Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

And the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.

For.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc.

And I'm Dorothea Wilson.

On our final episode of Summer SWI, we're focusing on all things athletic.

And.

Karen, I am excited about this one.

College football kicks off in just a few weeks, and fans will pack at LSU's Death Valley.

Last year, Tiger Stadium celebrated its 100th birthday.

They sure did, and the stadium is a cultural icon and hallowed ground for Louisiana sports.

Now here's a look back at how Death Valley got its name and some of the most legendary moments.

Chance of rain never happened on home game days.

Tiger Stadium becomes Louisiana's fifth most populated city, with more than 100,000 fans filling the stands as Tiger Stadium turns 100 years old.

Some things change and others remain constant.

The Golden Band from Tiger Land, whose fan base never falters regardless of wins or losses, fires up the crowd with the fight song.

Tiger Stadium embodies a loyal fan base that has endured for generations.

The iconic structure is a cultural, sports and social force in Louisiana.

Since 1924, the stadium has set the scene for many momentous events that are part of LSU legend and lore.

1959 Billy Cannon's famed Halloween night 89 yard run.

The year LSU won the national championship, the 1988 earthquake game, where fans rocked the stadium cheering for LSU against Auburn.

With earth shaking energy that registered on the LSU Geology Department seismometer.

LSU wins or loses on this play, it would appear.

Touchdown.

There's just so many unbelievable experiences and games, that everybody can share and everybody can remember together.

You've traveled all over the nation attending LSU games in different stadiums.

What makes Tiger Stadium so special in your mind?

Well, number one, it's the fans.

It's people from South Louisiana, LSU fans in particular.

You know we like to have a good time.

We we like to eat.

We like to drink.

We like to party.

Have a good time, laugh and enjoy life.

Mike Serio marked his 500th LSU game in 2023, a milestone on display.

Among the wall to wall memorabilia in his Po'boys and deli shop in New Orleans.

Mike has watched the LSU Tigers play in all types of stadiums and believes none compare to Death Valley.

What a lot of people say they criticize LSU.

Oh, we don't have enough bathrooms.

We don't have enough concession stands.

We don't have this and we don't have that.

And, you know, it's it's that's what makes a stadium unique.

You know, I don't think the Boston Red Sox are going to get rid of Fenway Park with the Green Monster.

You know, I don't think the Cubs are going to get rid of Wrigley Field with the Ivy.

The original Tiger Stadium was built in 1924 as the largest stadium in the south, with a seating capacity of 12,000.

Over the years, subsequent expansions included the 1936 construction of the north end zone structure with student dorms.

Today, 102,321 fans can fill the stands of Tiger Stadium.

And that makes it Tiger Stadium, the seventh largest stadium in the world and the second largest in the Southeastern Conference.

And only surpassed by a few hundred by Texas A&M.

Kyle Field.

The growth is unbelievable.

I mean, I remember going out there when you had no upper upper decks.

You know, it was everything was, you know, metal seats.

But it still had this because of the old nature of it.

It still had this aura about it.

And this mystique.

And it just seemed like this big edifice that was just an amazing place to wander around and be a gem.

Lived in Tiger Stadium as a student in the 1970s, when it housed dorm rooms.

I enrolled at LSU in the year of 1977, and my first game, LSU beat rice 77 to nothing, which is still the largest, point production for an LSU team in modern time.

It was in my first game and I'd never seen anything like it at that time.

The capacity was 68,000, but every seat was filled and I thought it was the greatest place on Earth.

Today the dorms are closed and the concrete openings in the coliseum like structure are glassed in, but the painted numbers at every five yard line remain as a quirky relic from the mid 1940s that made it easier to call night games.

Another enduring feature, the open press box.

And I think one of the things with it being open is that the media, everybody that covers it, gets to hear the crowd.

Most of the stadiums, they're enclosed, and so it doesn't have that sort of sound, and they don't feel that.

