<p>Training for the Olympics is a Sisyphean task, but if you’re a curler, pushing a rock is kind of your thing. And who knows? Your big break might come in your 50s.</p><br><p>Guest: Rich Ruohonen, Minnesota curler (and lawyer) who represented the US in the 2026 Winter Olympics.&nbsp;</p><br><p>This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts.&nbsp;You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-next-daily-news-and-analysis/id1438906889" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7IT5Yn1zGDH1cYXh38dned" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>. Or, visit&nbsp;<a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=What_Next&amp;utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/whatnextplus</a>&nbsp;to get access wherever you listen.</p><br><p>Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. </p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>