American cyclist Haley Batten is living her childhood dream.

After finishing ninth in Tokyo, Batten nabbed silver in the mountain bike race in Paris, despite facing a flat tire in the fourth lap. 

But being an Olympic cyclist is far from glamorous. Aside from the grueling nature of the training sessions, they also leave some pretty gnarly physical marks.

"[The tan lines are] pretty embarrassing," Batten said in the third daily episode of In the Village: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast, titled "Day 3: Silver Medal, No Bronzer." "It's so awkward. You've got these permanent shorts, and then you can get the socks. The worst is you can see the helmet straps sometimes ... It looks like I just did a really bad job with my makeup."

But overall, the lasting discoloration is worth the bond the Olympics creates between competitors.

"I think what's so special is that you can feel that connection with every athlete from all the different disciplines, especially the ones that you've trained with, you've been around, you share these journeys with, and you can feel the intensity of the moment that they have, that you have, and you can just look in each other's eyes and say, 'Okay, I get you, I feel you, but you can do this,'" Batten said. "And then, when you can mentally clear your mind and be able to perform at what your body and mind are capable of, that's something special because in a moment that's so intense, that's really, really hard to do."

Hear all of that and more on the latest edition of In the Village.

New episodes of In the Village will be released every day during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. 

Follow the show on on the iHeart App, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.