But you also have the the stadium, the seats are so close to the field.

This isn't one of those stadiums where you have a track around it and you have all this other, you know, area around the field.

The fans are right on top of it.

Over the years, Tiger Stadium has hosted many notable non-sports events, including Billy Graham's five day televised religious crusade in 1970, attended by thousands.

The 1983 International Special Olympic Games are hereby open.

Good luck!

Special Olympics.

In 1983, Tiger Stadium staged the Special Olympics International Summer games opening ceremonies, a spectacle a famous name with a parade of nations.

In 1988, the stadium starred in the movie everybody's All-American.

I'm special.

Just as long as I keep making touchdowns.

Welcome to the big leagues, Golden boy.

Today, Tiger Stadium is considered among America's most treasured stadiums by the historic stadium caucus.

The mystique of Tiger Stadium, it's just different than most everyplace else.

As it stands today, the LSU Tigers can count for national titles.

1958, 2003, 2007, and 2019 with hopes for another championship season.

I think every coach at LSU is measured by those majestic seasons and now if you win ten games and go to a bowl game and win it, that's not good enough.

People demand national championships.

And this is a pivotal year for Brian Kelly.

Will you be at every game?

You just insulted me.

Yes, I will, and it's just my passion and this kind of, you know, I want to keep the streak going.

From exploring the great outdoors at one of Louisiana state parks to beating the heat and one of the state's great museums or art exhibits.

Let's check out what's happening across Louisiana this week.

We're here at the Capital Park Museum in downtown Baton Rouge.

Just one of the neat places highlighting Louisiana history and culture.

Now joining me now is James Fox Smith from Country Roads.

Magnificent.

How are you doing?

I'm great.

You.

How could you not be great in an environment as cheerful and as celebratory as the Capital Flight Museum?

Oh that's right.

Now, James, I hear that you are the man to know.

And I can't wait to get into the now.

Well, we do our best to keep everybody, readers and viewers satisfied and have a lot of cultural and interesting things to do around the state.

Let's get into it.

What can we talk about this week?

Sure.

So what do we want to talk about this week with some of the things that Louisiana State Parks system has to show?

Yeah.

So state parks have 22 different sites across the state that interpret a wide range of both habitats, environments, but also cultural artifacts of the state.

And there are some really wonderful times if you have kids at home, if you want to get outside and really explore and run off some energy and see some of the best and most diverse that Louisiana has to offer.

State parks are a great way to do that.

Let's talk about Chico State Park in Ville Platte, Louisiana.

One of the biggest, I think it's 6400 acres.

Wow.

With a massive, around massive Chico Lake, which has beautiful kayaking and canoeing and paddling opportunities, which really give you an opportunity to get down to old growth cypress, see alligators in the natural environment, see the wildlife, and really experience South Louisiana as a lot of the way that it would have been hundreds and thousands of years ago.

What if somebody is into maybe fishing or kayaking?

Kayaking.

There you go.

Mountain biking.

Okay, let's talk about Boca Chica State.

Yeah, that's in Washington Parish.

Boca Chica is around the Boca Chica River.

And so what?

They have opportunity.

That's more of a clear sandy river.

So they do tubing, kayaking.

You can rent or gear there.

There's also some of the best mountain biking in the state that Dorothea.

They open this series of mountain bike trails.

Oh, about 4 or 5 years ago.

And since then it's become one of the most popular outdoor attractions in the state.

Oh, okay.

That's definitely something to look into.

So what if I were into bass fishing?

Okay.

If you're a fisherman, fisher person probably can't do better than head north to Toledo Bend Reservoir.

Okay, I'm Toledo Bend State Park has, anchors both the north and the south parts of the state in Vernon and Sabine parishes.

And it's the largest lake in the state.

And it also holds the records for the largest bass caught in the state of Louisiana.

Toledo bend, if you're into boating and getting out on the water in summertime, you really can't do better than that.

