda: Anyways, Salchow went to the referee to get rid of them and the referee said that it could be implied to our hosts to do that but he did agree that the audience should not be allowed to move during someone's turn.
Karly: That makes sense.
Tilda: So when it was time for the final figures to be skated, Ulrich said alright, I'll go to the other side. And then he did. And then on the other piece of ice, he was actually sheltered by the audience members who had tried to hinder him and they weren't allowed to move.
Karly: He's like, I played you good.
Tilda: Then the audience members realized in the situation where they were helping him, the biggest rival.
Karly: He's literally living up to his nature of respectful but savage. He's like, I won't force you to move, but I will make it so that you have to help me.
Tilda: He finishes his notes this way. For the remaining figures, the goodwill was a fact amongst the not-so-unbiased group. They were obviously ashamed and tried to milden their appearance of bias against the foreigners. And because I won, I remember the whole thing as a funny event, but if I had lost... [Karly: laughs] Big emphasis on the lost.
Karly: But if I had lost!
Tilda: Funny that he can laugh at these things too. I like that about him. He also got the gold medal at the very first Olympic games that featured figure skating.
Karly: Oh really?
Tilda: Yes! This was in 1908. [Karly: Awesome!] This was before the Winter Olympics was a thing, so it was the 4th modern Olympic games held in London, Summer Olympics, and was supposed to be held in Italy but they cancelled because there was an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Karly: That's a little dangerous.
Tilda: Yes, a little dangerous! Do you know how long this so-called Summer Olympics lasted?
Karly: How long?
Tilda: More than six months.
Karly: Oh my GOD! I figured it had to have been weird because how could you include summer sports and figure skating at the same competition, but I'm like... six months dude.
Tilda: It started in April and then it ended at Halloween.
Karly: Oh my god.
Tilda: Actually to answer your question, the reason that figure skating could be included was because there was artificial ice available in London at the time.
Karly: Oh okay.
Tilda: The Olympics didn't actually begin well because the Swedish team boycotted the opening ceremony because someone had forgotten to fly the Swedish flag among all the other countries' flags. [Karly: laughs]
Tilda: So that didn't start well! And then figure skating was the final event. The 28th and 29th of October.
Karly: Ooh, so it was like the grand finale.
Tilda: Yeah, pretty much.
Karly: Our dude won!
Tilda: He did!
Karly: Right on!
Tilda: Right on. It was a Swedish podium sweep for the men's single. Sweden, Sweden, Sweden.
Karly: That's beautiful.
Tilda: And Salchow of course was gold.
Karly: Good, it's what he deserves.
Tilda: Another fun fact -- apart from singles, men could also compete in the discipline special figures.
Karly: Interesting, what was that?
Tilda: The special figures are like the cool figures. It was one of the disciplines back then that stopped existing because I guess people didn't really see the point of that. The guy who won it was Russian, and he was like known as the master of the figures -- Nikolai Panin.
Karly: Interesting.
Tilda: It was a guaranteed medal because only three guys entered. It was like two British dudes and Panin. Men's singles was a little bit more popular. They had all of ten.
Karly: Ooh, that competition though!
Tilda: I was going to say that skating was really popular in Sweden at the time. Because every person skated for fun, so people were really knowledgeable about the sport and the skill involved. So these guys were treated as basically superstars. Moving on, Salchow also won the Worlds that year and then he won Worlds in 1909 and then 1910 in Davos where we make our next stop for an anecdote.
Karly: Let's go.
Tilda: So Davos is interesting. There were actually three skaters who showed up with jumps they had invented themselves.
Karly: Oh interesting!
Tilda: Yeah, this is really cutting edge stuff so I love it. Salchow had debuted his Salchow already at his first Worlds, but then it was only a single. In 1910, he did a double Salchow.
Karly: Woo!
Tilda: Woo right? We're at double jumps now, suddenly. Do you know Rittberger?
Karly: Yes.
Tilda: He invented a jump called Rittberger.
Karly: Which is now the loop right?
Tilda: The loop, yes exactly. Good! In some languages it's still called the Rittberger -- not in Swedish though because we don't respect skaters who aren't Swedes. [Karly: laughs] Kidding! And then a lesser known Swede -- Per Thoren. This guy was a Worlds and Olympic medalist but nobody remembers him because the jump he invented did not actually get his name. He invented the half-loop.
Karly: Oh the half-loop?
Tilda: Yeah, people call it the Euler now but it's actually the Thoren.
Karly: Get it right. That's interesting.
Tilda: Yeah! So that was 1910, and another big thing that was happening around this time was the artificial indoor rinks that were popping up because, of course, before skaters were very dependent on ice being naturally available so they could only practice during the winter months. A lot of competitions had to be cancelled because it wasn't cold enough and sometimes it was too cold or windy. So we got the first indoor rink at the end of the 19th century, but we had the indoor rink opening in Berlin in 1908, which was really important. At that point, indoor rinks were mostly countries where skaters weren't very successful. But then we had one opening in Berlin and German skaters were already quite successful so suddenly they had like a big weapon whereas in Sweden, people were more traditional. They didn't open an indoor rink, which was a reason why figure skating wasn't competitive at the 1912 Olympics because that was in Stockholm and they didn't have an indoor rink. So suddenly, we had an edge here for skaters coming from countries where they did have access to training all year round.
