The Summer’s Most Press-tigious Sporting Event: Top Media Moments from the Paris Olympics
by Polly Hersey
Every four years, world-class athletes take center stage at the Summer Olympics as tens of millions of viewers across the globe tune in to cheer them on. The Olympic Games bring together diverse audiences from all over the world, making it a prime media moment that touches nearly every industry. Hot off the biggest sporting event of the Summer – we’re rounding up the buzziest moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Celebrity Superfans & Commentators
Before the Games even kicked off, Team USA’s women’s water polo team named Flava Flav their celebrity super fan and official hype man. At first the announcement had a lot of people saying “wait… Huh?” but under closer inspection, the partnership is more compatible than you may think. Legendary Rapper Flav has spent his career as a professional hype man & the partnership is a mutually beneficial one. Adding a celebrity name draws viewership to a sport people might not otherwise watch. Other teams quickly followed suit. Jason Kelce later joined forces with the USA Women’s Rugby team – cheering from the sidelines in a lopsided beret.
NBC, the network that owns the media-rights to The Olympics in the US deployed many of their in-house personalities to further amplify attention to certain events. SNL’s Colin Jost was named Surfing Correspondent, and Kenan Thompson and Kevin Hart teamed together to recap highlights with a comedic twist.
Everyone Watches Women’s Sports
2024 has already been a banner year for Women’s sports with WBNA viewership reaching record highs. The Summer Olympics have perfectly punctuated the ever-growing support for female athletes with several competitors shattering records and drawing packed stadiums. A few examples include:
- Winning her 14th medal, Swimmer Katie Ledecky is now the most-decorated American woman of all-time.
- Gymnast Simone Biles also cemented “Greatest of All Time” status by becoming the most decorated gymnast in history, even sporting a diamond crusted goat necklace for the occasion.
- “Fastest woman in the world,” Sha’carri Richardson raced to the finish line in the 100m dash with Adele stopping her concert in its tracks to broadcast the iconic moment.
Olympic Games… Meet TikTok
As many remember, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed to the following year due to the pandemic, and subsequently drew lackluster rankings and record low viewership. This means, the 2024 Olympics is the first time that the event has taken full force in the era of TikTok. Olympic athletes, many of whom fall in the Gen Z age range, showed up – phones in hand, to give viewers a look behind the scenes like never before.
Credited for putting women’s rugby on the map, Ilona Maher documented her time in the Olympic Village (or Olympic Villa, as she calls it, a play on popular reality show Love Island) with a steady stream of lighthearted and comedic TikTok videos. She also uses her platform to spread a message of body positivity.
Separately, Dutch Swimmer, Henrik Chistiansen quickly became viral for his full-blown obsession with the chocolate muffins served in the village earning him the moniker of “Olympic Muffin Man”
This Ken’s Job is Pommel Horse
We’d be remiss not to mention the single-most viral athlete of the Paris Olympics. Stephen Nedoroscik stole the hearts of viewers everywhere after completing a near flawless pommel horse routine that helped the USA Men’s team clinch their first medal in more than sixteen years and simultaneously inspiring thousands of memes in overnight sensation.
Media outlets began referring to Nedoroscik as “Pommel Horse’s Clark Kent,” for good reason. Sitting quietly and unassumingly on the sidelines, no one anticipated that the glasses-wearing everyman would demonstrate such athletic prowess. And from there – Stephen leaned in. Showing off his ability to solve a Rubix cube in 12 seconds and sporting the American flag like a cape – Our Friend Steve perfectly satisfied our appetites for authenticity, excellence and a little bit of goofiness.