James, thank you so much for being with me each and every week, sharing with our viewers all of the fabulous things that they can do this summer across our state.

Your knowledge is impeccable.

Well, Louisiana makes it easy to write about.

There's just always another thing to discover, and you don't have to go that far to find us.

And we'll thank you so much.

If you want to check out his information and all of the scoop that he has on what's happening this summer, you can visit his website at Country Road Megacon.

Louisiana has produced a huge list of Olympic athletes from a variety of sports.

They sure do.

And Karen, did you know that Lafayette is home to a world class training ground for trampoline gymnastics?

So I met up with a coach and some of the trampoline as too, took part in last year's Summer Olympics in Paris.

Check this out.

Aleksey Shostak is from Belarus and moved to Lafayette to train at Trampoline and Tumbling Express, known worldwide as the Training Ground for Olympians.

I really do feel like I'm part of something bigger than just me.

And so the medal that you know, we're all going after.

For me personally, it's for the future of USA trampoline.

His coach, Dimitri LaRouche, is also from Belarus.

The two time Olympian competed with Alexis father, also a trampoline gymnast, in the 1996 Atlanta Games and the 2000 Sydney, Australia games.

I'm very even happy to send like this gym class for the most Olympians in the world.

In the trampoline world of course.

Alexi trained alongside Paris Olympics bound trampoline gymnast Nicole Eisinger.

She moved to Lafayette from California at the age of 16 to also train with Coach Dmitri.

I'm really excited to be back for my third Olympic team, but in a different role.

I'm the alternate, so it should be an exciting role to cheer on team USA.

Nicole competed in the 2016 Olympics at the age of 18, and again in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

There, she was the only gymnast who represented team USA in the women's trampoline competition.

She made history by placing sixth overall.

That's the highest placement any American or I guess it tied it for the highest placement for an American in trampoline.

And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm on this high.

Like, it's only three more years.

I might as well try for it.

And unfortunately, my body hurt a lot.

So I ended up getting a whole body scan, and I tore everything in my ankle and tore everything in my shoulder.

Nicole underwent surgery and rehab, working her way back to a regular training schedule for the 2024 Paris Games.

Both Olympians are looking forward to a do over after competing under Covid restrictions and the 2020 Tokyo Games.

I was grateful that I was able to fulfill my dream, but I knew like the day after, I was like, I want to go to Paris and I actually even made an Instagram post and I haven't really show this to anyone yet.

But on my Instagram post in 2021, I wrote I will compete at the 24 Paris Games.

It's definitely a crazy experience and I feel like I've had this like wild ride of a little girl that my dream was to go to the Olympic Games and now here I am making history, going to a third Olympics as an Olympic team member.

No other woman has done that.

In trampoline.

So it's just it's just crazy to even think about it.

How did Lafayette leap onto the world stage as an Olympic training ground for trampoline gymnast?

Lafayette.

It's like a set off trampoline in the world.

Mr. Jeff Hennessy, who was a professor at UL.

He also was the president of International Trampoline Federation Technical Committee, and he's the one who's actually one of the pioneers of trampoline in the United States.

Jeff Hennessy was an associate professor of physical education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and director of the university's gymnastics and trampling program from 1959 to 1986.

His coaching helped earn the university's trampoline gymnastics team 26 World Championships.

Trampoline made its first Olympic appearance at the 2000 Games in Sydney with men's and women's competitions.

So what happened to 16 men and 16 women competing?

So it's like it is hard, like, to like out the whole world.

Only 16 spots available to watch Olympic Games, but selection is quite hard.

Yeah.

You have to be in the top.

And plus the trampoline, that kind of sport.

Like a little miss.

They can destroy you completely and you will be out of that loop on August 2nd.

The men and women's teams compete in qualifying rounds, with eight from each team advancing to compete in the final round for the Olympic gold.

Those routines are actually judged off of, multiple elements.