Karly: Exactly, because they could get more practice.
Tilda: Yeah exactly. For example, Rittberger was one of the first indoor skaters. He could practice a lot compared to the other skaters. But then that could also be a disadvantage because during 1910 Worlds there was a lot of wind and snow happening...
Karly: Oh, so if you're not used to it.
Tilda: Exactly. And then you have the hardened Swedes.
Karly: They're just like, pfft, this is nothing.
Tilda: Yeah exactly. But then again, at Euros that year, it was held indoors. Rittberger still lost to Salchow so, you know. Just saying! (laughs)
Karly: Get wrecked! You know, it's kind of interesting that it was a problem or a disadvantage to some people that some skaters had indoor rinks that they could practice with year 'round. And that's still somewhat of a problem today, like in countries where figure skating isn't as developed, they have less access to private rinks. (Tilda: Yeah, definitely.) So it's just interesting how it's still a problem, just in a different way.
Tilda: And also the first indoor rinks that were opening at that time as well were for public skating so it's not like the competitive skaters could really use them.
Karly: Mhmm.
Tilda: So, we have come to Salchow's final worlds in 1911. And it was a really important competition for him. For one of the magazines he wrote: "It is about my 10th title. I knew very well that a failure would rob me of more prestige than all my 9 world titles had gotten me." So, you know, feeling the pressure...
Karly: This is so dramatic.
Tilda: Yeah, I know. Do you know what happened?
Karly: He won?
Tilda: Yeah. He won.
Karly: Nice!
Tilda: And I just want to read-because he was also a magazine writer, so he did some reporting and he actually wrote about this competition himself. So I just want to quote - this is my own translation from Swedish - he wrote this: “In the loop paragraphs, Kachler was brilliant with small, extremely well-drawn, and covered figures, but his posture was almost a parody; Szende skated well, a bit brutally; Rittberger - decently soft and beautiful; Poole pottered it together fairly well, but was completely dead; Stixrud was sure, but ugly. In the next figure, I and Johansson were superior to the rest. Szende was too unclean in the changes of edges; Rittberger, ridiculously small and unsure; Kachler took the turns well, but in other parts was not at all prepared for the task; Stixrud surprisingly good, but still with no posture; and Poole as usual pottered together the figure with no speed.”
Karly: (laughs) He was so savage!
Tilda: He was!
Karly: He was just like, "You all suck! I am here for the gold, get out of my way! You all are just terrible!"
Tilda: Imagine him writing this article when he was competing.
Karly: I just imagine him sitting there with a gold medal around his neck like, "yeah, Rittberger? He sucked."
Tilda: "Stixrud sucked!"
Karly: "You suck!" God, I love him.
Tilda: He has this brutally honest thing about him, but he also seems quite honest and he also defended a lot of people. But even when he was defending them, he had this same sort of brutal edge to it. So he just comes across as really someone who says exactly what's on his mind.
Karly: And honestly, I respect that so much.
Tilda: He seems so intimidating.
Karly: Honestly, I would probably be intimidated by him.
Tilda: Yeah, imagine this legendary skater just writing these sarcastic, still quite funny, reports from his competition - I love that.
Karly: Imagine the reigning world champion just roasting you, dragging you through the mud.
Tilda: Yeah, despite this, he actually seems to be really well liked. He often came across as joking around with everyone and chatting and just generally being a people person, and kind of a party guy as well when he was young.
Karly: I feel like I could go have a drink with him.
Tilda: Yeah me too, me too. But also really strong-willed. He was really focused. He could achieve anything he wanted and when you look at the other things he's done - for example he was active in biking and sailing-
Karly: Interesting.
Tilda: Yeah, and you know what else he did for fun?
Karly: What did he do?
Tilda: Bobsleigh.
Karly: (laughs) God, what a guy.
Tilda: Yeah, and he wrote a book called, "Handbook for Figure Skating on Skates."
Karly: As opposed to "not on skates."
Tilda: Yeah, exactly. He wrote many articles and he created his own skates.
Karly: Oh really?
Tilda: That's apparently something people did in the old days. It wasn't particularly remarkable, I think. People were just creating their own skates for fun. And being an athlete in those days was not an occupation, so he also ran his own company.
Karly: Just casual.
Tilda: Gotta earn your money some way!
Karly: Gotta get that cash.
Tilda: I mean, time worked differently back in those days I think, because otherwise I don't know how he had time to do all that.
Karly: Yeah, that's true.
Tilda: And he was also part of so many committees. He was the ISU president for 12 years.
