YouSaid · the spoken record

Travis Stevens

lines on the record: 248
first: 2021-09-21
most recent: 2021-09-21
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Was like, you know what? We're just going to dumb it down a little bit and get some wins under our belt. I'm going to go to a World Cup, which is like three stages down or four stages down from like the Olympic Games. Like this should be like a cakewalk, like making the final of a World Cup should be a walk in the park I show up. I barely beat a 16-year-old kid. Barely Then I got smoked in the second. I got thrown three times. I was like, I'm fucking done. They changed all the fucking rules. They fucked me out of the Olympics. Like, what am I supposed to do? And it was at that moment when I wrote the email where I remember sitting at a bar, I don't drink, by the way, but I was sitting at a bar at the hotel sending this email.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I really, really struggled like unbelievably struggled from 2012 to like 2014. I almost quit numerous times. I was so angry. I mean, at one point, I got so mad at the IJF feeling like they were fucking me every step of the way. I threw a water bottle at a referee after a match. I cussed out a referee one time on a mat. I got suspended from the sport because I was just so angry at that point in time.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It also has to do with. You know, treachery is probably not the right word to use. It's probably Wrong word entirely to use, but Because of the conflict in the match and because of how the refs handled the match there at the end, it created controversy that was spoken about for months on world media. I remember articles being written about the Olympics and the refing and how it was corrupt and that match was one of them. There was another one in fencing where like something happened with the timer where one of the fencers I guess what happens in fencing the timer resets up a second if it's down. So the fencer got one second played out, I think like 27 or 28 times, and then one on like 30 So, like, there was clock fixing for fencing, there was this match that I think just got publicity good or bad. Publicity is publicity for Judo.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right here. Watch his reaction. You could see his mouth open in awe. Really And he's looking at two refs just like I am. He didn't celebrate until he looked at the third one and said, oh, all three.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And when I hindered on that for a year and a half, like I couldn't even stand, I was done. But I'm pretty sure there's a slow motion replay on this when I watch it. He's all excited, that fucking guy. And he's all”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, and at the same time, we're at In the Olympic semi final in a sport that's dominated by certain continents. And when you look at the three refs on the mat, they're all Euro You're telling me there couldn't have been one Pan Am, one African, one Oceana, you know, different. Why'd they all have to be European?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know. That's the. And, like, honestly, I wish we had the rules that we do today as far as the unlimited golden score. Because I would have loved to have seen what would have happened.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He has the right to pick. The problem is the other two, I don't think, did. And so when you do this frame by frame again, right, like I can see from my own perspective two of the refs. And I see them both blue, right? So when you fast forward that a little bit to get to like all the flags, I see the two go blue and I go, I look over and I look at the other guy and I'm like, really? All three? I've fought for eight minutes and I can't even get a vote. I didn't even get a penalty. I can't even get a vote. And that's when I broke. I like, oh, I couldn't believe it. And I'm not going to lie, he looked shocked.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So now the question becomes who really, like did the outside refs really have an opinion Where they told to wait for the center one to start. And then lift whatever flag the center ref picked.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Middle guy He is all the way up. The other side judges haven't moved. We now have one side raft all the way up. Then we have a third side ref all the way up.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To never have a split So, the question becomes if you have clicked that frame by frame. Right now, we have all the refs with their flags out and then click that.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And now let's pause it right there. Now, the way this is supposed to work, they raise their flags, they do like a one, two count, and then on three, they all raise it together. As a little pretext to this entire match, up until this point, not one match at the Olympic Games has ever been a split decision, meaning out of three people. Not one of them voted against the other group members. So they were all unified blue or all unified white.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I thought I won the match a minute ago. I remember thinking to myself if this goes to the flags, I won. Doubt in my mind Felt like the whole time I was going to him. He was never coming at me.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now we're into Golden 12 minutes and 38 seconds later. Yeah, you think about every judo exchange, right? Every time we grip up. Every time we attack, sometimes it can take longer to get back to the line than the entire exchange.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The whole point of that technique and the sacrifice throws wasn't because I thought I was going to throw him, but it disrupts the pattern enough to like... Him to make a potential mistake. Like, see, he should have gotten Ishido there. Hands in the face. But again, that's just part of Judo.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I knew I was going to have to, if I was going to throw him or armbar him or pin him, whatever the case may be, it was going to be his mental like. Just tired of this He's too cagey of a player. He's too experienced. He has to mentally make that choice to give that inch. And then you just have to be ready to take it. So I was just waiting for it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I caught an elbow from him His face is clean. That's fun. Right here, I was pissed. I was so angry at the medic Because he's fumbling around, and I'm like, my whole plan is to break the German mentally. You got to hurry up with the tape, man. Like, he's supposed to be tired. He's not supposed to be resting.