One of them being is execution, which everyone's familiar with.

It's, how the routine looks, how pretty it is.

The other one is, how far you deviate from the center of the trampoline.

The third one would be how high you jump.

So, you know, the higher you jump, the higher score is.

And then the fourth one would be the difficulty of your routine.

Every single day I get to fly in the air.

It's all power.

It's technique, it's elegance.

How you float in the air.

It consists of ten skills, and it's the most difficult skills that you can put in a routine inside the gym.

Trophy lined walls and banners on the ceiling chronicle the storied careers of many Olympians who trained at this gym.

Outside, a sign congratulates the next generation of top trampoline athletes, continuing Lafayette's legacy as a world class trampoline training ground.

IT trampoline is one of those kind of under the radar Olympic sports, and the fact that Louisiana is the world class site of a training facility in Lafayette, that's pretty mind blowing.

People come from literally all over the world to train.

Absolutely.

I had no idea.

I never would have guessed.

Now, speaking of Olympians, Mondo Duplantis is in a league of his own in the sport of pole vaulting.

The point is, is not only a gold medalist and world record holder, he is one of the most exciting athletes in track and field history and calls Louisiana home.

Now, Karen, you sit down with Mondo and he talked about what keeps you motivated.

And we're anxious to hear his plans for the future.

Hey everyone, I am super excited to bring you Mondo de plantas.

For those of you who watch the Olympics, you know this is a gold medalist who set and broke several of his own records.

Arguably the world's greatest pole vaulter and a beloved Louisiana Sun.

So thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me, as you do here.

Thank you.

So, first of all, a big congrats to your Olympic gold medal wins.

And the fact that you broke your own records.

As a pole vault vaulter, were you anticipating that to happen?

Yes, I was.

You are?

Well, it wasn't it wasn't my first Olympics.

I was at the Tokyo Olympics, but it was a completely different experience because, you know, the pandemic and everything.

So we weren't able to have spectators.

I didn't have any of my family there, whatnot.

And then, also like for track and field athlete, it's really your only opportunity that you have to make like a global impact and do something that's a lot bigger than your sport.

It's like really like the only stage that we have, I guess, in a way.

So, I knew that it was like, now or never, this is the time I have to do it if I'm going to do something really special.

And so I've never been more locked in in my life than the year, pretty much prior to, the games this past summer and, yeah.

No, I had all the confidence in the world that I was going to do what I was.

Yeah, what I did the whole time I was going in there, I wasn't focused on the goal, really.

I was just focused on breaking the world record.

So a lot of people are wondering, why did you choose to compete on behalf of Sweden as opposed to the United States?

And I know your mother is from Sweden.

But you were born and raised, and your collegiate athletic career has been here in the States, in particular Louisiana.

So, yeah, no, it's a fair question.

I'm a Lafayette native, born and born and raised.

And really, my time that I would spend in Sweden was really just two summers.

I mean, in the United States as a whole, but also in Louisiana.

It was very tough for me growing up as far as finding competitions and whatnot.

I mean, you know, picture yourself as a eight year old trying to find poverty competitions and Louisiana.

It doesn't.

And it wasn't really anything that was possible, honestly.

And so, in the summers we would we would go to Sweden for a month or so and we'd have a string of competitions that I would be able to do because, the track and field culture is a lot bigger there in Sweden, where my mother's from, I just kind of had to do what was best for me, what was best for me and my family, and what I thought was the best for me to achieve what I knew that I was capable of, which is to be the best poet in the world and compete at the highest level all the time.

So as a child growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, as you said, there weren't a lot of pole vaulting competitions or were avenues for you to practice your sport.

What drew you to that sport as opposed to soccer or footballer baseball or something more mainstream?

Well, I did all the sports, really.

I mean, I played a lot of baseball.

My brother was a great baseball player, captain of the LSU team, drafted by the New York Mets.