Karly: Oh, really?
Tilda: Yeah, yeah! After he retired, he also created, or took part in creating the Swedish figure skating association, and was also a member of the board for several years. And he was also part of the board for the Swedish sports confederation. He was also a long time chairman of the Swedish boxing association.
Karly: Okay, what even?!
Tilda: Amateur boxing! Yes, really!
Karly: I'm...dude, what are you doing?
Tilda: And the Swedish cycling association!
Karly: What even?!
Tilda: I'm just wondering, who enjoys being part of committees?? Like, really!
Karly: Honestly, he seems like that person that you aspire to be who does all these different sports and is a part of all these committees - that's him.
Tilda: And he was also president of a Swedish sports club called AIK. And, I just have to tell you that there's a rhyme in the part of Sweden I’m from which is: “lär dig krypa lär dig gå lär dig hata AIK” which means “learn to crawl, learn to walk, learn to hate AIK.” (laughs) All my life I have learned to hate AIK, so I’m holding that against him, actually. That's his flaw.
Karly: You're just reading about him and you're just like, oh my god.
Tilda: I mean, I could probably forgive him for being president of that sports club but, you know.
Karly: Probably.
Tilda: He was also active actually as a referee a lot of figure skating competitions after he retired. And he was known for saying, “What isn’t forbidden is allowed.”
Karly: I mean, he's not wrong.
Tilda: Yeah. I think that's a message that we can whole-heartedly endorse.
Karly: That's gonna be my life motto.
Tilda: I'm imagining when he was using this, a lot of people complaining about skaters doing unconventional things, and him just being like, "what isn't forbidden is allowed!"
Karly: He's not wrong! Right on, dude, right on.
Tilda: He had a lot of influence even after he retired. And he was a big inspiration creatively; a lot of people pointed out, for example, how similar Rittberger's programs were to Salchow's. And he actually chose to retire at a really fortuitous moment because figure skating was about to be struck with a great tragedy: the first World War.
Karly: Oh yeah. I realized, he retired after his tenth Worlds right? (Tilda: Yeah, yeah.) So I was like, that's right before World War I so, obviously it would've taken a dip then.
Tilda: Yeah and actually after 1914 Worlds, there was no Worlds for seven years. (Karly: Oh wow.) So that's why the Olympics of 1920 were a big deal, because it was the first major figure skating competition in seven years.
Karly: Ohhh. Yeah, that makes sense.
Tilda: At that competition, Germans and Austrians were banned from competing. (Karly: Oh man.) I wonder why.
Karly: Weird.
Tilda: So, I'm gonna end on this note. So picture: 1920. First major figure skating competition in almost seven years. Eight years since the last - and first - time figure skating was featured at the Olympics. Who could resist it? Not Salchow! (laughs) At the age of 42 years old, he had been retired for 11 years. He was the uncle-ist uncle. Rumors abound ahead of the Olympics: they said, Salchow was back. So there was a record number of competitors at this competition and indoor skating was still quite new and exciting. 1920! Salchow, unfortunately, caught a terrible cold. At practice, he also injured his knee, and had to compete with it swollen and stuff.
Karly: Aww, old man.
Tilda: Disaster was a fact when in the free program, Salchow fell on a…. Salchow! (laughs)
Karly: Oh no!! (laughs)
Tilda: He did not manage to defend his Olympic title.
Karly: RIP in peace.
Tilda: I should think that ending up fourth place would seem pretty darn good.
Karly: Dude, fourth place at the age of 42 is pretty impressive.
Tilda: Yeah, that is where I will end this tale.
Karly: I love this man.
Tilda: (laughs) I knew you would!
Karly: He's the greatest! He's like, yeah I'm 42 years old, I'm gonna go compete anyway!
Tilda: I mean, you gotta admire him, he wasn't afraid of ruining his reputation or anything, he was just like, he had to go.
Karly: He was like, yeah whatever, I'll do it. What an icon! Jeez.
Tilda: Yes, we should all take inspiration from his story, I think.
Karly: We should all take inspiration from "What isn't forbidden is allowed."
Tilda: Yes! I'm going to make that the new ITL motto.
Karly: "What isn't forbidden is allowed. Sponsored by Ulrich Salchow."
Tilda: Thank you for listening, we hope to see you again for our next episode. If you want to get in touch with us, please feel free to contact us via our website inthelopodcast.com or on Twitter or Tumblr. You can find our episodes on Youtube, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.
Karly: And if you enjoy the show, and want to help support the team, please consider making a donation to us on our ko-fi page, and we'd like to give a huge thank you to all the listeners who have contributed to our team thus far.
Tilda: You can find the link to all our social media pages our ko-fi on the website.
Karly: If you're listening on iTunes, please consider leaving a rating and a review if you enjoy the show. Thanks for listening! This has been Karly-
Tilda: And Tilda.
Karly: Thank you!
Tilda: Thank you! Bye!