The Latest From the Paris Olympics (Review/Preview)

Summary

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All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: The Latest From the Paris Olympics (Review/Preview)
Date: August 5, 2024
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Producer Luke Green
Theme: Exploring the major stories, moments, and personalities from the Paris 2024 Olympics at the halfway point—highlights, drama, and cultural impact.

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Episode Overview

This episode takes listeners on an energetic tour through the first week of the Paris Olympic Games. Host Alison Stewart and producer Luke Green break down the standout sports action, major storylines, and unforgettable personalities. The conversation gives equal weight to triumphs, surprises, and the human stories making these Games unforgettable, serving both as a review and a preview of what’s next.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Immersed in Olympic Mania

• Viewing Experience:
  • Luke shares how he's been “watching so much Olympic action,” sometimes even using multi-screen views:
    • "There was a moment this weekend where I was watching like the multi screen view on Peacock ... my eyes started to hurt and I was like, I think I need to go outside." (01:19–01:41)

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Track and Field: 100 Meter Drama

• Men’s 100 Meter Final:

  • Extraordinary finish: Commentator initially calls it for Jamaica, but Noah Lyles (USA) wins gold with a dramatic final lean—US's first gold in this event since 2004.
    • "Thompson... looks like he crosses the finish line first ahead of the USA's favorite, Noah Lyles. But after a minute of confusion, Lyles starts celebrating ... right at the finish line, leans forward just a little bit... It was insane." – Luke (02:21–03:00)

• Women’s 100 Meter Final:

  • Julian Alfred (Saint Lucia) claims gold, earning her country's first Olympic medal ever, a powerful underdog story.
    • "Imagine how much of a legend Julian ... Alfred is, just 23 years old, coming back to her country with the first medal, the gold medal of the hundred meter race no less. It was very moving." – Luke (03:25–04:02)

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Gymnastics: Simone Biles’ Triumphant Return

• Simone Biles:

  • Back after “the twisties” in Tokyo and two years prioritizing mental health, Biles is once more flawless and winning gold.
    • "She's just flawless and it's just great to see her, as you said, coming back from Tokyo ... She took two years off working on her mental health, and now here she is, triumphant again." – Luke (04:19–04:57)

• Gen Z Olympians on TikTok:

  • Olympic athletes connect with fans in new ways.
    • "This is sort of the first Olympic Games where Gen Z is kind of the main source of athletes ... and a lot of them are on TikTok, communicating with fans, really taking advantage of their stardom." – Luke (05:01–05:20)

• Men’s Gymnastics & The 'Pommel Horse Guy':

  • USA earns bronze; Steven Nederozyk, dubbed the “Clark Kent” of gymnastics, becomes an unlikely star.
    • "He's the reason they won bronze in the team event. He wins bronze himself in the pommel horse event. And it turns out that everyone is now in love with, with this guy with glasses. They call him Clark Kent." – Luke (05:35–06:17)
  • Nederozyk’s Story:
    • Struggled with depth perception and self-esteem, but turned “nerdiness” into Olympic magic.
    • Quote:
      "I kind of just wanted to be that guy who might be a little bit nerdy, but also really good at sports." – Steven Nederozyk (06:50–07:10)

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Swimming Showdowns: USA vs. Australia

• Rivalry Reignites:

  • After Australia outpaced the US last year, the clash in Paris is fierce—USA edges ahead in the final event, breaking the medal tie.
    • "Australia beat the US in medal count in the World Championships last year ... but it was tied on the gold medal count until Yesterday when the US's final event, they won gold and they had more golds than the Australians this time." – Luke (07:20–08:07)

• France’s Leon Marchand:

  • The new “French Michael Phelps” wows locals, wins multiple golds, and electrifies even President Macron.
    • "He has basically been the French Michael Phelps this Olympics. ... two [gold medals] in one night ... If you can get the leader of your country to do that, that is a very legend performance." – Luke (08:12–08:47)

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Soccer and Basketball: Team USA in the Spotlight

• Women’s Soccer:

  • Team USA advances to semifinals over Japan with a dramatic extra-time winner by Trinity Rodman (daughter of Dennis Rodman).
    • "The goal was scored by Trinity Rodman ... 22 years old, scored the winner in extra time ... a certified banger." – Luke (09:00–09:29)