All the whole the whole thing.

And so I did a lot of baseball, played a lot of soccer.

But my father was a pole vaulter.

He built the entire set up in the backyard.

And, which is like kind of the way that it has to happen, I guess, in a way, if you want to get into poverty at an early age, you have to have like that kind of in, and so.

Yeah.

Yeah, my father, he was a professional pole vaulter.

He, he, he told on your back in his day, and then he built the whole set up, and he's been my coach.

It's just it's a family operation.

Just my mother.

My father.

So you currently live in Baton Rouge and you live in Sweden as well.

So you split your time back and forth, and it's like the same place.

Do you do you have plans to to remain in Louisiana and stay connected?

And if so, what are those plans as they relate to your ties to Louisiana?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I'm always going to be in Louisiana to some, to some extent.

I mean, I think I can't I can't live without it.

I mean, it's always going to have that home, home feeling to me.

And so, I love I love my time being able to come back here to Baton Rouge.

I spend the entire falls here, spend the spring here, too.

I mean, as far as the future, I don't really know what's going to happen.

It just depends on how everything happens in my career.

And poverty, and.

And when I stop and what I'm going to do after poverty, in which I don't know what I'm going to do, really, I don't really, I don't really care to think about it almost.

Congratulations are in order, by the way.

So Desiree Englander.

And so I understand you dated for several years and popped the question in a big way.

Like surprised her on a Vogue Scandinavia photo shoot.

Wow.

Yeah well played my thanks.

Yeah I mean yeah well I wanted it to be a surprise.

And I knew that I felt like she doesn't think I'm very good of a planner, which I'm probably not, actually.

But I thought that it would be a really good way to show that, I don't know, some type of sacrifice and commitment to where the most hectic time of my life, which is right after the Olympics.

So we're playing something as you does, as an engagement.

You nervous?

Yeah, for sure.

It's very vulnerable.

I think that's really the main thing is it's like the most vulnerable you can ever be.

And you're asking somebody, you know, take your hand for a lifetime and so, which is, you know, beautiful and really special.

And so, you know, I can't, do a date set.

No.

Haven't there's there's still some logistics we have to figure out because it was a surprise and it wasn't like it was one of these things to where she knew it was going to happen.

And we already planned the wedding before I even engaged or anything like that.

It was a real surprise.

Surprise.

Do you plan to compete in the next Olympics?

Do you want to coach?

And of course, next Olympics?

Easily.

That that shouldn't be a problem.

Probably the next even two, I guess.

I mean, as far as just the way that I'm jumping right now and the level that I'm jumping at compared to all the other guys, I think that I should be able to, to stay stay on the top for a little while.

I don't think that far into the future, honestly.

I feel like I'm I live in the present.

I try to enjoy as much as I can what I'm doing now.

I know that being an athlete goes super quick.

I mean, I've been jumping professionally since 2019 and which is like weird to think about because it's like five years just goes so fast trying to just soak in how amazing it was really to be able to win the Olympics, win it twice, break the world record at the Olympics like my biggest childhood dream ever.

And I was able to accomplish like all of that at all, my family and everything.

So, but definitely still motivated, still have a lot of fire.

Still want to keep jumping Monday to play this.

We are glad to have you back home.

You have made Louisiana so, so proud.

So thank you for stopping by LPB and giving us an update on what's next for you.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Oh, what strikes me about Mondo is what a down to earth human he is for such a famous name athlete.

And I love the fact that he shared with us his engagement announcement and how he was nervous about proposing.

What a beautiful couple.

That's right.

Talk about an exclusive look right here on Sly, right?

Right, I love it.

That is our show for this week.

Remember you can watch anything LPB any time, wherever you are with our LP app, that's right.

And you can catch LPB news and public affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook and Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Karen LeBlanc and I'm Dorothea Wilson.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together, we power lights.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum.

Located in Jennings City Hall, the museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

Visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.