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's like, hey, shake hands again because the first time we did it, that wasn't good enough. Well, you got to do it again. The heartbreaking part about this and why the IJF switched it to an unlimited golden score because we fought five minutes through the entire normal part of the match. And then we did the entire overtime period of three minutes. Now one penalty was given. No gripping and fractions, no false attacks, like no stalling.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Especially on a stage like this. He brings us in to like talk to us, and he's like, Hey, we're good, right? Like, you guys aren't about to do it, I think you're about to do”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, at the time, I never knew this happened. Until after I watched this three or four years later. Didn't even know I didn't even feel it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I'm like, okay, I can't hold on to this forever because that judge is going to see it. So let me just do a quick throw here while I'm using the fingers in the person.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nope. Because he doesn't care how he wins, he cares that he wins. Which makes him very difficult to beat. He knows when you've strategized to do that, where you look at the rule set and you develop a plan to get through the matches then. Really got to figure out a way to get that person off that game plan, whether you get ahead by a penalty or something. Right there He wouldn't give me the sleeve, so I grabbed all of his fingers.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was so excited. Well, that was match three in London. I fought the Slovenian guy first round who beat me. Where do he beat me? Was it the world? Might have been the worlds. And then Churches Villey, I fought in the second round who threw me for Wazari in Japan. And then Leandro, who I don't think I ever fought who was world number one, that avoided fighting me at the tournament.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then the fans of Judo that really followed the sport The stats when you look at the games and my draws, I had the worst possible draws you ever could have imagined. At both London and Rio, I fought the world number one to get to the final or into the semis or past the semis. And everybody I fought in the draw either beat me the last time we fought or I had never fought before. I always held a loss going on to the mat at the Olympic Games”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I threw him with two hands on the same side collar. Drop sale. I cross script. I yanked him behind me and I threw And then the match ended. 30 seconds later I was pumped”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I walk up to him. No joke. I walked up to him and I go, you're fighting? And he goes, not today. And I went, are you fucking kidding me? I warmed up. I taped up. You're the only fucking guy I want to fight and you're going to fucking sit in the stands and read a goddamn book. I was so angry. I carried that anger because I never fought him until this day. I was fucking pissed. I was ready to beat him.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And when you look at my quarter final against the Brazilian, what most people don't know is I was so thankful I had that match. Most people would never in a million years be like, I want to fight the world number one at the Olympic Games. That's what I want to do. I want to be the eighth seed fighting the world number one because I'm going to win. I was pissed off at him. I was so angry because. We were at the Pan Ams, I think, the year before, and there was a team tournament, and I wanted to fight them. I lost the... Quarters to a Cuban, I think, and like the first gripping exchange, he threw me with a drop sale out of nowhere. I was pissed. So I wanted my hands on the Brazilian and the T match. Well, the Brazilian team's warming up.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's a lot of questionable things out there that could have potentially. Caused him to run onto the Olympic platform for match one. But it catapulted Antoine into like a belief that like. I beat the seated guy. I'm ready. And that was like a turning point in the Canadian's career, just as a whole. That's that everybody has a defining moment. Like mine was when I beat Bisch off in Dusseldorf at the Grand Prix for Germany after 2008. I beat the Olympic champion on his home soil to go win the entire tournament. So we all have like those moments. Just when it happens at the games, it throws the bracket into a tailspin because typically you'd know who's going to beat who, where it's going to happen.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This point in time, this is, I believe, his first international medal. The Olympic Games I don't think he'd ever meddled in Paris. He went into this bracket unranked. Beating the ranked guy first round because he, I don't know if he missed the bus. I don't know if he was off his cycle and planned on losing because he didn't want to test positive. I don't know.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Didn't. He ran. He literally ran into the venue threw his guion and ran out. Know There you see Antoine losing in the quarters.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Match one rolls around, match two rolls around, Antoine's in the shoot and he's looking around and he's like, the Azerbaijani is not here. Well, where is he? No joke. He runs into the venue a match before, throws his gion, and runs onto the Olympic platform. Loses to the Canadian in a three minute golden score battle”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That fucking guy, man. But this bracket. Was really interesting if you look at the backstory of 81 kilos leading up to the Olympics, right? Because at this point in time, I was inside the top 10 at all times, you know, eight, seven, five, four, you know, sixes. I fell out of there sometimes due to injuries, but I always climbed back in. There was another guy. From Azerbaijan that was the Olympic champion at 73 kilos in 2008. And the entire division got rocked by match one. Because his first match was with Antoine Vales Fortier of Canada. And everybody who saw the draw come out was like the Azerbaijani's going to win it. He's the former Olympic champion. He's pretty much won most of the major events, including at 90 kilos, because he just had smooth judo.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The hard part with this match is because I went into this Olympics thinking, I'm going to fucking win the Olympics. I'm the best in the world. Never in my right mind thought. I'm going to win a medal. Like that never. Never crossed my mind. So it's like. I would have rather him just fucking beat me. Because then I lost.