• Basketball:

  • Women’s team is dominant; Brittney Griner’s return celebrated.
    • "It's been good. The women have been dominant. I expect them to win ... great to see Brittney Griner play as well." – Luke (09:54–10:03)
  • Men’s “Dream Team” (Curry, LeBron) aiming for gold, but must get past France and Canada in quarters.
    • "It's probably the best dream team we've had since that famous team in '92." – Luke (10:03–10:19)

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Looking Ahead: Key Events to Watch

Luke’s “Three to Watch”:

1. Basketball: USA quarterfinals
2. Men’s 200 meters ("Lyles's favorite event")
3. Women’s Volleyball (quarterfinals coming up)

• "I cannot wait for the women's volleyball game." – Luke (10:37–10:50)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Olympic viewing immersion:
  • "This is the closest I get to being an Olympic athlete, I will take it." – Luke (01:13)
• On the drama of the 100 meters:
  • “I think there's nothing more dramatic than the hundred meter race in all of sports because you see these incredible athletes standing there ... four years of their life for 10 seconds.” – Luke (03:25–03:36)
• On Simone Biles:
  • “She took two years off working on her mental health, and now here she is, triumphant again, once again returning and coming back with a whole lot of gold medals and a whole lot of tiktoks.” – Co-host & Luke (04:58–05:09)
• On Steven Nederozyk, the “Pommel Horse Guy”:
  • “Who doesn't love like a nerdy athlete?” – Luke (06:40)
  • “I kind of just wanted to be that guy who might be a little bit nerdy, but also really good at sports.” – Steven Nederozyk (06:50–07:10)
• On the US vs. Australia swimming rivalry:
  • “That left a lot of material, you can say, for an intense rivalry this time around.” – Luke (07:32–07:45)
• On Trinity Rodman’s winning goal:
  • “I call the goal a certified banger. That's what we call those kinds of goals. Upper 90.” – Luke (09:05–09:18)

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Episode Tone and Style

Friendly, energetic, conversational, with affection for the Games and the athletes; a blend of pop culture sensibility and genuine sports enthusiasm.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a spirited, informative recap of the Paris Olympics so far, mixing humor, awe, and thoughtful appreciation for athletes’ distinct paths to the podium. Listeners come away with both a sense of the big winners and a deeper appreciation for the culture, rivalries, and personalities that make the Olympics unforgettable.

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Transcript

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[WNYC Station Announcer]

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. We're about a week into the Paris Olympic Games and there has been non stop action and drama. Whether it's Simone Biles trumpet return in gymnastics, France's newest swimming hero, the incredibly dramatic 100 meter finals, track finals or the pommel horse guy. The it's exciting. So we around here at the halfway point we decided all that. Producer Luke Green is with me now. He's usually in the studio. He's upstairs, I should say, looking at the monitor checking out the Olympics. He's here with me now. Hi, Luke.

[Luke Green]

Hi. How you doing? If this is the closest I get to being an Olympic athlete, I will take it.

[Alison Stewart]

So how have you been taking in the Olympics so far?

[Luke Green]

I have been watching so much Olympic action. I promise, not all the time at work. Only for research purposes only. There was a moment that this weekend where I was watching like the multi screen view on Peacock. Peacock offers like four events at once and I was doing that for a couple hours and I was like, my eyes started to hurt and I was like, I think I need to go outside. So that's an example. I've been watching a ton of Olympic action.

[Alison Stewart]

All right, let's start with track. We're gonna start with track. It happened over the weekend. The always intense 100 meter race took place. Let's start with the men and let's listen to a clip from the race. Just 10 seconds because it's fast.

[WNYC Station Announcer]

There's an Olympic gold medal waiting for somebody who wants it the most. Now Thompson starts to wind up. Curly's going with him. This is close. Jamaica's gonna do it. Kishane Thompson is a gold medalist on debut.

[Alison Stewart]

Jamaica didn't win.

[Luke Green]

No.

[Alison Stewart]

The guy got a little ahead of himself there.

[Luke Green]

They did not win.

[Alison Stewart]

What happened?

