Stanford Online High School

Every Athlete
Has a Story
Worth Sharing

The Stanford Online Athletics Podcast brings together student-athletes from across the world to share the challenges, sacrifices, victories, and lessons that define their journeys.

Listen on Spotify Meet the Hosts
15+
Episodes
3
Olympians Interviewed
10+
Sports Featured
🌍
Worldwide Community

Olympic Athletes

We've Sat Down With Olympians

Three of our guests have competed at the Olympic Games. Real conversations, no filter.

🏅
Adrian Yung
Alpine Skiing · 2x Winter Olympian · Hong Kong
The youngest two-time winter Olympian from Hong Kong. He qualified for the Games in under a year of serious training.
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Olivia Giaccio
Alpine Skiing · Olympian · OHS Alum '18
OHS class of 2018, Columbia grad, professional skier. She talks about what the road from OHS to the Olympics actually looked like.
🏅
Evita Griskenas
Rhythmic Gymnastics · 2x Olympian · Team USA
Two-time Team USA Olympian and two-time USA Gymnastics Athlete of the Year. One of the most decorated rhythmic gymnasts in American history.

The Community

One School. Hundreds of Athletes. Endless Stories.

Stanford Online High School is home to an extraordinary group of student-athletes pursuing excellence in swimming, soccer, figure skating, basketball, tennis, track and field, rowing, gymnastics, martial arts, and dozens of other sports. Separated by geography but united by ambition, these athletes represent a community unlike any other.

OHS gives student-athletes something rare: the flexibility to train and compete at the highest level without falling behind in the classroom. The result is a community of people pushing hard in two directions at once, largely without the hallways, locker rooms, and sidelines that would normally connect them to each other.

This podcast exists to close that gap. To make sure the stories people are living don't just disappear into training sessions and class schedules.

Swimming Soccer Figure Skating Alpine Skiing Tennis Cycling Fencing Rowing Gymnastics Marathon Running Track & Field + More

All Episodes

The Athletes Behind the Stories

Latest Episode

Adrian Yung — Qualifying for the Olympics in One Year

Alpine Skiing · Hong Kong · 51 min · May 2025

Adrian is the youngest two-time winter Olympian from Hong Kong. He gets into what the actual training looked like, the setbacks and rejections along the way, and how he got himself ready to race at the Olympics in under a year of serious preparation while being an OHS student-athlete.

Listen on Spotify
⛷️
Alpine Skiing

Melody Wong

Alpine Skiing · International Circuit · 1 hr

The Secrets to True Productivity

Melody races internationally and picked OHS because a normal school schedule would have made that impossible. She talks managing coursework across time zones, what goes through her head at the start gate, and why she compares skiing to F1 racing.

▶ Listen
🏔️
Alpine Skiing

Olivia Giaccio

Professional Skiing · OHS Alum '18 · 49 min

Stories from OHS to the Olympics

OHS alum, Columbia grad, professional skier. Olivia shares what her time at OHS actually looked like, what it took to bounce back from injury more than once, and how she got to where she is today.

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⛸️
Figure Skating

Michael Jin

Figure Skating · OHS Sophomore · 28 min

Balancing National Competitions and OHS Academics

Michael competes nationally and carries a full OHS course load at the same time. He talks about what that actually looks like week to week and his advice for other student-athletes trying to hold both things without letting either one slip.

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Swimming

Samuel Bae

Swimming · OHS Student-Athlete · 33 min

The Mental Game

Samuel talks about hitting a plateau, switching teams, and finding his way back to why he loves swimming. An honest look at what it feels like to race when your head is not in the right place, and why trusting the process matters more than any single result.

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🚴
Cycling

Vajra Vanukuri

Criterium Racing · Bay Area, California · 38 min

Chasing the Passion for Criterium

Vajra started crit racing relatively late and chose OHS so he could take it seriously. He talks about balancing training with coursework, why he focuses on what he can control right now rather than what he missed by starting late, and how he found a sport that actually fits who he is.

▶ Listen
🎾
Tennis

Harper Bruner

Tennis · Atlanta, Georgia · 43 min

Getting Out of the Downward Spiral

Harper has competed in tennis for over a decade and chose OHS to keep her options open while training seriously. She opens up about injuries, mental slumps, what it took to come back from both, and what she learned going through the college recruiting process.

▶ Listen
🏃
Running

Boshen Zhang

Marathon & Ultramarathon · Vancouver, Canada · 43 min

The Mentality Behind Growth and Success

The host takes a turn in the guest seat. Boshen talks about how he deals with adversity and burnout, what actually helps with time management at OHS while training seriously, and how starting this podcast changed the way he thinks about sport and community.

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🤺
Fencing

Lanlan Hua

Fencing · OHS Class of 2027 · 42 min

Finding Motivation in the Valleys

Lanlan took a long break from competitive fencing and had to find her way back. She talks about what actually helped her get motivated again, how she juggles a full OHS course load alongside training, and how she thinks about balance in a way that doesn't burn her out.

