At just 16 years old, American skateboarder Paige Heyn is competing in her first Olympics. It's hectic and stressful, but it's an experience she's prepared for her whole life.

"I'm quite nervous," she said of her upcoming competition. "It just seems like such a big deal, and I just want to show that it's worth it that I'm here."

To ease some of those nerves, Heyn and her teammates do everything they can to ensure their stays in Paris go smoothly — they eat right, they sleep right, they even have their clothes fitted. 

But still, things go wrong, as Heyn discusses on today's episode of In the Village: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast, titled "Day 1: Paige Heyn's Magic Bus Ride." 

One day, on the way to a practice session at the Place de la Concorde, the bus the team was taking crashed, resulting in an impromptu skate sesh in the streets of Paris.

"When we got out of the bus, a bunch of us started filming, because it was just kind of crazy," Heyn said. "There were some people that hung out of their apartments right above us, and they were like, 'Go Olympics! Go skateboarding!' It was like, 'Oh, that's so cool!'"

Hear all of that and more in the latest episode 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.