[Luke Green]

So here's what went down. The guy, I, I don't blame the commentator because I also thought that Jamaica had won. Incredibly tense race. Um, Thompson, he, he looks like he crosses the finish line first ahead of the USA's favorite, Noah Lyles. But After a minute of confusion, Lyles starts celebrating. And then you see the picture and you see that Noah Lyles comes from behind, incredibly, with 20 meters to go. And right at the finish line, leans forward just a little bit, right ahead of the Jamaican runner to win the US's first 100 meter men's gold since 2004. It was insane.

[Alison Stewart]

The women also ran their 100. It was dramatic for other reasons. Let's listen.

[WNYC Station Announcer]

Final of the women's 100 away, and Julian Alfred got out really well. Sha' Carri Richardson's got some work to do, but it's gonna be Saint Lucius. Julian Alfred wins the first ever Olympic med for her nation.

[Alison Stewart]

It sounds so dramatic.

[Luke Green]

I mean, I was thinking about this. I was talking to one of our coworkers, Jordan, today. I think there's nothing more dramatic than the hundred meter race in all of sports because you see these incredible athletes standing there. They're working, you know, four years of their life for 10 seconds. And this was so amazing. I mean, of course, as someone who roots for usa, wanted sha' Carri Richardson to win, but for someone to win their first ever medal for their country, St. Lucia, imagine how much of a legend Julian Alvin Alfred is just 23 years old, coming back to her country with the first medal, the gold medal of the hundred meter race, no less. It was very moving.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Let's move on to gymnastics. Everybody's involved in this sport. Everybody. Because everybody loves Simone Biles. You have to love Simone Biles. You know, she couldn't participate in the last Olympics. She got the twisties.

[Luke Green]

Yep.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

She'S fared fairly well. I would say she's doing very well this time.

[Luke Green]

She's passed with flying colors. I don't want to spoil what happened today. She did so so. But before, in the last week of the Games, she's been just excellent, especially her floor routine. I remember I was watching her floor routine for the individual event, which she won gold at, of course, and the amount of height she got on her first jump. I couldn't even believe that that was possible. She's just flawless and it's just great to see her, as you said, coming back from Tokyo, which was not a great event. She took two years off working on her mental health, and now here she is, triumphant again, once again returning and coming back with a whole lot of.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Gold medals and a whole lot of tiktoks. She's big on the tiktoks.

[Luke Green]

Yes. It's actually very interesting to see. This is sort of the first Olympic Games where Gen Z is kind of the main source of athletes and a lot of them are on TikTok, communicating with fans, really taking advantage of their stardom and, and that's been really interesting to see. As someone who is a fellow member of Gen Z, very proud of our generation, I have to say.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

On the men's side, Team USA did great this year. Won the bronze. And the men's, you know, in the men's. That's a big deal.

[Luke Green]

Huge deal. Hasn't happened in a long time.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Yeah, but everybody has fallen in love with the pommel horse guy.

[Luke Green]

Oh, the pommel horse guy. Who doesn't love the pommel horse guy? Let me tell you about my experience with the pommel horse guy. Name is Steven Nederozyk. I was watching the men's gymnastics and I was seeing all these huge buff guys, kind of short, and I was like, okay, that tracks. And I look in the corner in the bench and I see this sort of skinnier guy, kind of tall, with glasses. And I was like, that's one of our gymnasts. This guy made the team. No offense. I am also a skinny guy with glasses too. So I'm not throwing shade. But he does the pommel horse and he completely kills it. And he's the reason they won bronze in the team event. He wins bronze himself in the pommel horse event. And it turns out that everyone is now in love with, with this guy with glasses. They call him Clark Kent, you know, because he's sort of the nerd who can do a Rubik's Cube in 10 seconds.

[Alison Stewart]

He feels, he feels it as he's doing it. He can't really see because he's got a, I don't know, astigmatism in his eye.

[Luke Green]

He has astigmatism. He also said he was cross eyed a bit too.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah. And there's actually footage of him like standing, like looking like he's on the horse, like pretending it, like visualizing it before he gets on it.

[Luke Green]

No, it's fascinating. And there's a reason that everyone's enraptured. I mean, who doesn't love like a nerdy athlete? And we actually, I pulled a clip of an interview of him talking about the nerdiness, if you want to get to that. Did you have any insecurities growing up?