▶ Listen
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Figure Skating

Josephine Bae

Singles & Theater on Ice · OHS Class of 2027 · 39 min

From a Birthday Party to National Championships

Josephine started skating at a birthday party and ended up preparing for US Nationals. She talks about how confidence became the thing that changed everything, how she handles injuries and pressure during a rigorous OHS semester, and what it means to compete nationally as a high schooler.

▶ Listen
🎾
Tennis

Yolaine Lefevre

Tennis · OHS Senior · Columbia University '29 · 39 min

Recovering From Injuries and Getting Recruited

Yolaine played at some of the highest levels in the US and is heading to Columbia. She reflects on her career, how OHS gave her room to keep competing while staying on track academically, and what she actually learned going through the college recruiting process.

▶ Listen
⚽
Soccer

Connor Decatur

MLS Next Goalkeeper · Hong Kong & USA · 43 min

Opportunities Appear in Unexpected Times

Connor grew up playing in Hong Kong, moved to the US, and chose OHS to stay on top of his academics during the recruiting process. He talks about pressure, uncertainty, what it's like competing in two completely different soccer cultures, and how everything he learned in sport carries over into school and life.

▶ Listen
🚣
Rowing

Harrison Scarrow

Rowing · MIT Recruit · OHS Student-Athlete

Productivity, Sacrifice, and Getting Recruited to MIT

Harrison rows competitively and was recently recruited to MIT. He shares his productivity techniques, how he stays focused when he's in the pits, and what consciously balancing work and life has meant for his development as both an athlete and a person.

▶ Listen
🏊
Swimming

Ryan Lin

Swimming · OHS Alum · Caltech

How Community Shapes an Athlete

Ryan swam through OHS and is now competing at Caltech. He talks about how his perspective on the sport has shifted over the years, why community has played a bigger role in his development than almost anything else, and his advice for OHS athletes heading into the college recruiting process.

▶ Listen
🎾
Tennis

Kai Wang

Tennis · Phillips Academy Andover

Switching Sports and Starting Over

Kai set state records in swimming before switching to tennis and becoming nationally ranked. He talks about dealing with serious injury, what it took to improve rapidly in a new sport, and the lessons from that experience that go well beyond anything that shows up in a result.

▶ Listen
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Swimming

Cooper Dong

Swimming · OHS Sophomore · Top 70 in New York

Staying Consistent When Things Aren't Going to Plan

Cooper is ranked top 70 in New York and balancing swimming with a full OHS schedule. He talks about the mindset of constant improvement, how he finds motivation when things aren't clicking, and how he manages the pull between academics, athletics, and actually having a life.

▶ Listen

Why This Exists

More Than
Results

A scoreboard tells you what happened. It doesn't tell you about the 5am practices, the injuries that almost ended things, the moment someone almost quit, or the competition where everything finally clicked after two years of it not clicking at all.

At OHS, those stories are everywhere. They just don't have anywhere to go. There are no hallways, no locker rooms, no sidelines where you'd pick up pieces of someone else's journey just by being nearby. People here can go their entire high school career without knowing that a classmate two time zones away just competed at the Olympics, or got recruited to MIT, or came back from a year off sport and found something they hadn't expected.

That's the gap this podcast is trying to close. Nothing more complicated than that.

01
OHS attracts a specific kind of person
Everyone here applied for a reason. Most of the time that reason involves pushing hard at something outside the classroom. This podcast is one way to actually meet those people.
02
The school is worldwide. The community should feel like it.
OHS students are in Hong Kong, Canada, the UK, across the US, and everywhere in between. Geography is not the point. The shared experience of being a student-athlete here is.
03
You don't have to be an Olympian to have a story worth sharing
Every guest has taught us something. That's kind of the whole point. The stories that stick aren't always the ones with the biggest results attached to them.

The Team

Meet the Hosts

Boshen Zhang
Founder

Boshen Zhang

Marathon & Ultramarathon · Vancouver, Canada

Boshen is a senior at OHS who spent over a decade in competitive soccer before transitioning to marathon and ultramarathon running. He started this podcast because he kept noticing how many incredible athletes were at OHS and how few of them actually knew each other's stories. That felt like something worth fixing.

Cooper Dong
Co-Founder & Host

Cooper Dong

Swimming · New York City, USA

Cooper is a junior at OHS and a competitive swimmer ranked in the top 70 in New York, specializing in backstroke and individual medley. He knows firsthand what it takes to train seriously while keeping up at OHS, and brings that experience to every conversation he leads on the show.

Josephine Bae
Co-Founder & Host

Josephine Bae

Singles & Theater on Ice · Southern California, USA

Josephine is a junior at OHS and a competitive figure skater in both singles and Theater on Ice. She tends to find the parts of a guest's story that go beyond the results, the moments that actually shaped who they became as an athlete and as a person. That's what she's after in every episode.

Join the Community

Building Community Through Storytelling

Sport at OHS is mostly a solo thing. You train on your own schedule, in your own city, in your own time zone. But the experiences people are having here are anything but ordinary. This podcast is our way of sharing them.

New episodes drop regularly. Come find us.

Listen on Spotify Join the Community