Back to primetime last night. Big surprise--Tirico kicks off with Women's Gymnastics hype. We get the US bronze in Women's Rugby in the nightly "Winning Moment", then it's off to the gymnasts at Bercy Arena. Yes, yes, Simone has an injury, we know. There is a change--Samantha Peszek replaces Laurie Hernandez in the booth, so it's a bit more clinical that the "gee whiz" quality from the past afternoon. I'm noticing clouds of chalk when athletes give high fives--are gtmnasts more susceptible to resperatory issues?
There's a short Tirico whiparound, including how QISE athletes and fans are handling the heat (mid-90s that day). Who woulda thunk Central Europe would be hot in late July? We also learn that they intends to run the delayed Triathlon tomorrow--so a century-long old pollution ssue will be resolved overnight, I guess. We also get Snoop swimming with Phelps (in a small indoor poll)--he doesn't do very well.
Cut to swimming--semis in Primetime? Thanks to the triathlon delay for that. There's a quick report on how the swim meet works, thanks to Google AI (ca-ching). Then the finals--Regan Smith gets a video package about her cat (oh, and swimming). She gets the silver--sorry, kitty. Another final, and back to gymnastics.
We get another video preview, showing the event so far, then a second package with the gals--all about redemption, game faces, and Taylor Swift. Simone gets her own video package, of course. Lots of cuts to "USA House" and their watch party. The final round is the "Event of the Night" (with limited commercial interruption). Yet another video package, this time showing their families. Just get to it!
Suni Lee's floor routine music reminds me of Star Trek: Picard. Jordan Chiles knows where the camera is at all times. NBC stretches things out with other performances before finally getting to Biles, who does the job, and they get the gold. Just like the men, there are manufactured moments with the gals hugging their families and friends.
...and back to the pool for the Men’s 4x200m Free Relay--Team GB takes it, with US getting “so-so silver”. Kornacki returns for swim stats and projections, we get a “Americans in Paris” whiparound, and a swim for Marchand (France’s Michael Phelps). Cut to Colin Jost in Tahiti, who’s resting up after all his injuries (now he’s got an ear infection, in additional to the coral reef infection). Oh, and there was surfing. Tirico wraps it up wit the Women’s Gymnastics medal ceremony.
Off to late night, and Maria Taylor at the NBC apartment. More gymnastics review, then off to BMX qualifying--we’ll have to wait for tomorrow for the “NBDs” (Never Been Done tricks). Marcus Christopher (of Canton, OH) came in second. The Women’s Rugby team stopped by, followed by a 3x3 B-ball match rerun. Maria has coffee with breaker Sunny Choi, and then a Track and Field preview with announcers Sanya Richards Ross and Ato Bolton--with the trio in jammies.
Over to the Today Show--(some of) the Women’s gymnastic team drop by, along with Men’s swimmers and Women’s Rugby players. The Bobbsey Twins and Al tour Versailles, then Al and Craig go on a croissant crawl.
Onto Day 5--Lowe sends us directly to Women’s Beach Volleyball, with Snoop dropping by to watch in the stands. Melvin joins Lowe for a whiparound, and then Fareed checks in from the tennis arena with its red clay. More swim heats, another interview with the Women’s Rugby team, and shockingly, the Women’s Triathlon. There’s a video package of how France “fixed” the Seine River (I highly suspect there was some fudging of the numbers at the last moment). Expect many triathletes “under the weather” in a few days.
Onto the Men’s Gymnastics Individual All Around Final. Frederick Richard starts off with a fall on the pommel horse, with more misses sprinkled liberally throughout. The US is out of the running quickly, Apparently, some of the performances were “crispy”. Final results--Japan wins it.
Tirico has a preview of the next B-ball game (and I prep the fast forward button), and Phelps preps the swim finals featuring France’s Marchand (who has two finals in a row with only a 45 minute break). The last swimmer to win 2 individual golds in a row on the same day is Kornelia Ender--in 1976, back when we had an EAST Germany. But first, the Women’s 110m Free, with Sweden getting the improbable win. Moving onto the Men’s 200m Fly, with Marchand checking the box. We get Phelps “commentary” of Marchand’s race.
From here, we switch back and forth between B-ball (hitting the FF button) and swimming. Ledecky burns the field quickly in the Women’s 1500m Free, hitting split times within 2 to 3 TENTHS of a second. We get some interviews as an insert in this LOOOONG race. This is her 8th Gold, tying the most by any US woman--and her best event, the 800m Free, is still to come. (Mariska Hargitay is in the crowd--and up pops the graphic for Law & Order: SVU on NBC--synergy!) Marchand’s second final in 45 minutes--the Men’s 200m Breast--another gold. Men’s 100m Free final goes to China, with a world record. Second, third and fourth were separated by one one-hundredth of a second.
More 3x3 B-ball, then some volleyball. Fareed does a whiparound, we get a quick tennis check-in, and a medal count. US still in the lead for total medals, with China on top for most golds. Guatemala gets their first gold ever--for trap shooting.
More to come.