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On the flip side, though, some people, based on the actions that we do today, even with this cast, will alter the course of their lives. Forever. I had a guy one time. It after London, it must have been after London. He actually found me on Instagram, wrote me what seemed to be like a dissertation on Instagram about how much he, I disrespected him 14 years earlier because I didn't step on a podium to take a picture after winning a tournament where he bronzed. I'm thinking to myself At the time, like having dinner with my family because I had to leave the next morning was more important to me as a person not thinking about Who you potentially will become Actions of whatever you do today, if you do become quote unquote famous or somebody in a spotlight that that could come back to bite you.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's when it dinged that like. I don't watch something and really get inspired by the person and the act. It's an accumulative thing. For a lot of people, like when they watch how much goes into it. And then when I broke down on the match, like the amount of suffering that happens when you lose a match like that and then really coming back and winning in Rio, there's a trend of people who are inspired that knew about London. And then when they found out I won in Rio, that's when people felt like they could overcome their own personal obstacles to still achieve something because they've witnessed somebody who's fallen and gotten back up. But it's not something that. You think about like on the day When you look back and you go, oh, cause and effect.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's not something that really hit me until... 2012 when I lost. Because that's when Would say the world felt bad for me. That point, and that's when you knew that, like. People were watching and people were inspired by the loss because of how much went into that match. That 99% of us who watched it thought I won except for the 1% of the people who were considered judges at that day in the event.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was young then. When I was at this time of my career, I was out to like win. Like there was no like, I'm going to grab you. I'm going to throw you. And if not, you're going to go through a battle. Going to make sure you earned it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was a match I should have won. I should have won that. I was, if you don't know Judo, you would visually watch that and be like, I'm winning. But he was technically winning on the scoreboard, so it is what it is. But the point that he got that solidified his win. Yes, it was a point back in those days, so I can't say anything. But my shoulder nicked the ground. So it's like, I don't know.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I didn't even have a Facebook page, MySpace, nothing at this point. I got my first Facebook page from the USOC in 2012. Went through the media thing, the lady was like, You have to have it. I go, I don't want it. I don't like people. I want to deal with the people. What am I supposed to do?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've been told that he only gets to his prime for really big events. He doesn't train year round like I would train. But when it comes to the games, he doesn't do social media. He doesn't work. He lives, breathe, eats his training for the games, which could, you know, institute that level.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I remember when he grabbed me for that first time, I went, this is different. And there was a sense of panic at the time because I was like, Holy crap, where did this come from? This is not the guy that I've trained with that I expected. Because it was a definite level change in his ability, strength, speed, and stamina.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Until I gripped him for the first time, because I had trained with him before, he felt stronger and more in shape than I've ever felt him that day.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If I were to think about watching the match now, it would probably look like a lot of flailing because we're just trying to generate enough to not get a penalty, but also not enough to where he could counter it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, because when he was so young then and he was in his prime really at that time, right? He must have been 24, 25, 26, world metalist, European champion at the time. And when he would grab me, I had that sense of feeling stuck. Like I was strong enough if I used all my strength to not let him do anything, but then you can't be offensive when you're using all your strength to hold on to the situation. So I was getting really aggravated because I couldn't generate any offense with every time I felt like I gained an advantage in the gripping scenario, he would take some obscure grip somewhere that was like, well, now I've got to go address this thing, give up what I gained, and I have to go back.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He gets pissed off, and then before you know it, somebody's kicked somebody or punched somebody in the mouth or done something. Yeah.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Little bit, it always goes farther than it should. For we're friends, like we say hello to each other. But for some reason, when we train together, there's something about like him and me that just oil and water. I don't know what it is.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, he was somebody that I had trained with in the past. And for some reason, when it comes to him and I, when we trained together, It's more of a physical altercation than a judo training session. The coaches have had to break us up a few times.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then you just go through what would technically be your first plan if you planned on them playing defense. So I set the stage from the very beginning for this to work.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like anything, like, if I wanted to punch you in the face, how hard is it to really do that if you know you can just play defense and block it? trick is to get them to play defense to something that never happened.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Simple, and it regardless of like all the chaos and how quickly things are happening, it's something I can just dumb everything down to and focus on, regardless of the gripping situation, the footwork, all of that, get my back to your chest and then put my back on the floor.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source