“That’s probably the greatest double I’ve ever seen in the history of the sport.” – Michael Phelps on France’s Leon Marchand’s two gold medals today
“We have seen dominant swimmers like Michael Phelps before, but the dominance in which Ledecky has performed has really been unequal.” – Dan Hicks on Katie Ledecky after winning gold in the 1500m freestyle
Katie Ledecky and Leon Marchand Headline Star-Studded Swimming Events Along with Team USA Men’s Basketball Tonight on “Primetime in Paris” at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
LIVE TOMORROW: Simone Biles and Suni Lee Aim to Become First to Win Multiple Women’s Gymnastics All-Around Gold Medals since 1968 (12:15 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock)
STAMFORD, Conn. – July 31, 2024 – NBCUniversal’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics continues tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock with “Primetime in Paris,” hosted by Mike Tirico and featuring in-depth storytelling and a cinematic main title sequence.
Tonight’s “Primetime in Paris” features Katie Ledecky and Leon Marchand in star-studded swimming events, plus LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Team USA men’s basketball, and more.
Tomorrow, Simone Biles and Suni Lee each look to become the first woman to win multiple all-around Olympic gold medals since Vera Caslavska (1964, 1968) as the women’s gymnastics all-around final begins live at 12:15 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. In the pool, more medals are up for grabs as four finals will be contested, with Team USA swimmers including Regan Smith, Ryan Murphy, and Lilly King looking to keep the Americans’ medal count lead over Australia intact, beginning live at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Click here for more information on tomorrow’s coverage.
***
Following are highlights from today’s coverage of the Paris Olympics on the platforms of NBCUniversal:
SWIMMING
Dan Hicks on American Katie Ledecky’s dominance in the pool after winning gold in the 1500m free: “We have seen dominant swimmers like Michael Phelps before, but the dominance in which Ledecky has performed has really been unequal…Ledecky is just so good that it’s hard to even have words to describe how good her run of dominance has been.”
Michael Phelps on France’s Leon Marchand winning two gold medals in one night: “That’s probably the greatest double I’ve ever seen in the history of the sport.”
Rowdy Gaines on Marchand winning gold and setting an Olympic record in the 200m fly: “Oh my goodness. 28.9 (seconds) in the last 50 (meters). If you don’t understand what that means, you don’t have to. Just know what you saw with your own eyes. It is magical…I had a French reporter come up to me and ask me his status of all time. I said, ‘Hey, way too early.’ But the talk can begin.”
Hicks: “If this event is the biggest reach for Marchand and gold in his individual events, he just may have set the table for something a lot more special than we could have ever imagined.”
Phelps on the mental challenges of having multiple races in one day: “When you’re swimming a bigger program, you have to take one event individually at a time. If you get ahead of yourself, then you’re not fully focused on that event.”
Phelps on his former coach Bob Bowman’s reaction to watching Marchand’s victory in the men’s 200m butterfly: “I saw some of Bob [Bowman’s] reactions during my day, but I don’t know if he ever did this. It was more of an intense whistle. He’s obviously super pumped up, and he knew that race was going to be a difficult one for Leon tonight.”
Phelps on China’s Pan Zhanle breaking the world record in the men’s 100-meter freestyle race: “Winning the 100 free by over a second…that’s mind blowing for me. I’ve never seen a win of that margin in that race in my career. And to go 46.4 [seconds], that’s unheard of.”
Gaines on Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström winning the women’s 100m free: “She’s the world record holder and not a person on this planet picked her to win this. You could say you did but you’re lying. Thirty years of age, in the twilight of her career.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Dwyane Wade on Team USA men’s basketball’s hot start against South Sudan: “This is personal right now. They’re not messing around with this game at all. It’s personal in a respectful way, they respect these guys enough to bring their A-game.”
Noah Eagle: “So you’re saying it’s that Michael Jordan, Last Dance energy we’re getting here?”
Wade: “We can use that.”
Wade on Derrick White’s impact on Team USA: “Everybody did not understand why Derrick White was added to the team because he wasn’t a big, sexy name, but you’re seeing it every time he steps on the floor. The guy makes winning plays on both ends.”
Wade on learning that LeBron James scored an Olympic career-high 21 points in last Saturday’s win over Serbia: “That just shows LeBron’s dominance. He doesn’t need to score to be one of the greats to ever play this game. He can do it in so many facets, so many different ways. That’s what he’s done his entire career and the Olympics: just win”
Wade on the tough competition of the Olympic tournament: “These guys [are] not going to give up …You’ve got to run through the tape in this tournament, everyone’s going to play all the way to the very end, we know that.”
GYMNASTICS
Justin Spring on American Frederick Richard’s slip on the pommel horse in the all-around final: “This sport is just ruthless. The number of hours he has spent practicing that one move. His hand lands less than an inch off his target and it throws off his entire pommel horse routine.”
Rich Lerner on Richard: “His coach, (Jordan) Gaarenstroom from Michigan, said to me that he’s never heard Frederick say a negative thing. He’s a sponge when given advice. You can’t ask for a better athlete than Frederick Richard.”
Spring on what it takes to be an Olympic-caliber gymnast: “He wants to be great, and anyone who is really serious about that, you’ve got to take those things seriously. You can’t be better than the corrections you hear. You just have to dig in and commit to getting better. Put your pride aside.”
TENNIS
Mary Carillo on the importance of the Olympics to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek: “Remember at the Tokyo Games…she was crying, even before the match [she lost] was over…she really wants to win a medal for Poland – and she wants it to be gold.”
Rennae Stubbs on American doubles duo Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram defeating Spanish duo Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz: “What an effort from these two, the Americans…These doubles specialists, they had to do it all today. They had to fight two of the greatest to ever play the game and the crowd.”
Carillo on Nadal playing possibly the last match in his legendary career at Roland Garros: “He is ready to leave his favorite court, possibly for the last time…This court has been good to him and he has been so good for tennis.”
BOXING
Sean Grande on American boxer Jahmal Harvey advancing to the quarterfinals: “Can the USA find itself a new star? They’ve been waiting a long, long time for a nation which was once the superior force.”
***
ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS
The NBC broadcast network and streaming service Peacock are the company’s primary platforms for its coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. NBCU owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Paris (2024), Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032).
— NBC OLYMPICS —