[Steven Nederozyk]

Definitely did have a little bit of insecurities. Especially because like my lack of depth reception, cuz I'm also cross eyed. Like it definitely made it a little hard to like hang out with guys and you're throwing a ball and you can't really catch it. So definitely made me a little insecure, but I kind of just wanted to be that guy who might be a little bit nerdy, but also really good at sports. That's kind of all I wanted to be.

[Luke Green]

Who doesn't want to fall in love with that? Come on.

[Alison Stewart]

Gotta love the heart of Worcester, Mass. Let's talk about swimming. Competition has ended. Always very popular, especially for Team usa. What's the story?

[Luke Green]

So there's been a long standing rivalry between the US and the Australians because going way back, they usually have the most athletes. They're usually competing with one another. But Australia beat the US in medal count in the World Championships last year, which caused a Australian swimming legend to call the U.S. sore losers. They were sort of sick of hearing the Star Spangled Banner, which, you know, I understand, but that left a lot of material, you can say, for an intense rivalry this time around. It was tied on the gold medal count until Yesterday when the US's final event, they won gold and they had more golds than the Australians this time. I'm not taking sides, but it was certainly added to the drama of that rivalry that was predicted to be great, and it was.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

We have one swimmer in particular who has a home.

[Alison Stewart]

French fans in Paris going crazy.

[Luke Green]

Oh, yes, Leon Marchand. That's my, that's my best French spin on it. He has basically been the French Michael Phelps this Olympics. I mean, no one's Michael Phelps, but that's as close as you can get. He has won gold in every single individual event that he's taken on. It's been including two in one night last week, which was like box office stuff. It even has, you know, Emmanuel Macron like, ooh la la, jumping up and screaming for him and pumping his fists, and they were showing it and it's like, wow. If you can get the leader of your country to do that, that is a very legend performance.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Let's talk about the soccer. After disappointing World cup Last year, Team USA's women's soccer competed over the weekend and defeated Japan 10 in dramatic fashion to advance to the semifinals. Where does it stand?

[Luke Green]

So this was an incredibly dramatic game I was watching in a cafe on Saturday, and it took all I could to resist my urge to just like, jump up and scream. So the goal was scored by Trinity Rodman, that. Yes, that is Dennis Rodman's daughter, 22 years old, scored the winner in extra time, and it was a huge deal. I. I call the goal a certified banger. That's what we call those kinds of goals. Upper 90. I pulled a clip of the goal if you want to go to that. Done.

[WNYC Station Announcer]

Looking for Rodman again. Rodman and Trinity Rodman amidst a morass of muddling, mediocrity and frustration.

[Luke Green]

A morass of mediocrity.

[Alison Stewart]

As long as we're on the topic of basketball, how's it going for Team usa?

[Luke Green]

It's been good. The women have been dominant. I expect them to win. It's been great to see Brittney Griner play as well. That's been a huge plus for this team. I mean, I'm a big basketball fan, so seeing the men compete has been amazing, like seeing Steph Curry throw lobs to LeBron James. It's. It's probably the best dream team we've had since that famous team in 92. So I'm fully expecting us to win the gold. But France lies in the way. Canada lies in the way. It's going to be drama. And they are playing tomorrow in the quarterfinals, so look out for that.

[Alison Stewart]

What are your three things you're looking for in your last 35 seconds?

[Luke Green]

Yes. So looking ahead to basketball tomorrow, of course. Love Team USA. Also, no. Lyles won the 100. He will be competing in the 200, which is his favorite event later this week. Look out for that. The U.S. women's soccer team plays tomorrow and also really want to recommend everyone to check out the women's volleyball competition. That's been the best so far. They play in the quarterfinal tomorrow. I cannot wait for the women's volleyball game.

[Alison Stewart]

Luke Green, AOI Producer and Olympic we're going to call you Historian.

[Luke Green]

Sure, sure. Olympic fan, sports guy. And it's low bar for this team.

[Alison Stewart]

But thanks, Luke.

[Luke Green]

Yeah, thank you.

[Alison Stewart]

That's all of it. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate listening. I appreciate you. I'll meet you back here tomorrow. You're funny.

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